More About Our Instructors
Sujatha Maheshwari: Flute & Piano
Sujatha is a multi-instrumentalist and composer whose musical exploration began with the piano at the age of 7. In her early 20s she studied with renowned flutist Paula Robison at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where she earned a Bachelor of Music in Classical Flute Performance.
Years later she moved away from the conventional form of Western classical music and discovered her voice as an improvisational artist. A child of Indian immigrants, she was immersed in the sounds of Indian music from a young age, which has greatly influenced the way she hears and relates to music. She now blends a variety of sounds and forms in her unique style.
In May of 2024 she collaborated with Christopher Krotky and Alexander Karvelas to release her second album of original compositions and improvisations entitled The Great Intimacy, a musical homage to the intimate relationship between the transcendent and human elements of experience.
As a music instructor and creative mentor, Sujatha works with adults and children ages 7 and up. She teaches flute, piano, improvisation, composition. Her approach focuses on drawing out the student’s innate creativity as she guides them to follow the joyful flow of artistic movement. She loves working with beginners who are just picking up an instrument for the first time, with seasoned musicians who are desiring to deepen their craft, and with students at all skill levels who love playing music. Sujatha tunes into each student’s musical interests and passions and guides them to be able to express themselves through music. During this process, students will learn the foundations of the instrument, how to read and interpret music, and how to work with scales and chords to compose and improvise their own music.
Zoe King: Clarinet & Saxophone
Zoe is an orchestral and jazz musician who is well versed in both the clarinet and saxophone. Her orchestral experience includes playing with the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony, Cambrian Symphony, and the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra.
Outside of classical music, Zoe has performed with the SF Jazz High School All Star Big Band, and in the annual Berkeley Choro Festival. She brings both her orchestral and improvisational experience into her private teaching studio, offering her students a well rounded musical education. She is currently earning her Bachelor of Music degree in clarinet performance at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she studies with Jerome Simas.
Sonia Urquidi: Clarinet
Sonia earned her Bachelor’s degree in Clarinet Performance and Economics from the University of Notre Dame where she served as Principal Clarinetist for six years in the University of Notre Dame Symphony Orchestra (NDSO) where she won the orchestra’s concerto competition. Prior to her decision to attend Notre Dame, Sonia won a full tuition scholarship to the University of Wisconsin-Madison and received a music education scholarship to Lawrence University Conservatory of Music. Sonia studied with Christopher French and attended training at the Tanglewood Institute in Lenox, Massachusetts and Birch Creek in Door County, Wisconsin. Her orchestral pursuits have also taken her on tour to Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic where she performed as a soloist with NDSO. While pursuing her Master’s in Global Affairs at Notre Dame, she was consistently hired as a doubler (playing clarinet, saxophone, and flute) for musicals and shows including Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret, The Magic Flute, and more.
In addition to playing clarinet, Sonia has music directed college-level productions of Grease, The Wedding Singer, and the Revue (a cabaret-style assortment of musical numbers) during which she led rehearsals with the band and did vocal coaching with the actors. She also spent two summers as a middle and high school band camp counselor and has taught clarinet and voice to students of varying levels and ages.
After living in Chile on a Fulbright scholarship in education research, Sonia moved to the East Bay in June 2021 where she now pursues a career in music and social sector consulting. She has freelanced in San Francisco, Palo Alto, Napa, Oakland, and Berkeley and served as principal and second clarinet with the University of California-Berkeley Symphony Orchestra for a year and a half before focusing on other non-classical musical pursuits. With over eight years of vocal training including individual lessons, choir, a capella, and music theater, Sonia writes indie music and sings as a lead vocalist and plays clarinet and saxophone in funk and soul bands in San Francisco and the East Bay.
About my teaching style
Teaching is one of my favorite parts of music. I understand how to balance fun and productivity during a lesson. I like to know how the student learns best, find material that they can get excited about, and set goals. Want to learn how to write a song? Let’s do it. Interested in music theory? Let’s use the piano to help explain concepts. Want to mix in some pop music at the end of the lesson? Sure! At the same time, though, I will ensure that students develop a solid foundation. No matter the level, I emphasize technical proficiency, musicality, music theory, and building good practice techniques.
Additionally, I am an advocate for thinking outside the box when it comes to classical music. I love bringing classical music and “popular” music together, whether that means performing in non-traditional spaces or writing melodic clarinet lines into my own songs. As a half-Latina and believer in music as a tool for mental health, I am also passionate about changing demographic stereotypes of classical music and using trauma-informed and culturally responsive teaching to inspire a lifelong love of music.
What I teach:
Clarinet: All levels
Tenor and Alto Saxophone: Beginning and intermediate classical; Beginner jazz/improvisation
Voice: Beginning and intermediate
I offer lessons in English or Spanish.
Larry DeLaCruz: Saxophone and Clarinet
Larry studied music at California State University at Long Beach, The Berklee College of Music, and received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music Education at San Diego State University. Since 1994, he has played woodwinds in many different musical settings including jazz, classical, pop, and pit orchestras in the San Francisco Bay Area. Among them are: Doc Severenson, Kenny Werner, Phil Woods, Bobby Hutcherson, Bob Berg, Lou Rawls, The Temptations, The Four Tops, San Diego Symphony, Bay Area Rainbow Symphony, Classical Philharmonic, The CARMA Big Band, and the Electric Squeezebox Orchestra. Larry has been in pit orchestras for the premieres of “Ain’t Too Proud” and “Goddess” at the Berkeley Repertory Theater, and “The Hippest Trip” and “A Strange Loop” at the ACT Theater. Larry teaches woodwind students, and enjoys composing and arranging for various groups.
Adam Borden: Trumpet
Adam Borden is an East Bay native currently hailing from San Lorenzo, CA. He is the Brass instructor at Wind and Brass in Berkeley has been playing trumpet and piano since the 4th grade. While in elementary and middle school, Adam led the ACSI California honor bands on trumpet in both 2002 and 2003, and later on spent time with both the Diablo Wind Symphony and the Concord Blue Devils. In addition to the world class direction and coaching he received from those groups, Adam sought out some of the Bay Area's best trumpet teachers like Mike Ross and Mic Gillette.
His professional career began around 2007 with encouragement and under the direction of Steve Sage, a local legend who helped raise many Bay Area Musicians. Despite having a number of students and a busy gig schedule, Adam graduated from UC Berkeley in 2015 with a major in Rhetoric and a minor in Music. He currently plays everything from traditional jazz to top 40s dance music to modern fusion and can be seen just about every weekend gracing a stage somewhere on the West Coast.
Adam teaches trumpet, trombone, baritone/euphonium and piano.
Hayden Dekker: Saxophone
Saxophone Instructor
