Astro Bug

LOS ANGELES - AstroBug -- Education Through Music-Los Angeles (ETM-LA) will host its 19th Year Benefit Gala at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles on Friday, December 6, 2024. Supporters from the music, film, business, and education communities will join ETM-LA's annual fundraiser to keep the music playing in local under-resourced schools. The festive event will honor Shining Star Awardees Blake Neely (ETM-LA Board Member & Emmy-Winning Composer; Masters of the Air, The Flight Attendant), Music Educator & Award-Winning Composer/Conductor Dr. Zanaida Stewart Robles, and GameSoundCon (Corporate Partner & Leader in Video Game Music/Sound Design).

Hosted by Actor/Singer/Songwriter Karen David (The Irrational, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Galavant), the celebration will feature exclusive performances and appearances by special guests Greg Berlanti (Screenwriter/Producer), Suzanna Guzmán (Mezzo-Soprano & Emmy-Winning TV Host), SYML, Harvard-Westlake Jazz Singers, ETM-LA student ensembles, and more. Honorary Chair Members include Stephen Amell, Christophe Beck, Alvin Chea, Sherri Chung, Victor Garber, Sara Gazarek, Grant Gershon, Michael Giacchino, Suzanna Guzmán, James Newton Howard, Julianne Jordan, Tony Kanal, Mike Knobloch, Christopher Lennertz, Tom MacDougall, Julia Michels, Rickey Minor, Randy Spendlove, and more.

Prior Gala champions include Debbie Allen, Bryan Cranston, Kristen Bell, Chris Columbus, Alan Menken, Judith Hill, Ed Helms, John Debney, Sebastian Krys, Christophe Beck, and Joshua Bell.

Dr. Robles shared, "To be able to expose young people to the possibilities of music is something our whole society benefits from; [ETM-LA] is the organization that is providing the resource that is desperately needed, in order to provide students with this essential tool that is music."

Major corporate sponsors include BTW Productions; Cow On the Wall Studio; 8DIO; Amazon MGM Studios, Bandrika Studios; BMI; GameSoundCon; Gelfand, Rennert, and Feldman LLC; Gorfaine/Schwartz Agency, Inc.; Sonic Fuel Studios, and Warner Bros. Studios.

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About Education Through Music-Los Angeles:
Education Through Music-Los Angeles is an independent 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to provide music to under-resourced schools in order to enhance students' academic achievement, creativity, and overall development. Founded in 2006, ETM-LA believes in furthering equity and access for every child to receive high-quality music classes as part of a well-rounded education. ETM-LA has expanded from 2 schools and 800 children to 41 schools and approximately 18,000 school children in such areas as: Bellflower, Boyle Heights, Burbank, Compton, Chinatown, Downtown LA, East LA, Inglewood, Pacoima, San Fernando Valley, and South Central. http://www.etmla.org

About Blake Neely: Shining Star Artist Honoree:
Blake Neely is a composer and recording artist, whose work spans film, television, and the concert world. He is an eight-time EMMY® Award nominee and most recently won the EMMY® Award for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music for the series "The Flight Attendant." His scores can be heard in over 40 television series, 25 films, and audio streaming platforms worldwide.

Beyond film and television, Neely's commissioned works for The Washington Ballet have been performed at The Kennedy Center, The White House, and The Washington National Cathedral. He was the recipient of The Lois H. England Philanthropy Award in 2022 for his creative and artistic contributions to The Washington Ballet and The Robert C. Jeffrey College Benefactor Award in 2023 for the endowment he started at The University of Texas, which supports scholarships for current and future students to ensure access to the program regardless of their financial status.

He has been a featured lecturer at the Sundance Institute, University of Southern California, Columbia College, UCLA, Hollywood Music Workshop Vienna, Conservatory of Music Puerto Rico, NYU, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and his alma mater, The University of Texas.

About Dr. Zanaida Stewart Robles: Shining Star Music Educator Honoree:
Dr. Zanaida Stewart Robles is an award-winning Black American female composer, vocalist, and teacher. She is a fierce advocate for diversity and inclusion in music education and performance. Born, raised, and educated in Southern California on the occupied lands of the Gabrielino-Tongva people, she is in demand as a composer, vocalist, clinician and adjudicator for competitions, festivals, and conferences related to choral and solo vocal music.

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Dr. Robles's original music has been performed by professional ensembles, community choirs, educational institutions, churches, and individuals worldwide. She is the performing arts instructor at Harvard-Westlake Upper School and director of music at Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church in Pasadena. Dr. Robles served for five years as music director for "Project Messiah" with Street Symphony – an organization that engages communities directly affected by homelessness and incarceration in LA County through performances, workshops, and teaching artistry. She also conducted the USC Thornton University Chorus and was the director of classical choirs at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts; both are among her alma maters.

Additionally, she is a concert soprano soloist, professional ensemble singer, and studio vocalist for film, television, and video games; her credits include "Glee," "Godzilla," "Minions," "Creed," "Lego Movie," "Despicable Me 3," "Star Wars: The Last Jedi," "Venom," "Frozen 2," and "Mulan."

About GameSoundCon: Shining Star Corporate Honoree:

GameSoundCon Founder Brian Schmidt is a 37-year veteran of the game audio industry. As a composer, sound designer, and interactive audio specialist, he has written soundtracks for 140 console, arcade, and pinball games as one of the industry's earliest freelance game composers and sound designers.

Schmidt turned to audio technology as a member of the original Xbox design team at Microsoft, where he was responsible for the overall interactive audio system architecture. In working with aspiring game composers, he had the idea to create a conference dedicated to sharing knowledge on video game music and sound design, so that those coming from more traditional backgrounds could get an intensive "boot camp" and learn the differences between creating sounds for games and for film/TV. After leaving Microsoft in 2008, Schmidt started GameSoundCon.

The first GameSoundCon in 2009 had approximately 12 speakers and panelists and 40 attendees, and was targeted primarily at "Hollywood" composers who wanted to learn about games. Over the past 15 years, GameSoundCon has grown into the industry's largest professional conference on game music, sound design, dialogue, and education, attracting seasoned game audio professionals and novices alike. GameSoundCon now has over 150 speakers across 7 rooms, and attracts over 850 in-person attendees with another 350 attending remotely from around the world.