Choral & Vocal Program Faculty and Staff
Brandon Elliott | Director of Choral & Vocal Activities
Courses Taught:
Music Business (MUS M07)
Musicianship I (MUS M02AL)
Vocal Ensemble (MUS M12)
Concert Choir (MUS M10)
Applied Voice (MUS M30G)
Brandon Elliott is a conductor, tenor, music educator, and arts entrepreneur. He is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Choral Arts Initiative, which has garnered regional and national attention. Under his leadership, Choral Arts Initiative has been named as one of Orange County's "Best Choirs" (CBS Los Angeles), won the American Prize in Choral Performance (American Prize Foundation), received the ASCAP/Chorus America Award for Adventurous Programming, and released an inaugural album, "How to Go On: The Choral Works of Dale Trumbore," which ranked #6 on the Billboard Traditional Classical Albums chart and #4 Best Seller on iTunes for Classical Albums. While experienced in a wide body of repertoire, Brandon has a strong passion for 20th and particularly 21st-century music literature. He has conducted and premiered dozens of choral compositions by emerging composers throughout the globe. In his pursuit to promote the works of living composers, Brandon maintains an ICON choral series with MusicSpoke. He has been named a Finalist for the American Prize in Choral Conducting, and is also a recipient of Pacific Chorale’s Elliot and Kathleen Alexander Memorial Scholarship for “outstanding choral conducting.”
As a professional vocal musician, Brandon regularly performs in professional and semi-professional ensembles. Recent engagements include singing in the Cincinnati Vocal Arts Ensemble with Craig Hella Johnson, and Pacific Chorale with John Alexander, as well as a variety of contracted ensembles in the Los Angeles region for artists such as Andrea Bocelli, Beck, and Zelda Live.
Brandon is Associate Professor of Music and Director of Choral and Vocal Activities at Moorpark College, where he coordinates the voice performance program, conducts the choirs, and teaches courses in Musicianship, Applied Voice/Vocal Techniques, Music Appreciation, and Music Business. Now in his fifth year at Moorpark College, his choirs have performed at St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican City and have toured throughout Spain, San Francisco, and San Diego. His former voice students are actively performing in concert halls, opera houses, and musical theatre stages across the country. In addition to his instructional and coordination roles, Brandon serves as the Academic Senator for the Music and Dance departments and oversees the Music Program curriculum. He serves as a clinician, adjudicator, and guest conductor for festivals and honor choirs throughout Southern California.
Brandon is actively involved with Chorus America. He served on the Choral Ecosystem Forum panel, and has presented on the topic of arts entrepreneurship at the 2016 and 2017 National Conferences. In addition to Chorus America, Brandon is a member of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) as well as the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), where his writings have been featured in both Tactus and the Music Educators Journal. He also serves as a grant reviewer for a national arts funding organization. Brandon maintains memberships with other organizations, including the Recording Academy, California Music Educators Association (CMEA), and Music Association of California Community Colleges (MACCC). He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Education from California State University – Fullerton School of Music, a Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and a certificate in Music Business Leadership at Berklee College of Music. He is currently pursuing a doctorate degree in Organizational Change and Leadership at the University of Southern California.
Marilyn Anderson | Adjunct Professor, Voice
Courses Taught:
Fundamental Vocal Technique I & II (MUS M13A & B)
Advanced Vocal Development I & II (MUS M13C & D)
Applied Voice (MUS M30G)
Marilyn Anderson has long been an active force in the musical environment of Ventura County as a versatile educator, director and performer.
A member of Moorpark College’s music faculty since 1975, Anderson’s students have been accepted with scholarships to many prestigious universities and conservatories-USC, UCLA, Oberlin Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music, Chapman University, in addition to several CSU campuses. The founding director of the long successful Moorpark Music Theater, she has directed over 50 different works from opera, operetta, and musical theater. Students from this program have gone on to contracts with professional companies, both nationally and in Europe, and have advanced to national competitions. She has received the Academic Senate President’s Award, the Outstanding Faculty Award (only adjunct to receive this award,) and was honored as Champion of the Arts by the High Street Theatre Foundation.
Her commercial directing credits include The Desert Song at the Moorpark Melodrama, and music direction at The High Street Theatre (The Man of La Mancha,) and Camarillo Community Theatre (Nunsense, The Wizard of Oz, and Pippin.)
A dramatic coloratura soprano, Anderson’s performance credits include a wide variety of appearances in opera and musical theater including her recent critically acclaimed performance as the Mother Abbess in Cabrillo Music Theatre’s The Sound of Music for which she received the StageSceneLA award for Outstanding Performance-Featured Actor in a Musical. Operatic roles include The Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflote,) Rosalinda (Die Fledermaus,) The Mother (Amahl and the Night Visitors,) Mme. Silverklang (The Impresario,) and the Baroness in
La Vie Parisienne, among others. She has appeared as Fiona in Brigadoon, Marian Paroo in The Music Man, and also Elsa in The Sound of Music. In addition to recitals, she has been heard as soprano soloist in major oratorio works such as Mozart’s Requiem, Coronation Mass and Solemn Vespers, Handel’s Messiah, Poulenc’s Gloria, Brahm’s Requiem, Bach’s St. John Passion, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Beethoven’s Chorale Fantasia, and Britten’s Ceremony of Carols. She has appeared with the Los Robles Master Chorale numerous times, both locally and in Europe, with the Moorpark Symphony Orchestra, the Conejo Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Music Theatre, and was heard in a televised performance of Haydn’s Orgelmesse in Graz, Austria. In the United States, she has a variety of television, film and recording credits.
Anderson has also been a member of the music faculty of California Lutheran University since 1992, teaching applied voice and other classes in the vocal curriculum in addition to appearing in recital and concert.
A student of internationally renowned master teacher Elisabeth Parham, Anderson holds a Master’s degree in Vocal Performance from California State University, Northridge, with additional studies at the University of Southern California and the American Institute of Musical Studies. She is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and was elected to Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honorary.
Stephanie Aston | Adjunct Instructor, Voice
Courses Taught:
Applied Voice (MUS M30G)
Stephanie Aston is a committed performer of contemporary music. Called “fearless” in her pursuit of repertoire by Steve Schick, she has participated in numerous American and world premiers, including Luigi Nono’s Guai ai Gelidi Mostri, Michael Gordon’s What to Wear, and George Aperghis’ Sextuor: L’Origine des espèces. She has appeared on L.A. Philharmonic Green Umbrella and Chamber Music Series, wasteLAnd, (Re)Sounds at Stanford University, and at REDCAT. Ms. Aston is an original member of Kallisti, and a founding member of ROMP Ensemble and Accordant Commons. She has performed with Los Angeles Philharmonic, Long Beach Opera, The Industry, Red Fish Blue Fish, Gnarwhallaby, Chamber Cartel, 18-squared, and ad-hoc ensembles at Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt, Norfolk Contemporary Music Festival, UC San Diego, Stanford University, and Los Angeles. Stephanie is an affiliated artist with San Diego New Music. Noteworthy performances include Brian Ferneyhough’s Etudes Transcendantales, John Zorn’s Rituals, Jason Eckardt’s Tongues, John Adams’ A Flowering Tree(Kumudha), Edgard Varese’ Offrandes, Igor Stravinsky’s Les Noces, and Alberto Ginastera’s Cantata Para America Magica. Ms. Aston holds a D.M.A. from University of California San Diego, an M.F.A. from California Institute of the Arts, and a B.M. from University of North Texas and currently teaches at Moorpark College.
Kevin Fukagawa | Choral & Vocal Collaborative Pianist
Kevin Su Fukagawa enjoys playing piano in a wide range of situations. Among the various playing opportunities that Kevin is involved with, Moorpark College and Thousand Oaks High School are two programs where he finds himself collaborating with vocalists and instrumentalists. At Moorpark College, Kevin works with the Concert Choir, Vocal Ensemble, Fundamental Vocal Techniques, Advanced Vocal Development, and works directly with students in the Applied Voice program. On the weekends, Kevin gets to play at a local church and jazz in Santa Barbara. Kevin received a Bachelor of Music in Jazz and Contemporary Media from Eastman School of Music (2004) and a Masters of Fine Arts in Jazz Studies from California Institute of the Arts (2007).