Music Committee:
Theresa Cheng
Executive Producer
Francis Cassol
Stage Manager
Christina Gasparich
Audio/Visual Lead
Matt Young
Artist Management
Beni Rossman
Community Engagement
David Benitez
Talent Acquisition
Festival Committee:
2022 Judges
Our all-star panel of judges reviewed all the student audition videos to select the coveted headliner acts and determine the placement of the opening acts and bands. We are pleased to announce our celebrity guest judge, Tik Tok star Sad Alex.
Celebrity Judge: Sad Alex
Viral Tik Tok star Sad Alex is a Los Angeles-based singer & songwriter that makes catchy pop music, inspired by the highs & lows of emotions, her music embraces flaws that we can all relate to on a human level.
Having experimented with songwriting since the age of 12, Alex long struggled with the idea of fold herself neatly into a box – until she made the liberating realization that she didn’t have to. Raised on a broad musical palette of playlists and mixtapes, her work is a millennial mash-up of the genres that have soundtracked her life: emo chord progressions and melodies play out over trap-influenced drum tracks, while pop song structure and vocal production give everything an irresistibly addictive finish.
Sad Alex has been taking piano lessons since she was a child, and she believes that music lessons gave her a solid foundation to allow her to pursue a professional music career! We are honored to have Sad Alex as our celebrity artist at judge at the 2022 Opus Music Festival!
Theresa Cheng
Theresa Cheng is the executive producer of Opus Music Festival and the Founder of Opus Music School. Theresa has been surrounded by music throughout her entire life, having played 6 instruments and attending public schools in her hometown of Hacienda Heights.
Theresa’s love of music drew her to music festivals and she fell in love with the overwhelming positive energy and artistic creativity found at outdoor music festivals. Theresa decided that she wanted all of the students here at Opus to be able to experience the amazing feeling that comes from performing on that festival stage and thus the Opus Music Festival was born. She’s set out to make an amazing day full of music and joy for our students and their families to celebrate being united by music after over a year spent apart.
View more about Ms. Theresa’s vision of the festival here.
Matt Young
Matt Young has been a valued member of our teaching staff here at Opus Music School since 2015, specializing in piano instruction as well as our heading our artist development program. Matt shares his extensive musical experience from both on the stage and in the studio writing, recording and producing music for his electro-pop duo TWINKIDS with his artist development students to help them hone their skills and develop their identity as a musician.
As half of TWINKIDS Matt uses his passion for music and performing to come alive on stage and his captivating stage presence is always sure to wow his crowd. Even after he steps off the stage, watching other performers and friends in the business gives him a chance to gain even more valuable insight on how other artists make the stage their own during a show. Throughout the judging process of our student auditions, Matt has been paying close attention to who will be able to take our festival stage by storm this September and making sure our headliners will be putting on a can’t miss show for all of our festival attendees.
Francis Cassol
Francis Cassol is one of Opus Music School’s most popular music instructors and has been teaching drums and guitar at Opus since 2019.
Francis Cassol is a rock and metal drummer currently living in Los Angeles, USA. He is founder of Brazilian metal act Scelerata, band with which he recorded four albums that were released worldwide, and played as Paul DiAnno`s (former Iron Maiden) official drummer for five tours and over 50 shows. In 2013, Francis was featured in a five-page interview in Modern Drummer magazine.
Francis has already recorded and performed with numerous acts in venues from small stages to large stadiums. Francis’ years of experience in the spotlight and instructing the new generation of young musicians have definitely been put to good use now that he’s sitting at the judge’s table himself to help decide our festival lineup.