
A little about me:
I started playing violin at age four, before I learned to read. I have spent my life studying how artists engage in their process and practice.
I believe music has the power to change hearts and minds and is a common language humans use to drive emotion and meaning of a story.
Collaborating on creative work can be a vulnerable process, which is why working with someone you trust and connect with is so vital.
About
Here are some of our core values and priorities:
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30+ years performing internationally
Graduate of the prestigious Oberlin Conservatory
Technical skills to hear and execute extremely detailed intonation, phrasing, and articulation decisions
Music theory knowledge to compose meaningful arrangements in multiple genres
Passion for new music and extended techniques to create non-traditional textural and atmospheric gestures
Listen to samples of past work
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Ability to quickly contract and schedule additional talent for different ensemble arrangements
Access to many of the principal and solo performers of the Bay Area
Prioritize working with femme, minority and ally artists
Offer all contracted artists fair industry recording rates
All talent is familiar with multi-genre performing and studio recording and multi-layer tracking
Read their bios below
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10+ years project management contracting
Previous clients include Susan Stryker (Emmy-award film director and trans historian) and Tim Collins (former manager of the rock band Aerosmith)
Clean and efficient file organization, naming and exporting practices
Seamless and compassionate communication and organization from start to finish
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RVS is a queer POC woman owned company that recognizes that less than 2% of the audio industry identifies as non-male. We recognize the creative process can be deeply vulnerable and personal and as one of our values, we deeply committed to providing safe collaboration spaces for minority artists.
Contact us for more details.
Meet the Team
SAMANTHA BOUNKEUA
FOUNDER | VIOLIN | COMPOSER | PRODUCER
Samantha Bounkeua is a recipient of the California Arts Council Emerging Individual Artist Fellowship for 2023 and specializes in cross-media collaborations that amplify queer/femme voices that often explore themes of mental-health and social activism. A graduate of Oberlin Conservatory, Samantha has performed internationally as a guest artist with the Southern Arizona Symphony, New Mexico Symphony, Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble, Britten-Pears New Music Festival, Festival de Opera San Luis, the Rogue Theatre and the Re-Presence Artist Residency at Stanford University (2022).
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She is a recipient of multiple grants from the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona as well as the Arts Council of Santa Cruz County and in 2020, Samantha was the 2nd place finalist in the competitive University of Arizona FORGE Business Accelerator. She has been commissioned to write music for the Binational Encuentro (an event about the female migratory experience), ChamberLab, LuftBassoon, Hawkins Dance Company and more. Her work has featured in the International Meg Quigley Vivaldi Bassoon Symposium, Kerala Short Film Festival, Breaking Ground Contemporary Dance Festival, and more.
LEAH ASHER
VIOLIN, VIOLA
Violinist/violist, composer, and visual artist Leah Asher is on faculty at the Manhattan School of Music and is an avid performer of contemporary music and creator of new artistic works.
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Leah has been a member of The Rhythm Method string quartet, an innovative ensemble of composer-performers, since 2016. A sought after performer and collaborator, Leah can be found performing as a regular guest with New York-based ensembles such as International Contemporary Ensemble, Talea Ensemble, and S.E.M. Ensemble. She is also the co-creator of Meaningless Work, an interdisciplinary performance collaboration with Nicolee Kuester.
Leah maintains an international career with performances presented by the Lucerne Festival, Lake George Music Festival, Omaha One Festival, MATA Festival, TriBeCA New Music, Festspillene i Nord Norge, Music Mondays, and Codes d’accès. Leah has equally enjoyed performing at such celebrated venues as The Wiener Musikverein, Disney Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall, Miller Theatre, and the KKL Lucerne, as well as smaller, more intimate venues such as The Owl Music Parlor, Kimaira, Echoraum, the cell theatre, Konsthall C, and JACK. Leah has been featured as a concerto soloist with the Arctic Philharmonic Sinfonietta and Oberlin’s Contemporary Music Ensemble. Leah formerly served as solo violist of the Arctic Philharmonic Sinfonietta and co-principal viola of the Arctic Philharmonic.
As a guest artist and educator, Leah has given performances and worked with students at universities including Rice University, New York University, Bowling Green State University, Zurich University for Art and Music, Arkansas State University, Tulane University, Peabody Conservatory, Hunter College, Brown University, and Youngstown State University. In the summers, she holds faculty positions at Point Counterpoint, the Composers Conference, and Lake George Music Festival Composer’s Institute.
As a composer, Leah has been commissioned by several ensembles, including andPlay, Chartreuse, Periapsis, NorthArc Percussion Group, The Great Learning Orchestra, Du.0, and solo artists such as Meaghan Burke, Tristan McKay, and Jennifer Torrence. Recent releases include Leah’s solo album ‘Retreat into Afters’ (SCRIPTS Records), and The Rhythm Method’s self-titled debut album (Gold Bolus Recordings). Leah joined the faculty of Manhattan School of Music as of 2022.
Leah completed her undergraduate degrees at Oberlin College and Conservatory, studying violin with Gregory Fulkerson and studio art primarily with John Pearson. As a recipient of the Jacob K. Javits Fellowship, she completed her Master’s in Contemporary Performance at Manhattan School of Music with Curtis Macomber, then continued studies at UCSD under the tutelage of János Négyesy.
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She is an avid chamber musician, playing with the piano trio, Nisene Ensemble. Kristin is also active in the popular music scene. She has collaborated with various groups in the San Francisco Bay Area including indie band Blue Rabbit, Kenny Shick, Jenn Grinels, and the Thriving Artists organization. Kristin received her Master of Music degree from the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, MA where she studied with Dr. Terry King. She studied chamber music with Kathleen Lenski, Victor Rosenbaum, and Roger Tapping, and jazz improvisation with pianist Peter Cassino. In addition to performing, Kristin maintains a teaching studio at her home in Scotts Valley, CA.
KRISTIN GARBEFF
CELLO
Kristin is an active freelance musician and has performed throughout the San Francisco and Monterey Bay areas with the Monterey Symphony, Santa Cruz Symphony, West Bay Opera, New Music Works, Espressivo, and the Hidden Valley String Orchestra.
Shannon D’ANTONIO
VIOLIN, VIOLA
Shannon Delaney D’Antonio, violin, began her musical studies in Northern Virginia at the age of 5. She moved to California to attend Stanford University, where she received a B.A. degree in Violin Performance.
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Shannon is an active chamber musician in the Santa Cruz and Monterey areas. She is the concertmaster of Espressivo Orchestra, and performs regularly with Ensemble Monterey Chamber Orchestra, Santa Cruz New Music Works, the Santa Cruz Chorale, the Santa Cruz Symphony, Musical Soulmates, and the Santa Cruz Opera Project. Shannon also holds an M.A. degree in Education from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and works as an intervention teacher at Westlake Elementary in Santa Cruz.
She lives with her family in Soquel, CA.
STAN POPLIN
DOUBLE BASS
Stan has been performing jazz and classical music in the Monterey and greater San Francisco Bay areas for the past fifty years. He is a founding member of the New Music Works Ensemble, and has performed with many symphony orchestras.
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Some include the Cabrillo Music Festival, Monterey Symphony and Opera Parallele. Between1990-95, while living in Norway, he recorded and toured throughout the country. Mr. Poplin has made many recordings of jazz, blues and classical music. He retired from a teaching position at UC Santa Cruz at the end of 2021 where he was a Lecturer - Double bass and Director of Small Jazz Ensembles. He continues to maintain a private teaching studio. While preforming in various classical music settings, Stan is focusing on self expression through the development of his presentation of works for unaccompanied double bass and other varied projects.
russel Ronnebaum
PIANO, COMPOSER, ARRANGER
Russell Ronnebaum holds a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from the University of Kansas as well as a Masters Degree in collaborative piano from the University of Arizona.
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Russell leads an active performance and composition schedule, specializing in composing music that tells stories. He provides musical direction and composes original scores for productions at The Rogue Theatre in Tucson, AZ, and Rogue Radio, a radio play series produced in partnership with Arizona Public Media, NPR 89.1 FM.
As a pianist, Russell often performs with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra and various ensembles and choirs in the greater Tucson area. Russell made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2016, performing the music of Dan Forrest.
Recordings, videos, sheet music, and upcoming concert dates can be found at www.RRonnebaum.com
avery knific
PIANO, COMPOSER, ARRANGER
Avery Knific is the recipient of four ASCAP Jazz Composers awards and eight Down Beat Magazine Music Awards for their performances and compositions in jazz and contemporary categories.
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Since 2018, Avery has had 40 orchestral arrangements and compositions recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London. She is currently helping to compose and orchestrate a large scale seven-album-length classical and progressive rock hybrid project by leader of the award winning band Syzygy, Carl Baldassarre. This project has led Knific to work directly with legendary conductor, composer, and arrangers Rick Wentworth (Roger Waters, Danny Elfman) and James Shearman(Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Aladin, Beauty and the Beast), and Sweetwater Production’s director of music production Mark Hornsby (Peter Erskine, Beth Hart, Big Big Train). In 2019, Knific arranged the theme to the HBO smash-hit Game of Thrones and performed it along with the three-time Grammy nominated Spektral Quartet at Symphony Center in Chicago. The arrangement was performed for George R.R. Martin, author of the Game of Thrones series. In 2020 Spektral Quartet premiered their arrangement of Sufjan Steven’s Arnika in their "Totally Obsessed" series.