New Music Works Ensemble
In this listing of New Music Works Ensemble performers, we have included both regulars and frequent subs of recent seasons. The average size of the NMW Ensemble has included eleven players, however, due to the varied instrumentations featured our concerts, we opted towards inclusiveness.

JENNIFER CASS, harp, holds Master's degrees in both music and mathematics. She has performed with UCSC faculty and ensembles, New Music Works, Santa Cruz Chamber Players, Cabrillo Stage, and Ensemble Monterey and with local symphonies. Jennifer teaches mathematics at Cabrillo College in her spare time.
MICHAEL MCGUSHIN, keyboards, is a professor of music at Cabrillo College in Aptos, and coach/accompanist for the UCSC Music Department. He is well known in the Santa Cruz area as a pianist, composer, and conductor. He has served as Music Director for productions with Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Cabrillo Stage and the UCSC Opera Theater. Michael has performed regularly with New Music Works since 1985.
TERESA OROZCO-PETERSEN, flute, received her degree at San José State University, where she studied with Isabelle Chapius-Starr. She performs with the Monterey County Symphony Orchestra, Bayshore Lyric Opera, and with many symphonies and chamber ensembles, including San Francisco Western Opera Theatre, Opera San José, and the Rome Festival Orchestra.
STAN POPLIN, double bass. Stan Poplin is a founding member of New Music Works Ensemble, and has played with the Cabrillo Music Festival and other ensembles. In 1990 he began a five-year period in Oslo, where he studied, recorded and toured throughout Norway. Mr. Poplin has made many recordings of jazz and blues as well as classical music.
CYNTHIA BAEHR, Violinist, is Concertmaster of Opera San Jose, the San Jose Chamber Orchestra and a member of the New Music Works Ensemble. She has also performed with the New Century Chamber Orchestra, Midsummer Mozart and Stratos Chamber Orchestras. Before moving to California, Cynthia lived and performed in Europe with the Lucerne Chamber Soloists and the Wurttembergisches Chamber Orchestra in Germany. Prior to that time she was the Assistant Concertmaster of the Caracas Philharmonic in Venezuela and a member of the Quartetto Filarmonica.
Jeff Anderlie, Clarinet
LARS JOHANNESSON, flute, is an active performer in the San Francisco, Carmel and Monterey Bay areas. This season he has engagements with San Francisco's Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Jubilate!, Santa Cruz Baroque Festival, Ensemble Monterey, Bay Shore Lyric Opera Company, New Music Works, San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival, and Santa Cruz Chamber Players. Lars graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music with a degree in orchestral flute. He pursued post-graduate studies in Baroque flute with Wilbert Hazelzet at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, Holland. In addition to "classical" music, Lars also enjoys and performs Irish and other traditional music. As a studio musician, Lars has recorded for numerous releases, including many on the Gourd Music label, and several UCSC productions. Lars lives in Santa Cruz with his musical wife and twin sons, and works a day job in the IT industry.

CHAD KALTINGER, Violist, studied at the University of Illinois and at the Aspen Music Festival where he received an Orchestral Fellowship and placed 1st in the E. Nakamichi Viola Concerto Competition. Chad is currently Principal Violist with the Santa Cruz County Symphony, the Musica Vitale Chamber Orchestra and Ensemble Monterey and also plays with Opera San Jose, San Francisco Opera's Western Opera Theatre, Monterey Symphony, and the Cabrillo Music Festival Orchestra.

JIM KASSIS, is our percussion player since moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1987 to study with San Francisco Symphony percussionist Anthony Cirone, Jim has been teaching and performing both drum set and classical percussion throughout northern California. Jim serves on the faculty at Santa Clara University and the Community School of Music and Arts in Mountain View. He has played with New Music Works Ensemble since 2002.

ANN LAVIN, Clarinetist, received her BA from DePaul University and her MA fromNorthwestern University. She studied in Chicago with Larry Combs and Robert Marcellus. In May 2005 she earned her Doctorate of Musical Arts from Stony Brook University, where she studied with Charles Neidich and Daniel Gilbert. Ann was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and was privileged to play under Maestros Boulez, Barenboim, Solti and Mehta. She has performed chamber and orchestral concerts in the US, Russia, Israel, Japan, Taiwan, Italy, and Austria. Currently, Ann plays with the orchestras of Vallejo, Santa Cruz, Berkeley, and Monterey as well as the Sarasota Opera and Utah Festival Opera.