PHILIP WESTIN

Composer

Composer, conductor, and educator Philip Westin received Bachelor of Music degrees in Composition and Church/Choral Music in 1968 from the University of Southern California. In 1970, he earned the Master of Music degree in Composition from USC. At USC, Westin first studied composition privately with Robert Linn and later Halsey Stevens. He then began a lengthy period of private study with his mentor, Ingolf Dahl. He also studied conducting with Dahl, Walter Ducloux, Daniel Lewis and Charles C. Hirt. Following Dahl's untimely death, he continued private composition study for three years with composer Roy Harris.

In 1985, Westin decided to pursue his doctorate degree in Educational Leadership, and he completed the degree at the University of La Verne in 1990. In 1992, he earned a post-doctoral certificate in the Management of Lifelong Education at Harvard University.

TEACHING

Westin taught music full time at Cerritos College for sixteen years, and was Chair of the Music Department for 14 of those years. During his tenure, he conducted the Cerritos College Symphony Orchestra and Cerritos Master Chorale, and taught advanced Music Theory, Counterpoint, Orchestration, Piano, and Music History. He was also a frequent lecturer and conductor at Brown University, the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, California State University Chico, California State University Long Beach, California State University Los Angeles, and Wayne State University. In addition, for two years he served as an adjunct professor in the Educational Leadership doctoral program at Pepperdine University.

COMPOSITION

While at Cerritos College, Westin was commissioned to compose works by numerous organizations, including the California Wind Symphony, Eastern Brass Quintet, California State University Long Beach, St. John's Episcopal Church in Los Angeles, and pianist Robert Bowman. In addition, he was asked by composer William Schuman to orchestrate the 2nd and 3rd movements of Schuman's orchestral work, Credendum, for Symphonic Wind Ensemble. The work was premiered by the California Wind Symphony at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Los Angeles Music Center with Westin conducting and Schuman in attendance.

Upon his retirement from educational leadership positions, Westin again became active in composing. In 2007, he wrote the music for a full-length operetta, Heartland, which was subsequently realized in a studio demonstration recording. In April, 2008, Heartland was one of four works selected in a national competition to be presented at the ASCAP/Disney Musical Theatre Workshop at Disney Studios in Burbank, led by Grammy and Academy Award-winning composer Stephen Schwartz. In the summer of 2008, he was commissioned by Hector Salazar and the Carson-Dominguez Hills Symphony Orchestra to compose a work to introduce children to the symphony orchestra, Timothy and the Magic Garden, which was premiered in February 2009.

CONDUCTING

As a conductor in the 1970s and '80s, Westin was well known in the greater Los Angeles area through performances of several organizations, including the Los Angeles Chamber Chorale, which performed at the Mark Taper Forum of the Los Angeles Music Center and other venues. Westin later founded and was Music Director of the California Wind Symphony, which performed in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Los Angeles Music Center. As a professional wind ensemble specializing in 20th century American works, the California Wind Symphony was the recipient of a major grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. The Wind Symphony's Board of Advisors was comprised of many of the leading composers of the day, including Aaron Copland, Elmer Bernstein, Norman Dello Joio, John Green, Karl Husa, Bronislaw Kaper, Howard Hanson, Roy Harris, Henry Mancini, Ron Nelson, Vincent Persichetti, Walter Piston, Lalo Schifrin, William Schuman, Roger Sessions, Virgil Thomson, and John Williams (partial listing).

In addition to conducting the Los Angeles Chamber Chorale and California Wind Symphony, Westin was active conducting in the pit at Cerritos College and the La Mirada Civic Theatre. He conducted multiple performances of West Side Story, A Little Night Music, Fiddler on the Roof, and Man of La Mancha, among others, and in 1979, he conducted a fully-staged production of Leonard Bernstein's Mass with a cast of over 300.

In 1978, Westin formed the critically acclaimed Master Symphony Orchestra, which for several years played subscription series at Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, Bridges Auditorium in Pomona, El Camino College Center for the Arts in Torrance, Wash Memorial Auditorium in Santa Ana and the Arlington Theater in Santa Barbara. Soloists with the MSO included Martina Arroyo, Carlo Bergonzi, Marvellee Cariaga, John Cheek, Horacio Gutieriez, Daniel Heifetz, Peter Nero, Leonard Pennario, Roberta Peters, Daniel Pollack, and Arnold Voketaitis (partial listing).

EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP

After leaving Cerritos College in 1986, Westin assumed the positions of Dean of Fine Arts and Executive Director, Center for the Arts at El Camino College. In 1992 he accepted the position of Vice President of Instruction at Golden West College in Huntington Beach, and in 1994 he was inaugurated President of Golden West College. From 1996 until his retirement in 2003, Westin served as Chancellor for the Ventura County Community College District, where he was in charge of its three comprehensive colleges and numerous educational centers.

Philip Westin Web Site >

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DYLAN F. THOMAS

Librettist

Dylan F. Thomas has performed extensively throughout California as well as internationally in opera, musical theater, and jazz. He recently performed the role of Cavaradossi in Puccini's Tosca with Center Stage Opera (CA), where he also made his role debut as Alfredo in La Traviata, opposite his real-life wife, Shira Renee Thomas, as well as sang the role of Don Jose in Bizet's Carmen for a concert performance. He created the roles of Amadee and Young Amadee in the professional recording of Philip Westin's new Opera Americana, Heartland, featuring members of the Opera Pacific Chorus, and under the musical direction of Maestro Henri Venanzi. Other operatic experience includes several roles with the CSUN Opera Theater, as well as professional engagements with Opera Pacific, Center Stage Opera (CA), Euterpe Opera, Bear Valley Opera, and Opera Pasadena. Mr. Thomas has performed the roles of Alfred in Die Fledermaus, Larry/Matt in The Face on the Barroom Floor, Daniel in Donizetti's Betly, Mr. Splinters in The Tender Land, Armored Man in The Magic Flute, Barton in Esperanza, and Ambrogio in Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia presented by Opera Pacific. Thomas currently studies with Juliana Gondek.

For ten months during 2006, Mr. Thomas was engaged as a performer in three different variety shows at Universal Studios in Osaka, Japan. There he had the pleasure of singing not only opera repertoire, but musical theater and jazz as well. He performed the role of Luigi in the street theater production of The Five Topping Opera, and was also a tenor soloist in the holiday spectacular, A White Christmas Carol, seen by upwards of 40,000 people each performance. In addition, USJ created a holiday jazz show, which was conceptualized in part by Mr. Thomas.

Thomas is the founder and Artistic Director of Center Stage Opera in Canoga Park, CA, where he has directed full productions of numerous operas, including Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Puccini's Tosca, Verdi's Rigoletto, Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore, Gounod's Romeo et Juliette, Verdi's La traviata, Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, and Rossini's La Cambiale di Matrimonio. In the 2009-2010 season, Thomas directed Gounod's Faust, as well as a remount of his 2005 production of Lucia di Lammermoor, to commemorate CSO's 5th anniversary season. In October 2010, he will direct the world premiere of Marie's Orchard, a new opera based on Willa Cather's novel O Pioneers!, by composer Philip Westin. Thomas will not only direct the staged world premiere, but he penned the libretto for the opera as well.

Thomas directed The Magic Flute for the Pacific Symphony's "Family Musical Mornings" series in March 2009, wrote and directed their Halloween Spooktacular concert in October 2009, and is currently writing and directing Superheroes! for the family series. He directed the semi-staged concert Opera Under the Stars during the final season of Orange County's Opera Pacific, which featured opera stars Ana Maria Martinez, Chad Shelton, and Quinn Kelsey performing operatic favorites with the Opera Pacific Orchestra under the direction of Maestro John DeMain. Thomas worked as the resident outreach stage director at Opera Pacific, where he staged the educational show entitled Fun With Opera, wrote and directed Opera Soup for Opera Pacific's Opera in the Park presentation, and also directed The Tinker of Tivoli for their Opera Camp program in summer 2008, for which he was also camp director.

Dylan F. Thomas Web Site >