The Dragon Kim Foundation is proud to be partnering with the Orange County School of the Arts to launch a free 10-week music instruction program, starting January 2016.  Through the generous donation of time from OCSA teachers and students, and the generous donations of patrons such as yourselves, we are making it possible for young elementary school students in Santa Ana to learn to play the trumpet and trombone, to be part of an ensemble, and to help fill the world with music.

We would like to introduce you to the OCSA instructors and student volunteers that will be making this program possible, as well as to the students that are participating in our program.  Let’s start first with music director, Jeffrey de Seriere, in his own words.

Your name: Jeffrey E. de Seriere II

Your title: Music Director

Your instrument(s): Saxophone

What is your favorite song or piece of music?
I don’t think I would be able to narrow this down to one piece, but the music of Gustav Mahler has a special place in my heart.

Please share a significant memory/moment/turning point, having to do with music.
When I was a freshman in high school, I watched a VHS (remember those?) of a man namedLeonard Bernstein conducting his operetta Candide.  I knew nothing about Leonard Bernstein, nor did I know what Candide was, but after watching him conduct the overture, I knew I was going to spend my life doing what he was doing.  11 years later, I have degrees in music education and conducting, and I’m doing what I love.

If you could have any one superpower, what would it be?
It would be the power to listen more intently to the world, specifically the music that fills it.