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Alexys Dowling is a singer-songwriter from Illinois, now based in Miami. Blending Americana, rock, folk rock, and country, her music offers connection through vulnerability and strength. Her debut EP, For The Better, explores growth and self-reflection and is available on all streaming platforms. A student at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, she hones her craft through songwriting, live shows, and collaborations. She also fronts the female-led hard rock band Skyrise, set to perform at Frost’s Rock Symphonic showcase. Alexys began performing at age 9, found her identity through School of Rock, and draws influence from Fleetwood Mac, Heart, and Bonnie Raitt. She performs across South Florida and Chicago, releasing new music as a solo artist and with Skyrise. Her upcoming album is influenced by the folk, pop, and rock sounds of the late ’70s and early ’80s, which will be coming early 2026

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Tucker and Max catch up after their summer break.

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Katerina Lomis is a singer/songwriter based in Miami, known for her genre-blending sound and electrifying improvisational style. Since bursting onto the scene in late 2024, she’s quickly built a loyal fanbase with over 253,000 followers on Instagram, 88,000 on TikTok, and 30,000 monthly Spotify listeners. Her music fuses jazz, folk, musical theatre, and pop, often born from spontaneous free-writing sessions that evolve into richly textured songs. Though she initially considered a career in cancer research or dentistry, she pivoted to music full-time after realizing her true calling was creative expression. Since then, she’s released new music monthly, including standout tracks like “Mr. Adams,” “The Tale of Mary Anne,” and “4 pm in NYC.” Her debut live show in Miami in May 2025 marked a major milestone, transitioning her from bedroom recordings to the stage. With a unique sound and magnetic presence, Katerina Lomis is quickly becoming a compelling voice in the indie and jazz-pop scenes.

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Christian Robetor is a musician from Miami, FL. He recently graduated from UMiami’s Frost School of Music as a Music Industry Major and plans to pursue a career in music with his band, Further Within.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christian_r._03/

Further Within- https://linktr.ee/furtherwithin#326866284

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When Frost School student Winston Thayer finished last spring’s Rock Symphonic, the massive student concert blending pop and orchestral music that he co-created and produced, he and the other student musicians were thrilled at what they’d just achieved – a first of its kind event that drew a large, wildly enthusiastic audience to Gusman Concert Hall, and congratulations from faculty and donors.

Do it again, they have. Rock Symphonic returns on Tuesday, April 29, with more Frost School student musicians, student arrangers, music by students, and more support from faculty and leadership. Thayer and Fuss’s ambitious, outside-the-box idea, an entirely student-run concert of pop-rock bands with a classical orchestra, already looks like a Frost School tradition in the making - a real-life exercise in creativity, collaboration, and resourcefulness.

This year’s Rock Symphonic features five contemporary student groups, up from three last year. They are all-female hard rockers Skyrise, folk-pop-electro singer-songwriter Maeve, indie folk-psychedelic rockers Rug, funk/soul group Puddley, and R&B/rap artist Che AM. The 34-piece orchestra includes both jazz and classical musicians, many from the elite Stamps Scholars ensembles and the Henry Mancini Institute. Instead of just Thayer and his chief collaborator Jennifer Phan, another Media Scoring and Production major, writing the arrangements, they’ve added six more arrangers from multiple programs, who’ve been given more creative leeway in how they unite bands and orchestra. They include Walker Klauda, who is also conducting; and Asher Lurie, a composition major graduating this year who won a school competition to compose for the All-Stamps Ensemble earlier this spring. There’ll be a grand piano onstage, backup singers, and a classical vocalist joining Che AM.

Fuss, a senior, graduates in May, while Thayer, a junior, graduates next spring. But they are working to ensure Rock Symphonic will continue after they leave.

Rock Symphonic is at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, April 29 at Gusman Concert Hall, 1314 Miller Dr., Coral Gables. Admission is free.

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/rocksymphonic/

Winston Thayer: https://www.instagram.com/winstonthayer/

Jennifer Phan:https://www.instagram.com/anhsminh.z/

Dawson Fuss: https://www.instagram.com/dawsonfuss/ 

Last Year's Live Album:

 https://open.spotify.com/artist/6jR8v95WOAG36woOMUiPbd?trackId=1I3LXyaeasyzCi9oKWLlui

Last Year's video:

https://www.youtube.com/live/kN2dBNEx-pU

Linktree:

https://linktr.ee/rocksymphonic?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAadvr8bsSC7X1T2exdSWC0azC030ps_nNVo5iQES0R9sTBcrjgTGlhhX7TaVUg_aem_kPq8Ac-_W9rrIZHrrThmDQ 

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Steve Rucker is a drummer who has played and recorded with many artists. His biggest and most well-known act was with the Bee Gees. He appeared on The Tonight Show, Late Night With David Letterman, Oprah Winfrey, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction and a Royal Variety Performance. Rucker appears on the Bee Gees' One Night Only recording and DVD. He is drumset studies director of the Frost School Of Music. 

Mr. Rucker has also performed/recorded with:

• Michael Jackson
• Jaco Pastorius
• Johnny Cash
• Ben Vereen
• Freda Payne
• Joe Sample
• Bo Diddley
• Paquito D’Rivera
• David Liebman
• Steve Khan

He received his bachelor’s degree in Studio Music and Jazz from the University of Miami in 1979 and was awarded his Master’s Degree in Jazz Performance in 1983.

Mr. Rucker got his start in Charlotte, North Carolina, performing locally and touring with the Funk/R&B group “Sugarcreek.”  During this period he became the musical arranger for this seven-piece horn band, and wrote and recorded their first single, "Runnin' Out Of Time".  He moved to South Florida in 1976, and performed and recorded steadily with a number of jazz, Latin, funk and fusion groups.  He was twice been voted “Best Jazz Performer” and “Most Versatile Artist” in South Florida polls.  

In the early 1980s, Mr. Rucker was a member of the Ross-Levine band, a groundbreaking jazz-fusion group. In addition to numerous appearances with them, he recorded the albums “That Summer Something” and “Humidity,” which featured Pat Metheny and Hiram Bullock.

While a member of Randy Bernsen’s Ocean Sound Band, he recorded tracks on “Paradise Citizens” and “Calling Me Back Home,” and performed many concerts internationally, including a billing with Miles Davis.  He also recorded “Blues Hat Dances 'Round Midnight” with Bernsen, and continues to perform with him.

In 1990, Mr. Rucker recorded “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me” with Gloria Estefan.  For many years, he performed internationally with Ben Vereen, and appeared with Mr. Vereen with the Atlanta Symphony and the Dallas Symphony.

In 2015, Mr. Rucker published “Exercises in African-American Funk” with former student Jonathan Joseph.  The book has garnered much positive critical acclaim, and has spawned considerable interest in the application of African rhythms to the funk genre.

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Eli Lehman is a Pre-med student at the University of Miami from Pittsburgh, PA studying microbiology and immunology. 

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Miles Mongomery is a current student at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. He is pursuing a degree in music engineering, and his projects include live sound engineering, recording, drumming, music production, video editing, and web design. 

Jak Delaney is a guitarist at the Frost School of Music, studying music engineering. In his words, he is a “small-town farm boy with big dreams” 

Jak and Miles are developing a plugin company, Digital Twin Devices", a software plugin designed for Ableton users. 

Miles' website: https://jaguar-terrier-r2nt.squarespace.com/about

Instagrams: 

https://www.instagram.com/mathrockmiles/

https://www.instagram.com/metro.obj/

https://www.instagram.com/jakkdelaney/

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Benji Dienstfrey is a guitarist from Louisville, Colorado. He is a Junior at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami and is very active in the South Florida music scene. He plays with the Andrew Mijares band, The John David Warren Band, and MAEVE. He is the guitarist and lead vocalist of the Fiddlehead Folk band, a cross-genre folk trio based out of Frost/ Fiddlehead was recently featured in a masterclass with the GRAMMY and EMMY-winning ensemble Time For Three. Benji also plays in Frost’s Newgrass ensemble, and he sings tenor in the University of Miami’s Award-Winning acapella group Biscaydence.

Instagram account: 

https://www.instagram.com/benji._man/

https://www.instagram.com/benji._frey/

Fiddlehead Folk Band: 

https://www.instagram.com/fiddlehead_folkband/

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Daniel Strange has performed on a variety of the world’s biggest stages from Carnegie Hall to NBC’s The Today Show as well as with critically acclaimed artists representing multiple genres including Jodi Benson, Susan Egan, Michael Feinstein, Ann Hampton Calloway, Jacob Collier, Robert Glasper, Madison Cunningham, Lawrence, Allen Stone, Wyclef Jean, Aaron Parks, folk legend Noel Paul Stookey, Tony award nominees Joshua Henry and Norm Lewis, and Tony award winners Lindsay Mendez and Sutton Foster. He is the pianist for Miami’s Nu Deco Ensemble, hailed by the New York Times as the “Chamber orchestra of the 21st century, and has played in orchestra pits for the national touring companies of Wicked, Jersey Boys, Pippin, Les Miserables, West Side Story, Dreamgirls, Young Frankenstein, Mean Girls, Legally Blonde, and A Chorus Line. As a composer, Daniel has written, arranged, and orchestrated for numerous musical settings including pop, jazz, choral, and orchestral ensembles from all over the country.

Daniel is the Department Chair of the M.A.D.E. (Modern Artist Development and Entrepreneurship) degree as well as assistant professor of contemporary keyboard at the University of Miami's Frost School of Music. He directs the Contemporary program's top ensemble, the American Music Ensemble. Under Daniel’s direction, AME has won 3 DownBeat Magazine awards for outstanding performance by a collegiate blues/pop/rock ensemble. He has presented clinics on original composition, solo piano performance and orchestration, keyboard comping in ensembles, Apple’s signature music performance application MainStage and spoken on numerous panels at many national music conferences including the Association of Popular Music Education, the NAMM Show, the College Music Society, the Jazz Education Network and the Intersection of Jazz and Classical Music Piano Festival and Competition. Daniel has received numerous accolades including being named a quarter finalist for the 2nd annual Grammy Music Educator Award, and currently serves as President on the New England Suzuki Institute’s Board of Directors.

Daniel is the director of the award-winning Coral Gables Congregational United Church of Christ Community Arts Program’s All-Star Jazz Ensemble, a three-time finalist in Jazz At Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington Competition and Festival. Under his leadership, the All-Star Jazz Ensemble released an album, With A Swing! as well as opened for the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, the Count Basie Orchestra, Ken Peplowski, Catherine Russell, and famed Tonight Show bandleader Doc Severinsen. Daniel can be heard on his album Life As I Hear It that features his original compositions and an all-star of lineup of musicians as well as on multiple albums including the Grammy nominated track "All My Tomorrows" from Jeremy Fox's With Love. He resides in Miami with his wife, violinist Ashley Liberty, along with their son and daughter, Harrison and Summer. Daniel and Ashley perform together under their artist duo name Hot Fiddle, and have released two albums together including Snapshot and a Holiday album titled Beneath the Star. 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dstrangemusic/

Life as I Hear it: https://open.spotify.com/album/1f51gHAzwTTNfO96rIsWFz?trackId=2LzyUfJdRp3uqTrITBJXEY 

Dan's Website: https://danielstrangemusic.com/

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