John Gerhold (Chair)

Professor Gerhold has been teaching music theory and ear training at Bakersfield College since 1994 and is the current Performing Arts department chair. His textbook for beginning music theory entitled A Plain English Guide to Music Fundamentals: An Outcome Based Approach

(Kendall Hunt) is now in its second edition. He has been president of many organizations, including the Music Association of California Community Colleges (MACCC), the KCCD Community College Association (CCA), and the Bakersfield College Academic Senate.

Dr. Gerhold has composed orchestral commissions celebrating the centennial of Bakersfield College and the Grand Re-opening of the Simonsen Performing Arts Center (SPArC) in 2015, the centennial of the City of Bakersfield in 1997, the centennial of Orange County, California in 1987, and hopes to compose for his own centennial in 2065. His degrees include a B.Mus. Magna cum laude in piano and MFA in composition from UC Irvine and a DMA in composition from the University of British Columbia.

His BC honors include being named a Levan Faculty Colloquium Presenter (2013 and 2006 with Ron Kean) and a Levan Scholar (2013), the Levinson Faculty Leadership Award (2007), and the Bakersfield College Innovator of the Year (1995).

Timothy Heasley

Tim Heasley is a visual and performing arts educator based in Central California.

He is currently the director of the Bakersfield College Band and Drumline and has held a variety of positions within the Kern High School District.

Tim has spent his recent summers as a sound engineer for the Madison Scouts (2010-2013), the Santa Clara Vanguard (2014), and as the director of the Golden Empire Drum & Bugle Corps (2014-present). Tim marched baritone with the Sacramento Freelancers from 1992-1994 and with the Crossmen from 1995-1997. His performance career continued as an original cast member of Blast! and Blast II: Mix, performing worldwide from 1999-2006.

Tim earned a BA in Communications with a minor in Art from California State University, Bakersfield in 1997 and holds a California teaching credential in Arts, Media, and Entertainment. His background in media production and experience in the audio/visual industry has gone hand in hand with his work as a freelance visual designer and music editor.

Robert Martinez

Robert Martinez has enjoyed musical success as a conductor, composer, musician, performer, and educator.

Among the names of artists that Robert has conducted are flutist James Walker (formerly the principal of the LA Philharmonic), classical saxophonist Harvey Pattel, guitarist and multi-Grammy Award winner Laurindo Almeida, and multi-Grammy Award winner vocalist Alan Paul of the vocal group The Manhattan Transfer, soprano Miss Anya Matanovic of the Los Angeles Opera Company, Diva Jennifer Jones of the NY Metropolitan Opera Company, and Symphonic Rock Violinist Terry Glenny.

As a graduate of San Diego State University with a Master’s degree in Music Composition (1975), Robert has been a professor of Music at Bakersfield College, California since 1989. And from 1995 to the present the musical director and conductor of the Desert Community Orchestra of Ridgecrest, the founding music director of the Tehachapi Pops Orchestra, and is currently the Music Director and Conductor for violinist/composer Terry Glenny. Robert Martinez has been inducted into the “Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers”, for Music Education, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006 and the Cambridge Who’s Who Education Recognition 2007.

Robert has also received the award for outstanding achievements in performing arts and science by the national organization “Heritage of America”, Educational & Cultural Foundation (for arts and humanities), The Day of The Americas, 2004.

Mr. Martinez also served as the President of the Kern County Music Association in 2004, The Conductor’s Guild, The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (The Grammy Awards), and the American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers (ASMAC).

Josh Ottum

Josh Ottum holds B.A. degrees in Music and Psychology from Seattle Pacific University, an MFA in Integrated Composition Improvisation and Technology from UC Irvine, and a Ph.D in Interdisciplinary Arts from Ohio University.

Dr. Ottum heads up the Commercial Music Program at Bakersfield College, teaching courses in music technology, synthesis, songwriting, and music appreciation. Additionally, his music has been featured on shows such as Mad Men and The Voice and in advertisements for Volvo, Nordstrom and others.

Ottum has made several records as a solo artist and with bands and supported these releases by touring extensively throughout Europe and the United States. Along the way, he has shared stages with M.Ward, Cold War Kids, Stereolab, Joe LaBarbera, and many more.

Find out more at www.joshottum.wordpress.com.

Kris Tiner

Kris Tiner is a California-based trumpet player, composer, and improviser.

His music has been performed on five continents, his 50+ recordings have been enthusiastically reviewed in the international jazz press, and he has performance credits on MTV, NBC, PBS and Comedy Central. Tiner has been recognized with awards from ASCAP, IAJE, the American Composers Forum, Chamber Music America, Montalvo Arts Center, and the Kennedy Center.

He is a member of the acclaimed Empty Cage Quartet, and he collaborates with New York guitarist Mike Baggetta in the duo Tin/Bag. Tiner also performs regularly with the Industrial Jazz Group, Chris Schlarb’s Psychic Temple, pianist Cathlene Pineda, the Los Angeles Trumpet Quartet and the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra.

He holds an MFA from California Institute of the Arts and a BA in Music from CSU Bakersfield. He has directed the Jazz Program at Bakersfield College since 2004, and serves as the trumpet instructor both at BC and at CSU, Bakersfield.

He has also taught at CalArts, Taft College, and the Academy of Creative Education in Los Angeles.

Tiner is the founder of Epigraph Records, an independent label dedicated to the documentation of new creative music recorded live in Bakersfield.

James Dethlefson

In 1991, James Dethlefson became fascinated with songwriting.  Putting down his trombone, he picked up the electric bass. This led to Fuzzhammer, a power trio that left a lasting impression on the Bakersfield scene by opening the pub at Jerry’s Pizza. After Fuzzhammer’s demise, James entered the Music program at CSUB and played double bass for numerous Jazz Jam and Coffee house events.

 During his brief study with Double Bassists Tom Peters and Pete Scaffidi, James fell in love with Apple’s Macintosh and the freedom associated with digital music. With this new musical tool, James began work with Brian Sivesind’s theatre troupe Illusions of Grandeur contributing sound designs and setting Shakespeare texts to alternative music.

At the same time, he continued his trio work with musically diverse collaborations such as Outside the Head with Kris Tiner and Kevin Goodwin, Free Jazz Kamikazes with Kris Tiner and Brian Palla and the full realization of Shakespearean rock with Wil featuring Kyle Burnham and Joel Walton.

Continuing the work of Wil while incorporating award winning music and sound design from Roger Mathey’s production of Trainspotting, James formed yet another power trio Jamo with Paul Cartwright and Canaan McDuffie.

Since 2011 James, along with his wife Guinevere have run a performing arts production business dedicated to instructing and mentoring youth in live theatre.

Lately, they have expanded their course offerings to include classes on improv and stop-motion animation.

Currently, he serves as Music Technologist for the CSUB Music Department and adjunct Music Faculty at BC.

Scott Dirkse

Scott Dirkse holds a BA in music from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, an MM in piano pedagogy from the University of South Carolina, and a PhD in Musicology from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Dr. Dirkse is recognized as a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music by the Music Teachers National Association and was the recipient of the 2013 UCSB Excellence in Teaching Award. His research focuses on the areas of music history pedagogy and piano pedagogy, and he has presented his work at the national conferences of the College Music Society, the Music Teachers National Association, the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, and Teaching Music History Day. He has also published articles in Clavier Companion, American Music Teacher, the Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy, and the Journal of Music History Pedagogy.

Dirkse currently teaches music appreciation and piano at Bakersfield College and is the Associate Director of Instrumental Music at Stockdale High School. His previous teaching positions include Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and University of California, Santa Barbara. He remains active as a scholar, performer, and music educator in the Bakersfield area.

Ron Kean

Dr. Ronald Kean, Emeritus Professor of Music at Bakersfield College, recently retired after completing 30 years of teaching in California. His teaching opportunities included choral and world music, which he taught for 26 years in the Kern Community College District.

He was “Innovator of the Year” for instituting the first Multicultural Choral Music Festival in the United States in 1994, was the 2007 California Music Educators Association Multicultural Educator of the Year, and was awarded the Shirley Trembley Distinguished Teaching Award by his colleagues in 2013.

Professor Kean conducted the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra plus the combined Bakersfield College Choir and Chamber Singers at the inaugural concert of the Performing Arts Center Outdoor Theater in April, 2015. The Chamber Singers under his direction performed at state, division, and national ACDA conventions.

He is frequently called upon to adjudicate festivals, lecture, and to conduct workshops and honor choirs in the US and abroad.

Recent guest conducting and adjudicating opportunities include choral festivals in Bali, Hawaii, Ireland, USC, Cal Poly State University Pomona, and Santa Rosa Junior College.

Pavane Music Publishers features both the Ron Kean Choral Series and Multicultural Choral Series.

His compositions and arrangements are widely performed throughout the United States and abroad.

Peggy Sears

Soprano Peggy Sears has appeared as a soloist with the Los Angeles Opera Theater, Arizona Opera Theater, Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Tulare County Symphony, Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra, Bakersfield Musica da Camera, Carmel Bach Festival, Mozart Festival of San Luis Obispo, The Los Angeles Philharmonic Made in Los Angeles Festival, the Pasadena Chamber Orchestra and the Los Angeles Master Chorale at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

She has been a regional winner of both the San Francisco and Metropolitan Opera Auditions and has been active as a recitalist and oratorio performer in California, Arizona, and Hawaii.

Ms. Sears taught on the Voice Faculty at the University of Southern California for ten years.

She taught full-time on the faculty of California State University at Bakersfield for 20 years, where she had a studio of 20 voice students, directed the opera theatre and the jazz choir, taught class voice, diction for singers, Music Appreciation Online, and coached the singers for the musicals.

She retired from full time college work in 2013 and now is adjunct at CSUB and Bakersfield College in studio voice and opera.

Brian Sivesind

Brian J. Sivesind is a director and professor of theatre at Bakersfield College. He received his MFA in Directing from UC Irvine (2007) where he directed productions of Ancient History,Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead, Our Town, Othello, Comedy of Errors, and The Tempest. He also worked as an assistant director on productions of Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens (directed by Robert Cohen) and the French farce A Flea in Her Ear (directed by Eli Simon). In 2006, Brian was the assistant director for the world premiere of the play The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler (written by Jeff Whitty, who also penned the book for the Tony Award-winning musical Avenue Q) at South Coast Repertory Theatre. Brian also served as an assistant director at the Utah Shakespearean Festival in 2006, working on productions of Hamlet and On Golden Pond; and in the summer of 2007, he interned at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival as an assistant director to current OSF Artistic Director Bill Rauch on a production of Romeo and Juliet.

Brian is also the founder of the non-profit theatre The Empty Space, which opened in 2003, and he has served as Executive Director for the organization since 2010. He has directed over twenty productions at TES including Cabaret, Spring Awakening, Into the Woods, Proof,Othello, The Tempest, Julius Caesar, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, and A Christmas Carol. He has also directed locally at Bakersfield Music Theatre (Sweeney Todd, Spamalot!,The Drowsy Chaperone, Oliver!) and at the Spotlight Theatre (RENT, Children of Eden,Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet). Brian has also appeared in over fifty productions, including favorite roles in Angels in America (Roy Cohn), The Pillowman (Tupolski), Waiting for Godot(Estragon), I Am My Own Wife (Charlotte), The Grapes of Wrath (Preacher Casy), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Bottom), Othello (Iago), and Hamlet (Hamlet).

Brian was born and raised in Bakersfield, graduating with a BA in English (theatre minor) from CSU Bakersfield in 1997. Upon graduation, he co-founded a Shakespeare troupe (illusions of grandeur), producing, directing and acting in six productions between 1997 and 2000. Over the years, Brian has taught high school (Drama, English, Forensics) and middle school (English, Drama, and even a little Math) and he has dabbled in coaching high school soccer and middle school basketball. He also spent eight years (eight!) working his way up with the McDonald’s Corporation, where he received the Outstanding Store Manager Award for the Los Angeles Region in 1997.

Colter Allison

Education Background: Bachelor’s Degree from Simpson College, Indianola, Iowa in Sociology & Theatre. Actor’s Two Month Intensive Certificate from National Theatre Conservatory, Denver, Colorado. Master of Fine Arts Degree from University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia.

After graduating from UGA I packed up my meager belongings in my car and drove to Los Angeles like so many millions of eager thespians to make it big on the silver screen. After spending 11 years working in LA and finding some modest success in TV, film & commercials, I moved to Bakersfield to start a family. I’m excited to share my passion, knowledge & experience in a wide range of performance mediums (stage, film, TV, commercial, commedia del arte, dance, improv, Shakespeare) with students here at Bakersfield College.

Cody Ganger

Cody Ganger studied Comparative Literature and Theatre Arts at UC Davis, where she received her B.A. In her time there, she appeared in a number of productions, most notably as Helena in A Midsumer Night's Dream, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, and Jeannie in HAIR! However, her most formative experience was studying Stanislavski's acting method under guest artist Katya Kamotskaya and playing Nina in a production of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, directed by Kamotskaya. While at UC Davis, she was also chosen as an ArtsBridge Scholar, which gave her the opportunity to teach Shakespeare and acting to local high school students.

She went on to receive her M.A. in English at CSU Bakersfield, where she focused on Shakespeare and wrote a Master's Thesis on Shakespeare, Trauma Theory, and Performance Studies. As part of her research, she studied at the Utah Shakespeare Festival in the summer of 2015.

In the meantime, she has acted and directed both locally and in the Sacramento area. Some of her favorite roles include Katherine in Henry V, Cecily in the Importance of Being Earnest, Meg in Crimes of the Heart, Rapunzel in Into the Woods, Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, and Katherine in Taming of the Shrew. Her directing credits include the Tempest, Goethe's Faust, God of Carnage, Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth. Most recently, she has become involved in local youth theatre, directing the Little Mermaid and the Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Robert Kempf

Bob Kempf has been a theatre professor at Bakersfield College since the early 1990s and has been part of BC’s Kern Shakespeare Festival since its inception in 1985. At KSF, he has both directed (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew, Titus Andronicus, The Two Gentleman of Verona, and Twelfth Night) and acted (Dogberry, Friar Lawrence, Fluellen, Petruchio, Sir Toby, Prospero, Bottom, Julius Caesar, and Falstaff). He has also taught theatre courses at CSU Bakersfield, UC Davis, and National University. Bob spent twenty years in Los Angeles, appearing on TV (Seinfeld, ER, Caroline in the City, Two Guys and a Girl and a Pizza Place, among others), film (Nothing to Lose, The Fan, Time Warrior, among others), and in dozens of commercials (American Express, Pizza Hut, Armor All, Mastercard, Sega, Kellogg’s, among others). Bob is also the Artistic Director of The Empty Space, a local community theatre that seeks to bring high quality theatre to Bakersfield and the rest of Kern County. Bob earned his Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Arts from CSU Fresno, and his Master of Fine Arts in Dramatic Art from UC Davis.