Paul Angers (session leader), American drummer and percussionist, has performed on films and CDs and has traveled extensively throughout the world. He has learned several styles and rhythms from various cultures and has enhanced ensembles with exotic instruments and percussive effects. Paul has also facilitated several drum circles in Southern California. Currently, Paul is still performing, part of the Church for the Nations worship team, and an educator at Laurel Hall School in North Hollywood.
Dr. Jay Brunot (choral music session accompanist) is currently the organist at Salem Lutheran Church in Glendale, a position he has held since 2000. He has been active as a solo recitalist and accompanist locally as well as in Chicago and Pennsylvania, and has toured Europe twice as a choir accompanist. He maintains a private teaching studio. He holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Organ Performance from the University of Southern California, earned in 2003 with additional degrees from the University of Illinois at Chicago and Pennsylvania State University.
Marshall Bowen (workshop co-chair) has served as Minister of Music in several Southern California Lutheran churches and is a past officer of Region IV ALCM, having chaired both regional and national conferences. He currently works at Disney Studios helping composers with their music for recording sessions as librarian, orchestrater and conductor.
Mark Coates (session leader) has served as the Minister of Music and Arts and a youth supervisor at Ascension Lutheran Church, Los Angeles for the past 30 years. He also directs the New City Parish Gospel Choir, which is comprised of Lutheran churches in the metropolitan Los Angeles area, and has participated in Synod gatherings and past ALCM workshops. Mark is a special education teacher for Los Angeles Unified School District.
Alex Guebert (handbells session leader) is a percussionist with an M.M. in Music Composition from Cal State Long Beach. He is a published handbell composer and also conducts two advanced-level handbell ensembles, L.A. Bronze and Cathedral Bells (based out of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Orange).
Barbara Hoffman (organ music session leader) serves as Director of Music at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Santa Monica. She has served as Chair of the Synod Worship Committee, as musician for numerous Synod Assemblies and Bishop’s Colloquies, and as coordinator of the Leadership Program for Musicians, a joint program of the ELCA and Episcopal Church USA. Barbara has also served as a Partner in Worship for the ELCA and contributed to Musician’s Guide to Evangelical Lutheran Worship, a companion book to the worship book Evangelical Lutheran Worship.
Mark Longfield (workshop co-chair and session leader) is a graduate from Berklee College of Music and is currently the Minister of Music at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, North Hollywood. He has been playing guitar in worship for many years in a variety of styles.
Dr. Wyant Morton (choral music session leader) is in his 26th year as conductor of the California Lutheran University Choral Ensembles which includes the Cal Lutheran Choir, Women’s Chorale, and Areté Vocal Ensemble, a chamber choir he founded in 2009 comprised of students, alumni, faculty and local professional level singers. He served as Chair of the Music Department from 1998-2013. In addition he is the choir director at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Thousand Oaks, CA and past Region IV President of the ALCM.
Ana Nieva (session leader), originally from Lima, Peru, is a longtime worship/music leader at Pueblo de Dios Lutheran Church in Compton, CA. In addition, she leads worship at Angelica Lutheran Church and is Financial Secretary of the Hawthorne School District.
