Shea Arender

CEO / Entrepreneur / Broadway Producer

Though he is primarily a Symphony Producer, he is also a vocalist, music arranger and songwriter. Shea is also an associate producer of the Tony nominated musical “A Night with Janis Joplin.”

Growing up in Louisiana, Shea Arender grew up with the musical sounds of Gospel, Delta Blues, Country / Western, Dixieland Jazz, and of course oldies Rock ‘N’ Roll. He credits Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra / The Rat Pack, Bobby Darin, and B.B. King as some of his top musical influences.

Shea Arender’s first live performance was at the age of 9 performing at the local Bayou festival singing Chuck Berry’s “Johnnie B. Goode.” His first major appearance was at the age of 12 performing on New Orleans’ Commodore Cruise Line singing Elvis in the Rock ‘N’ Roll Jubilee show.

Shea Arender later starred in the Harold Arlen Broadway musical “The Wonderful Wizard Of Song” (Composer of the Wizard Of Oz.) and after his short run as an actor/singer, Shea Arender became executive producer taking the show to New York City for a two year Off-Broadway run and a one year Broadway touring production. Shea worked with symphony orchestras across the USA as he co-arranged the songs for the touring show. Shea Arender was most happy about this accomplishment with the Harold Arlen musical catalogue, which holds over 550 songs and is one of the largest music catalogues in American Music History.

Shea Arender also starred in his own Off-Broadway production “Shea: Prince Of Christmas“, Which he wrote, arranged and starred in. After making its showcase debut at the National Arts Club in New York City, The show ran several seasons at St. Luke’s Theatre. “Shea: Prince Of Christmas” was announced as one of the top 5 shows to see On/Off-Broadway by CBS New York.

Through all the global humanitarian efforts Shea Arender was given an International Peace Award by Spumda International and the United Nations for his efforts in stopping violence against children, various cancer charities, and investments in education.

steve rawlins

Conductor / Composer / Arranger / Pianist

Based in Los Angeles, Steve Rawlins has arranged music for the Academy Awards, Emmy Awards , the Olympics and the Super Bowl, as well as artists including: Bette Midler, Smokey Robinson, Chaka Kahn, Barry White, and Benny Goodman.

Television shows include: Robin Williams’ CBS show – “The Crazy Ones” “Jeopardy” “All Dogs Go To Heaven” “John Davidson Show” and was a start arranger at the “Merv Griffin Show”

He’s written music for advertisers such as: Libby’s, Kellogg’s , Wells Fargo Bank, and Southern California Edison- For Disneyland-Circus on Parade, Crystal, Princess and Holland America cruise lines.

Steve is the author of numerous music books published by Hal Leonard including: “How To Get Real With A Fake Book” “21 Bebop Exercises” and “The singer’s Book of Jazz Standards”.

Rawlins has also performed at jazz clubs and festivals around the world as well as Carnegie Hall and Kennedy Center.

Uli Geissendoerfer

Music Director / Composer / Pianist / Educator

Originally from Munich, German-American pianist, composer and educator Uli Geissendoerfer explores melodies and rhythms across many styles of music. With a special emphasis on World, Jazz and improvisation, Uli’s musicality and training lends itself perfectly to feed his passion for exploration.

Uli has previously worked with the likes of William Cepeda (awarded a Grammy nomination), Groove Collective, Giovanni Hidalgo, Blood Sweat & Tears, Leslie Uggams, Tito Puente, Cirque du Soleil, Kofo the Wonderman, Ute Lemper and David Cassidy amongst many others. He has also worked with several Symphonies, the Connecticut Opera and more.

Of Uli’s six albums as leader, two have been released in Europe on the Caramella d’Oro label; “The Extension” and “Transformation 9/11”. “The Extension” features some of New York’s finest Latin Jazz artists and “Transformation 9/11” is a highly emotional, completely improvised piano solo CD dealing with events of September 11 which went high on the classical charts.

As film composer, Uli composed together with Emmy nominated composer Steve Sandberg the critically acclaimed short film, “Climbing Miss Sophie”, winner of the NYU Film Festival 2002, and invited to Sundance Film Festival and Cannes Film Festival among other prestigious festivals worldwide. Together with Nicole Renaud, they are featured on three releases by cartoonist Bill Plympton. In 2011 Uli was awarded best sound design at the 48 hour film festival and in 2016 one of his and Nicole’s songs, Red, made it onto short list for the Oscars.

In 2009 he moved to Las Vegas where he was the conductor, pianist and bandleader with the Cirque du Soleil production “Viva Elvis“. He resurrected the Latin Jazz Ensemble at UNLV which since won downbeat awards in 2013, 2014 ,2015 (1st place) and 2016. Aside from initiating a lecture series at the university, serving as curator for the Steinway Concert Series, he also founded the “Jazz Club at the Dispensary Lounge” (winning Best of Las Vegas) which is in it’s 6th year having been graced by luminaries such as Wynton Marsalis, Brandon Fields, Sam Most, Rick Margitza, Dick Griffin, Danny Gottlieb and many more.

In 2017 he founded Vegas Records as hub for all creative, especially Jazz related, music emanating from Las Vegas. The official Launch was in the beginning of 2018.