Music Faculty

FULL TIME MUSIC FACULTY

 

FRANK ACCARDO

Guitar

(562) 463-7706

faccardo@riohondo.edu

Frank Accardo is an instructor of music and guitar, and is currently teaching MUS 150, 151, 251(Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced guitar), MUS 154 (Guitar ensemble), and MUS 133 (Music appreciation) He received his BM degree from Berklee College of Music, and his MM from CSUN. Mr. Accardo has performed with Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra, Liza Minelli, Dean Martin, Marni Nixon, and many others. Mr. Accardo performs regularly on campus with various faculty groups as well as freelances in the Los Angeles area.

 

DR. JOANNE CHOE

Voice

(562) 463-7697

jchoe@riohondo.edu

Soprano Joanne Choe has appeared as Adina in L’elisir d’amore, Edith in The Pirates of Penzance and the Dew Fairy in Indianapolis Opera’s production of Humperdink’s Hansel and Gretel, Sor Andrea in Tenth Muse Production of Juana, Frasquita in Festival Opera’s production of Carmen, Papagena in San Francisco Lyric Opera and Livermore Opera’s production of Die Zauberflöte, and Zerlina in Don Giovanni with Pacific Union Concert Series where she is a frequent guest artist.  She has appeared in University productions of Mozart’s The Impressario (Mademoiselle Silberklang), Die Zauberflöte (Papagena), Le Nozze di Figaro (Barbarina), Humperdink’s Hansel and Gretel (Dew Fairy), and soprano soloist for “Sing it yourself Messiah” at Davies Symphony Hall at University of Southern California and San Francisco Conservatory of Music.  Oratorio and recital credits include guest soloist in Patrick Hawe’s Song of Songs with Cal State San Bernardino Chamber Singers, soprano solo in the Verdi Gala Concert with Hong Kong Chamber orchestra and Hong Kong City Choir, soprano solo in Faure Requiem with Oakland Symphony Chorus, Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate, and soprano solos in Haydn’s Creation with Vallejo Symphony.

Dr. Choe won first prizes at the Sigma Alpha Iota Vocal competition, Career Bridges, Pacific Musical Society, Stewart Brady Competition, and was awarded grants and scholarships from the Gerda Lissner Foundation, Leni Febland Foundation, Holt Foundation, and the East Bay Opera League.

Dr. Choe graduated from University of Southern California, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and University of North Texas, where she was awarded the prestigious Teaching Fellowship.

 

JANNINE LIVINGSTON

Music

(562) 463-7699

jlivingston@riohondo.edu

Jannine Livingston has enjoyed a varied career in music.  She has worked with choreographers and dance companies including Bella Lewitzky, Rudy Perez, Oakland Ballet, and L.A. Chamber Ballet.  She has performed with several chamber music ensembles including the Cartesian Reunion Memorial Orchestra, Orange County Chamber Orchestra as Principal Harpsichord and Piano, and most recently with the Liquid Skin Ensemble (music by Steve Moshier) at the Real New Music Festival in Whittier, California, the Getty Museum, the Luckman Fine Arts Complex, Cal State L.A. Playhouse, Highways Performance Space, John Anson Ford Theatre, California Plaza in Los Angeles, Japan American Theatre, and the LG Performing Arts Center in Seoul, Korea, with Hae Kyung Lee and Dancers.

As a soloist, she has performed for the Corona del Mar Baroque Festival, the Palm Springs Bach Festival, the National Convention of the Music Teachers’ Association, the Olympic Arts Festival, the Los Angeles Arts Festival, California Institute of the Arts, and the 7^th Annual Performance Studies Conference in Mainz, Germany.

Her work in theatre includes performances for the L.A. Theatre Center, Alternative Repertory Theatre, the Vanguard Theatre, and the California State University Fullerton Theatre and Dance Department where she directed the music program for 26 years.

As an educator, she received a grant from the John F. Kennedy Center to compose and perform music for the project “Dance Is”, a grant from Rio Hondo College for a research and development music trip to Cuba, as well as being named Artist in Residence at the Taipei American School in Taipei, Taiwan.  She has presented lectures at Bowers Museum, Chapman University, UC Irvine, Rancho Santiago College, The Huntington Library in Pasadena, California, and CSU Fullerton, where she taught for 26 years.

Jannine has earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Piano Performance from the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music and currently teaches music full-time at Rio Hondo College in Whittier, California.

GEORGE WHEELER

Composition/Theory, Electronic Music, and Workman Mill Industrial Orchestra

(562) 463-7700

gwheeler@riohondo.edu

George Gomez-Wheeler is a composer and performer of acoustic and electronic music. His work combines diverse instruments and genres, musical interactivity between performer and computer, concepts of spatialization, and video processing. His current research interests continue to focus on a theoretical approach to electroacoustic music composition as well as the creation and mapping of new electronic musical instruments that attempt to capture human expression.

He performed for fifteen years as a saxophonist and Technical Director of the Liquid Skin Ensemble, a seven-member group comprised of classical, jazz and rock musicians, which performed at major venues in Los Angeles, such as the Japan America Theater, the Getty Museum, as well as at the LG Arts Complex in Seoul, Korea.

He is a co-founding member of Frère Concrète, a new music electroacoustic duo that consists of flute, saxophones and EWI, dueling laptops, and visuals, which has performed at different university venues in Los Angeles including The Daniel Recital Hall at CSULB, The Wild Beast and the R.O.D. Theatre at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts).

George has collaborated with choreographers for many years. Recently, he premiered “Arise,” a commission for percussion quartet, at REDCAT (May 2015), and “(R)evolve,” a collaboration with Choreographer Leslie Scott at the Sharon Disney Lund Theatre, CalArts. He also was involved in the event “Speed Dating and Hookups” at Art Share L.A. (May 2014), which included a structured improvisation with Damon Rago and a free improvisation with Loretta Livingston.

His Multimedia Video/Dance collaboration with Choreographer Lauren Winslow-Kearns, and Filmmaker Mark Vanocur, with the piece, “Everywhere I Look,” is part of the New York Library permanent collection. Additionally, he has composed original music and sound design for the Body Talk Dance Company

As a professional sound engineer, he worked with many local groups spanning from Rock, Punk, Ska, and Latin Jazz to Postmodern/Contemporary Classical.

Dr. George Gomez-Wheeler recently created the Music and Integrated Technology program at Rio Hondo College. Prior to that, he served for over fifteen years on the Composition/Theory faculty at the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at CSULB, as well as Cypress College, Orange County High School of the Arts (OCHSA), and the Sharon Disney Lund Dance Department at CalArts. He received his Ph.D. from UCI in Integrated Composition, Improvisation, and Technology (ICIT).