A native of Esfahan, Iran, Pedram Pourghazi is a violin teacher, string coach, and violinist based in Los Angeles. Pedram started learning the violin with his uncle at the age of 7 and is currently a student of Dr. Lorenz Gamma working on his masters in violin performance, with his final recital and thesis scheduled for May 8 th of 2022. Pedram had been a member of the CSUN HONORS QUARTET for two years, where he performed as the co-first violin player during the first year and the first violin during the second year. Additionally, during his studies at CSUN, he had played as the co-principal of the CSUN symphony and the assistant principal of the CSUN Opera. Pedram had also played in a number of TV productions such as PBS’s “Tribute to Linda Ronstadt” and the TV-series “Counterpart” on STARZ network.

A native of Seattle, Washington, Alisa is a very active violinist, violist, and music instructor. Ms. Alisa Luera has performed widely in Austria, Czech-Republic, Hungary, Italy, and across the U.S. Alisa recently received her bachelor’s degree in Violin Performance & Music Orchestral String Studies at CSUN and studied under Dr. Lorenz Gamma. In her undergraduate years she was in the CSUN Honors String Quartet and co-concertmaster in CSUN Symphony Orchestra. Outside of school, she took part in projects and performances with Debut Orchestra, Brightwork NewMusic, Disney XD, Shari Sutcliffe, David Grohl, the Foo Fighters, Tony Visconti and with LAYO (Los Angeles Youth Orchestra) as a fellow at the Walt Disney Hall.

Benz launched his cello journey at The Washington Conservatory of Music in our nation’s capital. Benz was a member of the National Symphony Orchestra fellowship program in DC. In 2015 Benz moved to Los Angeles to continue with his music endeavors. Benz served as the cellist for the CSUN Honors String Quartet and principal cello of CSUN symphony and studied with Diane Roscetti. He has performed with accomplished artists like Serj Tankian, Aida Cuevas, Luciana Souza and more. Benz continues to serve as an educator and leader, and aims to advocate for diversity in symphony orchestras and bring the joy of classical music and cello to underserved minority communities. Benz currently works for LABY Harmony Project of New West Symphony as a site coordinator. Benz holds a bachelor’s in music and teaches in the LA area and is a cellist for California’s Young Artist Symphony.

Simiao is a violist, teacher, performer and chamber musician. Simiao was born in China, Tianjin. She currently lives in LA. She started violin with Chengfen Wang when she was 4 years old. Later on, until the age of 14, she started her journey at viola and studied with Yin Pan. Soon later, she studied with Yanming Xu at the Tianjin Conservatory. Later on, she decided to explore music further in the U.S. Simiao came to the U.S when she was 22 and studied viola with Rodney Wirtz and Elizabeth Wilson. In 2018, she participated in the SnowPond Chamber Music Seminar, had coachings with Jo-Ann Sternberg, Anna Lim and Jacqueline Leclair, and chamber master coachings with Colin Carr. Later in the same year, Simiao joined the music program at UCLA, studied viola with Che-Yen Chen, and had master classes with Anthony Devroye.

In 2019, she traveled to Paris with her duo and participated at the Lyon International Music Academy. Simiao studied viola with Marcel Stephane and had chamber coachings with Bernadene Blaha and Kevin Fitz-Gerald. In 2020, Simiao finished her undergraduate degree at UCLA, and she decided to continue her music journey at CSUN, where she joined the graduate music program at CSUN and is studying with Robert Berg. Simiao is a member of CSUN symphony.