Education Through Music-Los Angeles (ETM-LA) hosted its 19th Year Benefit Gala at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, CA. Supporters from the music, film, business, and education communities joined ETM-LA’s annual fundraiser to keep the music playing in local under-resourced schools.
The festive event honored Shining Star Awardees Blake Neely (ETM-LA Board Member & Emmy-Winning Composer; Masters of the Air, The Flight Attendant), Music Educator & Award-Winning Composer/Conductor Dr. Zanaida Stewart Robles, and GameSoundCon (Corporate Partner & Leader in Video Game Music/Sound Design).http://www.etmla.org
Hosted by Actor/Singer/Songwriter Karen David (The Irrational, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Galavant), the celebration featured exclusive performances and appearances by special guests Greg Berlanti (Screenwriter/Producer), Suzanna Guzmán (Mezzo-Soprano & Emmy-Winning TV Host), SYML, Harvard-Westlake Jazz Singers, ETM-LA student ensembles, and more. Honorary Chair Members include Stephen Amell, Christophe Beck, Alvin Chea, Sherri Chung, Victor Garber, Sara Gazarek, Grant Gershon, Michael Giacchino, Suzanna Guzmán, James Newton Howard, Julianne Jordan, Tony Kanal, Mike Knobloch, Christopher Lennertz, Tom MacDougall, Julia Michels, Rickey Minor, Randy Spendlove, and more.
About Education Through Music-Los Angeles
Education Through Music-Los Angeles is an independent 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to provide music to under-resourced schools in order to enhance students’ academic achievement, creativity, and overall development. Founded in 2006, ETM-LA believes in furthering equity and access for every child to receive high-quality music classes as part of a well-rounded education. ETM-LA has expanded from 2 schools and 800 children to 41 schools and approximately 18,000 school children in such areas as: Bellflower, Boyle Heights, Burbank, Compton, Chinatown, Downtown LA, East LA, Inglewood, Pacoima, San Fernando Valley, and South Central. http://www.etmla.org
About Blake Neely: Shining Star Artist Honoree:
Dr. Zanaida Stewart Robles is an award-winning Black American female composer, vocalist, and teacher. She is a fierce advocate for diversity and inclusion in music education and performance. Born, raised, and educated in Southern California on the occupied lands of the Gabrielino-Tongva people, she is in demand as a composer, vocalist, clinician and adjudicator for competitions, festivals, and conferences related to choral and solo vocal music.
Dr. Robles’s original music has been performed by professional ensembles, community choirs, educational institutions, churches, and individuals worldwide. She is the performing arts instructor at Harvard-Westlake Upper School and director of music at Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church in Pasadena. Dr. Robles served for five years as music director for “Project Messiah” with Street Symphony.
About GameSoundCon: Shining Star Corporate Honoree:
GameSoundCon Founder Brian Schmidt is a 37-year veteran of the game audio industry. As a composer, sound designer, and interactive audio specialist, he has written soundtracks for 140 console, arcade, and pinball games as one of the industry’s earliest freelance game composers and sound designers.
Schmidt turned to audio technology as a member of the original Xbox design team at Microsoft, where he was responsible for the overall interactive audio system architecture. In working with aspiring game composers, he had the idea to create a conference dedicated to sharing knowledge on video game music and sound design, so that those coming from more traditional backgrounds could get an intensive “boot camp” and learn the differences between creating sounds for games and for film/TV. After leaving Microsoft in 2008, Schmidt started GameSoundCon.
Red carpet interviews with Victoria Lanier (executive Director of ETM-LA), Ronen Landa (composer/associate Board Member), Sherri Chung (composer), Paul Lipson (Senior Vice President, Formosa Interactive), Maclaine Diemer(composer/Board Member), Michael Paraskevas (composer), Zach Robinson (composer), Shirley Song (composer), Joy Ngiaw (composer), Jermaine Stegall (composer), Siddhartha Khosla (composer), Dr. Zanaida Stewart Robles (Teacher, Honoree), Blake Neely (composer, Honoree) and Brian Schmidt (GameSoundCon, Honoree).
Host Yael Tyggiel. Footage provided to Bionic Buzz® by Impact24 PR / ETM-LA / Patrick Meaney – Syndication Crew.
