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Faculty & Therapists
Our faculty and therapists are trained not only in their artistic discipline, but in classroom instruction techniques as well, meaning that they are able to individualize their approach to you or your child’s specific learning style and educational needs. Settlement gives students and families access to one of the best and most diverse networks of trained faculty in the country.
Aaliyah Robinson joined Settlement Music School in 2022. They are currently pursuing their
bachelors degree in education and are super excited to be apart of the team, looking forward to a fun and educational school year!
Regular
Education: Associate's in Early Childhood Education from Community College of Philadelphia
Specialties: Kaleidoscope
Divisions: Early Childhood
Adam is a pianist, composer and recording artist based in Philadelphia. Beyond his activities as a performer/composer, his interests run to journalism. He was formerly the Philadelphia correspondent for the internationally published Pulse! Magazine and was a contributor to the Philadelphia Weekly newspaper. Adam completed a Master’s degree in Jazz Studies at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where he worked with pianist Paul Bley, bassist Cecil McBee, and composers Lee Hyla, Robert Ceely, and John Heiss among others. Earlier studies included a scholarship for classical piano at Syracuse University as well as a BFA in film production from the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU.
Regular
Education: Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, BFA Film Production; New England Conservatory of Music, MM Jazz Studies
Specialties: Jazz Piano
Divisions: Music
Aileen Bunch received her Bachelor’s degree in Music Therapy from Temple University. She has a long history with the Kardon Center program; providing individual music therapy sessions at the Germantown and Mary Louise Curtis branches. She also teaches piano privately.
Regular
Education: Temple University, BM Music Therapy
Specialties: Music Therapy
Divisions: Kardon Center for Creative Arts Therapy
Aiyana Martin is a proud native from Chicago. She has trained under Lisa Willingham, Randy Duncan, Scoot Putman, Dr. E Gaynell Sherrod, Dr. Charles L Carter and many other outstanding professionals in the field. She received her BFA in Dance and Choreography from Virginia Commonwealth University in May of 2020. Aiyana is currently a member of the second company of PHILADANCO. Aiyana is educated in Dance Anatomy, Studies of Music and Dance, Production, and Injury prevention. She has worked as a teaching assistant/demonstrator for The Ailey Experience Program under the direction of Lisa Willingham, and also an interactive TedX Youth experience under the direction of Jill B. Ware. She has performed on Windy City Live, ABC 7 Chicago, InLight Richmond arts festival and a multitude of other locations. Aiyana also prides herself on being a community activist and has worked as a mentor for young children in multiple settings.
Creative Movement Teacher
Education: Virginia Commonwealth University, BFA in Dance and Choreography
Specialties: Kaleidoscope, Kaleidoscope Plus
Divisions: Early Childhood
Alan Ens graduated from the University of the Arts in 2009 with a BM in Jazz guitar performance. His teachers were Mike Kennedy, Matt Davis, and Mike Quaile. He has also had lessons with Jimmy Bruno, Pat Martino, and Tony Miceli while there. Outside of college Alan has studied classical guitar with John Penn. He taught guitar, bass and ran ensembles at the Philadelphia and Cherry Hill schools of rock from 2009-2015. Alan has played rock, jazz, free jazz, folk, funk, and original music in venues and restaurants from NYC to Nashville and has been a pit musician at Society Hill Playhouse. Since 2013 he has also been the live sound mixer for the dueling piano band at the Philadelphia Howl at The Moon, and a production sound mixer for video with SQ Productions out of Cherry Hill, NJ. His most recent musical project is a classical guitar quartet that includes Brendan Evans.
Associate Staff
Education: University of the Arts, BM Jazz Guitar Performance
Specialties: Classical Guitar, Electric Guitar, Guitar, Jazz Guitar, Suzuki, Ukulele, Music Technology, Jazz Ensemble
Divisions: Music
Albena Stoykova received her teaching and performance degree from the Sofia Music School and the Sofia Music Academy (Bulgaria) in 1987. She spent time teaching in the Youth Palace in Bulgaria and South Africa’s Music School “Mmabana.” She has played with international orchestras, the Radio Sofia Orchestra and Mmabatho Chamber Orchestra, and locally with the Musica 2000 Orchestra, as well as with the Bucks County Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Stoykova has played with string quartets in Paris, Athens and Colmar and won first place in the International Competition in Middlesborough, England. She enjoys working with student ensembles, especially with the all violin ensembles. She has been with Settlement Music School for 12 years and the Doylestown Community Conservatory for 9 years.
Staff
Education: Sofia Music School and the Sofia Music Academy, Violin Performance and Pedagogy
Specialties: Violin
Divisions: Music
Alex Huss has been a teacher with The Settlement Schools Kaleidoscope Program since 2022. He graduated with a BA in Music from The College of William and Mary in 2008. Alex has been teaching at various levels and in various roles since 2009.
Regular
Education: BA in Music from The College of William and Mary
Specialties: Kaleidoscope
Divisions: Early Childhood
Alexandra Ovrutsky is a graduate of the prestigious Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, with a master’s degree in music theory, choral conducting, and piano performance, and received her bachelor’s degree from the Ippolitov-Ivanov Music College. She began her musical journey at the age of five with piano study. Mrs. Ovrutsky has been teaching children of all ages for over 25 years, including her own children, who are now graduates of Curtis and Juilliard, acclaimed musicians, and winners of many international competitions. Mrs. Ovrutsky was also a successful children’s choral instructor and served as a musical director and editor on the international programs of the Russian State Television and Radio. Mrs. Ovrutsky arrived in the United States in 1992 with her family, and has been teaching at Settlement since 2001. She has appeared as a chamber musician in the concert halls of Boston, Philadelphia, and the Florida Keys. Mrs. Ovrutsky believes that each student is unique and benefits from a unique approach.
Associate Staff
Education: Ippolitov-Ivanov Music College, BM; Tchaikovsky Conservatory, MM Music Theory, Choral Conducting, and Piano Performance
Specialties: Piano
Divisions: Music
Alex Williams joined the Settlement Music School’s faculty in 2022. She is originally from West Memphis, Arkansas. She graduated from the University of Central Arkansas with a bachelor’s degree in instrumental music education and a minor in interdisciplinary studies. She is a performing artist who uses music as a tool to help others discover inner joy and create a personal, sustainable relationship with music. Alex has vast experience in teaching and service-oriented programs. She was the president of the UCA chapter of the National Association of Music Education and has volunteered at local public schools. Additionally, she participated in the Jamaican Field Service Project, an organization that establishes music programs in rural, Jamaican elementary schools. Finally, she was the music director of Community Connections, a non-profit organization that provides special needs students with extra-curricular activities. She is currently serving as an ArtistYear AmeriCorps Senior Resident Teaching Artist in Philadelphia.
Regular
Education: Bachelor’s in Instrumental Music Education from University of Central Arkansas
Specialties: Clarinet
Divisions: Music
Alexis Ramagnano earned her Bachelor of Music in Music Therapy, Voice Concentration, at Temple University in 2006. She has been practicing as a Board Certified Music Therapist ever since. Alexis has experience working with various populations and ability levels ranging from young children to end of life. She is excited to be joining the Settlement Music School Creative Arts Music Therapy team.
CAT I Therapist
Education: Bachelor of Music in Music Therapy, Voice Concentration
Specialties: Music Therapy, Voice
Divisions: Kardon Center for Creative Arts Therapy
Philadelphia native Alexis Stevenson began her career in Early Childhood Education when her daughter was three years old. She started as a parent volunteer in her daughter’s classroom. She would help with breakfast and read stories to the children. Volunteering lead to an offer of employment. Through her position, Alexis was able to gain a wealth of knowledge on child development in the early stages. In 2012, Alexis enrolled at Eastern University in the Accelerated Degree program for adult learners. In 2015, Alexis graduated from Eastern University with her Associates Degree in Early Childhood Education. After graduating, Alexis worked in a Pre-K counts program. In 2018, Alexis decided it was time to further her education and enrolled at Eastern University once again to obtain her Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood education.
ECE Assistant Teacher
Education: Eastern University, AA Early Childhood Education
Specialties: Kaleidoscope Pre-K PS 5
Divisions: Early Childhood
Amanda Hill started dancing at the age of four. Amanda then began intensive private coaching with Natasha Bar (of the Odessa Ballet, The Rock School) at the age of 11. Along with the excellent training she received from Ms. Bar, Amanda attended various summer programs including The Rock School, NYSSSA, Miami City Ballet, Boston Ballet, Kaatsbaan and the School of American Ballet. Amanda has also competed in ballet competitions such as Youth America Grand Prix, where she was awarded 1st place in the senior division semifinals. Amanda received her BFA in Ballet Performance from the University of the Arts on presidential scholarship, and graduated with honors. While working towards her BFA Amanda danced in multiple productions with the Pennsylvania Ballet and BalletFleming, including Pennsylvania’ Ballet’s “The Nutcracker.” She is now a principal dancer with the Brandywine Ballet in West Chester, PA. Amanda loves teaching ballet and sharing her passion for the art form. She has been teaching throughout the Philadelphia area for over 5 years. She draws on her performance experience, and her own training from many world-renowned teachers.
Regular
Education: University of the Arts, BFA Ballet Performance
Specialties:
Divisions: Dance
Andrea Carlson received a BM in Classical Guitar from the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, studying with Steve Klein. Teaching is her passion, and with it she focuses on technique, theory, and a repertoire that inspires and promotes skill and musical expression. Her back ground in music also involves performance in classical guitar, jazz, singing, and composing. In 2009, she was a winner with the Philadelphia Songwriters Project song writing contest. Actively, she performs with her classical guitar playing and singing her original music and jazz standards in a variety of venues throughout the Philadelphia area, as well as New Jersey, New York, and Chicago. In 2012 she released her debut CD, Drivin’ Myself Wild for You. Along with her music, Andrea studied art at Columbia College in Chicago and also enjoys painting and other forms of art in her free time.
Staff
Education: American Conservatory of Music, BM Classical Guitar
Specialties: Classical Guitar, Electric Guitar, Guitar, Guitar-Plectrum
Divisions: Music
Andreia received her Bachelor of Music from Ithaca College, where she was taught by both Philip Clark and Debra Moree, and Master of Music in String Pedagogy from Temple University, where she was a student of Helen Kwalwasser. She is a regular freelancer and has performed with numerous groups in Philadelphia and the surrounding communities over the years, including playing with the Philadelphia Classical Symphony, Delaware Symphony, Delaware Valley Philharmonic, Newtown Chamber Orchestra, Riverside Symphonia, and the Fairmount Chamber Ensemble. She is also an active chamber musician, with piano trios being her main love. Andreia has been a member of violin faculty at Settlement Music School since 1994, where she teaches private violin lessons in both Traditional and Suzuki methods, Suzuki group classes, and coaches chamber music; her passion being helping kids explore and develop their creative expression. She also serves as Suzuki Coordinator for all 6 of SMS’s branches.
Read Andreia’s #facultyfriday profile
Staff
Education: Ithaca College, BM; Temple University, MM String Pedagogy
Specialties: Violin, Viola, Suzuki
Divisions: Music
Faculty
Education: Bachelor's in Jazz Performance from Temple University
Specialties: Saxophone
Divisions: Music
Andy Thierauf is a Philadelphia-based percussionist and composer who specializes in the creation and performance of contemporary music. He is particularly interested in combining percussion with theater, dance, and technology. He has appeared in Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Argentina, and across the Midwest at music festivals, conferences, and symposiums. Andy has performed at SEAMUS and PASIC on several occasions and is a member of the PAS Music Technology Committee. Andy is half of stb x at, a dance/percussion duo with dancer and choreographer Sean Thomas Boyt. The ensemble has performed at various universities, art galleries, and non-traditional venues across the Midwest and East coast. A native of Cincinnati, OH, Andy received his B.M. from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, his M.M. from The Ohio State University, and his D.M.A. degree in percussion performance and pedagogy at The University of Iowa under the direction of Dan Moore. He has studied percussion with Rusty Burge, Jim Culley, Allen Otte, Susan Powell and Joe Krygier, and composition with Tom Wells, Marc Ainger, Larry Fritts, and David Gompper.
Associate Staff
Education: University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, BM; The Ohio State University, MM; The University of Iowa, DMA Percussion Performance and Pedagogy
Specialties: Percussion, Music Technology
Divisions: Music
Andrew Toriello is a Philadelphia-based trumpet player and educator. He has been playing trumpet since 2010 and has extensive experience in a variety of genres that run the gambit from classical music to jazz and beyond. He has studied privately with players such as John Swana, Dan Blacksburg, and Chris Coletti (formerly of Canadian Brass fame). In 2021 he graduated with a degree in jazz performance with a concentration in trumpet from Temple University. He performs regularly with the jazz-funk quartet “Pocket Flowers”, along with many other groups in the Philadelphia area. As an educator, his background in both classical and jazz music makes him uniquely knowledgeable in both trumpet technique and improvisation. When he’s not busy practicing or playing trumpet, Andrew enjoys making electronic music, playing chess, and reading.
Faculty
Education: Bachelor's in Jazz Performance from Temple University
Specialties: Trumpet
Divisions: Music
AnnaLisa Mariani has been serving on the faculty of Settlement Music School since 2008. She holds a Bachelor degree in Music Education from Westminster Choir College of Rider University (1996) as well as Orff-Shulwerk Certification from Villanova and University of the Arts (2010). Previously, she served on the staff of Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church in Bryn Mawr, PA and Malmark, Inc. in Plumsteadville, PA. She is a member of the Abington Symphony Orchestra. Her interests include musical theater and costume design, and in her spare time, she is a competitive figure skater.
Staff
Education: Westminster Choir College of Rider University, BM Music Education; Villanova and University of the Arts, Orff-Shulwerk Certification
Specialties: Violin, Children's Music Workshop, Kaleidoscope Pre-K (Music), Suzuki
Divisions: Music, Early Childhood
Ardian Cani graduated from Academy of The Arts of Tirana, Albania, in 1975 with a University Diploma in violin performance. His teachers were Pieter Gaci and Eno Koco. Ardian played for Symphony Orchestra of National Theatre of Opera of Albania for four years. Then he taught violin and viola at “Onufri” magnet music school (K-12) and performed as a violin soloist and concertmaster of the Elbasan city symphony orchestra. He was the founder of the chamber orchestra “Albanian Inspiration” and acted as a conductor and soloist of this orchestra in Albania and other European countries. In 2001 Ardian and his family moved to Philadelphia. He pursued his music studies and graduated from Eastern University at St. David’s, Pensylvania in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in music education and a master’s equivalency degree. His mentor was Dr. Bryan Edgett. In 2007 Ardian was certified by the Pennsylvania Board of Education and holds a license to teach music K-12 in PA. Since 2002 Ardian has worked as a full-time string teacher for the School District of Philadelphia, and since 2001 he has taught violin at Settlement Music School.
Regular
Education: Albanian University of Arts, University Diploma Violin Performance
Specialties: Violin, Suzuki
Divisions: Music
Autumn Wright is a dance/movement therapist who believes true wholeness exists within the relationship between mind and body. Autumn believes that through a body-based approach that emphasizes innate strength and creativity, one can cultivate joy and safety within the body. Autumn received her Bachelor’s of Arts from Temple University in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies and went on to receive her Master’s of Science from Sarah Lawrence College in Dance/Movement Therapy. Autumn has provided therapeutic care across settings including community mental health, behavioral health, residential facilities, and educational settings. Autumn is a Registered Dance/Movement Therapist with the American Dance Therapy Association.
CAT
Education: Bachelor's from Temple University in Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies, Master's from Sarah Lawrence College in Dance/Movement Therapy
Specialties: Dance/Movement Therapy
Divisions: Kardon Center for Creative Arts Therapy
Joining Settlement Music School in 2023, Bailey Marcucci has over twelve years of experience providing client care in a multitude of settings. Her years of experience range from providing direct support to clinical/therapeutic services across the lifespan, at multiple developmental levels, and varying mental health diagnoses. She incorporates an expressive, intermodal approach to treatment- inviting clients to explore and grow their skills while holding space for the hard stuff. She brings a warm, bright, compassionate, and patient approach to her work in a non-judgmental, creative, safe space.
When not with Settlement she enjoys traveling, find inspiration for her own artmaking in nature, and loves spending time with her four legged companions- Wonton & Pierogi.
Creative Arts Therapist
Education: Bachelor's of Science in Art Therapy from Lesley University, MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling with Art Therapy Specialization from Caldwell University
Specialties: Therapeutic Visual Arts
Divisions: Kardon Center for Creative Arts Therapy
Barry Wahrhaftig [War-hof-tig], is a Philly native. Studied Classical at Temple University with Peter Segal. Has led his own R & B dance band, and has extensive experience in jazz. Wastrained in the Childbloom Guitar Method, ran his own guitar schools in Waco & Kileen Texas, Haverford & Phila. PA. His present project is the Hot Club of Philadelphia. His specialties are classical, Jazz & rock guitar, vocals, bass, mandolin & tenor banjo.
Regular
Education: Studied Classical at Temple University w/ Peter Segal
Specialties: Classical Guitar, Electric Guitar, Bass Guitar
Divisions: Music
Becky Ruiz is a former Settlement Music School alum who studied with Claire Belkovsky. She earned a Bachelor in Music in Piano Pedagogy from Temple University. Major teachers include Charles Abramovic, Alexander Fiorillo, and Maria Taylor. Since graduation, Becky has worked as a church organist/pianist for Asbury United Methodist Church in New Jersey. She has also started and runs a private piano studio, and works as a preschool music teacher in South Philadelphia.
Education: Temple University, BM Piano Pedagogy
Specialties: Piano
Divisions: Music
Benjamin Faehl has earned an Associate of Arts in Music from Bucks County Community College, and from West Chester University he has earned a Bachelor of Music in Theory & Composition, a Graduate Certificate in Piano Pedagogy, a Master of Music in Piano Pedagogy, and a Master of Music in Piano Performance. His primary teachers include Igor Resnianski, Patricia Powell, and Steven Bresnen. Benjamin has performed concerts with the Baroque ensemble La Fiocco and with the choir & orchestra of Trinity Episcopal Church of Solebury. In addition, he was both the accompanist and assistant conductor of Revival Productions’ performance of Handel’s Messiah in 2021. Aside from teaching and performing, Benjamin is the church pianist at Hope Presbyterian Church in Garnet Valley, PA.
Faculty
Education: Bachelor's in Music Theory & Composition, Masters' in Piano Pedagogy and Piano Performance from West Chester University
Specialties: Piano
Divisions: Music
Regular
Education: BFA in multi-focus percussion performance from California Institute of the Arts, MM in percussion performance from University of Delaware, M.ED in global education from University of Illinois
Specialties: Percussion
Divisions: Music
Benjamin Hoffmann received his Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance at Houghton College, Houghton, NY in 2008. He received his Master of Music degree in Piano Performance at Syracuse University in 2010. His principal studies have been with John Spradling, Dr. William John Newbrough and Dr. Fred Karpoff; he has also received lessons and master classes from Vladimir Feltsman, Jon-Kimura Parker and Ann Schein. He maintains an active schedule as an accompanist and collaborative performer in the Philadelphia area and is the staff accompanist at the Wynnefield branch of Settlement.
Staff
Education: Houghton College, BM Piano Performance; Syracuse University, MM Piano Performance
Specialties: Piano
Divisions: Music
Beth Benson has been a member of Settlement Music School’s faculty since 1999. She earned a Bachelor of Music in Performance from Florida State University. Major teachers include Elizabeth Camus, Eric Ohlsson and Daniel Stolper. She performs with Newtown Chamber Orchestra and Southeastern Pennsylvania Symphony Orchestra and is an active freelancer on oboe, oboe d’amore and English horn. Beth also teaches for the Continuing Education program at Bucks County Community College and at the George School.
Staff
Education: Florida State University, BM Performance
Specialties: Chamber Music, Oboe, Musicianship
Divisions: Music
Brian Brown earned his Bachelor and Master degrees from the Juilliard School. His major teachers include Paul Krzywicki, Don Harry, Donald Harwood and Vincent Penzarella. He is currently principal tuba of the Philly Pops, Delaware Symphony Orchestra and The Stamford (Conn.) Symphony Orchestra. As an active freelance musician, Mr. Brown has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, The Pennsylvania Ballet, and the Opera Company of Philadelphia, among others. He is the tuba player for NFL Films. He is a member of the Westminster Brass and the Rowan University Faculty Brass Quintet. Mr Brown is Adjunct Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at the College of New Jersey, Rowan University, and University of Delaware and instructor of tuba at Princeton University. Mr Brown has been a faculty member of the Settlement Music School since 1984.
Regular
Education: Julliard School, BM Tuba Performance; Julliard School, MM
Specialties: Trombone, Tuba, Baritone, Horn, Euphonium
Divisions: Music
Brian Osborne is a percussionist, sound artist, and educator who moved to Philadelphia in 2015 after more than a decade of active participation in New York City’s creative music scene, where he performed regularly at centers for new music such as: The Stone, Tonic, and Knitting Factory. Brian received his BM in Percussion Performance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, studying under James Massie Johnson, former principal timpanist of the St. Louis Symphony. Brian then moved to NYC, where he continued his studies for several years with master percussionist, free jazz legend, and polymath, Milford Graves. During this time, he also studied Javanese Gamelan Music through the Indonesian Consulate. Brian’s focus remains on performing and recording experimental and improvised music. He performs regularly across the US and Europe and has over twenty released recordings to date.
Regular
Education: University of North Carolina School of the Arts, BM Percussion Performance
Specialties: Percussion
Divisions: Music
Ms. Brittany Johnson, a South Carolina native began her dance journey at age five. Her involvement as a junior company apprentice at Columbia City Ballet afforded her accompanying roles in several ballets including The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Don Quixote, Dracula: Ballet with a Bite, and Romeo and Juliet. This jumpstarted her career as it gave her a fearless edge in her performances in concert dance and musical theatre at Winthrop University (2011-2015). She participated in both leading and supporting actress roles, and ensemble roles in Chicago, Hairspray, Urinetown, and the stageplay Hush Little Baby. She was awarded the Modern Dance Award and Most Likely to Be on Broadway for her onstage accomplishments. Meanwhile, she also began scholarly research activities with the prestigious Ronald E. McNair post-graduate cohort (2013), and traveled to Chicago, IL in 2014 to present her dance pedagogy research at the National Dance Education Organization conference.
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Dance Education (K-12) she furthered her research at Temple University’s Master’s Dance program and completed her thesis on the psychological and economic implications of ballet training on adolescent minority children. Shortly afterward she began her independent artist career, educating students first in South Carolina and later on in the Bronx, New York, and Stamford, Connecticut. While in New York she continued to hone her craft at the Alvin Ailey Extension Program affording her numerous performance opportunities; such as principal dancer in productions with Dance Ministry Institute, soloist with Drye/Marinaro Dance Company, and backup dancer for international singer Angelique Kidjo. Most recently, Ms. Brittany has launched a dance video production with her former dance troupe The Golden Griffin Dance Troupe in South Carolina and completed her first season with the renowned Philadanco second company in Philadelphia. Now as a faculty member at the Settlement Music School, she is brimming with excitement to share her passion and wealth of experience with young dancers.
Faculty
Education: Bachelor's in Dance Education from Winthrop University, Master's in Dance from Temple University
Specialties:
Divisions: Dance
Carla (Chana) Crawford holds a Bachelor of Music from The Boston Conservatory with an emphasis in voice, a Master of Music degree with an emphasis in opera performance, and she is currently completing her Master of Music Therapy degree from Temple University. Ms. Crawford has had clinical training at Shriners Hospital for Children, HMS School for Cerebral Palsy, Wissahickon Hospice and the Kirkbride Center, all located in the Philadelphia area. During her internship at the Kirkbride Center, Chana conducted both group and individual music therapy sessions with clients who have co-occurring disorders. Upon completion of her internship from the Kirkbride Center, Chana began working professionally at the Settlement Music School and is absolutely thrilled to be a part of the team. Chana is committed to providing each client with individual attention and looks forward to empowering her clients to achieve their goals!
Regular
Education: The Boston Conservatory, BM Voice Performance; The Boston Conservatory, MM Opera Performance
Specialties: Music Therapy
Divisions: Kardon Center for Creative Arts Therapy
Carolyn Ellman, cellist, has a great variety of musical experience including symphony, opera, chamber music, television and theater. She has provided solo cello incidental music for local productions of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” and Arthur Miller’s “Broken Glass” and has presented many recitals with pianist (and fellow Settlement Music School faculty member) David Shunskis. During the four years she was cellist with the Serafin String Quartet, the quartet made its debut with a concert in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, playing there the following season as well and featuring works by local composers on both programs. While living in France and Switzerland, she performed in master classes offered by Gregor Piatagorsky and Maurice Gendron. While performing in Geneva, Neuchâtel and Lausanne she had the opportunity to play Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s opera “Le Devin du Village”.
Here in the Philadelphia area, she is a long-time member of the Delaware Symphony and has played in many other local groups.
At Boston University she earned her Bachelor of Music degree studying with Leslie Parnas. Chamber music coaches included Eugene Lehner at B.U. and also Raphael Bronstein and Michael Tree at Kneisel Hall. Other special programs in which she participated included the Congress of Strings, the Music Academy of the West and the Institute for Advanced Musical Studies.
Of all her many pursuits, Carolyn is particularly proud of her more than twenty-five year association with the Settlement Music School!
Regular
Education: Boston University, BM Cello Performance
Specialties: Cello
Divisions: Music
Caryn began working as a music therapist at Settlement Music School in 2014 after 12 years at Kardon Institute for Arts Therapy, including 9 years as a full-time clinician. She has experience working with a range of clients including people with developmental disabilities, brain injuries, Alzheimer’s, dementia, mental illnesses and autism spectrum disorders. Caryn developed and continues to manage the therapeutic rock band to better meet the social, emotional and musical needs of several clients. Part of Caryn’s weekly schedule is spent at the off-site partnership with Widener Memorial School. She also supervises Master’s level students from Drexel University’s Creative Arts in Therapy Program. Prior to her work as a music therapist, Caryn was employed as a private school music educator and freelance horn player. Caryn’s education includes a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from James Madison University, a Master of Music in Horn Performance from Florida State University, a Master of Arts from the Hahnemann Creative Arts in Therapy Program at Drexel University and certification as a Neurological Music Therapist. She is also a Licensed Professional Counselor in PA.
Staff
Education: James Madison University, BM Music Education; Florida State University, MM Horn Performance; Drexel University, MA Creative Arts in Therapy
Specialties: Music Therapy
Divisions: Kardon Center for Creative Arts Therapy
Cathy Mazza has a Bachelor of Music in Keyboard Performance from West Chester University where she studied with Ben Whitten and a Master of Music in Music Education from The University of the Arts. She is the accompanist for the Gleeksman-Kohn Children’s Choir of Settlement Music School, the accompanist for the Philadelphia Women’s Music Project, and is an active freelance collaborative pianist and pop and rock performer. Cathy has been a music teacher for over 30 years.
Education: West Chester University, BM Keyboard Performance; University of the Arts, MM Music Education
Specialties: Piano
Divisions: Music
Celeste Rubino is a pre-service music educator pursuing a Bachelor’s in Music Education with a concentration in Classical Voice at Temple University. She has over 8 years of performance experience as a vocalist and enjoys singing across genres and cultures. During her time at Temple, she was a member of Temple University’s Concert Choir and Graduate Conductor’s Choir. Currently, she performs with Epiphany Singers, a high-caliber choral ensemble for young adults in the Philadelphia area. For the past two years she has implemented her teaching skills and creative lesson plans in a variety of educational settings. In her free time, Celeste enjoys curating or attending creative events, writing, video editing, and spending time in nature. She is thrilled to empower children through mentorship, music, and the arts!
Kaleidoscope Assistant Teacher
Education: Pursuing Bachelor's in Music Education with a concentration in Classical Voice at Temple University
Specialties: Kaleidoscope
Divisions: Early Childhood
Chiara Ferrero is the Wynnefield Branch Coordinator. She has a Masters in Violin Performance from the University of Delaware, six years of teaching experience, and has performed with the Tucson Symphony and Arizona Symphony Orchestra.
Branch Coordinator
Education: University of Delaware
Specialties: Violin
Divisions: Music
Christine Danoff’s principal teachers were Charles Wendt (University of Iowa), William Stokking (Philadelphia Orchestra), and Orlando Cole (New School of Music). She also studied violin and chamber music with Edgar Ortenberg (Budapest Quartet), and chamber music with Roman Totenberg, William Kroll, and members of the Stradivari and Colorado Quartets. Christine was runner-up in the National Federation of Music Clubs national competition, cello division, and Associate Fellow at the Berkshire Music Center, Tanglewood. She was also Principal cellist with the Des Moines Symphony Orchestra. She is currently a member of the Danoff String Quartet and a freelance performer in the Philadelphia area. A child of music educators, she began teaching at age 18 as an adjunct instructor for the Des Moines Public Schools. She has taught class cello in four Philadelphia Archdiocese high schools. She is proud to have the opportunity to share the gift of music with students of all ages, abilities and playing levels in a community music school setting.
Staff
Education:
Specialties: Cello, Chamber Music
Divisions: Music
Christopher Eis has been a member of Settlement Music School’s faculty since 2023. He earned a Bachelor of Music with a double major in piano performance and composition from Baylor University. He is currently an active freelance musician in the Philadelphia region and sings with the Tenth Presbyterian Church Choir.
Regular
Education: BM in Piano Performance and Composition from Baylor University
Specialties: Piano
Divisions: Music
Chrysyn Harp is an international chamber and orchestral violist performing in Switzerland, Germany, France, Norway, Finland, Denmark, and Sweden. After studying with Charles Forbes at Settlement Music School, she received her Bachelor’s Degree from the Mannes College of Music, where she studied with Lillian Fuchs and Karen Ritscher, and her Master’s of Fine Arts Degree from the State University of New York at Purchase, where she was a graduate fellow and student of Ira Weller. While studying at Yale University, Chrysyn received her Master’s of Music Degree where she was the teaching and faculty assistant to Jesse Levine. Chrysyn began her teaching career under the tutelage of Roberta Gaspari of the East Harlem Violin Program, and later taught in the School District of Philadelphia where she founded the music department at the Academy at Palumbo High School serving as the choir conductor, orchestra conductor, and head of the music department. As an avid orchestral player, she has performed with many orchestras including the Norwalk Symphony, New Haven Symphony, Waterbury Symphony, Erie Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Classical Symphony, and the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra.
Regular
Education: Mannes College of Music, BM Violin Performance; State University of New York, MFA; Yale University, MM
Specialties: Viola, Violin, Suzuki
Divisions: Music
Claire Casanova is a clarinetist, native Philadelphian and currently a senior at Temple University studying Music Education. At Temple she was rewarded the Presidential Scholarship and The Stuart J. Best Memorial Scholarship for Clarinet. During her sophomore year of high school, she was accepted into the Philadelphia Music Alliance for Youth (PMAY) Artists’ Initiative. She studied with Dr. Rie Suzuki, Clarinet Professor at Rowan University and Gi Lee, the assistant clarinetist of the Met Orchestra. She has participated in many ensembles including PMEA District 12, All-City Band and Orchestra, and Philadelphia Sinfonia Players. This year she created her own chamber group led by Gi Lee. Claire is also an alumna of Project 440’s Doing Good program where she became the Co-founder and Director of Outreach, in her own non-profit, Generation Music. This organization provides, encourages, and exposes classical music education to underrepresented youth in school districts that can not afford to do so. She has received the Sphinx Connect Fellowship to visit the Sphinx Connect convention in Detroit.
Children's Music Workshop Faculty
Education: Studying Music Education at Temple University
Specialties: Childrens Music Workshop
Divisions: Early Childhood
Claire Coco is a cellist and music educator based in Philadelphia, PA. She earned a BM in Music Education from the Boyer College of Music at Temple University, where she studied with renowned cellist Jeffrey Solow. In addition to Settlement’s Music Education Pathways Program, Claire serves as a general music teacher in the School District of Philadelphia, where she aims to spread her love of music with young students.
Education: Temple University, BM Music Education and Cello
Specialties: Viola, Cello
Divisions: Music
Claudia Scaran earned her Master of Music Education & Bachelor of Music Education both from Montclair State University (Montclair, NJ). She is currently a Kodály I certified teacher and is working towards her level 2 certification. She performs with the Pennsbury Community Chorus (Fairless Hills, PA) and is director of the St. Luke’s CYO chorus (Glenside, PA). In addition, she is an elementary music teacher in the Pennsbury School District (Fallsington, PA) where she teaches K-5 general music.
Regular
Education: Master of Music Education & Bachelor of Music Education from Montclair State University
Specialties: Childrens Music Workshop
Divisions: Early Childhood
Faculty
Education: Bachelor's in Jazz Guitar from University of the Arts
Specialties: Guitar
Divisions: Music
Dana K. Fiero has been teaching for The Music Education Pathways Program since 2016. She holds a Bachelors Degree in Vocal Music from Westminster Choir College and a Masters Degree in Music Education from Temple University where she focused on Vocal Development and Culturally Responsive Teaching. She teaches K-8 music full time for the school district of Philadelphia. She regularly performs with Singing City, PhilHarmonia and the Amici Opera Company as well as playing folk guitar and ukulele and performing original music.
Education: Westminster Choir College, BM Vocal Music; Temple University, MM Music Education
Specialties: Music Education Pathways, Choir
Divisions: Music
Philadelphia native Dana D. Jackson began her career in early childhood education in 1994 through volunteering at the Parent Infant Center. This experience led her to take classes at the Community College of Philadelphia, where she obtained an Associates degree in Elementary Education. After graduating from CCP, she attended Saint Joseph’s University, where she received a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education in 2000. She taught for five years at Educare Learning Center, then taught Kindergarten in the Philadelphia School District starting in 2004. Her love for the Early Childhood field led her to Settlement Music School, where her goal as a lead pre-school teacher is to provide a safe, healthy, fun, and inviting environment in which every child is able to experience new things through play, building healthy relationships, and feeling proud of who they are.
Head Teacher
Education: Community College of Philadelphia, AA Elementary Education; Saint Joseph’s University, BS Elementary Education
Specialties: Kaleidoscope Pre-K (PS 5)
Divisions: Early Childhood
Faculty
Education: Master's in Piano Performance and Music Theory from Temple University
Specialties: Piano
Divisions: Music
Violinist/violist Daniel Elyar has been performing and teaching throughout the Delaware Valley region for ten years. After completing his Master’s in Baroque Performance Practice at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague, he relocated to Philadelphia and began teaching in the area and, following that, at Settlement Music School. He specializes in the Suzuki Method training and early aged instruction, but has really enjoyed the variety of other ages and backgrounds of students that Settlement naturally offers. Daniel Elyar has been at Settlement since 2003 and enjoys the challenge of teaching a full schedule there as well as actively performing and recording in Baroque music ensembles in NYC and up and down the East Coast.
Staff
Education: Royal Conservatory in the Hague, MM Baroque Performance Practice
Specialties: Violin, Viola, Suzuki
Divisions: Music
Daniella is a body-based psychotherapist who believes in the power of movement and the healing that it brings to people all over the world. Movement has a way of revealing the unknown about our mind and body, leading us to self-discovery. Finding dance/movement therapy changed Daniella’s life and she is committed to providing therapeutic relief through the connection of the mind and body. Daniella traveled to Nicaragua and Dhrangahra, India to study dance as a spiritual and therapeutic art form. This experience led her to study Dance/Movement Therapy at Pratt Institute and become a Creative Arts Therapist. Daniella Brown is a Registered Dance/Movement Therapist with the American Dance Therapy Association. Daniella is an advocate for neurodiversity acceptance, safe spaces for children with sensory-sensitivities and the uplifting of various communities through arts integration.
Credentials: MS, R-DMT
Regular
Education: Temple University -BA Sociology Pratt Institute MS Dance/Movement Therapy
Specialties: Dance
Divisions:
Danielle Dougherty, a Philadelphia based jazz vocalist, always jokes that she learned to sing before she learned to talk. After performances with the Philadelphia All City Jazz Band in high school, Danielle began to move towards forming her own band of musicians to play music with, which she found in abundance at Temple University. She graduated in May 2021 with her Bachelors in Music and she is currently pursuing her Masters in Jazz Studies and Vocal Performance. She feels lucky to renew her love of this music every day in her classes, lessons, and ensembles. She has studied voice with Temple faculty Justin Faulkner, Bruce Barth, and Najwa Parkins. Danielle is the vocalist for the Temple University Jazz Band under the instruction of professional trumpeter, Terell Stafford. She recorded with the Big Band on their album, “Without You, No Me” in May 2021. With the Big Band, she has performed at Lincoln Center and Dizzy’s Club in New York City. Danielle also performs throughout the tri-state area in wedding bands as well as with her own ensemble at clubs like Chris’ Jazz Cafe in Philadelphia. From August 2019-present day, Danielle has recorded vocals on over 40 tracks for pianist Micah Graves’ project “Not For the Ordinary.” The albums “Med Nama”, “In My Fairytale”, and “Pawns” were released in 2021, and the latest installation, “Crossroads” is set to release this year.
Regular
Education: Bachelors in Music from Temple University, Masters candidate in Jazz Studies and Vocal Performance.
Specialties: Voice
Divisions: Music
Dave Tarantino joined the Settlement Music School faculty in 2022. After growing up in a suburb of Philadelphia, he became an active freelancer and educator in the area. Dave has performed with many of the regions finest ensembles including the Delaware, Reading, and Princeton Symphonies, as well as the Boston Ballet Orchestra. In addition, Dave was a member of the percussion section of the Israel Philharmonic from 2016-2017 where he worked closely with then music director Zubin Mehta, and toured 4 continents. As an educator he has worked for the Philadelphia School District and Play On Philly. He completed his Bachelor of Music in percussion performance at the New England Conservatory and his Masters in Music and Doctorate of Musical Arts at Boston University.
Regular
Education: Bachelor of Music in Percussion Performance at the New England Conservatory, Masters in Music and Doctorate of Musical Arts at Boston University
Specialties: Percussion
Divisions: Music
David Shunskis is a pianist who is very active as a soloist, chamber musician, accompanist, and teacher. He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Temple University in piano performance and music theory. His principal teacher was the late Vladimir Sokoloff of the Curtis Institute with whom he studied for over 10 years. He has also studied with Donn-Alexandre Feder, Orlando Cole, Edgar Ortenberg and Tana Bawden. Mr. Shunskis has taught at Settlement Music School for 40 years, where he also regularly presents recitals and children’s concerts. He is also Music Director and Organist of Trinity Memorial Church in Center City Philadelphia where he has conducted Fauré’s Requiem, Gounod’s St. Cecilia Mass and Stabat Mater. In 2011, as part of the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts Mr. Shunskis played at the Kimmel Center as well as several times on the Jacob’s Music Noonday Recital Series at the Kimmel.
Regular
Education: Temple University, BM and MM Piano Performance and Music Theory
Specialties: Piano
Divisions: Music
David Giles graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy (where he spent his last two years of high school) and then went on to Indiana University, where he studied viola with David Dawson and Abraham Skernick, and chamber music with Fritz Magg and Georgy Sebok. From 1979-1982 he was a member of The Florida Orchestra, playing co-principal viola for the 1980-1981 season. While there, he became a founding member of Tampa Musica Viva Chamber Players, whose NPR and PBS performances, as well as those at the University of Tampa and in St. Petersburg, received critical and audience acclaim. A Philadelphian for more than 25 years, David’s work has included performances with Pennsylvania Pro Musica, Orchestra 2001, Peter Nero and the Philly Pops, and Choral Arts Philadelphia, among many others. He has performed in premieres of works by Rands, Fekete, Schnittke and others. He maintains an active studio, teaching privately and at Philadelphia’s venerable Settlement Music School.
Associate Staff
Education: Indiana University, BM Viola Performance
Specialties: Violin, Viola
Divisions: Music
David Keezing received his B.M. and M.M. in guitar performance at the Eastman School of Music, studying under guitarist and pedagogue Nicholas Goluses. David has also studied jazz guitar under Bob Sneider at Eastman and Rich Goldstein at The Hartt School, as well as performance practice and lute under Paul O’Dette. David has experience performing in a variety of contexts, from solo classical guitar; guitar ensemble performances, including a performance of Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint in Kilbourn Hall for the First Niagara Rochester Fringe Festival; chamber music; rock groups; jazz and jazz fusion; reggae; and renaissance lute in the continuo section of the Eastman’s Collegium Musicum. David also collaborates with his wife, April, who is a singer-songwriter, and helped produce and play guitars on her recent LP, Mountainview. As a teacher, David is on the faculty of the Settlement Music School. David has also taught guitar classes and coached rock bands and ensembles at Appel Farm Arts Camp in Elmer, NJ, where he was the director of the Music Department for several years.
Education: Eastman School of Music, BM and MM Guitar Performance
Specialties: Guitar
Divisions: Music
Denise Nix has been an Early Childhood Educator and music teaching professional for over 35 years. She earned an Associate Degree in Early Childhood Education with High Honors from the Community College of Philadelphia, and while attending there, she earned the Phi Theta Kappa and National Hispanic Honor Society awards.
Denise is the founder of Denise’s Young Musicians & Performing Arts Studio, a home-based teaching studio where she teaches piano, violin, flute, guitar, and percussion to children and teens. Her studio has a professional Facebook page of over 500 followers where she has become most well-known for her patient, creative, and nurturing work with very young children. Her studio has served numerous families in her local community for almost 10 years.
Denise Nix is deeply committed to teaching children’s music, and her studio has provided musical scholarships, presented award ceremonies, and hosted solo concerts for the students in her studio. She has also written, directed, and produced several children’s plays and music recitals for her students at the Venice Island Performing Arts Theatre in Manayunk.
Denise has studied the Suzuki Piano Method with two of the founding members of the Kingston Suzuki Music Association, Valery Lloyd-Watts and Carole Bigler. Denise also trained under Irina Gorin, one of the most prominent piano pedagogues for children in the United States, who uses a unique blend of Russian and American piano teaching methods.
A licensed KiddyKeys piano instructor and member of the Piano Teachers Federation, Denise Nix is also the creator and founder of “BittyStrings”, her program for very young violin students from ages 2 and up.
As a former Childcare Director, Denise has had a wide range of experiences in the field of early childhood education.
Denise has volunteered many years as a Children’s Face Painter for public libraries, foster care agencies, and the Chestnut Hill Fall for the Arts Festivals. She currently serves on a women’s ensemble choir, and she is the children’s handbell choir director at her local church.
Denise is the proud mom of 3 talented young adult sons, one of whom performs the leading role of Lafayette/
Jefferson in the prestigious musical Hamilton. She enjoys preparing southern cuisine, crafting, writing, illustrating children’s books, and vlogging for her new YouTube channel.
Education: Community College of Philadelpia, AA Early Childhood Education
Specialties: Children's Music Playshop, Children’s Music Workshop
Divisions: Early Childhood
Faculty
Education: Bachelor's in Jazz Guitar from The Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, Master's in Jazz Performance from McGill University, Doctorate in Music & Interdisciplinary Digital Media from Arizona State University
Specialties: Percussion
Divisions: Music
Devona is a recent graduate of Jefferson University with a Master of Science in Community and Trauma Counseling. She strives to educate students with academics that promote and teach lessons that strengthen social-emotional skills, motor skills, etc.
Education: Jefferson University, MS Community and Trauma Counseling
Specialties: Kaleidoscope (PS2)
Divisions: Early Childhood
Diane Goldsmith is a pianist who is much in demand as a solo recitalist, chamber musician and vocal accompanist. Winner of the Mason & Hamlin Competition, she regularly performs on regional arts series at cultural centers and colleges. Diane holds a master’s degree from Manhattan School of Music and pursued her studies in chamber music, art song and opera at the Music Academy of the West. She did additional piano study with Gary Graffman. Diane has been a music critic and arts editor at major newspapers and also served as staff accompanist working with singers at Westminster Choir College. Her vocal trio, Follow the Drinking Gourd – named for the song used to guide slaves to freedom – and her chamber ensemble perform programs Diane develops, using music, narrative and images. With 20 years’ experience teaching, Diane takes special pride in bringing out the best in students by tailoring her approach to each student’s individual learning style, ability and musical interests.
Staff
Education: Manhattan School of Music, MM
Specialties: Piano, Musicianship
Divisions: Music
Ann Stookey and Joseph W. Waz, Jr. Distinguished Faculty Chair
Dolly Krasnopolsky was born in the USSR and graduated from Moldova State Conservatory in Kishinev with a Bachelors and Master’s Degree in Performing, Accompaniment, Education. Dolly has also had further training at the Moscow State Pedagogical University and at the Lithuanian State Conservatory, now known as The Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. She was awarded the gold medal for Best Teacher in USSR for her outstanding work for preparing students. Many of Dolly’s students have gone on to win numerous competitions and awards. She earned her PhD in the study of Bach from the State University of Vilnius. Dolly arrived in Philadelphia in 1989 and began work as a faculty member at Settlement Music School. In 2012, Settlement awarded her with the Schoenberg Award for Teaching Excellence. Since then, many of her students have graduated from prestigious universities and have pursued music careers. Such notable students of hers is Quiara Alegría Hudes, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Staff
Education: Moldova State Conservatory Kishinev, BM and MM Performing, Accompaniment, Education; State University of Vilnius, PhD Study of Bach
Specialties: Piano
Divisions: Music
Dylan Band is a saxophonist based in Philadelphia and graduate from Temple University (BM 20′ MM 22′). While growing up, he studied privately with the Philadelphia saxophonist Larry Mckenna. He also performed with groups devoted to jazz education at the Philadelphia Clef Club and the Kimmel Center.
This allowed Dylan opportunities to perform with ensembles such as Pennsylvania All State Jazz Ensemble, the Mid Atlantic-Collegiate Jazz Orchestra and the Temple University Big Band. Dylan has performed in venues such as the Kimmel Center, The Appel Room in Jazz at Lincoln Center, Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, Smalls Jazz Club, The Philadelphia Art Museum, and the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage. He has also worked with musicians including Christian McBride, Joey Defrancesco, Terell Stafford, and Byron Landham. He currently leads the Dylan Band Quartet and co-leads the Philadelphia Ambassador Big Band.
Education: Bachelor's and Master's Degrees from Temple University
Specialties: Saxophone
Divisions: Music
Dynasty Battles, the recipient of the 2021 Career Advancement Award by the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia, has been featured with soprano Marietta Simpson in The Philadelphia Inquirer, and on music critic David Patrick Stearns’ radio program “Creatively Speaking” on Philadelphia’s WRTI (90.1 FM).
A highlight from this current 2022-23 season include a composition Battles debuted by multiple Grammy nominee and Pulitzer Prize finalist Ted Hearne, composed for Dynasty himself, which was featured in The Philadelphia Inquirer. Recent engagements include hall debuts at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in a concert curated by John Adams, the Chicago Cultural Center’s Preston Bradley Hall as a featured artist in the International Music Foundation’s Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts, and the Benjamin Franklin Hall with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. Additionally, he made his international debut at the Barbican Centre in London while in residency with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.
Career highlights include an invitation to perform George Walker’s Piano Sonata No. 1 in a private engagement at the distinguished composer’s home. In a project profiled by The New York Times, he also performed in Bowerbird Philly’s ongoing series highlighting the works of Julius Eastman.
Special Arrangement Piano Teacher
Education: Bachelor’s of Arts in Piano Performance from Temple University
Specialties: Piano
Divisions: Music
Ed Contaldi is a Board Certified Music Therapist and certified Special Education Teacher. He received a Bachelor of Science in Special, Early Childhood and Elementary Education from Temple University. He studied Music Therapy in Immaculata University’s Graduate program . He is a Special Education teacher at HMS School for Children with Cerebral Palsy in Philadelphia. Ed provides individual music therapy at the Kardon-Northeast Branch. Ed is also certified in the Affect-Based Language Curriculum (Greenspan/Lewis) and Therapeutic Listening. His approach to Music Therapy is informed by Stanley Greenspan’s DIR/Floortime philosophy and techniques. He also specializes in the use of adaptive computer technology to enhance our students’ self-expression through music.
Regular
Education: Temple University, BS Special, Early Childhood, and Elementary Education; Immaculata University, Music Therapy Graduate study
Specialties: Music Therapy
Divisions: Kardon Center for Creative Arts Therapy
Edward is a pianist/composer from the Dominican Republic. He received his early music education at The Fine Arts School in his hometown, San Francisco de Macorís, and continued at the National Conservatory of Music in Santo Domingo. Edwards was trained in classical and Afro-Caribbean piano as well as Dominican folkloric percussion, Harmony, and Latin American Orchestration. Upon moving to Philadelphia he attended the University of The Arts where he studied with AJ Luca, Tom Lawton, Norman David, Ron Kerber, Tony Micheli, Rick Hall, Arturo Stable, and Randy Kapralick among others. Edward graduated with a B.M. in Jazz Studies and a minor concentration in Music Business, Entrepreneurship, and Technology. While at UArts, Edward performed with various ensembles including The Sound of Philadelphia, Salsa, and Standard Times. Adding to that, he had the honor to write original music for the Rick Kerber Tribute ensemble, and has also performed as a choral singer with the Philly Pops and the UArts choir, directed by Jeff Kern. Edward is currently the keyboard player for two Latin American bands based in Philadelphia. One of his goals is to use music as a bridge to unite cultures.
Regular
Education:
Specialties: Piano
Divisions: Music
Clarinet study: A. Dell’osa, R. Schmidt, C. Turner, G. Rowe, A. Gigliotti, B. Portnoy, G. Mecoli. Sax study: V. Trombetta, H. Karabell. Flute study: J. Walker, F. Versaci, J. Kvell. Oboe study: S. Simon. Graduate of University of the Arts with Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Music Education. Military Service with USMA Band. Glenn Miller Orchestra, Phil Giordano Jazz Orchestra, City Rhythm Orchestra, Philly Pops, many musical shows at various theaters. Opera Company of Philadelphia, extra saxophonist with Philadelphia Orchestra, Reading Symphony, Delaware Symphony Orchestra.
Regular
Education: University of the Arts, BM/BME
Specialties: Clarinet, Flute, Saxophone
Divisions: Music
Elizabeth Nardone teaches music for Settlement and for the Community Partnership School in Philadelphia. At Settlement, Elizabeth conducts the Beginning and Junior orchestras for the MEP programs at Pastorius and Thomas Holme Elementary Schools. She also conducts the Junior and Intermediate Orchestras at the Germantown Branch and the Intermediate Orchestra at the MLC Branch. Elizabeth most recently earned her Masters of Music Education from Temple University in May 2018. She also has a Masters in Suzuki Cello Pedagogy from the University of Denver and received her undergraduate degree in cello performance from the University of South Carolina. When she is not teaching, Elizabeth enjoys running, reading, and gardening. She also loves to climb mountains in Colorado every summer.
Associate Staff
Education: University of South Carolina, BM Cello Performance; Temple University, MM Music Education; University of Denver, MM Suzuki Cello Pedagogy
Specialties: Cello, Music Education Pathways, Suzuki, String Ensemble
Divisions: Music
Ella Murray received a B.A. in History and Archaeological Studies at Oberlin College in 2020. Their background is in racial justice education and they have worked as a social justice educator, art teacher, and community organizer.
Regular
Education: B.A. in History and Archaeological Studies at Oberlin College
Specialties: Kaleidoscope
Divisions: Early Childhood
Ellyn Winski joined the Settlement Music School team as a Music Therapist in September 2023. She earned her Bachelor of Music in Music Therapy from the University of Dayton and is currently pursuing her Masters in Music Therapy and Counseling at Immaculata University. Ellyn looks forward to meeting and collaborating with her clients as well as witnessing their connections to music grow throughout the music therapy process!
Creative Arts Therapist
Education: Bachelor's of Music in Music Therapy from the University of Dayton, pursuing Master's in Music Therapy and Counseling at Immaculata University
Specialties: Music Therapy
Divisions: Kardon Center for Creative Arts Therapy
Emily Roane is a percussion and steel pan performer who moved to Philadelphia in 2018. She earned a Bachelor of Music in Performance from the University of Iowa, and a Master of Music in Performance from the University of Minnesota Duluth. Major teachers include Dan Moore, James Dreier, and Gene Koshinski. Emily was selected as a finalist for the 2015 Hit Like A Girl drum set competition. She currently performs with the Philadelphia Pan Stars and Plenty Pepper Steel Band and is an active freelancer on drum set, hand percussion, steel pan, vibraphone, marimba, and basically any instrument you can play with sticks!
Education: University of Minnesota Duluth, MM Performance; University of Iowa, BM Performance
Specialties: Percussion
Divisions: Music
Violist Emma Hey received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music and her Master of Music degree from the University of Minnesota. She has played in the Quad Cities Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Music Winona, National Repertory Orchestra, Atlantic Music Festival Orchestra, and the AIMS festival orchestra in Graz, Austria. She has also been a performer in the Contemporary Music Workshop at the University of Minnesota, Arcana New Music Ensemble, Prometheus Chamber Orchestra, and Alter Ego Chamber Opera. As an educator, Emma maintains a private studio and is Teaching Artist in the Philadelphia Orchestra Association’s School Ensemble Program.
MEP Faculty
Education: Bachelor of Music from the Eastman School of Music, Master of Music from the University of Minnesota
Specialties: Viola
Divisions: Music Education Pathways
Born and raised in Oak Park, Illinois near the Chicagoland area, Emma Sullivan has been exposed to Classical Music her entire life. In high school, she had the wonderful opportunity to study at Merit School of Music, a program in Chicago with a similar mission to Settlement. She received her Bachelors in Music from Drake University in Des Moines, IA and her Masters in Music from University of Delaware, both focused in Cello Performance. Throughout her musical education, she has had the privilege of performing in master classes with musicians such as Yo-Yo Ma, Zlatomir Fung, Matt Haimovitz, and Anthony Ross. When not teaching, practicing or performing, Emma spends her time perfecting her chocolate chip cookies, crocheting failed bucket hats and stopping her cat from eating her plants.
Regular
Education: Bachelors in Music with Cello Performance focus from Drake University, Masters in Music with Cello Performance focus from University of Delaware
Specialties: Cello
Divisions: Music
Erika Matthews is a Visual Artist with a specialization in Creative Writing and Design. She earned her Bachelor’s of Communications from The Art Institute of Philadelphia, and has completed a Computer Programming languages course from the University of Toronto. She has developed courses in Creative Writing, 2D and 3D Character Design and Development, Storyboarding and Graphic Design (for Web and mobile applications) for Fleisher Art Memorial, Abington Art Center, Philadelphia Arts in Education Partnership and the Young Artists Workshops at Moore College of Art and Design.
Visual Arts Teacher
Education: Bachelor's of Communications from The Art Institute of Philadelphia
Specialties: Visual Arts
Divisions: Early Childhood
Eugene has taught Piano and Music Theory Instructor at Settlement Music School since 2000. He received his Bachelor’s in Music Education with Piano Concentration from Temple University, Esther Boyer College of Music. In addition to teaching Piano, Music Theory, and Choral Accompaniment, he has also played with a premier entertainment company – EBE, Events Beyond Expectations – for the past ten years.
Associate Staff
Education: Temple University, BM Music Education with Piano Concentration
Specialties: Piano, Musicianship
Divisions: Music
Eujin Bodek received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Piano Pedagogy at Temple University where she studied with Marian Filar and Charles Abramovic. She received a Master’s Degree in Science in Instructional Media at West Chester University. She also earned Suzuki Piano and Orff-Schulwerk Workshop Certificates. For over 20 years, Mrs. Bodek has been teaching piano and music classes at several local preschools and also at her family’s music school. She taught Traditional and Suzuki methods for piano and the Children’s Music Workshop at Settlement Music School and served as music teacher in the Kaleidoscope Pre-K Arts Enrichment Program from 1990 to 1996; she returned to Settlement’s faculty in 2013. She uses different pedagogical strategies to emphasize reading skills, basic theory, hand positions, and finger techniques with her students. Mrs. Bodek loves hiking with her husband and two children.
Associate Staff
Education: Temple University, BA Piano Pedagogy; West Chester University, MS Instructional Media
Specialties: Piano, Children's Music Workshop, Suzuki
Divisions: Music
Fran Berge performs widely on both historical and modern instruments. She is a member of Tempesta di Mare and the Phoenix Ensemble and she performs frequently with the Fairmount Chamber Ensemble, The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Opera Philadelphia, Orchestra 2001, Melomanie, the Washington Bach Consort and the Carmel Bach Festival. Fran studied at the University of Michigan, Northwestern University, and Temple University. Principal teachers have included violist Karen Tuttle, Baroque violinists Marilyn McDonald, Stanley Ritchie, and Elizabeth Wallfisch. Through the EEFC and on the Greek island of Naxos, she has also learned a considerable repertoire of Romanian and Greek folk music by ear. She loves to teach and coach chamber music at all levels, which she does at Haverford College and Germantown Friends School as well as Settlement. When not playing music, Fran likes to be out kayaking in the Pine Barrens or camping in the mountains.
Associate Staff
Education: University of Michigan; Northwestern University; Temple University
Specialties: Chamber Music, Violin, Viola
Divisions: Music
Gail has many years of experience working in an early childhood setting. She has decided to make early learning part of her life’s work because she believes a child’s education is the most valuable thing in the world. Knowledge is power and she recognizes that the earlier it begins, the better for the child. Gail has been employed with Settlement Music School since 2008 and she truly feels that this is her second home. She believes that some of the most important skills to have when working with little children is patience, flexibility and love. She is also thrilled to have obtained her teacher aid diploma, CDA and my associates degree in Early Childhood Education.
Assistant Teacher
Education: Early Childhood Education, AA
Specialties: Kaleidoscope Pre-K (PS 4)
Divisions: Early Childhood
Gita is an Assistant Teacher at the Settlement Music School. She earned her Bachelor of Arts from Wesleyan University where she studied primarily dance and psychology. She is currently a dual master’s candidate at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education and School of Social Policy & Practice where she is studying education policy, cultural anthropology, and ethnographic filmmaking. She has an extensive background in movement and vocal performance and enjoys supporting arts and cultural organizations in any way she can. She is passionate about advancing the field of music therapy and using her skills to help cultivate a new generation of artists.
Regular
Education: BA from Wesleyan University, Dual Master’s candidate at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education and School of Social Policy & Practice
Specialties: Kaleidoscope
Divisions: Early Childhood
Glenn I. Stanford is a graduate of the Boston Conservatory of Music with a B.A. in music education and an M.A. in elementary education from the then-Glassboro State College. A faculty member of the Settlement Music School saxophone staff for over 35 years, Mr. Stanford also has 37 years of public school instrument music teaching experience in the Camden City Public Schools. He has had many rich and varied performance experiences in classical, jazz, gospel and musical theater settings on the saxophone, clarinet and flute throughout his career. His primary approach to teaching is to foster and develop those skills that lead to a level of command of the instrument. With that command and appropriate stylistic knowledge, the student will be able to indulge in any kind of music that he or she desires.
Regular
Education: Boston Conservatory of Music, BA Music Education; Glassboro State College, MA Elementary Education
Specialties: Clarinet, Saxophone
Divisions: Music
Grace Clements is a new addition to Settlement Music School, but she is not new to the field of music therapy. Grace has been practicing as a music therapist for almost 10 years, and has worked with children, adolescents and adults in a variety of clinical settings. Grace completed her Bachelors and Masters degree at Temple university and continues to engage in trainings to improve her skills. Grace studied Jazz drums for an extended period, but enjoys playing guitar, piano and singing in a variety of musical genres. Outside of her clinical work Grace enjoys playing pop punk music with her band.
Credentials: Board certified music therapist
Regular
Education: Bachelors and Masters degrees in Music Therapy at Temple University
Specialties: Music Therapy
Divisions: Kardon Center for Creative Arts Therapy
Grace received a Bachelors in Psychology and Science in Society from Wesleyan University. She has a background in health & reproductive justice work and youth theater & arts education.
Kaleidoscope Assistant Teacher
Education: Bachelors in Psychology and Science in Society from Wesleyan University
Specialties: Kaleidoscope
Divisions: Early Childhood
Gregory Tsafos attended High school from 2001-2005 at Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA). He attended undergrad at Temple University where he received a degree in Music Performance with a Tuba Concentration in 2011. He attended University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) where he received his Masters in Music Performance in 2014.
He began his teaching career as a Teaching Assistant with the UCLA Wind Ensemble as well as the UCLA Bruin Marching Band. When returning to Philadelphia, He was offered a position at Settlement Music School where he teaches Trumpet, Trombone, French Horn, Baritone and Tuba. He is also a teacher for weekend music programs geared toward teaching 3-8 year olds music and rhythm at Settlement Music School.
Some past teaching experiences have been teaching at Father Judge High school for 1 year as the Band Director as well as music outreach at Carnell Elementary, Hardy Williams Elementary and Lee Elementary as the brass teacher for after school programs. He also has worked offsite for Settlement at Hardy Williams High School as the Band Director as well as off-site with after school programs where he teaches Brass. He has also worked at several camps during summer break as a general music teacher. Such camps include the band camp at Ridley Park High School teaching the Low Brass, the KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) where he taught young students the basics of music and rhythm in Camden New Jersey, as well as a summer program at Carnell Elementary.
Currently, Gregory is a Performer with the Philadelphia Wind Symphony as a member of the Tuba Section.
Associate Staff
Education: Temple University, BM Music Performance with a Tuba Concentration; University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), MM Music Performance
Specialties: Trombone, Trumpet, Tuba, Music Education Pathways, Baritone/Horn/Euphonium, French Horn, Children's Music Playshop, Children's Music Workshop
Divisions: Music
Guy West has been performing classical and flamenco guitar for over twenty-five years and has been teaching for over twenty years. His instruction primarily focuses on classical and flamenco styles and he enjoys teaching beginning to advanced students anything from Bach to bulerias.
After receiving his Bachelor’s degree in Guitar Performance from Xavier University of Louisiana, Guy went on to obtain his Masters under Celin Romero from San Diego State University. It was during this time that he had the incredible opportunity to receive a private lesson with the legendary Maestro, Celedonio Romero. Masterclasses he has participated in include Pepe Romero, Jorge Morel and Adam Holzman. Guy has also studied flamenco guitar with Paco Sevilla and has researched the topic extensively.
Guy has been teaching at Settlement Music School since 2003 and currently performs as a soloist and flamenco accompanist.
Regular
Education: Xavier University of Louisiana, BM Guitar Performance; San Diego State University, MM
Specialties: Classic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Guitar-Plectrum, Acoustic Guitar
Divisions: Music
Kaleidoscope Plus After School Teacher
Education:
Specialties: Kaleidoscope Plus
Divisions: Early Childhood
Prior to Settlement, double bassist Hans Hibbard worked as an Orchestra Director for various school districts around Philadelphia, South Jersey, and Central Jersey. Hans’ students have passed auditions for PMEA All-State Orchestra, PMEA District Orchestras, Youth Orchestra of Bucks County, and Rowan University Youth Orchestra, with his double bass sections always earning top awards. As a native of Philadelphia, Hans graduated from Central High School (262), studied music education at Chestnut Hill College, and earned a masters degree in Double Bass Orchestral/Chamber Performance from Rowan University. In addition to being a passionate educator, Hans is an avid freelancer in various symphony orchestras, chamber ensembles, and pit orchestras in the Philadelphia region.
Education: Chestnut Hill College, BS Music Education; Rowan University, MM Double Bass Performance (Classical/Chamber Studies)
Specialties: Viola, Cello, Bass
Divisions: Music Education Pathways
A graduate from Tokyo University in Japan with BA in Economics, Sato completed her Master of Music in piano performance at the University of the Arts under Susan Starr and Marina Grin. She performed with various instruments and singers at the Academy of Community Music, Temple Music Prep, Wilmington Music school, as well as events of National Federation of Music Clubs. In pedagogy, Sato received the certificates from Suzuki Association of the Americas (SAA) for the completion of pedagogical seminars from Book 1 through 5 under Joan Krzywicki and Dr. Ray Landers. Sato has had the rare opportunity to observe legendary pedagogue Dorothy DeLay at Aspen Music Festival and School for 7 years. Aside from music, Sato holds Diplomas in Color Therapy and Aroma Therapy through the School of Natural Sciences in London.
Staff
Education: Tokyo University, BA Economics; University of the Arts, MM Piano Performance
Specialties: Piano, Suzuki
Divisions: Music
Ian Sadock is an award-winning pianist and jazz composer from Philadelphia with unique research interests in the mechanics of improvised music, maintaining an active and expanding studio of piano and music theory students. With headline performances at world-class venues, such as the Kimmel Center, TIME, Chris’s Jazz Cafe, Sadock’s musical perspective is refreshing and innovative. His education included private study under John Swana, Dr. Theresa Klinefelter and Peter Paulsen at West Chester University, Don Glanden at The University of the Arts, Dr. Igor Resniaski and David Dzubinski at the Nelly Berman School of Music, and Arturo O’Farrill, amongst others. He holds a Master of Music degree in Jazz Studies from The University of the Arts, as well as a bachelor’s of music in Piano Performance with a concentration in Jazz from West Chester University. Honors and awards include two Boysie Lowery Living Jazz Residencies, the Michael Falcone Jazz Scholarship and the Alta M. Ketner Outstanding Incoming Freshman Scholarship, Graduate Assistantship under The University of the Arts, and First Place in Nelly Berman 25th Anniversary Golden Key Competition.
Regular
Education: West Chester University, BM Piano Performance with a concentration in Jazz; University of the Arts, MM Jazz Studies
Specialties: Piano, Jazz Piano
Divisions: Music
Ilya Ovrutsky is a graduate of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow with a master’s degree in flute/piccolo performance and received his bachelor’s degree from the R. Glier Kyiv Institute of Music. Mr. Ovrutsky has performed extensively around the world as a member of Symphony Orchestra of The Moscow Bolshoi Theater, and of the former USSR State Symphony Orchestra under direction of E. Svetlanov. He has performed in the major concert halls of Russia, USA, Canada, Europe, Japan, Australia, and South America under the baton of world renowned conductors including V. Gergiev, M. Jansons, P. Kogan, A. Lazarev, A. Litton, K. Mazur, G. Rozhdestvenski, Y. Simonov, Y. Temirkanov, A. Zhuraitis, and others. In the United States, Mr. Ovrutsky has appeared in Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall in New York, The Academy of Music in Philadelphia, and other top halls of the major cities.
A dedicated flute teacher since arriving in the United States in 1992, Mr. Ovrutsky has been teaching at Settlement Music School since 1993 and at the Main Line Music Academy since 2004.
Mr. Ovrutsky has created his own unique method of teaching kids ages 5 and younger, and has been using it successfully for many years. Among his graduate and his current students are winners of local and regional competitions, and worldwide concert performers. Mr. Ovrutsky’s students have been named top prize winners at the American Fine Art Festival (AFAF), and have repeatedly been First Prize winners at the Tri-County Competition as well as competitions of the Flute Society of Greater Philadelphia.
Associate Staff
Education: R. Glier Kyiv Institute of Music, BM; Tchaikovsky Conservatory, MM Flute/Piccolo Performance
Specialties: Flute
Divisions: Music
Pianist Irene Pokrovsky was born in Baku, Azerbaijan. She started taking piano lessons at the age of 4 and continued her education at the Special School for Gifted Children with Sarra Axelrod. Upon her graduation, she was accepted to the Uzeir Gadjibekov Conservatory (Baku), where she received her Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Performance, Teaching and Accompaniment. Irene participated in music festivals and competitions throughout the former Soviet Union, receiving several major awards. In 1994, she immigrated to the United States and started teaching piano at the Settlement Music School in Philadelphia in 1996. Since 2008, she has served as Sacred Music Director at McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst military base.
Staff
Education: Uzeir Gadjibekov Conservatory, BM and MM Performance, Teaching and Accompaniment
Specialties: Piano
Divisions: Music
Isabelle Sufler is a Settlement alumna and recent graduate of the world-renowned institution, Berklee College of Music, where she earned a degree in K-12 Music Education as a woodwind principal, specializing in musical theatre orchestra work. Isabelle is proficient in piccolo, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophones and has credits on productions of West Side Story, In the Heights, and Into the Woods, among many others. She currently is involved with the Broadway Theatre of Pitman as a pit musician.
Regular
Education: Berklee College of Music, BM K-12 Music Education
Specialties: Flute
Divisions: Music
Cellist Jacob Ginn enjoys a multifaceted career in music as both a performer and educator. He received his B.M. from the University of Arizona and M.M. from the University of Utah, both on full scholarship. Jacob is the cello instructor at Germantown Academy and previously taught in the University of Utah Preparatory Division and University of Arizona String Project. He frequently appears with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Tucson Pops, and Grammy-nominated True Concord Voices and Orchestra. During the summers, Jacob has received fellowships to attend Round Top Festival Institute, Texas Music Festival, and Britt Festival. When not thinking about music, Jacob enjoys traveling, hiking/trail running, and trying out new types of food.
Education: University of Arizona, BM Cello Performance; University of Utah, MM Cello Performance
Specialties: Cello
Divisions: Music
Jay (James) Klales is unique among Settlement’s faculty in that he did not attend a degree program. He studied independently with Classical Guitarists Peter Segal, Peter Colonna, and Joseph Mayes. He also studied Baroque and Renaissance Lute with Joseph Mayes. He studied improvisations with Jazz bassist Al Stauffer and Music Theory with Settlement’s own Donald Rappaport. Jay has also attended master classes in guitar with Oscar Ghiglia and Michael Lorimer and a master class in Ukulele with Jake Shimabukoro. “I tend to follow my curiosity and am fairly obsessive about my interests!” “Harnessing that obsessiveness to follow healthy choices has been my challenge!”
Jay began performing acoustic blues guitar and then became interested in Classical Guitar and the lute. He has performed with vocalist Molly Pyle, flutist Janet Schreiner and recorderist Orum Stringer. With Orum Stringer he has a recording on the Griffin Renaissance Label entitled “The Portable Weiss Festival”; Works for Baroque Lute and Recorder by Sylivius Leopold Weiss and Ernst Gottlieb Baron. The Portable Weiss Festival true to it’s name did a national tour sponsored in part by Borders Books and Music. The recording includes a premier of Weiss’ Sonata in F with a reconstructed flute part by Dr. Eileen Hadidian!
As a teacher at the Chestnut Hill College’s Arts camp , Jay developed a course called “The Art of Jamming”. The course made it possible for classically trained students and rock oriented students to collaborate. Jay also ran The Rock Shack at Burn Brae Camp for the Creative Arts for over a decade. Helping young students form bands and develop their performance and improvisational skills. Again with a preference for mixing instrumentation so that a clarinet or violin student can perform with an electric band or a rock oriented student can play with a string ensemble. The resulting “cross talk” between unlikely instrumentalists he finds fascinating. At the Willow Grove Branch this idea is also seen in the new ensemble “The XperiMentals”, a group using guitar, cello, violin and piano and some electronic technology!
Jay currently is interested in the Ukulele and it’s ability to create community and has taught both adult and children’s classes on that instrument. He has also attended two Ukulele Festivals as well as workshops on the technic and culture of the Ukulele.
Regular
Education: Private Study
Specialties: Classical Guitar, Electric Guitar, Guitar, Guitar-Plectrum
Divisions: Music
Jamie Gensbauer earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Pennsylvania State University, and continues her education currently pursuing her Masters of Science degree in Psychology from West Chester University, focusing on child development.
Education: B.A. in Psychology from Pennsylvania State University. M.S. candidate in Psychology at West Chester University
Specialties: Kaleidoscope
Divisions: Early Childhood
Director of the Gleeksman-Kohn Children’s Choir
Regular
Education: BA in Music from York College of PA, Masters plus certification in Music Education from Temple University
Specialties: Voice
Divisions: Music
Mr. and Mrs. Donald Kardon Distinguished Faculty Chair
Jean Louise Shook received her Bachelor of Music degree from Temple University where she studied violin and chamber music with Edgar Ortenberg (formerly of the Budapest String Quartet) and piano with George Sementovsky and Natalie Hinderas. She has been a faculty member of the Settlement Music School since 1975, teaching violin, coaching chamber music and performing as a staff accompanist. Since 1999 Ms. Shook has held the ‘Mr. and Mrs. Donald Kardon Distinguished Faculty’ chair at Settlement. In 2005 she was awarded the Sol Schoenbach Award for outstanding service to the school. As pianist, Ms. Shook has frequently accompanied master classes of Pamela Frank, Ida Kavafian, Jaime Laredo, David Kim, Kim Kashkashian and Michael Tree, sponsored by Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. Ms. Shook performs as violinist and pianist with the Elysian Camerata and is a member of and music arranger for the Danoff String Quartet. She has shared her passion for music and teaching with students of all skill levels and has had students presented on “From the Top” at Carnegie Hall, quarterfinalists in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, and winners of the Tri-County Competition.
Staff
Education: Temple University, BM Violin Performance
Specialties: Chamber Music, Violin
Divisions: Music
Jean Rauch is a Head Teacher for the Kaleidoscope Pre-school Arts Enrichment Program. She has worked for Settlement Music School for 17 years. Jean has a Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education from Chestnut Hill College and is currently working on her Master’s Degree with a dual certification in Pre-K-Early Elementary and Pre-K-8 Special Education. Jean loves working with children and enjoys the feeling one gets when the children enter the classroom with a big smile on their faces. She also enjoys spending time with her own children and going to the beach.
Head Teacher
Education: Chestnut Hill College, BA Early Childhood Education
Specialties: Kaleidoscope Pre-K (PS 1)
Divisions: Early Childhood
Lillian Kraus Felber Distinguished Faculty Chair
Jeffrey Uhlig has appeared as collaborative pianist in many concerts in America and in Russia. He is in demand as a chamber music player and accompanist and has performed with many outstanding singers and instrumentalists including members of The Philadelphia Orchestra, The New York Philharmonic and The Metropolitan Opera. Some of his most notable collaborations have been with Metropolitan Opera mezzo soprano Barbara Dever, Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Trombonist Nitzan Haroz and Philadelphia Orchestra Concertmaster David Kim. For over 30 years he has taught at Settlement Music School in Philadelphia where he holds The Lillian Kraus Felber Distinguished Faculty Chair in Piano. In New Jersey, Mr. Uhlig is Principal Keyboard and Vocal Coach with The Ocean City Pops Orchestra. For many years he served as Principal Keyboard with Princeton Symphony Orchestra. He studied piano with William Masselos and Gaby Casadesus and studied art song literature with Dalton Baldwin. He received a Master of Music Degree from West Chester University.
Staff
Education: West Chester University, MM Piano Performance
Specialties: Piano
Divisions: Music
Originally from Philadelphia, Jenny Singer is licensed in Early Childhood Education and has experience teaching in classrooms as a preschool educator as well as an art and music instructor. She loves her dog, singing, yoga and knitting.
Kaleidoscope PS4
Education: The College of Wooster, BA Art History
Specialties: Kaleidoscope Preschool
Divisions: Early Childhood
Education: Bachelor's in Dance from Columbia College Chicago, Master's in Social Work from Hunter College CUNY, Master's in Dance/Movement Therapy from Drexel University
Specialties: Dance/Movement Therapy
Divisions: Kardon Center for Creative Arts Therapy
Jerome Lang, a native of Philadelphia, holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Music Education from West Chester State University, where he received a full scholarship. His teachers included Harry Wilkinson and Larry Dorminy, and Jerome was awarded a Graduate Assistant position in the School of Music upon graduating. He has worked extensively with students of all ages and backgrounds through his private piano studio and has been involved in local church music ministries as an accompanist, soloist, and choir director. Currently, he accompanies choirs and soloists at Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church and Martin Luther King High School.
Education: West Chester State University, BS Music Education
Specialties: Piano
Divisions: Music
Jessica Stahl is a graduate of Temple University and holds her B.A. in Theater with a Minor in Communication Studies. She is an advocate for the arts and is involved in theater around the Philadelphia area. During her undergrad, she had the opportunity to explore acting, directing, and playwriting. She additionally performed in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella. Jessica also interned at the Arden Theater Company’s summer camp for children and worked at the theater during her undergrad. Currently, Jessica is a working actor at the theater company Without A Cue Productions and at multiple local theaters. She is a proud Settlement Music School Alum and she accredits her growth and discipline as an artist to the vocal lessons she had. Jessica believes that a passion for the arts starts at a young age and honing one’s creativity is the best way to open the door of possibilities for the future.
Theatre Teacher, KAL Plus Afterschool Program
Education: B.A. in Theater with Minor in Communication Studies from Temple University
Specialties: Theater, Kaleidoscope Plus
Divisions: Early Childhood
Jody Kidwell is a graduate of Ohio State University with a B.M. in Vocal Performance; a graduate of the Academy of Vocal Arts; and twice attended The American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. Ms. Kidwell was a winner in the Third Luciano Pavarotti/Opera Company of Philadelphia (OCP) International Voice Competition, and was chosen by Mr. Pavarotti to sing in a production of Luisa Miller filmed by PBS. She sang the role of Desideria in Giancarlo Menotti’s The Saint of Bleecker Street to critical acclaim at the Academy of Music, originated the roles of Mrs. Medlock in The Secret Garden with Pennsylvania Opera Theater and Ester Zikorn in Center City Opera Theater’s premiere of Slaying the Dragon, and has performed with Opera Company of Philadelphia, Opera Columbus, Opera Delaware, and other opera companies. She has performed with orchestras throughout North and South America, is a frequent guest soloist with choral groups, and can be heard on the Lyrichord label in recordings of Mozart’s Requiem and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with Vox AmaDeus Ensemble.
Staff
Education: Ohio State University, BM Vocal Performance; Academy of Vocal Arts
Specialties: Voice
Divisions: Music
John M Frazier, a native of Philadelphia, holds a Master of Music degree in clarinet performance from Temple University where he went on a full scholarship. Teachers include the late Anthony Gigiliotti (Philadelphia Orchestra), George Silfies (St. Louis Symphony) and Ronald Reuben (Philadelphia Orchestra). He has been on the faculties of Luzerne Music camp where he performed chamber music with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He has played with Delaware Symphony, Opera Delaware, Harrisburg Symphony and The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. Mr. Frazier held positions at Ursinus College as well as Temple University and currently is an affiliate artist with Cairn University. He has played with The Lettermen, Van Cliburn and many others, and recorded with members of The Philadelphia Orchestra and worked with such conductors as Alan Gilbert, Lawrence Leighton Smith and Stephen Gunzenhauser. Mr. Frazier resides in Abington, PA with his wife Phyllis, their children Madeleine and John.
Regular
Education: Temple University, MM Clarinet Performance
Specialties: Clarinet, Saxophone
Divisions: Music
Jonathan studied classical piano with Steven Heyman as a scholarship student at Syracuse University where he received his Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance and Music Business. He also studied classical piano with Rorianne Schrade at Temple University Prep, and jazz piano with Ben Paterson. Jonathan was a member of critically acclaimed jam band Blind Man’s Sun, and of LA pop group, Balance. He has shared stages with or performed for Brian McKnight, Steven Schwartz, Kara Diaguardi, Michael Bolton, Sherry Kinnison, The Roots, Pharcyde, Jon Scolfield, Los Lobos, The Samples, DJ Shadow and many more. In Los Angeles he served on the faculty of AMDA College of the Performing Arts and was a regular pianist at Cafe Was, Angel’s Jazz Club, and BOA Sunset. Now based in Philadelphia, Jonathan is a pianist for EBE Talent’s band, Paris, and performs regularly at the Union League, Downtown Club and Crystal Tea Room. He is also Music Director for Holy Innocents St. Paul’s Church and for Grace Episcopal and The Incarnation, both in Philadelphia. In addition to five recordings with Blind Man’s Sun and Balance, Jonathan has two solo albums, Zeppelin Jams (2020) and My Kind of Music (2021).
Regular
Education: Syracuse University
Specialties: Piano
Divisions: Music
Jordan Graef graduated from Temple University in May 2013 with a B.M. in Music Education (Saxophone Concentration). While at Temple he studied saxophone with Marshall Taylor, Dick Oatts, and Tim Warfield and was part of the Diamond Marching Band, Wind Symphony, Wind Ensemble, Jazz Lab Band, and University Chorale. In addition to teaching with Settlement, he teaches for The School District of Philadelphia as a Classroom Instrumental Music Teacher; he serves six schools throughout the week, teaching woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings to students in grades 4 – 12. Mr. Graef has also worked on the marching band staff of Strath Haven High School as a woodwind technician and marching instructor. He is active as a performer in many genre and is also an active member of the National Association for Music Education and a brother of the national music fraternity Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.
Education: Temple University, BM Music Education
Specialties: Band, Woodwinds, Clarinet, Saxophone, Music Education Pathways
Divisions: Music
Jorge Ramos graduated from the Adventist School of Music and EAFIT School of Music in Colombia. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education in 2008 and a Masters Degree in Music Performance in 2017 with the Doctor in Music Samuel Brian Farley. In his career as a musician he has ben part of a variety of ensembles performing different music styles from classical music, Jazz, Bossa Nova, and Latin Music in Colombia, Venezuela, and Bolivia. As a professor Jorge was a member of the Colombia Adventist Music School Faculty from 2013 to 2017 as a piano and functional piano teacher.
Education: Columbia Adventist University, BM Music Education; EAFIT University - School of Music, MM Piano
Specialties: Piano
Divisions: Music
Joseph Mancuso is a graduate of The Eastman School of Music where he received his Bachelor of Music in Applied Music. His principal teachers include Ramon Ricker, James Kalyn, Frank Mazzeo, and Anthony Ciccarelli. Throughout his career, Joe has had extensive performance/teaching experience in classical, jazz, ethnic, pop/rock, and musical theater settings, as well as teaching music theory and improvisation. Joe has been on the faculty of Settlement since 1996.
Regular
Education: The Eastman School of Music, BM Applied Music
Specialties: Clarinet, Saxophone, Flute
Divisions: Music
Joshua Kwon is a pianist and educator with undergraduate degrees in Music Education and Music Performance from Appalachian State University in North Carolina and masters degrees in Piano Pedagogy and Piano Performance from Temple University in Pennsylvania. His teachers include Bair Shagdaron and Rodney Reynerson in North Carolina and Maria Pico del Taylor and Charles Abramovic in Philadelphia. He enjoys both teaching and performing and has been a performer for both small and large venues including a performance with the Asheville Symphony and small charity concerts for local organizations such as the LuLu Shriners organization. Currently he is a teaching and performing in both New Jersey and the city of Philadelphia.
Regular
Education: Appalachian State University, BM Music Education and Music Performance; Temple University, MM Piano Pedagogy and Piano Performance
Specialties: Piano
Divisions: Music
Faculty
Education: Bachelor's in Dance from University Of The Arts
Specialties: Creative Movement
Divisions: Dance
A native of North-Central Pennsylvania, Katherine Mallon-Day is an active performer in the Philadelphia area. She performs with the Opera Philadelphia chorus and the Philadelphia Singers Chorale, and is the alto soloist at St. Peter’s Church in the Great Valley. A singing actor as well, Katherine has performed with the Arden Theatre Company, the Media Theatre for the Performing Arts, the People’s Light and Theatre Company, Gretna Theatre, and the Lost Colony in North Carolina. She has been featured locally in cabaret and solo recitals. She is a graduate of University of Pennsylvania and Temple University, where she received Master of Music degrees in Vocal Performance and Musicology. Katherine has been a member of the Voice Faculty of Settlement Music School since 1987. Kate shares her life with husband Rich, and her favorite pastime (other than making music!) is hiking with family, friends and her dogs, Willow and Merlin.
Staff
Education: University of Pennsylvania, BM; Temple University, MM Vocal Performance and Musicology
Specialties: Voice
Divisions: Music
Organist and early keyboard specialist Kathleen Scheide earned degrees at New England Conservatory and the University of Southern California. Dr. Scheide has concertized as a throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, the Far East and the Caribbean. She is a published composer with a large imprint discography. She also teaches at several local colleges. Scheide lives in a 17th-century stone house, Wiggan, and plays organ in the 1740 stone barn at Church of the Loving Shepherd, Bournelyf, West Chester. Dr. Scheide is a Past Dean of the American Guild of Organists, San Diego Chapter, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Philadelphia Chapter. She was a Founding Member and of the San Diego Harpsichord Society and the Western Early Keyboard Society.
Staff
Education: New England Conservatory; University of Southern California
Specialties: Organ, Piano, Harpsichord
Divisions: Music
Katie Hahn joined the Settlement Music School’s faculty in 2023. Katie studied at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, where she obtained a master’s degree in Voice Performance/Pedagogy under the tutelage of Dr. Carl DuPont. She is also an alumnus of Temple University, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in Voice Performance. A natural performer, Katie’s repertoire demonstrates versatility and includes musical theater, contemporary works, early music, and standard operatic works. In her studio she encourages students to cultivate consistency, providing tools for students to improve their singing through deliberate practice and establishing personalized goals to be achieved through healthy vocal habits.
Faculty
Education: Bachelor’s in Voice Performance from Temple University, Master’s in Voice Performance/Pedagogy from Johns Hopkins University
Specialties: Voice
Divisions: Music
Kaye has been teaching Ballet at Settlement Music School since 1995. She received a Bachelor of Classical Dance from the National School of Ballet in Peru. She danced for five years in Ballet de Camara and seven years at Ballet Municipal in Lima. She also has a Bachelor’s degree in Social Science and majored in Social Work Universidad Mayor de San Marcos. She moved to the United States in 1987 to attend the University of the Arts and the Pennsylvania Ballet. In 1988 she won first place at the Spotlight National Dance Competition and also danced for five years with the Mercury Dance Company in Philadelphia. In 1996, Kaye continued her education at Cabrini College and started teaching Creative Movement in the Kaleidoscope program. She offers teacher training and professional development workshops and collaborates with the Hispanic community. Kaye is the 2012 recipient of the Sol Schoenbach Award for Outstanding Service at Settlement Music School.
Staff
Education: National School of Ballet, BA Classical Dance; Universidad Mayor de San Marcos, BS Social Science
Specialties: Kaleidoscope Pre-K (Dance)
Divisions: Dance, Early Childhood
Kayla Sadowy holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Capital University and a Masters of Music Therapy from Temple University. She has worked extensively in hospice care and bereavement, as well as in Hear Our Voices, an evidenced based song-writing program for children through Temple’s Arts and quality of Life Research Center. Kayla believes music therapy is a driving force of growth, discovery, and dignity and places these aspects at the forefront of her practice.
Regular
Education: BME, Capital University; MA, Temple University
Specialties: Music Therapy
Divisions: Kardon Center for Creative Arts Therapy
Kerri Ryan has been the Assistant Principal Violist of The Philadelphia Orchestra for the past nine seasons. She teaches viola lessons both privately and at Boyer College of Music at Temple University. Previously she was a member of the Minnesota Orchestra from 2000-2007, where she also held the title of Assistant Principal Viola.
While a member of the Minnesota Orchestra, Kerri and her husband, Philadelphia Orchestra violinist William Polk, performed Mozart’s Symphonia Concertante with The Minnesota Orchestra as part of their 2007 subscription series. William and Kerri are founding members of the award-winning Minneapolis Quartet, which received a McKnight Artist Fellowship Grant in 2003. Ms. Ryan graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music in 1998. As the winner of several youth competitions, Ms. Ryan performed as soloist with several orchestras including The Philadelphia Orchestra and The Cleveland Orchestra.
While pursuing a violin performance degree at the Curtis Institute of Music, Ms. Ryan began studying viola with Karen Tuttle. Ms. Ryan also studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music as a member of its Young Artist Program. Her teachers include Lee Snyder, Linda Sharon Cerone, David Cerone, Jascha Brodsky, Rafael Druian, and Arnold Steinhardt.
Education: Curtis Institute of Music; Cleveland Institute of Music
Specialties: Chamber Music
Divisions: Music
Creative Arts Therapist
Education: Bachelor's in Dance and BA in Art from Radford University, Master's in Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling from Drexel University
Specialties: Dance/Movement Therapy
Divisions: Kardon Center for Creative Arts Therapy
Kirstin earned her Bachelor of Music in Music Therapy from Temple University. Her clinical experience includes supporting children and their families at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and working with adults in rehabilitative and community mental health settings. She is currently working toward her Master of Clinical Social Work at University of Pennsylvania, furthering her counseling skills and knowledge of social welfare. Kirstin looks forward to supporting folks of all ages through music within the inviting and energetic environment of Settlement Music School.
Creative Arts Therapist
Education: Bachelor's of Music in Music Therapy from Temple University, pursuing Master's of Social Work from University of Pennsylvania
Specialties: Music Therapy
Divisions: Kardon Center for Creative Arts Therapy
Russian pianist Larisa Kifyak was born in Moscow to the family of a military engineer. After living in Germany for a couple years, she moved to Moldova with her parents, bringing a wonderful, ancient piano. Probably, that fact had an influence on her future musical career. She loved her piano dearly and began taking lessons at the young age of five. In a few months, her first piano teacher recommended for her to become a professional pianist. After graduating from a professional music school, where she gave her first piano recital, Larisa then continued her studies and graduated from the Gnesin Music Academy, with honors (Master’s degree) in Moscow. Following that, she pursued her education at the postgraduate course of St. Petersburg Conservatory (Ph.D). During her studies, she gave many solo and accompanying performances. After graduation, she worked as a teacher and accompanist at the Moldavian Conservatory and continued to perform in Moldova, Russia, and abroad.
Staff
Education: Professional Music School, BM Piano; Gnesin Music Academy, MM Piano Performance; St. Petersburg Conservatory, Ph.D
Specialties: Piano
Divisions: Music
Assistant Teacher
Education: Bachelor's in Child Development and Family Relations from Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Specialties: Kaleidoscope
Divisions: Early Childhood
Latrisha is currently an Assistant Teacher at Settlement Music School. She has worked as an Early Childhood Educator for the last 10 years. Her specialty is with children ages three to five years old. She started her career in Early Childhood Education after graduating from Kingsborough Community College where she earned an Associate Degree in Early Childhood Education. Previously, she worked for the military where she continued to gain knowledge and experience in Early Childhood Education. Latrisha also owned and facilitated a daycare for five years. She currently attends the Community College of Philadelphia where she continues to pursue a meaningful education. Latrisha lives in Philadelphia with her young family.
Assistant Teacher
Education: Kingsborough Community College, AA Early Childhood Education
Specialties: Kaleidoscope Pre-K (PS 1)
Divisions: Early Childhood
Zausmer Program Manager, Kardon Center for Arts Therapy
Education: MT-BC, LPMT, Bachelor of Science from DeSales University in Counseling/Clinical Psychology, Master of Arts in Music Therapy from Immaculata University in Music Therapy
Specialties: Music Therapy
Divisions: Kardon Center for Creative Arts Therapy
Assistant Teacher, Dance Teacher
Education: Bachelor's in Liberal arts- concentration in child psych and law from Pierce College
Specialties: Kaleidoscope
Divisions: Early Childhood
Laura Kate Marshall, a voice teacher at Settlement Music School since 2016, is an internationally, classically trained soprano. A versatile singer, Laura has performed Opera, Zarzuela, Art Song and Musical Theatre across the United States and in Europe. Laura has worked with The Little Orchestra Society and the Oratorio Society of New York, opened the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and was a guest on The Late Show as a member of the Broadway production of A Christmas Carol. Her most recent project was serving as the Music Director and Vocal Instructor for the 2018 Summer Youth Musical Theatre program of Philadelphia’s production of “Beauty and the Beast”. Laura’s bachelors degree began at NYU in Musical Theatre and was completed in Vocal Performance at the Longy School of Music of Bard College. Laura also holds a Masters of Vocal Performance with a focus on Early Music from the Longy School of Music of Bard College.
Regular
Education: Longy School of Music of Bard College, BA Musical Theatre; Longy School of Music of Bard College, MM Vocal Performance
Specialties: Voice
Divisions: Music
Arthur Judson Distinguished Faculty Chair
Lee Snyder received his Bachelor’s Degree from the Oberlin Conservatory, where he studied with Stuart Canin (Paganini Competition winner). He earned two Master’s Degrees, one from Juilliard School while studying with Ivan Galamian and Dorothy Delay and the other from State University of New York at Stony Brook. He was a member of the American Symphony under Leopold Stokowski and the Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia under Anshel Brusilow. He has concertized in the U.S., Germany, and Central America. He has also performed concerti with several of the local orchestras. For many years, Mr. Snyder was a member of the Alverthorp Trio. As a teacher, Snyder has had nine students perform as soloists with the Philadelphia Orchestra, as well as having many students win the local community orchestra solo competitions. Two of his former students are presently members of the Philadelphia Orchestra while others have graduated from the Curtis Institute, the Juilliard School of Music, Eastman, Cleveland Institute of Music, Peabody, and others. His students have positions in other major orchestra and there are a number of former students on the Settlement Music School faculty.
Special Arrangement Staff Faculty
Education: Oberlin Conservatory, BM Violin Performance; State University of New York at Stony Brook, MM
Specialties: Violin
Divisions: Music
Dr. Linda Reichert has enjoyed teaching piano at the Settlement Music School for more than 30 years; in addition, for the past seven years, she has coached the Benjamin and Carol Auger Contemporary Piano Quartet, an Advanced Study scholarship ensemble at Settlement. While completing her doctoral degree in piano performance at Temple University during the 1980s, she co-founded the Network for New Music, an organization devoted to performing and commissioning new music by living composers. As Artistic Director, she has helped lead NNM into prominence as one of the finest new music ensembles and commissioning organizations in the country. She regularly performs with the Network Ensemble, and is in demand as a speaker, music panelist, board member, and judge for numerous organizations and competitions. In addition to her passion for music, Linda enjoys gardening, dancing, hiking, traveling and being with her family.
Regular
Education: Temple University, D.M.A Piano Performance
Specialties: Chamber Music, Piano
Divisions: Music
Lisa Chae enjoys teaching, as it is a big part of her life. It is her passion to teach others and help them appreciate music in a special way. Lisa is a graduate of The Mannes College of Music with an artist diploma and studied with Ms. Powers and Ms. Hyman. She also received a Bachelors of Music from The Philadelphia College of Performing Arts. While there, she studied with Mr. Whitten and Dr. Feder. Lisa received Certificates from the Suzuki Association of the Americas. She taught piano at the Academy of Children’s Music in Fort Washington from 1983-91. She was the music director and accompanist at the Calvary Presbyterian Church of Elkins Park from 1984-87. Lisa has been teaching at Settlement Music School since 1992 using the Suzuki and Traditional methods. She has taught students of all ages and levels. Lisa enjoys painting, baking, running, traveling, and spending time with her husband and daughter.
Regular
Education: The Philadelphia College of Performing Arts, BM Piano Performance; The Mannes College of Music, Artist Diploma
Specialties: Piano, Suzuki
Divisions: Music
Lois Ann DiDomenico received her Bachelor of Music degree from The Philadelphia Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Alison R. Drake, and her Master of Music degree from the Philadelphia Musical Academy as a student of Genia Robinor and Jani Szanto. Additional studies were at the Peabody Conservatory of Music (Esteban), the International Summer School of the Arts in Nice, France, Suzuki Piano Certification with Patricia Freeman, and Children’s Music Workshop training with Martha Glaze Zook. She teaches both traditional and Suzuki methods. In 2007, she received the Sol Schoenbach Award for distinguished service to Settlement. She also taught piano for ten years at Friends Central School. Lois is a member of The Leschetizky Association of NYC and also serves on the board of her local community development corporation which supports start-up business/artist ventures. She and her husband have three sons who all studied at Settlement, and her other passions include gardening and raising Great Danes.
Staff
Education: Philadelphia Musical Academy, BM Piano Performance; The Philadelphia Musical Academy, MM Piano Performance
Specialties: Piano, Suzuki
Divisions: Music
Faculty
Education: Bachelor's in Music Performance from University Of The Arts
Specialties: Piano
Divisions: Music
Lori Tiberi has over fourteen years of direct art therapy experience, thirteen of those years in Philadelphia. She worked at Magee Rehabilitation Hospital for individuals ages 14 and older who required physical and/or cognitive rehabilitation for injuries including spinal cord, stroke, traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis, amputation, and general medical conditions. Lori has her Master of Arts from Drexel University’s Creative Arts in Therapy Program and her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Moore College of Art and Design.
Education: Drexel University, MA Creative Arts in Therapy; Moore College of Art and Design, BFA
Specialties: Art Therapy
Divisions: Kardon Center for Creative Arts Therapy
Lucas Gisonti has been a professional teacher and performer for the last 10 years. By 2017 Lucas had received both his Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees from The College of New Jersey and Mannes the New School for Music. There he studied with guitarist and member of the Newman & Oltman Duo, Michael Newman. In 2017, Lucas was awarded a fellowship to the Lanciano International Guitar Seminar in Abruzzo, Italy. The following year he was invited to perform in a masterclass for composer Leo Brouwer at the Mannes Auditorium. He has been living, performing and teaching in the Philadelphia area for the last three years.
Regular
Education: The College of New Jersey, Mannes School of Music
Specialties: Guitar
Divisions: Music
Settlement alumnus Luke Honer began his guitar studies with William Peters in 1992. He went on to study the classical guitar at The Hartt School of Music where he received full tuition scholarships for his bachelors and masters degrees and was the first undergraduate guitarist to be admitted into the “Performance 20/20” honors chamber music program. At Hartt, Luke studied with Richard Provost and competed in numerous guitar competitions, he was 2nd place national finalist of the 2003 MTNA Classical Guitar Competition held in Salt Lake City. Luke has been teaching guitar at Settlement since 2004, in addition to his many private students he also teaches guitar classes and coaches ensembles.
Branch Director
Education: The Hartt School of Music, BM Classical Guitar; The Hartt School of Music, MM Classical Guitar
Specialties: Bass Guitar, Classical Guitar, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar
Divisions: Music
Lynne Budnick-Lennon received a BA in Violin Performance from the New School of Music where she studied with Yumi Ninomiya Scott, violinist with the Philadelphia Orchestra. She received Suzuki Violin certification after studying with Linda Fiore and is active as a chamber musician around the Philadelphia area. Ms. Budnick Lennon has received additional specialized training in the teaching of young children from Temple University.
Staff
Education: New School of Music, BA Violin Performance
Specialties: Violin, Suzuki
Divisions: Music
Madison Frank, M.M.T., MT-BC, has been a music therapist at the Kardon Center for Creative Arts Therapy since 2018. She received her Masters in Music Therapy at Temple University and works clinically with neurodivergent children, teens, and adults in a variety of settings. She currently holds a role as an adjunct professor within Immaculata University’s Music Therapy Department and supervises undergraduate and graduate level music therapy students.
Credentials: M.M.T., MT-BC
Regular
Education: Temple University, BM Music Therapy
Specialties: Music Therapy
Divisions: Kardon Center for Creative Arts Therapy
Faculty
Education: Master's in Piano from Conservatorio "Luigi Cherubini" di Firenze
Specialties: Piano
Divisions: Music
Margarita Genova has been a member of Settlement Music School’s faculty since 2019. She earned a Master’s of Music in piano from the Academy of Music. Her major teachers include A. Kantardjiev, K. Fileva and Dimo Dimov, professor at the National Academy of Music in Sofia, Bulgaria. Margarita has performed as a soloist with Orpheus Orchestra and R. Christov, conductor in 1992 performing Haydn’s Keyboard Concerto in D Major, J. S. Bach’s Keyboard Concerto No.1 in D Minorin 1993, and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue in 1996. In 1997, Margarita came to the US to make an arrangement of the jazz opera Vanqui by L. Burrs for voice and piano. The premiere in 1999 in Columbus, OH featured Aretha Franklin.
Regular
Education: Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts, BM Piano and Pedagogy; Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts, MM Piano and Pedagogy
Specialties: Piano
Divisions: Music
Marissa DeVita is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Board Certified Art Therapist with 14 years of experience. She earned her Masters in Counseling Psychology with a specialization in Art Therapy from Caldwell College. Marissa has provided art therapy through Settlement’s Kardon Center for the Arts Therapies (and formerly Kardon Institute) for the past 13 years. At the Widener Memorial School, she facilitates school-wide community based art projects including murals and art installations and provides group art therapy to classrooms. Marissa also has experience working with populations including autism spectrum disorders, developmental delays, child behavioral disorders, depression, anxiety, divorce, grief and loss and eating disorders. She has worked in varied settings including hospitals, outpatient facilities, schools and community health centers in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and has supervised several art therapy students. Marissa enjoys creating her own artworks in her preferred mediums of painting, pastels, mixed media and photography.
Regular
Education: Caldwell College, MA Counseling Psychology
Specialties: Art Therapy
Divisions: Kardon Center for Creative Arts Therapy
In the last 50 years, Martin Knoblauch has conducted over 500 works of orchestra, opera and choral repertoire throughout the Philadelphia area. His musical interests extend from Gregorian Chant to Wagner. He has Bachelors and Masters degrees in Orchestral and Opera Conducting from the University of the Arts. From 1968 to 1978 he served as an Assistant Conductor with the Philadelphia Lyric Opera, the Philadelphia Grand Opera and the Opera Company of Philadelphia while also conducting the Symphony Club of Philadelphia, the Olney Symphony Gilbert and Sullivan Players and serving as Music Director for the Appel Farm Spring Opera Festival and Summer Program. For over 25 years he was the Music Director of the Chestnut Hill Orchestra and was Music Director of the Northeast Oratorio Society. He has also served in various teaching positions including posts at Girard College and West Catholic High School for Girls. Knoblauch has worked for many years as a Church Musician and recently retired from his post as Music Director and Principal Organist for the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Philadelphia.
He is Music Director of the Pennsylvania Lyric Opera Theater in Scranton, a regular guest conductor for the Orchestra Society of Philadelphia and the Amici Opera. He also directs Bach Cantatas from his harpsichord with members of the opera companies and churches with which he is associated. This coming April he returns to the Kokomo Campus of Indiana University to conduct West Side Story.
He has a Juris Doctor degree from Temple University School of Law and is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar and the Federal Bar for the the Third Circuit.
When not involved in the practice of music or law, he pursues a myriad of interests including Amateur Radio, Astronomy, Medicine and Ancient Languages. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife Dianne of 46 years who is a violinist and singer.
Regular
Education: University of the Arts, BM and MM Orchestral and Opera Conducting; JD Temple University School of Law
Specialties: Adult Chamber Orchestra
Divisions: Music
Mary C. Willihnganz has been teaching flute and coaching both piano-based and woodwind ensembles for many years at Settlement. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Flute Performance with a minor in Music Education from Marywood College, an A.M. in Musicology from Brown University and a Certificate from the Conservatoire Americain in Fontainebleau, France, where she studied flute with Rene LeRoy and Pierre Paubon. After Fontainebleau, she moved to Paris where she studied flute with Christian Larde and spent three years as a private student of Nadia Boulanger. Her American flute teachers have been John Krell and Murray Panitz in Philadelphia and James Pappoutsakis in Boston. She has taught on the faculty of College Misericordia in Dallas, PA, and has operated a private studio in Ann Arbor, MI, where she taught piano and flute. She is active as a freelance player in the greater Philadelphia area. She and her husband, Walter D. Willihnganz, M.D., live in Central Bucks County, where they are active members of the County Theatre and from which they make regular trips to the Metropolitan Opera in NYC.
Regular
Education: Marywood College, BM Flute Performance; Brown University, AM Musicology
Specialties: Flute
Divisions: Music
Settlement organ and piano faculty member, McEwan Walters began his early keyboard studies with Ruth Thompson and Stella Knobel in Winnipeg before moving on to his baccalaureate studies at the University of Washington. During his undergrad, McEwan studied organ with Lockreem Johnson, piano with Donald King, and music theory and counterpoint with Paul Creston. After receiving a bachelor’s in music and in music education, McEwan returned to Winnipeg as an elementary school music teacher while continuing his piano studies with Leonard Isaacs of the University of Manitoba. McEwan went on to earn his master’s of music at the University of Minnesota studying piano with Bernard Wieser and organ with Duncan McNabb, followed by post-graduate studies at Temple University where he studied organ with Robert Smart and John Binsfeld, music history with Eve Meyer, and Harpsichord with Temple Painter. Currently, McEwan performs in a piano duo with fellow Settlement faculty member, Michael Caruso, and serves as the Organist and Choir Director at Trinity Presbyterian Church.
Staff
Education: University of Washington, BM Piano/BME; University of Manitoba, MM Piano; Temple University, MM Organ
Specialties: Organ, Piano
Divisions: Music
Melissa Lisbão-Underwood graduated magna cum laude from Mason Gross School of the Arts with a Bachelor’s degree in violin performance. She was lucky to study under Francesca dePasquale, a phenomenal violinist who not only taught her how to play at a very high level but also modeled excellent teaching. Melissa believes that music connects people to themselves and to each other, and teaching music means building a more integrated world. Having learned through the Suzuki method at the age of four, she balances her classes by teaching not just technique but also ear-training, improvisation and musicianship. Melissa celebrates diverse learning styles, and always draws on what she observes of her students; their interests, their ways of understanding. As a teacher she aims to inspire her students, help them construct positive habits, embrace challenges, and celebrate their achievements as they develop their own personal voice within music.
Regular
Education: Bachelor’s in Violin Performance from Mason Gross School of the Arts
Specialties: Violin
Divisions: Music
Melissa Walton is the Head Teacher in PS7. She is a graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania in which she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Child Development and Family Relations. She also obtained her Master’s Degree in Elementary Education from Arcadia University.
Melissa has been teaching for 11 years and has taught children from age 1 up to the first grade. Being a teacher is her passion. She believes that children learn best in a safe, positive learning environment with hands on experience.
When she’s not in the classroom, she’s spending time at home with her mom and dog. She loves to read, shop, cook, clean and hangout with her friends.
Head Teacher
Education: Indiana University of Pennsylvania, BA Child Development and Family Relations; Arcadia University, MM Elementary Education
Specialties: Kaleidoscope Pre-K (PS 7)
Divisions: Early Childhood
Melony Merritt has worked with children since 2004, beginning as assistant teacher, safety committee and later becoming lead teacher and supervisor of the Pre-K classes. Melony currently has a CDA and many trainings credits.
Education: CDA
Specialties: Kaleidoscope Preschool (PS2)
Divisions: Early Childhood
Mervin Toussaint is an active saxophonist, keyboardist, producer, and music educator in the Philadelphia area. With a B.M. in Saxophone Performance and an M.M. in Jazz Studies from the University of the Arts, Mervin has gone on to perform solo as well as with a wide array of poets, singers, rappers, and spoken word artists. You can often find him playing at different venues in the city, including SOUTH Jazz Kitchen, Chris’s Jazz Cafe, JG Skyhigh, The Free Library, and Paris Bistro. Since 2016, Mervin has been sharing his knowledge and experience as a private instructor and ensemble coach.
Branch Coordinator
Education: University of the Arts, BM Saxophone Performance & MM Jazz Studies
Specialties:
Divisions:
Michael Caruso has been a member of Settlement Music School’s piano faculty since 1986. He earned his bachelor of music degree from the Philadelphia Musical Academy in 1971 and his master of music degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Music of Johns Hopkins University in 1973. His teachers have included Clement Petrillo and Julio Esteban, and he attended masterclasses with Leon Fleisher. From 1976 until 1986 he was the entertainment editor of the Main Line Times and the News of Delaware County; he has been the classical music critic for the Chestnut Hill Local since 1986. He reviews performances by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Opera Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Ballet, Academy of Vocal Arts, Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society and local performances in Chestnut Hill.
Staff
Education: Philadelphia Musical Academy, BM; Peabody Conservatory of Music, MM
Specialties: Piano
Divisions: Music
Michael Fahrner is a euphonium player and low brass educator based in Philadelphia, PA. Michael serves as
the Adjunct Professor of Euphonium at Rowan University and is on the brass faculty at Settlement Music
School and Rowan Community Music School. When he’s not teaching, Michael works on staff for
SchoolofBrass.com, an online brass education space that hosts masterclasses, conversations, and live streams
with brass artists around the world.
Michael received his Bachelor’s of Music in Euphonium Performance from the University of Massachusetts
Amherst, where he studied with Dr. John Bottomley, and earned his Master’s Degree in Euphonium
Performance from Georgia State University, where he studied with Eric Bubazc and Dr. William Mann.
Michael also was a longtime student of Dr. Adam Frey, renowned international euphonium soloist. Michael is a
member of The Philadelphia Wind Symphony and has competed internationally. He actively commissions new
works for euphonium and is in demand for clinics as a brass educator.
Education: University of Massachusetts Amherst, BM in Euphonium Performance; Georgia State University, MM in Euphonium Performance
Specialties: Baritone/Euphonium, Tuba, Trombone, Trumpet
Divisions: Music
Michael Mester has been studying percussion for the last 13 years. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Commercial Music from Kutztown University, in 2021, and received a Master’s degree in Jazz Studies from Temple University, in 2023. Michael has studied with masters such as: John Riley, Justin Faulkner, Ari Hoenig, Khary Abdul Shaheed, Frank Kumor and Paul Gallelo. Michael is a freelancing musician in Philadelphia, who plays with multiple bands, and is an educator. Michael has experience with classical percussion, marching band, jazz, commercial music, and has been teaching for the last 5 years.
Faculty
Education: Bachelor's of Commerical Music from Kutztown University
Specialties: Percussion
Divisions: Music
Kaleidoscope Assistant Teacher
Education: Majoring in Design at Moore College of Art
Specialties: Kaleidoscope
Divisions: Early Childhood
Min Ji Cho was born in Korea, and began her piano studies at the age of seven. She holds a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Piano Performance from Yeungnam University, Korea. Min Ji holds a Master of Piano Performance degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where she studied with Ruth Anne Rich and Rechard Cass. Currently Min Ji is working on completing her Master of Collaborative Piano degree from KU where she studied with Robert Koenig.
For over 30 years Min Ji has taught students of all ages and levels. Her teaching experience began in college and teaching piano lessons to high school students who were composition majors and needed to prepare for entering college. She came to the United States in 1994 to pursue further studies in piano performance. Min Ji has vast teaching experience and loves interacting with students of all levels and ages. She has worked as an accompanist for 20 years.
Min Ji Cho believes in getting to know her students and adapting lessons according to their unique learning styles and goals. She doesn’t use a prescribed “system” but rather tailor each student’s curriculum to them individually. She believes that learning the piano can be a powerful experience that will enhance their life in many ways, and she enjoys helping her students learn some of the life lessons and critical skills that come along with mastering the ins and outs of the instrument.
In her free time Min Ji enjoys traveling, baking, reading, and spending time with friends.
Faculty
Education: Bachelor of Music and a Master of Piano Performance from Yeungnam University, Korea, Master of Piano Performance from the University of Missouri-Kansas City
Specialties: Piano
Divisions: Music
Violinist Mitchell Newman was a member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 1987-2020. He worked with most of the major conductors of that era, including music directors Andre Previn, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Gustavo Dudamel. Mr. Newman’s passions include playing chamber music and teaching young people. He is committed to making sure the voices of people diverse background are heard in classical music. Mr. Newman studied violin at The Curtis Institute of Music with Aaron Rosand, David Cerone, and Yumi Ninomiya Scott and chamber music with Mischa Schneider, Felix Galamir, and Karen Tuttle.
Education: Curtis Institute of Music, BM Violin Performance
Specialties: Violin, Chamber Music
Divisions: Music
Monet Debose is a recent graduate from Bryn Mawr College where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Theater. Her education was under the leadership of Mark Lord and Catharine Slusar, two distinguished Philadelphia artists. Her early career started at People’s Light Theater where she worked as an Artistic Intern working in theater education with youth from ages 7 to 13. As an actress and director, she recently performed in and directed a group of middle school students in her devised theatrical performance, In All Our Glory.
Education: Bryn Mawr College, BA Theater
Specialties:
Divisions: Kaleidoscope Preschool
Monique R. Johnson received her Bachelors and Masters Degrees from Temple University in Music Education. She studied violin with Larry Grika, Yumi Scott, and Lisa-Beth and conducting with Luis Biava, former Conductor in Residence of the Philadelphia Orchestra. She served as a member of the Educational Advisory Council of the Philadelphia Orchestra and interned at the Philadelphia Orchestra Library under former Principal Librarian Clinton Nieweg. Ms. Johnson has performed as a substitute violinist with the Delaware Symphony Orchestra. She was also a member of the Settlement Music School Music Education Outreach String Quintet. She was a member of the TSOP Orchestra during the filming and performance of the PBS Special “The Love Train, The Sound of Philadelphia,” which featured the O’Jays, the late Teddy Pendegrass, The Stylistics, The Delphonics, and the Three Degrees. Ms. Johnson served as a member of the string orchestra that accompanied Dionne Warwick at the Rehoboth Jazz Festival.
Staff
Education: Temple University, BM Music Education; Temple University, MM Music Education
Specialties: String Ensemble, Violin, Viola, Suzuki, Adult Chamber Players
Divisions: Music
Nataly Snipelishsky received a Master’s Degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the Moldova Institute of the Arts where she won regional performance competitions. Beginning in 1998, Nataly joined the piano faculty as a teacher and accompanist at multiple branches of Settlement Music School. As more of her students auditioned successfully for scholarships and won piano competitions, she was promoted to Staff status and continues to teach at Willow Grove and Wynnefield Branches. Fluent in Russian and English, Nataly is also an active chamber musician and performs with violinists, singers and in piano four-hand ensembles professionally.
Staff
Education: Moldova Institute of the Arts, MM Piano Performance and Pedagogy
Specialties: Piano
Divisions: Music
Natasha Colkett is a freelance violinist and violin teacher in the Philadelphia area. She has been teaching Suzuki and traditional violin lessons at Settlement since 2015, and also teaches group violin classes for Settlement’s Music Education Pathways program. After studying with Lee Snyder at Settlement in high school, Natasha got her Bachelor’s degree in Music Education and Violin Performance at Ithaca College in 2007 and her Master’s in Violin Performance at the University of Denver in 2010. She completed her Suzuki certification through Book Six while in Denver and has been teaching lessons to students of all ages ever since. Natasha currently performs with the Pennsylvania Ballet Orchestra, the Allentown Symphony, and the Bay-Atlantic Symphony regularly during the year, and during the summer, she plays with the Central City Opera and is a founding member of the Boxwood Ensemble based in Colorado.
Associate Staff
Education: Ithaca College, BA Music Education and Violin Performance; University of Denver, MM Violin Performance
Specialties: Violin, Suzuki, Music Education Pathways
Divisions: Music
Born in Iran, Negar Ghasemi is a Philadelphia-based pianist, composer, and educator, pursuing her Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance at Temple University under the mentorship of Sara Davis Buechner. Prior to her undergraduate studies, she studied with faculties from Temple University Music Preparatory Program and Settlement Music School, and alumnus of Juilliard. Her major piano teachers in the United States include Kayoko Segawa, Meng Hao, and Emiko Edwards. She has also been a clarinet player, studying with Sean Bailey and Jon Katz. In the performance field, she has been active mostly as an accompanist, formerly serving the dance department at Boyer College of Music and dance as well. A major part of her musicianship is dedicated to teaching, with the goal to employ new perspectives, primarily focused on psychology, to help the students integrate their identity with music, and shape a personal, independent, and healthy relationship with the instrument. She has been active, teaching students from different levels and different ages. As a part of her passion for teaching, she has provided online lessons for students in Iran and held workshops for them within the country too. In addition to performance and teaching, she has activities in composition as a freelancer.
Regular
Education: Pursuing Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance at Temple University
Specialties: Piano
Divisions: Music
Nero Catalano studied classical guitar with Julian Gray at the Peabody Conservatory of Music and later went on to earn a BM from the University of the Arts, where he studied jazz guitar with Jimmy Bruno, Steve Giordano, and Tom Giacabetti. He taught guitar, bass, and coached ensembles at the Paul Green School of Rock Music during its formative years and went on to be the Music Director of the Downingtown and then the Philadelphia branches. Nero has recorded and toured playing original music as far as Shanghai and has played everywhere from CBGB to the Fillmore. He is also much in demand for pit orchestras and bands, performing most recently at the Arden and Walnut Street Theatres.
Associate Staff
Education:
Specialties: Bass Guitar, Electric Guitar, Classical Guitar, Electric Bass, Ukulele, Jazz Ensemble
Divisions: Music
Nia has been a part of the educational field for over 10 years. She attended Chestnut Hill College to pursue a bachelor’s degree in psychology and she took courses geared toward children’s psychology, development, assessment (educational and psychological) and education. She also acquired master level college credits in Early Childhood Education. During her years of employment, she had the opportunity to teach children of varying abilities spanning from atypical development to the autism spectrum. She taught ages three months to school-age, primarily working with the preschool/pre-K children. She worked closely with therapeutic staff of special needs children to implement and expand the goals they had set through her observations. She used the therapeutic staff’s goals to enhance her lesson plans. Working with children is truly her passion and vocation in life.
Head Teacher
Education: Chestnut Hill College, BA Psychology
Specialties: Kaleidoscope Pre-K (PS 6)
Divisions: Early Childhood
Education:
Specialties: Kaleidoscope
Divisions: Early Childhood
Pat studied with Orlando Cole at The New School, Curtis Institute of Music, and Temple University. She has completed up through Level 4 Suzuki Teacher Training. She has been teaching for 25 years, including 15 years at Settlement. She performs with the Philly POPS and Reading Symphony, has performed with the Opera Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Ballet, Walnut Street Theatre, Suzanne Roberts Theatre, and has done recordings with Sigma Sound.
Staff
Education: The New School, BM Performance; Temple University, MM Performance
Specialties: Cello, Chamber Music
Divisions: Music
Rachel Cama is career musician, scholar and educator who is particularly skilled at teaching music to the very young. She has taught within elementary general music programs as well as at several preschools. She is certified in First Steps, Suzuki Method and World Music Drumming; she also has several trainings in Orff-Schulwerk. Ms. Cama holds graduate degrees in Early Music Performance and Musicology and maintains a performance career on cello, baroque strings and voice. She has also worked as a yoga instructor and possesses a deep knowledge of body mechanics in relation to music-making. She has a keen interest in equitable education, trauma-informed teaching and culturally relevant approaches to music learning. Rachel lives in Philadelphia with her two children where she is active as a volunteer within her community and educational settings.
Music Teacher
Education: Pennsylvania State University, BA Music; Brandeis University, MFA Music; Bard College Longy School of Music, Performance Diploma in Early Music
Specialties: Kaleidoscope Preschool (Music)
Divisions: Early Childhood
Rahel Inniger received her “Lehrdiplom” in 1979 from the Conservatorium Bern (Switzerland) where she was a student of Rosemarie Stucki. As a 1980 recipient of a Kiefer/ Hablitzel Stiftung scholarship, she continued her education in the United States at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. where she studied with Barry Snyder. She left Rochester with a Master of Music in Performance and Literature degree in 1982 to accept a teaching position at the Musikschule Kandertal in Frutigen, Switzerland where she remained until 1986. During this time, Ms. Inniger served as accompanist at the Konservatorium Bern in the master classes of clarinetists Jost Michaels and Kurt Weber, violinist Igor Ozim and cellist Siegfried Palm. In Philadelphia Ms. Inniger is on the faculty at Settlement Music School where she teaches both piano and chamber music. Rahel Inniger performs as a recitalist, collaborating with instrumentalists and vocalists, and is a member of the Elysian Camerata.
Staff
Education: Conservatorium Bern; Eastman School of Music, MM Performance and Literature
Specialties: Chamber Music, Piano
Divisions: Music
Raina Welch is a classically trained vocalist with experience performing across genres and teaching privately since 2018. She attended Long Island University, Brooklyn for a Bachelor of Arts in Applied Music and Temple University for a Master of Music in Voice Performance. In addition to her formal education centered around operatic studies, her personal music interests are geared toward contemporary genres including Blues, Jazz, R&B, Soul, Funk, and Pop. Raina is adamant that classical singing technique is useful across all realms of singing, especially when it comes to exploring one’s capabilities and maintaining vocal health! Her teaching philosophy is that one’s instrument is best learned independently of style, leaving it up to the vocalist to apply what’s been learned to their own sense of artistic expression. In tandem with customizing lessons according to individual goals and preferences, it brings Raina great joy to support her students in developing their sense of autonomy as they gain confidence, understand their potential, and build upon their overall musicianship.
Education: Brooklyn Long Island University, BA in Applied Music and Temple University, MM in Voice Performance
Specialties: Kaleidoscope Plus, Voice
Divisions: Early Childhood
Rebecca Bleicher-Nugent has been in partnership with Settlement Music School since 2019. She earned a Bachelors of Music Education from Marywood University and a Masters of Music Education from Kent State University with a concentration in General and Instrumental Music. In Scranton, she studied French Horn with Peter Ivanov. Since 2015, Rebecca works in the School District of Philadelphia as a General Music Teacher. There she partners with Lang Lang’s Key of Inspiration, Music and the Brain and Music Will to bring various musical philosophies to her little musicians.
Music Education Pathways Teacher
Education: Bachelor's of Music Education from Marywood University, Master's of Music Education from Kent State University
Specialties: Music Education Pathways
Divisions: Music
Becky Dadi is a board certified music therapist with a music therapy degree from Berklee College of Music. Becky’s primary instrument is voice and also plays guitar and piano. Becky did her music therapy internship at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia where she further developed her clinical music therapy skills. At the completion of her internship, she went on to join the wonderful team of arts therapists and teachers at Settlement Music School. Becky has been a music therapist at Settlement Music School since September 2017. Her work encompasses providing music therapy for individual clients at the KNE branch, supporting the Kardon Chorale which consists of adults of varying disabilities and parents and providing therapeutic music groups at an off-site location in lower Bucks County.
Regular
Education: Berklee College of Music, BM Music Therapy
Specialties: Music Therapy, Children's Music Workshop, Children's Music Playshop
Divisions: Kardon Center for Creative Arts Therapy
Clarinetist Rié Suzuki is currently a member of The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the Princeton Festival Opera Orchestra, and the Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra. She is a frequent guest clarinetist with The Pennsylvania Ballet, Opera Philadelphia, The Philly Pops, among others. As an active chamber musician, Ms. Suzuki is a founding member of the Eastwinds Quintet, the New Horizons Chamber Ensemble, and Tripod Trio. Her recent solo appearances and collaborations include concerto performances with the Rowan University Wind Ensemble, co-premiering the wind ensemble edition of Leshonoff’s clarinet concerto “Nekudim”, and with the Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra, performing Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, a recital series with the Poulenc Trio in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and a concert tour of Central America sponsored by U.S. Embassy with the Liberty Winds. Ms. Suzuki has recorded on the Capstone, New World, Centaur, Naxos, and Warner Brothers labels, and her live performances on broadcast include WQXR in NYC, WRTI in Philadelphia, and podcasts from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Rié Suzuki holds a doctorate degree from The Peabody Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University where she was awarded the Orchestral Fellowship and a Peabody Career Grant. Ms. Suzuki is a clarinet professor at Rowan University.
Special Arrangement Staff
Education: BM, Mussahino Academia Musicae; MM, Webster University; DMA, Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University
Specialties: Clarinet, Chamber Music
Divisions: Music
Bob Gold grew up in an art-filled musical family, taking piano lessons at the Germantown branch of Settlement Music School with Irene Beck and violin lessons in his public school. As a science major at the University of Delaware, Bob re-connected with his passion for music, taking piano literature classes with pianist Michael Steinberg and discovering the beauty of jazz and improvised music. Upon graduation Bob concentrated on self teaching and forming a trio that performed, among other places, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Philadelphia for many years. More recently, Bob has concentrated on solo piano, and in expanding his skills as both a private and classroom teacher. He has a Masters degree in Music Education from the University of the Arts and an Orff Schulwerk Certification from U. of Arts/Villanova University.
Regular
Education: University of Delaware, BA; University of the Arts, MM Music Education
Specialties: Children's Music Workshop, Piano
Divisions: Early Childhood
Robert Capanna Musicianship Distinguished Faculty Chair
Roberto Pace is a composer, music director, pianist and educator. He is recognised in concert music, as well as in music for theater and dance. Mr. Pace studied at the New England Conservatory of Music with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Donald Martino, and the late great theorist Ernst Oster. He holds an M.F.A. in composition from SUNY Purchase, where he was the first to be awarded the Anthony Newman Prize for artistic and academic excellence. Mr. Pace’s recent commissions include the American Opera Projects, The Greenwich Village Orchestra, the canonization of Padre Pio, the Viola Society of Philadelphia, the baroque/contemporary ensemble Mélomanie, Chamber Music Now!, the Elysian Camerata and the American Composer’s Forum of Philadelphia. His work has received public as well as critical success: “…a fantasm of shifting moods, featuring eloquent writing for strings” (NY Times); and “a kaleidoscope of colors wrapped in rhythms that leap with energy” (Philadelphia Inquirer). He has served as music director and conductor at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s “Next Wave Festival, directed the music program of Fordham at Lincoln Center and lectured for the New York Philharmonic.
Staff
Education: New England Conservatory of Music; SUNY Purchase, MFA Composition
Specialties: Piano, Musicianship, Music Appreciation, Composition
Divisions: Music
For over 20 years, Russell Klein has been teaching piano at Settlement Music School. It’s not a job, but a passion. Russell comes with a background of BA in Music Ed. from Temple University and M.Ed. from Chestnut Hill College. Russell continues to enhance his teaching skills by attending Suzuki teacher training and other piano pedagogy workshops. He enjoys introducing children, from age four, to play delightful children’s songs on the piano, which they can hear on CDs at home and to reading music. As Russell uses both the Suzuki and Traditional Piano Curriculums, it is exciting for him to see each individual student grow from beginning pieces to intermediate and more advanced pieces of a wide variety of styles including Classical, Ragtime and Jazz. When he’s not teaching, Russell enjoys spending time with his wife, Fern, and two children Staci and Bobby.
Staff
Education: Temple University, BA Music Education; Chestnut Hill College, MM Music Education
Specialties: Piano, Suzuki
Divisions: Music
Sara Hiner is currently Director of the Settlement Music School’s Germantown Branch, where she is also on faculty as a bassoon instructor. Prior to Settlement Music School, Ms. Hiner held a number of positions at a variety of arts organizations, including at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hollywood Bowl, and most recently as Assistant Dean at the Colburn School’s Community School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles, where she was also taught bassoon. Her high school seniors have been accepted to bassoon programs at schools such as USC’s Thornton School of Music, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music. Her students have also regularly participated in honors ensembles like the Colburn Youth Orchestra, ensembles of the Southern California School Band & Orchestra Association, California Band Directors Association, California Music Educators Association, and in ensembles within the Colburn School’s Ed and Mari Edelman Chamber Music Institute, including the Honors Woodwind Quintet.
Sara’s primary instructors in bassoon were Judith Farmer and Rose Corrigan, and she performed frequently in master classes led by bassoonists such as Alan Goodman, Richard Beene and Michael O’Donovan, with additional studies with Matthew Ruggiero at Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute. Her performances have also aired on KUSC, KMozart, and Sundays Live at LACMA in Los Angeles. In 2000 her woodwind quintet won first prize at the International Young Artists Peninsula Music Festival Competition and she was a National YoungArts winner in 2001 (formerly the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts).
Sara earned her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in Bassoon Performance from the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, where she was a recipient of USC’s Dean Scholarship, Trojan Scholarship, and Music Merit Scholarship. She served on the Thornton Alumni Association Board of Directors for the 2013–2014 academic year, subsequently receiving a Certificate of Appreciation at USC’s Honors Convocation for her service to the school, and now serves on the Advisory Council for USC Thornton’s Alumni Association.
Branch Director
Education: University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music, BM and MM Bassoon Performance
Specialties:
Divisions:
Music Teacher
Education: Bachelor's in Theatre, concentrations in Musical Theatre and Pre-Teaching from Rowan University, Master's in Educational Theatre in Colleges and Communities from New York University
Specialties: Kaleidoscope
Divisions: Early Childhood
Scott Coulter has been teaching with Settlement Music School since 2009. He has been actively involved in the Philadelphia music scene in a number of projects, ranging from straight-ahead jazz to progressive rock. He has played in a number of major local and regional music festivals, and performed in some of the area’s best known venues, including the Trocadero Theater, the TLA and World Cafe Live. Mr. Coulter holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Jazz Piano Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, MA, where he studied with several notable jazz pianists including Fred Hersch, Paul Bley and Danilo Perez.
Staff
Education: New England Conservatory of Music, BM Jazz Piano Performance
Specialties: Jazz Piano, Piano, Jazz Ensemble
Divisions: Music
Scott Edmunds is an active Philadelphia based pianist, composer, and educator. Scott is a graduate of Temple University, where he studied under renowned pianists Bruce Barth and Josh Richman. While at Temple, Scott had the opportunity to work with many amazing instructors, such as Terell Stafford, Dick Oatts, Tim Warfield Jr., David Wong, Eric Alexander, and Elio Villafranca, among others.
Scott has performed with many influential musicians in the jazz field, such as Tim Warfield Jr., Wycliffe Gordon, and Dick Oatts, as well as with acclaimed musicians on the European scene, including Perico Sambeat. Scott has also performed at well known venues, including the Kimmel Center, Chris’ Jazz Cafe, South Jazz Club in Philadelphia, and Jamboree Jazz Club in Barcelona, Spain.
Regular Staff
Education: Temple University
Specialties: Piano
Divisions: Music
Sean Markey is a new member to the Settlement Music School’s faculty. In 2016 he graduated from Temple University’s Boyer School of Music in the top 5% of his class with a bachelor’s degree in Jazz Performance. Sean’s teachers include Tom Giacabetti, Terell Stafford, Dick Oatts, Bruce Barth, Greg Kettinger and Ben Schachter. Sean performs under his own name and is included on two records, one being the Temple University Jazz Orchestra Sinatra record. Sean was a Jazz Theory Tutor at Temple University where he worked primarily with a special needs student. Sean also currently teaches at The Philadelphia School and will be pursuing his Master’s Degree within the next year.
Regular
Education: Temple University's Boyer School of Music, BM Jazz Performance
Specialties: Classical Guitar, Electric Guitar, Guitar
Divisions: Music
Sharon Neff holds a Bachelor of Music Degree from Houghton College and a Master of Music Degree from Eastman School of Music. Previous teaching jobs include Gloucester County Christian School (2005-2016) and The Conservatory of Music and Dance (2013-2014). As a teacher, she places a strong emphasis on healthy vocal technique, and incorporates voice science into her teaching curriculum. She strongly believes that all singers should understand exactly how their instrument works, and use that knowledge to sing healthily throughout their entire lives. Equally active as a performer, Sharon has performed opera roles with Delaware Valley Opera, Opera New Jersey, Main Line Opera, and the New York Lyric Opera Theatre. She has also been featured as a church soloist throughout the South Jersey and Philadelphia areas.
Associate Staff
Education: Houghton College, BM; Eastman School of Music, MM
Specialties: Voice
Divisions: Music
A versatile singer comfortable in concert, oratorio and operatic repertoire, mezzo-soprano Sharon Rhinesmith has appeared as a soloist with The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Philadelphia Singers, Princeton Pro Musica, Opera Saratoga (formerly Lake George Opera), Taghkanic Chorale, The Music Group of Philadelphia, and ConcertOPERA Philadelphia among many others. She received her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Voice Performance from Temple University and has been teaching voice for over 30 years. In addition to her position at Settlement, she is also on the voice faculty at Cedar Crest College in Allentown and at Temple Music Preparatory division in Philadelphia.
Regular
Education: Temple University, BM and MM Voice Performance
Specialties: Voice
Divisions: Music
Assistant Teacher/Floater
Education: Bachelor's in Studio Art and Environmental Studies from Oberlin College
Specialties: Kaleidoscope
Divisions: Early Childhood
Shelley Beard received her Bachelor’s Degree from Peabody Conservatory, where she studied with Victoria Chiang and her Master’s Degree from Indiana University School of Music, where she studied with Atar Arad. She is also a graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy, where she studied with David Holland. Additionally, Ms. Beard studied with Heidi Castleman at Aspen Music Festival. Currently, Ms. Beard is the Program Director and a faculty member at Settlement Music School in Philadelphia, one of the nation’s oldest, largest, and most prestigious pre-collegiate schools of music.
As an active performer, Ms. Beard was a former and founding member of both the Tononi Quartet and the prize-winning Muhlenberg Piano Quartet performing at numerous national venues including The Curtis Institute of Music, The Juilliard School, Peabody Conservatory, Westminster Choir College, the Samuel Barber International Chamber Music Festival, Rampo College, etc.
Ms. Beard has extensive pedagogical training including a minor in Violin Pedagogy (focusing on Galamian, Rolland, Suzuki, and Gingold) from IU with Mimi Zweig; over 15 units of Suzuki training registered with the Suzuki Association of the America’s; and participation at the 2019 Dorothy Delay Symposium at The Juilliard School.
Ms. Beard has been honored to receive numerous teaching awards including the 2016 American Viola Society’s Maurice Riley Award; the 2018 Philadelphia Youth Orchestra’s Ovation Award; and the Suzuki Association’s Certificate of Achievement in 2009. Ms. Beard has served on the board of the Greater Philadelphia Suzuki Association and the Philadelphia Viola Society.
During the span of her more than 20-year career, Ms. Beard has founded and developed multiple successful precollege string programs and camps and has also taught at the collegiate level. Her students have gone to win top prizes in many national and international competitions including several sponsored by the American String Teacher’s Association and have been accepted to numerous musical organizations including The Juilliard School, Cleveland Institute of Music, Oberlin Conservatory, Peabody Conservatory, National Youth Orchestra, Perlman Music Program, etc.
Ms. Beard is also an active performer of electric and crossover genres, a sought after recording artist, and is featured on the original folk rock album “Pieces Of You And Me”. She actively seeks out opportunities to give her students multicultural musical experiences.
Shelley resides in Lansdowne with her husband Jim, her daughter Violet, and their four cats.
Special Arrangement
Education: Bachelor's Degree from Peabody Conservatory, Master's Degree from Indiana University, Interlochen Arts Academy
Specialties: Violin, Viola
Divisions: Music
Shira is an Early Childhood specialist who has been working with children for over 20 years. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Biomedical Art at Cleveland Institute of Art, and loves to work with all kinds of art. She comes from a musical family and learned to play several instruments including guitar, piano, and cello. Her classes utilize music and movement to help children learn and grow.
Regular
Education: Bachelor of Fine Arts in Biomedical Art at Cleveland Institute of Art
Specialties: Kaleidoscope
Divisions: Early Childhood
Shontaya Greer is the Assistant Teacher for Pre-School classroom seven at the Kaleidoscope Pre School Arts Enrichment Program at Settlement Music School. She holds an Associates degree in Early Childhood Education from the Community College of Philadelphia. She has been working at Settlement since September 2005. Greer has worked with children for over twelve years. She enjoys arts and crafts, shopping, and spending time with her son.
Assistant Teacher
Education: AA Early Childhood Education, Community College of Philadelphia
Specialties: Kaleidoscope Pre-K (PS 7)
Divisions: Early Childhood
Silas Stewart is a percussionist, composer and educator in the Philadelphia area. He earned a Bachelor of Music in Performance from Western Washington University. Major teachers include Rob Tucker, Dr. Patrick Roulette, and Thomas Lawton. He regularly performs in the jazz and contemporary music idioms in the Philadelphia area as well as at home in the Mountains of the West.
Education: Western Washington University, BM Percussion Performance
Specialties: Percussion
Divisions: Music
Violinist So Jung Choi was born in Seoul, Korea, where she began formal violin study at the age of 4. She graduated from Sang Myung University, Seoul Korea. She has served a violin teacher and instructor in Yongsan Junior Orchestra and many other youth orchestra in South Korea. She is currently studying in the masters program in Violin Performance and String Pedagogy with Dr. Timothy Schwarz at Rowan University. She enjoys working with children and sharing her love of the violin with them.
Regular
Education: Sang Myung University, BM; Rowan University, MM Violin Performance and String Pedagogy
Specialties: Violin
Divisions: Music
Stephani Bell earned her Bachelor and Master degrees from the Eastman School of Music in Performance and literature, is an alumna of the Juilliard School, and attended Northwestern University as a graduate teaching fellow under Gerardo Ribiero. Ms. Bell has held positions with the Rochester Philharmonic, the Portland Symphony, the New Hampshire Symphony and the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. While pursuing her career in the NY metropolitan area for several years she performed with and was a
member of such groups as the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the American Composer’s Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, the New Jersey Symphony, the New York Pops and several Broadway shows.
Stephani has most recently served on the faculty at The Conservatory in Doylestown as a violin and viola teacher, a professor of violin and viola at Summit University and held a position on the faculty at Lafayette College for several years as conductor of the Lafayette chamber orchestra, chamber music coach and professor of violin. As a chamber musician, she has performed with Classicopia of Dartmouth College, the Satori Ensemble, and is currently an active member of the Penn Strings Ensemble. Ms. Bell has taught at summer music camps for many years specializing in violin instruction, chamber music, orchestra coaching, and as a soloist at Cannon
Music Camp at Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina, the Luzerne Music Center in New York with Elizabeth Pitcairn, Classicopia Music Camp at Dartmouth college in New Hampshire and MADCAP music day camp in Allentown, PA. She has also performed in summer festivals including the Heidelgerg Opera Festival in Germany, the Spoleto festival in South Carolina and Spoleto Italy, and the Lake George Opera festival in New York.
Locally, Stephani performs with the Pennsylvania Sinfonia, the Bach Choir of Bethlehem, Penn Strings, and several other local ensembles while maintaining an active private teaching studio, teaching violin and viola to all ages.
Regular
Education: Eastman School of Music, The Juilliard School, Northwestern University
Specialties: Violin and Viola
Divisions: Music
Stephen Duffy is an alumnus of Settlement, having studied with Sandra Carlock and Yolanda Kulik. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance from Oberlin College and Conservatory, where he studied with Prof. Joseph Schwartz. Stephen has studied organ extensively as well and serves as organist at both Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church and Our Lady of Calvary Catholic Church, both in Philadelphia. He also performs as a piano soloist throughout the region and as part of the Cosgrove-Duffy Duo.
Staff
Education: Oberlin College and Conservatory, BM Piano Performance
Specialties: Piano
Divisions: Music
Sue Liedke received a double BA in Studio Art and Communications from Houghton College, and her MEd in Art Education from Tyler School of Art at Temple University. As an art educator Sue’s experience includes Family Arts Academy and Summer Art Camp at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Children’s Art Classes at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Visual Art Teacher at Settlement Music School’s Kaleidoscope and Kaleidoscope Plus programs. She is the recipient of a grant to incorporate technology into the classroom, allowing early learners to experiment with digital film-making and photography. Her classes at Settlement regularly collaborate with Philadelphia street artists, muralists, and local businesses, and she strives to incorporate contemporary artists and techniques into her lessons.
Artist Teacher
Education: Houghton College, BA Studio Art and Communications; Tyler School of Art at Temple University, MEd Art Education
Specialties: Kaleidoscope Pre-K (Art), Kailedoscope Plus
Divisions: Early Childhood
Suhae Lee was born in South Korea, and started to play the violin at the age of six. During her study in Busan High School of Arts, she moved to Russia and studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory where she received her Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees under professor Bladimir Yu. Ovcharek. Upon graduation, she moved to Europe and studied further under Ilya Grubert. After winning the Grand Prix Award in the 2002 IBLA Grand Prize in Italy, she was invited to Carnegie Hall. As a soloist, she performed with the Los Angeles Youth Orchestra (Walt Disney Concert Hall), Moscow Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, St. Petersburg Capella Symphony Orchestra, TPK Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg State Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, Hermitage State Orchestra, KBS Orchestra, Korea Philharmonic Orchestra, Busan Symphony Orchestra and Romania Ploiesti Orchestra.
Associate Staff
Education: St. Petersburg Conservatory, MM and DMA
Specialties: Violin, Viola
Divisions: Music
After completing a Bachelor of Music degree in Flute Performance at Chapman University, mezzo-soprano Susan Rheingans earned a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from California State University, Los Angeles. Susan performed extensively as a classical singer across the United States and in Europe and Asia, before settling in Pennsylvania and pursuing a teaching career. Susan continues to perform on the east coast in opera, concert and musical theater. Her post-graduate education includes seminars in Contemporary Commercial Music pedagogy at Shenandoah University and Musical Theater pedagogy at Penn State University.
Susan emphasizes strong vocal technique and the development of musical and interpretive skills in her studio, and her students perform in a number of different styles, including classical and musical theater. Her high school-age students are frequently awarded vocal scholarships, win in competition, participate in high school apprentice programs, are chosen for City, District, Regional and State honor choirs and perform leading roles in school musicals. Pre-professional students have been accepted into major conservatory and university vocal programs and have been awarded vocal merit scholarships, and adult students successfully participate in a number of community musical activities. For more information about Susan and her students, please visit her website.
Associate Staff
Education: Chapman University, BM Flute Performance; California State University, MM Vocal Performance
Specialties: Voice
Divisions: Music
Suzanne Sweeney started her musical career actively playing piano in her community and taking classical lessons and jazz classes at the HARTT School of Music. Following her undergraduate degree in music education and graduate degree in music performance, Suzanne Sweeney played locally and taught for several years in the West Philadelphia area, with experience leading professional development in the Philadelphia School District and the University of Pennsylvania. She was nominated twice and awarded the Lindback Teaching Award in 2014. She supports teaching her students perseverance, creativity, and expression through music.
Associate Staff
Education: Roberts Wesleyan College, BME; Rowan University, MM
Specialties: SATB High School Choir, Children's Music Playshop, Children's Music Workshop
Divisions: Music, Early Childhood
Tamara has been teaching piano at Settlement Music School since 1997. She earned her Master’s Degree in Piano Pedagogy from Moldavian State Conservatory and was fortunate to become a piano student of a well known, talented teacher Yevsey Zak . She participated in many trainings to deepen her teaching experience. Her desire to learn and teach music never ends. It gives her tremendous pleasure and a great feeling of satisfaction to see her students making consistent progress. For her, teaching piano is not a job- it’s a lifelong passion. She is proud to say that one of her piano students has been with her for 18 years and now drives from Maryland every Saturday. Music glued them together!
Regular
Education: Moldavian State Conservatory, MM Piano Pedagogy
Specialties: Piano
Divisions: Music
Teresa Cappello began her association with Settlement at the Germantown Branch as a 16 year old piano student of the late Irene Beck. Her teachers have included Jacques Voois, Jeanne Behrend and Lambert Orkis. After graduating from West Chester University with a B.S. in Music Education, Teresa obtained both Montessori and Dalcroze certificates and taught and developed music programs utilizing the Montessori philosophy. After completing graduate music therapy studies at Hahneman University, Teresa worked as a board certified music therapist with various populations, including persons with autism, developmental disabilities and adults living with mental health issues. She has also enjoyed being an accompanist and rehearsal pianist for regional musical theater and dance studios in the Philadelphia area. As a former accompanist for both the SMS Children’s Choir and Kardon Chorale, she collaborated in a music therapy study involving the first intergenerational choir between the school and the Germantown Home for Older Adults. Teresa presented the results of this study at a National Music Therapy Association conference in the early 2000s. Teaching piano to children, particularly those with special needs, has always been at the heart of her profession. Her other interests include antique shopping and flea marketing. She shares a home with her jazz bassist partner, Dennis, and their senior cat, Olivia.
Staff
Education: West Chester University, BS Music Education; Hahneman University
Specialties: Piano
Divisions: Music
Tessa Ellis has called Philadelphia home since 2011, when she joined David Bilger’s studio at Temple University and subsequently the Curtis Institute of Music. There, she completed a B.M. in 2017 and a Community Artist Fellowship Diploma in 2018. She has won the National Trumpet Competition as a soloist and with an ensemble and she placed as a finalist in the Ellsworth-Smith International Trumpet Competition. Tessa has taught trumpet, music theory, and general music to students aged 6 months- 80 years. As a teaching artist, Tessa strives to provide individualized instruction in a supportive learner-led environment. She is a founding member of the Arcana New Music Ensemble, whose mission is to play “beautiful, interesting and unconventional music in beautiful, interesting, and unconventional spaces.” She brings her preference for an unconventional aesthetic to her brass quintet, Opus 5, which will feature two works by living composers on its debut album.
Regular
Education: Curtis Institute of Music, BM
Specialties: Trumpet, Children's Music Playshop, Children's Music Workshop
Divisions: Music
Cellist Thomas Kraines has forged a multifaceted career, equally comfortable with avant-garde improvisation, new music, and traditional chamber music and solo repertoire. Mr. Kraines is the cellist of the Daedalus Quartet, and has also been heard with ensembles such as Music from Copland House, The Transformational Music Ensemble, the East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO), and the Network for New Music. An accomplished composer of chamber music, his works have been performed around the world. Mr. Kraines has taught at the Peabody Conservatory, the Longy School of Music, the Killington Music Festival, Yellow Barn, and Princeton University, and is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School.
Regular Special Arrangement Staff
Education: Curtis Institute of Music, BM Cello Performance; The Juilliard School, MM Cello Performance
Specialties: Chamber Music, Cello
Divisions: Music
Thomas Meany is a graduate of the University of the Arts, where he studied with Adeline Tomasone and Loren Lind, later studying with Harold Bennett in New York City. Tom recently completed his Master of Music at Rowan University. He has performed at the Aspen Music Festival, Summertrio Chamber Music Festival and the Puccini Opera Orchestra in Italy. Thomas has played master classes with leading flautist such as the late Murray Panitz, Chicago Symphony’s Donald Peck, Samuel Baron at New York University and Toshio Takahashi at the East Tennessee Suzuki Flute Institute. In addition to performing regularly with guitarist Michael Simmons and the Philadelphia Flute Quartet, Mr. Meany has performed in recital for the Matinee Music Club, the Philadelphia Cultural Council, the Flute Society of Greater Philadelphia, the Department of Recreation, Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour (PennPAT) and the Concerts on the Square at the Church of the Holy Trinity on Rittenhouse Square. He has played flute for the Opera Company of Philadelphia, Orchestra Society, the Haddonfield Symphony, and the Lansdowne Symphony. Mr. Meany is a Certified Suzuki Instructor and has recently received three consecutive scholarships from the Suzuki Association of the Americas. In addition to the Settlement Music School Tom also teaches at Saint Basil Academy and Springside Chestnut Hill Academy. He is a founding member of the Flute Society of Greater Philadelphia and has recently been named a Teaching Artist for Project 440. Tom plays a Brannen-Cooper Flute.
Staff
Education: University of the Arts, BM; Rowan University, MM
Specialties: Chamber Music, Flute, Suzuki
Divisions: Music
Assistant Teacher
Education: Bachelor's in Music Theory and Composition from SUNY New Paltz, Master's in Social Work from West Chester University
Specialties: Kaleidoscope
Divisions: Early Childhood
ToniAnn “Toni” Eisman has been working as an art therapist and counselor for three years, and is looking forward to her future as a clinician. She is dedicated to meeting her clients where they are at and allowing her clients’ creativity to take center stage. She is currently pursuing licensure in the tristate area, as well as a Ph.D in the Expressive Therapies through Lesley University. In her spare time, she loves to paint in her art studio, and play with her four pet bunnies.
CAT III Therapist
Education: Ph.D candidate in the Expressive Therapies through Lesley University
Specialties: Art Therapy
Divisions: Kardon Center for Creative Arts Therapy
Internationally renowned vibraphonist Tony Miceli has been performing steadily on the jazz scene since 1980. In All About Jazz, Vic Schermer describes him as … “a vibraphonist of astonishing virtuosity, musical resilience, and inventiveness. His vibes playing is nothing short of phenomenal.” Tony Miceli is the consummate versatile musician who is involved in a number of musical projects and recordings. An artist who performs throughout the world, Tony has played in countless jazz festivals, percussion festivals, jazz clubs, colleges, and even prisons. Traveling around the world, he has performed in Spain, Ireland, South Korea, Australia, Canada, Belgium, and Patagonia. Based in Philadelphia, he performs and leads vibraphone workshops throughout the USA including Colorado, North Dakota, Delaware, Idaho, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.
Regular Special Arrangement Staff
Education: University of the Arts, BM Performance
Specialties: Jazz Ensembles, Percussion
Divisions: Music
Vasiliy Kifyak holds a Master’s Degree in Conducting, Piano Accompaniment and Music Theory from the Professional Music School in Kishinev, Moldova, and studied at Music Academy of Moldova. As Conductor of the Philharmonic Society Doina Chorus, he traveled and presented concerts at halls throughout cities in Spain and Italy and has taught at independent schools and in other community venues throughout Philadelphia.
Staff
Education: Music Academy of Moldova; Professional Music School, MM Conducting, Piano Accompaniment, and Music Theory
Specialties: Piano, Musicianship
Divisions: Music
Faculty
Education: Bachelor's in Piano Performance from Saint Mary's University of Minnesota, Master's in Piano Pedagogy from Temple University
Specialties: Piano
Divisions: Music
Viktor Repik graduated from the Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of the Ukraine, under the tutelage of Leonid Perenesienko and Yuri Mazurkevich. After graduation, Viktor performed in the Symphony and Pop Orchestras of the Ukrainian Radio and Television Corporation, and taught violin and chamber music in local schools. Viktor then went on to join as faculty member at the Music Conservatory in Oulu, Finland. Once in the USA, Viktor performed in various orchestras such as the Reading Orchestra, Bucks County Orchestra, and the Delaware Valley Philharmonic. Viktor is also an accomplished accompanist and has served as the accompanist for the Princeton Ballet School.
Staff
Education: Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of the Ukraine, BM Violin Performance
Specialties: String Ensemble, Viola, Violin
Divisions: Music
Kaleidoscope Head Teacher
Education: Bachelors of Arts in Criminal Justice/Minor in Psychology from Temple University
Specialties: Kaleidoscope
Divisions: Early Childhood
Nebraska native Will Robbins specializes in lower strings and holds performance degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory and Yale University. Although new to the Settlement School, he has served as a teaching artist throughout Chicago, at an arts high school in Norway, in the public schools of New Haven, and for multiple iterations of an All-China youth festival in Guangzhou. Over two years, Will helped pilot the Citizen Musician fellowship program led by Yo-Yo Ma with the Chicago Symphony’s Civic Orchestra. Will recently spent a year serving as principal bass with the Arctic Philharmonic and Bodø Sinfonietta in northern Norway. His primary teachers include Scott Dixon and Tom Sperl of the Cleveland Orchestra, Alex Hanna of the Chicago Symphony, and Don Palma, a founding member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Equally comfortable in a variety of musical styles, Will has collaborated with cultural leaders including Edgar Meyer, Pierre Boulez, Yo-Yo Ma, Riccardo Muti, Wynton Marsalis, Will Crutchfield, and Stevie Wonder. Currently, Will is a member of the NYC-based “Teatro Nuovo” an opera company specializing in the bel canto style and will enjoy playing his first season this year with the Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra- Tempesta Di Mare.
MEP Faculty
Education: Performance Degrees from Oberlin Conservatory and Yale University
Specialties: Lower Strings
Divisions: Music Education Pathways
Bill Bonnell performs locally with orchestra and chamber groups. He is the K-12 Music Coordinator in the Phoenixville School District, where he directs the three concert bands, pit orchestra, and jazz ensemble at Phoenixville Middle School. Bill brings research-based practice and assessment strategies for musicians of any age to reach for peak performances. His teaching reflects the joy he has in sharing music with each student. Bill studied with Danny Carter of the National Symphony Orchestra, Ralph Lockwood at Arizona State University, and Randy Gardner of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Bill also performed for two summers at the Pierre Monteux School. He holds the B.M., M.M. degrees, and PA teaching certification from Temple University.
Associate Staff
Education: Temple University, BM and MM
Specialties: French Horn, Trombone, Trumpet, Baritone/Euphonium
Divisions: Music
Julian A. and Lois G. Brodsky Distinguished Faculty Chair
William Kerrigan received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from Temple University. His principal teachers include Alan Abel, Jack Moore, and Charles Owen. He has been principal percussion/assistant timpani of the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, principal percussion with Peter Nero and the Philly Pops, principal percussion of Orchestra2001, and leader of the Phil-A-Rhythm Percussion Quartet. He also performed at the Aspen Music Festival, backed up such musicians as Shirley Bassey, Art Garfunkel, Al Green, Michael Feinstein, the Moody Blues, Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, and performed in the orchestras of the Pennsylvania Ballet and the Opera Company of Philadelphia. In addition to being Distinguished Faculty Chair at Settlement, he also has taught or continues to teach at the Community College of Philadelphia, Eastern University, Swarthmore College and the Wilmington Music School.
Associate Staff
Education: Temple University, BM and MM
Specialties: Percussion
Divisions: Music
Violinist William Polk joined The Philadelphia Orchestra in October 2007. He previously served as associate principal second violin of the Minnesota Orchestra beginning in 2005. Prior to that he was guest principal second violin of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. He has also performed as an orchestral musician with the San Francisco Symphony and the Saint Louis Symphony.
Mr. Polk participated as a chamber musician in the Mainly Mozart Summer Festival in San Diego, California, in 2006, and the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society in Madison, Wisconsin. In January 2007 he and his wife, Kerri Ryan, now assistant principal viola of The Philadelphia Orchestra, performed as soloists in Mozart’s Sinfonia concertante with the Minnesota Orchestra. Together, they founded and performed with the Minneapolis Quartet from 2002 to 2007, and they won a McKnight Artist Fellowship in 2006.
Mr. Polk attended Louisiana State University and the University of Minnesota, and his teachers have included Sally O’Reilly and Camilla Wicks.
Education: Louisiana State University; University of Minnesota
Specialties: Chamber Music
Divisions: Music
Regular
Education:
Specialties: Musicianship
Divisions: Music
William S. Cahn, born in Cleveland, Ohio, studied percussion with Cloyd Duff and Robert Pangborn, of the Cleveland Orchestra. During high school, he began teaching private lessons to beginners. While studying at the Eastman School of Music with William Street, he taught for the Rochester, NY School System. After graduating from Eastman with a Bachelor’s Combination Degree in Performance/Music Education, he became timpanist of the United States Air Force Band in Washington, D.C. While there, he continued studying for a Master of Music Degree in Performance from Catholic University of America. He also studied percussion with Alan Abel of the Philadelphia Orchestra, who was head of the Percussion Department at Settlement Music School. Freelance performing has included Ambler Choral Society, Bach and Handel Chorale, Greater Trenton Symphony, Musica 2000 Symphony and the H.B. Smith Cornet Band. William has taught at Settlement Music School since January 1969 and taught at Cardinal Dougherty High School from 1971 to 1997.
Associate Staff
Education: Eastman School of Music, BM Performance/Music Education; Catholic University of America, MM Performance
Specialties: Percussion
Divisions: Music
Younkyung Kim is an avid educator and a versatile performer. She is currently a Doctor of Music candidate at Indiana University where she earned her Master of Music. She holds a B.M. from Oberlin Conservatory.
Younkyung’s teaching carries the influence of distinguished pianists and pedagogues from around the world. Her students have been accepted to prestigious music schools, and have won prizes in national and international competitions. Her teaching career spans from institutions such as Indiana University to Kabarak University (Kenya) where she’s had the pleasure of working with students of a broad range of cultures, personalities, ages, and learning styles.
Younkyung enjoys performing at national and international concert venues as a soloist and chamber musician. She loves playing the piano, harpsichord, and organ. Her repertoire consists of a wide range of keyboard works from William Byrd to George Crumb.
Younkyung enjoys her free time learning French, cooking, and playing games!
Regular
Education: B.M, M.M in Piano Performance, D.M candidate
Specialties: Piano
Divisions: Music
Yvette Dorsey is an assistant pre-kindergarten classroom teacher at Settlement Music School. She holds an associate degree in Early Childhood Education from the Community College of Philadelphia and has worked with children for over eight years. She is a firm believer that each child can learn at his/her own pace. She is a member of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. Additionally, she has gone through extensive training to become a certified treatment foster parent. She has cared for several families over the years and in the last two and a half years, has been caring for four siblings. Mollett has one biological son, Joseph, and a husband, Maurice.
Assistant Teacher
Education: Community College of Philadelphia, AA Early Childhood Education
Specialties: Kaleidoscope Pre-K (PS 6)
Divisions: Early Childhood
Zachary Poyatt graduated from the University of the Arts in 2009 with a BM in Jazz Guitar Performance. There he studied with Scott McGill, Tom Giacobetti, and Matt Davis, and participated in masterclasses with Jimmy Bruno, Vic Juris, and Pat Martino. While in high school, he was a student of Gerry Kunkel, guitar chair at the University of Maryland College Park, and took piano and theory lessons from Dr. Mark Cook, director of music theory and composition at Shepherd University. Zachary has played with a wide variety of Philadelphia bands and enjoys teaching a range of styles including jazz standards, funk, pop-rock, folk, and traditional music. Most recently, he performed a top 40 pop repertoire for four years at Howl At The Moon, totaling over 1,000 shows. Zachary loves Philadelphia and enjoys spending time with the friends he has met through the vibrant music community in the city.
Regular
Education: University of the Arts, BM Jazz Guitar Performance
Specialties: Classical Guitar, Electric Bass, Electric Guitar, Jazz Guitar, Suzuki Guitar
Divisions: Music
Faculty
Education: Bachelor's in Viola Performance from Peabody Conservatory, Master's in Viola Performance from California Institute of the Arts
Specialties: Viola
Divisions: Music
What We Do
We designed our flexible, best-in-class programming in music, dance, and creative arts therapy with our students in mind.
History
Settlement has served as a community hub and trusted resource for music and the creative arts since 1908.
Our Branches
Our six branches serve the Greater Philadelphia region, ensuring that excellence in arts education is available to all, regardless of location.