Biographies
Dedication. Expertise. Passion.
Composer
N.L. Hassett Dahm
Born in Brooklyn, NY and raised on Long Island, my music endeavors in vocal music began at a very early age. I was a self-taught vocalist, landing all the lead roles in school musicals from grammar school through high school. At age fifteen, I began serious vocal training with classically trained voice teacher, Grace O’Connor. My intense vocal work took place over four years in an elite, award-winning high school choir, with solo parts in the recordings of Magnificat (J.S Bach), King David, and others. Vocal training continued privately with university music professors at Adelphi University. My professional status as a singer began at age 17, singing in NYC night clubs such as Rodney Dangerfield’s, and in dinner theatres.
I auditioned for conductor Paul Lavalle, of Radio City Music Hall, at age twenty. I was hired for my dream position as a “Permanent guest soloist”. Providence has a way of playing a bad game. Before I left and after an agreement was sealed, he asked the one question I could not answer yes to….”Can you read?”
A few years later I began songwriting music and lyrics for about ten years with ballads, and pop style songs. Having played piano by ear, I would then record some in a local studio.
I enrolled in college and spent six years obtaining a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing and Science, then became a full-time hospice care nurse, hospice team supervisor, and the author of a hospice care book. Caring for over four hundred terminally ill patients is a great teacher of life.
Music has been a part of much of my life, and though I may lack much of formal training, I am only impeded by what I think I can accomplish. I rise above those thoughts and forge ahead with the music I know I can create.
Thirty years later, here I am again; a songwriter, and now the composer of a beautiful heartrending piece, “My Departed Love” for Piano and String orchestra to honor my spouse who had recently passed. It is a sublime statement of love, loss and eternal love. And it is my lasting tribute to him, and to all who have loved and lost, and to myself.
Music Supervision
Maestro Petr Pololanik
Maestro Petr Pololáník is a world renowned Czech conductor, orchestrator and music producer. His father, Zdeněk Pololáník is regarded as a key Czech composer.
Petr studied both violin, piano and conducting; in 1996, he earned his Master of Arts in conducting at the Janacek Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno. As a conductor, he has cooperated with leading orchestras, choirs and opera houses in the Czech republic and abroad.
He is the founder and President of Capellen Music Production and conductor & orchestrator of the industry renowned Capellen Orchestra & Choir. To this time, he made several dozens of recordings of contemporary, film and pop symphony music. He has conducted and orchestrated music for gaming, TV miniseries, films, documentaries and trailer music.
Capellen Music Production devotes namely to concerts, orchestration and recordings of the film and pop symphony music for clients from around the world.
Conductor
Stanislav Vavřínek
Stanislav Vavřínek is one of the most prominent Czech conductors and has been Chief Conductor of the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice since 2018.
As a guest conductor, Vavřínek has collaborated with more than 40 symphonic and chamber orchestras including the Brno Philharmonic, the Prague Philharmonie, the Czech Philharmonic, the Prague Symphony Orchestra, the Slovak Philharmonic, the Hamburger Symphoniker, and the Gdansk Philharmonic. He has appeared on stages in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Poland and Spain, and Japan. He has recorded nine CDs with music by Mozart, Haydn, Dvořák, Tchaikovsky, Sternwald, Bartók, Shostakovich, and others.
From 2006 to 2010, Vavřínek taught at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, where he was a member of the Department of Conducting. Stanislav Vavrinek is Chief Conductor of the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice, which is valued for its stylistic interpretation and the extraordinary quality of its orchestral sound, and it is ranked amongst the world's leading representatives of Czech musical culture.
Pianist
Rinata Lichnovska
Renata graduated from the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno and further developed her extraordinary talent at international musical performance courses. She launched her busy career as a concert artist while completing her studies. Her artistry is known to audiences in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Bulgaria, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, Latvia, Turkey, and many other countries. She collaborates with important Czech and foreign soloists including Michaela Fukačová, Bohuslav Matoušek, and renowned violinist, Pavel Wallinger.
She also made a number of radio and CD recordings with prominent domestic soloists.
Violin Soloist
Pavel Wallinger
In1986 Pavel founded the Wallinger Quartet which became soon famous as prize laureat at international chamber competitions (Beethoven Competition (1987) .Numerous performances in Europe, America and Africa have followed.
As a soloist he performed with leading Czech orchestras such as the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra, Moravian Philharmony Olomouc, Philharmony Hradec Králové, Philharmony Zlín, chamber orchestra Musici Boemi and others.
In 1992 he became concert master of the State Philharmony Brno (nowaday the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra). As such he has toured many countries and cosmopolises, recorded for different radio and TV companies and big CD publishing houses (Supraphon, Sony BMG).
In the present he devotes himself to active chamber-musical and soloist activities in ensembles in the Czech Republic and abroad (leader of the Czech virtuosi orchestra, guest concert master in the Swiss chamber orchestra Camerata Bern) and since 2006 he has been teaching at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts Brno.
Arranger Orchestrator
Aaron Purvis
Aaron Purvis composes music for the concert hall, films, tv, and video games. He is also active as an orchestrator, arranger, and music editor.
Purvis was born in Los Angeles, but grew up in a small town in Indiana (Tipton). He did his undergaduate film scoring studies at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, where he received the George Delerue Film Scoring Award in 2004. Since that time, he has worked on notable films such as Hoodwinked Too: Hood Vs. Evil! and Dead Space: Aftermath, as well as notable games such as Civilization 6, Off-World Trading Company, Pocket God, and Karateka. In 2013, Purvis received an award nomination from the International Film Music Critics Association for his work in reconstructing/orchestrating the entirety of Jerry Goldsmith's TV mini-series score, "QBVII."
In addition to his work with multimedia music, however, Purvis is very involved with concert music, including works for orchestra, wind ensembles, chamber ensembles, and vocal music. His chief musical influences span a wide range of genres and styles. He has collaborated with many renowned concert music artists, including: Christopher Tin, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the city of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra & Chorus, the Hradec-Kralove Philharmonic, DCINY (Jonathan Griffith conducting in Carnegie Hall), Silva Screen Records, Angel City Chorale, Tzu-Cheng Wang (Conductor of the Dream Lotus Symphony Orchestra, of Taiwan), Chi-Long Teng, and many more.
Orchestra
Capellan Orchestra
The Capellen Orchestra, founded in 2006 is an industry recognized Film and Pop Symphony Expert with custom sized studio symphony (100+), utilizing selective musicians from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria and Hungary, formed by and exclusively used by Capellen Music Production. In 2011, Capellen Orchestra & Choir were nominated for the award for best performance of Jo Blankenburg "Satorius" by the Hollywood Music in Media.
To date, CMP has produced music for many film and record companies, incl. Warner Music, EMI Classic, Disney/Pixar, Maxis/Electronic Arts, Broadway Theatre, Garritan Corps., Magic Circle Music, Two Steps From Hell, Java Music Productions, among others, and its recordings are considered as state of the art within the industry.
Founder and President of Capellen Music Production is Czech conductor, orchestrator and music producer, Petr Pololanik.