Meet the Vocalists for “Movies with the Maestro”

RIVERSIDE, CA—- The San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Anthony Parnther will present their second annual evening of cinematic music on Saturday, August 12 at 7:30 p.m. Entitled “Movies with the Maestro,” this performance will be held at the historic California Theatre of the Performing Arts in downtown San Bernardino. A second performance is scheduled for Wednesday, August 16 at 7:30 p.m. at the Riverside City College Coil School for the Arts in downtown Riverside.

The concert will include repertoire from a variety of movie favorites, and patrons are highly encouraged to become a part of the performance by bringing their light sabers and wave along to John William’s “Imperial March” from Star Wars and to Ludwig Goransson and Joe Shirley’s Main Theme from Star Wars-The Mandalorian.

Multi-talented artist Holly Sedillos, who Symphony fans will remember from radiant performances at several previous concerts, will take on two diverse yet equally challenging cinematic pieces: Bernard Herrmann’s Salaambo’s Aria from Citizen Kane (1941) and John Powell and Carlinhos Brown’s Poisonous Love from Rio 2 (2014).

Sedillos is a rare Los Angeles native having grown up in Santa Monica public schools, playing French horn or singing in every possible orchestra, band, choir and musical her schedule would allow. She attributes her ear and sight-reading ability to the stellar education she received there. Holly holds a B.A. in music–with a focus in vocal performance from Dartmouth College. There, she exercised many other musical skills, including arranging, orchestrating, and conducting. After college, Holly took an intensive 2-year Meisner acting program at the Joanne Baron/D.W. Brown Acting studio. Holly is one of the few truly versatile sopranos in Los Angeles, being able to switch easily between classical, musical theater, and more popular genres. She is equally comfortable on stage and in front of a mic. She jumps at the chance to tackle difficult new works.

Recent stage highlights include Anaïs Nin in Anais: A Dance Opera at L’Off Theater Festival in Avignon, France, (Cindy Shapiro, composer), Yoruban wailing solos with The Los Angeles Master Chorale in Calixto Alvarez’s Osun Requiem, soloing in the west coast premier of Dylan Mattingly’s The Bakkai with Jacaranda Music (part of LA Phil’s Noon-Midnight), Coachella with Hans Zimmer, and bounding across The Hollywood Bowl stage in a plush tiger costume during Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, directed by Richard Kraft.

A recent top recording highlight for Sedillos was the once-in-a-lifetime privilege to sing under John Williams’s baton for Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Other highlights include solos for Jeff Russo’s theme to Altered Carbon and Austin Wintory’s Deformers score, featured vocals in a Joey Newman song for ABC’s The Middle and for two Chris Lennertz film scores (Smurfs: The Lost Village and El Camino Christmas), and her first exposed solos in a theatrical release in Mychael Danna’s score for The Man Who Invented Christmas.

Prior stage experience includes the roles of Consuelo in John Adams’s I Was Looking at the Ceiling and the I Saw the Sky, with Long Beach Opera at the Ford Amphitheater, Jasmine in Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular! at Disney’s California Adventure, Aquata in The Little Mermaid Live at The Hollywood Bowl, 1st Soprano in Disneyland’s Voices of Liberty, Disney’s D23 in Tokyo, soprano solos in Handel’s Messiah with LAMC, Zappa’s 200 Motels with the LA Phil, and Nancy in Oliver! at Palm Canyon Theater. Prior recordings include Austin Wintory Assassin’s Creed Syndicate (solos), Joe Bishara The Conjuring 2 (trio), La La Land, Minions, Sing!, and many others.

The Symphony will also be joined by a select ensemble from the Riverside City College Chamber Singers under the baton of John Byun. The Singers will perform Simon Franglen’s Suite from the motion picture Avatar: The Way of Water (2022), Pinar Toprak’s Slumberland Suite (2022), and Christopher Young’s End Titles from Drag Me To Hell (2009).

Byun received his Bachelors of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of California, Irvine and his Masters in Choral Conducting from California State University, Long Beach. He is the director of Choral and Vocal Activities at Riverside City College, where he directs both the Chamber Singers and the Vocal Jazz Ensemble. He has been the guest conductor for several district honor choirs, the SCVA Men’s Honor Choir, the Central California Women’s Honor Choir, Texas Honor Choir Region 9, the Clark County, NV Honor Choir, the North Carolina All State Honor Choir, the Southern Invitational Choral Conference in Mississippi, Tennessee All State Honor Choir, and the New Mexico All State honor choir.

The Riverside City College Chamber Singers have performed at the American Choral Directors Association Western Divisional Conference in Tucson 2010, Santa Barbara 2014, and in Salt Lake City 2020. They have also performed at the ACDA National Conference in Chicago 2011, Minnesota 2017, and have been invited to perform at the National Conference in Dallas 2021, and at the NCCO national conference in Fort Collins 2011 and Portland 2015 and at the CASMEC conference in San Jose, CA 2016.

Author: Wallace