Organ
James Bobb, MM

Percussion
John Hain, DMA
Mark Maynor, MM

Piano
Bonnie Choi, DMA
Donna Cucci SSJ, MM
Gary Fisher, DMA
Don Kot, MM
Alla Kuznetsov, MM
Joshua Massicot, MM
Barbara Noval, MS

Recorder
Julie Oris Heikkila, BS

Saxophone
Don DeWitt, MA
Chisato Eda Marling, DMA

Strings
Ingrid Bock, MM (cello)
David Hult, DMA (violin, viola)
Margaret Leenhouts, DMA (violin)
Boris Zapesochny, MM (violin)

Suzuki Piano
Donna Cucci SSJ, MM
Roberta Honadle, BS

Trumpet
Steven Marx, MM

Vocal Coaching
Don Kot, MM

Voice
Deborah Conquest, MM
Soo Yeon Kim, DMA
Mario Martinez, MM
Elizabeth Phillips, BM
Robert Strauss, DMA

Ben Altman is currently pursuing Doctoral studies at the Eastman School of Music, where he is an assistant to Dr. Nicholas Goluses. He has performed across the United States, with recent perofrmances at Macon State University and with the Baltmore Sinfonietta. He has been active in community service performances with the Creative Access in Baltimore and Music For All in Rochester. In addition to guitar, Mr. Altman plays traditional American and Eastern European music on a variety of plucked stringed instruments.

James E. Bobb is Director of Music at the Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word in Rochester, New York, a post he has held since 1994. He is organist and director of choirs for children, teens, and adults, and directs Second Sundays . . . Plus, the church's music series. At Incarnate Word, he has conducted the St. John Passion and numerous church works of Bach, Buxtehude, Schütz, Gabrieli, Purcell, Telemann and others, and has led the choir on a tour of Sweden.

Mr. Bobb has recently been named music director for the Rochester Bach Festival Chorus. At the harpsichord, he has performed Bach's Goldberg Variations in Manhattan, Rochester, Boston, and Baltimore. He has appeared as organ and harpsichord soloist, conductor, and continuo player with The Publick Musick and Rochester Bach Festival. With the Publick Musick Bobb has appeared in New York, Indiana, Maine, and Germany, and has recorded music of Telemann and Vivaldi. Other recording credits include music of American composers Leo Sowerby and Roy Harris with the Roberts Wesleyan Chorale.

Mr. Bobb is Adjunct Professor of Organ at Nazareth College and Instructor in Sacred Music at the Eastman School of Music (hymn playing and hymn improvisation), both in Rochester, New York. He is a past dean of the Rochester Chapter American Guild of Organists. Bobb enjoys a growing reputation as an inspiring hymn player and leader of hymn festivals.

Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra cellist Ingrid Bock is also the principal cellist of the Rochester Chamber Orchestra and the founder and director of Fortissimo!, a non-profit chamber music organization providing study and performance opportunities for area music students. She loves to teach, and has a class of inspired, and inspiring, private students. She is a founding member of the Cello Divas, a boundary-stretching cello quartet which provides her the opportunity to perform unusual and challenging music and to develop her arranging skills. She received bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and the Performer’s Certificate, from the Eastman School of Music.

Bonnie Choi is one of America's most distinguished and versatile young harpsichordists, who "displays dazzling technique and draws new colors from her instrument" (South China Morning Post), and who is known for her "wonderfully expressive playing" (Audio Technique). Dr. Choi's numerous honors include prizes received at the International Harpsichord Competition in Brugge, Belgium and the National Association of Young Performers Competition. In 1995, she was a Finalist at the Pro Musicis Award Competition. She has concertized widely in North America and Asia. Her performances have been heard on Public Radio in the United States and Hong Kong, and she has recorded for VM Music. Dr. Choi has given lectures and master classes at the National Harpsichord Competition in Kansas, the Hanoi Conservatory of Music in Vietnam, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in China, and the Academy of Performing Arts in Hong Kong. Dr. Choi teaches harpsichord and piano at Nazareth College in Rochester and at Syracuse University. She is the founder and harpsichordist of Air de Cour.

Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where she is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts; Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from SUNY Fredonia. Has taught at SUNY Fredonia, Brevard Community College, Musical Arts Center of Cincinnati, Barry University, and Florida International University in Miami, where she taught both private voice lessons and vocal pedagogy class. Extensive performance credits include opera performances with Teatro Giglio, Hispanic American Lyric Theatre, FIU Opera Theatre, as well as solo recitals and chamber performances throughout New York, Ohio, and Italy. Has worked with a wide range of musical styles and student levels/ages.

Donald DeWitt is a new member of the Community Music Program faculty. He has been on the faculties of the Port Washington (NY) and Palmyra-Macedon school districts, the Blue Lakes Fine Arts Camp (Wisconsin), and is currently a faculty member at Finger Lakes Community College. Don has an active background in conducting, with the Finger Lakes Symphony Orchestra, the Indianapolis Ballet Company, a variety of Area All-State bands, and many Junior and Senior High School Festival bands and orchestras. He has been a very active adjudicator for the New York State School Music Association for over thirty years. As clarinetist and saxophonist, Don has performed with the West Point Band, the Long Island Symphony, the New York City Parks Band, and various Broadway shows. He was awarded degrees from SUNY Potsdam and Columbia University; his teachers have included Robert Willaman, David Weber, Arthur Christman and Jimmy Abato.

Dr. Fisher has been awarded academic honors from the Eastman School of Music, Boston University and SUNY Buffalo. His principal teachers at these schools have included Stephen Manes, Maria Clodes Jaguaribe and David Burge. Further work with the eminent American pianist and pedagogue Leonard Shure, for whom he served as teaching assistant at The New England Conservatory, is of central significance to his pianistic and musical training. While residing in the Boston area for many years, Dr. Fisher was Chair of the Faculty at the South Shore Conservatory; he also served as Dean of the Music Division at the Performing Arts School of Worcester. Between 1991 and 2001, he was a member of the faculty of the Community Education Division of the Eastman School of Music. Dr. Fisher is an active adjudicator, and is currently Chair of the Lecture Forum and Competitions Coordinator for the New York State Music Teachers Association.

Beryl Garver has extensive experience as a collaborative pianist and
vocal coach. Her repertoire includes a vast amount of concert and
recital material, spanning the varying styles over four centuries in
vocal and instrumental literature. She was awarded degrees in piano
performance and orchestral conducting; additionally, she holds a
master's degree in piano accompanying and chamber music from the
Eastman School of Music where she received the Barbara M. H. Koeng
Award. Formerly employed as a pianist, coach, conductor and piano
teacher in Virginia, Ms. Garver now resides in Rochester and is a
vocal coach/accompanist at the Eastman School of Music, as well as
coach/pianist for the Community Music Program at Nazareth College.
She is the pianist for the internally acclaimed bel canto tenor,
Gregory Kunde; together, they have performed recitals on Sirius
Satellite Radio and WXXI-FM. Ms. Garver made her European recital
debut with Mr. Kunde at the 2007 Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro,
Italy. She also serves as Music Director for the Gregory Kunde
Chorale in Penfield, New York.

Flutist, Julie Oris Heikkila, a prominent Flute Teacher / Performer maintains teaching studios at Cornell University at Ithaca, Nazareth College of Rochester and Monroe Community College of Rochester. She did graduate work at the Eastman School of Music where she studied with John Thomas and Richard Sherman as well as Donald MacDonald, Professor Emeritus at The Crane School of Music. She has performed in or attended master classes with such greats as William Bennett, Peter Lloyd, Jean Pierre Rampal, Julius Baker, baroque violinist Reinhardt Goebel and pianist Emanual Ax. Among her performing credits are soloist with the Syracuse Youth Symphony, the U.S. Navy Band, the Genesee Quartet, principal flutist with the Music Educators Wind Band, the Perinton Concert Band and Air de Cour. She was the founding member of the Albion Woodwind Quintet and has performed with various orchestras and chamber ensembles including being chosen to perform in the Eastman School's 25th anniversary tribute recital for Dr. Hasty and also the Donald and Joan Chandler MacDonald Excellence in Flute Performance Memorial Scholarship Concert at the Crane School of Music, Potsdam.

Roberta Honadle has been teaching Suzuki Piano since 1976, and training teachers since 1983. She has taught as a master teacher at several Suzuki Institutes and has given numerous workshops in New York State and Canada. In addition to private teaching, Ms. Honadle offers short- and long-term teacher training courses and individual apprenticeship courses in Suzuki Piano. She has written on various topics related to the motivation of young children. Prior to her current position at Nazareth, Ms. Honadle has taught at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario and in the Niagara Falls, New York public schools. Here in Rochester, she was founder and Chairperson of the Rochester Area Suzuki Teachers Pianists, has directed the Annual Suzuki Piano Festival, was Chair of the Rochester Chapter of the National Guild of Piano Teachers, and was Chair of the Rochester Area Suzuki Piano Teachers Association. She is a member of the New York State Music Teachers Association and of Mu Phi Epsilon. Ms. Honadle's teachers have included Robert Hobstetter, Maria Luisa Faini and Brian Preston; her Suzuki training has been with Haruko Kataoka, Valerie Lloyd-Watts and Carole Bigler. Her students have won prizes in several competitions, including the Baldwin Competition (NYSMTA) and the Junior All-Star Competition.

David Hult, winner of the Viola Virtuoso Prize at the Hudson Valley International String Artist Competition, balances an active career as a guest soloist and recitalist, a chamber and orchestral musician, and teacher. His performances have taken him all over the United States and Europe. Also a violinist, he has served as both Concertmaster and Principal Viola for numerous orchestras and chamber ensembles. He has performed extensively as solo violist for the Juilliard Chamber Players and the New York Chamber Orchestra. As violist with the Hampshire String Quartet and the Tremont String Quartet, two ensembles recognized for their distinguished dedication and excellence to contemporary music, he premiered numerous compositions which have been recorded on the Opus 1, Musical Heritage Society, and Centaur record labels. His teachers have included Ivan Galamian, Millard Taylor, Paul Doktor, and Margaret Pardee.

Mr. Hult is a founding member of Rhapsodie (a trio of flute, viola, and harp) and the Chautauqua Chamber Music Society. He serves on the music faculty at Nazareth College of Rochester where he is Coordinator of the String Department. Additionally, Mr. Hult is Concertmaster of the Rochester Oratorio Society and also is a member of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra.

Associate Professor Soo Yeon Kim was a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council's Audition, San Francisco Opera, and the Bel Canto Opera Competition, Dr. Kim has been a leading coloratura soprano with many opera companies across the United States, Europe, and Asia. During the summer season of 2005, she sang as Pamina in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte in Rome, Italy. She also sang as Adina in Donizetti's L'elisir D'amore with the International Chamber Orchestra in Rome and Florence, Italy. Her recent opera performances include Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto, Lucia in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, Le Rossignol in Stravinsky's Le Rossignol, Despina in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, Cunegonde in Leonard Bernstein's Candide, Queen of the Night in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, and Lucia in Britten's The Rape of Lucrecia with the Illinois Opera Theater, Aspen Opera Theater, New England Opera Theater, Boston Opera, and Harvard University Opera Theater.

Dr. Kim also has been a soprano soloist for many oratorios and orchestras. Her performance in Handel's Messiah with the Annapolis Symphony at the U.S. Naval Academy was telecast on PBS. She gave a successful New York debut recital at Carnegie Hall in 1998. In 2004, she also made an impressive Kennedy Center debut as a soloist with the Korean Symphony Orchestra. Her solo CD, Romantic Songs, with pianist Kevin Class, was released through the Orchard, NYC label. She is a recipient of a prestigious fellowship award from the Birkshire Music Center at Tanglewood and the Aspen Music Festival.

Don Kot is well known for his work as pianist, vocal coach, conductor, and music director. At the Cleveland Institute of Music, he was awarded the Valedictory Prize and the Madame Gwendolyn Koldofsky Award, recognizing excellence in accompanying. He has been the pianist for numerous master classes, including those given by Elly Ameling, Gerard Souzay, Marilyn Horne, Madeleine Milhaud, and Jan DeGaetani. He has had performances broadcast over WXXI and WCLV radio and has been active throughout the Northeast with Geva Theatre, Lyric Opera Cleveland, Cleveland Playhouse, Arundel Barn Playhouse, Blackfriars Theatre, Downstairs Cabaret, and JCC Center Stage. Don was presented recently with the Volunteer of the Year Award by the Rochester Broadway Theatre League where he serves as Program Consultant for the Stars of Tomorrow Program.

Ms. Krogstad has her B.M. from New England Conservatory of Music, and Master of Music from University of Connecticutt. She received the 1995 "Friend of Foreign Language" and 1996 "Culture through the Arts" awards from the New York State Association of Foreign Language Teachers. She directs the Bach Children's Chorus and the companion Mozart Chorus for younger children.

Alla Kuznetsov received her musical training in Minsk, Belarus (in the former Soviet Union), where she graduated from the Conservatory and became a laureate of the Republican Piano Performers Competition. In her native country Alla has performed as soloist, chamber musician and accompanist, and was a member of the faculty of the Minsk Central Music School.  Since emigrating to the United States in 1992, she has been a member of the piano faculty of the Community Education Division of the Eastman School of Music.  She joined the Nazareth College Preparatory Division in the fall of 2001.  Alla is a very active and respected performer here in Rochester, where she has appeared in the Eastman School Summer Concert Series, Eastman at Washington Square, the Christ Clarion Chamber Series, the Salem Concert Series, the Fortissimo concert series, and the largely Ludwig Chamber Music series.  Her students have won prizes in several competitions, both local and national, and have appeared in performance with local orchestras, including the Rochester Philharmonic.

Margaret Leenhouts earned her bachelor’s degree at Yale University and completed a doctorate in violin performance and literature at the Eastman School of Music. Additional musical studies include Mannes College of Music and The Juilliard School. With the RPO since 1994, she has also performed with the New Haven, Grand Rapids and Honolulu Symphony Orchestras. She is also an avid chamber musician and has performed with the Eos and Evergreen String Quartets and the Sedona (Ariz.) Chamber Music Society.

Dr. Chisato Eda Marling received a Bachelor of Music degree from Musashino Academia Musicae, Tokyo, Japan, a Master of Music degree from the University of Minnesota, and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music. Chisato was a soloist with the Musashino Academia Musicae Wind Ensemble and also recorded with them for their CD release. (“Musashino Wind Ensemble”, Sony Records, Inc.) She was the winner of the Concerto Competition at University of Minnesota. Chisato has performed with the Shakujii Wind Ensemble in Tokyo, SleeSinfonietta in Buffalo NY and also has performed with the Amherst Saxophone Quartet. In 2003, she performed solo recitals in Japan including the cities of Tokyo, Kamakura, and Yokosuka. Chisato performed with the Eastman Wind Ensemble during the 50th Anniversary celebration, on its tour to Japan, Taiwan, and Macau. She also performed for the 2006 CD release “Danzante.” (Summit Records) While on the Eastman Wind Ensemble tour, she was interviewed by the prestigious Japanese Saxophone magazine “The SAX” as a one of the few Japanese players in the ensemble. She was featured soloist with the Roberts Wesleyan College wind ensemble, the Nazareth College Concert Band and the Houghton College Symphonic Winds. As an educator, she has served as a judge for the Rochester Philharmonic Young Artist Competition and for the New York State Music Teachers Association Collegiate Young Artist Woodwind Competition. Chisato has taught at Eastman Community Music School (2001-2007), Roberts Wesleyan College (2004-), Houghton College (2005-), and joined Nazareth College since 2003.

Baritone Mario Martinez made his United States operatic debut in 1998 with the Rochester Philharmonic production of Beethoven's Fidelio, in the role of Don Pizarro, and has sung many other operatic roles. During his professional career, Mr. Martinez has appeared with the Charleston Symphony, the Fredonia Chamber Players, the National Symphony and Philharmonic Orchestras of Santo Domingo, the New Eastman Symphony, the Eastman Philharmonia, Opera Rochester, the Orchard Park Chorale and Symphony, Buffalo Opera Theater, Opera de las Americas and Compania Lirica Dominicana. He has sung under Robert Shaw, Raffaele Ponti, David Effron, and Robert Bernhardt, among many others. Mr. Martinez's performances of the character Bohechio in the world premier production of the opera 1492 by Antonio Braga were recorded and released under the label BonGiovanni International in 1992. That same year, he was nominated for the prestigious "Cassandra Awards" as Best Classical Singer. In 1995 he was the winner of the "Young Communicator of the Year 1995 Award" as Best Classical Singer, given by the Catholic Association of Communicators and Journalists in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Besides performing professionally, Mr. Martinez teaches voice and serves as Head of the Voice Area and Coordinator of Vocal Studies at Nazareth College of Rochester. He is also Music Director and Coordinator of the Summer School of the Arts Musical Theater Program at Nazareth College. He has previously taught at SUNY Fredonia and the Eastman School of Music Community Education Division.

Steven Marx is an international competition winner and former Yamaha Young Artist, having performed throughout the United States and many foreign
countries such as England, the Bahamas, Japan, Taiwan, and Macao. In 2002, Marx won second place at the National Trumpet Competition, and also was awarded first prize in the Mock Orchestra Competition at the International Trumpet Guild Convention in Manchester, England. Steven was awarded the National Trumpet Competition Lake Placid Scholarship in 2003, given to the individual most likely to make the biggest impact on the trumpet world.

After completing a Bachelor of Music in 2003 from Grand Valley State University, and a Masters of Music with a Performance Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, Marx began studies toward the Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in Music Education at the Eastman School.

Steven Marx has performed with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rochester Oratorio Society, the Avatar Brass, West Shore Symphony, and had toured and recorded with the Eastman Wind Ensemble. Currently, Marx performs with the Plymouth Brass Quintet, the Rochester Chamber Orchestra, and is co-founder of the brass ensemble in residence at Nazareth College, the Wilmot Brass.

Mark Maynor was born in Avon Lake, OH, in 1961. He moved to Hudson in 1974 and graduated from Hudson High School in 1979. He attended Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, OH, and earned his bachelor's in music performance in 1984. He earned a master's in music performance from the University of Akron in 1986. From 1986 to 1990, he performed and recorded with the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, the Akron Symphony, and the New Music Associates at Cleveland State University. He also freelanced playing drum set in various jazz groups and shows around Northeast Ohio. He has instructed private students of all ages since 1980 and has been teaching at the college level since 1991. In August of 2004, he moved to Rochester (NY), where he teaches at the Rochester Institute of Technology and Nazareth College and offers private lessons at his home.

Pianist and educator Josh Massicot has made important contributions to advancing the understanding of developing musicianship at all levels of instrumental instruction. His research has helped shape standards at universities and community music schools across the country.

As a versatile performer, Mr. Massicot maintains an active concertizing career that has included engagements with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and the Kingsville Symphony Orchestra. He has premiered works for solo piano by award-winning composers and has collaborated with musicians in both classical and jazz idioms. Most recently he paired works by Issac Albeniz and Francis Poulenc with his own arrangements and improvisations on standards by Harold Arlen, Frank Churchill, and Jimmy VanHeusen.

Josh Massicot is a native of New Orleans. He has received both the Bachelor of Music Degree in Piano Performance and the Masters of Music Degree in Music Education from the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester, NY. Mr. Massicot currently serves on the keyboard faculties of the Eastman Community Music School and Nazareth College, where he teaches private lessons, piano classes, score reading, and directs musicianship classes for young pianists.

Christopher Naugle is currently completing a Doctorate of Musical Arts in French horn performance and literature at the Eastman School of Music. He previously received his BM and MM in horn performance from Penn State University. Performing as the principle horn in the Penn State orchestra and wind ensemble, Chris traveled to Spain and Italy. He also performed with the Fort Lee army band for four years and currently plays with the 98th division army reserve band and brass quintet in Rochester. Chris has performed professionally in many orchestras and brass quintets in Richmond, VA, State College, PA, and Rochester, NY. He also enjoys performing solo and chamber works on his double horn, descant horn, and natural horn. With many years of teaching experience, Chris recently joined the Nazareth College collegiate faculty as well as the Community Music Program faculty in 2006.

Barbara Noval, pianist, concert performer, teacher and lecturer, has concertized extensively as recitalist, soloist with orchestra and chamber music performer. She has performed at Lincoln Center, given recitals at colleges and universities throughout the United States and Canada, and appears frequently with her daughter, violinist Tara Noval. She was a founding member of the Noval Trio which featured works for piano and strings by Rochester composers, has toured with Young Audiences, Inc., and has broadcast over radio and television. She is past president of the Rochester Piano Teachers Guild. Her studio has produced many young performers who have won awards and competitions, and who have gone on to professional careers in music. Ms. Noval is also a composer, having written music for the Riverdale Children's Theater, and her musical, Once Upon a State, was performed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. She is a graduate of the Julliard School and the Eastman School of Music.

Elizabeth Phillips' versatile repertoire ranges from early music to contemporary opera and avant garde. In addition to numerous solo recitals, she has sung many operatic roles and has been a featured soloist for performing groups in the western New York area as well as for orchestras throughout the U.S. Her collaborations have included performances with Julianne Baird, Malcolm Bilson, and Bobby McFerrin. Ms. Phillips' versatile style is also evident in her work with the acclaimed a cappella trio, F'loom (www.floom.com), which performs and teaches throughout the U.S. , Canada , and in Europe.
She has been section leader/soloist at the Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word under the direction of James E. Bobb since 1996. (Incarnate Word Music Page) She teaches speech and voice, offers classes and workshops in vocal performance and dramatic presentation, and adjudicates the Proctors Theatre A Cappella Festival in Schenectady , NY , where she also co-curates The Dangerous Music Series.

Ms. Phillips is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music where she was awarded the prestigious Performer's Certificate in Voice.

Tenor Robert Strauss completed the Doctor of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance and Literature at West Virginia University, with his dissertation “The Five Song Cycles for Voice and Piano by Benjamin Britten Written Specifically for Peter Pears: The Effect of Their Relationship.” He also holds degrees from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and State University of New York College at Fredonia.

Dr. Strauss maintains an active performing career, having taken his recent recital collaboration with Benton Hess of the Eastman School of Music, The Recital that Dare Not Speak It's Name to Batavia and Buffalo. This year, he will appear with Mercury Opera Rochester as Mr. Splinters in their production of Copland's The Tender Land in September, will sing a recital in Greensboro, North Carolina called Inner Voices with mezzo-soprano Julia Teitel, and will present another art song recital at Nazareth College with Maestro Hess tentatively called Seasons in Song.

Aside from his duties at Nazareth College, Dr. Strauss also teaches voice at the Eastman Community Music School and at the SUNY Fredonia School of Music, having previously served on voice faculties of colleges in North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. He is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and the College Music Society, as well as of Pi Kappa Lambda, the national music honor fraternity.

As a Rochester NY-based musician. With undergraduate degrees in Music Ed and Trombone Performance from Western Michigan University (2006), and a Master's Degree from the Eastman School of Music (2008), Chris performs, writes, and teaches throughout the Western New York region. Chris can be heard playing principal trombone on the Eastman Wind Ensemble's 2009 CD release with the Canadian Brass, entitled "Manhattan Music." In addition, he has performed with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, The Syracuse Chorale Orchestra, Mercury Opera Theater Rochester, the Rochester Broadway Theater League, TWENTY21, and with his own groups the Emerald Brass Quintet and the PoBoys Brass Band.

As an educator, Chris is on the faculty of Nazareth College in Rochester, NY, and maintains a private studio. He has presented lectures for Eastman's "Gibbs Street Connection," and regularly coaches low brass sections for summer marching band camps.

Chris' arrangements have been performed by the Syracuse Symphony, the Eastman and WMU Trombone Choirs, Eastman New Jazz Ensemble, Emerald Brass Quintet, WMU Jazz Orchestra, WMU Gold Company, and various student chamber groups at ESM. 2008 saw Chris' first commission as a composer: he completed a set of two tangos for middle school band, and a setting of "Praise My Soul, the King of Heaven" for high school orchestra.

Chris is also the Afternoon Drivetime Host for WXXI Classical 91.5 in Rochester. Classical 91.5 is a 24-hour Classical Music station. You can catch Chris' broadcasts every weekday from 2PM-7PM at www.wxxi.org.

Rachel Whitcomb earned her Ed. D. in Music Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she was a recipient of the Marilyn Pflederer Zimmerman Fellowship in Doctoral Studies in Music Education. She has over ten years of experience teaching preschool and elementary general music in New Jersey, Tennessee, and Illinois. Her professional interests have included improvisation in the elementary general music classroom, rubrics as evaluative tools in music instruction, curricular integration, and early childhood music and movement. She recently completed a survey study to determine the nature and extent of improvisational activities occurring in elementary general music classrooms in the state of New York. Dr. Whitcomb's work has been published in Music Educators Journal, Teaching Music, and numerous state music education journals. She has given presentations at the local, state, regional, and national levels, including the 2006 MENC National Biennial In-Service Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. At Nazareth College, Dr. Whitcomb teaches undergraduate and graduate music education courses and supervises student teachers.

Boris Zapesochny has been a violinist with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra since 1979.  He is a graduate of the Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) Conservatory, and while still residing in Russia became an active orchestral performer and teacher of violin.  In the United States Boris has regularly performed as a soloist and chamber musician in numerous recitals, including the Eastman School Summer Concert Series, the Largely Ludwig Chamber Music series, the Christ Clarion Chamber Music series, the Salem Concert series, Eastman at Washington Square and the Fortissimo Chamber Music series.  He has twice toured France.  Boris was a faculty member of the Eastman School's Community Education Division for twenty years, and in the Fall of 2001 joined the Nazareth College Preparatory Division.  His students have been awarded recognition and prizes in area competitions and festivals.  Boris is also an active arranger of music scores for use with chamber ensembles.