Founding Artistic Director

Jeff von der Schmidt, conductor, is Founding Artistic Director of Southwest Chamber Music. A two-time Grammy Award-winning conductor, he has led numerous performances of standard 20th century composers as well as world and local premieres of new work. Mr. von der Schmidt has received seven Grammy nominations, including consecutive 2003 and 2004 Grammy Awards as conductor for the Complete Chamber Music of Carlos Chávez Volumes 1 and 2. His performance was nominated for Best Classical Album in 2005 for the Complete Chamber Music of Carlos Chávez, Volume 3 by both Grammy and Latin Grammy. Recent projects include leading the six-week 2010 Ascending Dragon Music Festival in Hanoi, Saigon, Pasadena and Los Angeles for the U.S. State Department. Ascending Dragon was the largest cultural exchange in the history of Vietnam and the United States. In 2009 he led Southwest Chamber Music at the Guadalajara FIL Festival alongside the largest Spanish language book festival in the world. Past international exchanges include a complete cycle of the chamber music of Carlos Chávez with Southwest Chamber Music and the Tambuco Percussion Ensemble at the UNAM Center in Mexico City in May 2007. In 2006, Mr. von der Schmidt conducted at the Hanoi Opera House, 2006 World Culture Expo at Angkor Wat, and the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, with Aura, a major new composition by Grawemeyer Award-winning composer Chinary Ung. His successful 2003 performance at the Library of Congress, with soprano Phyllis Bryn-Julson in Richard Felciano’s An American Decameron, was greeted with a standing ovation. He has led cycles of the Los Angeles works of Arnold Schoenberg at Cooper Union in New York City and at the Arnold Schoenberg Center in Vienna, where Southwest Chamber Music was the first American ensemble to perform at the Center since its relocation from the University of Southern California. Mr. von der Schmidt received the Henri M. Kohn Award as the outstanding student at the Tanglewood Music Festival in 1980 from Gunther Schuller and Seiji Ozawa, and studied French horn with Roland Berger of the Vienna Philharmonic, holding a certificate in German from the University of Vienna. He has lectured on music at the Getty Center, Los Angeles Philharmonic Green Umbrella Series, Arizona State University, University of Colorado, Ohio State University, Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the Vietnam National Academy of Music, and the Hochschule für Musik in Lübeck, Germany.

Founding Executive Director

Jan Karlin, violist and Founding Executive Director of Southwest Chamber Music, is a recipient of a James Irvine Foundation "Fund for Leadership Advancement" Award to outstanding Executive Directors in California. Ms. Karlin won a 2004 Grammy Award as producer for Southwest Chamber Music’s recording of the Complete Chamber Music of Carlos Chavez, Volume II. She also serves on the Grammy Museum Education Advisory Committee. Ms. Karlin has performed throughout the U. S. and Europe, including the Arnold Schoenberg Center in Vienna, Cooper Union in New York City, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Tanglewood, Schleswig-Holstein, Flanders, Brighton and the Vienna Festivals. Ms. Karlin received her Bachelor’s Degree from Tufts University in Drama and Music, and her Master’s Degree from Boston University as a student of Walter Trampler. She studied chamber music under such notable musicians as Eugene Lehner, Joseph Silverstein and Louis Krasner. A credentialed secondary education teacher, she was Instructor of Viola at the Claremont Colleges for 12 years. Ms. Karlin also performed with the Boston Pops, Opera Company of Boston, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra in Boston, the Pacific and Long Beach Symphonies in California and the Wiener Akademie in Vienna. Her recordings are available on Cambria Master Recordings, ORFEO, (Munich) and Novalis, and she performed on Southwest Chamber Music’s Complete Chamber Works of Carlos Chávez, Volumes 1 and 2, which received consecutive 2003 and 2004 GRAMMY Awards.

THU-NGA DAN, Communications Director, graduated from both the Conservatory of Music of Montreal and from the Montreal University, in piano performance and a B.A. in Communication respectively. In 2002, she received a full scholarship to pursue a Master’s degree at Annenberg School of Communication at USC and earned her M.A. in 2003. At 14, Ms. Dan won the first prize in piano at the National Piano Competition in Vietnam and was selected to be the youngest pianist to perform Mozart’s Concerto for two pianos and orchestra with the Hanoi Symphony Orchestra. In 1996, Ms. Dan won the third prize at the Concerto Competition in Montreal, Canada. As an administrator, she has worked closely with various cultural organizations including I Musici de Montreal chamber orchestra, the Montreal Philharmonic Orchestra, and The Cultural Magazine, a television program that broadcasts on the CBC channel. From 1998 to 2001, she was appointed by the Dean of the Communications department at the University of Montreal to assist him in implementing the very first program of communication in Hanoi, Vietnam.

General Manager

Heidi Lesemann began her career as production manager for the Ojai Festival, producer for Delos Records, assistant at Monday Evening Concerts, Assistant Director at the Arnold Schoenberg Institute/USC, founding director of American Composers Forum/LA, and freelance consultant in grantwriting and organizational management with Piano Spheres, Angel City Arts/Jazz Festival, Eclipse Quartet, and the HearNow Festival of LA Composers before joining Southwest Chamber Music. A Los Angeles native, she received her B.A. in English Literature from Whittier College and trained in piano performance at USC/Thornton School of Music. She also lived in Berlin for seven years as artistic colleague for the Society for Film Music. Heidi has a lifetime teaching credential.

Production Manager

Joan Quinto graduated with a B.M. in percussion performance at California State University, Long Beach. Ms. Quinto is an active performer and private instructor, specializing in drum set and hand percussion. She has had the opportunities to perform with major artists in TV shows and venues in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York City, and Cannes, France. Ms. Quinto is currently involved in many local groups and ensembles of various genres in Southern California.

Ticket Manager

LINNET RICHARDSON, Ticket Manager, received a B.A. degree in Psychology from the California State University, Long Beach.  Although born and raised in Chicago, IL, she has made her home in Southern California since 1967.  She has also worked in both private and public sectors among which some have been Security Pacific Bank, the University of California, Irvine in the Department of Neurology; the City of Santa Ana, Department of Parks and Recreation with a one-year administrative cross training program in the City Manager’s Office, and last but not least, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in the President’s Office. She deems working at Southwest Chamber Music an honor and privilege to be associated with its gifted composers/musicians and committed patrons who through the art of music make the world a better place. 

Jay Belloli , President

Betsey Tyler, Vice President

Natalie Poole, Secretary

Peter Mandell, C.P.A., Treasurer

Kenneth Blaydow, M.D., President 2007-2009

Ellen Knell, Ph.D., President 2004-2007

Louis Abel

Homayoun Homampour

Cary Huang

Michael Huynh

Sally Kaled

E. Randol Schoenberg, Esq.

Carl Selkin, Ph.D.

Cory Takahashi

Susan Bienkowski, President 2001-2004

Anna Bresnahan, Secretary 1998-2003

Fritzie Culick, President 1988-1998

Mary Schander, President 1998-2001

Joan Boyett

Elliott Carter

Alice Coulombe

Charles Dillingham

Oliver Knussen

Steven Lavine

Kent Nagano

Martin Perlich

Rick Wartzman