Hans Ottsen - Guitar and Piano
Hans has played and studied piano since birth. In his mid-teens, he began playing guitar and pursued his formal education as a Studio Guitar major at the University of Southern California, continuing his studies as a Jazz Guitar/Music Theory major at the Manhattan School of Music. He has been teaching guitar and piano privately since 1992 in Ventura County, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco. His teaching experience is pan-stylistic. Honing in on individual student passions, he helps people develop their jazz, blues, or rock skills, as well as their knowledge of jazz or classical music theory, improvisation, and composition. Performance venues include Thousand Oaks Center for the Arts, The Knitting Factory (NYC), The Mint in Los Angeles, and Common Grounds in Hollywood. In addition to his solo guitar work, Hans' newest projects include The Harlem Holler Trio, a drummerless project with Phil Salazar (fiddle) and Randy Tico (bass), The WORP Trio, a guitar-bass-drums project with drummer Aaron Winters and bassist Rim Rankin, Hans Solo, Hans' tongue-in-cheek description of his solo guitar performances, The Ventura Jazz Orchestra (an 18 piece big band), and several other small ensemble projects.
Ashley Broder - Violin, Mandolin and Cello
Ashley Broder is an in-demand mandolinist, violinist and cellist living in Camarillo, CA. She began her musical studies at a young age on violin with the Suzuki method (Charl Ann Gastineau). As her interest in music grew, she absorbed knowledge from a variety of sources: music festivals, camps, schools, jams, orchestras, contests, lessons and performances. During these ten years of classical violin training, she picked up the mandolin and began exploring fiddle styles and improvised music, traveling from one fiddle contest to another. Ashley decided to begin cello in college and studied with Stephen Custer of the LA Philharmonic. For four years, she toured the US and UK with Scottish fiddler, Jamie Laval, performing and teaching at venues and camps. Teaching camps include the Mandolin Symposium in Santa Cruz, Swannanoa Gathering in NC, Kaufman Kamp in TN. Some of her favorite performance venues include: The Freight and Salvage in Berkley, CA, The Wintergrass Festival in Tacoma, WA, The Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, The Barking Legs Theatre in Chattanooga, TN, The Station Inn in Nashville, TN, The Millpond Festival in Bishop, CA, Swallow Hill in Denver, CO, The Northwest Folklife Festival in Seattle, WA.
Kacey Cubero - Vocal instruction and Songwriting
Kacey has been a singer-songwriter and vocalist since childhood. Starting out in Washington D. C., Kacey has experience in both live theatre and musical stage performance. She has toured as a lead vocalist, back-up singer, and independent singer-songwriter for the past fifteen years. Offering instruction in blues, R&B, rock, country, folk and jazz, Kacey brings to the student the opportunity to explore their voice and flexibility with a focus on each individual's talents. Twice named Indie Artist of the Year by Singer Magazine, Kacey is a prolific songwriter. The range and versatility of her music is evidenced by her winning the MAVRIC Independent Music Award in 2009 for Best Folk Song for Feather in the Wind, and for being named 2006 Artist of the Year by the Santa Barbara Blues Society—the oldest blues society in the U.S.—and representing them in the International Blues Competition in Memphis. Early in Kacey's songwriting career, Jackson Browne took an interest and mentored her while she was writing her second self-release, Diamond in the Rough. Kacey's most current CD, Fill Your Cup, landed on the Euro-Americana Charts at #18 in 2010, just under Jackson Browne. Kacey continues to tour both the U.S. and abroad, and teaches while she is in her now hometown of Ventura, California. Kacey has performed for an array of large audiences across the world including such venues as Thousand Oaks Center for the Arts, BB King's (Memphis, L.A.), Bluebird Cafe (Nashville), Tootsie's (Nashville), House of Blues (Memphis, L.A.), Hard Rock Cafe (Las Vegas, Dallas), The Mint (L.A.), Johnny Cash Music Festival (Ventura), Maverick Festival (UK), Birmingham Blues Festival (UK), Borderline (UK), The Stables (UK), Ortezzano Wine Festival (Italy), and many others.
Linda Ottsen - Vocal Instruction and Coaching
For thirty years, Linda Ottsen has been sharing her love of music with the residents of Ventura. Linda started her professional career in Washington D.C., singing with the all-professional choir at St. Albans Church, as a pit singer at the Kennedy Center, and performing opera and musical roles throughout the East and South. She soloed with the National Symphony, sang solos in Leonard Bernstein’s “Mass” at Constitution Hall with Bernstein conducting, and performed Aaron Copland’s music at the Library of Congress with Copland conducting. Over her career, she performed leads in some 50 different opera, musical theater and oratorio works, plus numerous solo appearances with orchestras and other groups. After arriving in Ventura, she brought leadership to the Ventura College Opera Workshop, where she – over ten years - produced over twenty operas and musicals including two world premieres. Linda is now concentrating on supporting the musical arts in the Ventura region by serving on the Ventura Music Festival Artistic Advisory Board and teaching vocal arts in her private studio.