About Me
Myka grew up in small town McKinney, Texas, where band programs and music education were strong. She began her formal music studies at the University of Texas at Austin under the instruction of oboist John Snow. While there, Myka experimented in jazz, while receiving classical training. She was also part of the UT marching band on trombone. Myka's wide range of musical interests include classical, as well as jazz, and avant-garde repertoire, Latin, Hip Hop, and Rock.After earning her Bachelor’s Degree in Music, she pursued an international experience. She performed for a season with the Nuevo Leon Symphony Orchestra in Monterrey, Mexico, after which she won a position with the Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra in Guadalajara, Mexico. There she played Co-Principal oboe and English horn for three years and performed as soloist throughout Mexico. In Guadalajara, she began playing flute with various salsa and Cuban groups. After moving to Los Angeles in 2002, she completed her Master’s of Music at the University of Southern California.Myka is an accomplished musician and plays oboe, flute, English horn and sings. She resides in Los Angeles, where she regularly plays with local orchestras, rock and salsa bands, experimental groups, and jazz. She has performed with Andrea Bocelli in Las Vegas, San Jose, Phoenix, and Anaheim, and Tony Bennett at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. Locally, she has played with the L.A. Jewish Symphony, Santa Monica Symphony, Riverside Philharmonic, and Adam Rudolph's GO Organic Orchestra. She is a member of the daKAH hip hop orchestra, with which she has performed at the Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl, New Orleans Jazz Fest, and the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas. Myka also performs regularly with Colombian Latin rock band Roxing Kafe, La Charanga Cubana, daKAH hip hop orchestra, and Che y Su Barrio Latino. She has performed live in Colombia, Mexico, New York, Chicago, Austin, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New Orleans. Myka has recorded with jazz and R&B musicians Jimmy Haslip of the Yellowjackets, Sandro Albert, Renato Neto of Prince, and Leon Ware, former producer of Marvin Gaye. Earlier in her career, as a participant in the Henry Mancini Institute in 1997 and 2001, she worked with artists including Vince Mendoza, Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock, Christian McBride, Terrence Blanchard, Paul McCandless and Diane Reeves.Myka co-founded the all-female quintet, Orion Winds, which has won competitions and grants to promote chamber and new music. She has played under the baton of conductors Esa-Pekka Salonen, Sergiu Commissiona and John Williams. In addition to performing, Myka is an active producer having produced concerts in Los Angeles with Kent Nagano, John Williams, Billy Childs, Yundi Li, and Sarah Chang, as well as in New York at Carnegie Hall.Myka Miller works with non-profits and was with the American Youth Symphony for five years, where she moved through the executive ranks, to take over as Executive Director. Starting as a member of the orchestra, she became Orchestra Manager and then Program Director, before eventually being named to the top position. Myka’s skill in program creation, development, and supervision was applied to revamping the AYS school outreach and education programs. As a result of their success, she was invited to create collaborations with similar organizations including the City of Los Angeles – Music LA, LA’s Best, P.S. Arts, and the Henry Mancini Institute, where she had previously worked on summer staff.In 2007, when the Henry Mancini Institute closed their doors, they requested the American Youth Symphony assume their education programs with the stipulation they be under the stewardship of Myka. The net benefit for the school children of Los Angeles was that Myka increased the education programs from three schools with forty-five children in 2003, to seven schools with two hundred and fifty children in 2007, and created bi-lingual written materials for students and their parents.Myka is now Executive Director of the Harmony Project, a non-profit organization established in April of 2001 with a vision of serving the cultural and artistic needs of underprivileged children in the Los Angeles area. Our mission is to promote the healthy growth and development of children through the study, practice and performance of music, to build healthier communities by investing in the positive development of children through music, and to develop children as musical ambassadors of peace, hope and understanding amongst people of diverse cultures, backgrounds and beliefs.
