I'm Mark Inchoco, a conductor based in Philadelphia, and I was admitted to the Los Angeles Film Conducting Intensive (LAFCI) off the waitlist.
This past March, I conducted the Brahms Violin Concerto with the Orchestra Society of Philadelphia, with soloist Sendi Vartanovi — the best night of music-making I've had at the podium. A few weeks later, I applied to LAFCI, one of the most respected conductor training programs in the country.
LAFCI is a rare opportunity to work with a faculty that includes Jorge Mester, Angel Velez, and David Newman, alongside a professional orchestra at Evergreen Studios. The workshop culminates in a public concert and a professionally produced video. The repertoire is substantial:
Stravinsky, L'Histoire du soldat
Mendelssohn, Octet
Tchaikovsky, Souvenir de Florence
Copland, Appalachian Spring
John Williams, tribute to film composers from the 2002 Academy Awards
For a working conductor at my stage — Assistant Conductor of the Lower Merion Symphony, guest conductor with OSP, with 50+ programs behind me including world premieres — it's the kind of training that shapes the next decade of a career.
An update on the numbers: thanks to this community, the original $2,900 — tuition, flight, the core costs — is covered. I'm grateful beyond words.
But the real budget of a trip like this is wider than a line item list, and I underestimated it. I'm in LA from May 30 to June 8: that's car rental and gas, three meals a day for ten days, a tux rental for the final concert, a haircut, toiletries, and a phone upgrade so I can actually record the workshop footage at usable quality. A friend is hosting me for free, which is enormous — and I'd like to be able to take them to dinner more than once to thank them properly.
None of these are glamorous, but together they're the difference between showing up to LAFCI prepared and showing up scraping. Any additional support before May 30 goes directly to these costs.
Every donor will get a written reflection from me after the workshop about what I studied and what I'm bringing back to the orchestras I work with here in Philadelphia.
Thank you for being part of this.
— Mark