Meet the Team
Founder and Executive Director
Darrian Lee
Darrian Lee is a professional violinist actively working towards her doctorate. She has been a member of many ensembles and has given concerts all over the world. Darrian has soloed with the Belmont Symphony Orchestra and has won a handful of concerto competitions. She has also performed at festivals, such as Bowdoin International Music Festival and Vienna International Music Festival. She frequently plays with the Tallahassee Symphony, Albany Symphony, Panama City Symphony, the University Symphony Orchestra at FSU, and many more. She is active in teaching in her community and coaching young chamber groups. Through her connections with the community and her performances, she focuses on educating her audiences about classical music and the music fellow musicians do not even know. She gives a couple of solo recitals a semester and often programs music outside the classical canon to help create a more inclusive environment in classical music.
During her time performing and attending university, she has discovered a lack of recognition for female artists as well. This led to her creation of HERo. She hopes HERo will serve to connect women and work as a community to educate and promote works by women. Women need to create a circle around each other to support and learn about what we are all capable of. If we grow our circle, Darrian believes that we can become a force that will shake the status quo of classical music.
Artistic Director
Bella Scherwin
Arabella Schwerin is a cellist and creative professional currently pursuing a Masters in Music at Florida State University. During her undergraduate studies, Bella won awards in performance, held many scholarships, and attended festivals including Brevard and the National Music Festival. As president of the KU Cello Club, she also received a grant to host the conference “Exploring Social Issues in Music” which included panels from Spektral Quartet, New Morse Code, and several other prominent cellists and musicians. During her last year of undergraduate studies Bella elected to complete a senior project and found the world of Fluxus artistry/performance art. Bella created a music and art installation “Parallel Play” which won the Brosseau Creativity Award and grant from the Spenser Museum of Art.
At FSU she has been very successful continuing to collaborate and create immersive performance art experiences; most recently an entire new opera composed by Liliya Ugay, Chhlong Tonle. Bella has also had the opportunity to travel to multiple conferences this past year with a flute program she created immersive design for entitled Imagination and Fantasy. Recently Bella has attended the Cortona Sessions for new music based out of Cortona Italy. Bella hopes to continue to find ways to share new music with audiences through multimedia experiences as well as bring composers and musicians that are underrepresented forward in the western music standard repertoire.
Music Director
Miranda Rojas
Miranda Rojas is a Master’s student at Florida State University, studying Violin Performance under Corinne Stillwell. She is a Graduate Assistant in Professor Stillwell’s studio, and her duties include teaching privately, performing chamber music and new music, performing with the University Symphony Orchestra, and assisting the string chamber music class. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Performance at Belmont University in Nashville, TN, where she studied with Elisabeth Small. Miranda performs regularly in the Florida panhandle region with various orchestras including the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra, Panama City Symphony Orchestra, and Valdosta Symphony Orchestra. She plays viola in Sinfonia Gulf Coast’s Quartet-in-Residence, a group that creates interactive musical performances for young students in the Destin area. Miranda has taught privately for years and is a faculty member for both the Tallahassee Homeschool String Orchestra and the Thomasville Road Arts Academy.
Administrative Director
Heather Simpson
Heather Simpson is a current graduate student at Florida State University earning her Master of Arts Degree in Arts Administration - Music. Originally from Kentucky, Heather earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Music from Morehead State University where she studied the flute under Dr. Julie Baker and Dr. Ellen Mosley.
As a young professional, Heather is currently serving as the Orchestra Manager for the FSU Orchestras where she handles the ins and outs of rehearsal and concert management. She has also served as the Development Assistant for the FSU College of Music and Marketing Intern for the Sarasota Orchestra and Sarasota Music Festival.
Heather discovered her love for music and the arts at a very young age, beginning piano lessons at just seven years old, joining choir in middle school, and eventually studying the flute professionally. While she loves performing, she is also incredibly passionate about arts organizations and hopes that her musical journey can inspire female musicians all around the world.
Education Director
Angela King
Angela King is an active performer and educator pursuing a Doctorate of Brass Performance and Pedagogy degree at Florida State University studying trumpet. Angela holds a Master of Music degree from Ithaca College in trumpet performance and a Bachelors of Music Education from Troy University. Her primary teachers include Dr. Christopher Moore, Dr. Aaron Witek, Christopher Coletti, and Dr. Michael Huff. She has performed in masterclasses for Alan Hood, Joe Burgestaller, Chris Probst, Peter Bond to name a few.
Maintaining an active performance schedule, Angela has appeared throughout the United States and internationally, including performances with the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, the Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra, and Orvieto Musica in Orvieto, Italy.
Angela has given recitals and masterclasses at numerous universities. She has served as a judge for the Tri-State Festival at Florida State University (FSU), Middle School Honor Band at Troy University, and High School Honor Band at Troy University. Angela also has experience serving as Music Advisor to the Cornell University Big Red marching band as well as work with multiple high schools throughout the Southeastern United States.
Angela has written for the International Trumpet Guild journal and news reports and was recently an Assistant to the editor at the 2022 International Trumpet Guild conference in San Antonio, Texas.
Conductor
Marina Akamatsu
Marina Akamatsu is a conductor and violist pursuing her B.M in performance with Dr. Pamela Ryan while concurrently studying orchestral conducting at Florida State University with Dr. Alexander Jimenez.
As a conductor, Marina prioritizes a holistic and creative experience for the entire ensemble, which she finds essential in creating impactful and thought-provoking music for the audience. She is very grateful for the mentorship of Matthew Sheppard at Northwestern University, who helped inspire this approach to orchestral work. She founded and currently conducts the Cawthon String Orchestra, an ensemble dedicated to providing string players at FSU with a collaborative environment and creating valuable career opportunities for students. She also co-founded and directed the Summer Orchestra of the Chicagoland Area for three years, a program designed to provide young Chicago musicians with a completely free summer orchestral experience, along with an educational lecture series for the community in their third year. She has attended the Chicago Conducting Masterclass series winter workshop in 2022 with Donald Schelicher as well as the Girls Who Conduct program in spring 2022.
As a violist, Marina has enjoyed being immersed in the orchestral setting. She has performed with the collegiate orchestras at the Brevard Music Center Summer Festival, the Panama City Symphony, and the University Symphony at FSU. In summer 2023, she will continue working within the orchestral setting at the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago as an artistic assistant.
Marina has a deep interest in the social aspects of the classical music world, especially in regards to the women’s movement, racial equality, and the variety of intersections between. She is excited to be a part of the HERo team and working towards achieving these goals of equality and awareness.