Faculty

Dr. Larry Lipkis is the Bertha Mae Starner ’27 and Jay F. Starner Professor of Music and Composer in Residence at Moravian University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He has been a full time faculty member since 1979 and served as Chair of the Music Department from 1997-2000. As Composer-in-Residence, Dr. Lipkis supervises the students in the Bachelor of Music program. This includes giving individual and group lessons in composition and directing the annual Moravian University Composers' Concert.  Five of Dr. Lipkis’ works have been recorded on CD. His bass trombone concerto was premiered in 1997 by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and his bassoon concerto was premiered by the Houston Symphony in 2002. He performs with the Baltimore Consort, an internationally acclaimed early music ensemble specializing in popular music from Shakespeare’s time. The group has made 12 CDs on the Dorian label and maintains an active touring schedule of 25 to 30 concerts per year.  Dr. Lipkis is on the Board of Managers of the Bach Choir of Bethlehem and for the past eight years and is a Music Director for the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival.

Dr. Neil Wetzel is Professor of Music, Director of Jazz Studies, and Chair of the Music Department at Moravian College; his duties include teaching saxophone, directing the Moravian College BIG Band, and overseeing the jazz studies program. He holds both a Bachelor of Music (Jazz) and Master of Arts in Teaching degrees from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. He received his EdD at Teacher's College, Columbia University; his studies there focused on learning theories and jazz pedagogy. As founder and music director of Moravian College’s summer music camp, July Jazz Getaway, Mr. Wetzel has shared the stage with many jazz greats such as Clark Terry, Ravi Coltrane, Al Grey, Terrell Stafford, Milt Grayson, Stanley Turrentine, and Bobby Watson.

Dr. Wetzel has been featured performer and guest clinician at festivals in the U.S. and Europe. He has appeared as soloist at the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA) Conference (2007 and 2008), and the International Jazz Education Association
(IAJE) Conference in Toronto (2003). He has also played and taught at the Lana Jazz Festival in Lana, Italy (2005) as well as the Karel Velebny Jazz Workshop in Frydlant, Czech Republic (2006-2017). He has performed in many jazz clubs including: The Deer Head Inn (PA), Jazz Base (PA), Shanghai Jazz (NJ), Zanzibar Blue, and Chris’ Jazz Cafe (both in Phila.). He has also worked extensively in Europe playing at CoffeeArt (Berlin, Germany) and also at Agharta, U Maleho Glena, Reduta, U Stare Pani, and Jazz Dock jazz clubs (all in Prague, Czech Rep.).

In addition to his duties as the director of Moravian College’s BIG Band, he also is the director of big bands at the Karel Velebny Summer Jazz Workshop (Letní jazzová dílna Karla Velebného) in the Czech Republic. The camp’s “5:00 Big Band” recorded and released the CD Midnight in Frydlant under Wetzel’s direction in 2016. He also directs (and founded) the SteelStacks All-Star High School Jazz Band, has been invited to direct the Berks All-Star High School Jazz Ensemble (2008 & 2013), the PMEA District 9 Jazz Band (2001 and 2010), and PMEA District 10 Jazz Band (2018). He is in demand as an adjudicator for music festivals and competitions.

As a performer, he has backed many of the great performers in show business including: Tony Bennett, Natalie Cole, Bob Hope, Johnny Mathis, Bernadette Peters, Tommy Tune, the Temptations and the Four Tops. He has also appeared with the Philly Pops Orchestra including a performance with singer Patti Page in Carnegie Hall, which was recorded and released on CD by DRG records and won the 1999 Grammy for best Pop Traditional Performance.

Wetzel has released two CDs as leader; Cowboys in Capes was released September 2014 along with an accompanying website that offers jazz pedagogy materials. (www.neilwetzel.com). Misunderestimated, was released in January 2010. Both CD’s feature original jazz compositions and jazz covers presented in a variety of styles and instrumental combinations.

His other recording credits include four CD’s with jazz pianist Eric Mintel (Live, Hopscotch, Dynamo and Four on the Floor), Introducing the Jazz Faculty at Moravian College (as producer and performer), and Simone on Simone (released on Koch Records) featuring the jazz singer, Simone with the Rob Stoneback Big Band. He has also recorded and toured with the Rosta Fras—Skip Wilkins IQ; the International Quintet. This group is made up of American and Czech jazz musicians and has toured Central Europe and the US. The group’s first CD, Frydlant Nights, was recorded and released by the Czech Radio Prague label in 2010.

Wetzel also plays with the Phil Woods Celebration Saxophone Quartet and the Water Gap Jazz Orchestra (Deer Head Inn). His most recent recordings include After Midnight in Frydlant; the Neil Wetzel—Gary Rissmiller and 5 O’Clock Big Band (released in 2016 on the Arta record label, based in the Czech Republic), and The Saxophone Music of Phil Woods; Celebration Saxophone Quartet (released 2017 on the Minsi Ridge label).

Dr. Paula Ring Zerkle is a Professor of Music and the Director of Vocal Music at Moravian University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She conducts Moravian University Choir, Chorale, Women's and Men's Chorus, and Vocalis, a small a cappella choral ensemble. She teaches conducting and musicianship and on and off for 15 years has been the faculty advisor to Delta Omicron, an international music honors fraternity. Zerkle is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of California at Berkeley with a B. A. in Music and French. She received two M. M. degrees in choral and orchestral conducting from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and has a doctorate in choral music from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.

Zerkle is an adjudicator, clinician, and guest conductor for choral festivals, competitions, and workshops in Pennsylvania and surrounding areas. She is a member of the American Choral Directors Association, College Music Society, International Alliance for Women in Music, International Federation for Choral Music, and the Music Educators’ National Conference, and has been nominated for two awards by the Conductors’ Guild. Zerkle was a member of the board of the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Choral Directors Association for two years, where she organized the annual World Music Honor Choir. Before coming to Moravian, she taught and conducted at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho and Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio.

Carole Lutte is currently an Assistant Professor of Practice in Music and Supervisor of the Music Education Program at Moravian University where she teaches undergraduate courses for the Music and the Education Departments, in the areas of music education curriculum design and methods.  She is the advisor to the PCMEA Chapter of future music educators at Moravian University.  In June 2018, she retired after 33 years as an instrumental music teacher in the Easton Area School District where she directed the high school marching band, concert band, wind ensemble, symphony orchestra, string ensemble, jazz ensemble, chamber string ensemble and the pit orchestra for the school musical, as well as taught the Music History and Jazz Improv/Arranging courses.  Under her direction the EAHS instrumental groups have performed in eleven states, the District of Columbia, Germany and Denmark.  Professor Lutte serves as a guest conductor as well as adjudicator. Most recently she has conducted: 2022 Berks County Junior High Band Festival - District 10, Kutztown Area High School; 2019 Pennsylvania Music Education Association District 12 Intermediate Band Festival, Oxford Area School District; 2018 Kutztown University String Day, Kutztown, PA;  2010 Middle Grades Band Festival - Dingman Ferry Middle School, PA; 2009 Pennsylvania Music Education Association District 10 Intermediate String Festival-Parkland High School, Orefield, PA. 

She has served as the PMEA District 10 President as well as the Chairperson for the Region/State Orchestra for PMEA District 10. She was inducted into the National High School Band Director Hall of Fame in 2005,the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association Distinguished Educator Award in 2016 and the Easton Area School District Wall of Fame Award for distinguished service through music to the Easton Area School District in 2018. She was recognized as an Outstanding Teacher by Lehigh University College of Education and by the Education Visionary Awards.  Professor Lutte holds both a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Music Education from West Chester University. 

Ms. Lutte’s professional affiliations include the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA), the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), and the Pennsylvania State Educators Association (PSEA). 

Moravian University Artist-in-Residence & platinum recording artist, Suzanne Kompass, is an extraordinarily versatile performer whose talent encompasses all genres of music with equal facility, whether Opera, Operetta, Art-Song or the classics of Broadway.

Her operatic repertoire is extensive and includes the roles of Susanna (Marriage of Figaro) Marguerite (Faust) Mannon (Mannon) Pamina (Magic Flute)  Norina (Don Pasquale) Rosina (Barber of Seville)  Anna (Merry Widow) Mimi (La Boheme)  and Violetta (La Traviata).

In oratorio and symphonic repertoire, her performances have included; Bach’s St. John Passion, B Minor Mass, Magnificat & Christmas Oratorio, Beethoven’s 9^TH Symphony,  Bernstien’s Mass, Bizet’s Te Deum, Brahm’s Requiem, Dvorak’sMass in D, Elgar’s Coronation Ode, Faure’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah & Israel In Egypt, Haydn’s The Creation, Mass To St. Theresa, Coronation Mass, Mass In Time Of War and Nelson Mass, Mozart’s Requiem & Solemn Vespers Schubert’sMass In G and Mass In A Major, Vaughan William’s Sea Symphony & Serenade To Music and Vivaldi’s Gloria.

Suzanne has appeared as guest soloist in many music festivals, including the Spoleto Festival’s of Charleston (South Carolina) Spoleto (Italy) and the Huntsville Festival, Canada. Her engagements in the U.S.A. & Canada have included concerts with the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Westminster Festival Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra, the Trillium Series and the Naples Philharmonic.

She has worked with luminary conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Carlo Maria Guilini, Robert Shaw, Erich Kunzel, Joseph Flummerfelt, Martin Katz, Gian Carlo Menotti, Christian Badea, Riccardo Muti, Daniel Barenboim and Elmer Iseler.

She has collaborated with leading composers including Gian Carlo Menotti, Peter Schickele, Jack Behrens, and Sean O’Boyle. New music concerts include music of John Cage, Albert Fischer and Olivier Messiaen.

Suzanne recorded the platinum selling album A Christmas Homecoming with Canadian Jazz Composer Hagood Hardy culminating with multiple sell-out concerts & TV appearances with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

In 2009/10 Suzanne spent a year in Australia and made her Sydney Opera House debut, and performed with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Australian Pops Orchestra, Queensland Pops Orchestra, Barrier Reef Orchestra and the Australian Shakespeare Festival.  She also appeared in the acclaimed hit show Scotland the Brave that was filmed for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the DVD release achieved Gold status within weeks. 

Suzanne also appeared with the Australian superstar of jazz, James Morrison and sang with Gregory Moore & Adam Lopez to huge acclaim.

Whilst in Australia, Suzanne co/produced and guest starred on the Gregory Moore hit Album “I Dreamed of You” with composer Sean O'Boyle and worked as a music coach on the feature film A Heartbeat Away.

Performance highlights of 2011-2016 include: world premiere of Sean O'Boyle's Requiem with the Glenn Ridge Choral Society; Soloist in Rossini's Stabat Mater; soloist in the Poulenc Gloria; 2 month Australian tour with the Queensland Balletperforming the role of “the night club singer” in the ballet Cloudland; vocal coach and featured soloist for the education Queensland’s televised stadium event Creative Generations 2012/13/14/15; USA premiere of Israeli composer Rami Bar-Niv's song cycle Longing for my Father with the Concord Chamber Orchestra (WI) and the world premiere of  Conflict, Sadness, Victory, Resolution  for Soprano & Orchestra by Sean O'Boyle a role she reprised for the 2014 Moravian Music Conference in Bethlehem, PA. As a recitalist, Suzanne has appeared in the USA, Canada and Australia.  Suzanne is the director of the Moravian University, Song and Stagecraft Ensemble and the Opera Ensemble.

Suzanne Kompass is the 2013 Moravian University Music Department recipient of the T. Edgar Shields Prize for "excellence in studio teaching.” Suzanne is a master voice teacher with students on 3 continents, many who are working professionally in Opera, Broadway and Theatre.

Dr. JoAnn Wieszczyk is the Director of Instrumental Music at Moravian University. She conducts the Wind Ensemble, teaches courses in music history and theory, and directs the Moravian Greyhound Marching Band.

Wieszczyk earned a Doctorate of Music in Conducting: Band & Wind Ensemble from the University of Michigan. During her time at Michigan she has assisted the concert and athletic bands as a graduate student instructor. Wieszczyk also earned a Master of Music in Wind Band Conducting from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities with secondary areas of study in choral conducting and arranging. She has a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Temple University with a Concentration in Flute.

Prior to pursuing graduate degrees, Wieszczyk was the Director of Bands at the Philadelphia Performing Arts Charter: A String Theory School. A founding member of the Saint Francis University Marching Band staff, she served as the woodwind assistant at each summer band camp from 2012–2016. Additionally, Wieszczyk helped establish Settlement Music School’s first band ensemble with the Music Education Pathways Program.

She is a member of the College Band Director's National Association (CBDNA), National Association for Music Education, and Kappa Kappa Psi. She also performs with the South Jersey Flute Choir.

Awarded the Order of Australia (AM) in 2015, New York/Bethlehem based Australian composer, conductor & master orchestrator, Sean O’Boyle, has conducted recordings and concerts with many leading Australian and international orchestras, including the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Barrier Reef Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra, Queensland Pops Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Dortmund Konzert, Lexington Philharmonic, Auckland Philharmonia, Malaysian Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic and the BBC Concert Orchestra . His compositions & orchestrations have been performed and or recorded by all the major Australian orchestras; European Orchestras include - Berlin Philharmonic, Orchestre Symphonique Divertimento. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra and North American Orchestras include - the Atlanta Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, Concord Chamber Orchestra, Tacoma Symphony Orchestra, Spartanburg Philharmonic, Edmonton Symphony and the Cincinnati Pops.

Sean has written for, conducted, directed and collaborated with many artists including; Dame Evelyn Glennie, Adam Lopez, James Morrison, The Whitlams, Tommy Emmanuel, Kate Ceberano, Yvonne Kenny, Teddy Tahu-Rhodes, Suzanne Kompass, David Hobson, Riley Lee, Jane Rutter, David Campbell, Gregory Moore and the electric string trio MASKE.  He has written and produced music for more than 100 CDs recorded in collaboration with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.  He has twice received the coveted ABC Golden Manuscript Award for his work as a composer and his projects have received numerous ARIA (Australian GRAMMY) nominations & awards.

Sean has a keen interest in the music of indigenous Australians and in 2001 he collaborated with didgeridoo maestro, William Barton, in composing his Concerto for Didgeridoo & Orchestra.  This concerto was ranked #32 in the ABC Classic FM “The Classic 100 Concertos” & #87 in ABC Classic 100 - 20th Century.

Sean is a master orchestrator and has contributed much to the concert platform, opera & ballet. As a Conductor, Sean has performed in concert halls as diverse as the iconic Sydney Opera House - Avery Fischer Hall (NYC) – Queens Hall (London) – Roy Thompson Hall (Toronto) and great concert spaces under the stars in Australia.

In 2002, he was featured exclusively at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) where his compositions were performed live for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. In 2000, Sean composed the ABC’s Olympic theme for use during the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Broadcast, which was subsequently performed for the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester and the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

In 2009 Sean wrote & arranged music for “The Ashes”– the greatest cricketing event in the world. His setting of the Anthem “Jerusalem” was selected as an official anthem of the 2014 Rugby League World Cup.

In 2014 Sean was appointed Chief Arranger & Composer in Residence of the Queensland Pops Orchestra. In 2015 he was appointed Patron of the Music Arrangers' Guild of Australia.

Sean and his wife Suzanne, have a home in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where they are Artists-In-Residence at the USA's 6th oldest University, Moravian University, teaching composition, recording arts, orchestration, film music and jazz clarinet. He is the 2015 Moravian University Music Department recipient of the T. Edgar Shields Prize for "excellence in studio teaching.” In 2016 Moravian University awarded Sean Doctor of Music in recognition for his work and achievements.

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John S. Arnold is presently the guitar instructor at Moravian University where he teaches private lessons (classical, flamenco, lute, fingerstyle), guitar ensemble, flute & guitar ensemble, guitar literature & guitar pedagogy. Prior to this position he taught guitar at Bennington College in Vermont. As a soloist and chamber musician, he has performed with numerous ensembles and venues including the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra, Allentown Symphony Orchestra, Sage City Symphony, Satori, Two Part Invention, Gabriel Chamber Ensemble, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Kennedy Center, Musikfest, Wall Guitar Festival, Bach-Handel Festival, Philadelphia Classical Guitar Series, Festival of the Human Voice, HCC Guitar Mini-Fest, Hartt International Guitar Festival, and on national public radio & television.

In 2002, John was awarded the T. Edgar Shields Prize for distinguished studio instruction at Moravian University where his students have won many competitions including the MU Concerto Competition and the prestigious GFA Competition (Youth Division). From 2000-2012, he founded and directed the Bethlehem Guitar Festival, bringing to the Lehigh Valley some of the most outstanding guitarists the world has to offer. In 2011, Shenandoah Conservatory presented John with the Alumnus of Excellence Award, recognizing alumni for doing outstanding work in their field. In addition to teaching and performing, John has been a judge for numerous guitar competitions including the Schadt String Competition, Philadelphia Classical Guitar Competition, John & Susie Beatty Competition, and Godfrey Daniels.

Mr. Arnold holds an Artist Diploma degree from the Hartt School, University of Hartford, where he studied with Richard Provost; Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Guitar Performance and Guitar Pedagogy from Shenandoah Conservatory of Shenandoah University, where his major teacher was Glenn Caluda. Mr. Arnold has recorded several CD’s and published arrangements for guitar with ClearNote Publications and Guitar Chamber Music Press.

Matthew Asti is a pianist and vocalist in the Lehigh Valley. His studies of Yoga and YogaVoice® have helped shape himself and his students into versatile musicians capable of powerful technique and authentic musical expression.

As an undergraduate, Matthew attended a conservatory in England that broadened his knowledge of music through studies of jazz, composition, and community outreach. This culminated in his “Freedom Through Singing” project, which brought free music classes to mental health patients in West Yorkshire. His postgraduate voice studies in Wales focused on children’s voice, spoken voice, motivation theory, Italian opera, acoustics, and ultimately Mongolian & western polyphonic singing.

Currently, Matthew teaches voice and provides music direction at The Pennsylvania Youth Theatre. He can also be seen performing throughout the tri-state area with his jazz duo, “Two for Tea”. Matthew holds a master’s degree in voice pedagogy from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, a bachelor's degree in jazz piano from the Leeds Conservatoire, as well as Yoga and Yogavoice® teacher certifications.

Sarah Baer is an active oboist, music scholar, and educator in the Lehigh Valley. Ms. Baer earned a Bachelor's Degree in Music Performance from Moravian University, where she studied with Carol Temlin and David B. Diggs. Graduate work was completed at Brandeis University where Ms. Baer was awarded a joint M.A. in Music History and Women's and Gender Studies after completing a thesis on the life and work of Margret Ruthven Lang, the first American women composer to have her orchestral works performed. Ms. Baer can be heard throughout the Lehigh Valley as a soloist, and has also performed internationally with the New Jersey Youth Symphony. Her continued academic interests in musicology, and the history of women in music, include educating about and advocating for the performance of works by women composers.

Wendy Bickford is a former clarinetist with "The President’s Own" United States Marine Band in Washington, D.C.  During her tenure in the Marine Band, Wendy was an active soloist and chamber musician and was busy giving masterclasses and participating in several outreach programs across the states.  She is principal clarinet of the Bozeman Symphony Orchestra, utility clarinet in the Billings Symphony, and has been performing regularly with Philadelphia area orchestras and chamber groups such as Symphony in C.  Other experiences include performances with orchestras and opera companies such as the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, the NOW Ensemble in D.C., and Intermountain Opera Company in Bozeman, MT.

Wendy is on the music faculty at Moravian University and maintains a private teaching studio in both the Montana and Philadelphia communities. She also contributes to Play On Philly's Marian Anderson Young Artist Program.  Recently, Wendy was visiting Professor of Clarinet at the University of Montana and established a successful clarinet ensemble program for the middle school and high school students in the Billings, Montana community.

She is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Temple University, studying with Ricardo Morales of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Wendy earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the Peabody Institute and a Master of Music degree from the University of Northern Colorado. Her other prominent teachers include Mark Nuccio, Yehuda Gilad, Bill Jackson, and Edward Palanker.

Douglas R. Bolasky holds the Bachelor of Science degree in music education from Mansfield State College and the Master of Music Education degree from Northern Michigan University. He has done additional graduate work at Wilkes College, Duquesne University, University of the Arts, and earned music supervisory certification from Penn State University.

Doug is the retired band and orchestra director for Southern Lehigh High School, a post he held for 26 years. His responsibilities at Southern Lehigh included concert band, marching band, jazz band, string orchestra, full orchestra, and pit orchestras for the Broadway musical productions. In addition to his instrumental responsibilities, he also taught music listening, two levels of music theory (including Music Theory AP) and elementary string and band instrument lessons. He was the chair of the SL Music Department from 1990 to 2015.

His performing credits as a bass trombonist and tubist include area concert bands, orchestral work, pit orchestras, jazz bands, church music, trombone choirs and brass quintets.

Long active in community bands in the Lehigh Valley, he was the director of the Macungie Band from 1984 to 2009, during which time the band released their first-ever commercial recordings and founded a successful series of concerts with the renowned theatre organist Dwight Beacham. Doug is currently the assistant conductor for the Allentown Band and the Macungie Band.

He has composed and arranged ensemble music for various combinations of brass instruments, as well as bassoon quartets and quintets, all of which are published by Cimarron Music Press of New London, CT. His catalogue of compositions and arrangements for string orchestra is published by Lehigh Valley Digital Music Press, LLC.

He is a life member of the Association of Concert Bands, and holds memberships in the American Federation of Musicians, ASCAP, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. As a member of the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association, Doug was President of PMEA District 10 and served on the PMEA State Board. Since 2015 he has been Editorial Committee Chair and the editor of their quarterly professional journal, The PMEA News.

John Bottomley has been piping for close to 60 years, and performs, teaches, and judges at events all around the country. His college teaching resume includes the United States Military Academy, Villanova, and Eastern University as well as Moravian University. He has made a special study of older settings of piobaireachd, and is currently working with the Library of Congress transcribing Alan Lomax’s British field-study journals.

Ralph E. Brodt, III is an artist-lecturer of trombone and low brass at Moravian University and Muhlenberg College. He has been an instructor of music for over 40 years. A graduate of Moravian University, he had studied with Dr. Henry Schmidt, Donald Spieth, and Richard Schantz. Nazareth Music Center, a family owned store is where Ralph spends a majority of his time in instrument sales/repairs, and privately teaching low brass students. Prior to that, he was the Director of Music at Allentown Central Catholic High School. Ralph proudly served as a captain in the USMC. He had the honor of conducting the Basic School’s Men’s Chorus and performing at the National Cathedral in Washington. Ralph performs with many area orchestras, including the Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra, PA Sinfonia, Allentown Symphony, Bach Festival Orchestra, and Lehigh University. Ralph has played for legendary performers such as Bobby Vinton, Don Rickles, Marilyn Horn, Barbara Cook, and Monica Mancini. He has been honored to share the stage with his talented peers, as well as musicians such as Ken Brader, Rick Braun, Bob Grausso, and Bill Watrous. Ralph performs with many various small ensembles, concert bands, and big bands throughout the Lehigh Valley. He performs with professional pit orchestras for colleges and theatre groups throughout the Valley, and also conducts orchestras for local high schools productions. Since it resurrection 23 years ago, Ralph has conducted the Nazareth Area Community Band, one of the area's oldest community bands. In his leisure time, Ralph enjoys arranging music for various ensembles, performing with his family quartet, home improvement projects, spending time with his canine companion, and traveling with his wife.

Tony DeSantis received his Bachelor’s degree in Jazz Performance from the University of the Arts. Since then, Tony has been active in the Philadelphia music scene for over forty years. In the past he has performed with the Woody Herman Orchestra, the Artie Shaw Orchestra and the Glenn Miller Orchestra. He has also performed with jazz notables such as Slide Hampton, J J Johnson, Al Grey, Bill Watrous, Clark Terry, Jon Faddis, Richie Cole, Frank Foster, Stanley Turrentine, Lockjaw Davis, Bob Mintzer, Joey DeFrancesco, Charles Earland, Trudy Pitts, Don Patterson, Natalie Cole and Freddy Cole and Johnny Mathis . Tony can be found on recordings with jazz artist Clark Terry, Phil Woods, Buddy DeFranco, Denis DiBlasio, John Swana, Larry McKenna and Robben Ford, Tony is currently playing with The Eleventet, the Captain Black Big Band, the Larry McKenna Jazz Orchestra, City Rhythm Orchestra, Dave Stahl Big Band and Chico’s Vibe. He also is currently teaching at Moravian University, Swathmore College and Saint Joseph University.

Joseph Doucette received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Hartt School and his Master of Music degree from Temple University. He has studied violin and viola with Hirono Oka, Ana Tsinadze, Anton Miller, and Robert dePasquale, and has had lessons with Barbara Gavotos, William dePasquale, and Gregory Fulkerson. He is a certified Suzuki teacher, having trained through books 7 with James Hutchins, Christie Felsing, and Martha Shackford. He has played with the Hartt Symphony Orchestra, as well as held principle positions with the Temple University Orchestra, and has toured Peru with Instrumentos de Albanza. He has interned with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, and served as a management assistant with the Ambler Academy of Music. Currently, Joseph is an artist-lecturer in Suzuki violin at Moravian University, and regularly performs with the Doucette Quartet/Trio. His background as an orchestra member, chamber musician, and freelancer, has shown him how important it is to teach and share the music that he loves with his students. Joseph believes that with motivation, encouragement, and exposure to fine music, any child can learn the skills and patience it takes to study a string instrument.

Inna obtained her B.A.in music and her Masters from the Moscow Conservatory. Upon graduating, she held the position of Assistant Concertmaster with the Richerkar Chamber Orchestra and then with the State Symphony Orchestra in Moscow where she also was Assistant Concertmaster. With the State Symphony she performed in many of the major countries of Europe including Austria, Germany, Italy, and Spain.

After coming to the United States in 1991 Ms. Eyzerovich played with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, the Nassau Symphony Orchestra, and the Hartford Symphony where she was Concertmaster of the Core Orchestra.

In 1994 she came to the Lehigh Valley. She is now a member of the Reading Symphony, the Pennsylvania Sinfonia, the Moravian String Quartet, the Bach Festival Orchestra, and is currently Assistant Concertmaster of the Allentown Symphony. She has been on the faculty at Moravian University for twelve years and has a private violin studio. Her students have won awards at the Voorhees Competition, the Friends of Music of Bethlehem Competition, the District, Regional, State and National Orchestras.

Besides music, Ms. Eyzerovich loves cats, gardening and books.

Saxophonist, flutist, clarinetist, and jazz composer Tony Gairo keeps an active calendar of professional performances, engagements, sessions, and shows while maintaining busy teaching studios at Moravian, Muhlenberg, Lafayette and Mercer County Community Colleges, and Music Forte Music School. A 22-year member of the Jazz Faculty at Moravian, he has directed Jazz Combo 1 since 1998 and was awarded the T. Edgar Shields Prize for Distinguished Studio Instruction in 2006. He has directed and conducted the Big Band at Muhlenberg since 2009 and is a former Vice President of the Pennsylvania Jazz Collective (2015-18). A graduate of Temple University (B.M. Jazz Saxophone Performance), Tony performs with some of the best and most successful musicians in the industry including Johnny Mathis, Clay Aiken, the Temptations, the Four Tops, Bob Dorough, and Maria Schneider and has appeared on stage with such luminaries as Phil Woods, Natalie Cole, Al Martino, David “Fathead” Newman, and Bud Shank, among others. Voted the 2004 Jazz Musician of the Year – Lehigh Valley (PA) by Pulseweekly Magazine, he has composed more than 120 works for Jazz Orchestra including The Real Book of Gig (2012), a jazz opera, Collaboration (2007), a jazz ballet, The Never-Ending Saga of Elli and Griff (2013), a jazz suite featuring Phil Woods, and an album, Treacherous (2005), on Sea Breeze Jazz Records which was nominated for a Grammy nomination. Mr. Gairo is an alumnus of the prestigious BMI Jazz Composer’s Workshop in New York City (2001-2006) where several of his compositions for Big Band were premiered. He conducted the BMI (NY) Jazz Composer’s Orchestra in concert at Merkin Hall, New York in 2003, 2004, and 2005. Whether as sideman or leader, Tony “gigs” several nights a week and records in disparate musical settings throughout the Northeast Corridor of the United States, primarily in and around the Lehigh Valley of PA, the Greater Philadelphia region, and Princeton NJ with such ensembles as the Franklin Alison Orchestra, the Rob Stoneback Big Band, Band From Mars (a David Bowie Tribute), the Hoppin’ John Orchestra, Swing Easy, Philadelphia Funk Authority, Marah, duos with pianist/vocalist Lou Lanza and guitarist Jason Wolbach, and his own Cross Current Big Band whose book is comprised entirely of his works for Jazz Orchestra. Tony leads the Hot 3, a jazz repertoire ensemble, in addition to various jazz trios, quartets, and quintets. He is immensely grateful to have had the good fortune and resilience to have made a career of music and absolutely loves what he does for a living.

Composer and pianist with a B.A. in Music from Rutgers University and a M.A. in Composition and Performance from Goddard College. Frank has worked as a composer and performer in both the classical and jazz idioms. His original pieces for piano were first performed in Town Hall, NY in 1970 by pianist Arlis Heukelekian. He has released two highly acclaimed jazz albums, "Expedition" and "First Light." A third album, "Until The Next Time," recorded in London with his new quartet featuring UK jazz greats Art Themen (Tenor/Soprano Sax) and David Green (Bass), was released October 2005. Frank has completed four successful tours of England. A fifth tour with the new quartet will take place July 2006. Frank has taught for over ten years at Raritan Valley Community College in New Jersey directing the jazz ensemble, writing and arranging charts and teaching jazz theory and improvisation. Frank is currently on the music faculty at Moravian University in Bethlehem, Pa, where he teaches piano and jazz piano.

Alison Gillespie has been with the music faculty at Moravian University since 1996 as an instructor of Celtic Fiddle and director of the Moravian University Celtic Ensemble. She is a frequent workshop clinician and recording artist, and she performs as a founding member of the Celtic bands Blackwater and Banna Lach, as well as lead fiddler for the award-winning Big Valley Bluegrass Band. Alison teaches at the River Valley Waldorf School in Bridgeton, PA and at her home studio in Coopersburg, PA. She leads a monthly Irish music session in Hellertown, PA, and is the founder and organizer of the long established Celtic Classic Fiddle Competition as part of the annual Celtic Classic Highland Games & Festival in Bethlehem, PA. She has traveled throughout Ireland and the British Isles for musical projects, and she also enjoys performing with her husband and three adult daughters who were raised in both folk and classical music traditions.

Arianna Goldina (piano, chamber music, piano literature, piano pedagogy) holds a Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School of Music and a Ph.D. in Piano Performance from New York University, where she studied with Martin Canin and Herbert Stessin, respectively The foundations of her musical education were laid in her native Latvia.

As a member of the Goldina-Loumbrozo piano duo team, she has been heard in numerous music centers in the United States, Canada, England, France, Italy, Germany, the Baltic States, Russia, and Scandinavia. The duo has appeared among others, with The Detroit Symphony, The Pacific Symphony, The New World Symphony, The Symphony of the Americas, The Philharmonic Orchestra of Florida, and The Latvian National Symphonic Orchestra. It was featured on the ABC TV network in the United States and on French and Russian National TV. Goldina and Loumbrozo captured public attention after winning First Prize at two major international duo-piano competitions: the 7th Valentino Bucchi Competition of 20th Century Music in Rome, Italy, and the 2nd Murray Dranoff Two-Piano Competition in Miami. They have recorded for the Pianissime, Cybelia and Phoenix labels.

Dr. Goldina has taught at New York University, The Juilliard School, and the French-American Conservatory. She has adjudicated several international piano competitions, such as the Gina Bachauer International Junior Piano Competition and the Murray Dranoff International Two-Piano Competitio. She also served as an Associate Artistic Director of the Murray Dranoff Foundation and on the Executive Board of The Piano Teachers Congress of New York. Currently, Dr. Goldina is an artist-lecturer at Moravian University.

Lori Huth graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from West Chester University as a piano major, voice minor with a concentration in vocal-choral. She studied Suzuki pedagogy under master clinicians Carole Bigler and Valery Lloyd Watts, pioneers in bringing Suzuki Piano to the U.S. She attended teacher training institutes at Queens University, Kingston Ontario, under Bigler/Watts for several summers, and George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, under Carol Lubetkin of Oberlin Conservatory.

She taught general music in the Diocese of Allentown and also Bethlehem School District, but focused on Suzuki when she began teaching at the Suzuki Center of the Lehigh Valley. At Moravian, she teaches both Suzuki and traditional piano. As a member in PMTA, Pennsylvania Music Teachers' Association, she offers her students opportunities to excel yearly by entering several special auditions, an annual Hannah Young Playathon, and Annual Piano guild Auditions.

Robin Kani, flutist, has been described by the New York Times as an artist with “professional aplomb as well as technical authority…playing with complete assurance and accuracy.” Her accomplished international career has seen her perform throughout the Eastern United States, Mexico, Germany, Spain, Czech Republic, England, and Scotland and has earned her praise by The Washington Post, Stalban Observer (UK), and Philadelphia Enquirer among others. Robin made her Carnegie Hall debut as a winner of the Artists’ International Chamber Music Award. She has also performed in Alice Tully and CAMI Halls in New York, at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, Royal Albert Hall in London, and as recitalist and chamber musician in live broadcasts over National Public Radio. She recorded the Sacred Flutist through Alfred Publishing and regularly records for the Warner Bros., Dorian, Koch, and Analekta labels. Robin can be heard as flute soloists on The Bach Choir of Bethlehem’s recordings of the Mass in B Minor, Christmas Oratorio, and the Emmy award winning PBS documentary about The Bach Choir entitled Make a Joyful Noise.

Robin serves as principal flutist of the Bethlehem Bach Festival, Pennsylvania Sinfonia, and Allentown Symphony Orchestras. She was awarded, along with her husband Larry Wright, the Arts Ovation Award given by the Arts Council of the city of Allentown, PA. Aided by an outreach grant from the State Department, she toured Turkey, Jordan, and Lithuania with the New York based ensemble Poetica Musica.

An advocate of new music, Robin has premiered works written for her by composers Larry Lipkis and Steven Sametz. She also recently recorded music by Paul Salerni for flute, guitar, and voice with guitarist Oren Fader and tenor Jan Opalach on the Albany label. Frequently invited to the National Flute Association Conventions, she has performed in Washington, DC and with Eastwinds Quintet in San Diego, CA. In December of 2016 Robin toured through 10 cities in China with the Philadelphia Festival Orchestra.

Robin is an Alexander Technique Teacher, trained at the Philadelphia School for the Alexander Technique.

She received a Bachelor of Music, “with distinction,” from the University of Michigan and a Master of Music from The Juilliard School, where she studied with renowned flutist Samuel Baron.

Originally from West Milford, NJ, Patrick Kerssen started piano lessons around age ten and began playing professionally with his younger brother Alex by the time they were teenagers. His first teacher was jazz pianist Mitch Schechter, with whom he studied both classical and jazz piano. While attending Moravian as a jazz piano major, he studied with Skip Wilkins, Tony Gairo, and Neil Wetzel.

Patrick graduated from Moravian in 2018 with music performance and education degrees, and has since become extremely busy as a freelance pianist and educator. He has performed throughout the mid-Atlantic region, appearing at festivals and venues like Musikfest, the Christmas City Jazz Festival, the Deer Head Inn, The Lafayette Jazz Bar, and the main stage at COTA Jazz Festival. He has also appeared with many high quality jazz groups and musicians in the area, including Tony Gairo’s Cross Current Big Band, the Paul Kendall trio, Corinne Mammana and Gene Perla, and the Water Gap Jazz Orchestra.

In addition to his live performance, Patrick has appeared on recordings spanning many genres, and has had his big band compositions performed by the Moravian College BIG Band, the 4 O’ Clock Big Band at the Karel Velebny Summer Jazz Workshop in Frydlant, Czech Republic, and by the Steel Stacks High School All Star Big Band at Musikfest. Patrick also keeps busy as an accompanist and artist lecturer at Moravian University, the music director at Heidelberg Union Church in Slatington PA, and with his own private teaching studio.

Linda Louise Kistler, violin, holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Oberlin College Conservatory, and received a Master of Music from the Juilliard School, where her teacher was Ivan Galamian. She has been a soloist and concert master with the Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra, the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra and the Bethlehem Bach Festival Orchestra, and is a frequent guest artist with the Gabriel Chamber Ensemble of Schuykill County, Pennsylvania. Her teaching engagements have included the Lehigh Valley Charter School for the Performing Arts, Kutztown University, Lehigh University and Cedar Crest College. Ms. Kistler currently maintains a private teaching studio, and is on the faculty of Moravian University and Allentown's Community Music School.

Tom Kozic, guitar, has been playing the guitar since age 7. Having been schooled privately by such greats as Joe Pass, Kenny Burrell, Howard Roberts, Harry Leahey, Jack Wilkins, and Tal Farlow, Tom had the opportunity of being assistant clinician to Howard Roberts seminars in the 70s. In 1978, in fact, Tom won 1st Place in the Kenny Burrell National Jazz Guitar Competition at the young age of 19. In addition to being a great performer, Tom has 25 years teaching experience, both privately and at the college and university level including 5 years at Lehigh University, 7 years at Moravian University, and 9 years at Muhlenburg College. Tom has performed with: Brian Lynch, Tim Hagens, Steve Gilmore, Phil Woods, Bill Goodwin, Bill Watrous, and Don Patterson. Tom also is a major contributor to the repertoire of the Nelson Hill Quartet.

Originally from Bethlehem, PA, Zach Martin began pursuing music at a young age. At the age of 8, he began private lessons with Jon San Filippo at the local California Drum Shop. Later he moved on to study with educator and author for Mel Bay Publications, Inc., D. Scott Williams. By the age of 14, he was playing clubs around the area professionally and would eventually graduate from the Lehigh Valley Charter School for the Performing Arts with the award for Outstanding Musical Achievement.

Zach then moved to Boston, Mass. in 2006 where he attended the world renowned Berklee College of Music. While at Berklee, he studied with teachers Bob Tamagni and John Ramsay. Finishing his degree in Jazz Performance at Moravian University Zach has studied drum set with Byron Landham and Gary Rissmiller, piano with Justin DeAngelo, Skip Wilkins and Jason Long, and composing/arranging with Tony Gairo. Zach has most recently studied drum set with Joe Bergamini, educator, author, and Senior Drum Editor for Hudson Music Publishing, Inc.

Zach has become an in-demand drummer in the Lehigh Valley. He has experience playing in a wide range of styles from musical theater to heavy metal and has toured on a semi-national level. He has been a professional educator since graduating Moravian University in 2013, developing a unique style of teaching that draws from his experience as both a life long student and performer.

Steven Mathiesen is a member of the percussion section of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic and is principal timpanist with the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra and the Binghamton Philharmonic. In January 2002, he was a featured soloist with the Binghamton Philharmonic, performing Harmonic Rhythm, a timpani concerto composed by Russell Peck. In recent seasons, he has also performed with the Bethlehem Bach Festival Orchestra of Bethlehem, Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra, Allentown Symphony and Reading Symphony. He has accompanied many professional entertainers in their appearances at area venues.

Mr. Mathiesen has appeared on recordings with the Bach Choir of Bethlehem, and the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra, and has made studio recordings for Shawnee Press and Alfred Publishing. His compositions and arrangements are published by Shawnee Press, Honeyrock Publications, C-Alan Publications and Permus Publications.

Mathiesen received a Master of Music degree from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and a Bachelor of Music degree from the Ithaca College School of Music. His principal teachers were William Youhass and Allen Otte. He has also studied marimba with Leigh Howard Stevens.

In addition to teaching at Moravian University, Mr. Mathiesen also teaches at Marywood University in Scranton. He and his family reside in the Poconos. A graduate of East Stroudsburg Area High School, he was recently inducted into that school district’s Music Hall of Fame.

Jill Meehan earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Music History from Boston University and a Master of Music degree in Music History from Temple University. She has a Ph. D from Rutgers University in Musicology. Her dissertation was on Americanisms in music and its manifestation in select orchestral and chamber works by Edward MacDowell, George W. Chadwick, and Antonín Dvořák. In 2017, Dr. Meehan gave a presentation based on her dissertation titled American Identity in Music, 1860-1910, at the Institute of English and American Studies in Greifswald, Germany. Dr. Meehan’s interest in a variety of musical genres and styles, including jazz, American popular music, and world music, extends from her years of teaching Graduate and Undergraduate courses at area universities. She has developed curricula and was the part-time faculty representative for the Curriculum Committee, as well as the Educational Effectiveness Committee at Montgomery County Community College. Dr. Meehan is a proud member of the Tri-Alpha Honor Society.

Michael Montero began playing the violin at age eleven in his native New York City. He attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music, Art and Performing Arts in Manhattan and participated in the Manhattan School of Music preparatory division. Mr. Montero received his bachelor’s degree in music from Rutgers University where he studied under Matthew Reichert.

After graduation, Michael studied violin repair and restoration with his beloved mentor, Thomas Cox. In 2003, Montero opened his first store and spends most of his time as a luthier, servicing clients at his two shops, Montero Violins, located in Emmaus and Stroudsburg. He also maintains an active studio in each location teaching violin and viola. Mr. Montero is an adjunct professor at Moravian University where he teaches violin and viola, is the concertmaster and assistant music director of the Moravian University Community Orchestra and is also the director of the Moravian University String Quintet.

Mr. Montero is the former concertmaster of the Onondaga Civic Symphony Orchestra (Syracuse, NY) and held that post for six years. He also served as the Music Director of the Auburn Chamber Orchestra in Auburn, New York as well as the music director of the Onondaga Youth String Ensemble, a string orchestra that he founded for both middle and high school string students. Montero was named conductor of the Pocono Youth Orchestra (PYO) where he now serves as the Music Director conducting the Pocono Junior String Orchestra, Pocono Chamber String Orchestra, and the Pocono Youth Symphony Orchestra. He resides in the Lehigh Valley with his wife, Jennifer, and his two daughters, Julianna and Gabriella.

Chase Morrison has composed for dance, film, chorus, concert settings, opera, cabaret and jazz. Recent works have included The Rumblin’ (2018) for Trumpet, French Horn, and Piano which premiered in 2019 at the Kaleidoscope Chamber series at Rider University (NJ). She has received commissions from Cornell University to create a work for its women's chorus, and her short-format opera about 19th century women lighthouse operators, Women of the Light, premiered in New York at Symphony Space with a broadcast on National Public Radio.

In New York City, she founded and directed PANOPTICON, a non-profit music group showcasing the works of women composers, and as a cellist was a member of the Ron Carter Jazz Nonet.

Two volumes of her works reside in The Scottish National Library, and in The National Library of New Zealand. She has been featured on NPR's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED with her rendition of Stars and Stripes Forever for many cellos, with all eight parts played by her.

She is currently Director of Orchestras and a cello instructor at Moravian Academy, and a cello and theory instructor at Westminster Choir College in Princeton. When she's not teaching, she's soaking up the sun in New Mexico.

Tenor Gregory Oaten, a native of the Lehigh Valley, is a versatile musician, dividing his time between performing, coaching individuals and groups of singers, choral conducting and composing/arranging. He has performed, toured, recorded and appeared on television with many noted Lehigh Valley area performance ensembles, including the Bach Choir of Bethlehem, Camerata Singers, Concord Chamber Singers, Lehigh University and Moravian University Choral Arts as well as the Allentown Band, America’s oldest continually operating civilian concert band.

Mr. Oaten holds the Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Westminster Choir College, Princeton, NJ, where he studied Voice and Voice Pedagogy with Marvin Keenze, Daniel Pratt and Robert Simpson. He studied Choral Conducting with Frauke Haasemann, John Kemp, Warren Martin, Dennis Shrock and Robert Simpson; and Choralisches Stimmbildung (Choral Voice Building) with Frauke Haasemann and Daniel Pratt. While at Westminster, he performed, recorded and toured with the world-renowned Westminster Choir for some six seasons, performing as part of the Chorus-in-residence for the Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds in Charleston, South Carolina and Spoleto, Italy. He has collaborated in performance with such eminent conductors as Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, Wilhelm Ehmann, Joseph Flummerfelt, Carlo Maria Giulini, Rafael Kubelik, James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Gian Carlo Menotti, Riccardo Muti, Krzystof Penderecki and Robert Shaw. He has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, American Symphony, National Symphony, l’Orchestre de Paris, Vienna Philharmonic, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and the Spoleto Festival Orchestra in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher and Alice Tully Halls at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City; the historic Academy of Music and Kimmel Center in Philadelphia; and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. He has performed on Live from Lincoln Center and the PBS Gala of Stars and has participated in two feature segments for CBS Sunday Morning and the Today Show on NBC, as well as having been featured on local news programs in central Pennsylvania.

Mr. Oaten has participated in numerous professional recordings. Two of these have received Grammy Award nominations and one, a recording of Samuel Barber’s opera Antony and Cleopatra, was awarded a Grammy in 1985. In 1995, Mr. Oaten returned to Princeton as one of 23 singers hand-selected by Joseph Flummerfelt to participate in a recording, Like as a Hart: Psalms and Spiritual Songs on the Chesky label, which subsequently received critical acclaim. He has recorded on the Columbia/Sony, Angel/EMI, Westminster Choir/Gothic, New World, Dorian, Analekta, Book-of-the-Month Club, Bach Choir of Bethlehem and Concord Chamber Singers’ recording labels. From 1987 until 2006, he regularly recorded for Harold Flammer, Warner Brothers and Shawnee Press and Mark Foster Music Publishers.

Mr. Oaten has served on the Music Faculty of Moravian University since 1991, and was awarded the T. Edgar Shields Prize for excellence in Studio Teaching in 2003. His students have appeared in Master Classes with Angela Brown, Lawrence Brownlee, Denyce Graves (twice), Paul Plishka, Samuel Ramey and Frederica von Stade and today perform throughout the United States and Europe. He has also served on the Music faculties of Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA and Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania. For 31 seasons, Mr. Oaten served as Assistant Conductor & Vocal Coach of the Concord Chamber Singers. Since 1984, Mr. Oaten has regularly performed with the Camerata Singers in Allentown, PA and continues to serve today as their Vocal Coach. He also served as Assistant to the Conductor. Mr. Oaten serves as Tenor Soloist at Bethlehem’s historic Central Moravian Church, and is Director of Music at Christ Presbyterian Church of the Slate Belt in Roseto, PA. He is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) and is a co-founder of Lehigh Valley NATS.

Kellen Pisani, guitarist, is a recent graduate of Moravian College (now Moravian University). He studied jazz guitar under the direction of Tom Kozic, as well as classical guitar with John Arnold. Kellen performed with various groups at Moravian including Jazz Combo I, Guitar Ensemble, and the Moravian College BIG Band, of which he served as student director. He has performed around in the Lehigh Valley and greater New Jersey area at all kinds of venues as well as private parties and events. Kellen began playing guitar at the age of seven under Jimmy Leahey (son of notable jazz guitarist Harry Leahey) primarily played rock music and was introduced to jazz music while at Phillipsburg High School. He competed in jazz competitions and played with the jazz combo at school until he graduated in 2016. While at Moravian, he has had the opportunity to play with jazz artists such as Steven Feifke, Maria Schneider, Vic Juris, Dave Liebman, Bill Goodwin, Gene Perla, and Barry Greene. He has also had the opportunity to travel to the Czech Republic to participate in the Karl Velebny Jazz Workshop. Kellen maintains an active performance and teaching schedule in the area playing all genres of music, and continues to grow as a performer and teacher.

Paul Rostock has been on the faculty at Moravian since 1991 as an instructor of double bass and bass guitar. He has directed jazz ensembles and teaches jazz history and improvisation practicum. Paul is also one of the directors for the popular July Jazz Getaway and accompanies the guest artists who appear annually at the camp.

Rostock is also an active free lance musician performing in a multitude of musical settings .Some of the popular artists he has performed with include Frank Sinatra, Olivia Newton John, Maureen McGovern, Perry Como, Joel Grey, Sandy Duncan, John Davidson and Steve Allen. Jazz artists who Paul has appeared with include Stanley Turrentine, Urbie Green, Bob Dorough, Maynard Ferguson, David Fathead Newman, Clark Terry, John Coates, Bobby Watson, Ellis Marsalis, Al Grey, Buddy Childers, Carl Fontana and Bill Watrous. He also tours and records with vocalist Frank Sinatra Jr. and his orchestra.

Paul and his family reside in Stroudsburg Pa. and he has been actively involved in the fertile jazz scene there performing annually at the Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts jazz festival.

David Roth performs in a wide variety of both of classical and jazz settings. He holds both BA and BM degrees from Moravian University, and he has earned a Masters degree in classical piano performance from the University of Northern Colorado. David has performed with many well-known jazz musicians including Steve Gilmore, Glenn Davis, Paul Rostock, Larry Mckenna, Warren Vache Jr., Bill Goodwin, and Terell Stafford. In the commercial music field, David has done keyboard work for Regis Philbin and Michael Amante, and he had given many live performances on radio and television. Under the direction of composer Sean O'Boyle, David recorded the piano music sound track for the Film, Damn Fine Dining starring David MacLean and Sam Dugmore. David is the creator of the Moravian University Summer Youth Jazz Camp that includes students grades 8-12. David also conceived and led the development of the strategic education alliance between MTNA and the International Association for Jazz Education. He is a co-author of the MTNA/IAJE Jazz Studies Guide that includes a forward by Dave Brubeck. David created two community concert programs, Peak View Jazz, in Colorado, and Art’s in Your Backyard, in the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania.

Martha Schrempel, piano, is a graduate of Vassar College and the Juilliard School in New York, where she studied with the legendary piano teacher, Rosina Lhevinne; she also received a Doctor of Musical Arts from Temple University. On the occasion of her debut at Carnegie Recital Hall in New York, The New York Times wrote of Ms. Schrempel: she is "a pianist of taste and technical finesse. Everything she played had a warm, intimate tone and a textual transparency. Debussy. . .was brilliantly handled as a diamond-hard study in sonority." As a soloist and accompanist to both singers and instrumentalists, Dr. Schrempel has appeared in such festivals and series as the Beethoven Festival in New York, the National Gallery of Art Chamber Music Series in Washington, DC, the Moravian Music Festival in North Carolina, and Musikfest in Pennsylvania. She has played with Robin Kani, flutist, on National Public Radio, and has concertized widely in the U.S., Caribbean, and Europe. Dr. Schrempel has toured the Czech Republic four times with New York-based Poetica Musica, performing in several international festivals, including the South Bohemia and Janácek festivals; she has also performed and given master classes in Bulgaria and Albania through State Department-sponsored tours. Dr. Schrempel is principal keyboardist in the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra, a member of the Satori chamber music group, and on the piano faculty of Bethlehem’s Moravian University, where she received the T. Edgar Shields prize for outstanding studio teaching.

Kimberly Seifert, a native of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, began her bassoon studies with Milton Focht of Allentown. Kim continued her studies with David P. Coombs and Jeffrey Winter. She is a freelance bassoonist in the Lehigh Valley and Northeastern Pennsylvania area performing with the Allentown Symphony, Pennsylvania Sinfonia, Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra, Valley Pops Orchestra, Eastwinds Quintet, Lehigh University Choral Arts and Philharmonic, and various chamber ensembles. Kim is an accomplished woodwind player and performs frequently with local theatre orchestras, including Muhlenberg College Theatre and Summer Theatre, DeSales University’s Act 1 and the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival as well as the Municipal Opera Company of Allentown. She has also performed with the Irish Tenors and Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys on his “Pet Sounds” Tour.

Currently, Kim is principal bassoonist and a soloist with The Allentown Band of which she has been an active member since 1981. During her tenure with the band, she has performed concerts in Switzerland and Austria as well as Carnegie Hall. She is an adjunct music faculty member and artist lecturer teaching bassoon at Lehigh University, Moravian University and Muhlenberg College. In addition, she is also a member of the instrumental music faculty at the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Performing Arts. Kim maintains a private woodwind studio in Bethlehem where she resides with her husband Greg.

Lora Sherrodd is presently the Jazz Voice instructor at Moravian University where she teaches applied voice lessons and directs the vocal jazz ensemble. Sherrodd’s artistry primarily focuses on improvisation, vocaleses, and composition, writing music that upholds the tradition of jazz along with lyricism fit for the twenty-first century

Sherrodd received her M.M. in Jazz Studies from Temple University and her B.A. in Music with an emphasis in jazz and a minor in African American and Diaspora Studies in 2020 from University of Wyoming. She studied under Dr. Ben Markley, Dr. Katrina Zook, Bruce Barth, Najwa Parkins, and Chelsea Reed. She continued her professional relationship with Ben Markley to include writing lyrics for Markley’s original music showcased in an asynchronous recording entitled Lora Sings Markley. She has also written lyrics for Elio Villafranca’s “I Belong to You” featuring Grammy Award winning vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant.

In 2019, she earned a grant from The University of Wyoming to record her debut album, 287. Her recording, “I’m Gonna Lock My Heart (And Throw Away the Key)” from this record earned her a 2020 Downbeat Magazine Student Music Award for outstanding jazz vocal solo. As an undergraduate, Sherrodd was the featured vocalist in the Wyoming Jazz Ensemble and appeared on a number of recordings, including the university’s Winds of the Snowys as well as All In by John May. She worked regularly with the Wyoming Jazz Ensemble, earning the opportunity to perform with many notable musicians, such as Nate Werth at Dazzle in Denver with the University of Wyoming Steel Pan Band, Greg Osby with the Wyoming Jazz Ensemble, and Terell Stafford at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola with the Wyoming Jazz Ensemble in New York City.

Audrey Simons is active as a cellist and instructor. Ms. Simons is a cellist in the Allentown Symphony Orchestra, and is a founding member of the Classical Attitude String Quartet and the Chestnut Hill Chamber Players. She also performs regularly with the PI Piano Trio and the Pocono Chamber Music Society, both based in East Stroudsburg, PA. Ms. Simons received the Bachelor of Music Degree in cello performance from Susquehanna University. She was subsequently awarded a teaching assistantship at the Temple University Esther Boyer College of Music, where she received the Master of Music Degree in music history with summa cum laude honors, and taught classes in music appreciation. In 1996, while teaching music history at Montgomery County Community College, she received the Faculty Award in Teaching Excellence. In 2002, she was selected for inclusion in the 23rd Edition of Who's Who of American Women. Currently, Ms. Simons is a cello instructor on the music faculty and teaches the String Techniques class for music education majors at Moravian University. In addition, she and her husband, Anthony, are the Music Directors of the Pocono Youth Orchestra and the Pocono Junior String Orchestra.

Nancy Terlaak Poot enjoys an active career as violin/viola pedagog and chamber musician. She received her Bachelor of Music Degree from SUC Potsdam, studying with Nardo Poy, and her Master of Music Degree from the University of St. Rose, studying with Nathan Gottschalk, both with a concentration in viola. She has been a member of the Albany Symphony Orchestra, Schenectady Symphony, Bucks County Symphony, and has performed with the Trenton Symphony, Allentown Symphony, the Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra. She finds her musical outlet immersing herself in chamber music with fellow chamber players in New England, Philadelphia and the Greater Lehigh Valley.

She has done extensive violin and viola pedagogy training with Mimi Zweig, and Rebecca Henry at Indiana University, Lee Snyder in Philadelphia, and the SAA Suzuki Violin Training program, certified thru book 9 as well as supplemental units. She maintains an active music studio in Coopersburg, and is on the faculty at Moravian University, as well as the Moravian Community Music Institute. She has founded and directed the Lehigh Valley Fall Suzuki Strings Workshop at Moravian University since 2008. Utilizing the premise that string performance involves the physical, psychological, and musical abilities of a player, her philosophy of teaching, based on natural physical motions nurtured in a non-judgmental environment, explores all three of these elements of performance. Nancy integrates the violin pedagogy, musical vision, and teaching philosophies of Shinichi Suzuki, Paul Rolland, Ivan Galamian and Mimi Zweig. Her students have won concerto competitions with the Allentown Symphony, Lehigh University Philharmonic, and the JSP and YPP orchestras. Her students have competed in District, Regional, State, and All East Coast Orchestras, as well as being members of JSP, YPP, Lehigh University Philharmonic, Moravian University Orchestra, and the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra. All are actively involved in their school music programs. Some have pursued violin or viola performance degrees at major conservatories both nationally and internationally. Others have pursued careers in law, medicine, architecture, film, teaching, technology and parenthood. All have taken with them a life long love and understanding of music.

Barbara Tilden-Thompson has been on the music faculty at Moravian University since 1979 where she teaches applied piano, piano literature and piano pedagogy She was awarded the fourth annual T. Edgar Shields Prize for distinguished studio instruction by students and faculty of the Music Department. Dr Thompson has been active in the Lehigh Valley as a chamber musician and piano pedagogue. Beginning piano studies at the age of five, she studied throughout her teenage years with Harriet Serr, assistant to legendary Madame Isabelle Vengerova, giving her first solo recital at the age of 14. Dr. Thompson attended the Longy School of Music and holds a Master of Music degree in Music History from Temple University where she was elected to Pi Kappa Lambda, National Music Honor Society. She received her Ed.D. degree in College Music Teaching at Columbia University.

Organist Barbara Thomson has been critically acclaimed for her technique, musicianship, and ability to communicate. She has concertized across the United States and Europe, including performances at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, and in Austria, Germany, Italy, Holland, and Slovenia. In the United States, she has played at Lincoln Center, Trinity Church Wall Street, and the Riverside Church in New York, the Cathedral Basilica in Newark, the Kennedy Center and the National Presbyterian Center in Washington, DC, as well as many other noted venues. She has performed with the New Jersey Festival Orchestra, the Westfield Symphony Orchestra, and the Peabody Symphony, was a founder of and performer in the North Jersey Bach Festival, and recorded for Voice of America, Radio Bremen (Germany), Spectrum Records, and Vermont Public Radio. She was a guest soloist for the national convention of the American Society of University Composers, Memphis, the Festival Maria Schutz, Austria, and was a finalist in the prestigious International Congress of Organists Organ Playing Competition.

In addition to performing, Dr. Thomson has been the classical music critic for the Westfield Leader/Scotch Plains Times, has given pre-concert lectures for the Westfield Symphony, and written program notes for several orchestras. She is a past Dean of several chapters of the American Guild of Organists, and a past president of the New Jersey Youth Symphony.

She has taught courses in organ, music theory, music history, and music appreciation at a number of universities, including Peabody Conservatory, Goucher College, Johns Hopkins University, Rider College, Westminster Choir College, and Rutgers University.

Dr. Thomson graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the Pennsylvania State University with a double major in organ performance and theory/composition. She has a Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, further study at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna, and post-doctoral work in choral conducting at Westminster Choir College.

Annie Rose Tindall-Gibson has been noted for her poetic musicality, fiery presence at the keyboard, and versatility with repertoire.  Ms. Tindall-Gibson made her European debut in Prague, Czech Republic, performing the Chopin Scherzo No. 1 at the Betlémská Kaple as part of a concert commemorating Chopin’s bicentennial. Annie made her New York debut at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, performing Liszt Legend No. 2 St. Francois de Paule marchant sur le flots at the event, Evening of Witness. The event was a disaster relief effort for victims of water related disasters around the world. At the age of 12 she made her concerto debut with the Farmington Valley Symphony performing Mozart Piano Concerto K. 414.

Annie’s recent solo and collaborative performances include concerts at PianoForte Foundation in Chicago, IL, First Congregational Church of Chatham in Chatham, MA, Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church in Manhattan, and St. Michael’s Church in Litchfield, CT. In 2016 and 2021, Dr. Tindall-Gibson returned to her alma mater, Manhattan School of Music, for Lives of the Piano, performing alongside Lisa Yui, Jerry Wong, Yoni Levyatov, and Fabio Álvarez González. She has given a masterclass and presented a class lecture at the Chicago High School for the Performing Arts. In 2018, she served as the chair of the Young Jury for the Arthur Fraser International Piano Competition. From 2019-2021, Annie was the Assistant Director for the Southeastern Piano Festival (SEPF). She has also served as a graduate assistant in accompanying at the University of South Carolina and an Instructor of Piano for non-majors at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Tindall-Gibson is currently on the piano faculty at Moravian University and the Organist and Director of Traditional Music at Allegheny Evangelical Lutheran Church in Mohnton, PA. 

Annie Rose’s skills as a collaborative pianist have been enhanced by her experience and training as a vocalist.  She has studied voice privately with Laura Mashburn, Sarah Wigley, and Marguerite Mullee. Dr. Tindall-Gibson has done extensive choral work with conductor Kent Tritle both at the Manhattan School of Music as a member of the Symphonic Choir, and at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine as a member of the community choir.  She was also co-leader and pianist of the 3rd grade children’s choir at Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church in Manhattan during her undergraduate studies.

Annie received her doctorate from the University of South Carolina where she studied with Joseph Rackers. Her dissertation focuses on the early piano music of Richard Wagner. She received her master’s degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where she studied with Ian Hobson and her bachelor’s degree from Manhattan School of Music where she studied with Jeffrey Cohen. She has studied organ with Katherine Meloan, conducting with Jonathan Strasser and David Gilbert, and harpsichord with Kenneth Cooper and Charlotte Mattax.  Dr. Tindall-Gibson has performed in masterclasses for Nelita True, Robert Roux, Ivan Moravec, Petronel Malan, Boaz Sharon, Alexandra Troussova, and James Johnson. Her major teachers have included Kim Hayashi, Margreet Pfeifer Francis, Min Kim, and Zenon Fishbein.

Debra Torok, Ph.D. is an adjunct professor at Moravian University where she teaches courses in musictheory, technology, history, and performance. Her writing courses and senior seminars have been on the topic of music of political protest and she began teaching Artists as Activists for the art department in 2011. Torok is a recording artist, pianist, composer, and conductor. Her recordings are heard internationally and are available on iTunes. Two of her compositions were written for a 2005 Amnesty International tribute to human rights, one of her musicals was featured at the 2009 Philadelphia Fringe Festival, and a commissioned composition was premiered at the Valley Forge National Historical Park in 2015. She has made a number of appearances on PBS. She was music consultant and participated in the concept development for the PBS documentary Make a Joyful Noise, narrated by Charles Osgood. Torok taught at New York University and Lehigh University. She is the current musical director of the Pennsylvania Flute Choir and a charter member of Artists for Amnesty International.

Dr. Scott Watson received his B.S. in Music Education from West Chester University and both M.M. and D.M.A. degrees in Composition from Temple University where he studied composition primarily with Maurice Wright. He has taught instrumental and elective music in the Parkland School District (Allentown, PA) for more than 30 years and serves as adjunct professor for Cairn University, University of the Arts and Moravian University (in the Philadelphia area), as well as for Central Connecticut State University's Summer Music Institute.

He is a frequently commissioned composer with more than 90 published pieces for band and strings at all levels. His music has received recognition from the American Composer's Forum, American Music Center, Phi MU Alpha Sinfonia (among others), and been performed at venues around the world, including the Academy of Music (Philadelphia), the Midwest Clinic (Chicago) and the White House (Washington, D.C.). Watson is an exclusive composer for Alfred Publications, a contributor to the Sound Innovations concert band series, and an Alfred Clinician.

Watson has presented numerous workshops/clinics for music educators around the U.S. and in Australia and Canada, frequently serves as guest conductor for honor and festival bands, and is the author of the highly regarded music education text, Using Technology to Unlock Musical Creativity (©2011, Oxford University Press). To learn more, please visit www.scottwatsonmusic.com.

Christine Wetzel embraces the philosophy, “Every Child Can.” She has introduced hundreds of students and their families to the violin using the Suzuki method and philosophy during her thirty-year tenure as Director of Suzuki Strings at Moravian Academy. Her students have gone on to perform at Carnegie Hall, solo with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Ambler Symphony, and play in district, state, and regional, orchestras.

Christine studied violin with Dorothy Delay, Hyo Kang and Masoa Kawaski at University of the Arts where she earned a Bachelor of Music. Her Suzuki training was at Ithaca College and School for Strings, NY. She has performed with the Academy String Quartet and Vivace Strings, Philadelphia, Brandywine Baroque, Delaware, Opera Barga, Italy and Aspen Music Festival Orchestra, Colorado.

Christine has worked with students age 3 to adult and enjoys teaching parent education courses about the Suzuki method and philosophy.

Skip Wilkins was born in Massachusetts and raised in a musical family. He became interested in jazz at an early age and found his way to the stage in kindergarten. He learned to love singing, played drums for years, but then focused on piano, which became his main instrument by his late teens. As he was coming up in Boston, he worked with drummers Joe Hunt and Bob Moses and with saxophonists Jimmy Mosher and John LaPorta.

For many years, Skip has maintained an active international career as a pianist, composer, workshop presenter, jazz choral director and educator. He is currently working on three new CD releases and has performed with a host of international luminaries throughout his career. He performed often with Phil Woods, and is a featured soloist on Phil’s final big band release New Celebration. Wherever he has lived, he has performed with and collaborated with top stars whenever they came to town – Phil Woods, David Liebman, Plas Johnson, Mark Murphy, Clark Terry, David Sánchez, Stanley Turrentine, Bobby Watson, Bob Dorough, Conte Candoli and Peter Erskine, among so many others.

Skip performs throughout Europe in a variety of ensembles, with regular tours to the Czech Republic, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Slovakia, Italy, Greece and France. Stateside, he lives at Deer Head Inn in Delaware Water Gap, PA, surrounded by the great jazz community there. Skip teaches jazz piano and a range of jazz practica at Moravian University.

Some of Skip’s CD releases include Trio WUH Live at Jazzinec (2014), Czech Dreams (2013), Father & Son – with his son Daniel (2012), After (2011), I Concentrate on You (2011), Frýdlant Nights (2010), and many more. A June 2018 CD release and concert tour is planned for Czech Wishes – recorded with his son Daniel in Prague in March 2016. He recently recorded two new projects, the first in December 2017 in the U.S. also with his son Daniel, and paired with Tony Marino and legendary drummer Bill Goodwin. The second was in Prague in January 2018, as Skip recorded a new set of his original pieces, primarily in trio format, with long-time collaborators Josef Fečo and Tomáš Hobzek. Saxophonist Rostislav Fraš was Skip’s featured guest on a few selections.

Each summer since 2007, Skip has taught and performed at the Karel Velebny Summer Jazz Workshop in Frýdlant, Czech Republic. He has often led the Jazz Ateliér at the Summer Choral Workshop in Lomnice u Tišnova, and twice taught at the International Jazz Workshop, Kryoneri, Greece. He also teaches at the Moravian University Summer Jazz Camp.

Andrea G. Wittchen is well known throughout eastern Pennsylvania as a solo, chamber, and orchestral harpist. She is Principal Harpist with the Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra and the Schuylkill Symphony Orchestra, and teaches harp at both Lehigh University and Moravian University.

She has appeared many times as soloist with the LVCO, the Schuylkill Symphony, and the Bloomsburg University Orchestra. In February 2003, Ms. Wittchen appeared again as soloist with the LVCO in a performance of Saint-Saëns' "Morceau de Concert", as well as performing with her daughter, Samantha, the world premiere of "Earth Wind Fire, Concertino for Two Harps and Chamber Orchestra" by Steven Sametz. The piece was a joint commission of Ms. Wittchen and the LVCO.

Ms. Wittchen has performed as a solo recitalist three times as part of Musikfest's Chamber Series as well as on recital series throughout the region. In addition, she provides educational programs on the harp, its history and development for the public schools.

She has performed with such stars as Bernadette Peters, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, Marilyn Horne, Johnny Mathis, Olivia Newton-John, Debbie Boone, and Rosemary Clooney. Her orchestral work includes the Williamsport Symphony, Lehigh University Philharmonic, Berks Chamber Orchestra, Hershey Symphony, Bucknell University Orchestra, Reading Choral Society and Civic Opera, Pottstown Symphony, and the Pennsylvania Sinfonia, to name a few. She has broadcast for WVIA (NPR) Scranton and has played supporting roles for the Lehigh University Choral Union, Choir, and LUVME Ensemble.

Ms. Wittchen holds a Bachelor of Music degree in harp performance, magna cum laude, from Jacksonville University, FL, and a Masters degree in harp performance from the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester, NY plus an MBA from Lehigh University. She is a founding partner of Enterprise Systems Partners, Inc.

Lawrence Wright, trumpeter, was born in Grand Junction, Colorado, and grew up in Denver and Princeton, NJ. He graduated from Denison University, Phi Beta Kappa, and earned his Master’s Degree from Juilliard as a student of Mel Broiles and William Vacchiano.

He has performed with the New York Metropolitan Opera, New Jersey Symphony, Spoleto Festival Orchestra, the Opera Company of Philadelphia, Reading Symphony, Philadelphia Festival Orchestra, Northeast Pennsylvania Philharmonic, Orchestra of the State of Mexico, and numerous other organizations. He is now a member of the trumpet sections of the Allentown Symphony, Bethlehem Bach Festival Orchestra, and Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra, after having served as Principal Trumpet with each of those orchestras for over thirty years. For twenty-five years he was Principal Trumpet of the Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra and co-principal with Philadelphia Brass. Performance tours have taken him to the Midwest and along the eastern seaboard from Maine to the Florida Keys, to Mexico, China, Bolivia, and many European countries. He has recorded with the Bach Choir of Bethlehem, Philadelphia Brass, the Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra, PBS TV, and for Alfred and Shawnee Publishing. He and his wife, flutist Robin Kani, are recipients of the Allentown Arts Commission’s Performer Ovation Award for “outstanding achievement in the performing arts.” Larry is a dedicated teacher, serving on the faculty of Moravian University and instructing students of all ages at his home studio.