Active as a conductor and bass-baritone, Salinas native Steven Berlanga resides in his hometown while finishing his doctorate in Choral Conducting at Indiana University. He has also studied at College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati, California State University – Long Beach, and Cabrillo College. Most recently, he served as the director of Choirs at the Williston Northampton School in Easthampton, MA. In 2017 he was guest conductor for the Fairfield County String Festival and in 2016 he was guest conductor for the Summer Music Clinic at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. From 2011-2013 he served as the director of the University of Cincinnati Cabaret Singers, from 2009-2011 he was director of the CSULB Women’s Chorus (Now known as Bel Canto), and from 2006-2008 he was a conductor with the Cabrillo Youth Chorus. On stage Mr. Berlanga has sung the roles of Caiaphas in Jesus Christ Superstar, Villains in Tales of Hoffmann, Dick Deadeye in H.M.S Pinafore, and Coline in La Boheme. In 2014 he performed the role of Boris in The King in Yellow with New Voices Opera, and he returned in 2016 to perform as Stranger in The Forest of Dreams. In 2011 Mr. Berlanga performed the baritone solos in Hindemith’s When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d with the Cabrillo Summer Chorus, and he returned in 2012 to perform the baritone solos in Vaughan Williams’s Dona Nobis Pacem with the Santa Cruz Symphony and Cabrillo Symphonic Chorus. As a choral artist, he has sung with the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, The Thirteen, Kinnara, Exigence, Chorosynthsis, Brevitas, the Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati, and BorderCroSsing of Minneapolis.
Paloma is now Program Director for all Harmony Project programs, serving over 2000 students in LA County. She leads the programs refinement and expansion, and is responsible for the strategic vision as well as its day-to-day planning, implementation, and evaluation.

Paloma has contributed several articles to publications focusing on the El Sistema movement, including the Teaching Artist Journal and The Ensemble, A newsletter for the U.S. El Sistema Movement. She is also a contributor in the book Music For Social Change: Lessons For Adapting El Sistema, to be published in 2014. Paloma holds Bachelor of Arts Degree from Northwestern University in Anthropology, with a focus on Ethnomusicology and Latin American Studies. In May 2013, Paloma earned a Community Counselor Certification from the Southern California Counseling Center.