Music Director/Keyboard

Michael Blackburn holds a Bachelor’s degree from Saint Mary’s College in Moraga, CA, where he studied conducting with Dr. Julie Ford and a vocal performance with Donna Olson. He also holds a Master’s in Music with conducting emphasis from UCSC, where he studied with Bruce Kiesling. As a singer, he has performed across the country and around the world at such venues as Carnegie Hall in NYC, the World Choir Games in Riga, Latvia, and the Laurea Mundi Competition in Budapest, Hungary. He has also held the positions of music director, accompanist, and cantor at various churches around the San Francisco Bay Area and Central Florida. This quarter, he is thrilled to serve as Music Director for The Artificial Woman and Conductor of the UCSC Opera Program’s production of My Head is Full of Colors.

Percussionist

Sam Goldsmith (Music – Contemporary Practice, 4th year) hails from Encinitas, California, and has been living in Santa Cruz since starting at UCSC in 2018. With a broad array of musical interests, Goldsmith has performed with the UCSC Jazz Big Band as the lead pianist since 2019, studied jazz drumset alongside classical harmony and experimental electronic music, and played a combination of guitar, bass, and vocals in local rock group Snook. They also enjoy creating and compiling cheeky home recordings of their original music under the moniker Quarrel Reef.

Bassist

Kumi Maxson is a multifaceted bass player and composer. They studied music at UCSC (c/o 2019) with an emphasis in double bass jazz performance. While at UCSC, Kumi participated in the theater arts department as a performer and music director for dance production Random With a Purpose and ensemble bass player for the play The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. Kumi currently practices jazz and experimental instrumental music as a solo performer and in a variety of bands. They also enjoy playing professionally for musical theater and have participated in productions of The Wizard of Oz, Urinetown, 13: The Musical, and Considering Matthew Shepard.

Piano/Accompanist

Hyeeun Hahm is a pianist is from Incheon, South Korea. She is active as a soloist, vocal coach, teacher, arranger, and collaborative pianist for opera singers and instrumentalists. At the festival Bel Canto in Tuscany, she served as a staff pianist. She was a piano Fellow at Bay View Festival in Michigan for the productions ‘Don Giovanni’ and ‘Falstaff’, and at Wintergreen Summer Music Academy in Virginia for the Vocal Intensive Program. As a guest pianist for the Mid-Atlantic Flute Convention, she played for competitions, master classes, and the piccolo recital of Regina Helcher Yost. She was a resident pianist at the Low Flute Festival in Reston, VA where she performed the world premiere of the Sonata ‘Spirit of the Hudson’ for Bass flute and Piano by Daniel Dorff with Peter Sheridan.

She has worked in the Capital region with Washington’s InSeries Opera Company as pianist for ‘Magic Flute’ by Mozart, Hub Opera Company’s ‘Tosca’ by Puccini, and Georgetown Gilbert and Sullivan Society’s production of ‘Ruddigore’ by Gilbert and Sullivan. She has also accompanied Victorian Lyric Opera Company’s productions ‘The Merry Widow’, ‘Patience’ by Gilbert and Sullivan and ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ by Barab, as well as Northwestern High School’s ‘Gallantry’ by Moore. Hyeeun has been a staff collaborative pianist at Austin Peay State University in Tennessee and Central Michigan University. At the NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) in Lansing, MI, she participated as a staff pianist. For four summers she worked at Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan for the instrumental and modern dance studios. She also worked in instrumental and voice studios at San Diego State University, CA, and the University of Minnesota. Most recently, she was adjunct faculty at Prince George’s Community College, Maryland.