MUSIC THEORY & COMPOSITION INSTRUCTORS

David Nuñez

Piano, Music Theory, Musical Director

Los Angeles-based pianist David Nuñez offers his years of experience as a performer, coach, educator, and clinician to help his students reach their goals and fulfill their musical potential.  

He has been trained and guided within a lineage that traces back to some of history's most accomplished musicians verifiable up to Beethoven, and continues to maintain these performance and pedagogical practices while having a flexibility in a wide variety of styles.  Internationally recognized performers and competition winners such as the Van Cliburn Gold medalists Stanislav Ioudenich, Olga Kern, as well as pedagogues and performers such as Lois Roberts, Eduardo Delgado, and other leading professionals have shaped David's musicianship and technique in the classical idioms, jazz, and modern styles.
David performs locally and internationally as a soloist or in ensembles, and has frequently been selected to represent the U.S. at various international competitions.  He is a founding teacher with the Royal Conservatory's achievement program, an NMTA and MTAC affiliate, and his students have won first and top prizes in many local and state-wide competitions and in a variety of musical styles.  As well as being a college and conservatory full scholarship recipient, David's students have gained similar offers and have graduated from leading schools such as UCLA, USC, Berkeley School of Music, the London Conservatory, Princeton, Oberlin, Bob Cole Conservatory at Long Beach and furthermore.  

David also participates with and directs performances for raising funds and awareness for music organizations, student scholarships, and programs that are in need.  He is currently the Music Box musical director.

Matthew Lourtie

Guitar, Voice, Piano, Composition/Arranging

Matthew Lourtie is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, electronic musician, and sound designer from Hermosa Beach, CA. His extensive and diverse background in performance and sound art includes classical music, playing in rock bands, musical theater (as actor, director, and musician), choral music, church music (traditional and contemporary), interactive computer music, and several Folk/World music genres.  He received a piano performance scholarship and earned a degree in music composition from California State University, Long Beach where he studied composition with Dr. Martin Herman and Dr. Alan Shockley. He has been Assistant Director of the CSULB Laptop Ensemble since Fall 2013.  With the ensemble, Matthew was an artist in residence at La MaMa Umbria during the 2013 Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy. He received performances of his work in Seoul, Korea in 2013, and he participated in a tour to Hamburg and Berlin in January 2017.  Other notable performances of his works include a performance by the Electro-Acoustic Consort at the University of Southern California, and a world premiere by The California E.A.R. Unit. He also sang for a music video by Golden Globe winner, Rachel Bloom.

Matthew has instructed children, youths, and adults for over 15 years. His eclectic experience, from performing at Carnegie Hall to the Whiskey a Go Go, have brought him a unique perspective that gives him the ability to adapt lessons to the unique interests of his students.

Travis Melvin

Conducting, Composition, Arranging, Theory

Travis Melvin is a Torrance-based composer and conductor. He began composing as a teenager and soon after, began studying composition and conducting with Dr. William Doyle. He is graduate of the composition department of the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at CSU Long Beach where he studied composition under Dr. Carolyn Bremer, film scoring with Perry La Marca, and studied with the award-winning symphonic band composer John Mackey.

Travis has led several youth orchestras and was the assistant director and resident composer for the Ars Nova Sinfonia. He has premiered several of his works with these ensembles on European tours and continues to compose new works and arrangements for local performances as well as throughout the country. In 2011, he cofounded The Corelli Ensemble, a community Baroque orchestra based in the South Bay, for which he serves as the Principal Conductor and Music Director.