Faculty Recital
Faculty Recital
PM
Get It! for bassoon and percussion (2007)
Nicolasa Kuster, bassoon Jonathan Latta, percussion
Song of ‘Almah for marimba and voice
Gene Koshinski (b. 1980)
Andrew Beall (2006, arr. for cello 2007) (b. 1980) II. Yearning for
Nicolasa Kuster, bassoon Jonathan Latta, marimba
Prelude and Reflections on Regina caeli
Nansi Carroll (1998, rev. 1999) (b. 1946)
Nicolasa Kuster, bassoon
Wind in the Bamboo Grove (1987) Keiko Abe (b. 1937)
Jonathan Latta, marimba
Motivos for two bassoons and marimba (2000)
Vinicio A. Mesa Vals (b. 1968) Balada Tango Salsa
Nicolasa Kuster, Melanie Ferrabone, bassoons Jonathan Latta, marimba
Nicolasa Kuster serves as associate dean of academic affairs and associate professor of bassoon at the University of the Pacific. She enjoys a rich orchestral, chamber, and solo performing life around northern California and beyond. She launched and leads the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition, a biennial competition for young women bassoonists from the Americas. This competition awards more than $30,000 in prizes at the Meg Quigley Bassoon Symposium, which is open to all.
Kuster is principal bassoon of the Stockton Symphony and New Hampshire Music Festival orchestras, second bassoon (acting principal) of the Monterey Symphony, and performs regularly with the San Diego Symphony, Sacramento Philharmonic, and others. Her previous positions include the Wichita Symphony (also serving on the faculty of Wichita State University), the Tulsa Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rhode Island Philharmonic, and the Virginia Symphony. She spent six summer seasons performing and recording with the Spoleto Festival Orchestra in Italy and can be heard on the Chandos label playing principal bassoon on Gian Carlo Menotti’s operas and other works.
Kuster’s solo appearances with orchestra include performing Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Bassoon Concerto in the opening gala performance of the International Double Reed Society in 2013, Peter Schickele’s Bassoon Concerto with the Stockton Symphony in 2015, multiple-city tours of Kazakhstan, as well as televised performances in Italy and Panama. She is the winner of the 1995 Chicago Musicians Club of Women’s Solo Competition Farwell Award, which she won while a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago studying with the late Bruce Grainger, assistant principal bassoon of the Chicago Symphony. She is a double-degree graduate from Oberlin College and Conservatory with a Bachelor of Music degree in bassoon performance and a Bachelor of Arts degree in religion. She was a student of George Sakakeeny and taught at Oberlin as his sabbatical replacement in the fall of 2002. Her solo album, Metamorphosis, can be found at NicolasaKuster.com.
Jonathan Latta serves as a program director of ensembles and associate professor of practice in percussion. Since 2014, Latta has served in leadership roles in the Conservatory of Music, Office of the President, and Enrollment Management. He also maintains an active performing career as a percussionist, having performed with the Stockton Symphony, Modesto Symphony, Sacramento Philharmonic, Stockton Concert Band, and the Music in the Mountains Festival Orchestra in Durango, Colorado. He is a member of the Stockton Friends of Chamber Music Board and the Stockton Scholars Advisory and Impact Board.
Prior to Pacific, Latta was the director of percussion studies for six years at Fort Lewis College in Durango, teaching applied percussion, percussion ensemble, non-Western music, orchestration, and jazz. He taught percussion at the University of the Pacific from 2016 to 2017 while serving in his role as assistant dean. Latta was chair of the University Pedagogy Committee for the Percussive Arts Society (PAS) for six years and a member of the PAS Education Committee.
Prior to returning to school for his doctorate, Latta was a member of the United States Air Force Band of the Golden West. During that time he performed in over 300 performances as percussion/timpani for the Concert Band, drum set for the Commanders Jazz Ensemble, marching percussion for the Ceremonial Band, and drum set for the Golden West Dixie Ramblers. Their performances included the 2003 Tournament of Roses Parade, the 2004 Sacramento Jazz Jubilee, and the interment of former President Ronald W. Reagan. Latta has performed as a chamber musician in the Durango Chamber Music Festival, the Animas Music Festival, and at the Percussive Arts Society International Conference. In 2019 he performed at the prestigious Carnegie Hall as a soloist with the University of the Pacific Symphonic Wind Ensemble.
Melanie Ferrabone, originally from Panama City, Panama, currently resides in Miami, Florida, where she is a third-year doctoral candidate in bassoon performance at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. She holds a teachingassistant position for Gabriel Beavers’s bassoon studio and is a Henry Mancini Fellow under the direction of Maria Schneider. Ferrabone began her studies in Panama in 2007 at the National Institute of Music with Daniel Agudo. She has spent her summers attending music festivals such as Festival Napa Valley, Brevard Summer Music Institute, and the Alfredo de Saint Malo Festival. She was also invited to perform with the Central American Youth Orchestra to represent her country in Guatemala and El Salvador.
Ferrabone received a Bachelor of Music degree in 2018 from the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) where she attended with a full scholarship and studied with Kimberly Woolly. During this time, Ms. Ferrabone won several competitions including the Mississippi Music Teacher Association Collegiate Competition, the USM Wind Ensemble Concerto Competition, and the USM Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition. She also was an active orchestral player with the Meridian Symphony, Gulf Coast Symphony, and Mobile Symphony. In Miami she plays as a substitute for the New World Symphony and the Nu Deco Ensemble, as well as contrabassoon with the Palm Beach Symphony and Florida Grand Opera. An avid chamber musician, she cofounded the KHAOS Winds quintet in 2019. Their mission is to connect and inspire new audiences of all ages through contemporary music.
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