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Lora Al-AhmadPiano
Lora Al-Ahmad
Lora Al-Ahmad is a pianist and a composer from Sofia, Bulgaria.
She graduated from Mannes College with honors and holds a BM degree in Piano Performance, a Double Major Master’s degree in Piano Performance and Composition, and a Professional Studies Diploma degree in Composition.
She studied piano with Pavlina Dokovska and Vladimir Valjarevic and composition with Lowell Liebermann.
In May 2019, the last concert of the series “Musical Treasures from Bulgaria”, was dedicated to Lora as a composer and pianist. The performance took place at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall.
In May 2020, her “Two Skazkas”, published by Theodore Presser Company, won the First Prize in the Solo Flute category of the 2020 Newly Published Music Competition by the National Flute Association in the United States.
Festival appearances include The Conservatoire Américain de Fontainebleau in France, Festetics Palace, Keszthely Zala in Hungary, The Bowdoin International Music Festival in Maine, USA, and The Mannes Sounds Festival in New York, USA.
As a committed soloist and chamber musician, Ms. Al-Ahmad has performed in prestigious venues in New York such as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie, The Bohemian National Hall at the Czech Center, Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, The DiMenna Center, The German House at the United Nations Plaza and others.
Her music has been performed by internationally distinguished musicians such as Stefan Ragnar Hoskuldsson, the principal flute player of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Billy Hunter, the principal trumpet player of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Wolfram Koessel, the cellist of the American String Quartet and many others.
Lora is an active advocate for new music, often exclusively focusing on works by women composers.
In November 2021, Lora was the Guest Composer and Lecturer at SIUE (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville), where the premiere of her Piano Trio “Irminden” took place. The commissioned work will be featured in a new CD release (2022), titled “A Century of Bulgarian Piano Trios”, with performance by Miroslav Hristov,violin, Marta Simitdchieva, cello, and Ilia Radoslavov, piano.
Ms. Al-Ahmad is based in New York City, actively performing, composing and teaching piano.
For more information, please visit www.loraal-ahmad.com -
Phyllis ClarkEarly Childhood Music, Voice
Phyllis Clark
Phyllis Clark lives in West Camp, NY with her husband Michael S. Brown and Corbie 2 Sox the Havanese (not in that order). She began making music and harmony with her family in Really Upstate, NY (northern Lake Ontario) before going to Boston University and to The Hague, the Netherlands to study opera and singing.
After returning to New York City to sing Bach, symphony choruses, and opera, Phyllis joined the Western Wind Vocal Ensemble and travelled the world performing their expansive repertoire. She further honed her craft as an a capella ensemble singer, arranger, teacher, song seeker and storyteller.
In 2001 Phyllis joined the faculty of the Saint David’s School in New York City to build the choral, theater, and liturgical music programs for K-8; incorporating methods from Kodaly, Dalcroze, and Starer with traditional music in her experiential curriculum.
Phyllis holds degrees in voice performance from the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and Boston University and she has studied the Kodaly method at NYU and Dalcroze at the Kaufman Center. A multi-instrumentalist, Phyllis has also taught piano and recorders, and continues her studies on viola and bagpipes.
Phyllis is excited to be a part of the faculty of the Bard Preparatory Division and bring her joy of movement and singing to every class!
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Gregory DingerGuitar
Gregory Dinger
Greg is the child of musical parents (his mom was a pianist and his father a cellist with the New York Philharmonic). In addition to Dalcroze/Eurythmy training as a child he studied the piano until his early teens (with Katerina Rado, Edgar Roberts and Jacqueline Marcault), and credits those early experiences for much of his strong musicianship. Greg began to play guitar as a youngster, like so many others of his generation, inspired by The Beatles and others rock performers (though he began with a Joan Baez folk music songbook). He formed his first band in 7th grade and played in it throughout much of high school.
In 9th grade Greg became interested in the classical guitar, and began his study of it with the area’s leading teacher, Luis Garcia-Renart (also a prize-winning cellist & conductor). Greg studied with Garcia-Renart for 4 years and then went to Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music, from which he received his Bachelors of Music degree with honors in 1980. At NEC he studied with Robert Paul Sullivan and Frank Wallace, formed the Parnassus Guitar Duo, and gave the school’s first all-solo graduating guitar recital. At the start of his career in the 1980s Greg played in masterclasses of several of the world’s leading classical guitarists: Manuel Barrueco, Eliot Fisk, Frederic Hand, Sharon Isbin and Christopher Parkening.
After returning to Woodstock, N.Y., where he grew up, Greg began teaching the guitar, and soon was teaching various guitar styles several days a week at Allegro Music in Kingston. In the 1980s he also became the classical guitar instructor at SUNY New Paltz and Bard College and began teaching guitar & other music subjects (music theory & history) at Ulster County Community College in Stone Ridge (now called SUNY Ulster). In the 1990s he began teaching the Classical Guitar Seminar at Bard and Greg is still the classical guitar instructor for their Music Dept. Greg also plays each year in the Faculty Showcase concerts and often presents recitals at these schools. At present Greg teaches private lessons primarily at his home music studio in Woodstock, N.Y., and is also affiliated with Barcone’s Music, in Kingston, NY.
Greg has been involved with a large variety of music groups throughout his career, from chamber music ensembles to rock bands to orchestras. In the 1980s he played in a heavy-metal group called “Uncle Sam” as well as in the blues & originals “Ben Prevo Band.” In the 1990s he played Beatles & Eagles songs in “The Beagles” and a variety of guitars in a folk-pop-oldies group called “TimePieces.”
Lately Greg has played guitar & sung in “Decoy” (2015), the “West Saugerties Boys” (2016-18), and currently with “Fishbowl” and “Rare Bird.”
In the course of his performing career Greg has played electric guitar, steel-string & nylon-string guitars, banjo and mandolin in a number of musical theater productions including “The Three-Penny Opera,” “Tommy,” “Little Shop of Horrors,” “Footloose,” “The Sound of Music,” “The Marvelous Wonderettes,” “Evita,” “8-Track: The Sounds of the 70s,” and “Honky Tonk Laundry.”
As a classical guitarist Greg has been a member of several chamber music ensembles, including the Arabesque Trio (flute, guitar & bassoon; formerly: Trio Con Brio), the Catskill Mountain Renaissance Consort (recorders, viola da gamba, guitar & hand percussion), Cantilena (flute & guitar; formerly: Interlude), and the SAGAD Trio (viola, guitar & cello). Greg’s talents as an arranger — taking music originally intended for one instrument or ensemble and creatively recasting it in a new setting — have produced most of the repertoire of these groups. Years ago he published through Music Arts Graphics; now his GDG Editions — music for solo guitar & guitar in ensemble — are available through this website.
With the Arabesque Trio he has recorded a CD of music by Debussy, Bach, Faure, Mozart, Granados, Handel, Joplin, Ligeti, de Falla, Bartok & Lennon/McCartney titled “Reverie.” Available from his website.
Many people in the Hudson Valley fondly remember his 15+ years providing live classical guitar music on weekends at Joshua’s Cafe in Woodstock. Greg has played over the years with many of the best instrumentalists and singers in the Hudson Valley: violinists Carole Cowan and Akiko Kamigawara, cellists Susan Seligman, Ling Kwan & Jean Vilkelis, violist Anastasia Solberg, flutists Marcia Gates, Pauline Mancuso, Lynn Peck, Sarah Plant, Melissa Sweet and Marisa Trees, oboist Joel Evans, clarinetists Tony Penz and Kay Sutka, classical guitarists Terry Champlin & Helen Avakian, David Temple and Richard Udell, fiddle & guitar duo Jay Ungar & Molly Mason,
and singers Harvey Boyer, Kimberly Kahan, Cecelia Keehn, Jonell Mosser, Anita Shamansky, and Danielle Woerner, among others. In the 1990s Greg was a member of the early music acapella group Woodstock Renaissance, and he has sung (bass) with Ars Choralis since the 1990s; he is currently that organization’s president too. He frequently accompanies them in music that involves various types of guitars, and has arranged a number of songs for them: several Beatles songs, The Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations,” Springsteen’s “American Land,” and an ambitious setting of “Where Have All The Flowers Gone” (premiered in 2014). The chorus has gone on tour to Europe several times in the 21st century, always with Greg & his guitar! Greg also did the instrumental music arrangements for Ars Choralis’ “Music in Desperate Times” program which they performed in NYC’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine as well as their 2009 tour to Germany. Greg’s also been the curator of Ars Choralis’ “Artist Within” series of concerts at the Sheeley House in High Falls, NY, including Valentine’s Day-themed shows, a folk “jamboree,” the “Just For The Fun Of It!” show, several classical recitals, a Kung Fu martial arts (Greg’s hobby for 35+ years) demonstration, and 2017’s “A Night In Argentina."
Greg also programmed & hosted WDST radio’s innovative classical music show “Sunrise Concert” for over 25 years starting in the mid-1980s (and winning Hudson Valley Magazine’s Best Classical Music show award for 1996); and for a number of years he reviewed classical CD releases for the Kingston Daily Freeman’s “Preview” magazine.
More recently Greg helped form the Mid-Hudson Classical Guitar Society, presenting their first concert at the Morton Library in Rhinecliff in 2010, and closing their 8th season in May 2017.
Greg directs & arranges music for SUNY Ulster’s Guitar & Mixed Instrument Ensembles, producing new arrangements of music ranging from Renaissance pavanes to Haydn piano sonatas, solo guitar pieces expanded, and a variety of famous songs including:
“Tico Tico,” “Miserlou,” “Fever,” “Someone To Watch Over Me,” “Shenandoah,” “Down On The Corner,” “Billie Jean,” “Everybody Wants To Rule The World,” “Fragile” & several Beatles medleys, and an original minimalist piece: “Blip, Blop, Plink, Plunk, Ting & Bong.” Greg became involved with the Woodstock Chamber Orchestra soon after graduating from NEC and returning to Woodstock (when that orchestra was forming); he played the popular Vivaldi Concerto in D major with them in 1980. Since then he has performed works for guitar & orchestra with them several times: Herbert Haufrecht’s “Divertimento” in 1985, Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Guitar Concerto in 1993,
the “Fantasia para un Gentilhombre” by Joaquin Rodrigo in 1999, and his famed “Concierto de Aranjuez” in 2004 and again in January of 2018. In the fall of 2018 the orchestra became the Woodstock Symphony Orchestra. Greg has served as president of the WCO since 1995, seeing the orchestra through several Conductor Searches, and he’s organized & played in numerous fundraising concerts for the WCO over the years.
Greg also played with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic in their “New Wave” concerts in the 1990s, backing Sterling Morrison of The Velvet Underground, and providing support for singer Natalie Merchant. One of his toughest musical challenges was negotiating the guitar part for Frank Zappa’s “Alien Orifice” with the HVP when no other guitarist around could do it! Greg also played solo guitar as the “opening act” for that concert. He’s also opened for Leon Redbone and “3” (Emerson, Palmer & Berry) at The Chance in Poughkeepsie. Greg has also played with other top Hudson Valley music organizations including Cappella Festival, the Mendelssohn Club, the Gilbert & Sullivan Musical Theater Company, the Pone Ensemble and the Hudson Valley Recital Project. -
Petra ElekPercussion
Petra Elek
Petra Elek received her Bachelor of Music from the Bard Conservatory in 2016 and her Master of Music degree at California State University, Long Beach in May 2018. She has studied with former principal percussionist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Edward (Ted) Atkatz, members of So Percussion, and Géza Bánky at Secondary School of Arts in Pécs, Hungary. She has won first place in College Solo Division and College Ensembles division, as part of the University Percussion Group at Long Beach, at the CA Percussive Arts Society Solo and Ensemble Competition in 2017. She completed the Advanced Performance Studies Program as a Percussion Teaching Fellow at Bard and now she has started her first year in The Orchestra Now. -
Sean GallagherJazz Piano, Musicianship
Sean Gallagher
Sean Gallagher is a pianist and multi-instrumentalist with a broad musical range. An industrious musician, Sean performs regularly with his jazz quartet Sean G and the Downbeat and is the founding organist of the soul jazz ensemble The Forefathers.
Sean is an energetic teacher and band leader who also teaches music theory and jazz harmony for all instruments. He has instructed kids and adults of all ages for over 15 years and currently works as a teacher at the Community Music Space in Red Hook NY.
Sean plays and teaches Piano, Accordion, Trombone, Trumpet, and even Bansuri Flute! Sean holds a BA in Jazz Performance and Composition from SUNY New Paltz. -
Shawn JaegerDepartment Chair - Composition & Musicianship
Shawn Jaeger
Described as “mournful” (New York Times), “luminous” (Washington Post), and having “a sound world of its own” (Pioneer Press), the music of composer Shawn Jaeger (b. 1985, Louisville, Kentucky) often engages Appalachian folksong, field recording, and creative placemaking. He has worked with leading performers, including Dawn Upshaw and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, JACK Quartet, Talea Ensemble, Dal Niente, Longleash, Contemporaneous, Alexi Kenney, Ryan Muncy, and Vicky Chow. His music has been featured at venues including Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall and Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, the Morgan Library, (Le) Poisson Rouge, Roulette, Jordan Hall, and the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, and on such festivals as Tanglewood, MATA, FERUS, and Resonant Bodies. He has received commissions from Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Bard College Conservatory of Music, the American Composers Forum/Jerome Fund for New Music (JFund), Roulette/Jerome Foundation, the BMI Foundation/Concert Artists Guild (Carlos Surinach Commission), and Chamber Music America. His awards include the Claire Rosen and Samuel Edes Foundation Prize for Emerging Artists, Northwestern University’s M. William Karlins and William T. Faricy Awards, the ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Award, and two BMI Student Composer Awards. His opera, Payne Hollow, received coverage in Modern Farmer and a mention in Gene Logsdon’s Letters to a Young Farmer.
Jaeger holds a DMA from Northwestern University, and a BM from the University of Michigan. He has taught composition at Tufts University, Princeton University (as a 2016-18 Princeton Arts Fellow), and Brown University. He lives in Brooklyn. -
David JiPiano
David Ji
David Ji is a widely recognized pianist, who combines insightful understanding, fearless imagination, and sensitivity in mature performances. He made his concerto debut with the Prime Philharmonic Orchestra, performing Beethoven’s Emperor concerto. As a versatile musician, he has performed in numerous countries and prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, National Opera Center, DiMenna Center, Merkin Hall, Seoul Arts Center, and Kumho Arts Hall in Korea. He is a winner of the Korean National Symphony Orchestra Competition and the Arthur Balsam Duo Competition in New York.
Dr. Ji has collaborated with highly renowned soloists and members of esteemed orchestras such as the Chicago, Metropolitan, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Vienna Philharmonic. He has worked with internationally acclaimed musicians such as Augustine Hadelich, Ani Kavafian, Tai Murray, Sylvia Rosenberg, David Shifrin, Pinkas Zukerman, as well as members of the Emerson and Brentano String Quartets. Mr. Ji participated in masterclasses conducted by Anton Kuerti, Robert McDonald, Julian Martin, Kum-Sing Lee, and his masterclass accompaniment credits include Hilary Hahn, Leonidas Kavakos, and Jans Jensen, among others. Additionally, he has participated in prestigious summer festivals, including the Gijon International Piano Festival, Orford Music Festival, and Arizona State University as a guest lecturer. He has also served as a collaborative piano fellow at the Yale School of Music and a faculty at the Heifetz International Institute of Music.
Beyond performing, Mr. Ji serves as the artistic director of Muse Avenue, a collective group of musicians aiming to share music and support communities through concerts. The musicians of Muse Avenue hail from major US orchestras and prominent opera theaters. Born in South Korea, David Ji began playing the piano at the age of 6; moved to Canada to study at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of Marc Durand and Andre Laplante. As a former recipient of the Lado Scholarship Foundation in New York, he earned both his Masters and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the Manhattan School of Music.
www.davidjipianist.com -
Teresa JonesViolin - String Department Chair
Teresa Jones
Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, Teresa Jones graduated from the Glier Conservatory of Music with a Bachelor’s Degree in Performance, and received her Master’s Degree in Performance, Chamber Music, and Teaching at the Tchaikovsky National Music Academy. The former assistant to the director of the string department at the Glier Conservatory, Teresa held a full time position at the Radio and TV Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. She has performed as a soloist and concertmaster with numerous orchestras of Ukraine, is a major prize winner of the 1995 International Music Competition in Toronto, and, in 1996, was invited to teach at the Early Ear Music School in New York City. After moving to the U.S., she became a faculty member of the Dalcroze School of Music at the Kaufman Music Center. Recently Teresa has performed with the Bronx Symphony Orchestra, the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony Orchestra, served as a jury member of the International Music and Art Competition for Youth, and maintained a private teaching studio in New York City. -
Sachiko KatoPiano
Sachiko Kato
Sachiko Kato is a Japanese-born, Los Angeles-raised, and Juilliard-trained pianist. Ms. Kato has performed extensively as a recitalist, soloist, and chamber musician throughout North and South America and Japan since her debut recital at Carnegie Weill Hall in 1994.
Her pianism has been feature-broadcasted by WNYC, “New Sounds” program, WQXR, KMZT, and SKCR FM, and as received critical acclaim: : “the velvet smoothness and silken beauty… an extremely imaginative player… she plays with such a sense of effortlessness and ease” (Fanfare Jan.-Feb. 2013); “a lovely, delicate touch… interpretive clarity… impressively crisp fingerwork and consistent energy.” (New York Concert Review).
Featured in the Juilliard centenary publication, “Dance Drama Music: 100 Years of the Juilliard School,” as one of the 100 outstanding alumni, Ms. Kato is known for her beautiful sonorous sound and a wide-ranging repertoire.
In addition, she has been active in the new music scene as the founder and artistic director of Weaving Japanese Sounds contemporary music concert project founded in 2004 to promote cultural exchanges through music. Ms. Kato has recorded the Goldberg Variations on the Centaur Records label in 2012. Jerry Dubins of Fanfare claims: “Sachiko Kato’s performance is truly special” and “… everyone who embraces Bach’s Goldberg Variations on piano, this deserves to be heard and is urgently recommended.” In 2019, she released a CD of music by Debussy and Ravel, and also published a book, "The Sachiko Piano Method: How to Find the Music Within You".
She has recently been chosen to be a part of New York’s premier classical music radio station WQXR’s Chopin Marathon event and her live performance was broadcasted live globally through streamlining.
Ms. Kato currently resides in NYC.
For more information, please visit www.sachikokato.com. -
Sean KatsuyamaCello
Sean Katsuyama
Sean Katsuyama is a graduate of the Juilliard School where he earned undergraduate and graduate degrees, studying with Channing Robbins and Harvey Shapiro. He has toured Asia and Europe as a member of the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Japan with the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra, and North America with Star Wars in Concert. Currently residing in New York City, he has performed solo and chamber music in many of its important halls, and had the honor to play for workers at the World Trade Center site following the events of September 11th. Aside from performing, Mr. Katsuyama teaches music appreciation courses, and teaches cello privately. His hobbies include golf, photography, and the Chinese, Japanese, and Western versions of chess. -
Janara KhassenovaPiano
Janara Khassenova
Originally from Kazakhstan, pianist Janara Khassenova is a graduate of the Moscow State Conservatory where she completed undergraduate and postgraduate studies. While in United States, she completed an Artist Diploma Program in Chamber Music from the Longy School of Music. She has performed as a soloist and with chamber ensembles and orchestras in countries of the former Soviet Union, Italy, Greece as well as United States. Janara collaborates frequently with various musicians in a variety of projects and regularly performs in a piano 4-hand duo with pianist Ellina Blinder. In addition to the Bard Preparatory Division, Janara currently teaches piano at her studio in New York City, where she resides. -
Hsiao-Fang LinTrombone
Hsiao-Fang Lin
Hsiao-Fang Lin, trombone, was born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan. She completed her double degrees at Bard College: a bachelor of music degree in trombone performance, studied with John Rojak, Demian Austin, Weston Sprott, and Denson Paul Pollard, and a bachelor of arts degree in computer science.
In addition to working as an audio video engineer for Bard SummerScape for the past few years. Hsiao-Fang performed with America Symphony Orchestra for Le Roi Malgré Lui (The King in Spite of Himself) in The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts in 2012. She has also participated in numerous music festivals including the Summer Trombone Workshop and the Asian Trombone Seminar, studied with Dietmar Küblböck, Haim Avitsur, David Taylor, James Olin, Ko-ichiro Yamamoto.
Hsiao-Fang is currently working as the Director of Music Programming at the US-China Music Institute and the orchestra manager at Bard Conservatory of Music. -
Maya LorenzenViolin & Viola
Maya Lorenzen
A member of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra (WEDO) since 2016, Israeli/German violinist Maya Lorenzen has performed around the world as a soloist and ensemble player. She is a prizewinner of the 2016 Karl-Adler Competition (Germany) and 2013 Mehta Chamber Music Competition (Israel). Since 2004, she has received annual awards and scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation.
With WEDO, Maya has performed under the baton of Daniel Barenboim in venues such as the Royal Albert Hall during the BBC Proms, Lucerne Festival, Salzburg Festival, Philharmonie de Paris, Pierre Boulez Hall, Waldbühne Berlin, Carnegie Hall, John F. Kennedy Center, Chicago Symphony Center, and Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Maya has been an invited soloist with the Israeli Symphony Orchestra, NK Chamber Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony, and the Israeli Conservatory Orchestra. She has also served as concertmaster with various orchestras including the Young Israeli Philharmonic.
Maya received her undergraduate degree in music performance from Tel Aviv University and continued her master’s studies at HfMT Hamburg. She has pursued studies with Haim Taub, Hagai Shaham, Tanja Becker- Bender, Philip Setzer, Jennifer Frautschi and Arnaud Sussmann, and has received coachings from members of the Emerson String Quartet, Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Berliner Philharmonic. Now a doctoral student of musical arts at Stony Brook University as a student of Philip Setzer, Maya performs with various chamber and orchestral groups both in the US and Europe.
A former teaching assistant at Stony Brook University, she is dedicated to teaching her growing violin studio in New York City. Maya is a founding member of Ensemble Volans, which commissioned and performed works by various composers from HfMT Hamburg and HM Freiburg.
Maya’s festival experience includes Musica Mundi (Belgium, 2005), IMAYO (USA, 2006), JMC Young-Excellence program (Jerusalem, 2005-2008), Keshet Elion (Israel, 2006-2013), ISA (Vienna, 2011-2012) and IMSS (Hamburg, 2012-2015) and ClasClas (Vilagarcia, Spain, 2018). -
Katherine Rossiter MancusVoice - Department Chair
Katherine Rossiter Mancus
Originally from Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, soprano Katherine Rossiter Mancus, is a performer with diverse experience spanning from opera to musical theatre and oratorio to art song. In recent seasons she has been heard as the soprano soloist in Bach’s Coffee Cantata with the Broad Street Orchestra, the Grammy-award winning Albany Symphony Orchestra in Bach’s Jesu, der du meine Seele, in Handel’s Messiah with Classics on Hudson, in Requiem for Anna Poitkovskaya at Bard’s Fisher Center, and in recital with Concerts at Camphill Ghent and Saugerties Pro Musica.
Her operatic roles include Morgana in Alcina and Le Feu/Le Rossignol in L’enfant et les sortilèges with CCM Opera d’arte, Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance with the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, Drusilla in L’incoronazione di Poppea with the New York Lyric Opera Theatre, and Die Zweite Dame/Erste Knabe in Die Zauberflöte with the Bard Vocal Arts Program.
Katherine has been a Young Artist with Songfest, Opera on the Avalon, and the Berlin Opera Academy. She is also an alumna of the Academie Nationale d’été de Nice in France and the Accademia Vocale di Lorenzo Malfatti in Lucca, Italy. She holds degrees from the Graduate Vocal Arts Program at Bard College Conservatory of Music, as well as the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music.
She currently lives in Tivoli, New York and is the director of admission for the Bard College Conservatory of Music. -
Patricio MoralesGuitar
Patricio Morales
Patricio Morales, Chilean born and Swiss national, is an Emmy award-winning composer and guitarist. His music reflects the many cultures in which he has been immersed, combining elements of jazz, folk, and classical music, distilling the best features of each, and always evoking the spirit of his native Chile.
He received his classical guitar training from SUNY Purchase, Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, and jazz studies at Seattle's Cornish Institute. In the years that followed his formal music training in the United States, he studied under and toured with American guitarist/composer Ralph Towner for three years. Patricio considers this experience to have been of the utmost importance, positively impacting his understanding of composition and forming his musicianship.
Patricio lived and worked in Switzerland and Italy for over twenty-five years. While in Europe, he performed as a guitarist, published his second album, "Doble Sol," and composed music for film and television. While working from Switzerland, Patricio earned an Emmy award in 2013 for outstanding composition for Daytime Drama Series in the US.
Over the years, Patricio has explored and developed different genres of playing and music-making. He has taught guitar to children and adults of diverse ages and levels. He has also taught improvisation, composition, and songwriting. Patricio holds an advanced diploma in Music Therapy Studies from the Helvetic Music Institute in Switzerland, and advocates using music as a therapeutic measure for improving the lives of every individual.
Since relocating to the States in 2015, he has served on the adjunct music faculty at Marist College, lecturing in Jazz History, Music for Film, and World Music.
Patricio resides with his wife in Red Hook, NY. He is currently working on completing an album of his original music, collaborating with a group of talented and recognized musicians living in New York.
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Jisoo OkCello
Jisoo Ok
As a Latin Grammy nominee, Jisoo Ok enjoys a multi-faceted and vibrant musical career as a cellist, festival director, arranger, orchestrator, recording artist and educator of classical and tango music.
Jisoo is deeply committed to exploring connections with musicians from other backgrounds and disciplines. This deep commitment can be seen in her collaborations with distinguished artists, such as latin jazz clarinetist Paquito D'Rivera, tango pianist Pablo Ziegler, bandoneonist Hector Del Curto, jazz violinist Regina Carter and bassist Ron Carter.
She has performed at prestigious venues and festivals, such as Carnegie Hall, Aspen Music Festival, La Jolla Music Society's SummerFest, the Chautauqua Institute, Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, Blue Note, and National Concert Hall in Taiwan. As a soloist, she has performed with Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and Lancaster Symphony Orchestra.
Jisoo's arrangements, orchestrations and transcriptions have been performed by top orchestras, such as Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, Billings Symphony Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival Chamber Orchestra, Hector Del Curto Tango Orchestra and Stowe Tango Music Festival Orchestra.
Her dedication as a teacher can be seen in the success of her cello students, who have won numerous competitions and were accepted to New England Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music, Indiana University, The Juilliard School Pre-College, All-National Honors Orchestra and All-New York State Orchestra. She has recently published Hello Cello Positions!, a series of cello method books for young cellists to learn and understand the positions on the cello.
Jisoo was born in Seoul, Korea and raised in New Zealand. She received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees from The Juilliard School as a recipient of the Irene Diamond Graduate Fellowship and the Heward Memorial Scholarship, studying with Bonnie Hampton and Fred Sherry and she studied chamber music with Itzhak Perlman and Robert Mann. She has participated in numerous Master Classes with Janos Starker, Bernard Greenhouse, Paul Katz, Laurence Lesser and Anner Bylsma.
She is the co-founder and executive director of the Stowe Tango Music Festival, the premier tango music festival in the United States noted both for its unique series of performances and its high level of tango music training. -
Anneke Schaul-YoderCello
Anneke Schaul-Yoder
Anneke Schaul-Yoder studied with Julia Lichten and Marcy Rosen at Yale, Purchase Conservatory, and Mannes College of Music. She performs in both period and modern styles at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, BAM, the 92StY, and other venues in New York and beyond.
With Eudemonia, Anneke presents eclectic chamber music for piano, flute, and cello. She is solo continuo cellist and artistic director for SIREN Baroque, the acclaimed all-female early music ensemble. She is also a member of the Piano Music & Song Trio, a trumpet/cello/piano trio that improvises over art songs; Skid Rococo, a group with soprano and lute that performs derelict and touching songs of the 18th century; and the Queens Consort, the borough of Queens’s first early music ensemble. She is principal cellist with the Northern Dutchess Symphony, and also performs with the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Morningside Opera Company, BalletNext, La Fiocco, and Argento, among others.
In addition to the Bard Preparatory Division, Anneke is on faculty at the Hudson River School of Music and the Bruderhof Schools. She has recordings on the System Dialing, Island, Naxos, Bridge, and 3rd Generation labels; she has recorded with the Lumineers, Sway Machinery, Jade Bird, Shawn Mendes, and members of Antibalas and Arcade Fire. She plays on a French cello from 1713 by Jacques Boquay. -
Victoria SchwartzmanPiano
Victoria Schwartzman
Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Victoria Schwartzman (formerly Mazin) performs regularly as a soloist and chamber musician. Victoria has appeared at the Music Mountain Festival with the St. Petersburg String Quartet, in the New York Philharmonic Ensembles series at Merkin Hall, at Summit Music Festival with Dmitri Berlinsky, at Bargemusic, in the Gessner-Schocken concert series in Cambridge, WMP Concert Hall, and the Nicolas Roerich Museum concert series in New York City. As a member of the Yanvar Trio, she was a prizewinner in the Val-Tidone Chamber Music Competition and a finalist in the Zinotti International Chamber Music competition, both in Italy.
After graduating from Jerusalem Conservatory, Victoria continued her education at the Longy School of Music and New England Conservatory. While pursuing various degrees in solo and chamber music performance, she was selected to perform in masterclasses given by Dmitri Bashkirov, Menahem Pressler, and Richard Goode, among others. Her principal teachers include Irina Kivaiko, Issak Kossov, Victor Rosenbaum, Sally Pinkas, Eda Shlyam, and Eteri Andjaparidze.
As soloist with orchestra, Victoria has performed with the Jerusalem Chamber Orchestra, the Longy School of Music Chamber Orchestra, and the Riverside Orchestra. She has performed at the Quartet Program in Pennsylvania, and participated in the Tel-Hai International Piano Festival in Israel and the Lyrica Chamber Music Festival in New Jersey. Also active in the field of opera and art song, Victoria was vocal coach and accompanist at Boston Lyric Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Bard Music Festival, the Brevard Music Center, the Westchester Summer Vocal Institute, and the American Institute of Musical Studies Festival in Graz, Austria.
Victoria is as committed to performance as she is to education. She recently gave a master class in Russian vocal repertoire at Queens College, NY. She is on the coaching faculty in the Vocal Department at Montclair State University and Long Island University Post. Victoria is also the co-founder of the Newburgh Music Festival, a week long immersive classical music program devoted to both solo performance and chamber music, located on the shore of the Hudson river, in Newburgh, NY. -
Susanne SonPreparatory Division Director / Piano Department Chair
Susanne Son
Canadian born pianist, Susanne Son made her debut with the Toronto Symphony at the age of 12. Since then, she has appeared as soloist with several orchestras including the Philadelphia and Minnesota Orchestras. In North America, she has performed at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, Jordan Hall in Boston, Academy of Music, Kimmel Center, Kravis Center, Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, and Roy Thomson Hall. She has also performed throughout Canada and Japan.
Festival appearances include the Tanglewood Music Center, Music Academy of the West, Kneisel Hall Summer Chamber Music Festival, and Banff Centre School of Fine Arts.
A two-time recipient of a Canada Council Grant, she is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School. Ms. Son is a top-prize winner of the Canadian Music Competition and has received the Chalmers Award from the Ontario Arts Council.
An avid chamber musician, Ms. Son has performed with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and in the Minnesota Orchestra's Sommerfest series.
Her principal teachers include Seymour Lipkin, Stephanie Brown, Paul Shaw, James Anagnoson, and Jerome Lowenthal. In masterclasses, she has worked with Leon Fleisher, Peter Serkin, Karl Ulrich Schnabel, Emanuel Ax, Jane Coop, Eugene List, and Misha Dichter.
Ms. Son currently resides in New York City with her husband and two daughters. -
Lucia Hyunju SongVoice
Lucia Hyunju Song
Soprano Lucia H. Song is widely praised for her vocal talents and refined musicianship, and was described by Opera News as ‘an exceptionally lovely voice, exquisitely touching’.
She was the winner of the German Lieder Society Competition and First Prizewinner from the William Garrison Competition, and also received the Best Liszt Interpretation Award from the American Liszt Society. She was one of the recipients of the 2003-2005 New Triad for Collaborative Arts fellowship awards, for which she was awarded concert performances in and around New York City.
In 2009, she made her New Jersey State Opera debut in the title role as Serpina inLa Serva Padrona by Pergolesi. She made her Korean opera debut in the title role in Hänsel und Gretel at the National Theater of Korea. Recent operatic roles include Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Adina in L’Elisir d’Amor, Pamina and Königin der Nacht in Die Zauberflöte, Gilda in Rigoletto, First Witch in Dido and Aeneas, and The Widow in The Boor by Dominick Argento.
Ms. Song received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Stony Brook University. She also holds a Master of Music degree and Professional Studies certificate from the Manhattan School of Music.
As a concert artist, Ms. Song sings with numerous orchestras, and has appeared as a soloist in Schubert’s C Major Mass, Bach’s Magnificat, Mozart’s C minor Mass, Faure’s Requiem, and Mozart’s Requiem. She has been invited to perform at the Washington Square Music Festival, the Midday Concerts at the United Nations, the Penn Alps “Schrock Memorial Concert” sponsored by the Alta Schrock Memorial Fund, and in faculty recitals at Rice and Indiana Universities. -
Martha SullivanComposition, Voice
Martha Sullivan
Composer Martha Sullivan creates music in various genres but is best known for her works for the human voice. She has earned accolades for her choral music and has won competitions sponsored by such organizations as the Dale Warland Singers and the Sorel Organization. Her music has been commissioned and performed by groups as far away as Glasgow, Tokyo, and Zurich, as well as by numerous choral groups in the United States.
Martha is also a professional singer, specializing in new music; she has recorded and premiered works by such avant-grade composers as Toby Twining and John Zorn. She currently sings with, conducts in, and composes music for C4: The Choral Composer/Conductor Collective in New York City.
Martha has also sung in every opera staged at Bard Summerscape since 2009.
Her education includes a B.A. in Music from Yale and studies at Boston University's Opera Institute; she is currently finishing her Ph.D. in Music Composition at Rutgers. Her dissertation focuses on the semiotic implications of one particular musical gesture—the Siren topos—in music ranging from early 19th-century Lorelei songs to 20th-century operas to 1960s television theme songs. She has presented parts of this work at various international conferences on music theory.
Martha has taught for the Boston University Tanglewood Institute (as voice faculty and as coordinator of the Music Theory program for high-school singers); New York University/CAP21 (teaching music theory to music-theater students at NYU's Tisch School); the Gregg Smith Singers (teaching voice and composition to students in Gregg's summer workshops); Rutgers (Aural Skills, Intro to Music Technology, and Intro to Music); and Westminster Choir College (Musicianship I and Musicianship III, both of which combine music theory with hands-on aural skills work). -
Jingwen TuPiano
Jingwen Tu
Hailed by The Mercury News (San Jose, CA) as "a pianist with insight and passion, practically vanishing into the notes…" Jingwen Tu has forged a chamber and solo career throughout North America and Europe. Recent performances have taken her to such venues as Alice Tully Hall, the Rose Studio at Lincoln Center, The DiMenna Center, The Morgan Library and Museum, the Banff Center, and Matav Music Hall in Budapest, among many others. Ms. Tu has been featured at the Sarasota Chamber Music Festival, the Perlman Chamber Music Festival, the Banff Center Chamber Music Residency, the Icicle Creek Chamber Music Festival, and the Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival. She has also collaborated with renowned musicians Peter Serkin, Donald Weilerstein, Colin Carr, and Katherine Murdock.
Ms. Tu has garnered awards and recognition at several international piano competitions. She was a Laureate of the Ackerman Chamber Music Prize and a recipient of the Dorothy MacKenzie Artist Award, as well as a prize winner at the Plowman Chamber Music Competition, the San Jose International Piano Competition, and the Lima Symphony Young Artist Competition.
In addition to being lauded for her performing career, Ms. Tu is recognized for her passionate commitment to education. She has enjoyed visiting artist and lecturer positions at major institutions including Vanderbilt University, the University of Michigan, Ohio University, Hunter College, the Casita Maria Center of Arts and Education, and the Douglas Anderson School of the Arts. Ms. Tu currently serves as faculty at Bard College Conservatory Preparatory Division, and adjunct professor of piano at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institution.
Ms. Tu holds a B.M. from Oberlin College, an M.M. from The Juilliard School, where she was a recipient of the Susan W. Rose Piano Fellowship and the Irene Diamond Fellowship, and a D.M.A. from SUNY-Stony Brook University. She counts among her principal teachers Sedmara Rutstein, Thomas Sauer, Julian Martin, Gilbert Kalish and Christina Dahl.
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Ian TysonClarinet, Saxophone, Flute - Winds, Brass, Percussion Dept Chair
Ian Tyson
Dr. Ian Tyson is a New York City–based clarinetist, saxophonist, and flutist. He has performed with orchestras and chamber groups and given solo recitals in such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, and Merkin Hall. He is a member of Trio 212, was previously a clarinetist with the United States Air Force bands, and was most recently an Orpheus Chamber Orchestra Fellow. A champion of new music, Dr. Tyson recently commissioned the piece Crystal Cathedral from composer Leanna Primiani. A dedicated pedagogue, Dr. Tyson teaches clarinet at Special Music School, and clarinet and saxophone at New York Conservatory of Music and Arts, and also maintains a substantial private studio. He has performed and given master classes throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and Africa. As a teaching artist with Daraja Music Initiative, Dr. Tyson works in Tanzania teaching students to play the clarinet and helping to conserve the African Blackwood tree. Dr. Tyson received a DMA from Stony Brook University, MM from Michigan State University, and BM from Miami University (Ohio). His principal teachers include Alan Kay, Anthony McGill, Frank Ell, and Michele Gingras. -
Sindy YangPiano, Musicianship
Sindy Yang
Sindy Yang is an actively performing pianist. Recent performances have included recitals at Bard Conservatory as well as performances at summer music festivals including Manhattan in the Mountains. Ms. Yang is also an enthusiastic collaborator of chamber music. She has been a participant of several chamber music festivals with scholarship awards including Manhattan in the Mountains in Hunter, New York; the Summit Music Festival in Pleasantville, New York; the EuroArts Music Festival in Halle, Germany; and the International Academy of Music in Castelnuovo di Garfagnana in Tuscany, Italy. In chamber music, she has collaborated with players such as Peter Wiley. Outside of solo and chamber performances, Ms. Yang has also performed as an orchestral pianist with The Orchestra Now at Bard College. As an orchestral pianist, she has worked with conductors such as Leon Botstein and Tan Dun and performed in venues including Carnegie Hall, Rose Hall at Jazz at Lincoln Center, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Ms. Yang began her musical studies at the age of six. As a young student, she was the recipient of numerous music awards and was a prizewinner of several competitions including the Renée B. Fisher Piano Competition and the Chaminade Music Club Scholarship Award. She continued her musical studies at the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division, studying piano under the tutelage of Miyoko Nakaya Lotto.
Ms. Yang earned a BM in classical piano performance from the Manhattan School of Music and an Advanced Performance Certificate in solo piano performance from Bard Conservatory as a full scholarship recipient. Her instructors include Peter Serkin, Richard Goode, and Shai Wosner.