Director of Regiment, Wind Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, Concert Band, Jazz Ensembles
Kenneth J. Karlin holds a degree in music from Ball State University, and also spent a year of study at the Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington. He has studied saxophone with Eugene Rousseau, Frank Bongiorno and George Wolfe. His jazz studies were with David Baker and Larry McWilliams.
Mr. Karlin was an associate director of bands at James Logan High School in Union City, California from 1999-2012. James Logan is a comprehensive Bay Area high school with over 4,000 students enrolled.
Mr. Karlin’s responsibilities there included three jazz big bands, jazz combos, coordinating the 250+ member marching band and staging the indoor winter percussion ensemble. He was the primary conductor of the symphonic band, the second of four wind bands on campus. He was an associate conductor for the wind symphony and two concert bands.
During Mr. Karlin’s tenure at James Logan, the marching band won the Western Band Association championship eleven times. The marching band performed in the 1999 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, as well as the 2003 Tournament of Roses parade. The James Logan Jazz Ensemble A and combo appeared regularly at the Reno Jazz Festival and the Pacific Coast Collegiate Jazz Festival. The James Logan winter percussion ensemble was a Scholastic World Class finalist at the Winter Color Guard International World Championships in 2004 and 2007. The James Logan Wind Symphony performed at the 2001 Bands of America National Concert Band Festival, the 2003 Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, and appeared in 2006 at Carnegie Hall on a program with H. Robert Reynolds and the National Wind Ensemble. In 2009 the wind symphony appeared at the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles Conference at the Cincinnati Conservatory.
Mr. Karlin taught from 2012-2023 as associate director at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis, a comprehensive high school with an enrollment of nearly 5, 000. His duties there included primary conductor of the wind symphony, the top symphonic wind band on campus, co-visual designer (along with the venerable Greg Hagen) for the Marching Giants and winter percussion ensemble, and director of jazz ensembles. During his tenure, the Marching Giants were ISSMA state marching band finalists four times, and Bands of America Grand National Semi-Finalists five times. The winter percussion ensemble was a Scholastic World Class Finalist at the Winter Guard International World Championships twice. The jazz ensembles produced Indiana All-State players and developed a small group improvisation curriculum as the centerpiece of the program. The wind symphony consistently earned superior ratings in Group I at ISSMA organizational contest and appeared at the 2015 Music for All National Festival.
Mr. Karlin is active as a movement coach and visual designer in the pageantry arts. From 1995-2019, he was a member of the visual staff of the Drum Corps International World Champion Concord Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps, and from 1999-2018 was the visual designer for the five-time DCI Open Class Champion Blue Devils B Drum and Bugle Corps. He was the visual designer for the 2008 DCI finalist Madison Scouts and 2004 BOA Grand Nationals finalist Ayala High School marching band. He began his drum corps career as a marching member of Star of Indiana where he went on to teach the corps from 1989-1992. He has also been an advisor for the staffs of the Blue Knights, Madison Scouts and The Academy.
Director of Regiment, Wind Orchestra, Wind Symphony, Concert Band, Symphonic Band
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d’Lainey Forrester is an alumni of San Marcos High School in which she performed in Wind Symphony, Jazz Band, and served as Drum Major in the Knight Regiment. After graduating, she continued on to earn her Bachelor’s in Music Performance from UCLA in 2017. During her time in college, Ms. Forrester studied clarinet under Gary Gray, Principal Clarinetist of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. In addition to woodwinds, Ms. Forrester also studied low brass (concentration in euphonium) with Aubrey Foard, Principal Tuba of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. She performed on trombone in the UCLA Bruin Marching Band and served as principal chair euphonium in the UCLA Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Dr. Travis Cross. Ms. Forrester also studied conducting with Dr. Cross during her time at UCLA. Outside of school she worked on staff with Santa Monica High School, where she was a visual instructor for their marching band.
While earning her undergrad, Ms. Forrester participated in five seasons of Drum Corps International (DCI) in the World Class division, performing on euphonium and consistently marching in the World Class finals every year. Ms. Forrester performed with the Santa Clara Vanguard (Santa Clara, CA) in 2013, 2014 and 2015, Bluecoats (Canton, OH) in 2016, and the Blue Devils (Concord, CA) in 2017. In 2016, Ms. Forrester earned the title of DCI World Class Champion with the Bluecoats, earning the group’s first championship in history. Additionally, in 2017 she earned her second DCI Championship title with the Blue Devils, earning the group’s 18th total championship and winning the High Visual Performance caption. Outside of Drum Corps International, Ms. Forrester spent the 2017 winter season with Pulse Percussion (Westminster, CA) in Winter Guard International’s World Class Percussion division, earning a bronze medal at WGI World Class finals in Dayton, Ohio.
After finishing her career in the marching arts, Ms. Forrester worked as a musician in Tokyo, Japan, for Kyoto Tokyo Inc. Theater Company. During her stay in 2018, she performed nearly thirty live shows in the Tokyo International Forum Hall. Ms. Forrester also worked as a woodwind clinician during her time in Japan, teaching students at various high schools and junior high schools in the Yamagata Prefecture.
Director of Studio Jazz Ensemble and CVUSD Visual and Performing Arts Coordinator, Former Head Band Director
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Brian Peter graduated from the University of Southern California in 2001 with a Bachelor of Music in Music Education while studying percussion with Eric Forester, Dale Anderson and a year with Ndugu Chancler. In January 2009, he earned a Master of Music in Conducting from the American Band College, at Southern Oregon University. He attended the ‘16 Northwestern University Conducting Symposium, led by Dr. Mallory Thompson and H. Robert Reynolds. Brian has appeared in Westlake Malibu Lifestyle magazine, written for Bandworld magazine, and was published in The Instrumentalist three times, including a feature interview in March, 2013. He received the Conejo Valley Unified School District ``Teacher of The Month” - May 2014. Brian also worked six seasons as a Toy Soldier drummer in the Disneyland Christmas Fantasy Parade (1998-2002 & 2004), and was the Band Director at Valley View High School from 2002-2006.
Brian is the former Department Chair of Performing Arts and Band Director of Westlake High School. His WHS ensembles performed at Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Hall, three times at the California All-State Music Education Conference, twice at The Midwest Clinic, three times at The Monterey Next Generation Jazz Festival, The Monterey Jazz festival, The Jazz Education Network Conference, The Chicago Natural History Museum, and at the U.S.S Missouri. His Westlake commissions include composers Gordon Goodwin, John Daversa, Victor Goines, George Stone, Tom Kubis, Matt Harris, Jeff Jarvis, Matt Finders, Mike Kamuf, Alan Ferber, Craig Skeffington, Scott Director, Patrick Burns, and Matt McBane.
Brian performed with the Blue Devils "A" Corps playing top bass in 1997 and snare in 1998, and snare in the USC Trojan Marching band 1994-1998. He was on the Blue Devils "A" corps visual staff since 2000-2017, instructed the Blue Devils "B" Corps pit 1999-2001 and 2002 Blue Devil “B” visual caption head. He was the lead full time instructor for the 2015/2020 Blue Devils “International Corps,” traveling Europe for five weeks, culminating with ten shows at the Basal Tattoo. With the Blue Devils “A” Corps he has earned multiple visual titles, nine DCI World Championships, including three undefeated seasons, and the highest DCI score ever recorded, 99.65, in 2014. Brian has been a full time staff member for the American Band College in Ashland, OR for the past two years. He has also served as a Master Teacher for four CSUN student teachers.
Brian has adjudicated field tournaments and concert festivals for the SCSBOA, winter drumline for SJVCGPR, ADLA, & PPAACC, and visual for Kamehameha HS. Brian is also a regular attendee of JEN conferences & the Midwest Clinic. His professional affiliations include the SCSBOA, CBDA, JEN, NAfME and System Blue.
Regiment and Concert Band Instructor, Director of Lab Jazz Ensemble
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Matt Ray has been a band director at Westlake High School since the Fall of 2019. Matt resides in Southern California where he has worked as an educator and designer for over 17 years. Throughout his career he has instructed a number of academic and independent programs in both movement and music including The Academy Drum & Bugle Corps, The Oregon Crusaders Drum & Bugle Corps, Nogales High School, Upland High School, BOA Grand National Finalist Ayala High School, and the internationally recognized Riverside Community College Marching Tigers. In addition to his stateside endeavors, he has also worked extensively in Japan as a staff member for such groups as Hamasho High School, Ohtani High School, Yamato Drum and Bugle Corps, and Yokohama Scouts, and as a performer for the theatre production “Collab,” which premiered in Osaka. As a drill designer, Matt has written for numerous programs in Southern California including Etiwanda High School and Damien High School. Not happy to just write the dots, Matt is also an active band choreographer, production designer, and consultant.
Elizabeth Blake is a Pasadena native who began her violin studies at the age of three. She earned a Bachelor of Music Performance in violin from Northwestern University in 1989, and moved to Tennessee, where she served as Assistant Principal Second Violin in the Knoxville Symphony and Chamber Orchestras for seven years. During that time, Ms. Blake appeared twice as the featured soloist with the Chamber Orchestra, as well as in frequent performances for the Knoxville Symphony Chamber Music Series and on local radio broadcasts.
In 1997, Ms. Blake and her husband, David, returned to Pasadena, where she pursued a freelance performance career. In 1998 she was invited to participate in the Michael Crawford “Phantom of the Opera” National Tour as Assistant Principal Second Violin. Ms. Blake has performed locally with the Glendale and New West Symphonies; in addition, she has served as Principal Second Violin in the Riverside and Antelope Valley Orchestras, as well as Concertmaster for the West Coast Chamber Orchestra and the “Concertos With Orchestra Thousand Oaks” (CWOTO) program. In 2005 she appeared as guest soloist with the West Coast Chamber Orchestra, and in 2006 gave the United States premiere of a newly revived triple concerto by Mozart with the Crown City Chamber Players. Currently Ms. Blake is a regular member of the California Philharmonic Orchestra's Disney Hall Concert Series, for the 2006-7 season serving as Acting Principal Second Violin. Her performances can also be heard on soundtracks for Warner Brothers, Sony and Castle Rock Entertainment, and in recitals throughout Southern California with the Avanti Quartet. Avanti holds the Quartet in Residence title at Clemson University, and in 2005 released the first in a series of recordings featuring the string quartets of George Whitefield Chadwick.
Ms. Blake began her teaching career in 1981 at the age of 15, when she began giving private violin and viola instruction. While with the Knoxville Symphony, she was an active member of the KSO Youth Education and Outreach Program, bringing classical music into the Knox County public schools. Since then, she has obtained her teaching credential, and has acted as guest director for the Arrowbear Music Camp Elementary String Session and the Pasadena Summer Youth Chamber Orchestra. She is an ensemble coach with the Ventura County Youth Chamber Music Program, and in 2001 founded the String Orchestra Program at Los Cerritos Middle School in Thousand Oaks. The LCMS Advanced Orchestra currently holds an unbroken record of Superior ratings from more than a dozen festival performances over the past six years.
She became the band director at Colina Middle School in 2021. She is a passionate music teacher who is driven to see her students succeed. She is a woodwind specialist with experience in all areas of music education. She loves starting beginners on their musical path, and also enjoys helping students continue to grow and refine their skills. She has lived the military lifestyle for the past ten years, which has given her the opportunity to build programs across the Western states.
Phil Idell currently holds a B.A. in Music Education from UCLA, where he studied under Mitchell Peters and participated in the Wind Ensemble, Percussion Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra, and several other university performance ensembles. Phil was also a section leader in the award-winning UCLA Marching Band, with whom he travelled across the county for various NCAA sporting events, and even internationally as a featured performer in the 2010 Ekitopia Festival in Nagoya, Japan.
Since graduating from UCLA in 2012, Phil has become an extremely active percussion instructor and arranger in the Greater Los Angeles Area. While teaching some private lessons, the bulk of his work has been in marching percussion education, with emphasis in front ensemble percussion. Over the past 5 years, Phil has had the privilege of teaching the activity’s most elite ensembles, including: Arcadia High School (WGI 2016 PSW Bronze Medalists), POW Percussion, Mandarins Drum and Bugle Corps, and the 2013 DCI World Champion Carolina Crown. In addition to Westlake High School, Phil currently instructs Blue Knights Drum and Bugle Corps and the 2016 WGI PIW Bronze Medalists, Broken City Percussion.
Phil’s own marching experience includes: Pacific Crest 2009 and 2010, Blue Devils “A” Corps 2011 and 2012 (earning Percussion Performer of the Year in 2012), and RCC Indoor Percussion 2012 and 2013.
Phil, himself an alumnus of Westlake High School (Class of 2008 and 4-year member of the music program), is proud to be entering his fifth year as an instructor at his alma mater.
