Gemalene Acupan
Biography
About Gemalene
Born and raised in Bakersfield, CA, Gemalene (“Gemi”) Rae Pacleb Acupan is a first-generation, Filipina-American conductor based in Southern California. She has received orchestral training across the globe, studying with late Venezuelan Maestro Rodolfo Saglimbeni, London Conducting Academy founder Denise Ham, Eastman School of Music director of orchestras Neil Varon, and former Pacific Symphony music director Carl St. Clair. Acupan graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BM in Conducting and Trumpet Performance, as well as a minor in Leadership Studies, from Chapman University. At Chapman’s Hall-Musco Conservatory of Music, she was named the university’s inaugural Presser Scholar, studying with Daniel Wachs and Tim Hall, and received the Albert Schweitzer service award.
She has performed in Carnegie Hall in NY, the Segerstrom & Musco Centers for the Arts in OC, Royce Hall in Los Angeles, St. Gile's Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland, and Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. In her locale, Southern California, she has also performed live orchestra to film through Chapman University's Disney Pixar partnership, performed mariachi with Uclatlàn, and sung in UCLA's African American Music Ensemble.
Acupan actively enjoys a career as an educator and trumpet player. She has presented numerous educational concerts with the Orange County Youth Symphony and the Huntington Brass Quintet, served as a teaching assistant at Idyllwild Arts Camp, and organized the Chapman University Honor Band. Since returning to Bakersfield, she has presented several children's concerts as associate conductor of the Shafter Symphony to Maestro Stephen Penner including Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf and Young People's Concerts of Civic Center Dance's Nutcracker.
Acupan received her MM in orchestral conducting at UCLA, where she conducted UCLA Symphony and guest conducted UCLA Philharmonia, studying with Neal Stulberg. She currently teaches a private trumpet studio and directs the Concert Band at Bakersfield College, serves as orchestra director of Valley Baptist Church, and is a board member of the Bakersfield Youth Symphony Orchestra.
