Janice Foy

Dr. Janice Foy, cellist/pianist, from Montana, was awarded Special Commendation from the Los Angeles City Council for her contributions to society in the field of music as part of L.A. Music Week. Her Bachelor of Music and Master of Arts degrees (with Distinction) are from California State University, Northridge and she received the Ph.D., in music in 1990 from UCLA where she specialized in Ethnomusicology. In addition to organizing the annual Mexican Arts Music Series at UCLA, Dr. Foy completed her dissertation on the “Croatian Sacred Musical Tradition in Los Angeles.” Dr. Foy has been a champion of contemporary music and has had several works written for and dedicated to her, including the Croatian composer Papandopulo’s Rhapsody for solo cello and more recently, a special rendition for Janice of Gypsy Fantasy for Cello And Accordion by Nick Ariondo. In 1993 and 1994, she gave the West Coast premiere performances of Alberto Ginastera’s Sonata for Cello and Piano and Hal Overton’s Sonata for Cello and Piano with pianist Zita Carno. Dr. Foy premiered Chicago-born composer Frank Abbinanti’s Rhapsodic Concerto War and Peace in 1999 at Azusa Pacific University, with the APU Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Foy was a guest artist on the Chicago broadcast series The Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts. In addition to her solo concerts, Dr. Foy is director and cellist with several chamber music ensembles including: the New American Quartet, with whom she recently toured England and recorded and released a CD; The Sierra Chamber Players, Trio of the Americas and Musical Spirits. Her recent performances in the Los Angeles area have included those at the Ronald Reagan Library, the Museum of Latin American Art, the Nixon Library, the Arcadia Library, the Music Center’s Annual Holiday Program, the Mt. Wilson Observatory Museum, the Braille Institute, and Campbell Hall High. Dr. Foy is the newly appointed principal cellist of the West Los Angeles Symphony, principal cellist with the Santa Cecilia Opera Orchestra, and is a tenured member of the Glendale Symphony Orchestra. She is a frequent guest principal cellist with the Burbank Chamber Orchestra and the Conejo Symphony. She has appeared on Radio/TV Zagreb, Bucharest Radio, Voice of America, KUSC-FM, KPFK-FM, KPCC-FM and Century Cable Television. Dr. Foy has appeared on and performed in the television sitcoms “Friends” and “Seinfeld ” and she has recorded commercials for Lexus and Lipton. Janice also was a consultant for the television drama “ER.” She has lectured on “The Mozart Effect” for Kaiser Permanente and was the pre-concert lecturer for Yo Yo Ma’s 1994 solo recital at the Wadsworth Auditorium in Los Angeles. Janice won an NEH affiliate grant for her research on music and the brain, "Chicken Soup for the Ears" and presented 2 lectures: Baldwin Performing Arts Center and CSUN Student Union, 1999. Dr. Foy has lectured on the “Business of Music” at CSUN and UCLA, and has published numerous articles on a variety of musical subjects for scholarly journals. With Dr. Nabil Azzam Janice recently formed the MESTO orchestra dedicated to the performance of musics from around the world, both folk and classical styles. She presented solo cello concerts throughout Croatia through the Croatian Consulate in Los Angeles and through Matica Iseljenika Hrvatska, in Zagreb as well as having performed in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. On April 1st 2000 Janice will give the World Premiere of Stephan Chandler's Cello Concerto in Los Angeles. In addition to her freelance playing and recording, Dr. Foy teaches beginning strings at Echo Horizon Elementary School and she has a private music studio.