Community Music Center of Boston

Morgan Beckford, originally from Memphis, Tennessee, embraces her work as an arts administrator, teaching artist, and performer. She is very excited to bring her experience to Boston, having sharpened her education and outreach, programming, and development skills with Opera Memphis, the Opera Memphis Summer Conservatories, and the Memphis Music Initiative. With a background in classical voice and musical theater, she enjoys singing, as well as cultivating a love of music in others.

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With 15+ years of operational leadership roles spanning financial services, e-commerce and the non-profit sector, Meghan brings deep finance and strategic planning expertise to CMCB. Meghan graduated with a B.S. in Finance from Pennsylvania State University before obtaining her MBA from Columbia Business School. Meghan currently serves on the Board of Project STEP and the Board of Advisors for Boston Public Market. While Meghan is undoubtedly the least musically accomplished member of the staff, she is passionate about CMCB’s mission and is the proud parent of an Early Childhood Program student.

Sarah Spinella received her graduate degree in arts administration with a focus in fundraising management, and her undergraduate degree in music and French. Sarah comes from a strong performing arts background and currently sings with local renaissance choir, Convivium Musicum.

Abby is a singer, traveler, and peacebuilder originally from Topsfield, MA. Following a degree in Music in 2012, she toured for a year with the international singing group Up with People throughout the US, Mexico, and Europe. Abby is a career changer, and comes to CMCB with four years of experience working in business management in the group travel industry. She is currently working on a Masters in Peace & Justice Leadership, and is passionate about combining music and community building. Abby is a classically trained mezzo-soprano, and continues to explore and work with her voice in sacred and secular spaces around Boston.

Originally from Houston, Texas, Elizabeth is a classically trained violinist, teacher, and performer who looks forward to working in arts administration as a way of giving back to her community. She is a recent graduate of Longy School of Music with her M.M in Violin Performance, prior to which she was at Boston College studying applied psychology and playing chamber music. She has volunteered and taught at schools such as Gardner Pilot Academy and Conservatory Lab Charter School in Dorchester and hopes to continue supporting musical education through fostering healthy and positive relationships with all the families at CMCB.  Currently she plays with Brookline Symphony Orchestra to satisfy her love for orchestral repertoire – when she is not practicing she enjoys spoiling her pet bunny, occasional morning workouts, and checking in on her three younger sisters.

Rebecca Connors is excited to bring her marketing and communications skills to CMCB and support the mission of equity in music education. In her creative career, she has been the vocalist for two rock bands and still remembers how to play the piano.

Besides working at CMCB, she is also an MFA candidate at the Solstice MFA program at Pine Manor College. Along with her writing and studying, she volunteers for her daughter’s public school, and uses her digital skills to help progressive women win elections. She has too many plants and a weakness for regency romances, horror stories, and disease ecology. She lives in Boston with her family and also has a tuxedo cat named Lizzie.

Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Michael enjoys a multi-faceted career as a cellist, vocalist, teacher, conductor, and administrator. He believes in music education and community engagement as a vehicle for social change. Since graduating with his Masters in Performance from McGill University in Montréal, Quebec, Michael has engaged in a career filled with performance, education, and community engagement. Most recently, he has worked with El Sistema inspired programs in Québec and New Brunswick, as a Project and Personnel Manager, Cello Head Teacher, and Conductor. Michael studied cello in his native Pittsburgh with Anne Martindale-Williams and David Premo of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and most recently with Brian Manker of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal. He was a founding member of the ensemble Port City 5, which aimed to change the way that performances are delivered, creating a more bidirectional relationship between audience and musician. He also performs as a freelancer with professional ensembles (chamber music and orchestral) in the area.

Samantha Gambaccini is a freelance director, singing actor and educator in the Boston area. Currently a teaching artist in private and group voice, general music and theatre performance, Ms. Gambaccini specializes in musical theatre audition preparation and musicianship training with emphasis on the transition from dialogue to song. She serves as music director for singing ensembles and theatre groups of all ages. Most recently, she has performed with Anthem Theatre Company, Emerson College, and sung with the Church of the Redeemer chamber choir in Newton, MA, under the direction of Michael Murray. She has performed the operatic roles of Ruggiero (Alcina), Madame de Croissy (Dialogues of the Carmelites), Ottone (L’incoronazione di Poppea), Puck (The Fairy Queen) and Juno (Dido & Aeneas). Previous credits also include Production Stage Manager for the world-premiere opera The Garden of Martyrs with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, Producer for Kennedy Elementary School Drama in Somerville, MA, and Assistant Director at the New Brunswick Early Music Festival. Locally, she has served as artistic director with the North Shore Players and Wakefield Repertory Theatre, and her own philanthropic production company Little Dinos Productions. Recent faculty positions include School Outreach and Early Childhood instructor in voice, piano and choir at the Community Music Center of Boston, singing instructor for the Boston University Summer Theatre Institute, director of the North Shore YMCA’s Glee Club, and director of the nationally recognized a cappella group WitchPitch? at Salem High School.

Originally from Los Angeles, California, Diego has lived in various cities throughout the United States. After coming to Boston for work, he quickly fell in love with the vibrancy of the community. His affinity for the arts began at an early age, when he found music and painting as an avenue to express teenage angst. In middle school he learned to play the trumpet, and in high school formed a rock band where he was the lead singer. Major dreams include visiting the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador and learning how to play the violin.

Stephanie graduated from Manhattan School of Music in 2013. A trained classical soprano, she is an active performer, recitalist and curator, specializing in 20^th and 21^st century repertoire. Stephanie has received performance prizes from the Puffin Foundation and the John Cage Orgel Stiftung in Halberstadt, Germany. She has collaborated with ensembles such as Ekmeles (NYC) and Verdant Vibes (Rhode Island), and has sung in spaces from National Sawdust (NYC), the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston) and to the Slipper Room (NYC). As an administrator, Stephanie has worked with I Care If You Listen, as well as the George London Foundation for Singers, Inc. She is also an avid swing dancer! www.stephanielamprea.com

Miguel holds a B.M. in Music Business From the University of Massachusetts Lowell and enjoys a multi faceted career as performer, teacher and administrator. He started studying classical piano at a young age and, through his studies, has branched out to Jazz and contemporary music while also dabbling as a conductor/music director. Miguel looks forward to honing his keyboard skills and engage with the community while working at the CMCB.

David comes to CMCB with more than 25 years of professional experience and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant. He has previously worked for John Hancock Financial Network/Manulife Financial and Allmerica Financial Corporation (now Hanover Insurance). David holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from University of Wisconsin. He is based in Boston, has an office in Roxbury, and lives in Dorchester. He plays guitar and is a founding board member and current treasurer of the Jamaica Plain Music Festival.

Singer, Scholar, and Social Activist Quentin B. Powell holds a M.M. in Voice Performance, a B.A. in Music Performance, a B.A. in English with a concentration in Speech & Hearing Sciences, and has done extensive graduate study in Education & Curriculum Design. Quentin has been an active Arts & Culture administrator for over a decade, and has been working diligently to create equitable access to the arts for underprivileged youth. As the lead teaching artist and founder of the Mosaic Music Project Quentin provides music enrichment for incarcerated communities and volunteers regularly for multiple social justice initiatives. Quentin maintains an active for performance career, singing the standard tenor operatic repertoire, and has a vibrant voice studio.

Since graduating from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in 2014, Tiniqua has been using her degree in music to begin her career as a Jazz Vocalist and a member of Petrichor, a vocal ensemble made up of her closest friends.  She also works for 3050 Music Group as a member of the production team.  Tiniqua looks forward to honing her music and administrative skills in this warm and exciting community.

Christopher Perry is a graduate of Berklee College of Music with a degree in music therapy.  Whether working with adults with developmental disabilities, children with special needs, Early Intervention, or children with autism, Christopher has a passion for connecting with others through music.  He has experience practicing music therapy with groups and individuals, in classrooms, homes and community spaces.

Zach is a flutist, composer, and arts administrator originally from Vermont. He’s thrilled to move home to Boston after five years in New York, where he worked as Managing Director of the Talea Ensemble and as Executive Director of the [Switch~ Ensemble]. Zach currently serves as Principal Flute in the Cape Cod Symphony performs as a freelancer with Boston Ballet, the Portland Symphony, Albany Symphony, Talea Ensemble, and more. Summers have brought Zach to engagements at the Spoleto Festival USA, Aldeburgh Festival, Britten-Pears Young Artist Program, IRCAM’s Manifeste, Klangspuren Schwaz, the June in Buffalo Festival, and Colorado College Music Festival. He holds an MM and a Performers Certificate from the Eastman School of Music and a B.A. from Harvard University. Read more and listen at zachsheetsmusic.com. Zach grew up watching baseball with his dad, a Missourian, and will forever be a St. Louis Cardinals fan, but if someone from the AL has to win the Sox are cool, too.

Hannah Sigel holds a BM from Boston Conservatory at Berklee, where she studied voice under the tutelage of Kevin Wilson. Having performed and taught privately for years, Hannah is delighted to share her passion for music with the community and inspire the next generation of musicians. Originally from Miami, FL, Hannah is passionate about the importance of music in our communities and its members lives. She hopes to inspire a will and drive to make a difference in our communities through music education and performance.

Samantha Gambaccini is a freelance director, singing actor and educator in the Boston area. Currently a teaching artist in private and group voice, general music and theatre performance, Ms. Gambaccini specializes in musical theatre audition preparation and musicianship training with emphasis on the transition from dialogue to song. She serves as music director for singing ensembles and theatre groups of all ages. Most recently, she has performed with Anthem Theatre Company, Emerson College, and sung with the Church of the Redeemer chamber choir in Newton, MA, under the direction of Michael Murray. She has performed the operatic roles of Ruggiero (Alcina), Madame de Croissy (Dialogues of the Carmelites), Ottone (L’incoronazione di Poppea), Puck (The Fairy Queen) and Juno (Dido & Aeneas). Previous credits also include Production Stage Manager for the world-premiere opera The Garden of Martyrs with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, Producer for Kennedy Elementary School Drama in Somerville, MA, and Assistant Director at the New Brunswick Early Music Festival. Locally, she has served as artistic director with the North Shore Players and Wakefield Repertory Theatre, and her own philanthropic production company Little Dinos Productions. Recent faculty positions include School Outreach and Early Childhood instructor in voice, piano and choir at the Community Music Center of Boston, singing instructor for the Boston University Summer Theatre Institute, director of the North Shore YMCA’s Glee Club, and director of the nationally recognized a cappella group WitchPitch? at Salem High School.

Flutist Amy Sue Dombach holds degrees in flute performance from Oberlin Conservatory (B.M.) and Boston University College of Fine Arts (M.M. and D.M.A), where she studied under the guidance of Michel Debost, Kathleen Chastain, Doriot Dwyer, Linda Toote, and Marya Martin.She has performed as a soloist, chamber and orchestral player, teacher, and clinician in Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Virginia, Maine, Texas, and Italy. She annually teaches Flute Spa Boston with Patricia George, ed. of Flute Talk Magazine. As a member of Pi Kappa Lambda and a Dean’s Scholar, her doctoral research focused upon the development of the flute concerto in 20th-century America. She publishes regularly in Flute Talk Magazine. Dr. Dombach is an active freelance musician in Boston and has served on the faculty of the Community Music Center of Boston since 2008. She was appointed Chair of the Wind and Brass Department in 2016, and Chair of the Faculty Council in 2018.

Throughout Dr. Dombach’s career, she has presented recitals and concerts highlighting compositions and composers from throughout all Musical Eras.  Her varied and balanced programs invite audience members to explore both traditional classical literature and contemporary compositions in a manner that is accessible to all.  An advocate for contemporary music and exhilarated by the challenge of learning new repertoire, Dr. Dombach enjoys performing contemporary music and the process of working with composers.  She has enjoyed working with Eric Ewazan, Martin Amlin, Lita Grier, Katherine Hoover, Lukas Foss, and others. She is a dedicated performer of contemporary and traditional music and has created concert and educational programs featuring the works of 20th- and 21st-century composers, such as those of Boston- and New York-based composers, programs which illustrate the evolution of flute music over the century, and concerts featuring the works of female composers.

Dr. Dombach is equally committed to education.  She has completed the highest degrees in music performance with an emphasis in pedagogical techniques.  She maintains vibrant studios privately and at the Community Music Center of Boston. Known for greatly inspiring students, she is a nurturing, goal oriented, and organized teacher.  Patient and kind, Dr. Dombach fosters educational techniques that easily translate into academic areas, while also establishing lasting relationships with her students and their families.

Anne Lemos Edgerton is a trained musician and dancer. She holds a MALS  in Composition from Wesleyan University in Connecticut and a Dalcroze Degree and Certificate from the Longy School of Music. She has been teaching dance for over 25 years and Dalcroze Eurhythmics for 15 years. In addition she is a choreographer who has created multiple dance pieces for the past 25 years while choreographer-in-residence for the Moving West Repertory Dance Theatre based in Framingham.

Originally from Chicago, Dan is a percussionist, composer, and educator based in Boston, Massachusetts that specializes in new music. He was recently selected as one of thirty percussionists to participate in the TROMP International Percussion Competition in the Netherlands this past November. In June 2018, he had the honor of performing at the New Music Gathering and was the first recipient of the Robert C. Duvall Percussionist Fellowship at the Blackbird Creative Lab. He’s also toured the US with his chamber quartet, Slipstream, as well as the Ambient Orchestra performing Evan Ziporyn’s arrangement of David Bowie’s Blackstar. Another group that he was a part of, Lilith, commissioned composers including Shara Nova and Brad Wells and released their self-titled CD with National Sawdust Tracks this past year. Besides focusing on classical music, Dan was fortunate to be a part of the non-western drumming ensembles that won the Percussive Art Society’s World Percussion Competition as well as the Afro-Cuban ensemble that won a Student Downbeat Award. He also spent a semester in Pune, India studying tabla with Bharat Jangam.

Virtuoso guitarist, composer and bandleader, Javier Rosario is the first ever Michel Camilo Scholarship winner. The scholarship was an initiative of the Dominican born, Grammy Award winning pianist. It has been the first scholarship of its kind in the history of the Dominican Republic, where Javier was born in Santo Domingo. In 2006, Javier attended Berklee College of Music under the full scholarship, graduating with the highest ratings ever given to a guitarist. In 2009, he performed at the Berklee Jazz and Blues Guitar Night: a concert which only featured the very top players of the entire school. In 2010, Javier decided to further his studies at the Longy School of Music of Bard College with a Master’s degree. There he was acknowledged by his guitar teachers as possibly the highest level guitarist ever to enter the jazz program.

Among some of the musicians Javier has performed with are: Joe Lovano, John Lockwood, Matt Savage and Vardan Ovsepian, Jeff Galindo and Phil Grenadier. Javier is one of only a few Dominicans who have performed at the world famous Blue Note jazz club in NYC as part of their Emerging Jazz Series. He has also performed at the Casa de Teatro Jazz Festival, A-Town Jazz Festival, Strand Theater, Massachusetts’ State House, St. Botolph Club, Berklee Performance Center, Cornelia Street Cafe, Beehive and Beat Hotel jazz clubs. Currently, he is a faculty member at Community Music Center of Boston. Javier is also a traveling performer and recording artist.

Sébastien Ridoré is a violist hailing from Stoneham, Massachusetts. He graduated from Gettysburg College’s Sunderman Conservatory with a focus in classical performance and jazz improvisation. In school, Sébastien performed with the Gettysburg College Symphony Orchestras and a jazz and hip-hop fusion band called Dispatch.

Hannah Sigel holds a BM from Boston Conservatory at Berklee, where she studied voice under the tutelage of Kevin Wilson. Having performed and taught privately for years, Hannah is delighted to share her passion for music with the community and inspire the next generation of musicians. Originally from Miami, FL, Hannah is passionate about the importance of music in our communities and its members lives. She hopes to inspire a will and drive to make a difference in our communities through music education and performance.

Emma graduated from Rice University in 2016. Upon graduation, she was awarded the Roy and Hazel Zeff Memorial Fellowship, funding a year of independent study to research the small, but growing, number of women percussionists in 7 different countries to understand the changes in cultural and socio-economic trends that have allowed them to come together. Emma has worked with Musicians Without Borders, El Sistema El Salvador, Sphinx, Gamelan Galak Tika, and Fundacion Danilo Perez. She is also an active performer outside the Western classical realm, specializing in steel pan and Balinese gamelan.

Skuli Thorsteinsson is a guitarist and teacher and graduate of Berklee College of Music with a degree in Performance and Jazz Composition. He performs and teaches regularly around the Boston area as a guitarist, and early childhood music classes including Little Notes and Music and Movement. He strongly believes in the power of music to help development in children and adults alike and as a way to bring people together to better our communities.

A native of Mexico, Santiago Diaz began playing guitar at the age of 13 at the National School of Music in Mexico City and made his first public recital two years later at the Sala Huehuecóyotl. Acclaimed for his lyrical and passionate performances, Mr. Diaz is one of the leading virtuoso guitarists of his generation and is an active concert guitarist in both Mexico and the United States. The Boston Globe wrote “He’s a really spectacular player. The combination of his technique and his passionate performance is really not to be missed”…”A player with flair, lyricism, and technical finesse”. According to the guitar figure Joaquín Clerch “Santiago is a young virtuoso who possesses a secure technique, a beautiful sound and an imaginative and sincere musicality”. Moreover, legendary guitarist Eliot Fisk said “He is an extraordinary young virtuoso with a solid technique, unique artistic interpretation and superb musicality”. In addition, renowned guitarist David Leisner said, “He is blessed with a strong, perfectly natural musical instinct and with an impressive technical facility on the guitar”.

Highlighted performances include solo recitals at the Hall of Ideas in Boston, the Newport Art Museum in Newport RI, Masters of the Future Concert Series in Newport, the Boston Athenaeum, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, First Church as part of FirstNight Boston, Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico, Universidad de Guadalajara in Mexico, the Merida International Guitar Festival in Mexico, and a solo recital at the Manuel M. Ponce Hall in Mexico City as part of the Bellas Artes Guitar Cycle. Mr. Dìaz had his solo debut inJordan Hall in June of 2007, to great success, as part of the prestigious Boston GuitarFest directed by guitar virtuoso Eliot Fisk.

Future engagements include concerts with the Mexico City Chamber Orchestra, the Queretaro Camerata Orchestra, recital at the Ocampo Theater in Cuernavaca as part of the Morelos International Guitar Festival, and a solo recital at the Les Cordes Pincees International Guitar Festival in Morocco.

Mr. Diaz received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in guitar with distinction in performance at the New England Conservatory in Boston where he studied with David Leisner and Eliot Fisk. Both degrees were possible thanks to scholarships granted by the same institution.

In addition to a busy freelance career in settings ranging from jazz and blues to electronic and orchestral music, Mr. Gabriel leads his own ensembles performing original music throughout New England. His debut recording, Blueprints, was released by Creative Nation Music Productions (www.cnmpro.com) in February 2005. He is a former student of Donald Palma and Charlie Banacos. He is on the faculty of UMass-Lowell.

Brad Faucher is a musician, music teacher, short film producer, and live music producer living in Waltham, MA. Faucher has long been a first-call guitarist and vocalist on the Boston blues, jazz, and R&B scenes.

You may have seen him playing guitar with Boston’s best including: Chicago Bob Nelson, Bird Taylor, Sweet Willie D, Nicole Nelson and Diane Blue. Notable local performances include the Regent Theatre in Arlington, Boston’s Symphony Hall, and Tanglewood.

Brad effortlessly blends blues, jazz, gospel, and R&B. You can currently see him perform with Session450, KONG, Roxbury’s Grant AME Male Gospel Chorus, or solo.

Active performer and composer in Jazz, Blues and Funk genres. In addition to playing and recording two CD’s with his own trio, Mr. Giordano also performs with the New Hampshire Jazz Orchestra, Maria DeMaio and The Fellas, and others. Private lessons focus on playing fundamentals, transcriptions and working with the students individual strengths and goals. Mr. Giordano is currently a faculty member at The All Newton Music School, and has previously taught at the Ted Herbert Music School in Manchester, NH.

www.mikegiordano.net

Multi-instrumentalist Akili Jamal Haynes has performed with Illinois Jacquet (Swing), Lester Bowie (Mixed genres), Wynton Marsalis (New Orleans), Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra (Mixed genres), McCoy Tyner (Modern Bebop), the Mingus Big Band (Bebop), Nana Kimati Dinizulu (Ghana), Lenny Kravitz (Funk/Rock), Stephen Scott (Bebop), Lamine Toure & Group Saloum (Senegales Sabar/Mbalax), Sidi Muhammed Camara (Mali), Isaura Oliveira (Bahia Brazil), Sory Diabote (Mali), Fred Woodard Collective (Bebop/Mixed genres), Taina Asili (Puerto Rico), Fulani Haynes (Bebop/Mixed Genres), and Stan Strickland (Mixed Genres), among others.

Akili is cultivating his multi-genre band, A Slice of P.A.I. (Positive African Images), which combines the ancient rhythms of the African continent with Funk, Rhythm and Blues, Hip-Hop, and Bebop. With the diverse backgrounds and musical histories of its personnel, the group is able to authentically infuse the many rhythmic creations and genres of Africans around the world into one sweet healing sound. P.A.I. has performed concerts and lecture demonstrations for communities and schools in the Greater Boston Area. Most recently, it supported the Green House Growers of the Dudley Greenhouse, brought music to students of the Martin Luther King School, and participated in Feté de la Musique. P.A.I. is currently working on a multi-media project called Metamorphosis of the Blues and a feature film called Becoming Chibuzo, which tells the story of Akili Jamal Haynes, a child prodigy forced to play trombone, who puts it down to pursue the dreams of his youth.

Matt Savage, has had a fifteen-year professional career as a jazz musician, bandleader and composer with ensembles of different size. He’s played with some of the biggest names in jazz, including Chick Corea, the Ellington All Stars, Chaka Khan, Wynton Marsalis, Bobby Watson, Clark Terry, Jimmy Heath, Jason Moran, Arturo O’Farrill, John Pizzarelli, Joshua Redman, Terri Lyne Carrington, Jon Faddis, Jerry Bergonzi and Donny McCaslin among others. Along the way, he’s recorded twelve albums as leader and one as collaborator. He is a Bösendorfer piano artist.

As a composer, Matt has garnered respect. He composed and recorded the score for a full-length documentary film,Sound of Redemption: The Frank Morgan Story. The movie, which premiered in 2014, chronicles the life of jazz alto saxophonist Frank Morgan. Additionally, Savage wrote almost all the songs on his twelve albums, several of which have been used in short documentaries, on web sites, in school music curricula and in government educational materials. Savage has toured worldwide and had many national media appearances including performances at The Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Birdland, the Blue Note, Bohemian Caverns, Town Hall, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Scullers, the Jazz Standard, the Pantages Theatre, the Iridium, the Berklee BeanTown Jazz Festival, the Monterey Jazz Festival, Heineken Jazzaldia (Spain), the Costa Rica International Jazz Festival, the International VSA Arts Festival, the Jacksonville Jazz Festival, the Ottawa International Jazz Festival, the New Orleans Jazz Festival, Japan, Curacao, Aruba and for the president of Singapore.

A graduate of Manhattan School of Music and Berklee College of Music, Matt balances his professional music career with teaching. He teaches at Community Music Center of Boston, and at Applied Behavioral Learning Services (an organization near Boston for children and adults with autism and other developmental disabilities). Matt gives masterclasses and workshops domestically and internationally (in English and Spanish) as well as private piano lessons.

Flutist, composer, author and educator Fernando Brandão is from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He has performed extensively as a bandleader, sideman, chamber musician and as a soloist with many ensembles and prominent orchestras both in Brazil and the US.

His new album,  Sem Tradução (Without Translation) features nine original songs with Marcella Camargo as the lead singer and 14 prominent musicians from the Boston area. His vocal and instrumental compositions are centered mostly around Brazilian styles including choro, samba, bossa, ijexá, and baião, and feature traditional and contemporary language and arrangements. With precise technique and refined sound, his interpretations on concert, alto, bass flutes and pífanos combine jazzy improvisations to a truly Brazilian language and sound.

He leads the Fernando Brandão Ensemble, which has recently been featured at the First Cambridge Jazz Festival, and the Isabella Gardner Museum. He also leads the group Alma, the gafieira band Bohemia Carioca, and he is an active member of the groups Pablo Ablanedo Octet, Trio Choro Brasil, Sergio Brandão & Manga Rosa and Teresa Inês Quintet. He has also played or recorded with Oscar Castro-Neves, Rosa Passos, Luciana Souza, Kris Adams, John Stein Quartet, Leandro Braga, Maria Teresa Madeira, Emmanuel Music Orchestra with conductors Criag Smith, Seiji Ozawa, and pianist Russell Sherman.

Mr. Brandão is an Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music and a faculty member of the Community Music Center of Boston. A leading educator in Brazilian music, he has given many lectures about its music styles, history and composers, and he is the author of the play-along book Brazilian and Afro-Cuban Jazz Conception, published by Advance Music. His compositions have been recorded by Choro das Três, guitarist Almir Cortes and New World Guitar Trio. He was the first prize winner of several national music competitions in Brazil, and the 1991 Pappoutsakis Flute Competition in Boston.

Active performer and composer in Jazz, Blues and Funk genres. In addition to playing and recording two CD’s with his own trio, Mr. Giordano also performs with the New Hampshire Jazz Orchestra, Maria DeMaio and The Fellas, and others. Private lessons focus on playing fundamentals, transcriptions and working with the students individual strengths and goals. Mr. Giordano is currently a faculty member at The All Newton Music School, and has previously taught at the Ted Herbert Music School in Manchester, NH.

www.mikegiordano.net

Mr. Lawrence is both a composer and performer. He has written numerous works for flute and other mediums in the contemporary idiom. He has appeared as soloist with such jazz greats as Quincy Jones, Eubie Blake and the late Duke Ellington. He is also very involved in presenting avant garde jazz. He was presented with the Marilla MacDill prize for excellence in teaching and community service.

In addition to a busy freelance career in settings ranging from jazz and blues to electronic and orchestral music, Mr. Gabriel leads his own ensembles performing original music throughout New England. His debut recording, Blueprints, was released by Creative Nation Music Productions (www.cnmpro.com) in February 2005. He is a former student of Donald Palma and Charlie Banacos. He is on the faculty of UMass-Lowell.

Dr. Shamu has taught trumpet, presented master classes, and directed ensembles in the Boston Public Schools, at Boston University and its Tanglewood Institute, and at other universities and summer festivals across the country. He has taught classes in Brass Pedagogy and Methods at Boston University; Music History, Music Theory, and Intensive French at Harvard University.

He performs regularly with the Orchestra of Opera Boston, the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, and several other groups in New England. Also an active chamber musician, he is a founding member of Boston’s Riverside Brass. He has appeared as a soloist at the Music Center’s Kleshinski Concert Series, throughout the United States, and in Europe.  A versatile player, Geoff spent several years performing and recording as a member of the reggae band Pressure Cooker, has played for countless musical show productions—and just about everything in between. His teachers include Terry Everson, Mark Gould, Stephen Jones, Timothy Morrison, and Pierre Thibaud, with whom he studied for several years after coming to Paris on a Harriet Hale Woolley Fellowship.

More information—including a calendar of upcoming performances—may be found at gshamu.com.

A naturally inquisitive and curious person from birth, Aidan has always been fascinated with sound. As a composer, he finds himself often categorized as a writer of experimental music, due to his fascination with texture and color as primary musical forces, but he has also been trained as a jazz and classical composer, and retains great interest in an eclectic variety of music, from pop to the farthest reaches of the experimental, and maintains that all such genres are far more closely related than one might initially imagine. Mr. Ramsay is particularly interested in the intersections between music and diagetic sound design, and is always searching for the music hiding in everyday life. He is currently finishing a master’s degree at Boston University, where he studies with Joshua Fineberg. He previously studied at the University of Oregon under Robert Kyr and David Crumb. Though young and early in his career, Aidan has managed to make a name for himself writing for artists such as JACK Quartet and Esteli Gomez, of Roomful of Teeth fame.

Christopher Perry is a graduate of Berklee College of Music with a degree in music therapy.  Whether working with adults with developmental disabilities, children with special needs, Early Intervention, or children with autism, Christopher has a passion for connecting with others through music.  He has experience practicing music therapy with groups and individuals, in classrooms, homes and community spaces.

Jenna McQuade is originally from Wilbraham, MA and holds a BM from Berklee College of Music, where she graduated with a degree in Music Therapy. Upon graduation, Jenna moved to Los Angeles, CA to complete her clinical internship at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. She has returned to Boston to continue working with various populations including early intervention and with adults with developmental disabilities. Jenna is a certified Neurologic Music Therapist and has experience working in medical settings and with children on the Autism spectrum. Jenna is passionate about using music as a therapeutic tool and enjoys sharing the power of music with others.

Lindsey is a graduate of Nazareth College of Rochester, NY. Upon graduation, Lindsey completed her music therapy internship at Hochstein of Music and Dance in Rochester. She specializes in implementing music therapy services with adults and children with developmental disabilities with a recent concentration in school-aged special education settings. Lindsey has extensive knowledge of music therapy in school-based settings and created new music therapy opportunities throughout school across Rochester, NY. She also serves as a supervisor for Berklee School of Music.

Joseph Rivera was born on August 22, 1996 in Caguas, Puerto Rico. Since being a little boy he demonstrated musical abilities for the “Cuatro Puertorriqueño”, Puerto Rico’s native instrument. He began playing the Cuatro at the age of 8. By the time when he was 12 years old he’s focus had changed to the piano. He began his piano studies in the “Escuela Libre de Musica de Caguas” with professor Domingo Garcia. Since that short age and with little experience in the piano, Joseph began playing professionally with Salsa groups around Puerto Rico in different festivals. He played with world renowned Salsa artists like Tito Nieves, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Luis Enrique, Luisito Carrion, Rey Ruiz, among others.

Joseph auditioned and entered in the Jazz Performance program of the “Conservatorio de Musica de Puerto Rico” in 2014 where he took piano classes with pianist Luis Marin. This is where Joseph was first introduced in the world of Jazz. Among other professors that wherearound Joseph’s educational development where trompetistCharlie Sepulveda and Julito Alvarado and bassist Gabriel Rodriguez. In the short term of 3 semesters, Joseph made connections with students and professors and further developed his musical career in Puerto Rico’s music scene.

Joseph participated in the 2015 Berklee in Puerto Rico program where he auditioned and was awarded the Berklee Full-Tuition Scholarship, which is awarded to only a handful of skillful musicians around the world. In 2016 he began his studies at Berklee College of Music. On his first semester he got to play in the Puerto Rico Heineken Jazz Fest and in Regatta Bar Jazz Club under the direction of Berklee Professor and fellow Puertorican Eguie Castrillo. Joseph’s piano professor at Berklee was Japanese pianist Yoko Miwa. Joseph has got to play with world renowned jazz trombone players like Edwin Cepeda and his band, and Luis Bonilla with the JMI Jazz World Orchestra, which is a jazz big band that reunites a handful of young jazz talents from around the world via auditions to play and tour Europe for 2 weeks in the summer.

Born in Shanghai, China, an international city, Xingyu grew up within a large variety of cultures and heritage. She developed a natural interest in both Eastern and Western philosophy, history, medicine, and arts.

She began her classical piano training at five and taught her first private student at the age of 16. After coming to Berklee in 2014, She has studied Jazz and other contemporary music styles with Laszlo Gardony, Kenny Warner, Victor Wooten, Donna McElroy, Jerry Leake, to name a few. She holds a BA summa cum laude in Music Therapy from Berklee College of Music and a BS in Applied Psychology (mental health counseling specialization) from East China Normal University. She has performed her original compositions and/or arrangements in various venues, including Berklee Performance Center, Boston National Poetry Festival, and Boston Symphony Hall.

She has extensive professional training and working experiences using multiple expressive arts modalities with clients ranging from newborns to older adults, with a family-centered experiential approach.

She has created and presented original music therapy interventions at the Passage and New England Regional Music Therapy Conference when she received an invitation to further develop her method into a Continuing Music Therapy Education (CMTE) course.

Her mission is to support her students, clients, and audience to remove obstacles from their lives, find their unique voices, express themselves freely, reach their goals, become an authentic person, and build communities in which everyone can thrive.

She is trilingual, fluent in Shanghainese, Mandarin, and English.

She is thrilled to join the Community Music Center of Boston in 2019 and looking forward to sharing the power of music. To find out more about her, please check out her website: cherubxingyu.com

Thomas Kociela is currently Music Director of the Lowell Philharmonic Orchestra and the Parkway Concert Orchestra (Norwood, MA).

As a performer, Thomas spent seven years as a substitute musician with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on trombone, euphonium, and bass trumpet — performing under conductors such as Bernard Haitink, Pierre Boulez, Riccardo Muti, Michael Tilson Thomas, David Robertson, and Sir Mark Elder. While in Chicago, Thomas was the Assistant Conductor at the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras (CYSO). He also served as CYSO’s Pathways Neighborhood Ensembles Music Director, designing and implementing small ensemble and private lesson programs at underserved schools around Chicago. Thomas was an orchestral section coach and brass ensemble director at the University of Chicago. As an Artist Teacher at the Chicago High School for the Arts (ChiArts) he directed the wind ensemble and taught music theory.

Prior to moving to Boston Thomas was Music Director of the Temecula Valley Youth Symphony (CA), where membership more than doubled during his tenure. The orchestra pushed new boundaries and collaborated with ensembles and musicians ranging from women’s chorus, opera singer, electronic track, flute and saxophone duo, student soloists, as well as guest bands and orchestras — with an increased number of community concerts. He also served as Assistant Conductor of the Temecula Valley Symphony as well as Assistant Music Director of the Community Youth Orchestra of Southern California.

More information about Thomas can be found on his website — www.thomaskociela.com

Neil Godwin is a native of West Monroe, LA, where he began his horn studies with Dr. Gary Greene at Northeast Louisiana University. Neil holds degrees in horn performance and conducting from the University of Southern Mississippi, where he was a student of Dennis Behm in horn and Drs. Timothy Koch and Jay Dean in conducting. In 2001, Neil came to Boston in order to pursue further horn studies at Boston University under the tutelage of Eric Ruske. Additionally, he has performed in masterclasses and workshops with such noted horn players as Dale Clevenger, David Jolley, Roger Kaza, Jeff Nelsen, Karl Pituch, Denise Tryon, and Frøydis Ree Wekre. While in Boston, Neil has engaged in a busy and varied career as both a performer and pedagogue. As a new music specialist, Neil enjoys performing frequently with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and the Callithumpian Consort, and on the other extreme, he has explored natural horn performance practice with Grand Harmonie. An enthusiastic chamber musician, Neil performs with the Solar Wind Quintet, the Boston Woodwind Society Octet, and the Epic Brass Quintet. Neil is a member of the Plymouth Philharmonic, and he has formerly held positions with the Discovery Ensemble, the Hillyer Festival Orchestra, the Simon Sinfonietta, and the Gardner Museum Chamber Orchestra. Furthermore, Neil has performed with many of the orchestras in the region including the Boston Philharmonic, the New Bedford Symphony, the Cape Cod Symphony, the Orchestra of Indian Hill, Symphony by the Sea, and the Claflin Hill Symphony. Neil is a member of the brass and ensembles faculties at the Community Music Center of Boston where he teaches brass private lessons both in house and at the Boston Latin School and serves as director of the Junior Wind Ensemble. Neil is also the assistant director of CMCB’s Summer Music program, where he directs the wind ensemble and coaches chamber music.

Originally from Taipei, Taiwan, Stephanie holds a B.M. degree in cello performance from the Eastman School of Music and is currently pursuing her M.M. degree at the New England Conservatory. She is an avid chamber performer in the Boston area, performing regularly with non-profit organization, Fermata. While performing holds a special place in her heart, it is not the only aspiration she has as a musician, as she is eager to share her enthusiasm for music with the local community. Stephanie currently serves as a teaching artist at the Josiah Quincy Orchestra Program and ensemble manager at the NEC Preparatory School. During her free time, she enjoys swimming, cooking, and painting!

Hailing from Tampa, Florida, Brazilian-American countertenor Lucas Coura is quickly establishing himself as a consummate singer-actor in the Boston area. In April of 2017 after nearly a decade of study as a tenor, Mr. Coura made his debut as an alto soloist in Bach’s St. John Passion with Simon Carrington conducting. In November 2017, he sang the role of Nerone in Stetson University Opera Theatre’s production of L’incoronazione di Poppea. In the Spring of 2018, he took first place in his categories at both the Stephen and Jeanie Foster Vocal Competition and the Southeast Regional NATS Audition.

This year, Lucas will sing as an alto soloist in Händel’s Messiah at Memorial Congregational Church in Sudbury. Mr. Coura will appear in the Boston premiere of Stefan Weisman’s The Scarlet Ibis with Boston Opera Collaborative in January 2019.

Mr. Coura graduated summa cum laude from Stetson University with a degree in vocal performance and music theory. He directs the Youth Chorus and teachers private voice at the Community Music Center of Boston. He is also a staff singer for All Saints Ashmont. In addition to performing, Lucas enjoys composition, songwriting, and arranging. Lucas is thrilled to join the faculty at the CMCB, and hopes to help students find the joy of discovering their own unique musical expression.

Karl Ørvik, violin and viola, has appeared in solo and chamber music recitals throughout the United States, as well as in Canada, Norway and South Korea. He has been a concerto soloist with the Bangor, Racine and Green Bay Civic symphonies, and has extensive experience as a concertmaster and section player with numerous other orchestras in New England and the Midwest. A former violinist with the Boston Public Quartet, Mr. Ørvik is also a founding member of Trio Klaritas, who made their Carnegie Hall debut in January of 2018, as well as the resident violinist of Stonehill College’s faculty ensemble, the Stonehill Trio. In addition to his position at Stonehill, he is also a long-time member of the string faculty at the Community Music Center of Boston, where he was the recipient of the 2017 Marilla MacDill Prize for Teaching Excellence. In the summers he teaches at the UNCA Chamber Music Workshop in North Carolina, the Point Counterpoint music festival in Vermont and the Youth and Muse festival in Boston. He has been published in the ASTA Journal, and is the author of New Scale Method, an innovative scale method book for advanced violinists and violists. A native of Canada, Mr. Ørvik has studied with many distinguished musicians, including Roman Totenberg, Stephen Majeske and Calvin Wiersma, and members of the Muir, Cleveland, Cavani, Fine Arts and Portland string quartets. He holds performance degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and Lawrence University, and in January of 2012 he received his DMA from Boston University.

Hannah Sigel holds a BM from Boston Conservatory at Berklee, where she studied voice under the tutelage of Kevin Wilson. Having performed and taught privately for years, Hannah is delighted to share her passion for music with the community and inspire the next generation of musicians. Originally from Miami, FL, Hannah is passionate about the importance of music in our communities and its members lives. She hopes to inspire a will and drive to make a difference in our communities through music education and performance.

Ms. Underhill teaches at the South Shore Music Center and Boston College as well as serving as Manager for the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras (GBYSO) and Director of Instrumental Music at St. Mark’s School. She has performed with the Moody Blues, Placido Domingo, Tony Bennett and the Panamanian Symphony Orchestra, and has appeared as a soloist with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Harvard University Mozart Society Orchestra, GBYSO, and the Little Orchestra of Victoria. She has also performed in Minneapolis, Chicago, Holland, New York City and St. Petersburg, Russia. She is also a member of Alea III. She has developed a cataloguing system for ethnic recordings with composer Martin Bartlett and has organized Gunther Schuller’s personal collection. She is the recipient of the 2001 Kay Logan Award for her development of the chamber music program at GBYSO.

Teaching Philosophy:

I am passionate about music and playing the bassoon.  I try to help each student discover what about music and bassoon speaks to him or her.  My hope is that this is something that they will take with them for the rest of their lives.  What we work on in lessons is something I modify based on the level, learning style and goals of the individual student.  Most of my students use bassoon as part of their college application whether they are just planning continuing playing or are majoring in music; I help guide students through this process.

Boston based harpsichordist Nickolai Sheikov began his first music lessons on the piano at the age of nine in his native country of Bulgaria. Later, he received professional music training at the L. Pipkov National School of Music in Sofia in piano performance, graduating cum laude in 1999. In 2000, after being awarded a full scholarship at Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music, Mr. Sheikov further perused his studies, receiving both Bachelor and Master degrees in Harpsichord Performance. His prime teacher and mentor there was harpsichordist John Gibbons. Upon graduating, Mr. Sheikov has been participating in a number of harpsichord master classes, both in Europe and USA, with Gustav Leonhard, Menno van Delft, Peter Watchorn, Jaap Schröder (chamber music) amongst others.  While the main focus of Mr. Sheikov’s repertoire is the music of the late 16 th , 17 th and early 18th centuries, he also explores works of the 20 th century as well as current harpsichord repertoire. Such performances include compositions by Robert Baksa, Daniel Pinkham, Elodie Lauten, Bohuslav Martinu, Manuel Ponce, and others. At the dawn of his performing career, Mr. Sheikov’s numerous solo performances have been critically acclaimed. The Boston Musical Intelligencer described him as a “noteworthy” and “an excellent harpsichordist”. 2015 marks a critically acclaimed solo debut CD release ofsonatas by Domenico Scarlatti for the Musica Omnia label with a second recording to follow in 2017. In 2016, Mr. Sheikov has founded and directed the Early Music Evenings concert series in Boston, which focuses on period instrument performances.

Currently Mr. Sheikov performs as a soloist and chamber musician at various music venues in USA and abroad. Past highlights include recitals in National Palace of Culture in Bulgaria, Jordan Hall in Boston, First Church of Boston Concert Series, First Church in Cambridge, Boston Early Music Festival Fringe Concerts, Boston Community Music Center Kleshinski Concert Series, Friends Meeting House Concerts. In addition, he has partnered with artist such as guitar virtuoso Grisha Goryachev, harpsichordist Elaine Comparone and BSO oboist Keisuke Wakao.

Currently Mr. Sheikov serves as the Chair of the Piano/Keyboard Department at the Community Music Center of Boston, where he teaches both harpsichord and piano. For more information, please visit the artist’s web page at www.sheikov.com.

Emma Luyendijk is originally from Cape Town South Africa, where she completed her undergraduate studies in Music, Psychology and Sociology. Emma is passionate about the social impact of music on communities and has written an award-winning research paper “Music and Conflict: Manipulating Evoked Responses”. Emma is the Community Engagement Coordinator for the Boston Artsong Society and when she is not teaching at CMCB, serves as staff pianist for the vocal department at Boston Conservatory at Berklee.

Anne Marie “Macky” Caldoza is a Filipino pianist and educator. She began her piano studies at the age of 12 and aside from teaching, is currently pursuing a license as a Body Mapping Educator. She received her MM and GPD from the Longy School of Music as a student of Wayman Chin. She has also had the opportunity to learn from pianists such as Peter Serkin, Spencer Myer, Igor Levitt, and Victor Asuncion. Macky enjoys working with students of all ages and hopes to inspire creative thinking, efficient learning, and confidence in all that they pursue.

Paulius Pancekauskas is an Artist Diploma candidate in Piano Performance at Longy School of Music of Bard College, where he studies under Spencer Myer. He holds a M.M. from Longy and a B.M. from Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy. His previous instructors include Shai Wosner, Aidas Puodžiukas, Diana Berulytė, and Daumantas Kirilauskas. 

Paulius has achieved critical acclaim and various awards in several competitions and music events of national and international significance. He has won or placed in over ten piano and music competitions in Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia, and USA. He made his debut with the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra in 2009 performing Edward Grieg’s Piano Concerto in g minor. After moving to the States in 2016, he was granted the Presidential Scholarship and Neil and Jane Pappalardo Scholarship at Longy. Currently Paulius is an active performer in Massachusetts pursuing his solo and teaching career.

Matt Savage, has had a fifteen-year professional career as a jazz musician, bandleader and composer with ensembles of different size. He’s played with some of the biggest names in jazz, including Chick Corea, the Ellington All Stars, Chaka Khan, Wynton Marsalis, Bobby Watson, Clark Terry, Jimmy Heath, Jason Moran, Arturo O’Farrill, John Pizzarelli, Joshua Redman, Terri Lyne Carrington, Jon Faddis, Jerry Bergonzi and Donny McCaslin among others. Along the way, he’s recorded twelve albums as leader and one as collaborator. He is a Bösendorfer piano artist.

As a composer, Matt has garnered respect. He composed and recorded the score for a full-length documentary film,Sound of Redemption: The Frank Morgan Story. The movie, which premiered in 2014, chronicles the life of jazz alto saxophonist Frank Morgan. Additionally, Savage wrote almost all the songs on his twelve albums, several of which have been used in short documentaries, on web sites, in school music curricula and in government educational materials. Savage has toured worldwide and had many national media appearances including performances at The Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Birdland, the Blue Note, Bohemian Caverns, Town Hall, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Scullers, the Jazz Standard, the Pantages Theatre, the Iridium, the Berklee BeanTown Jazz Festival, the Monterey Jazz Festival, Heineken Jazzaldia (Spain), the Costa Rica International Jazz Festival, the International VSA Arts Festival, the Jacksonville Jazz Festival, the Ottawa International Jazz Festival, the New Orleans Jazz Festival, Japan, Curacao, Aruba and for the president of Singapore.

A graduate of Manhattan School of Music and Berklee College of Music, Matt balances his professional music career with teaching. He teaches at Community Music Center of Boston, and at Applied Behavioral Learning Services (an organization near Boston for children and adults with autism and other developmental disabilities). Matt gives masterclasses and workshops domestically and internationally (in English and Spanish) as well as private piano lessons.

Born in 1983, in Madrid (Spain), Manuel García-Baró is a composer and pianist that lives in Boston since 2010. He began his music studies at age 8 in his hometown, at the Escuela de Musica Creativa. From the very first moment, he combined his piano lessons with a total passion and dedication to composition.
Always interested in very diverse styles of music, he studied classical piano with the Armenian master Serouj Kradjian, and at the same time, jazz, latin, and flamenco with Adolfo Delgado and Pepe Rivero. His composition studies are also very wide in terms of stylistic approaches. He first studied modern harmony and arranging, and later on he’d get into classical harmony and counterpoint.
After graduating in Philosophy by the Universidad Pontificia Comillas, he entered the Real Conservatorio Superior de Musica de Madrid. He majored in classical composition and had the enormous opportunity of studying with teachers such as Daniel Vega and Angel Huidobro.
In 2010, he was awarded with the Berklee/SGAE scholarship to study in the prestigious Berklee College of Music (Boston). Manuel completed a dual major in Contemporary Writing and Production, and Film Scoring, and a minor in Scoring for Videogames and was awarded with the Doug Timm award for his contribution to the film scoring department.

An award-winning teacher and pianist, Alexander Morollo has been seen in performances in the United States and Canada. He has performed at piano festivals, masterclasses, and competitions, both as a solo recitalist and chamber musician.   He began his training at the age of six under pianist and composer Dianne Rahbee. Other piano teachers include Phyllis Lehrer, Galina Gertsenzen, and Hugh Hinton; coupled with masterclasses with Dianne Anderson, Andrew Staupe, Ena Barton, James Goldswerthy, Andrius Zlabys, Andreas Klein, Marvin Blickenstaff, and Mykola Suk. Highly trained in music theory as well, he has studied with Paul Brust and Judy Ross.  Mr. Morollo has competed in the NEPTA Piano Competitions, won the Catherine Dower-Gold Performing Arts Award, and won First Prize in the Young Artists Piano Competition of Western Massachusetts and Connecticut in the highest division. Additionally, Mr. Morollo was the 2015 recipient of the Mary Ellis Smith Prize for ‘Excellence in the art of Piano Pedagogy’.

An avid teacher, Mr. Morollo maintains a private studio in Medway, MA and in addition to CMCB, holds positions on the piano faculty at The Starline Academy for the Performing Arts in Stoughton, MA, The North End Music and Performing Arts Center in Boston, Along with the Encore Music Academy in Franklin. Throughout his teaching career he has prepared students for proficiency exams in piano, sight reading, solfege, and music theory, along with the MTEL teacher certification test. During his undergraduate education at Longy, he was hired by the school to co-instruct graduate students in secondary piano through classroom instruction and private lessons. Several students of his have been accepted into Bachelor of Music programs themselves, most recently at the Berklee School of Music in Boston and Ithaca College in New York.

Performance Diploma, Longy School of Music;  Bachelor of Music, Emerson College;  Master of Music, Longy School of Music of Bard College.

In addition to performances across the United States and Europe, Mr. Yenger taught at Louisiana State University and a Magnet High School for the Performing and Academic Arts. Frequently requested as an adjudicator and lecturer on music and the humanities, he has served as a faculty member for summer music festivals including the prestigious music camp in Haiti, and is the founder of Chamber Music at Corrynmore House, a summer music festival on the island of Achill in Ireland. In addition to piano performances, he is a specialist in vocal and chamber music coaching, and is establishing himself as a composer.

Christopher Perry is a graduate of Berklee College of Music with a degree in music therapy.  Whether working with adults with developmental disabilities, children with special needs, Early Intervention, or children with autism, Christopher has a passion for connecting with others through music.  He has experience practicing music therapy with groups and individuals, in classrooms, homes and community spaces.

Abby is a singer, traveler, and peacebuilder originally from Topsfield, MA. Following a degree in Music in 2012, she toured for a year with the international singing group Up with People throughout the US, Mexico, and Europe. Abby is a career changer, and comes to CMCB with four years of experience working in business management in the group travel industry. She is currently working on a Masters in Peace & Justice Leadership, and is passionate about combining music and community building. Abby is a classically trained mezzo-soprano, and continues to explore and work with her voice in sacred and secular spaces around Boston.

Kevin Dacey is a percussionist, performer and instructor based out of Boston. He graduated Magne Cum Laude from the University Of Massachusetts in 2014 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Percussion Performance. There he studied the performance art of drum set and orchestral percussion with Fred Buda and Jeff Fischer. He was also granted the opportunity to be the principle percussionist for the University Wind Ensemble under the direction of David Martins and the principle percussionist for the University Concert Band under the direction of Dan Lutz.

Outside of college, Kevin has played extensively with a plethora of ensembles including The Concord Orchestra, The New England Philharmonic, The Plum Island Pans, Bleep Blop Electroacoustic Ensemble and indie rock outfits such as The Ghost of Electricity and Warped forest. Dacey is also heavily invested in sound experimentation and improvisation. He can be seen around Massachusetts playing with various performance artists wielding strange electroacoustic setups or with a group like the Metal Chaos Ensemble.

As an instructor, Kevin has resided at Zach Field Drum Studios in Newburyport, MA for a little over 2 years now instructing students of all ages privately on drum set, hand drums, and mallet percussion. Recently he has started to teach groups of children basic rhythmic concepts at the Pauline Agassiz Shaw Elementary School in Dorchester, MA and North Shore Montessori School in Rowley, MA. As he progresses through each day of instruction, he hopes to incite his students with his passionate love for the expressive creation that is music. Nothing brightens his day more than seeing a classroom full of smiles and excitement for melody, rhythm, and self expression!

Anthony Douglass is an elementary school music teacher at The Community Music Center of Boston.  He received his Masters of Music Education from The Boston Conservatory.  He also holds a Masters of Fine Arts from California Institute of the Arts in African Drumming and Dance, as well as a B. M. from Berklee College of Music.

Anthony has been been teaching private lessons, workshops, after school programs and elementary music for over twenty years.  He has taught in the Los Angeles public schools, the Oakland public schools, the Somerville public schools and is currently teaching in the Boston public schools.  He has also taught African drumming at California Institute of the Arts and Cal. State Long Beach.

Samantha Gambaccini is a freelance director, singing actor and educator in the Boston area. Currently a teaching artist in private and group voice, general music and theatre performance, Ms. Gambaccini specializes in musical theatre audition preparation and musicianship training with emphasis on the transition from dialogue to song. She serves as music director for singing ensembles and theatre groups of all ages. Most recently, she has performed with Anthem Theatre Company, Emerson College, and sung with the Church of the Redeemer chamber choir in Newton, MA, under the direction of Michael Murray. She has performed the operatic roles of Ruggiero (Alcina), Madame de Croissy (Dialogues of the Carmelites), Ottone (L’incoronazione di Poppea), Puck (The Fairy Queen) and Juno (Dido & Aeneas). Previous credits also include Production Stage Manager for the world-premiere opera The Garden of Martyrs with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, Producer for Kennedy Elementary School Drama in Somerville, MA, and Assistant Director at the New Brunswick Early Music Festival. Locally, she has served as artistic director with the North Shore Players and Wakefield Repertory Theatre, and her own philanthropic production company Little Dinos Productions. Recent faculty positions include School Outreach and Early Childhood instructor in voice, piano and choir at the Community Music Center of Boston, singing instructor for the Boston University Summer Theatre Institute, director of the North Shore YMCA’s Glee Club, and director of the nationally recognized a cappella group WitchPitch? at Salem High School.

Ms. Miklich is a freelance violinist in the Boston area and performs with Boston Classical Orchestra, New England String Ensemble, Emmanuel Music and the New Hampshire Symphony. She has also performed with the Portland Symphony, Dinosaur Annex, Monadnock Music, Alea III, Bard Music Festival and the New Hampshire Music Festival. In addition to being the Chair of the String Department at the CMCB, she teaches in her private studio. She was presented with the Marilla MacDill prize for excellence in teaching and community service.

Karl Ørvik, violin and viola, has appeared in solo and chamber music recitals throughout the United States, as well as in Canada, Norway and South Korea. He has been a concerto soloist with the Bangor, Racine and Green Bay Civic symphonies, and has extensive experience as a concertmaster and section player with numerous other orchestras in New England and the Midwest. A former violinist with the Boston Public Quartet, Mr. Ørvik is also a founding member of Trio Klaritas, who made their Carnegie Hall debut in January of 2018, as well as the resident violinist of Stonehill College’s faculty ensemble, the Stonehill Trio. In addition to his position at Stonehill, he is also a long-time member of the string faculty at the Community Music Center of Boston, where he was the recipient of the 2017 Marilla MacDill Prize for Teaching Excellence. In the summers he teaches at the UNCA Chamber Music Workshop in North Carolina, the Point Counterpoint music festival in Vermont and the Youth and Muse festival in Boston. He has been published in the ASTA Journal, and is the author of New Scale Method, an innovative scale method book for advanced violinists and violists. A native of Canada, Mr. Ørvik has studied with many distinguished musicians, including Roman Totenberg, Stephen Majeske and Calvin Wiersma, and members of the Muir, Cleveland, Cavani, Fine Arts and Portland string quartets. He holds performance degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and Lawrence University, and in January of 2012 he received his DMA from Boston University.

Venezuelan violist, conductor & pedagogue Aleksandre Roderick-Lorenz hails from Caracas where his musical foundation began under the auspices of the famed “El Sistema” organisation. A versatile musician, Roderick-Lorenz enjoys a dynamic career as soloist, chamber musician and teacher. He performs a wide range of musical genres such as classical, Latin, mariachi, popular, contemporary and modern music. He is a member of the Miami Symphony Orchestra (MISO) and is principal violist of the Lyrica Boston Chamber Orchestra. In the summer months, he leads the viola section of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Summer Philharmonic.

As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with Andrea Bocelli, Laura Pausini, Natalie Cole, Franco de Vita, Il Volo and has been a featured recitalist in Latin America, Europe and the U.S. Also an avid soloist, he has made appearances with orchestras from New World School of the Arts (1st Prize, Concerto Laureate 2012), the International School of Music, Florida International University, Miami Dade College Film Scoring Orchestra and Wind Symphony (1st Prize, Concerto Laureate 2015), the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA), Syracuse University Symphony Orchestra (1^stPrize, Concerto Laureate 2019) and most recently with the Lyrica Boston Chamber Orchestra.  His eclectic career has encompassed performances at the Latin Grammy, Billboard Music Awards, Premios Juventud, Miami Life Awards, Lo Nuestro Awards and numerous televised appearances for Venevision, America TV, Ávila TV, Mega TV, Telemundo and Univision.

Other prominent artist collaborations include luminaries such as Plácido Domingo, Ruben Studdard, Celtic Woman, Johnny Mathis, Paloma San Basilio, Oscar D’Leon, Marco Antonio Solís, Peter Schickele and the Electric Light Orchestra. He has also recorded extensively for a plethora of artists such as Olga Tañón & Andrián di Mont, and his interpretations have appeared in participating movies at the Cannes Film Festival and at the Berklee College of Music.  He has been a frequent guest artist at the Dvorak American Heritage Association (DAHA) in New York City since 2017.

Recent highlights include an appearance as soloist and conductor with the Syracuse University Symphony Orchestra, as well as a national radio debut at WQXR’s McGraw Hill Financial Young Artist Showcase with Robert Sherman.

Roderick-Lorenz has played under the baton of many well-known conductors such as James Judd, Eugene Kohn, Eduardo Marturet, Alondra de la Parra, Grzegorz Nowak, Nir Kabaretii, Andrew Bisantz, Maximiano Valdés, Mélisse Brunet, Octavio Más-Arocas, Yaniv Segal and Carlos Riazuelo.

A committed teacher, he serves on the faculties of Miami’s ViolaFest of New World School of the Arts, ArtsAhimsa Music Festival, The Wayland School of Music, Note-Worthy Experiences, Community Music Center of Boston and Dana Hall. Whilst his 3 year residence in Syracuse, he was the Viola Teaching Assistant to renowned and sought-after violinist Laura Bossert at the Setnor School of Music. He also served as the musical director at La Casita Cultural Center from Syracuse University, where he received the certificate of Teaching Excellence. Some of his students have been accepted into highly prestigious programmes such as: Philadelphia International Music Festival, All State, National Youth Orchestra of the USA, Quartet Program, Killington Music Festival, National Take a Stand Festival, ViolaFest, LyricaFest and specialised schools like the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, New World School of the Arts, Coral Reef High School, Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts, Dana Hall and Doral Academy Preparatory School. He currently has students pursuing degrees in music at major institutions such as Manhattan School of Music, San Francisco Conservatory, Florida International University, Miami Dade College, University of Miami, New England Conservatory, Northwestern University and Columbia University.

He has received guidance from some of the most prominent violists and pedagogues around the world such as Ivo Jan Van der Werff, Jonathan Brown, Choong-Jin Chang, Pierre Henri-Xuereb, Laurent Korcia, Steven Ansell, Kerri Ryan and Diemut Poppen. Classical collaborations in concert include artists such as Stephen Hough, Lola Astanova, Christopher O’Riley, Alessio Bax, Elisha Abas, Ohad Bar-David, Laura Goldberg, the Hausmann and Ivonke quartets.

Mr. Roderick-Lorenz is the recipient of Certificate of Appreciation from Miami Dade County Office of the Major and Board of County Commissioners (2015) and other recognitions for his artistry and academic success such as the Otto Sussman Trust (2018) and three grants:  Community Arts Grant from Central New York Council on the Arts (2019), Collaborative Arts Grant from the College of Visual and Performing Arts “VPA”, Syracuse University (2017) and Undergraduate Research and Creative Engagement Grant “The Source” (2019). He is currently finishing a recording for the label S.U Records at Syracuse University.

His principal teachers include Richard Fleischman (New World School of the Arts), Michael Klotz (Florida International University) and Laura Bossert (Syracuse University). He performs on a beautiful viola made for him by the Mexican luthier Carlo Gazanini in 2007.

Carla is a professional freelance Saxophone Player (Alto and Soprano), Composer, Arranger and Music Educator. She started studying classical saxophone when she was 17 years old and at the age of 23, she obtained a Diploma on Classical Saxophone at the Conservatory of Music of Palermo “Vincenzo Bellini”. She obtained also a bachelor degree in Philosophy at the Universitá degli Studi di Palermo and a Master degree in Jazz Saxophone cum laudeat the Conservatory of Music of Palermo “ Vincenzo Bellini”.

In May 2019 obtained a degree in Music Education at the Berklee College of Music. During her Berklee path she won many awards: MMEA Conference All-State 2019 Collegiate Award “Promising Music Educator Award;” Berklee College of Music, Division Achievement Music Education Award, Berklee College of Music, Excellence in Music Education 2n prize 2018, and Berklee Dean’s list 2017-2019.

Carla has studied with several saxophones teacher such as Orazio Maugeri, Frank Tiberi, George Garzone, and Gaetano Costa, Shannon Le Claire, Tia Fuller, Edmar Colon. She has participated to many master classes with awesome musicians such as Stefano Bollani, Mirko Guerrini, Bob Mintzer, Phil Woods, and Max Ionata. Carla has participated in several Music Competitions winning prizes in all of them, including being honored receiving a scholarship to study at the Berklee College of Music during the “Umbria Jazz 2015”.

Other prizes include SolMusic 2014, Concorso Nazionale Benedetto Albanese 2014, Nanouk Summer Contest 2014, Premio Pippo Ardini 2013, and Tuscia in Jazz European Award 2014 playing her original compositions.

Ms. Schukis has had a multi-faceted career as a character mezzo, actress, stage director, choreographer, vocal coach, educator and administrator. She has sung a wide variety of operatic, oratorio and broadway repertoire to great critical acclaim and has performed roles with the Boston National Company of Nunsense starring Pat Carroll and Alice Ghostley, Boston Lyric Opera, Utah Festival Opera, Opera Providence, New England Light Opera, Intermezzo Chamber Opera, Raylynmoor Opera, Wheelock Family Theater; Lyric Stage Company of Boston; New Opera and Musical Theater Initiative, Opera New England, Longwood Opera Company, Northeastern Repertory Theater, Boston Publick Theater, the Stoneham Theater, Fine Arts Chorale in Weymouth and Newton Symphony.

Ms. Schukis has been a soloist/section leader for the historic Old North Church, Boston, Massachusetts for 27 years and a soloist for 16 years at St. Paul Church in Wellesley, Massachusetts and continues to perform in theater, opera and concert engagements throughout the United States and has performed in Austria. Special performances that deserve mentioning are: National Anthem at a Boston Red Sox Game at Fenway, National Anthem on the U.S.S. Constitution (Old Ironsides) turn around, National Anthem at New England Dragway, Epping, NH and the National Anthem at Lebanon Valley Speedway, MA and a televised performance with The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Salt Lake City, UT.

In addition to being a performer, Vanessa is an award winning teacher with over thirty years experience in performing arts education focusing on students with learning disabilities and special needs. Currently Vanessa teaches music at The Murphy School, Dorchester, MA and The Harvard-Kent School in Charlestown, MA through the outreach program of Community Music Center of Boston. In 2014, Vanessa received the MacDill award for excellence in teaching. Ms. Schukis has been member of the guest faculty at New England Conservatory, Boston, MA and visiting faculty at Longy School of Music Cambridge, MA.

For more information please visit her website: www.classicalsinger.net/vanessaschukis

A multi-instrumentalist and singer, Ms. Sollogub performs on and teaches Appalachian dulcimer, recorders, tinwhistle and guitar. She has studied conducting at the University of Massachusetts/Lowell and also with conductor Joshua Jacobson and has completed two levels of Dalcroze Eurythmics at Longy School of Music. Ms. Sollogub has published two books: “Shiron L’Shalom,” a source book of Jewish music for peace education, and “A Dulcimer Portfolio,” original and traditional tunes for the advancing mountain dulcimer player. She has led classes in general music, recorder and chorus at five Boston Public Schools.

Emma graduated from Rice University in 2016. Upon graduation, she was awarded the Roy and Hazel Zeff Memorial Fellowship, funding a year of independent study to research the small, but growing, number of women percussionists in 7 different countries to understand the changes in cultural and socio-economic trends that have allowed them to come together. Emma has worked with Musicians Without Borders, El Sistema El Salvador, Sphinx, Gamelan Galak Tika, and Fundacion Danilo Perez. She is also an active performer outside the Western classical realm, specializing in steel pan and Balinese gamelan.

Mcebisi Xotyeni, of Cape Town, South Africa, is a professional dancer, teacher, and choreographer. He began dancing with the outreach program Dance For All, where he trained extensively in ballet, African, contemporary, and hip hop. He was awarded a full scholarship with Dance For All, and eventually began working for the professional dance company iKapa Dance Theatre. He has also worked with leading companies in South Africa such as: Cape Town City Ballet, Suede Productions, and Sibonelo Dance Project. He has performed for numerous festivals and has collaborated with international artists for performances and outreach projects.

He currently dances professionally with Jean Appolon Expressions in Cambridge; the company synthesizes Haitian folkloric dance and modern technique. He has also taught for Lawrence and Boston Public Schools, Boston University (including for their teen summer outreach program), Reach and Dance Arts camps, and The School of Classical Ballet. Mcebisi is also the co-owner of Izizwe Dance Studio located at Lawrence MA.

Ms. Miklich is a freelance violinist in the Boston area and performs with Boston Classical Orchestra, New England String Ensemble, Emmanuel Music and the New Hampshire Symphony. She has also performed with the Portland Symphony, Dinosaur Annex, Monadnock Music, Alea III, Bard Music Festival and the New Hampshire Music Festival. In addition to being the Chair of the String Department at the CMCB, she teaches in her private studio. She was presented with the Marilla MacDill prize for excellence in teaching and community service.

Originally from Taipei, Taiwan, Stephanie holds a B.M. degree in cello performance from the Eastman School of Music and is currently pursuing her M.M. degree at the New England Conservatory. She is an avid chamber performer in the Boston area, performing regularly with non-profit organization, Fermata. While performing holds a special place in her heart, it is not the only aspiration she has as a musician, as she is eager to share her enthusiasm for music with the local community. Stephanie currently serves as a teaching artist at the Josiah Quincy Orchestra Program and ensemble manager at the NEC Preparatory School. During her free time, she enjoys swimming, cooking, and painting!

A native of Norwalk, Connecticut, Stephen has received a Bachelors degree with honors from the University of Connecticut, a Masters degree from Boston University, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree at BU under the direction of Michael Reynolds. Stephen’s formative teachers include Kangho Lee, Marc Johnson, and Rhonda Rider. As a passionate advocate of contemporary music, Stephen has worked with numerous composers, and has played with several new music ensembles in the Boston area. Stephen has attended music festivals at the Banff centre, SoundSCAPE in Maccagno, Italy, and the Summer Course for New Music in Darmstadt, Germany.  Stephen has played in master classes for artists such as the Arditti Quartet and JACK Quartet. Stephen has a wide range of musical interest that include contemporary chamber music, improvisatory music, and electronic music. In his spare time, Stephen is an avid hiker and outdoorsman.

Karl Ørvik, violin and viola, has appeared in solo and chamber music recitals throughout the United States, as well as in Canada, Norway and South Korea. He has been a concerto soloist with the Bangor, Racine and Green Bay Civic symphonies, and has extensive experience as a concertmaster and section player with numerous other orchestras in New England and the Midwest. A former violinist with the Boston Public Quartet, Mr. Ørvik is also a founding member of Trio Klaritas, who made their Carnegie Hall debut in January of 2018, as well as the resident violinist of Stonehill College’s faculty ensemble, the Stonehill Trio. In addition to his position at Stonehill, he is also a long-time member of the string faculty at the Community Music Center of Boston, where he was the recipient of the 2017 Marilla MacDill Prize for Teaching Excellence. In the summers he teaches at the UNCA Chamber Music Workshop in North Carolina, the Point Counterpoint music festival in Vermont and the Youth and Muse festival in Boston. He has been published in the ASTA Journal, and is the author of New Scale Method, an innovative scale method book for advanced violinists and violists. A native of Canada, Mr. Ørvik has studied with many distinguished musicians, including Roman Totenberg, Stephen Majeske and Calvin Wiersma, and members of the Muir, Cleveland, Cavani, Fine Arts and Portland string quartets. He holds performance degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and Lawrence University, and in January of 2012 he received his DMA from Boston University.

Cellist Timothy Paek is an enthusiastic chamber musician and dedicated teacher. Recent highlights of Timothy’s career include an appearance at the Brookline Library Music Association as founding cellist of the Meadowlark Piano Trio, and numerous concerts with Symphony NOVA. He has also performed as a guest on numerous faculty recitals at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Timothy completed degrees at Carnegie Mellon University, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the University of Nebraska—Lincoln; his primary mentors include Anne Martindale Williams, Melissa Kraut, and Gregory Beaver.

As an educator, Timothy has worked at the St. Margaret’s School for the Art’s summer music programs as a chamber music coach, private cello instructor, and eurhythmics professor. His prior teaching engagements include the Dedham School of Music, while occasionally subbing at the Chamber Music Connection. He currently teachers at the Community Music Center Boston and the Josiah Quincy Orchestra Program. He also completed Suzuki teacher training and certification at the
Cleveland Institute of Music.  As the founding cellist of the Meadowlark Piano Trio, Timothy has performed in concert venues and outreach programs throughout the nation. A recent honor includes the semifinalist of the 2017 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition as Cellist of the Meadowlark Trio. Summer festivals include: Avaloch Farm Institute, Garth Newel Music Center, Round Top Festival Institute, Mimir Chamber Festival, St. Lawrence String Quartet Seminar, and the Caroga Lake Music Festival. Aside from music, Timothy loves to pursue culinary interests, dancing, basketball, and playing board games.

Sébastien Ridoré is a violist hailing from Stoneham, Massachusetts. He graduated from Gettysburg College’s Sunderman Conservatory with a focus in classical performance and jazz improvisation. In school, Sébastien performed with the Gettysburg College Symphony Orchestras and a jazz and hip-hop fusion band called Dispatch.

Lisa Sailer is a violist and certified Alexander Technique teacher originally from Washington, D.C.  She holds a Bachelor of Music in violin performance from SUNY Purchase and a Master of Music in viola performance from The Boston Conservatory.  Because of her Alexander Technique training, Lisa’s music teaching emphasizes healthy playing, body awareness, and injury prevention. Lisa lives in Providence, RI, where she teaches in the Daily Orchestra Program at Community MusicWorks.  She has been a guest lecturer and teaching assistant at Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, and has run Alexander Technique workshops and lessons at the Boston Violin Intensive.

In addition to a busy freelance career in settings ranging from jazz and blues to electronic and orchestral music, Mr. Gabriel leads his own ensembles performing original music throughout New England. His debut recording, Blueprints, was released by Creative Nation Music Productions (www.cnmpro.com) in February 2005. He is a former student of Donald Palma and Charlie Banacos. He is on the faculty of UMass-Lowell.

A multi-instrumentalist and singer, Ms. Sollogub performs on and teaches Appalachian dulcimer, recorders, tinwhistle and guitar. She has studied conducting at the University of Massachusetts/Lowell and also with conductor Joshua Jacobson and has completed two levels of Dalcroze Eurythmics at Longy School of Music. Ms. Sollogub has published two books: “Shiron L’Shalom,” a source book of Jewish music for peace education, and “A Dulcimer Portfolio,” original and traditional tunes for the advancing mountain dulcimer player. She has led classes in general music, recorder and chorus at five Boston Public Schools.

Kevin Sullivan is a freelance bassist and composer with degrees from Oberlin Conservatory and the Eastman School of Music. His primary interests in performance lie in 20th and 21st century music and presenting the double bass as a potent voice in solo and chamber settings. As an instructor, he places as heavy an emphasis on students’ versatility and creativity as technical skill – the successful modern musician is capable of breaking from tradition and willing to do so.

Samantha Gambaccini is a freelance director, singing actor and educator in the Boston area. Currently a teaching artist in private and group voice, general music and theatre performance, Ms. Gambaccini specializes in musical theatre audition preparation and musicianship training with emphasis on the transition from dialogue to song. She serves as music director for singing ensembles and theatre groups of all ages. Most recently, she has performed with Anthem Theatre Company, Emerson College, and sung with the Church of the Redeemer chamber choir in Newton, MA, under the direction of Michael Murray. She has performed the operatic roles of Ruggiero (Alcina), Madame de Croissy (Dialogues of the Carmelites), Ottone (L’incoronazione di Poppea), Puck (The Fairy Queen) and Juno (Dido & Aeneas). Previous credits also include Production Stage Manager for the world-premiere opera The Garden of Martyrs with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, Producer for Kennedy Elementary School Drama in Somerville, MA, and Assistant Director at the New Brunswick Early Music Festival. Locally, she has served as artistic director with the North Shore Players and Wakefield Repertory Theatre, and her own philanthropic production company Little Dinos Productions. Recent faculty positions include School Outreach and Early Childhood instructor in voice, piano and choir at the Community Music Center of Boston, singing instructor for the Boston University Summer Theatre Institute, director of the North Shore YMCA’s Glee Club, and director of the nationally recognized a cappella group WitchPitch? at Salem High School.

Hailing from Tampa, Florida, Brazilian-American countertenor Lucas Coura is quickly establishing himself as a consummate singer-actor in the Boston area. In April of 2017 after nearly a decade of study as a tenor, Mr. Coura made his debut as an alto soloist in Bach’s St. John Passion with Simon Carrington conducting. In November 2017, he sang the role of Nerone in Stetson University Opera Theatre’s production of L’incoronazione di Poppea. In the Spring of 2018, he took first place in his categories at both the Stephen and Jeanie Foster Vocal Competition and the Southeast Regional NATS Audition.

This year, Lucas will sing as an alto soloist in Händel’s Messiah at Memorial Congregational Church in Sudbury. Mr. Coura will appear in the Boston premiere of Stefan Weisman’s The Scarlet Ibis with Boston Opera Collaborative in January 2019.

Mr. Coura graduated summa cum laude from Stetson University with a degree in vocal performance and music theory. He directs the Youth Chorus and teachers private voice at the Community Music Center of Boston. He is also a staff singer for All Saints Ashmont. In addition to performing, Lucas enjoys composition, songwriting, and arranging. Lucas is thrilled to join the faculty at the CMCB, and hopes to help students find the joy of discovering their own unique musical expression.

Stephanie graduated from Manhattan School of Music in 2013. A trained classical soprano, she is an active performer, recitalist and curator, specializing in 20^th and 21^st century repertoire. Stephanie has received performance prizes from the Puffin Foundation and the John Cage Orgel Stiftung in Halberstadt, Germany. She has collaborated with ensembles such as Ekmeles (NYC) and Verdant Vibes (Rhode Island), and has sung in spaces from National Sawdust (NYC), the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston) and to the Slipper Room (NYC). As an administrator, Stephanie has worked with I Care If You Listen, as well as the George London Foundation for Singers, Inc. She is also an avid swing dancer! www.stephanielamprea.com

A Connecticut native, Katie O’Reilly is a Boston-based singer, music director, pianist, and educator. An active performer in the Boston opera scene, her recent roles include the Sandman (Hansel and Gretel, MetroWest Opera,) Rose (Lakmé, Lowell House Opera), and Josephine (HMS Pinafore, MIT Gilbert & Sullivan Players.) She works as a music director and vocal coach for youth training programs, including Boston Backyard Opera and Mssng Lnks, Inc, and has experience teaching singers of all ages and backgrounds. Katie is also a keyboardist well-versed in musical theater style and repertoire, having worked with both amateur and professional companies as a pit musician, accompanist, music director, and assistant music director. Katie holds degrees from Oberlin and the Boston Conservatory, and is a member of the Pi Kappa Lambda musical honors society. Please visit her website (www.katieoreilly.com) for more information!

Hannah Sigel holds a BM from Boston Conservatory at Berklee, where she studied voice under the tutelage of Kevin Wilson. Having performed and taught privately for years, Hannah is delighted to share her passion for music with the community and inspire the next generation of musicians. Originally from Miami, FL, Hannah is passionate about the importance of music in our communities and its members lives. She hopes to inspire a will and drive to make a difference in our communities through music education and performance.

Flutist Amy Sue Dombach holds degrees in flute performance from Oberlin Conservatory (B.M.) and Boston University College of Fine Arts (M.M. and D.M.A), where she studied under the guidance of Michel Debost, Kathleen Chastain, Doriot Dwyer, Linda Toote, and Marya Martin.She has performed as a soloist, chamber and orchestral player, teacher, and clinician in Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Virginia, Maine, Texas, and Italy. She annually teaches Flute Spa Boston with Patricia George, ed. of Flute Talk Magazine. As a member of Pi Kappa Lambda and a Dean’s Scholar, her doctoral research focused upon the development of the flute concerto in 20th-century America. She publishes regularly in Flute Talk Magazine. Dr. Dombach is an active freelance musician in Boston and has served on the faculty of the Community Music Center of Boston since 2008. She was appointed Chair of the Wind and Brass Department in 2016, and Chair of the Faculty Council in 2018.

Throughout Dr. Dombach’s career, she has presented recitals and concerts highlighting compositions and composers from throughout all Musical Eras.  Her varied and balanced programs invite audience members to explore both traditional classical literature and contemporary compositions in a manner that is accessible to all.  An advocate for contemporary music and exhilarated by the challenge of learning new repertoire, Dr. Dombach enjoys performing contemporary music and the process of working with composers.  She has enjoyed working with Eric Ewazan, Martin Amlin, Lita Grier, Katherine Hoover, Lukas Foss, and others. She is a dedicated performer of contemporary and traditional music and has created concert and educational programs featuring the works of 20th- and 21st-century composers, such as those of Boston- and New York-based composers, programs which illustrate the evolution of flute music over the century, and concerts featuring the works of female composers.

Dr. Dombach is equally committed to education.  She has completed the highest degrees in music performance with an emphasis in pedagogical techniques.  She maintains vibrant studios privately and at the Community Music Center of Boston. Known for greatly inspiring students, she is a nurturing, goal oriented, and organized teacher.  Patient and kind, Dr. Dombach fosters educational techniques that easily translate into academic areas, while also establishing lasting relationships with her students and their families.

Anna Bradford is a performer and educator in the Boston area, and is also a doctoral candidate at Boston University.  She currently holds positions as the oboe fellow of Symphony Nova and as principal oboe of the Boston Civic Symphony Orchestra. As a freelancer, Anna also performs with the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of Indian Hill, and the Claflin Hill Symphony. In 2014, Anna was named the winner of the Boston Woodwind Society’s Ralph Gomberg Oboe Competition for a performance of Telemann’s Sonata in E Minor TWV 41e:6.

As a music educator, Anna has taught private oboe lessons since 2006 and is currently on the faculty at the Community Music Center of Boston and the Dana Hall School of Music. She also teaches chamber music and coaches woodwind sectionals for non-major students at Boston University. Previous to her time in Boston, Anna helped to kick-start the Musical Arts Youth Orchestra (MAYO) in Bloomington, Indiana by performing and recruiting in public schools. She has also led clinics and master classes in Michigan public schools and at summer music camps throughout Michigan.

Anna Bradford is currently in pursuit of her Doctorate of the Musical Arts at Boston University, and holds a Master of Music degree from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and a Bachelor of Music degree from Western Michigan University. Her principal teachers have included Robert Sheena, Andrew Price, Linda Strommen, Roger Roe, Dr. Michael Miller, and Dr. Nancy Ambrose King.

Flutist, composer, author and educator Fernando Brandão is from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He has performed extensively as a bandleader, sideman, chamber musician and as a soloist with many ensembles and prominent orchestras both in Brazil and the US.

His new album,  Sem Tradução (Without Translation) features nine original songs with Marcella Camargo as the lead singer and 14 prominent musicians from the Boston area. His vocal and instrumental compositions are centered mostly around Brazilian styles including choro, samba, bossa, ijexá, and baião, and feature traditional and contemporary language and arrangements. With precise technique and refined sound, his interpretations on concert, alto, bass flutes and pífanos combine jazzy improvisations to a truly Brazilian language and sound.

He leads the Fernando Brandão Ensemble, which has recently been featured at the First Cambridge Jazz Festival, and the Isabella Gardner Museum. He also leads the group Alma, the gafieira band Bohemia Carioca, and he is an active member of the groups Pablo Ablanedo Octet, Trio Choro Brasil, Sergio Brandão & Manga Rosa and Teresa Inês Quintet. He has also played or recorded with Oscar Castro-Neves, Rosa Passos, Luciana Souza, Kris Adams, John Stein Quartet, Leandro Braga, Maria Teresa Madeira, Emmanuel Music Orchestra with conductors Criag Smith, Seiji Ozawa, and pianist Russell Sherman.

Mr. Brandão is an Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music and a faculty member of the Community Music Center of Boston. A leading educator in Brazilian music, he has given many lectures about its music styles, history and composers, and he is the author of the play-along book Brazilian and Afro-Cuban Jazz Conception, published by Advance Music. His compositions have been recorded by Choro das Três, guitarist Almir Cortes and New World Guitar Trio. He was the first prize winner of several national music competitions in Brazil, and the 1991 Pappoutsakis Flute Competition in Boston.

Neil Godwin is a native of West Monroe, LA, where he began his horn studies with Dr. Gary Greene at Northeast Louisiana University. Neil holds degrees in horn performance and conducting from the University of Southern Mississippi, where he was a student of Dennis Behm in horn and Drs. Timothy Koch and Jay Dean in conducting. In 2001, Neil came to Boston in order to pursue further horn studies at Boston University under the tutelage of Eric Ruske. Additionally, he has performed in masterclasses and workshops with such noted horn players as Dale Clevenger, David Jolley, Roger Kaza, Jeff Nelsen, Karl Pituch, Denise Tryon, and Frøydis Ree Wekre. While in Boston, Neil has engaged in a busy and varied career as both a performer and pedagogue. As a new music specialist, Neil enjoys performing frequently with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and the Callithumpian Consort, and on the other extreme, he has explored natural horn performance practice with Grand Harmonie. An enthusiastic chamber musician, Neil performs with the Solar Wind Quintet, the Boston Woodwind Society Octet, and the Epic Brass Quintet. Neil is a member of the Plymouth Philharmonic, and he has formerly held positions with the Discovery Ensemble, the Hillyer Festival Orchestra, the Simon Sinfonietta, and the Gardner Museum Chamber Orchestra. Furthermore, Neil has performed with many of the orchestras in the region including the Boston Philharmonic, the New Bedford Symphony, the Cape Cod Symphony, the Orchestra of Indian Hill, Symphony by the Sea, and the Claflin Hill Symphony. Neil is a member of the brass and ensembles faculties at the Community Music Center of Boston where he teaches brass private lessons both in house and at the Boston Latin School and serves as director of the Junior Wind Ensemble. Neil is also the assistant director of CMCB’s Summer Music program, where he directs the wind ensemble and coaches chamber music.

Earl Grant-Lawrence is a Wind Instructor at the Community Music Center of Boston. He holds a B.M. Degree in Applied Flute from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee and a Masters of Music Degree in Music Composition from the Boston Conservatory of Music. During the early 70’s at Fisk University, he was a soloist with the Jazz band called the Orchestrated Crowd. This band had the distinction of appearing with such jazz greats as Quincy Jones and the late Duke Ellington.

He is currently a member of the Metropolitan Flute Orchestra at the New England Conservatory of Music, where he plays the contrabass flute. As a member of the flute orchestra, he toured France, Ireland, Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. He will tour England and Scotland with the orchestra in 2016.

From 2008-2013 he played the concert flute during the winter season with the Melrose Symphony Orchestra. From 1993 until 2005 he worked as an Instrumental Band Director in the summer DARTS program at Tanglewood, an arts camp for New England Area students, sponsored by the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

From 1994 to 2000 he was a member of the Full Metal Revolutionary Jazz Ensemble. The ensemble performed with Raphe Malik and also performed at the Toronto Jazz Festival in Canada.

Multi-instrumentalist Akili Jamal Haynes has performed with Illinois Jacquet (Swing), Lester Bowie (Mixed genres), Wynton Marsalis (New Orleans), Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra (Mixed genres), McCoy Tyner (Modern Bebop), the Mingus Big Band (Bebop), Nana Kimati Dinizulu (Ghana), Lenny Kravitz (Funk/Rock), Stephen Scott (Bebop), Lamine Toure & Group Saloum (Senegales Sabar/Mbalax), Sidi Muhammed Camara (Mali), Isaura Oliveira (Bahia Brazil), Sory Diabote (Mali), Fred Woodard Collective (Bebop/Mixed genres), Taina Asili (Puerto Rico), Fulani Haynes (Bebop/Mixed Genres), and Stan Strickland (Mixed Genres), among others.

Akili is cultivating his multi-genre band, A Slice of P.A.I. (Positive African Images), which combines the ancient rhythms of the African continent with Funk, Rhythm and Blues, Hip-Hop, and Bebop. With the diverse backgrounds and musical histories of its personnel, the group is able to authentically infuse the many rhythmic creations and genres of Africans around the world into one sweet healing sound. P.A.I. has performed concerts and lecture demonstrations for communities and schools in the Greater Boston Area. Most recently, it supported the Green House Growers of the Dudley Greenhouse, brought music to students of the Martin Luther King School, and participated in Feté de la Musique. P.A.I. is currently working on a multi-media project called Metamorphosis of the Blues and a feature film called Becoming Chibuzo, which tells the story of Akili Jamal Haynes, a child prodigy forced to play trombone, who puts it down to pursue the dreams of his youth.

George is a versatile teacher and performer. A recent graduate with a Masters of Music from the San Francisco Conservatory, he has experience teaching and playing across the country. He has been involved in his communities wherever he has landed. He has taught at several high schools in San Francisco by directing ensembles and giving masterclasses. Beyond San Francisco, George has assisted classical, jazz and chamber ensemble classes since 2009 at the Sitka Fine Arts Camp in his hometown, Sitka, Alaska and was an intern brass instructor with the Youth Orchestras of Los Angeles. He is a proficient and adaptable player who has experience playing and collaborating in many settings. Focused on chamber music outreach, he has performed with a brass trio, brass quintet, and trombone quartet frequently in and around the San Francisco Bay Area and a trombone quartet, jazz band, and trombone choir all over Boston.

In the 4th grade, Karen fell in love with the chocolatey sound of the clarinet!

She has served as Solo Clarinet for the Singapore Symphony Orchestra for years and currently performs as clarinetist with the Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra and Vermont Virtuosi.

Karen’s musical studies took her to Manhattan School of Music, New York, the Royal Conservatory of Music in the Hague, the Sweelink Conservatory of Music in Amsterdam, Longy School of Music of Bard College in Boston, and Boston University, where she received her DMA.

Karen teaches enthusiastic clarinetists at CMCB, St. Anselm College, the Nashua Community Music School, Tufts Community Music Program, and at her private clarinet studio in Wilmington, MA.

One of the area’s most versatile musicians, Ms. Matasy has been described in The Boston Globe as “a musician of depth and refinement,” and her solo performances have been praised as “a rare feat,” “riveting,” “ravishing” and brilliant.” She has performed (as clarinetist, bass clarinetist and/or accordionist) with most of the region’s major musical organizations, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, Handel and Haydn Society, Boston Symphony Chamber Players, and Boston Modern Orchestra Project, among others. Highly regarded as an interpreter of contemporary music (with “technique to burn”), she is a founding member of the critically acclaimed new music ensemble Dinosaur Annex and a frequent guest artist with Boston’s many new music groups. In addition to teaching at the CMCB, she is on the faculties of the New England Conservatory of Music and Wellesley College.

Dr. Shamu has taught trumpet, presented master classes, and directed ensembles in the Boston Public Schools, at Boston University and its Tanglewood Institute, and at other universities and summer festivals across the country. He has taught classes in Brass Pedagogy and Methods at Boston University; Music History, Music Theory, and Intensive French at Harvard University.

He performs regularly with the Orchestra of Opera Boston, the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, and several other groups in New England. Also an active chamber musician, he is a founding member of Boston’s Riverside Brass. He has appeared as a soloist at the Music Center’s Kleshinski Concert Series, throughout the United States, and in Europe.  A versatile player, Geoff spent several years performing and recording as a member of the reggae band Pressure Cooker, has played for countless musical show productions—and just about everything in between. His teachers include Terry Everson, Mark Gould, Stephen Jones, Timothy Morrison, and Pierre Thibaud, with whom he studied for several years after coming to Paris on a Harriet Hale Woolley Fellowship.

More information—including a calendar of upcoming performances—may be found at gshamu.com.

A multi-instrumentalist and singer, Ms. Sollogub performs on and teaches Appalachian dulcimer, recorders, tinwhistle and guitar. She has studied conducting at the University of Massachusetts/Lowell and also with conductor Joshua Jacobson and has completed two levels of Dalcroze Eurythmics at Longy School of Music. Ms. Sollogub has published two books: “Shiron L’Shalom,” a source book of Jewish music for peace education, and “A Dulcimer Portfolio,” original and traditional tunes for the advancing mountain dulcimer player. She has led classes in general music, recorder and chorus at five Boston Public Schools.

Emma graduated from Rice University in 2016. Upon graduation, she was awarded the Roy and Hazel Zeff Memorial Fellowship, funding a year of independent study to research the small, but growing, number of women percussionists in 7 different countries to understand the changes in cultural and socio-economic trends that have allowed them to come together. Emma has worked with Musicians Without Borders, El Sistema El Salvador, Sphinx, Gamelan Galak Tika, and Fundacion Danilo Perez. She is also an active performer outside the Western classical realm, specializing in steel pan and Balinese gamelan.

Ms. Underhill teaches at the South Shore Music Center and Boston College as well as serving as Manager for the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras (GBYSO) and Director of Instrumental Music at St. Mark’s School. She has performed with the Moody Blues, Placido Domingo, Tony Bennett and the Panamanian Symphony Orchestra, and has appeared as a soloist with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Harvard University Mozart Society Orchestra, GBYSO, and the Little Orchestra of Victoria. She has also performed in Minneapolis, Chicago, Holland, New York City and St. Petersburg, Russia. She is also a member of Alea III. She has developed a cataloguing system for ethnic recordings with composer Martin Bartlett and has organized Gunther Schuller’s personal collection. She is the recipient of the 2001 Kay Logan Award for her development of the chamber music program at GBYSO.

Teaching Philosophy:

I am passionate about music and playing the bassoon.  I try to help each student discover what about music and bassoon speaks to him or her.  My hope is that this is something that they will take with them for the rest of their lives.  What we work on in lessons is something I modify based on the level, learning style and goals of the individual student.  Most of my students use bassoon as part of their college application whether they are just planning continuing playing or are majoring in music; I help guide students through this process.