December 8th, 2024 @ 7 PM | Glendale First Baptist Church, Glendale

Join us as we celebrate some of our most well-loved and powerful works for brass ensemble and low brass soloists. Don’t miss LAB-A’s festive evening of sonorous brass this holiday season! 

We're thrilled to feature soloists Arisa Makita (euphonium) and Stephanie Magera (tuba), as well as guest conductor Caleb Gomes. 

Conducted by Svend Lyykegaard, Artistic Director.

"I’m thrilled to perform The Green Hill with LAB-A. This is my first time performing the brass band version of this piece. The piece features beautifully long, lyrical phrases and dramatic developments that truly captivate. As one of the standard pieces for euphonium, it is beloved by both players and audiences alike. I hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoy performing it!"

Arisa Makita is a euphonium soloist who moved to Los Angeles from Tokyo in 2022. She is currently pursuing the Artist Diploma program at the USC Thornton School of Music, studying with Doug Tornquist. 

Arisa has achieved notable success, including winning 1st prize at the 2019 International Euphonium Tuba Conference Competition, Electronic Euphonium Division, and 2nd prize at the 2023 International Tuba Euphonium Conference Competition in the Euphonium Solo Artist Division. Her recent accomplishments include winning the USC Thornton Concerto Competition and performing as a soloist with the Thornton Winds in October 2023. Additionally, she was invited as a guest artist to give a solo recital at the University of Redlands. 

In 2024, Arisa received the USC Thornton Outstanding Graduate Award. She was invited to perform a recital this summer at the International Women’s Brass Conference in Mito, Ibaraki, where she premiered the Sonata for Euphonium and Piano, composed by David Conte, the Chair of Composition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

"I am absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to be featured on Anne McGinty’s piece Equinox with the Los Angeles Brass Alliance! This piece gives the tuba a beautiful opportunity to show its colors and wide range of musical capability. It's an honor to be performing a piece written for my current teacher Doug Tornquist."

Stephanie Magera is a current first-year master's student majoring in Tuba Performance at the University of Southern California in the studio of Dr. Doug Tornquist. She received her bachelor's degree from the Eastman School of Music under the instruction of Dr. Justin Benavidez and Don Harry. Prior to her time at Eastman and USC, Stephanie was an active musician in Buffalo, New York, where she grew up. Stephanie has previously studied with Craig Sutherland, and Lon Gormley. 

Stephanie has performed with a variety of ensembles. In recent years, she has performed with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Syracuse Orchestra, the Eastman Wind Ensemble, Eastman’s Brass Guild, the Empire Film and Media Ensemble, Los Angeles Brass Alliance, and is currently a member of the sousaphone section in the Trojan Marching Band at USC.  

In the summer of 2024, Stephanie was an orchestral fellow in the Blackburn Music Academy at the Napa Valley Festival. Following the Napa Festival, Stephanie participated in the Los Angeles Film Conducting Intensive at Warner Brothers as a studio musician and can be heard on The Hollywood Collection album, as well as the 75th Anniversary recording of Tito Puente’s Ran Kan Kan with Tito Puente Jr. Stephanie is also an active chamber musician, having performed in many groups such as brass quintets, tuba quartets, and brass trios.