Strings & Songs

Violinist Chase Spruill has gained an international reputation as a performer of contemporary music with a particular focus on minimalist masters.  In 2020, BBC Music Magazine hailed his debut solo album of the music of British composer Michael Nyman, citing that,” Spruill plays with great spirit…and a great sense of presence…” as well as calling him “…an engaging and convincing advocate.”  He has a long-standing relationship to the music of Philip Glass and was listed in Strings Magazine as being one of the noteworthy interpreters of his music.  He appears multiple times on Glass’s own record label Orange Mountain Music and tours, records and performs as a duo alongside longtime music director of the Philip Glass Ensemble Michael Riesman.  Spruill’s follow-up solo album A Common Time released in 2022 and was critically lauded by NPR, Apple Music, the French classical magazine DIAPASON, and Composer Magazine.  The most recent Glass-Spruill collaboration led to the formation of a new, actively touring string quartet called CS4 which premiered and released the recording of Glass’s newest String Quartet no.9 (“King Lear”).

He’s collaborated with notable artists such as Kronos Quartet, pianist Emmanuel Ax, composers Nico Muhly, Jessie Montgomery, and BAFTA-nominated Brian Reitzell, releasing music from the acclaimed NBC television series Hannibal and more.  He was a core faculty member with the Nationally celebrated not-for-profit organization Community MusicWorks in Providence, RI from 2012-2017, as well as a Visiting Professor of Violin and Orchestral Studies at Wheaton College in MA from 2015-2017.  Dedicated to exploring potential intersections between music, education and social justice with young people, Spruill returned to his hometown in Vacaville, CA in 2017 to develop and run the music program at Sierra Vista K-8 where he remains on faculty.  He was Concertmaster of Camellia Symphony Orchestra from 2019-2024 and in 2022, was appointed permanent Concertmaster for Auburn Symphony under new music director Maestro Ryan Murray.  He recently joined the faculty of Sacramento State University’s School of Music in the Fall of 2024.

Jana Dykhuis, soprano, began her training in New Mexico with the Santa Fe Opera Young Voices. While attending Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Jana earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree. After moving to North Carolina to teach, she continued her career in Jakarta, Indonesia, teaching and overseeing the fine arts department at Sekolah Pelita Harapan Kemang Village. While there, she earned a Master of Arts in Music and Worship before returning to the States. 

Beyond her solo work, Jana has performed and toured with choral groups such as the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus, the Calvin College Alumni Choir, and The Charlotte Master Chorale. She currently performs as a member and frequent soloist of The Pops Chorale here in Placer County and serves as an adjunct Professor of Voice at Jessup University. As Founder & Director of The Culture House, Jana hopes to inspire people of all ages to explore, create, and grow through quality arts education in our community. 

Originally from Richmond, Virginia, Elena received her Bachelor of Arts in Cello Performance from Virginia Tech in 2019. There, she served as principal of the New River Valley Symphony and studied with Alan Weinstein. She began her teaching career as a student teacher for the Virginia Tech String Project and served as its director upon graduation.

Elena taught middle and high school orchestra at Marysville Charter Academy for the Arts in California from 2021 to 2023. Her students won awards and achieved high standards and scores at local and state adjudications. Alongside her teaching at MCAA, Elena was also the graduate student teacher for the Sacramento State String Project. As a part of this position, she conducted research and wrote a proposal for the organization with her colleague, Kathleen Gallagher-McLellan. This research, “Fostering Self-Evaluation and Program Assessment”, was presented at the American String Teachers Association National Conference in 2023. Additional research on teaching students body awareness, “Gravity: Tools for Tone Development”, was presented at the ASTA Conference in 2024.

Now in Las Vegas, Elena is a Music Education Consultant for a private school. Her focus is to build foundations and plans for them to grow and develop a high-quality music and arts program. Alongside this project, she is the newly appointed Orchestra Director at Founders Classical Academy of Las Vegas.

Although much of her work is in teaching and pedagogy, Elena is passionate about performing, as well. Throughout her studies, she performed across the country in workshops, festivals, and masterclasses with world-renowned artists, including the Turtle Island String Quartet, Zuill Bailey, and Yo-Yo Ma. Her performance has recently been lauded with the Sacramento Saturday Club Scholarship, Renaissance Society Scholarship, and prizes in the Watson Chamber Music Competition and the Sacramento State Concerto Competition. Elena is a Resident Artist for The Culture House in Lincoln, CA, where she performs recitals frequently.

Elena’s service includes previous board membership for the National String Project Consortium, CalASTA-Sacramento, and continued work as the Board Secretary of The Culture House. She holds membership with ASTA and the National Association for Music Educators.

Elena received her Masters of Music at California State University – Sacramento studying with Andy Luchansky. She lives in Las Vegas, Nevada with her husband, Nathan, and their rescue dog, Juniper.

John Cozza is in demand throughout California as teacher, coach/accompanist, chamber musician, adjudicator and clinician. He has been the Staff Accompanist at Sacramento State University since 2004, and took over as Music Director and Pianist/Organist at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Carmichael in January of 2018. He taught Accompanying and Secondary Piano in the Conservatory of Music at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California from 2004-2018.

Collaborating with singers and instrumentalists throughout the United States, Dr. Cozza’s international engagements have included performances as soloist, accompanist and chamber musician in such European cities as Vienna, Bologna, Milan, Cologne, and Budapest. 

Dr. Cozza holds a DM degree in piano performance, vocal accompanying and chamber music from Northwestern University.  He earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at USC, where he was named Valedictorian of the School of Music. He originally attended Vienna’s prestigious Hochschule für Musik as a Rotary Foundation Scholar in 1986-87, then returned for further study from 1988-1991 when he received the coveted Diplom in both Piano Performance and Chamber Music.