Los Osos HIGH SCHOOL
BAND, Orchestra & Color guard
Meet The Staff
Solomon Encina is the director of the Los Osos High School Band, Orchestra & Color Guard Program. He was born and raised in Rancho Cucamonga, California, and is an alumnus of Los Osos High School, c/o 2007. He received a Bachelor of Music degree in Instrumental Performance in Percussion from California Baptist University in 2011, and a Master of Music Education degree from Azusa Pacific University in 2018. His professional affiliations include the National Association for Music Education, the California Music Education Association, the Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association, and the Vic Firth Education Team. He has performed all across the nation in various venues, recorded several albums, and has been a contracted musician for more than a decade. He has toured across the nation as well as in Europe with the Southern California Ambassadors of Music. He has taught for several schools in percussion, marching bands, class guitar, and wind bands.
Spencer Baldwin began teaching string bass at Los Osos High School in 2017. Spencer holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Redlands and a Master of Music degree from Azusa Pacific University. He did additional undergraduate work at the Conservatorium Van Amsterdam. Mr. Baldwin is currently the Principal bassist with the American Youth Symphony and a section member with the Redlands Symphony. He is currently an adjunct professor of music at Azusa Pacific University. In 2017 he was named Program Director for MUSICA! Spencer is thrilled to be working with the Los Osos High School Orchestra.
Anthony Clark joined the marching visual staff at Los Osos High School in 2016. Anthony has been involved with pageantry arts for 10 years. He started his performing career in 2007 at Etiwanda High School, and has continued performing in pageantry arts since. His most notable accomplishments include marching 4 years of DCI and one year of WGI, 2 of which were with the award winning Blue Devils (2012 and 2014). Anthony started his teaching career volunteering his time at his alma mater, eventually making his way into a paid position in 2014. He is currently serving as the visual caption head for Etiwanda High School and as a tech at Nogales High School and The Academy Drum and Bugle Corps. Academically, Anthony is currently attending Norco Community College as a Computer Science major, and hopes to transfer to California State University, San Bernardino to complete a bachelor's degree. Anthony is excited to begin a new chapter in his teaching career at Los Osos, and hopes to be able to continue the tradition of excellence that the ensemble has established.
Mike Collins (‘Mr. C.’) graduated with his Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance from Cal Poly Pomona. He has completed all coursework for his Master’s Degree in Jazz Studies from the University of Southern California (USC). He studied trumpet under the tutelage of Larrie Dastrup, Claude Gordon, Ashley Alexander, Dave Evans and George Graham, among others, and began playing trumpet with the Anaheim Kingsmen in 1982-'83 after switching instruments (originally a trombonist). He then spent two years with the Concord Blue Devils ('84 and '86) performing as section leader and soloist along the way to winning the world championship in 1986. Mr. C. was also privileged to have taught the Velvet Knights from 1987-1992, after which he played in the west coast version of Disney’s Future Corps, the Magic Kingdom Korps at Anaheim’s Disneyland. He played lead trumpet for seven years with the group until being hired to teach elementary music in the Upland Unified School District. After teaching at the elementary level for three years, he moved to Upland High School, where he taught two jazz bands, an A.P. music theory class, a general music class, guitar and the marching band, for seven years. In 2003, Mr. Collins returned to the drum and bugle corps world, teaching the Santa Clara Vanguard until 2005 when a ‘new addition’ to the family required Dad to be at home. After a short ‘stint’ in Oregon (also known as “it never stops raining here…..let’s go home”) he came back to Southern California to stay. He is presently teaching elementary music in the Riverside Unified School District. Mr. Collins has been assisting with the music program at Los Osos since returning to Southern California. He helped with the Jazz Band and continues to assist with the Marching Band and in any capacity that is helpful to the program. He considers it an honor to be involved with the Los Osos program! Mr. Collins resides in Rancho Cucamonga with his lovely wife Sandra, their two sons, Logan and Lee and one huge Rottweiler named Chops.
Kendall Crawford is a marching arts fan. He has enjoyed the activity since his days as a member with his high school band at Nogales (La Puente, CA.) till his “age out” year with the Sound Machine youth band (Upland, CA.) a decade or two ago. Since then, Mr. Crawford has remained with the activity and has served as staff member, designer, adjudicator, and assistant director for many organizations throughout California and the West Coast. Now, Mr. Crawford will bring nearly 3 decades of experience to Los Osos high school where he will serve the Regiment in a Visual Caption head capacity. He looks forward to the challenge with the same excitement, and fun loving approach that has kept him involved with the activity for so long. His past programs include: Alta Loma High, Aliso Niguel High, Ayala High, Chino High, Eisenhower High Fremont High, Glendora High, John North High, Nogales High, Upland High, Woodbridge High, among others. Mr. Crawford is also pleased to be apart of the Riverside Marching Tigers Band staff as a highlight to his marching arts career.
Christy DiCesare was appointed in 2017 as the Los Osos Bands administrative assistant. Prior to taking on this role, she was involved with the program on various levels with her son from 2010-2014. Three of those years, she served as the Communications Coordinator for the booster club. She has continued to serve as the program historian since 2013. She worked for several years as an auditor and office staff at Mervyn's department store. From 1995-2006 she worked as a resource aide at Vineyard Junior High. There, she not only worked with students but also coordinated the testing schedules in the resource department. She has served on the PTA board for both John L. Golden Elementary and Day Creek Intermediate.
Eric Evans is the Director of Bands at Vineyard Junior High School in Rancho Cucamonga, California and also conducts one of the Los Osos Concert Bands. Mr. Evans graduated from California State University, Los Angeles with a Bachelor's Degree in Music Education and recently received his Master's Degree (MA. ED.) from Concordia University, Irvine. His primary instrument is trombone, and he has studied under Ashley Alexander, Roy Main and Stewart Undem. Mr. Evans has worked at all levels of education from elementary school to college. He started his career in Baldwin Park, California at Jones Jr. High School teaching 5th grade beginning strings and 6th grade beginning band at Vineland Elementary, Foster Elementary and Central Elementary from 1992 – 2001. While at Jones, Mr. Evans developed very successful and award winning Marching Band and Concert Band Programs. He began working for the Alta Loma School District in 2002 and has developed a well-respected, high quality music program that has received high awards and high ratings for Vineyard Jr. High School since his tenure began. Mr. Evans has been a member of the 562 Air Force Band, The Air National Guard Band of the West Coast, for the past 30 years and holds the rank of Master Sergeant. He retired from the United States Air Force in August of 2016. His duties in this organization included Asst. Low Brass Section Leader, Low Brass Section Leader, NCOIC of Unit Moral, NCOIC of Awards and Decorations for the unit, NCOIC of Sound, and The Director of Operations for the Air Force Band over an area of operations that include 8 states and the NCOIC of Training for the unit. He has been awarded the Air Force Achievement Medal, the Air Force Commendation Medal and the Meritorious Service Medal. Being in the 562 Air Force Band has taken Mr. Evans to play in such places as Australia, Dominican Republic, New Jersey, West Virginia, Delaware, Washington D.C., Florida, Washington State, Colorado, Arizona, Utah, Alaska, Pennsylvania, Georgia, New York, California, Utah, and also Lima, Chiclayo, Cuzco Peru. In the summer of 2012, Mr. Evans had the honor of serving in the Middle East. He was the NCOIC of the deploying unit and traveled and performed in countries such as Oman, Kyrgyzstan, UAE, and Qatar. While deployed, he performed for troops, dignitaries and students attending language school in Kyrgyzstan and troops deployed to these areas.
Shai Golan began working as a jazz instructor at Los Osos High School in 2017. Shai is an Israeli saxophonist currently residing in both New York and Los Angeles. Shai has performed with numerous distinguished artists including David Binney, Steve Wilson, Walter Smith III, Chris Potter, David Liebman, John Escreet, Matt Brewer, Nate Wood, Louis Cole, Dan Weiss, and John Daversa. He has accumulated several distinctions which include winning the 2016 Vandoren Emerging Jazz Artist Competition, and the Best Soloist and Best Arranger Awards from the 2015 Amsterdam Keep An Eye International Jazz Competition. Shai has studied with Donny McCaslin, Gary Smulyan, Rich Perry, Katisse Buckingham, Rob Lockart, Michael Mull, Josiah Boornazian, and Gary Pratt. He graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree from California State University, Northridge in 2015 and a Master’s Degree in Jazz Arts from the Manhattan School of Music in 2017. Shai is currently pursuing a career as a professional musician.
Jose Lujan has taught color guard at Los Osos High School since 2003. He is a native of Baldwin Park, California, and a graduate of Baldwin Park High School. Jose began his teaching career in 1998 in the Baldwin Park Unified School District, where he taught award-winning color guards at Holland Middle School and Baldwin Park High School.
Jessica Ramos has taught clarinet at Los Osos High School since 2018. Jessica recently finished her student teaching at Los Osos in the spring of 2018. She is an elementary music teacher at Bear Gulch and Central Elementary schools. In addition to being a teacher, she is pursuing her master's in Clarinet Performance at the University of Redlands, where she also received her Bachelor’s of Music in Music Education & Clarinet Performance. During her time there, she was the principal clarinetist of the University’s Orchestra and Wind Ensemble. Jessica was on the Dean’s Honor List as an undergrad and is a member of Phi Kappa Lambda, a prestigious organization for those who have achieved the highest level of musicianship and scholarship during their musical studies. In the future, Jessica hopes to teach high school band, using her diverse musical experience, knowledge, and skills to inspire and train versatile musicians.
Pete Sapadin began teaching percussion at Los Osos High School in 2014. Pete is a marching percussion specialist based in Southern California who excels at teaching his students the skills necessary to perform at the highest levels in the marching activity. Mr. Sapadin started his marching percussion career as a snare drummer with the Velvet Knights in 1987 and 1988 under Matt Savage and then went on to play snare drum for the Concord Blue Devils in 1989 & 1990, under Tom Float and the Cadets of Bergen County in 1991, under Tom Aungst. Mr. Sapadin has been teaching and writing for marching percussion groups for over twenty years. Highlights include his time as head battery technician for the Velvet Knights under Tom Float, instructor for the Soka Renaissance Vanguard in Tokyo, Japan in 1998 - 2001 with Scott Johnson, Dave Glyde & Ralph Hardimon, Percussion Caption Head / Arranger for the Casper, Wyoming Troopers from 2002-2004, Caption Head / Arranger for the Yamato Drum & Bugle Corps in 2005 and snare instructor for the four-time World Champion Riverside Community College Indoor Drumline from 2004 - 2010. After moving on from his time at RCC, Pete took over caption head/writing/show design/staff coordination duties for Orange County Independent WGI indoor percussion ensemble. His team earned the Bronze Medal in Independent Open Class at the 2012 WGI World Championships in Dayton, Ohio, and then went on to earn a Silver Medal the following year. Mr. Sapadin wrote the battery book for Pacific Crest in 2012 and 2013, and also taught and wrote for the Gold Drum & Bugle Corps from 2012-2013. Pete has been a featured clinician around the United States as well as in Taiwan, and Japan. Pete Sapadin currently teaches and adjudicates percussion in Southern California and continues to demonstrate his ability to inspire, motivate and instruct students to truly become the best in the world. Mr. Sapadin is a highly sought after clinician and proud to be a Tama Artist, a Vic Firth Education Artist, a Remo Education Artist, and a Zildjian Artist. Visit Pete’s website at www.petesapadin.com
Lauren Elizabeth Wright began teaching marching band visual at Los Osos High School in 2018. Lauren is a piano, trombone, and euphonium player pursuing a Music Performance degree in the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University, Long Beach. In addition to teaching at Los Osos, she is also the Brass and Visual Caption Head at Los Amigos High School in Fountain Valley, as well as a private piano teacher. Her experience in the marching arts includes one year at The Academy Drum and Bugle Corps, four years at the Pasadena City College Tournament of Roses Honor Band, and four years as a student and leader in the music programs at Etiwanda High School. Lauren is highly passionate about anything to do with music, performance, and teaching.
Student Staff
The Los Osos Student Staff is the student-leadership unit of the band, orchestra and color guard program and is comprised of approximately 40 students. The staff provides musical leadership and also organizes the logistical side of all performances and events in which the program participates. The members of the Student Staff work hard to exercise on a daily basis the strongest form of leadership – LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE.
PICCOLO/FLUTE SECTION LEADER
Allen Liu
Ren Zhang
CLARINET SECTION LEADER
Aaron DeNuto
Patrick Li
BASS CLARINET SECTION LEADER
Julie Farraj
ALTO SAX SECTION LEADER
Noah Tsukuda
TENOR SAX SECTION LEADER
Aryan Mitharwal
BARI SAX SECTION LEADER
Kylie Mathews
TRUMPET SECTION LEADER
Michael Goss
David Kwon
MELLOPHONE SECTION LEADER
Noah Gamboa
TROMBONE SECTION LEADER
Arjan Reyes
BARITONE SECTION LEADER
TUBA SECTION LEADER
Eddie Jeries
DRUMLINE CAPTAIN
Roman Contreras
Eric Lam
PIT CAPTAIN
Christian Barrios
Jade Pretell
COLOR GUARD CAPTAIN
Anabelle Estevez
Mary Garcia
EQUIPMENT MANAGER
Chris Glenn
EQUIPMENT CREW
Rachel Chan
Dylan Lee
Emmanuel Leus
Max Salinas
Isaac Shing
MUSIC LIBRARIAN
Joaquin Gonzalez-Salgado
Elaine Nguyen
Aleksander Pak
SECRETARY
McKenna Bridgewater (Brass)
Alexander Lee (Percussion and Color Guard)
Madison Sinica (Woodwinds)
DRUM MAJOR
Ethan Chua
Katelyn Rudy
CONCERTMASTER
Bryan Tan
2nd VIOLIN SECTION LEADER
Chloe Fung
VIOLA SECTION LEADER
Sofia Estrada
CELLO SECTION LEADER
David Sung
BASS SECTION LEADER
Aleksander Pak