Meet the Conductors
Meet the Conductors
Our Education Program Conductors
Dr. Daniel Gee
Santa Barbara Youth Symphony Conductor
Dr Gee began his musical journey by learning and playing cello at his public school music program in Temple City, CA. His first teacher, Richard Meyer, who also led the Pasadena Youth Symphony Orchestra for many years, was the consummate music teacher, giving him opportunities to lead the cello section, compose music, and even conduct the orchestra at Disneyland. He actually didn’t start private lessons on cello or composition until middle school — a testament to the power and potential of public school education. Dr Gee first lived in Santa Barbara as an undergraduate student at Westmont College and ultimately returned in 2020 to
take on the role of Assistant Professor in the Westmont Music Department, where he conducts the College Choir and Chamber Singers.
Actively and equally engaged in both choral and orchestral worlds, Dr. Gee has served as
Assistant Conductor for the Long Beach Symphony, Associate Conductor of Orange County’s Choral Arts Initiative. His breadth of conducting experience has ranged from professional ensembles to church and community groups, as well as educational settings. His work abroad has included teaching conducting masterclasses at the 2018 Simpósio de Música hosted by the
Assemblies of God Denomination in São Paulo, Brazil, and performing with the USC Chamber Singers in the Baltics and Poland. He is grateful to include Jo-Michael Scheibe, Cristian Grases, Eckart Preu and Michael Shasberger, among many others, as his conducting mentors. Gee received his Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Southern California Thornton School
of Music.
Marisa McLeod
Camerata Ensemble & Philharmonia Orchestra Conductor
Marisa McLeod, violinist, a native of Newark, New Jersey, began her studies of the violin at the age of three. She received her Bachelor of Music degree at Montclair State University, and her Master of Music degree from the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music. She studied the Suzuki method and received her Suzuki certification from the Eastman School under Anastasia Jempelis. She has continued her Suzuki studies with Cathryn Lee, Edmund Sprunger, Sherry Cadow, Martha Shackford and Mark Bjork.
She was a member of the Anderson String Quartet for ten years. She has studied the art of string quartet playing with the Cleveland Quartet with Peter Salaff as her private teacher, Juilliard String Quartet, American String Quartet, and William Fitzpatrick of Le Quatuor de Deux Monde, in Fontaineblau, France.
The Andersons were artists in residence and members of the music faculty at California State University, Los Angeles. Their travels took them all over the country where they performed numerous recitals and children’s concerts. She has also performed and recorded for artists like Snoop Dogg, Smokey Robinson, En Vogue, Moesha, Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind and Fire, and many others. She presently performs with California Philharmonic and various orchestras in Southern California. She has taught strings for the Arts Council of Conejo Valley and as adjunct violin professor at Westmont College in Montecito. She is presently a Suzuki and Strings instructor at the Viewpoint School in Calabasas. She also conducts the Camerata Ensemble and Philharmonia Orchestra for the Santa Barbara Symphony’s Youth Ensembles program. She also maintains a private violin and viola studio in her home and on Zoom.
For Marisa, performance is sustenance. She relishes the interdependence between art, the artist and the audience. And as a teacher and coach, she finds herself in the enviable position of being able to pass on to others the how-to of creating this loving relationship.
Karen Dutton
Camerata Ensemble & Philharmonia Orchestra Winds Coach
A native of Los Angeles, Karen Dutton began her musical training at age seven on the piano, later transitioning to the flute in junior high. Inspired by her Junior High Band Director, Karen pursued her interest in music at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she earned a B.A. in Music Education, a Master of Education (M.Ed.), and a Single Subject Credential in Music.
Karen is a cornerstone of music education in the region, having recently retired from a distinguished 37-year career with the Santa Barbara Unified School District (SBUSD). During her tenure, she taught general and instrumental music to students from transitional kindergarten through eighth grade. Her commitment to expanding student access to the arts led her to co-found the district’s BRAVO! program, an after-school initiative providing intensive instrumental instruction to students in grades 4–6. Karen continues to share her expertise as a flute coach for the BRAVO! program in her retirement.
Within the Santa Barbara Symphony’s educational ecosystem, Karen currently serves as the Winds Coach for both the Camerata and Philharmonia Orchestra youth ensembles. She recently became a volunteer docent for the Symphony’s Music Van, an interactive mobile classroom that introduces orchestral instruments to third-grade students throughout Santa Barbara County.
An active figure in the local performance scene, Karen was the conductor of the Santa Barbara Prime Time Pops Band for 12 years and continues to serve as the ensemble’s flute sectional instructor. She is a longtime coach at the Nick Rail Summer Band Camp and remains an active performer with the Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) Flute Quartet and the Santa Barbara Community Flute Ensemble.
