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, MM

Strings
David Hult, DMA (violin, viola)
James Kirkwood, MM (cello)
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.

 

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.

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.

Chisato Eda received a Bachelor of Music from Musashino Academia Musicae, Tokyo, Japan and a Master of Music from the University of Minnesota and is currently a Doctor of Musical Arts in Performance and Literature candidate at the Eastman School of Music. Chisato was a soloist with the Musashino Academia Musicae Wind Ensemble and was the winner of the Concerto Competition at University of Minnesota. She has performed with the Shakujii Wind Ensemble in Tokyo, Slee Sinfonietta in Buffalo NY, and also has performed with the Amherst Saxophone Quartet in the summer of 2005. Chisato teaches at Eastman Community Music School (2001- ), at Nazareth College (2003- ) and at Roberts Wesleyan College and its Community Music School (2004).

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.

Allison Kreiling Franco is Instructor of Oboe at Nazareth College and Houghton College. She is currently Second Oboe in the Erie Philharmonic, and recently completed three seasons as Assistant Principal Oboe with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. Allison has performed with the New World Symphony, the Florida Philharmonic, the Buffalo Philharmonic and appeared as a soloist with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in April of 2000. Allison received her B.M. at Ithaca College and her M.M. from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Richard Killmer.

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 staff pianist at Nazareth College of Rochester and the Eastman School of Music. She is also a member of the Seneca Trio (clarinet, cello, piano), and she is the accompanist for the Gregory Kunde Chorale.

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.

Cellist James Kirkwood graduated from New England Conservatory and Boston University, where he was a student of Aldo Parisot and George Neikrug. Mr. Kirkwood is a founding member of the Tremont String Quartet. He has been a member of the cello faculty at Nazareth College since 1993. He is also a member of the Music faculty at SUNY Geneseo. Recordings on which he has participated include Centaur; CRI; Opus One; Mark; and Capstone labels.

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.

Phillip Marshall has been a member of the faculty with the Nazareth College Music Department since 2001. He has a wide variety of performance experience. He is a founding member of Lalaland, a member of the Annie Wells Group, a founding member of the improvisational rock band The Hotheads, a member of the free jazz/experimental music group Coffee. His performances have taken him on tours of England, Europe and Scandinavia. His discography includes five CDs. Mr. Marshall is a member of the National Music Honor Society and the National French Honor Society, and he has been awarded several academic scholarships. Mr. Marshall also has had experience working with aphasia and geriatric patients, along with developing a program of blues composition and performance for high school students.

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.

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.

 

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.

Martha Sholl received both her Bachelors and Masters degrees in bassoon performance from the Eastman School of Music. She is a member of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and the Syracuse Symphony, and is on the faculty of SUNY Geneseo, Eastman School of Music (CED), and the Hochstein Music School.

Baritone Derrick Smith has performed with many orchestras in the United States, including the Chicago Sinfonietta, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and Geneseo Chamber Orchestra, and has appeared in major concert halls in Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Brazil, Italy and England. He has sung with numerous opera companies, including New York City Opera, The New York Festival Singers, and Opera Theater of Rochester.

Paul Smoker, originally from Davenport, Iowa, is a professional musician based in New York City. His formal education culminated with a DMA from the Univ. of Iowa. His work appears on over forty recordings, both as leader and sideman. Dr. Smoker has taught jazz studies, trumpet, and 20th-century music at Coe College and the universities of Northern Iowa, Iowa, and Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

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.