WEST COAST RAGTIME FESTIVAL

Nick Arteaga

Nick's interest in ragtime began as a teenager in his hometown of Sacramento, where he taught himself to play on his grandmother's player piano. Later, after some formal lessons with Dr. Robert Bowman, he began performing professionally in a Chinese restaurant, accompanying singers at universities and working as a church musician. Nick began taking ragtime seriously after checking out a Sacramento Ragtime Society meeting around 2011.

A few years later he became a regular performer at the West Coast Ragtime and Sutter Creek Festivals. Although Nick specializes in ragtime, he has also introduced ragtime festival audiences to obscure Central and South American syncopated piano music as well as his own intricate ragtime compositions. Besides his musical activities Nick has helped run his parents investment business in Chico, CA and has also worked in government. He currently resides in Chico, in a small 1920s house that he restored.

Au Brothers

Brandon Au

Trombonist, Brandon Au, along with his brothers (Gordon, Brandon and Justin) has been playing the traditional jazz of New Orleans ever since their uncle, High Sierra trombonist Howard Miyata, turned them on to the music at an early age. Among them, they have amassed three music degrees and performed with various ensembles at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Preservation Hall, and the Sydney Opera House, as well as at the Monterey, Redwood Coast, Montreux, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage, & North Sea jazz festivals.

Justin Au

Justin Au, performer and Music Educator with the Vacaville Unified School District, is an alumnus of the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society’s jazz education programs and one of the finest high-school jazz programs in the nation. Playing a variety of jazz styles, he has toured New York, Japan, Puerto Rico, China, and Brazil. On the national festival circuit, Justin has filled in on trumpet for many well-known groups such as the Creole Syncopators, Steelin' Dan, High Sierra JB, Cornet Chop Suey JB, Cell Block 7, Viper Six, and more.

He has also appeared as a guest trumpeter with many more festival favorites. Justin can be heard regularly with various groups such as The Red Skunk Band, Au Brothers Jazz Band, Harley White Jr. Orchestra, Justin has also served as co-director of the official youth band of the Basin Street Regulars Jazz Society in Pismo Beach and has worked with numerous school ensembles both as a clinician and substitute teacher.

Look for the Au brothers performing with with Feebadge Serenaders, Neville Dickie, Marty Eggers and Clint Baker. 

Clint Baker

Clint started playing clarinet in 1980. His first school band director needed trombonists and quickly switched Clint to trombone. In the years that followed he would learn additional instruments including tuba, tenor banjo, and drums. He has appeared at the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Jubilee and has performed at the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Jubilee (later called the Sacramento Music Festival) every year from 1988 until its demise in 2017.

In 1990 he created Clint Baker's New Orleans Jazz Band (1990–2000). For over 20 years, Clint has led a New Orleans style jazz ensemble, The Cafe Borrone All Stars, at Cafe Borrone in Menlo Park. Clint also performs regularly with seven other well-known bands and he is a noted jazz educator.

http://www.clintbakerjazz.com/

Ramona Baker

Multi-talented Ramona S. Baker is the daughter of Clint Baker and sister of Riley Baker. She is a pianist, historian, collector, artist, and a contributing writer to The Syncopated Times. Ramona has been a regular youthful pianist at the West Coast Ragtime Festival since 2012. Her most focused interest lies in the studio pianists and musicians, such as Fred Hylands, Frank P. Banta, and Justin Ringleben. Ramona Baker is well-known to our festival goers for her seminars on these unjustly forgotten figures from the early years of the recording industry.

http://theoldrecordgal.blogspot.com/

Jack Bradshaw

Jack Bradshaw is a classically trained pianist with degrees from Oklahoma City University and Northwestern University. He was so immersed in the world of classical music that it wasn't until 1974 that he, along with millions of others, discovered ragtime. Jack composed his first rag in 1974 and began his four-hand arrangements of ragtime the next year for concerts at Northwestern. A career change and a move to California in 1979 put ragtime on the back burner. His ragtime rediscovery began in 1999 at the West Coast Ragtime Festival.

Although he has performed at major ragtime festivals for the past twenty-two years as a soloist,
Jack is best known to the ragtime community as part of a piano four-hand duo with his wife Chris Bradshaw, for whom he wrote over one-hundred arrangements. He will be performing his original compositions and his arrangements of both familiar and obscure classic rags.

Isaiah Burton

Isaiah Burton began to teach himself piano when he was 12 years old and fell in love with it once he took formal classical piano lessons under Dr. Jana Olvera during his first year of high school. Under Dr. Olvera, Isaiah competed in the 2022 Young Artist’s Competition. As first place winner, he had the honor of performing a concerto movement with the Solano Symphony Orchestra.

It was Dr. Olvera who first introduced Isaiah to the world of ragtime/old time piano music. The first ragtime number he learned was Dizzy Fingers by Zez Confrey, which he performed at Coast Ragtime Society Youth Competition (his rendition of Dizzy Fingers was later featured in the World Champion Old-Time Piano Playing Junior Showcase). This led to his regular appearances as a youth performer at the West Coast Ragtime Society Festival and the Historic Sutter Creek Ragtime Festival. Isaiah’s rendition of Tom Brier’s rag, Razor Blades, won him the Grand Prize and Artist of the Year Award in the online 2021 International Youth Music Competition in the Jazz, Ragtime, and Blues category.

Ryan Calloway

Ryan Calloway is a multifaceted artist residing in Berkeley, CA, with a notable reputation in the fields of design, music, and dance. As a world-renowned Lindy Hop dancer and instructor, he has taught and performed across the United States, as well as in Vienna, Budapest, Cape Town, Singapore, and Vancouver. Ryan is also an accomplished musician, playing the clarinet, saxophone, and banjo with a focus on Ragtime, early jazz, and blues. He has graced stages around the world and leads two acclaimed bands in the Bay Area.

Michael Chisholm

Michael Chisholm of Plantersville, Texas has been a lifelong fan of ragtime since his first exposure to Jo Ann Castle and the music from Wallace and Gromit. Ragtime piano was his first interest, though he eventually adapted the genre to the array of instruments he plays.  Since his introduction to ragtime, Michael has collected and archived original copies of ragtime music, composed rags of his own, and assists with putting ragtime festivals together.

In addition to being a seated member of the Pacific Coast Ragtime Orchestra and The Pianophiends, Michael can be heard performing with Kevin Gunia, Elliott Adams, Frederick Hodges, and Julia Riley. Michael is an active performer and organizer for the Historic Sutter Creek and West Coast Ragtime Festivals and has been a featured performer at the Old Town Music Hall, Santa Cruz, and Orange County Ragtime Festivals.

Jared DiBartolomeo

Jared is an engineering graduate of University of California at Irvine. A lifelong enthusiast of ragtime and vintage piano music, Jared was first exposed to ragtime at the age of two when his father played the Maple Leaf Rag on the home piano. The syncopated rhythms left an impression on Jared, and at age eight he started taking formal piano lessons. After receiving a folio of Scott Joplin’s rags and some recordings, Jared dived deeper into ragtime enthusiasm.

For nearly as long as he has had an interest in ragtime, Jared has been a fan of mechanical musical instruments. He currently owns an Ampico reproducing piano and a collection of piano rolls mastered by such artists as Adam Caroll, Edgar Fairchild, J. Milton Delcamp, and Henry Lange, from which he draws inspiration.

Jared first participated in the West Coast Ragtime Festival in 2005 and has had numerous opportunities to perform at San Francisco’s Pier 23, the SRS Ragtime Corner at the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee, the Sutter Creek Ragtime Festival, and the Santa Cruz Ragtime Festival.

Neville Dickie

A native of England's County Durham, Neville Dickie is among the most accomplished stride and boogie-woogie pianists on either side of the Atlantic. As jazz authority Tex Wyndham suggests in his liner notes to Dickie's "Eye Opener," he's "a world-class keyboard shark." A regular performer on BBC Radio, Dickie's made hundreds of appearances as a soloist or with his trio and is one of the few British jazz players to score with a hit single - "The Robins Return" - in 1969. He continues to be embraced by British jazz enthusiasts, and his 1975 album, "Back to Boogie," has sold more than 100,000 copies. He's produced scores of records and can be heard on hundreds of jazz recordings including several recordings with French pianist Louis Mazetier. As John Featherstone writes in Storeyville, "Neville Dickie's devastatingly accurate left hand shows why, at any stride convention, he'll have a place reserved at the top table."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neville_Dickie

Richard Dowling

Richard has been hailed by The New York Times as "an especially impressive fine pianist, appears regularly across America in solo recitals, at classical chamber music festivals, ragtime & jazz music festivals, and as guest soloist in concerto engagements with symphony orchestras.

Career highlights include performances in New York at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall, The Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center, The Metropolitan Club, and the 92nd Street Y. Mr. Dowling has presented solo recitals in the Far East, South America, Australia, Africa, and Europe. He has been a regular featured artist at the Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival in Missouri, the West Coast Ragtime Festival in California, and the Juneau Jazz & Classics Festival in Alaska among others.

Learn more about Richard's Special Seminar at this year's Festival.

https://www.richard-dowling.com/

Steve and Robyn Drivon

The Drivons became part of the West Coast ragtime movement in 2003 and have since become known to many ragtime fans and musicians as familiar and welcomed performers in festivals and concerts in California. Since 2009, the Drivons have played as a duo. Robyn on tuba while Steve croons some of their favorite ragtime era songs adding rhythm and chords on his tenor guitar.

Over the years, Steve and Robyn have enjoyed performing with JARS featuring Anne and Jeff Barnhart, The Porcupine Ragtime Ensemble, and with Chris and Jack Bradshaw as The Ragnolia Ragtette.

Marty Eggers

Marty is described by Terry Waldo as having "an encyclopedic knowledge of the ragtime and early jazz repertoire". He has played with numerous Bay Area jazz and ragtime groups, including the Yerba Buena Stompers, John Gill's San Francisco Jazz Band and the Black Diamond Jazz Band. In addition to solo piano, Marty appeared at the festival for years as bassist with the Bo Grumpus Trio.

He has also appeared with the Tichenor Family Trio (Trebor Tichenor, Virginia Tichenor, and Marty).

Marty helped found the Sacramento Ragtime Society in 1982. He is a past president of the West Coast Ragtime Society.

Freebadge Serenaders

Greg Sabin & Patrick Skiffington, Justin Au & Brandon Au

When asked what kind of music their band plays, they often respond that "band" is a strong word for what they do. Having grown up in the jazz-infused confines of Sacramento, the Serenaders bring a unique, and often ridiculous, approach to music. Mixing faithful old standards, unlikely covers of popular songs, and a gaggle of clever originals, the Serenaders appeal to every age group. Especially yours.

Banjo, vocals: Greg Sabin
Washboard, vocals: Patrick Skiffington
Trombone: Brandon Au
Trumpet: Justin Au

https://www.facebook.com/discountjazz/

Lisa Gonick

Brining traditional Jazz & Vintage Jazz, Swing, Blues & Bop performed for your listening & dancing pleasure. Lisa sings and plays ukulele and banjo throughout the Bay Area in various early jazz bands. She leads her own band, Lisa Gonick and The Damfino Players, playing Hot/Trad Jazz, Swing and Blues.

The band includes friends and neighbors Virginia Tichenor and Marty Eggers, her husband Cliff Moser and band mates Jeff Green, Don Neely and other Bay Area notables.

Jeff Green

Jeff first picked up a banjo at age 10 and discovered traditional jazz in 1985. He quickly gained a reputation for playing solid rhythm and tasty chord melody and honed his chops with likes of the Goldcoast Jazz Band, Polly's Hot Paupers, Cell Block 7, and the Natural Gas Jazz Band.

It was when Jeff had the opportunity to play with Virginia Tichenor at Pier 23 that he found a love and appreciation of ragtime music, and the genre continues to expand his repertoire.

Jeff has been working with Earl Scheelar's Zenith Jazz Band, Lisa Gonick and the Damfino Players, Virginia Tichenor's Key System Rhythm Ramblers, Neely's Rhythm Aces and many other outstanding early jazz and ragtime ensembles.

Kevin Gunia

Kevin Gunia discovered ragtime after stumbling across John Arpin's recording of the complete Joplin rags at a used CD store. He was riveted—and fortunately, his piano teacher allowed him to learn ragtime alongside classical music. Having already publicly played a handful of rags, Kevin became further immersed in the ragtime world through his friendship with Michael Chisholm. They began performing as a piano four-hands duo in 2021 and have given nearly fifty performances to date. One year later, the Chisholm-Gunia Duo began performing with Frederick Hodges on a second piano; the group call themselves The Pianophiends.

Kevin has remained active in both the ragtime and classical music communities. As a composer and a pianist, Kevin's compositions blend the two genres. In addition to music for solo piano, he has composed chamber music, large ensemble works, choir music, and an opera scene. Grammy-winning soprano Estelí Gomez performed his art song, and a string quartet was performed by the Ivalas Quartet, formerly in residence at Juilliard. Kevin is currently a doctoral candidate in music composition at the University of Oregon, where his dissertation will be a full-length symphony for orchestra.

https://www.kevingunia.com/

Frederick Hodges

Frederick is hailed by the press as one of the best concert pianists in the world, and has established a reputation specializing in late romantic music as well as Ragtime, Broadway and Hollywood musicals of the first half of the 20th century by America's best composers, such as George Gershwin and Cole Porter. He maintains a busy concert schedule of stage, television, radio, and film appearances around the globe.

Additionally, he is a much sought-after silent-film accompanist for both live performances and DVD. He performs regularly at the Hollywood Heritage Museum, the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum in California, the Cinecon Film Festival in Hollywood, The TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood, The San Francisco Silent Film Festival, and at other silent film festivals around the country. He also performs at music festivals such as the Sacramento Music Festival, the West Coast Ragtime Festival, and the Sedalia Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival.

Learn more about Frederick's Special Seminar at this year's Festival.

http://www.frederickhodges.com/

Brian Holland

Brian Holland (piano) is an internationally renowned pianist, composer, recording artist, and entertainer who has enjoyed a music career spanning more than four decades. From playing pipe organs in pizza parlors throughout the Midwest to playing Ragtime piano in Rwanda, Africa, Brian has toured the world sharing his love for all forms of early American music.

Brian performs with some of the hottest jazz bands in the US – Sierra Stompers, Holland-Coots Jazz Quintet, Big B.A.D. Rhythm, Groovus, Swingin’ West, and others – promoting his unique and creative styles of jazz, ragtime, stride, swing, boogie, and blues.

Brian earned a Grammy nomination for his work with Bud Dresser on their 2006 album, “Ragtime-Goodtime-Jazz”. This album, plus several others, are available online.

https://shanesmohawk.com/

Vincent Johnson

Vincent Matthew Johnson’s philosophy of ragtime music seeks to preserve, encourage, and revitalize this beloved, quintessentially American music. His pianistic approach is informed by a wide range of syncopated styles, from classic ragtime to stride and early jazz piano with a particular affinity for the oft-forgotten novelty piano stylings of the 1920s and 1930s. As a preservationist, he has a growing archive of original sheet music from the era and has made efforts to transcribe and commission transcriptions of historical records and piano rolls. His interest in transcription extends to the unpublished compositions of contemporary composers and he has been instrumental in notating works by California-based composers such as John Reed-Torres and Eric Marchese. He has served as a judge at the West Coast Ragtime Society Youth Piano Competition and at the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing New Rag Contest.

Charlie Judkins and Miss Maybell (Lauren Sansaricq)

We are delighted that newlyweds Charlie Judkins and Miss Maybell are participating in the West Coast Ragtime Festival this year. They share a mutual, lifelong passion for pre-1920s popular music and have complimentary musical skills. With a wink to the pretentious barrelhouse hoi palloi, thus was born, “Miss Maybell” who is accompanied by Charlie.

Adding to Lauren’s and Charlie’s combined strength is that their repertoire is built largely on obscure songs and verses, happily and skillfully, imbued with life, lilt, and spontaneity to boot. Lauren and Charlie are themselves serious early 78 RPM record collectors. They know, and revere, the details about the recordings of the pioneering composers, instrumentalists, vaudevillian singers, and lyricists, and familiarize themselves with the nuanced vocal and instrumental differences between versions of given songs sung by the same singers on various “takes” and record labels. These are a "not to miss" duo!

https://www.missmaybell.com/

Key System Three

TKey System derive their name from the Key System Railway Public Transportation Service that linked San Francisco, Oakland, Eastbay and beyond prior to the Bay Bridge via trains, streetcars, buses and ferries. Neighbors’ Virginia and Lisa learned the original Key System C Streetcar ran right in front of their houses in Oakland! As History enthusiasts, the name Key System is a fun way connect to the past: how the Bay Area traveled, lived, worked and played.

Personnel consist of: Piano, harkening from St Louis, Virginia Tichenor, Princess of Ragtime, is an Early Jazz, Blues and Ragtime powerhouse. Virginia plays in many bands at various venues, private events and clubs throughout the country. Ms. Tichenor is an exciting musician and fantastic person.

Jeff Green started playing Plectrum Banjo and guitar at age 10. Like Virginia, Jeff plays regularly with many bands in the Greater Bay Area. His solid rhythm and creative chord soloing keep him in much demand on strings. Also, a great vocalist, with a deep love of Fats Waller and Andy Razaf- you will hear his sweet crooning of whatever this week’s earworm is.

Vocalist, Uke/Tenor Banjo & Guitarist, bandleader and dancer- Lisa Gonick has worn many musical hats. Currently, Lisa helps run Zenith Jazz band and Key System. Her passion for Early Jazz, Blues and Swing shows in her creative arrangements and danceable tempos. As a Lindy hopper/Swing dancer, she knows what it takes to keep dancers on the floor and listeners of all ages happy!

www.lisagonick.com

Carl Sonny Leyland

Carl Sonny Leyland was born & raised on the South Coast of England, growing up close to the city of Southampton.

At age 15 Leyland discovered boogie woogie and Leyland was inspired to go to the piano & begin on a path that would become his life's purpose. Sonny’s repertoire now includes authentic blues & early rock & roll stylings, rockabilly & western swing, ragtime & early jazz styles which has proven to be a versatile combination for success over the years.

Whether playing solo or with others, Sonny’s playing displays an infectious spontaneity, providing plenty of surprises for the listener. While he possesses the necessary vocabulary to pay tribute to the greats of old, he refuses to limit himself to this & prefers to let each performance be an opportunity to say something new. His repertoire spans the Ragtime era to the 1950s and includes original “Leyland” material.

https://www.carlsonnyleyland.com/

Max Libertor

Being aged 16, Max is a new youth performer to the festival lineup. Known for his masterful playing of Tom Brier and other ragtime pieces, he was discovered as a walk-in at last year's West Coast Ragtime Festival where he wowed us all.

Since then his life has been blooming. He is this year's winner of the Ragtime Kid award at the Scott Joplin Festival in Sedalia. He was also a youth performer on this year's Sutter Creek Festival program.

William McNally

William McNally is a two–time winner of the World Championship Old–Time Piano Playing Contest, and three–time winner of their New Rag Contest. Since 2019 he has served as the Scott Joplin Foundation’s Ragtime Kid Program Director.

Piano Puzzles & Magic Trix, McNally’s album of the complete solo piano works of Arthur Schutt paired with more recent novelty works by Vincent Johnson, also includes the premiere recording of four works by Art Tatum, has just been released. Previously, Dream Shadows was released to high acclaim: reviews in Fanfare Magazine—two of them—called the recording “highly natural and persuasive…his prismatic range of touch and tone allows him to trace out the shifting moods of the music—from the sentimental to the nonchalant to the smashing—with unusual sensitivity…the disc is so good, from beginning to end, that it’s hard to know what to highlight…a treasure!” McNally’s “serious classical” CD with works by Brahms, Reger and Busoni was lauded by the New York Times as “effortless…fascinating…mercurial… and intelligently curious.”

He completed his doctorate at CUNY’s Graduate Center, where he studied with Ursula Oppens and wrote a ragtime–focused dissertation. He has served on the faculties of Texas State University, CUNY Queens College, and Temple University. He currently lives in Cleveland, Ohio with his wife Daria and ten–year–old son Nick, where he teaches privately and spends most of his “free” time cooking, biking, and thinking about Bach and syncopated stuff.

https://www.williammcnally.com/

T. J. Müller

TJ Müller is a bandleader and multi-instrumentalist based out of St. Louis, where he directs both The Arcadia Dance Orchestra and The Gaslight Squares. Although based in Missouri, T.J. was born in Canterbury, England. Always traveling from a young age, T.J. began playing traditional jazz cornet with his family band led by his father, Rev. Anton Muller. While living in Edinburgh, T.J. was offered a job touring with the Americana group Pokey Lafarge.

After leaving the Lafarge ensemble, T.J. established his own groups in St. Louis and began specializing in the historic jazz music of Missouri. T.J. can be found performing around St. Louis weekly, preaching about good St. Louis music from Ragtime to Swing.

https://tjmullermusic.com/

   
Left to Right:

Michael Chisholm, piano
Susanne Wong, violin
Judy McCall, cello
Adam Roderick, drums
Mike Hart, tuba
Sue Horn, flute
Mike Young, clarinet
Brian Gayek, trombone
James Rogers, leader, cornet

Pacific Coast Ragtime Orchestra

PCRO was organized in 1980 by music teachers in coastal towns south of San Francisco, and brings the sounds of the Ragtime Era to life. PCRO's spirited, authentic style invigorates the music of such ragtime legends as Scott Joplin, Joseph Lamb, Eubie Blake, James Scott, Percy Wenrich and Irving Berlin.

Will Perkins

Will Perkins has been performing at ragtime and jazz festivals since the age of 14. His love for traditional jazz and ragtime piano has led him to perform at music festivals around the United States and beyond. Will has been a featured performer at the Bohem Ragtime and Early Jazz Festival in Kecskemet, Hungary, and at the Buenos Aires Ragtime Festival in Argentina. He has also performed at the West Coast, Scott Joplin, Sutter Creek and many other festivals around the country. When Will isn’t playing the piano, you will probably find him working on them! Professionally, Will is a piano technician and currently resides in Idaho Falls, Idaho with his wife McKenna.

https://willperkinspianos.com/will-the-musician

Richard Powers

Richard Powers is an expert in American social dance, noted for his choreographies for dozens of stage productions and films, and his workshops in Paris, Rome, Prague, London, Venice, Geneva, St. Petersburg and Tokyo as well as across the U.S. and Canada. He has been researching and reconstructing historic social dances for twenty-five years and is currently a full-time instructor at Stanford University Dance Division. He teaches a variety of social dance history and practicum classes for the dance division of the Stanford University Drama Department. He joined the Dance Faculty in 1992 and serves as a faculty liaison to the Friends of Dance at Stanford organization.

Richard co-founded the Flying Cloud Academy of Vintage Dance (1981) to produce large-scale monthly recreations of Victorian and Ragtime Balls. Formed the Flying Cloud Troupe, a 30-member performing company (1982) and co-founded the supporting Fleeting Moments Waltz & Quickstep Orchestra.

Richard started and directed the Stanford Vintage Dance Ensemble (1992) and serves as an advisor and choreographer for the Swingtime Dance Troupe. 

https://www.richardpowers.com/

The Ragabonds

The cheerful ragtime combination of piano, banjo, tuba, and drums was first presented on record more than 80 years ago by members of the Lu Watters Yerba Buena Jazz Band (including pianist Wally Rose). Their recording of the "Black and White Rag" caught on and helped to kickstart the first ragtime revival wave in the 1940s.

In 2024, Brian Holland and The Ragabonds revive the instrumentation - but with plenty of surprising twists! The playlist is a mix of old and new compositions spanning nearly a century, yet sounds fresh and contemporary in these performances by The Ragabonds. Musicians include: Brian Holland (piano), Katie Cavera (banjo), Paul Hagglund (tuba), and Gareth Price (drums).

Diane Fay Skomars

Diane Fay Skomars is a proud Lutheran/Duluthian; Bulldog/Democrat; Finnish/Feminist. Diane holds two degrees in communication and put them to good use in higher education, serving three institutions in the areas of Student Affairs and Development. She has also been a professional photographer, public speaker, and traveler to 75 countries. Her first book, Have I Taught You Everything I Know? was written following 9/11 and dedicated to her daughter, Monette. Loving Mr. Ragtime is dedicated to her late husband, Max Morath. Although claiming to be an introvert, Diane found joy when she wrote and delivered her one woman comedy routine, "One Night Stand: The Lady Turns 80 and Has Something to Say." Diane is currently working on a collection of short stories including "The Question of Santa."

Diane will be giving a Special Seminar about her time with Max Morath at this year's festival.

Bub & Petra Sullivan

A Sacramento native, Petra has a degree in Music and teaches violin and piano. Bub, originally from Chicago, also studied classical piano as a child, then later took up string instruments before discovering ragtime.

Jared Z. Szabo

A Southern California native, Jared started his music and ragtime journey in 2021. Since then, he has earned significant achievements, becoming the New Rag Champion (winning with his composition Gateway Rag) and 2nd-Place Junior Champion of the 2025 World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest. He is also honored to have been chosen as the 2025 Ragtime Kid for the Scott Joplin Ragtime Foundation in Sedalia, MO. Jared has been studying piano under Dr. William McNally via virtual lessons since early 2025.

Jared was first introduced to ragtime in 2021 by way of his electronic keyboard which had “The Entertainer” as one of its sample songs. He has been enamored with the ragtime style ever since. He has had the privilige of attending and performing at several ragtime festivals including the Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival, the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest & Festival, the West Coast Ragtime Festival, and the Historic Sutter Creek Ragtime Festival. These all furthered his love for this music genre and gave him opportunities to meet and play for other ragtime enthusiasts. Jared currently performs at the Rose Leaf Ragtime Club in South Pasadena and is a favorite artist at Varenita Senior Living in Simi Valley.

In addition to playing and composing ragtime, Jared enjoys transcribing vintage sheet music and piano rolls to post on his MuseScore profile (sjoplinfan), discovering new rags from fellow composers, and researching the history of ragtime. A major inspiration for him is Max Kortlander, a very talented piano roll artist and composer who produced many arrangements of ragtime and ragtime-related music. Outside of ragtime, Jared enjoys volunteer work, camping and other outdoor activities with his Trail Life troop, and participating in his teen discipleship group at church. Jared enjoys architecture and urban planning, and is particularly fascinated with the city of St. Louis for its history, contributions to American music, and its architectural significance. He hopes to pursue a career in architecture and continue studying music in higher education.

https://jzsragtime.com

Virginia Tichenor

Virginia has been consumed by ragtime her entire life, as the daughter of Trebor Tichenor, the noted ragtime scholar, pianist, collector and founder of the St. Louis Ragtimers. She studied music at the St. Louis Community Association for the Arts and took advanced training from concert pianist, John Phillips. Always at the crossroads of the ragtime revival, her parental home houses the world's largest library of ragtime sheet music and piano rolls. Virginia grew up with legends like Eubie Blake, Max Morath and Butch Thompson chatting in her own living room.

Her father was advisor-confidant for most of the ragtime community, so Virginia often heard new rags when they were forming in the minds of their composers. The topic of her college research project? The ragtime revival, of course! In 1998, Virginia released her first solo recording, a CD entitled Virginia's Favorites. It includes four two-piano duets with her father, Trebor.

Matt Tolentino

Matt was born in Dallas, Texas. Music has always been the center of Matt's life. His musical adventures began at age 11, playing clarinet in his elementary school band. Although he is a multi-instrumentalist — playing accordion, clarinet, saxophone, tuba, piano, tenor guitar, banjo, and mallet percussion — the accordion is Matt's first musical "love."

Matt eventually put together his 18-piece Singapore Slingers Orchestra, which plays a wide variety of musical styles dedicated to ragtime, traditional jazz, and popular songs of 1895 to 1935.

He also leads The Matt Tolentino Band, as well as a polka band, The Royal Klobasneks. His ensembles perform in various sizes clubs, festivals, special events, and private parties.

https://www.matttolentino.com/

Tadao Tomokiyo

Tadao discovered the piano when he was three and hasn’t stopped playing since! He studies classical piano and horn, but ragtime holds a special place in his heart. He is in his first year at Yale College, where he studies piano with Elizabeth Parisot, plays horn with the Yale Symphony Orchestra, and sings with Redhot & Blue, Yale’s jazz a capella group.

Tadao’s classical training also includes Interlochen, Tanglewood, and the InterHarmony and Perugia festivals in Italy. He has been named winner of the Three Rivers Young Peoples Orchestras’ concerto competition and winner of the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra’s conducting competition.

Tadao has been featured on the West Coast Ragtime Society’s Spotlighting Ragtime Youth concert and the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest’s Junior Showcase. In addition, he has performed at the Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival for the past few years, and was selected as the Ragtime Kid of 2022.

John Reed-Torres

John Reed-Torres was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. He first encountered ragtime music during a school recess, hearing a piano version of Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer" from an ice cream truck. This experience sparked his lifelong passion for ragtime and other historical antiquities.

Reed-Torres is a largely self-taught musician who began learning to play piano on any available instrument. He joined the high school marching band, learning to play the trombone and the bass clef, which he later used to aid his self-taught treble clef skills. After high school, he took music classes at Pasadena City College and received lessons in classical piano through work-study scholarships.

John performs at various Los Angeles and Southern California venues, including the Rose Leaf Club and the West Coast Ragtime Festival. Reed-Torres composes his own rags, such as "Spring Street Rag" and "The Belle of Los Angeles," which showcase his unique style while honoring the tradition of early ragtime masters. He has released self-produced recordings of his original work, as well as performances of classic rags by African American composers like Scott Joplin and Arthur Marshall.

Reed-Torres is a vocal advocate for the preservation and understanding of ragtime history and its connection to music and culture. He aims to connect his diverse ethnic heritage to the broader community through his music, which he views as a universal language. In addition to his musical pursuits, he also aspires to become a mechanical engineer and architect.

Virginia Tichenor's Ragtime Quartet

The quartet features pianist Virginia Tichenor with a stellar line-up of musicians playing ragtime and traditional jazz music for your listening and dancing pleasure. The quartet features Justin Au on trumpet, Ryan Calloway on clarinet, banjo and vocals, and Marty Eggers on tuba.

Joan Walton

Joan Walton's high-energy teaching style and ability to communicate concepts to all levels of learners have become well known at universities and dance studios across the country. She has deep knowledge of Historical and Social Dance, Tap Dance, Musical Theatre Choreography, and Musical Theatredance Styles.

Ms. Walton currently teaches Dance in World Cultures, Dance Appreciation, and Dance in Film.

She has performed and choreographed all over the country, taught Vintage Dance workshops both internationally and at home, and received a Masters degree in Dance Education from Stanford University in 1999.