People

Chris Halaby

Chris Halaby served as President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director of Opcode Systems, Inc. from 1987 until 1999. Opcode was founded on the concept of using the Macintosh computer to provide a solution for musicians composing and recording music. Under Halaby's leadership Opcode grew to over 80 employees and became a leader in the MIDI and Audio composition software and hardware MIDI Interfaces and synchronizers market. In 1998 Opcode was merged with the Gibson Guitar Corporation.

Prior to Opcode he worked as an independent musician, music educator, recording engineer, and general manager of PetraSounds, a MIDI and Audio based recording studio. He has over 20 years of experience within the music industry including several years spent performing with the George Coates Performance Works, the Gary Palmer Dance Company, ACT, and numerous other musical entities. He has performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, the Doolittle Theater in Los Angeles, and the Herbst Theater in San Francisco.

Halaby currently serves as chairmen of the Information Technologies Subcommittee and member of the Executive Council of the Board of Trustees of the Berklee College of Music. He also serves as a Director of the Music Annex; a diversified Bay Area based audio services company with audio post-production facilities for film, radio/television recording companies and corporate media accounts and Above Records.

Marc Ream has been working in the Bay Area Dance and Theater scene since 1983.

In 1984 he became composer in residence for George Coates Performance Works, a San Francisco based theater company for which he composed music for a number of music theater works including RARE AREA, ACTUAL SHO, RIGHT MIND, THE ARCHITECTURE OF CATASTROPHIC CHANGE, INVISIBLE SITE , THE BOX CONSPIRACY and THE NOWHERE BAND .

Marc's music has been performed in Japan, the Kaii Festival in Belgium, Theater der Weld in Germany, Yugoslavia, Poland, at the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington D.C, the Spoleto USA Festival and the Pepsico Summerfare in New York.

Marc Ream

Marc has also had several collaborations with choreographer Gary Palmer including BLUE LIZARD HIGHWAY, MAD JIGS AND BROKEN SHADOWS, WHITE STONE BIRD, TRILOGY, DARK FIRES and SUITCASES AND STRANGERS. His most recent works with Gary, UNA BENGANZA, and NATURAL SELECTIONS were performed by the National Ballet of Chile in November of 1999. An Upcoming ballet featuring vocalist Aurelio Viscara is scheduled for May of 2000.

Marc has been the recipient of numerous awards including those from the American College Theater Festival, Fromm Music Foundation, 4 San Francisco Bay Area Critics Circle Awards, a Black Box award as well as grants from the California Arts Council and Meet the Composer. Featured in articles in Keyboard Magazine and MacWorld, he has been twice invited to participate and perform at The New Dramatists Composer-Librettist Studio and at CyberArts. Mr. Ream received his Ph.D. in music Composition from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Recording projects include TRANCE FACTORY with Chris Halaby and the upcoming CD ORDINARY INSECT with vocalist Susan Volkan.

Valerie Pippin is the publisher of two magazines for the music industry, Keyboard, the magazine of choice for accoustic and electronic keyboard players, and her new magazine, Music Computers and Culture (MC2), which is devoted to turning music downloaders into music makers. You can visit Val's personal page by clicking HERE.

Valerie Pippin