Faculty and Staff

Hesam Abedini is an Iranian-American performer-composer, improviser, educator, producer, and filmmaker. His work crosses the boundaries between idioms as wide as Western contemporary music, classical Persian music, free improvisation, and computer music. He is the founding member of the Sibarg, an intercultural creative music ensemble that combines traditional Persian music and Jazz. Hesam’s music has been performed by various musicians and ensembles, such as the JACK Quartet, Atlas Ensemble, Del Sol Quartet, Loadbang, Eclipse Quartet, New Mexico Contemporary Ensemble, Amalgama, and Miolina to name a few. Hesam is the director of the National Endowment for the Arts and Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute-sponsored Documentary film “From Isfahan to Irvine”. His film has been screened and archived in the Library of Congress USA. He is a graduate of the Tehran Music Conservatory and holds his B.A. in Music Composition with honors from UCSD. He studied music composition with Lei Liang, Chinary Ung, Anthony Davis, and improvisation with Mark Dresser. Hesam completed a Ph.D. in Integrated Composition, Improvisation and Technology (ICIT) at the University of California, Irvine as a Roshan and Provost Ph.D. Fellow under the supervision of Prof. Christopher Dobrian. Before joining the Music Department at Butte College, He taught music theory, musicianship, music history, composition, world music, and Persian music at the Soka University of America, University of California, Irvine, and Saddleback College. Hesam is a proud graduate of Saddleback College and as an immigrant musician who has benefited from the California Community College experience, he is committed to helping the next generation of community college students to reach their dreams.

Dave Elke is a Full-Time Tenured Faculty member at Butte College. He earned a Master of Arts degree in guitar performance in 2000 from California State University, Chico and is a certified Logic Pro and Pro Tools instructor. As a guitarist/multi-instrumentalist, Dave has played live shows, recorded and written songs for 25 years, and is a member of BMI as a songwriter. He began performing in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1989. After moving to Chico in 1993 Dave continued to perform and record with bands of all styles. Funk, Rock, Reggae, Soul/R&B, Folk, Latin jazz/salsa, West African, and More. Dave taught guitar classes for High School, College and Private Lessons while attending college and after graduating. He continues to produce independent bands and artists albums, and working with local and regional songwriters and performing artists, and maintains a vigorous performance schedule in the Northern California region. Courses that Dave teaches include studio recording, digital music production, pop band, songwriting, guitar lessons, audio for video and more. As a record producer, sound engineer, professional guitarist and dedicated educator, Dave’s focus is on building community through music.

Ryan Heimlich holds a Bachelor's Degree in Music from The University of California, Berkeley, a Master's Degree in Music from California State University, Chico, and a California Single Subject Teaching Credential in Music from Chico State. Ryan studied clarinet with Dr. Robert Calonico at UC Berkeley and Dr. Russell Burnham at CSU, Chico. Furthermore, Ryan served as Assistant Conductor of the North State Symphony and Graduate Assistant to the CSU, Chico Bands, studying conducting with Dr. Kyle Wiley Pickett and Dr. Royce Tevis at CSU, Chico. Currently, Ryan is a Doctoral Candidate at Boston University. Ryan is the Director of Instrumental Music and Full Time Faculty at Butte Community College, where he directs the concert band, jazz band, and pop band. He also teaches studio instruction and music theory. Prior to Butte College, Ryan taught band, marching band, jazz band, choir, and music theory at Pleasant Valley High School in Chico and previously taught elementary and middle school band in Red Bluff. Additionally, Ryan is adjunct faculty at Chico State, where he teaches clarinet and Instrumental Music Education courses.  As a conductor, Ryan has directed the North State Symphony as well as orchestras for productions of Spamalot, The Will Rogers Follies, and The Addams Family for Chico State and Les Miserables for California Regional Theater. As a clarinetist, Ryan has performed as a soloist with the Chico State Wind Ensemble and North State Symphony. Additionally, Ryan has performed with The Temptations, Amy Grant, the North State Symphony, North Valley Chamber Singers, Napa Valley Choral Society, Paradise Symphony, CSU, Chico Chamber Music Series, CSU, Chico Choral and Wind Ensembles, the Shasta Symphony, and many other local music and theater productions. In his spare time, he writes for and plays bass in the local band Rigmarole, a collective of music educators from Northern California that blends funk, jazz, rock, and classical music. Ryan is a member of the College Band Director's National Association, National Association for Music Education, California Band Director's Association, Jazz Education Network, International Clarinet Association, and the Northern California Band Director's Association.

Aman Cowell is a musician from Redding, CA. As a trumpeter he has been playing in a variety of settings for over 15 years, first performing with his brothers in their Jazz quartet “The Brotet.” Aman has also played in a variety of genres, sharing the stage with artists and groups including The Temptations, KNOWER, The North State Symphony, Jeff Bernat, Ricky Peterson, and Bob Mintzer’s Big Band. In addition to trumpet and vocals he also employs other skills in the process of working on projects including composition, writing, production, and video editing. Recently he graduated with a Jazz Studies MM from USC Thornton where he studied with faculty including Michael Stever, Bob Mintzer, and Vince Mendoza while teaching music at nearby schools and on campus as part of the Thornton Community Engagement Program.

Austin King is currently the music teacher at Marsh Junior High School in Chico, California where he teaches beginning band, concert band, chorus, and a beginner bucket drumming course. Austin also teaches fifth grade beginning band at Marigold Elementary School. Throughout his career, beginning in 2010, Austin has also taught high school band, high school and junior high jazz band, guitar, piano, and elementary general music. Austin originally earned his Bachelor of Arts in History at the University of California Santa Cruz, where he also earned his social studies teaching credential and Master of Arts in Education. Austin then went to the Los Angeles Music Academy, where he studied drums and percussion under Gary Ferguson. Subsequently, Austin studied music education at California State University Chico, where he studied conducting with Dr. Royce Tevis, and percussion with Dan Kinkle. Austin is currently pursuing his Master’s Degree in Music Education through American Band College of Central Washington University. When he is not working, Austin enjoys spending time with his wife Suzanne, and playing with his two children, William and Thomas.

Ayako Nakamura is a trumpet instructor/adjunct/associate faculty at Butte College and California State University, Chico and a freelance musician throughout Northern California. Nakamura plays with several area professional ensembles including the North State Symphony and the North Valley Chamber Chorale Orchestra. She actively performs solo and ensemble recitals in the area, and often plays in jazz/pop/funk bands as well. She has also played with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra, toured with the rock band the Go Rounds, and made appearances with the Temptations and Michael W. Smith. She received her bachelor’s degree in trumpet performance from CSU, Chico and received her master’s at Western Michigan University. She has studied with the likes of Rick Winslow, Stephen Jones, and Scott Thornburg.

Education Bachelor of Arts in Music,California State University, Chico Master of Arts in Music, California State University, Chico Biography Guitar instructor and performer Chris can play it all, from jazz to bluegrass. Check out the guitar classes, as Chris makes them fun and a rich learning experience.

Eric Peter has taught at Butte College since 2003, where he specializies in teaching the online jazz appreciation classes. He has also taught popular music, guitar, music theory, and music appreciation. Eric has over forty years of live music experience, performing mainly on the six and seven string guitar with a wide variety of musicians. Finally, Eric has been the recipient of several Chico Music Awards (Cammies).

After a decade on the road playing bass in rock and country groups, Ryan Davidson graduated California State University, Long Beach with a bachelors degree in Cultural-Visual Anthropology, and a Jazz Performance minor from the Bob Cole Conservatory at CSULB. During this time, he was the videographer for the PBS documentary, Unhindered, filmed in Shandong Province, China. Soon after, Ryan moved to Ireland where he earned his Masters degree in Ethnomusicology from the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick under the guidance of Colin Quigley. His work focused on the integration of the Greek bouzouki into traditional Irish music, and was presented at the International Conference of Traditional Music. As a songwriter, performer, studio musician, and producer, he has 20+ album credits in the Rock, Folk/Traditional and Songwriter genres, and he has toured extensively in the US and Europe. Ryan has been an instructor of Irish bouzouki at Lark Traditional Arts in Mendocino, CA since 2011. He has also been a private instructor of bass, guitar and fiddle in the Chico area since 2011, including Rock Band and Fiddle classes in Butte County public schools. Ryan also has two certificates from the Irish School of Lutherie, and operates his own business in Chico building and repairing stringed musical instruments.

Shigemi Minetaka grew up in Japan, taking classical piano lessons. After she moved to Montreal, Canada as an adult, she started learning jazz and improvisation for fun. When she moved to Chico for her husband's work, she continued to learn more and earned a master's degree under the guidance of her mentors Rocky Winslow (California State University, Chico) and Joe Gilman (jazz pianist/educator in Sacramento). Shigemi has been performing in public with her trios and has collaborated with many other musicians in town. When she is not playing music, she loves to KonMari her home, work in her garden (a new hobby with quarantine life), and read.