Description
About Art Ocdamia
Arthur Ocdamia, better known as Art by his friends, has over 35 years of experience as a cello player and has been a member of five different orchestras in Southern California:
- Cypress Pops Orchestra (since 1992)
- Bell Flower Symphony Orchestra (since 1993)
- La Mirada Symphony Orchestra (from 2000 to 2005)
- South East Symphony Orchestra (since 2005)
- Filipino American Symphony Orchestra (FASO)
Prior to immigrating to the U.S. 30 years ago, Art toured around the world as a musician on board the Holland America Cruise Line. Art has been in the wedding music business for over 25 years and has played for over a thousand clients. As Ocdamia Music Group’s Music Director, he oversees the quality of music and updates the OMG playlist; from well-loved classics to the most recent hits.
Art mostly leads and trains string quartets and string trios for a few months before letting them play by themselves. He is passionate about continuously giving gigs to local live musicians and making sure that they are upholding the OMG standards. Art is simi-retired and only accepts solo performances if all the soloist cellists are already booked or as a last resort.
Art's past performances
Booking and General Policy
- Get in touch with us via email, phone, or chat with us on our website to set an appointment.
- Choose a musician, group, or package and ask for a draft contract. For ceremony & cocktail bookings, you may opt to book online through our interactive tool. Refer to our calendar to check for an available slot for your event date.
- Secure the date by depositing a down payment of 25% through our interactive tool and pay via credit card, venmo, paypal, or send us a check.
Your booking is automatically confirmed upon receipt of the deposit OR signed contract!
Please note: If we don’t receive the signed contract OR the required deposit within 7 days from the date of the contract, we will need to re-confirm the artist(s) availability again.
Once your booking is confirmed, you will receive a username and password to access our portal. You may now create your custom wedding playlist via our interactive portal.
Please use our interactive tool to choose among thousands of songs in our playlist. There you can choose songs for your ceremony and cocktail hour.
We understand that at times, the unexpected happens. Our policy on cancellations are written below:
- For cancellations 30 days before the event, you will receive a 100% refund of the deposit amount.
- For cancellations less than 30 days before the event, the deposit is non-refundable.
Please Provide Shade/Umbrella
- We require a shade/umbrella for our musicians, instruments, and audio equipment. This is due to the extreme sensitivity of musical instruments to changes in temperature and exposure to sunlight and humidity. In some cases exposure to elements may lead to irreparable damage to the instruments.
Please Prepare a Covered/Dry Location in Case of Rain
- We require a covered/dry location for our musicians, instruments, and audio equipment in case of rain. Exposure to water or humidity is damaging to our musical instruments and audio equipment. In some cases exposure to elements may lead to irreparable damage to the instruments.
- We love playing outdoors but in lower temperatures please provide a heater for our musicians. Our musicians remain outdoors for more than an hour with an additional hour to set up before the appointment. The heater will keep them warm before and during their performance.
Definitely! We can sort out practicalities with the person in charge especially with the help of our very own wedding cellist, Art. With his over 25 years experience and over thousand clients, he has been in the wedding music business, you can assure that your wedding coordinator will be helped to ensure things run smoothly during your special day.
Usually we can handle a few minutes delay, especially if we are within the contracted time. We have extra music to cover a longer prelude. We try to be flexible whenever possible, however, if we have to run beyond the contracted time an additional fee will apply. It is common for us to perform for more than one event the same day so it’s always best for your event to start on time.
Yes, you can! If the music you are interested in is not available in our library we will do our best to obtain it if an arrangement already exists for the ensemble you’d like to hire. If we can find it, we only charge you the cost for us to purchase it and no additional fees for learning it. Otherwise, our arranger will write it especially for you with an additional arranging fee.
No, it is not necessary to meet in person. All details can be worked out by phone, email and by filling out your planning form in our portal. You will then be able to access our client portal where you can create your custom playlist and submit it electronically most especially when you have booked your chosen artist or live musician in Southern California.
Jarin U.
It was a pleasure to work with Ocdamia Strings for our wedding. We hired Margie’s husband Art to perform as a cellist and he was fantastic! I requested a special song for my walk down the aisle and it was not part of their repertoire so they recorded it just for me and sent me a sample before agreeing to it. It was exactly what I wanted. Margie is great with communication and very professional. I highly recommend Ocdamia Strings for any event!
Chandler O.
Thank you so so so much again, and thank your husband (Art Ocdamia) for us! He was incredible and made our day so magical!
Danny F.
I hired the Ocdamia Strings (Quartet) for my Son’s wedding. They were fantastic! They brought such an ambiance to the event. Our guests were so impressed by the beautiful music they provided and they were dressed for the occasion as well. Art was on time and organized. The only downside is that the wedding was over in a flash. I know they had no control over that. Margie was very helpful and a pleasure to work with. I highly recommend them!
Lola
Delicious! We hired Art for our wedding and all our guests were delighted with such an angelical music
Grace Hikkins
😍😍😍😍😍😍😍