Private Instruction Faculty

Listed by Instrument

Cello

Chris White

M.M. in Performance, Ithaca College. A classical and jazz cellist, Christopher has released two solo CDs and has played on recordings by other artists. He is a member of the Binghamton Symphony and the director of the international New Directions Cello Association and Festival, now in its 12th year.

Clarinet

Lenora Brown Schneller

B.A. Sarah Lawrence College. M.M. and Artists Diploma, Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. Active performer of solo, chamber, and orchestral music, playing with the Louisville Opera, Starling Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Chamber Players, and Cornell Contemporary Chamber Players. Recent benefit recital in Amman, Jordan. Founding member of local new music group, Tabula Rasa.

Electric Bass

Nick Bullock

see listing under Guitar

Sean Kobuk Kennedy

see listing under Guitar

John Romey (electric & acoustic bass)

Received his B.A. in Music with honors and a minor in French from The City College of New York (CUNY). As a performing artist, Romey has performed in the U.S. and in France. He can be heard playing double bass regularly around the Finger Lakes region of New York State and the New York metropolitan area. He performs regularly leading his own jazz groups, as well as playing in various contemporary classical and improvised musical ensembles. He has studied with noted teachers and performing artists as Nicholas Walker and François Rabbath and has also attended the Institute International François Rabbath, George Vance, and Slava Publishing Summer Bass Workshops (2002-2004). Since 2008, Romey has also studied Viola da Gamba with the acclaimed gambist and scholar Judith Davidoff.

Fiddle

Joseph Prusch

see listing under Violin

Flute

Lisa Craig Fenwick

Holds a degree in music performance in flute from Boston University's School for the Arts. She has worked as an adjuct professor of music at SUNY Cortland and has performed flute with many local groups including the Elmira Symphony. Lisa has maintained a private flute studio for over 25 years and has taught Kindermusik and run Kindermusik of Ithaca for the past 10 years. Lisa also plays both celtic and pedal harp and performs with the harp ensemble, Harps on the Susquehanna in the Binghamton area as well a harp circle in Syracuse area. Lisa is also currently a student in the national MHTP (Music, Healing and Transitioni Program)where she is learning how to play music to help ease those in pain.

Guitar

Nick Bullock

B. M. in Jazz Studies, Ithaca College. Plays professionally, locally and regionally. Principal teachers include Steve Brown, Bob Sneider (Eastman School of Music) and John Stowell. Five years teaching experience.

Sean Kobuk Kennedy

B.A. in Music, Hampshire College, Amherst MA. 20 years performing experience in Boston, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Seattle, playing rock, folk, reggae, blues and country. Original CD to be released in fall, 2004. Five years teaching experience.

Jan Nigro

Majored in music at Hunter College, NYC. Over 25 years guitar teaching experience in folk, blues and pop styles. Songwriter for and co-founder of VITAMIN L, a nationally acclaimed local young people's chorus. He has also written songs for Disney and National Geographic. In addition, he is the founder of and musical director for Mostly Motown and currently a composer in residence for Hangar Theater's Project 4.

Sue Terwilliger

Sue Terwilliger is an Ithaca native with a Bachelor of Music in Classical and Jazz Guitar from Ithaca College. For the past 20 years she made her home in New York City, where she played on various CD's and performed on several television shows. She has toured abroad including Japan, Portugal and Martinique. Sue is also bandleader, music director and guitarist for an 8 - 15 piece band, performing for private events (weddings, fundraisers) in the Northeast and Florida. Over five years teaching experience.

Percussion

Caryn Christianson - Percussion & Marimba

B.A. Music Education, Syracuse University. Active local performer. Over ten years teaching experience in classical, rock and jazz.

Steve Reichlen - Drums & Percussion

B.M. in Jazz Studies, Ithaca College. Teaches all styles of drum-set and percussion. Recorded and performed in various groups including: The Louisiana Philharmonic, George Porter, and Chubby Carrier. Studied with John Vidacovich, Gordon Stout, Steve Houghton, and attended The Henry Mancini Institute. Has been teaching since 1996.

Michael Wellen - Drums & Percussion

Studied percussion at the University of Buffalo and performed with the university's Percussion Ensemble under the direction of Jan Williams. Founding member of the infamous Zobo Funn Band. More than 30 years professional performing experience playing Jazz, Rock, Latin and other styles. Owned and operated Hillcrest Productions, a small recording studio. Has taught at CSMA for over 20 years.

Piano

Amy Opperman Cash

B.A. Piano, Ithaca College. Attended High School of Music and Art, NYC. Studied with Kendall Taylor in London, England. Over twenty years teaching experience.

Lori Marion

B.S. in Piano Performance, Magna Cum Laude, Roberts Wesleyan College, Rochester, NY. Over 5 years private and group piano teaching experience.

Christopher Morgan Loy

D.M.A. in Music Composition, Cornell University. M.M. in Music Composition, Cleveland Institute of Music; B.M. in Piano Performance, Wayne State University. Active and extensive performer; solo recital, chamber, composer/pianist series. 20 years teaching experience.

Molly MacMillan

Molly MacMillan is a well known musician living in Ithaca, NY. She has been a featured pianist at the Sacramento Jubilee Traditional Jazz festival, performing there also with the Lowdown Alligator Jass Band, as well as other jazz festivals including Ottawa, Montreal, Buffalo and the Thousand Islands, and Corning's Crystal City jazz festival. Ms. MacMillan plays a beautiful piano, both with her tasteful "comping" and her very melodic solos. She is also a vocalist of uncanny agility with a light, mellow sound. Molly has been involved in workshops with Marion McPartland and Dr. Billy Taylor. She has traveled and recorded with such diverse groups as The Hot Foot Club (swing band), the Molly MacMillan Trio, and cabaret acts with Margaret Wakely, and with Richard Driscoll. She has recorded CD's with various artists including the Trio and the HotFoot Club, and is the producer of several CD's by the children's artist Mrs. McPuppet.

Karen Melamed Smith

B.M., Piano Performance, University of Southern California. M.A. Liberal Studies, concentration in Philosophy and the Arts, New School for Social Research. Provisional certification in elementary education, SUNY Cortland. Over 20 years teaching experience including piano, music and movement, and various music theory and appreciation courses.

Jonathan Petronzio

B.A., Music Education, Ithaca College. Is trained in both classical and jazz piano and currently specializes in jazz, rock, blues and ragtime styles. Active performer, currently accompanying and directing the local multicultural choir, VOICES, as well as touring nationwide with his band. Over five years prior teaching experience.

Danielle Sofer

Danielle Sofer began serious study of music at the age of 12 at The Reut School of Arts, and continued her studies at The Wizo Canada School for Arts and Design in Haifa, Israel. By age 20 she graduated Suma cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts from The State University of New York at New Paltz with concentrations in both piano and viola. Danielle is a recent graduate of Binghamton University with a Masters of Music in Piano Performance, where she studied with Michael Salmirs. She has several years of prior teaching experience with both music majors and non-majors.

A.J. Strauss

Dave Streater

B.M. in Piano Performance, Cleveland Institute of Music. M.M. in composition, SUNY, Binghamton. Graduate work in mathematics. Active local jazz and classical performer and composer.

Recorder

Jennifer Lawrence Birnbaum

B.A. in Music Education, concentration in voice, Ithaca College. M.A. in Ethnomusicology and Music Education, Teachers College, Columbia University. Tenured music teacher and choral director, Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin H.S., New York, NY.

Saxophone

Joseph Ford

B.A. in Music Education, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA. Current graduate studies, Ithaca College. Experienced performer in jazz, rock and classical styles. Over 7 years varied teaching experience.

Trombone

Violin & Viola

Augusto Diemecke - Violin

Student of Fredel Lack and graduate of University of Houston School of Music and Ithaca Suzuki Institute. M.M. in Violin Performance. Has performed with the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra and Lake Charles Symphony Orchestra. Active performer: solo, orchestra, chamber music; co-founder of Finger Lakes Strings. Over 15 years teaching experience.

William Hurley - Violin

M.M., Violin Performance, Ithaca College. B.A. in Violin Performance, University of South Carolina. Currently a member of the Binghamton Philharmonic, the Tri-Cities Opera Company and the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes, he plays regularly with the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra and with numerous smaller chamber groups. He has played with the DeVere String Quartet of Syracuse and taught at the Hartwick College Summer Music Festival. He has been a member of orchestras in GA, SC, WV, MD and PA. He plays on both a standard Italian violin and a mezzo violin (made by Ithacan Robert Spear). Over ten years teaching experience.

Jaime Kibelsbeck - Violin

M.M. in Viola Performance, Ithaca College. B.M. in Music Education/Viola Performance, Ithaca College. Provisional teaching certification in K-12 music. Performances with Tri-Cities Opera Orchestra, the Albert Consort, and Le Petits Violons du Cornell. Currently plays with the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes and other ensembles. Additional performance experience on baroque viola, alto violin, and voice, with special interest in early music. Member of Sigma Alpha Iota and Pi Kappa Lambda. Currently an adjunct lecturer at Ithaca College. Over ten years teaching experience.

Joseph Prusch - Violin / Viola / Fiddle

Joseph studied Viola Performance and Music Education at Ithaca College. He learned to play through the Suzuki method and teaches through Suzuki methodology and non-Western music. He has explored the mathematical basis of music with Dr. Dani Novak and other professors, teaching those findings to his students in private lessons and classes. He has taught music classes for the Northern Lights Learning Center and the Community School of Music and Art. Joseph is currently playing soprano violin for the modern violin family consort designed by Bob and Deena Speer, and he also plays bass for the Zydeco Trail Riders and electric fiddle for local favorite Urban Horse Thieves.

Voice

Doreen Kelly Alsen

M.M. in vocal performance, Ithaca College. 20 years teaching experience. Taught Musical Theater at the University of Trier in Germany.

Thom Baker

Active soloist in Ithaca, New York City and nationwide. Long affiliations with several professional ensembles, including Musica Sacra, Voices of Ascension, AmorArtis and the Grammy-nominated a capella ensemble, Pomerium. Seven years prior teaching experience. Also teaches in Cornell's Vocal Coaching Program. Available for parties.

Sharon Costianes

B.M. in Music, Vocal Performance emphasis combined with sociology. Currently pursuing teacher and practitioner certification in the Feldenkrais Method. Current member of the Cayuga Vocal Ensemble. Four years prior teaching experience of both individuals and groups.

Amanda DeMaris

BM in vocal performance from Ithaca College (2002), MM in vocal performance from New England Conservatory (2004), and currently working toward Doctor of Education in Music at Columbia University's Teachers College. Amanda has taught voice, piano and general music to children and adults of many ages and levels, most recently as a graduate assistant in voice performance at Columbia University, and as an adjunct voice faculty member with the Young People's Chorus of NYC. She is currently a Lecturer in Music Theory at Ithaca College where she teaches sight singing.

Elisa Sciscioli

B.M., Vocal Performance and Music Education, Ithaca College. Former member of IC's College Choir, Women's Chorale and Vocal Jazz ensembles. Performances with the Ithaca Opera Company, Syracuse Opera Company and Syracuse Symphony Orchestra. Prior pre-K, elementary and high school teaching experience. Currently singing with local classic R&B band, The Destination.

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