National High School Music Institute Faculty

June 27 - July 30, 2010

| Composition | Guitar | Jazz Studies | Music Education | Piano | Strings |
| Voice | Winds and Percussion | Academic Faculty |

Composition Faculty

Marcos Balter DaSilva (seminar)

The music of composer Marcos Balter (b.1974, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) has been described by critics as "vital, imaginative, (...) surrealistic" [New York Times], "a virtuosic equilibrium of colliding particles (with) both intricate clarity and convincing trajectory" [Boston Globe], "delicate" [Time Out Chicago], "a free-form mural in volume, touch, inflection, and presence" [FAME], "colorful, inventive, (...) with vibrant sonics" [New Music Connoisseur], "exciting and refreshing, (...) agile, flexible and fragile" [Zeitschichten]. His works have been championed by many of today's most prestigious and adventurous new music ensembles, performers, and organizations such as the Fromm Concert Series at Harvard University, the International Contemporary Ensemble, Ensemble SurPlus, the Manhattan Sinfonietta, the New Millennium Orchestra, Third Coast Percussion Quartet, the Holland America Music Society, the MATA Festival, the New York Miniaturist Ensemble, Brave New Works, and percussionist Samuel Z. Solomon in venues such as the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, E-Werk Freiburg, Teatro Colón of Buenos Aires, Seiji Osawa Hall, Merkin Hall, the Juilliard School, Le Poisson Rouge, The Stone, Paine Hall, and the Chicago Millennium Park. Past awards and honors include the Leonard Bernstein Fellowship at the 2005 Tanglewood Music Center, commissions from the 2008 HAMS International Violin Competition and Boston’s New Gallery Series, performances at the MusicX, June in Buffalo, Tanglewood Music Festival, Boston Conservatory’s Hard Stuff New Music Festival, the World Saxophone Congress, the Lockenhaus Kammermusikfestival, the Chicago Latino Composers Festival, Panorama da Música Contemporânea, Musica Nova, as well as first prizes at several national and international composition competitions.

Ben Hjertmann (seminar)

Benjamin Hjertmann is a composer of concert music born in 1985. He graduated Magna cum Laude from Illinois Wesleyan University in 2007. At IWU, he studied composition with David Vayo, Mario Pelusi, and Garret Byrnes. He also studied at the Conservatorium Van Amsterdam with Fabio Nieders. He is currently pursuing his D.M. in composition at Northwestern University and studying with Lee Hyla. His compositional style is characterized by microtonal and jazz-influenced harmony and atypical instrumentation. Much of his music is the result of collaboration with other arts, such as film, theatre, visual art, and literature. Hjertmann is also poet and playwright. He has invented several original tuning systems. He is also performs as a tenor and ba_lama player for the Sissy-Eared Molly-Coddles, a Chicago-based new music trio as well as the Chicago Crystal Glass Ensemble.

Shawn Jaeger (seminar)

Shawn Jaeger was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1985. He received a B.Mus. in composition, summa cum laude, from the University of Michigan in 2007. Currently, he lives in Chicago and studies composition at Northwestern University, where he also teaches undergraduate aural skills and lectures on special topics (including the British rock band Radiohead). Honors include an ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Award (2009), the Northwestern University Bienen School of Music M. William Karlins Award for Composition (2009), the Bienen School of Music William T. Faricy Award for Composition (2008), two BMI Student Composer Awards (2007, 2008), and a graduate fellowship from Northwestern University. His recent music draws inspiration from the diverse musical practices of the Appalachian Mountains, particularly Old Regular Baptist hymnody, unaccompanied ballad singing, and old-time fiddling.

Patrick Liddell (seminar)

Patrick Liddell is a doctoral candidate at Northwestern University in Music Composition. His primary instructors have been Jay Alan Yim (Northwestern), Chris Mercer (Northwestern), Peter McIlwain (Monash University, Melbourne, Australia), and Steve Heinemann (Bradley University, Peoria IL). His music has been performed by Function Ensemble (London, UK), Monash Gamelan Ensemble (Melbourne), pLAy Ensemble (Los Angeles, CA), Vox Novus (NYC, NY), Third Coast Percussion Ensemble (Chicago, IL), and many other chamber and popular groups. His art is a combination of music and video (video being the visual counterpart to the temporality of sound), and in a postmodern idiom attempts to combine popular, art, and world musics into a "unified disassociation". His current project, Arrow To The Sun, is a multi-dimensional fractal-art piece that uses music, sight, taste, touch, smell, and thought to evoke an anti-narrative about (and potentially inducing) spiritual enlightenment.

Michael McBride (music composition coordinator, seminar)

Michael McBride is an active composer, performer, conductor, and educator. Having studied with Augusta Read Thomas, Jay Alan Yim, and Jason Eckardt, he earned his DM from Northwestern University, where he is also a lecturer in theory and aural skills. He has also taught at Elmhurst College and is on part-time faculty at NorthPark University in Chicago. The summer of 2007 marks the fourth year he will serve as thecoordinator of the composition program for the National High School Music Institute at NU. He received his Bachelor of Music from the Wheaton (Illinois) College Conservatory of Music, where he double-majored in composition and piano performance. At Wheaton, he seized a variety of honors and experiences such as the Halvorsen Composition Award, Conservatory Faculty Endowed Scholarship, Scholastic Honor Society membership and scholarship, three best soundtrack awards at the annual Film Festival, playing Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto (1st movt.) with the Wheaton College Symphony Orchestra, being the principal student conductor of the WCSO, and teaching aural skills in the classroom and privately. He has received awards/grants from the Union League Civic and Arts Foundation and the American Music Center.

Don Owens (seminar)

Associate Professor Emeritus, Northwestern University. Former Associate Professor of Conducting, Coordinator of the Jazz Studies and Pedagogy Program, Director, Contemporary Music Ensemble, and the National High School Music Institute at Northwestern University from 1979 to 2005. Before coming to Northwestern, he taught twelve years at Evanston (IL) Township High School where his duties included directing band, brass ensembles, and jazz band, as well as teaching classes in music theory, popular music, and composition. He created the Electronic Music Studio at ETHS in 1971. Many of his ETHS students went on to become music majors at many of the major Schools of Music in the United States and Canada. Owens received the Bachelor of Music Education degree from North Texas State University, where he also studied composition and Jazz. His Master of Musical Arts degree is from the University of Illinois, where he studied composition. He studied composition with Morgan Powell, Merrill Ellis, Samuel Adler, and Salvatore Martirano.

Robert Reinhart (seminar)

Robert Reinhart is a composer originally from Danville, Illinois. He obtained a Bachelor of Music in Composition/Theory from the University of Illinois in 1998 and a Master of Arts in Music Composition from San Francisco State University in 2002. In addition to teaching at SFSU, Northwestern University, and various community music organizations, his background also includes bassoon and voice performance, conducting, music theater instruction, and early music study. Reinhart is currently a lecturer at Northwestern where he is completing a doctoral degree. His composition instructors have included Paul Martin Zonn, Zack Browning, Ron Caltabiano, Amy Williams, and Jay Alan Yim, as well as shorter-term instruction with Salvatore Martirano, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, and Josh Levine. In 2003 Reinhart was the first place award winner in the graduate division of the Union League Civic and Arts Foundation Music Composition Contest for his composition Sextet (later renamed From Second to Seventh). This piece was also selected for performance at the Music03 festival held at the University of Cincinnati, and was selected by the ERM label for inclusion in their Masterworks of the New Era recording series. Reinhart's trio Lucifer, Angel of Light was featured in 2004 at the Czech-American Summer Music Festival in Prague directed by Ladislav Kubik. He has also participated in various masterclasses with composers including Tristan Murail, Christian Lauba, Martin Bresnik, Frederic Rzewski, Louis Andriessen, and Oliver Knussen.

Alex Temple (seminar)

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Guitar Faculty

Jesse Langen (guitar theory and history)

Jesse is currently pursuing a DM in guitar performance at Northwestern University under Anne Waller. He has played in master classes for Oscar Ghiglia, Sergio and Odair Assad, Bob Guthrie, Elliot Fisk, David Russell, Roberto Aussell, Nigel North, and Paul O'Dette. In the summer of 2002, he was a featured soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

On top of many performances in Chicago, across the United States, and in Europe, Jesse has played in the Minnesota Guitar Society Concert Series, the Chicago Segovia Classical Guitar Series (as a member of the Guitar Camerata), the Memphis "Imagine" New Music Series (as a member of the G-Force Guitar Quartet), and at Columbia University in New York.

An avid player of new music, Jesse has premiered pieces by numerous living composers. He can be heard regularly as a soloist, as well as in duos with flutist Susan Crandall and soprano Amy Conn.

Mark Maxwell (guitar)

Faculty, DePaul University. MMus, Southern Methodist University. Soloist and member of Waller and Maxwell Duo in concerts and festivals throughout the United States. Performer in master classes with José Tomás. Studied with Robert Guthrie and lute with Paul O'Dette.

Anne Waller (guitar coordinator)

Lecturer, Northwestern University. MMus, Southern Methodist University. Soloist and member of Waller and Maxwell Duo in concerts and festivals throughout the United States. Live broadcasts on both commercial and public radio and television. Has conducted master classes at universities and festivals throughout North America. Performer in master classes with Andres Segovia, Oscar Ghiglia, and José Tomás. Studied with Robert Guthrie and Oscar Ghiglia.

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Jazz Studies

Joel Adams (trombone)

Trombonist Joel Adams won the International Trombone Association Frank Rosolino Memorial Scholarship in 1986. He toured with the Woody Herman Orchestra performing with Clark Terry, Joe Williams, Dizzy Gillespie, and Diane Schuur. He has also played with Rich Perry and the Gary Morgan Latin Big Band while living in New York City . Locally, he has performed with Doug Lawrence, Jimmy Heath, Arturo Sandoval and Clyde Stubblefield.

Mikel Avery (drums)

Marques Carroll (trumpet)

Marques Carroll is a freelance trumpeter in the city of Chicago. He received his Bachelors Degree in Jazz Studies Performance from DePaul University in 2001. He has performed with many bands ranging in styles from Afrobeat, Jazz Big Band, Fusion, Rock and recording sessions. Has taught in the public schools and directs the Jazz Band program for TF South High School in Lansing, IL and jazz combos for New Trier High School. Also presents trumpet master classes for Lakeview High School. When he is not teaching Marques performs with his own groups throughout Chicago.

Victor Goines (master class)

NU Director of Jazz Studies. Previously served as first artistic director of the Juilliard School's jazz program from 2000 until 2007. Specialist in jazz clarinet and saxophone. Has been a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and the Wynton Marsalis Septet since 1993. Has collaborated with such artists as Terence Blanchard, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ruth Brown, Ray Charles, Bo Diddley, Bob Dylan, Dizzy Gillespie, Freddie Green, Lionel Hampton, Freddie Hubbard, B.B. King, Lenny Kravitz, Branford Marsalis, Ellis Marsalis, James moody, Dianne Reeves, Marcus Roberts, Diana Ross and Stevie Wonder. Performed on more than 20 recordings, including the soundtracks for three Ken Burns documentaries and the films Undercover Blues, When Night Falls on Manhattan, and Rosewood. Composed more than 50 original works, including Jazz at Lincoln Center commissions. Also served on the faculties of Florida A&M University, University of New Orleans, Loyola University in New Orleans, and Xavier University of Louisiana. Artist for Conn-Selmer and Vandoren.

Chris Madsen (jazz program coordinator, saxophone, combo instructor)

On jazz studies faculty at the Bienen School of Music. Jazz arranging/composition and jazz ensembles. Has performed with and/or wrote for such artists as Wynton Marsalis, Loren Schoenberg, Wycliffe Gordon, Kenny Washington, and Jon Gordon. Saxophone solos and compositions featured on recordings by the Juilliard and DePaul Univeristy Jazz Ensembles. Studied with Mark Colby, Tom Matta, and Dr. Bob Lark. Published composer with Walrus Music Publishing. For more information, visit his personal web site.

John Moulder (guitar)

John Moulder is a guitarist and composer whose music has evolved from an assimilation of various musical traditions. John’s compositions and playing are featured on his CDs entitled Awakening (Mo-Tonal Records 1993), Through the Open Door (Igmod/Mo-Tonal Records 1997), Spirit Talk (NAIM 2003), and his new release, Trinity (Origin 2006), which was named one of the ten best jazz CDs of 2006 by the Chicago Tribune. Televised feature stories on John and his work have aired on Artbeat (WTTW) and Chicago Tonight (WTTW). He also has played on recent recordings by vocalist Jackie Allen such as The Men in My Life (Blue Note 2003), Love is Blue (Blue Note 2004), and her most recent CD, Tangled (Blue Note 2006). John has been a member of the Paul Wertico Trio for twelve years. Recordings with Paul include Live in Warsaw (Igmod Records 1998), Don’t Be Scared Anymore (Premonition Records 2000), Stereonucleosis (A440 2004), and his new release, The Other Side (NAIM 2006). He has played nationally and internationally at numerous festivals, clubs and concert halls and has performed with artists such as Eddie Harris, Bob Mintzer, Kurt Elling, Paul McCandless, Lyle Mays, Paul Wertico, Gary Burton, Niels Orsted Pederson and Terry Callier.

John received his Masters degree in music from Northwestern University. As an educator, he is currently a faculty member at Benedictine University and Northwestern University. He has lectured, taught master classes and conducted clinics at universities, high schools, music institutes and other settings.

Ron Perrillo (piano, combo instructor)

Ron Perrillo was introduced to Chicago jazz audiences while on tour with Ira Sullivan in 1988 when he performed at Joe Segal's Jazz Showcase. His experiences while on tour with Ira Sullivan inspired him to move to Chicago in 1990. Shortly after arriving in Chicago he formed his current trio with bassist Dennis Carroll and percussionist Dana Hall. He’s also played in groups with Chicago greats Von Freeman, Bobby Broom, Eric Alexander, Lin Halliday and Pharez Whitted.

Ron has recorded for Blue Note Records with guitarist Fareed Haque, for the Criss Cross Jazz label with guitarist Bobby Broom for SteepleChase Records with Ira Sullivan and Von Freeman and for Origin Records with Scott Burns and Geof Bradfield. Jazz studies lecturer for DePaul University and for the Thelonious Monk Institute through Chicago's Gallery 37 After School Matters program.

Marlene Rosenberg (bass, combo instructor)

Marlene Rosenberg has emerged as one of the most talented and multi-faceted young bass players on the scene today. She has played professionally throughout the United States, Europe, Latin America and Japan, performing with innumerable jazz luminaries, such as Kenny Barron, Frank Foster, Stan Getz, Albert "Tootie" Health, Joe Henderson, Marian McPartland, Cedar Walton,Wallace Roney, David "Fathead" Newman, Monty Alexander, Kevin Mahogony, Frank Morgan Frank Wess, Joe Williams and Nancy Wilson, to name a few. Her stylistic range encompasses everything from traditional Big Band to intimate experimental ensembles.

Rosenberg received an National Endownment of The Arts Jazz fellowship grant, which she used for intensive private study with Ron Carter, Hal Galper, Milk Richmond and Jim McNeeley. She also counts among her teachers Warren Benfield (Chicago Symphony), Jeff Bradetich (Northwestern University), Ed Krolick and John Garvey (University Of Illinois), and Karl Fruh (Roosevelt University). Also, as mentors, Rosenberg counts Rufus Reid and Ray Brown.

Committed to imparting her knowledge to others, Rosenberg currently teaches privately in the Chicago area. She has given special workshops in high schools throughout the Chicago area and has been a clinician at the Saskatchewan School of the Arts in Canada. She has been involved with the Ravinia Jazz Mentors program in the Chicago public high schools. Rosenberg has given workshops on creating melodic bass lines at the International Society of Bassists conference, and currently, is an applied artist and music faculty teaching jazz bass at Northern Illinois University, in Dekalb, IL and jazz bass and combo at Roosevelt University, in Chicago.

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Music Education

Michael Kerschner (seminar)

Michael Kerschner is the Artistic director of the Young New Yorkers‚ Chorus and the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra Chorale. He received a B.S. in Music Education from Duquesne University and his Master of Music in Choral Conducting from the University of North Texas. He teaches at North Shore High School, and his ensembles there have received gold with distinction honors at NYSSMA festivals, and completed a performance tour through Italy.

Rebecca MacLeod (seminar)

Rebecca MacLeod is assistant professor of music education, specializing in string education. She earned her degrees from Duquesne University (BSME) and Florida State University (MME and PhD). Prior to her position at UNCG, she taught elementary, middle school, and high school orchestra in the public schools of Pennsylvania . She has published in the Journal of Research in Music  Education and the Florida Music Educator's Journal  and her research on at-risk string programs, vibrato technique, instrument preference, and music perception has been presented at the Music Educator's National Conference, American String Teacher's National Conference and the Florida Music Educator's State Conference, respectively. She is a frequent guest conductor and clinician in various high schools and colleges in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Florida, Georgia, and Illinois.

Ryan Nelson (music education coordinator, seminar)

Assistant Professor, Northwestern University. Associate director of bands and conductor, Northwestern University's Symphonic Band and Contemporary Music Ensemble. Teaches courses in music education and wind literature. Guest conductor, clinician, and arranger. Former director of bands and music department chair, Beaver Area School District (Pennsylvania) and assistant conductor, Bach Choir of Pittsburgh. Contributor, Teaching Music through Performance in Band (GIA Publications). Saxophonist and pianist, North Texas Klavier Wind Project and GIA TMPB recordings. Member, College Band Directors National Association, Music Educators National Conference.

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Piano Faculty

Marcia Bosits (master class)

Associate professor, Northwestern University. Internationally recognized as a piano performance and pedagogy specialist. Master classes and seminars throughout the United States, the Far East, and Canada. Officer in the Music Teachers National Association and National Conference on Piano Pedagogy. Author of articles in national music journals.

Elizabeth Buccheri (master class)

Senior Lecturer, Northwestern University. Chamber musician and vocal coach. Assistant conductor, Lyric Opera of Chicago (1987-present). Founder and music director, Chamber Music at North Park concert series. Previously collaborative pianist, Ravinia Festival's Steans Institute for Young Artists, and pianist, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Performances with Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Vermeer and Shanghai String Quartets, Midori, Gil Shaham, Pawel Berman, Suzanne Mentzer, Samuel Ramey, and Sherrill Milnes. Solo and chamber music recordings on CRI, Spectrum, Sony, Cedille, Boston, and Albany. Musical preparation for numerous performances and recordings by Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Studied with Brooks Smith at the Eastman School of Music. First American musician to receive the Sir Georg Solti Foundation Award.

Alan Chow (master class)

Coordinator and associate professor, piano program, Bienen School of Music. First prize, Concert Artists Guild Competition; grand prize, Palm Beach International Piano Competition; silver medal and audience favorite prize, Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition. Soloist with Hong Kong Philharmonic, National Symphony, Utah Symphony, Oakland Symphony, Tulsa Philharmonic, and Kansas City Symphony Orchestras. Recitals in New York's Alice Tully Hall and throughout the United States; concert tours of Hong Kong, Japan, China, and Taiwan. Former artist-in-residence, University of Arkansas. Studied with Menahem Pressler at Indiana University, Sascha Gorodnitzki at the Juilliard School, and Nelita True at the University of Maryland.

Kuang-Hao Huang (piano coordinator)

Pianist Kuang-Hao Huang enjoys an active career of performing and teaching. He has performed throughout the United States as well as in England, France, China and South Korea. As a soloist, he has performed with the New World Symphony Orchestra, the Elgin Symphony Orchestra and has been heard on Chicago’s WFMT 98.7 FM. Mr. Huang is an active collaborator, performing concerts and radio broadcasts with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and as a regular guest of the Chicago Chamber Musicians. He has also performed with the Vermeer and Chicago String Quartets.Mr. Huang gave the world premiere performances of works by Louis Andriessen, Chen Yi, Stacy Garrop, John Harbison, Alexandra Karastoyanova-Hermentin, Daniel Kellogg, Rami Levin, James Matheson and Laura Schwendinger. He has been involved with the Chicago Chamber Musicians Composer Perspectives series and has had the opportunity to work with many of the world’s foremost composers, including Pierre Boulez and John Corigliano. Mr. Huang has also performed with Fulcrum Point and MusicNOW. He serves on the adjunct faculties of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, Concordia University-Chicago, and the Merit School of Music. As a member of the International Music Foundation’s Bootinsky Piano Trio, he presents educational outreach programs throughout the Chicago Public Schools. He has also served on the faculty of the Mimir Chamber Music Festival at TCU in Ft. Worth, Texas. Mr. Huang has degrees from the University of Wisconsin, Indiana University and Northwestern University. His principal teachers include Leonard Hokanson, Joseph Kalichstein, Howard Karp, Rita Sloan and Sylvia Wang.

Margaret Kemper (organ)

Fulbright scholar with André Marchal, Paris. Past national president, American Guild of Organists. Organist and director of music, Presbyterian Homes, Evanston. Organist, Kenilworth Union Church. Recitalist in the United States and abroad. Studied with Arthur Carkeek at DePauw University and Barrett Spach at Northwestern; additional study with Marie-Claire Alain and Anton Heiller, Academy for Organists, Haarlem, the Netherlands.

Soo Young Lee (piano)

Dr. Soo Young Lee was born in Seoul, Korea, and began her piano studies at age nine. A year later, she came to the United States to further her studies. Since then, she has won several awards and prizes in the Chicago area including Society of American Musicians, St. Paul Federation, Northwestern Concerto Competition, and Farwell Award from the Musicians Club of Women. Dr. Lee has participated in the Aspen Music Festival and studied under Ann Schein and Herbert Stessin. She also had the honor of performing in the master classes of Claude Frank, Menachem Pressler, and Nelita True. She earned her Bachelor of Music with Laurence Davis and Master of Music in Piano Pedagogy with Frances Larimer from Northwestern University. She then received her Doctorate of Music with Dr. David Kaiserman, also at Northwestern. Dr. Lee has taught piano and chamber music at Midwest Young Artists (MYA), Merit School of Music, Bay Chambers Music Festival/Next Generation Program in Rockport, Maine and at Loyola University. In the summer, she teaches at Northwestern University's National High School Music Institute. She currently is on the piano faculty at Music Institute of Chicago and at Lake Forest College. Dr. Lee is also active as a president of Society of American Musicians and is a founder and an artistic director of ARK ENSEMBLE.

Sylvia Wang (piano master class)

Associate professor, Northwestern University. Solo and collaborative performances throughout North America, Europe, and the Far East. Member, Samaris Trio. Active as clinician, adjudicator, and panelist. Recordings on Cadenza Classics, Newport Classics, Boston Records, Northeastern, and CRI. Winner and finalist in national and international piano and chamber music competitions. Studies with David Burge, Hamish Milne, and Dennis Murdoch.

Inessa Zaretsky (piano)

Ms. Zaretsky is on the piano faculty of the Mannes College of Music in New York. She is the pianist and Composer in Residence of the Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival in North Carolina. Her performances have been broadcast on WQXR, WNYC and WNPR. Ms. Zaretsky performed extensively across the United States and around the world. As a chamber musician she collaborated with Miro, Cavani, Cassat, Lark, Phedrus and Claring String Quartets. Known for her interpretation of Scriabin’s music, Inessa Zaretsky has recorded many of this composer’s works. Ms. Zaretsky is the Artistic Director of the Phoenix Chamber Music Series in New York. Born in Russia, Ms. Zaretsky studied with Richard Goode at the Mannes College of Music. She studied chamber music with Felix Galimir, Julius Levine and Claude Frank.

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Strings Faculty

Crispin Campbell (cello, chamber music)

Cellist Crispin Campbell is a musician with wide musical interests, ranging from the classical cello repertoire to jazz, blues, tango and folk music. He is a member of the Michigan-based Neptune Quartet, and has performed extensively as a collaborative artist with musicians such as composer David Amram, jazz pianist Paul Sullivan, keyboard artist David Schrader, and songwriter Claudia Schmidt. In addition he has worked with Buglisi/Foreman Dance in Michigan and New York, and created original music for several film and stage productions. Crispin is a faculty member at Interlochen Arts Academy, and was Artistic Director of the Manitou Music Festival for ten years. He has appeared at music festivals in North and South America, and has been a faculty member at Madeline Island Music Camp.

Li-Kuo Chang (viola)

Assistant principal viola (1988-present), acting principal viola (1998-99), Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Former member, Denver Symphony Orchestra and orchestras in China, Europe, and the United States. Active soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. Soloist with Chicago, Phoenix, and Shanghai Symphony Orchestras and Chicago String Ensemble. Chamber appearances with such artists as Daniel Barenboim, Christoph Eschenbach, and Pinchas Zukerman. Former faculty member, Roosevelt University and Affinis Music Festival in Japan. Diploma, Music School of Shanghai Conservatory. Studied with Francis Tursi, Donald McInnes, Milton Thomas, Paul Doktor, and William Magers.

Hal Grossman (violin, chamber music)

Currently Instructor of Violin, Interlochen Arts Academy. M.M. (Performance and Literature), Eastman School of Music; B.M. with honors (Violin Performance), University of Michigan. Former associate professor of violin, Miami University. First violin, Oxford String Quartet. Winner, International Cleveland Quartet and National Fischoff Chamber Music Competitions. Carnegie Hall debut with Casella String Quartet. Soloist with American and Canadian orchestras, including Rochester Philharmonic, North Carolina Symphony. Recital tours throughout North America and Europe. Concertmaster, Estranach (Luxembourg) and several U.S. orchestras. Listed in Outstanding Young Men of America, 1994. Recording musician.

David Hays (violin, chamber music)

David Hays earned his Bachelor's degree at Indiana University and his MM and DM degrees at Northwestern University. A former concertmaster of the BUTI young artists' orchestra at Tanglewood, he has performed with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, and others. As a chamber musician, he has performed live on WFMT Chicago with the Sheridan Chamber Players and was a finalist at the 1998 Banff International String Quartet Competition as co-principal violinist of the Fry Street Quartet. As a member of the Hawthorne Trio, he has performed throughout the US, in Poland, the Czech Republic and England. On baroque violin, David toured and recorded with Minneapolis-based Minstrelsy! for nine seasons and has appeared with Temple of Apollo, the Lyra Concert, the Newberry Consort, and the Chicago Baroque Ensemble. He has taught violin and chamber music at Northwestern's National High School Institute since 1996. He has recorded on the Lyrichord, Narada, and Musical Arts Society labels. Dr. Hays currently serves as Associate Professor of Music at Missouri State University in Springfield and concertmaster of the Springfield Symphony. In recent seasons, he has performed concertos by Sibelius, Lalo, Mozart and Beethoven. He has also appeared in solo and duo recitals in Springfield, Chicago and Bulgaria with his wife, violinist Svetla Kalcheva Hays.

Jason Heath (double bass)

Jason Heath is an active double bass performer, educator, blogger, and podcaster. His writing, blogging and podcasting have been featured in the New Yorker, International Musician, Double Bassist Magazine, The Scroll, The Engaging Brand, and the Adjunct Advocate. He is on the board of directors for the International Society of Bassists, a member of the blogging network Inside the Arts, and is a staff writer for Bass Musician Magazine. He has served on the faculties of DePaul University, the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, and Trinity International University, and he is a frequent guest speaker for a variety of organizations.

A native of South Dakota, Jason joined the bass sections of the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra and Sioux City Symphony Orchestra at the age of fifteen. He is a member of the Elgin Symphony and previously served as co-principal bass of the IRIS Orchestra in Memphis, Tennessee and assistant principal bass of the Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra. Jason has also performed with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Grant Park Symphony, Chicago Opera Theater, Chicago Sinfonietta, Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, and Joffrey Ballet Orchestra. Jason has toured internationally with the American-Russian Young Artists Orchestra, Pacific Music Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, and he has also performed with the Spoleto USA Festival, Britt Music Festival, and Des Moines Metro Opera.

Peter Lloyd (double bass)

Lecturer, double bass, Bienen School of Music. Former principal bass of the Minnesota Orchestra (1986-2007) and section bass of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Chamber music performances with members of the Budapest, Guarneri, Emerson, Juilliard and Orion string quartets and guest artist with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, BargeMusic, and the Boston Chamber Music Society. Recordings on RCA, EMI, Sony, Telarc, Virgin Classical, BIS, and Reference Recordings. Has been a visiting teacher at the Marlboro School of Music and at virtually all of the leading music schools in the United States. Regularly serves as coach for the New York String Orchestra and as a visiting teacher for the New World Symphony.

Blair Milton (strings coordinator, violin, chamber music)

Assistant professor, Northwestern University. Member, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Evanston Chamber Ensemble. Soloist with Chicago Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Sir Georg Solti), Chicago String Ensemble, Kingston Symphony, Montreal Chamber Orchestra. Chamber performances with Ravinia Festival, Aspen Festival, Chicago Symphony Allied Arts Series at Orchestra Hall. Studied with Josef Gingold and Ivan Galamian.

Philip Peters (orchestra conductor)

Phil Peters has been the director of the Valley High School orchestra program since August 1995 after teaching in Baltimore for ten years. Mr. Peters earned his Bachelor's degree in music education from Towson University in Maryland and a Master of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Music. Mr. Peters has completed additional graduate courses at the University of North Texas, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Drake University. He performs as a double bassist with the Des Moines Symphony Orchestra and in many other local ensembles. Mr. Peters is the director of the orchestra program at the National High School Music Institute at Northwestern University for five weeks each summer. Ensembles directed by Mr. Peters have earned superior ratings at state contests in Maryland and Iowa and former students have been accepted into prestigious music schools around the country.

Gerardo Ribeiro (violin master class)

Professor, Northwestern University. Soloist diploma, Lucerne Music Conservatory. 2001 recipient, Presidential Excellence in Teaching Award. Distinguished solo and chamber music performer and winner of numerous worldwide prizes. Soloist with Philadelphia Orchestra, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Radio-Télévision Français, Radio Orchestra Berlin. Solo recording artist for EMI and RCA. Artistic director, International Institute for Chamber Music, Munich. Former faculty member, Meadowmount School of Music and Eastman School of Music. Studied at the Juilliard School with Ivan Galamian, Felix Galimir, and Paul Makanowitzky.

Michele Senger (chamber music)

BM, Univ. of Arizona; MM, Ohio University. Michele Senger is in her ninth year teaching in West Des Moines at Westridge Elementary School and Valley Southwoods Freshman High School. Michele is a member of the Des Moines Symphony cello section and conducts the intermediate and advanced orchestras for the Des Moines Area Suzuki Institute (DASI). She was also a member of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra and performed regularly with “Go for Baroque” and the Marelle String Quartet. Michele was instructor of cello and bass at Pima Community College. Her summers are currently spent performing with the Marelle Quartet and coaching chamber music at various festivals throughout the U.S including the Chamber Music in the Mountains at Echo Glen. Her major professors included Gordon Epperson, Leighton Conkling, and George Sopkin.

Stacia Spencer (violin and viola)

Stacia Spencer is a senior lecturer in string pedagogy at the Bienen School of Music and string coordinator for the Academy. She also teaches violin, viola and chamber music in Northwestern's National High School Music Institute. Prior to moving to the Chicago area, Spencer taught at Indiana University School of Music as an assistant professor of music, where she taught seminars in violin and viola pedagogy and was the assistant to Mimi Zweig for the Young Violinist Program. Spencer has played professionally in symphony orchestras and chamber music groups, and has a special interest in contemporary music, working with composers and performing their new pieces. Currently, Spencer is a violist and singer in Jon Eaton's Pocket Opera Company. She received her bachelors and masters degrees in viola from Indiana University School of Music, where she studied with Mimi Zweig, Kim Kashkashian, and George Janzer.

Clara Takarabe (viola)

An accomplished performer and teacher, Clara Takarabe has played with some of the world's leading orchestras and ensembles. Since 1999 Ms. Takarabe has played with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra as a substitute. She has also performed with Chicago's Lyric Opera, Germany's Berlin Sinfonie Orchester, and Brazil's Orquestra Sinfonica do Estado de Sao Paulo, one of Latin America's leading orchestras. A busy chamber musician, Ms. Takarabe is a current member of Camerata Chicago and the Callisto Ensemble. She joined the MusicNow series of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 2000 until 2002. Ms. Takarabe has been fortunate to study under seminal violin teachers and violists, including Robert Lipsett, Sheryl Staples, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Li Kuo Chang, Yuri Gandelsman, Felix Schwartz, Emanuel Vardi and Rami Solomonow. As an educator herself, Ms. Takarabe assists Li Kuo Chang. She is a professor of violin and viola at Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana, and also teaches in her own Chicago studio. Ms. Takarabe takes a holistic approach to teaching which stresses matching instruction to personalities and strengths of individual students. She is particularly valued among her peers as a teacher of technique and is often asked by fellow professors to work with students to rebuild and reconstruct their technique.

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Voice Faculty

Theresa Brancaccio (voice, master class)

Mezzo-soprano. Lecturer, Northwestern University. MMus, Northwestern University. Solo performances with Grant Park Symphony, St. Louis Bach Society, Colorado Mahler Festival, New Oratorio Singers. Leading operatic roles with Central City Opera, Chattanooga Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, and Light Opera Works. Featured in recordings of Janowski, Giles, Mahler.

Karen Brunssen (master class)

Mezzo-soprano. Associate professor, Northwestern University. BA in Music, Luther College. Solo appearances with Chicago, Baltimore, Seattle, Houston, St. Louis, Mexico and Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestras. Other appearances with Buffalo Philharmonic, Cincinnati Opera, Music of the Baroque, and Grant Park Symphony Orchestra.

Erin Freeman (choir conductor)

Associate Conductor of the Richmond Symphony Orchestra. Her responsibilities include conducting the popular intergenerational Genworth Financial Kicked Back Classics Series and Kicked Back Classics - CLUB, leading the Wachovia Securities Pops Series, and artistic direction for the Symphony's education initiatives including its four youth orchestras. In addition, she is the James Erb Choral Chair as Director of the 130-voice Richmond Symphony Chorus. Dr. Freeman has served as Director of Orchestras at the critically acclaimed Baltimore School for the Arts, lecturer for the National Philharmonic and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and Resident Conductor at Peabody Conservatory where she taught in the choral, orchestral and opera departments. Dr. Freeman was Music Director of Collegium Vocale, a competitively auditioned choral ensemble located at Emory University in her hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. As a past guest conductor of the Savannah Symphony Orchestra she conducted outreach concerts, young people's concerts and joint choral-orchestral performances.

Kurt R. Hansen (voice coordinator)

Tenor. Senior lecturer, Northwestern University. MMus, Northwestern University. Solo appearances in Europe as well as the United States. Specialist in oratorio, especially the Johann Sebastian Bach Passions. Recitalist and frequent performer in opera roles. Appeared as soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Sir Georg Solti and Claudio Abbado as well as with the Omaha Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, and Music of the Baroque.

Karina Kontorovitch (vocal accompanist)

Karina Kontorovitch was born in St. Petersburg, Russia.  At the age of five, she started attending the Music School for Gifted Children, where she continued to study piano with Olga Manukyan until the family immigrated to the United States in 1991.  Ms. Kontorovitch earned both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Piano Performance from Northwestern University, taking a special interest in chamber music and accompanying; her teachers include Sylvia Wang, Alan Chow, Laurence Davis and Elizabeth Buccheri.  Ms. Kontorovitch has taught at the Music Arts School in Highland Park and has been on the faculty of the Merit School of Music in Chicago since 2001, teaching all ages and levels.  She also serves as an accompanist and vocal coach at Northwestern University, working primarily in the studio of Kurt R. Hansen.  In addition, she is active as a collaborative pianist in the Chicago area.  She just played a Dame Myra Hess Memorial Series piano duet concert with Ruth Lin at the Chicago Cultural Center in March of this year.

Christopher Lorimer (voice)

Tenor. BMus and MMus, Northwestern University. Solo appearances with Bach Aria Group in New York, Graz Festival Orchestra in Austria and Lake Forest, Waukegan, Fox Valley, and Chicago Symphony Orchestras. Other solo appearances with DuPage Chorale, Chicago Opera Theatre, DuPage Opera Theatre, Piccolo Productions, North Shore Choral Society and Bach Week Festival. Awards from Mozart Society of Chicago, Friends of Austria, Union League Club of Chicago. Faculty, College of DuPage and University of Illinois-Chicago.

James Morehead (vocal coach, accompanist)

James Morehead is an Adjunct Professor of Music Theory/History and German Diction at Chicago College of Performing Arts of Roosevelt University and is staff accompanist for voice lessons and recitals. He is also the choir master/organist at St. Helena's Episcopal Church in Burr Ridge, IL. James received his M. M. in Piano Performance and Music Theory from CCPA and his B. M. in Piano Performance from Duquesne University. His teachers have included Klaus Ebling, Emma S. Rocco, Kenneth Burky and Dmitry Rachmanov. He has also appeared as a featured cabaret pianist at Gentry on Halsted, Spin Nightclub, Davenport's, the 410 Club and The Casino. Finally, James has participated in the Other Dance Festival and Around the Coyote Festival.

Chris Thompson (vocal coach, accompanist)

Tracy Watson (voice)

Voice faculty, Chicago College of Performing Arts, Roosevelt University. M.M. Northwestern University, B.A. Mount Holyoke College. Lyric Opera Center for American Artists. Opera soloist with Portland, Hawaii, Madison, Staedtische Buehnen Dortmund, Theater Oberhausen and Chicago Opera Theater. Concert soloist Musica Sacra (Carnegie Hall), Music of the Baroque, St. Louis Bach Society, Princeton Pro Musica, Grant Park Music Festival, I Virtuosi Pragensis and the European Symphony Orchestra (Barcelona, Spain). Vice President of the Chicago Singing Teachers Guild.

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Winds and Percussion Faculty

Andrew Baker (trombone)

Lecturer, Northwestern University. Former Archer Scholar at Trinity College of Music. Served as principal of the Covent Garden Festival Orchestra (London). Performed with thePhilharmonic of the Nations, Ray Gelato Giants, Chicago Jazz Ensemble, Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra, the Hard Art Ensemble, Liquid Soul, and Broadway in Chicago. Appears on many recordings, including Porgy and Bess (with Clark Terry and the CJO), The Ted Hogarth Collective, and the Hard Art Ensemble.

Jan Berry Baker (saxophone)

Saxophonist Jan Berry Baker is a native of Alberta, Canada. As a soloist and chamber musician, she has performed throughout North America, France, Switzerland, Austria and the Czech Republic. She has won top prizes in numerous competitions including the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, the North American Saxophone Alliance Concerto Competition and the Johann Strauss Society competition. As an orchestral saxophonist, she regularly performs with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Grant Park Orchestra, Chicago Philharmonic and the Peninsula Music Festival Orchestra and has been featured as a concerto soloist with orchestras in both Canada and the United States. Baker has been broadcast in recital on CBC radio and WFMT Chicago and has premiered works by numerous composers, including John A. Lennon, M. William Karlins, William Bolcom, Mischa Zupko, Mark Engebretson, James Mattheson, and André Ducret.

As an educator, Dr. Baker has been an Artist-Affiliate at Emory University since 2006 and Artist-Faculty at Georgia State University since 2008. Previous teaching engagements include Artist-Teacher at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University from 2002 until 2008, lecturer at Northwestern University from 1999 until 2007 and Visiting Assistant Professor of Saxophone at the University of Alberta from 1998-1999. Her principal teachers include Frederick L. Hemke, William H. Street, and Barbara Lorenz and she holds a Doctor of Music degree in saxophone performance from Northwestern University. Jan Baker is a Selmer performing artist and plays exclusively on Selmer Paris saxophones.

J. Lawrie Bloom (clarinet master classes)

Lecturer, Northwestern University. Solo bass clarinet, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1980-present). Artistic co-director of Eastern Shore Chamber Music Festival in St. Michael’s, Maryland. Former member, Vancouver, Phoenix, Cincinnati Symphonies and Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra.

Jared Bulmer (tuba, euphonium)

Jared Bulmer is a freelance musician and teacher in the Chicagoland area. BMus from Northwestern University in 2001 and MMus from Rice University in 2003. Jared has performed with such ensembles as the Houston Symphony, Kenosha Symphony, South Bend Symphony, Illinois Philharmonic, and Malyasian Philharmonic Orchestra. He also has played with many brass quintets throughout Chicago and Houston. His own brass quintet, CINCO, performs and clinics extensively in Chicago. Jared also served as the principal tuba fellow at the Aspen Music Festival for three summers. Jared maintains a teaching studio of over 50 students at six Chicagoland high schools and has been on the faculty of Northeastern Illinois University since 2007.

Melanie Cottle (horn)

Faculty, Wheaton College. Extra player, Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Appearances with Lyric Opera of Chicago and Milwaukee Symphony. Numerous Broadway show orchestras and commercial recordings.

Chip DeStefano (brass ensemble)

BMus in trombone performance and MMus in music education, Northwestern University. Director of Bands, McCracken Middle School, Skokie, Illinois. Commissioned arrangements and compositions for Northwestern University, Samford University, and University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse. Compositons performed on ABC’s 1996 Rose Bowl Halftime Show, Live! With Regis and Kathy Lee, and WBBM News Radio 780. Three-time recipient of the National Band Association Citations of Excellence. Recipient, 2001 Chicagoland Outstanding Music Educator Award.

Daniel Farris (NHSMI director, wind and percussion coordinator, wind ensemble conductor)

Senior Lecturer, Northwestern University. Director of Athletic Bands. Director, National High School Music Institute. Conductor, "Wildcat" Marching Band, Concert Band, and Jazz Band. Teaches courses in conducting and marching band techniques. Former Assistant Director of Bands and Marching Band Director, Illinois State University and University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Former director and consultant, Walt Disney World Collegiate All-Star Band. Former teacher in Minnesota and Wisconsin public schools. Member, College Band Director National Association, National Band Association, International Association of Jazz Educators. Honorary member, Tau Beta Sigma/Kappa Kappa Psi.

John Gaudette (bassoon)

Former member of the Vancouver Symphony, CBC Radio Orchestra, and the Dallas Symphony. Currently freelancing in Chicago as extra in Chicago Symphony, Lyric Opera, Music of the Baroque, Fulcrum Point. Bassoonist in the Barossa Woodwind Quintet. Graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music, studying with Sol Schoenbach.

Leslie Grimm (clarinet)

Lecturer, Northwestern University. Performs regularly with Chicago, Milwaukee, and Grant Park Symphony Orchestras as well as Lyric Opera of Chicago, Symphony II, Ravinia Festival Orchestra, and Chicago Sinfonietta. Active studio musician for radio and television commercials. Recordings on Teldec, Koss, Centaur, and Pro-Arte.

Michael Henoch (oboe master class)

Associate Professor, Northwestern University. Assistant principal oboe, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1972–present). Artistic codirector and oboist, Chicago Chamber Musicians. Participant, Marlboro Music Festival, Carmel Bach Festival, Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, Peninsula Music Festival. Soloist with conductors Daniel Barenboim, Sir Georg Solti, David Zinman, Alexander Schneider. Artistic collaborations with Pierre Boulez, Christoph Eschenbach, Claude Frank, Garrick Ohlsson, Arlene Auger, Maxim Vengerov. Numerous recordings, recitals, and international tours.

Walfrid Kujala (flute)

Professor, Northwestern University; Flutist and principal piccolo, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1954–2001). Contributing editor, Flute Talk. Former member, Rochester Philharmonic, and former principal flutist, Grant Park Symphony. Past president, National Flute Association. Recipient, NFA Lifetime Achievement Award and Bienen School of Music Exemplar in Teaching Award. Recitals and master classes throughout the United States and Canada.

Peter Martin (percussion, percussion ensemble)

First prize winner, Percussive Arts Society 2003 Solo Marimba Competition. Featured solo artist at the Jeju Summer Music Festival of Korea, Leigh Howard Stevens Summer Marimba Seminar, Percussive Arts Society International Convention, CJYPE Concert Series, Long Island Day of Percussion, Kansas Day of Percussion. Has performed with the Scandinavian Chamber Orchestra, Opera Moda, Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra, Third Coast Percussion Quartet, Sonic Inertia Performance Group, Longmount Symphony Orchestra, Monmouth Symphony Orchestra, Summitt Theatre Group, Exit 9 percussion group. Recent appearances as clinician/performer at California Institute of the Arts, Chapman University, Seoul National University, Bryn Mawr University, St. Cloud State University, Colorado State University, and Iowa State University. Artist/Endorser for the Kp3/Malletech Co. and Malletech Mallets. M.M. and Current D.M. candidate at the Bienen School of Music.

Rex Martin (tuba/euphonium master class)

Professor, Northwestern University. Recitals and master classes throughout North America, Europe, and the Far East. Studio musician heard in 3,000 television and radio commercials. Performer on more than 70 recordings with Chicago and St. Louis Symphony Orchestras. Performances with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta, Symphony II, Ravinia Festival Orchestra, Fulcrum Point, Tower Brass, and such performers as Tony Bennett, Dave Brubeck, Ray Charles, Luciano Pavarotti, Frank Sinatra, Mel Tormé, and Sarah Vaughan. Host of 1995 International Tuba-Euphonium Conference. Outstanding Alumni Award, Illinois State University. Studied with Arnold Jacobs, Edward Kleinhammer, and Edward Livingston.

Robert Morgan (oboe)

Robert Morgan is principal oboist and soloist with Music of the Baroque, Symphony II, and acting co-principal oboe with the Chicago Lyric Opera. He has made numerous solo appearances with Chicago area ensembles and has served as principal oboist with the Bach Festival Orchestra in Carmel (California). Mr. Morgan has been heard in many nationally syndicated broadcasts, and also on a CD with the Rembrandt Chamber Players, of which he is a founding member.

Michael Mulcahy (trombone master class)

Member, Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Former principal trombone, Cologne Radio Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, and Tasmanian Symphony. Principal trombone, Grand Teton Music Festival. Member, Chicago Chamber Musicians and Summit Brass. Former head of brass, Canberra School of Music at Australian National University. Winner, international music competitions in Munich, Vercelli, and Markneukirchen. Accomplished conductor specializing in contemporary music. Music director, National Music Camp of Australia. Active as soloist, teacher, lecturer, and clinician in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

Channing Philbrick (trumpet)

Co-Assistant Principal Trumpet with the Lyric Opera Orchestra and Second Trumpet with the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra. Also a member of the Chicago Philharmonic and Bach Week Festival Orchestras. Performed as an extra with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Seattle Symphony, Music of the Baroque, the Rochester Philharmonic, the Savannah Symphony Orchestra and as a member of the Tulsa Philharmonic and the Millar Brass Ensemble. He can be heard on numerous radio and TV commercials as well as compact disc recordings with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Grant Park Symphony, the Millar Brass Ensemble and others. Currently on the faculty of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.

Sunshine Simmons (clarinet)

DMA Candidate, NU. Member of the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra and the Oregon Ballet Theatre. Has performed with the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, Grant Park and Elgin, as well as the Chicago Opera Theater, Chicago Sinfonietta, and Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Mallory Thompson (master class)

Professor, Northwestern University. Director of Bands; conductor of Symphonic Wind Ensemble and the Waa-Mu Show, graduate and advanced undergraduate conducting, conducting program coordinator, Charles Deering McCormick Professor. Frequent guest conductor and conducting teacher including Aspen, Interlochen, Dallas Wind Symphony, United States Army Band. Recordings with Summit Records. Former faculty member, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, University of South Florida, Oberlin Conservatory.

She-e Wu (percussion master class)

Coordinator, percussion program. Former member of jazz faculties at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. Studied under Robert Schietroma, Leigh Howard Stevens, Ed Soph, and Tzong-Ching Ju. Member of the Bob Becker Ensemble. Convention appearances as a solo artist include Percussive Arts Society International Conventions, National Percussion Convention of Spain, and the International Percussion Convention. Festival appearances as a solo artist include Journées de la Percussion, NancyPhony Festival, perKumania Festival, PercuPassion Festival, Back Symposium/Bach Variation Festival at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, International Percussion Festival, and Giornate della Percussione in Italy. Active composer, with premieres at the Journées de la Percussion festival and the Taipei International Percussion Convention. Guest recitalist and clinician at universities and conservatories in France, Belgium, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, England and Germany. Served as judge for the PAS Composition Competition and International Percussion Ensemble Competition. Clinician/recitalist for Dynasty, Zildjian and Innovative Percussion.

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Academic Faculty

Megan Guenther McFadden (music history)

Lecturer, Northwestern University.   Megan McFadden is a historical musicologist actively pursuing a career as a scholar, educator, and performer.  She received a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance and a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of Montana and is currently completing her doctoral degree in musicology while teaching at Northwestern.  Her research focuses on intersections between popular music, gender, theater, and identity construction in early modern England.  McFadden has recently presenting papers on balladry and masques at conferences for the Society of Seventeenth-Century Music, the Newberry Library Center for Renaissance Studies and the Midwest American Musicological Society.  In addition, she recently returned from a Mellon English Paleography Institute at the Huntington Library.

John Henes (Alexander Technique)

Lecturer, Northwestern University. BMus, Indiana University. Graduate, Chicago Center for the Alexander Technique. Certified by the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique, London. Private teacher of the Alexander technique to members of major American and European orchestras as well as other performing artists from the United States and abroad. Frequently gives Alexander technique lectures and master classes at universities around the country and in Europe. Former member (trumpet), Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony, Army Field Band. Recorded Shostakovich Concerto no. 1 for Piano, Trumpet, and Strings with the Chicago Sinfonietta.

Kenn Kumpf (music theory)

Robert Reinhart (music theory)

Robert Reinhart is a composer originally from Danville, Illinois. He obtained a Bachelor of Music in Composition/Theory from the University of Illinois in 1998 and a Master of Arts in Music Composition from San Francisco State University in 2002. In addition to teaching at SFSU, Northwestern University, and various community music organizations, his background also includes bassoon and voice performance, conducting, music theater instruction, and early music study. Reinhart is currently a lecturer at Northwestern where he is completing a doctoral degree. His composition instructors have included Paul Martin Zonn, Zack Browning, Ron Caltabiano, Amy Williams, and Jay Alan Yim, as well as shorter-term instruction with Salvatore Martirano, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, and Josh Levine. In 2003 Reinhart was the first place award winner in the graduate division of the Union League Civic and Arts Foundation Music Composition Contest for his composition Sextet (later renamed From Second to Seventh). This piece was also selected for performance at the Music03 festival held at the University of Cincinnati, and was selected by the ERM label for inclusion in their Masterworks of the New Era recording series. Reinhart's trio Lucifer, Angel of Light was featured in 2004 at the Czech-American Summer Music Festival in Prague directed by Ladislav Kubik. He has also participated in various masterclasses with composers including Tristan Murail, Christian Lauba, Martin Bresnik, Frederic Rzewski, Louis Andriessen, and Oliver Knussen.

Lee Weisert (music theory)

Lee Weisert is a Chicago-based composer of instrumental and electronic music. His recent work draws inspiration from a wide variety of scientific disciplines and re-interprets their respective principles into an artistic context. His instrumental music has been played by a variety of nationally recognized performers and ensembles, including Steven Schick and the Red Fish Blue Fish percussion ensemble, the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) and the JACK string quartet. His latest artistic project, The Argus Project, is a collaboration with composer Jonathon Kirk that uses underwater microphones and laser-modulated processing techniques to turn an outdoor pond into and emersive and unpredictable acoustical composition. Lee has degrees in music composition from the University of Colorado at Boulder (BMA) and California Institute of the Arts (MM). His primary composition instructors have been James Tenney, Michael Pisaro, Jay Alan Yim, and Chris Mercer. He is currently pursuing his doctoral degree from Northwestern University.

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