LOWELL CRYSTAL
MUSIC DIRECTOR AND CONDUCTOR
Lowell Crystal has served as the Music Director and Conductor of the Westside Youth Orchestra since 2008. From 1997 to 2006, he was the Music Director and Conductor of the seven time award winning Pasadena Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, credited with a prestigious invitation to participate in the 1998 Twenty Sixth International October and Cervantino Festivals in Jalisco and Guanjuato, Mexico. From 1979 to 1984, he served as an international faculty member of the Stadtische Musikschule, Gelsenkirchen, Germany. He has earned the Licentiate in Violin Music Performance (LRSM), a Diploma in Violin Performance (ABRSM), Certificate of Distinction in Violin Performance, and a Certificate in Music Theory from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, London, England. He is a graduate of the U.S. Navy School of Music, Norfolk, Virginia. His additional music studies include the Dick Grove Music Workshops in Los Angeles for Jazz Studies, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts, Idyllwild, California. His principal teachers in violin, viola, musicianship and performance include Eunice Wennermark Price, Joachim Chassman, Stanley Plummer, and Classical Guitar studies with Pepe and Angel Romero.
He is a member of the Professional Musicians’ Union Local 47 & 7, and has to his credit as a violinist, numerous symphony and opera orchestra performances, including the Disneyland Symphony, Culver City Symphony, Marina Del Rey Symphony, California Philharmonic, the Glendale Symphony, Norfolk Symphony, the Peninsula Symphony, and the U.S. Navy Commander-in Chief Atlantic Fleet Orchestras. Opera and light opera performances include, Figaro, La Bohme, Traviata, South Pacific, Oklahoma, My Fair Lady, Guys & Dolls, West Side Story, Music Man, The King & I, Oliver, Brigadoon, Pajama Game, Marat Sade, Camelot, Music Man, and Fiddler On The Roof. Special event performances include the Scriptor Awards for Motion Pictures at The University of Southern California, and the Led Zepplin Violin Group for the opening of the Broad Wing at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. A partial list of performances with the following conductors, artists, and Film and Television stars include : Lalo Schriffrin, Bruce Healey, Victor Vener, Russell Stenger, Frank Fetta, Gary Berkson, Joseph Valenti, Carlos Montoya, Pepe Romero, Yehudi Menuhin, Zino Francescotti, Shirley Jones, Helen Reddy, John Raitt, Mickey Rooney, Andy Garcia, Olivia Dukakas, Dick Van Dyke, Hector Elizondo, Edward James Olmos, Marie Osmond, Jason Alexander, John Stamos, Dame Cleo Laine, Sir John Dankworth, Jon Voight, Tom Skerritt, Gary Sinise, Genna Davis and Lin-Manuel Miranda. On screen film and television credits as a violinist include : Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, Naked Gun 33 1/3, Gypsy, Bugsy, Amistad, Music Videos ‘Desdamona,’ Eddie Murphy, and ‘Chasing Pavements,’ Adele, ‘A Love Affair, ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’, Humira TV Commercial ‘Long Distance,’ and, ‘The Last Shadow Puppets’ (Black Sheep Studios, London).
Mr. Crystal is currently a faculty member of the Cornerstone Music Conservatory as a teacher of violin and viola. Formerly a faculty member of the Crossroads School, Santa Monica, California. 1976 – 1979. His International concert performances in Germany include, Cologne, Heidelberg, Gelsenkirchen, Essen, and in Graz, Austria at Stubenberg am See.
He is the author of Velocity Studies For Violin.
