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Maia Jasper White

Director of Chamber Music
Maia Jasper White
Contact information for Maia Jasper White
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Maia is a chamber musician, teacher, orchestral and studio musician, and musical entrepreneur.

She is the Executive Director and Co-Artistic Director of Salastina, a Pasadena-based chamber music series and the proud winner of San Francisco Classical Voice's Audience Choice Awards for "Best Chamber Ensemble."

Maia is also a member of the first violin section of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. She was a member of the Pacific Symphony's first violin section for ten years, and served as Concertmaster of the Crested Butte Music Festival Orchestra. 

Maia's orchestral work also includes scoring for motion pictures and television. She's contributed to nearly a hundred film scores. Recent highlights include Frozen, Encanto, WishAvatar: The Way of Water, Moana 2, and Star Wars: Episodes VII, VIII, and IX. 

A dedicated teacher, Maia has served on the faculties of the Colburn School of Performing Arts, Chapman University, and the Luzerne Music Center. She has been the Director of Chamber Music at Caltech since 2016.

Maia studied English and Musicology at Yale. She continued her violin studies at USC and the Paris Conservatory. She honed her administrative chops through the League of American Orchestra's Essentials of Orchestra Management program and the Center for Nonprofit Management's Certificate Program. 

Her writing about music has been published by New Music Box, I Care if You Listen, The Huffington Post, and Strings Magazine. She has been a guest speaker at the Women in Classical Music Symposium and on several classical music-industry podcasts.

Maia lives in Glendale with her husband, film composer Philip White, their son Galen (7), and their daughter Naomi (5).

Courses

PVA 31 abc. Chamber Music. 3 units (0-3-0): first, second, third terms. Study and performance of music for instrumental ensembles of two to eight members, and for piano four-hands. Literature ranges from the 16th to 21st centuries. Open to students who play string, woodwind, brass instruments, guitar, or piano. After auditioning, pianists will be placed in sections by the instructors. Section 1: Mixed ensembles. Section 2: Piano four-hands. Section 3: Guitar ensemble. Instructors: Jasper White, Ward, Chalifour, Elgart.

Selected Publications

Eyes Wide Shut: The Case Against Blind Auditions. New Music USA, December 2020.