SoundWaves

​“He brought forth a celebration of fire and temperament, as well as immense sensitivity, wonderfully flowing chants and a pliant tone. He is a remarkable talent.” The German Heidelberg Rhein-Neckar Zeitung’s assessment of American violinist Emmanuel Borowsky has been echoed by audiences and media around the world. To date, Emmanuel has toured a staggering 35 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Emmanuel has performed as soloist with orchestras across the globe with collaborations spanning the gamut from the Tianjin Symphony Orchestra all the way to the Poznan Symphony and Jordan National Conservatory Orchestra. Emmanuel’s discography for ICRecords includes Pearls of Music, Musical Favorites of All Times, Music for Peace, Jewish Joys and Sorrows (2014), and PRIME (2014), a collection of original compositions by the three Borowsky siblings. Emmanuel and his sisters have also released two DVDs: Postcards from Dilsberg and the Beethoven Triple Concerto (live concert recording with the Young German Symphony Orchestra). Emmanuel’s love of music is manifested in his educational work with aspiring musicians. He is an adjunct professor at Towson University, and each summer teaches violin and chamber music at the esteemed Intermuse International Music Institute and Festival USA. He teaches privately in Baltimore, and is a frequent adjudicator of competitions and festivals. Dr. Borowsky holds degrees from The University of Maryland (D.M.A.) and Indiana University (B.M., M.M.). He has also studied at the Icelandic Academy of the Arts. His teachers have included Erick Friedman, Dorothy DeLay, Roman Totenberg, Zoltan Szabo, Guðný Guðmundsdóttir, Jamie Laredo, Mark Kaplan, Menaham Pressler, and James Stern.

​Adrienne Sengpiehl has been the Principal Second Violinist of Midsummer Mozart since 1996 and spends August in Idaho as a member of the Sun Valley Summer Symphony. Since playing with the New World Symphony under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas, she continues her career actively freelancing with the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera, Santa Rosa Symphony, California Symphony, Marin Symphony, and Symphony Silicon Valley. As a chamber musician, Ms. Sengpiehl has been heard throughout the bay area from Noontime Concerts and Old First Church in San Francisco to the Napa Valley Opera House. She has recorded for numerous movie soundtracks, video games, and special projects at Skywalker Ranch. Recently, she performed in the pit orchestra for Soft Power at the Curran Theater in San Francisco. An avid music educator, Ms. Sengpiehl is both former faculty and affiliate teacher for the Virtuoso Program at the San Domenico School, and performer for the San Francisco Symphony’s Adventures in Music Program. She is currently a Teaching Artist for the San Francisco Symphony’s Music and Mentors Program visiting SFUSD middle and high schools, is an Artist-in-Residence at Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, is creator and instructor of String Sisters at Katherine Delmar Burke School, and maintains her private home studio. She is a featured clinician at many summer music institutes including the Omaha Conservatory of Music Institute, Summer Music Institute/SVSS Music School, Sound Encounters, and formerly Summer Music West at the San Francisco Conservatory. She is a Suzuki Violin Method Specialist and enjoys being a mom to two wonderful sons. Ms. Sengpiehl holds a bachelor’s degree from the Saint Louis Conservatory and a Masters in Music in violin performance from The Juilliard Schoo

Rhys Buchele has studied with dozens of the most advanced instructors in the world from Juilliard to USC. He has also enjoyed an exciting performing career playing in orchestras and symphonies around the country, recording for large scale Hollywood films and documentaries, and producing an impressive list of recordings at Capitol Records and other major studios. His greatest love, however, has always been teaching. Rhys lives in Fullerton, CA with his amazing wife, Carrie where they homeschool their two children and look after a small “farm” of cats, dogs, rats, frogs, chickens, turkeys, geckos and stick bugs

Andrew Irvin (violin) has a broad range of experience throughout North America and Europe. Solo appearances include works by Tchaikovsky, Paganini, Bruch, Vivaldi, Korngold, Bach, Mozart, Sarasate, Ravel and Dvorak. Currently Mr. Irvin lives in Arkansas where he is Concertmaster of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. He also enjoys playing in recital from coast to coast with organist David Christopher in the Irvin/Christopher duo. The Camino Trio is another of his chamber music outlets. This trio is made of Kelly Johnson, clarinet, and Gail Novak, pianist. All three musicians are connected by study in Arizona. Look for the Camino Trio on Kelly’s CD “Child’s Play” out soon. He can also be heard in recording on the Naxos label with the Hot Springs Music Festival. Mr. Irvin served as concertmaster, leader, and soloist of orchestra “Air de Cour,” in Rochester, New York. This ensemble received grants from New York’s State Legislature and The New York Council for the Arts. Highlights of his chamber music career include performances with the Ying Quartet, the Audubon Quartet, and New York City premiere of composer Steve Mackey’s Troubadour Songs. Mr. Irvin made his European debut at the Heidelberg Schlossfestspiele, where he was principal violin in the festival orchestra and was featured on the chamber concert series. Before moving to Arkansas, he was principal violin in the Arizona Opera Orchestra.

Anne Nagosky has been a full-time violinist with the Omaha Symphony since 1998. She holds a Bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, with majors in music and psychology from Washington University in St. Louis and a Master of Music degree in Violin Performance from Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, where she received Program Honors. Her principal violin teachers were Mimi Zweig, Nina Bodnar, David Halen and Gerardo Ribeiro.

Anne is an active chamber musician in the Omaha area, performing regularly on local series such as the Vesper Concerts, the Omaha Chamber Music Society’s Summer Concert Series and Music as Medicine Series, as well as the Meadowlark Music Festival in Lincoln.

Anne is also a passionate music educator and maintains one of the largest violin and viola studios in Nebraska, sharing her love of music with students ages three and up. Anne has received both the Teacher of the Year award from the Nebraska Music Teachers Association and the Outstanding String Educator Award from the Nebraska chapter of the American String Teachers Association (ASTA). She is the Chair of the Nebraska ASTA State Solo Competition for young string players and recently served a two-year term on the national ASTA Studio Teachers Committee. She has served for many years an advisor for various Omaha Symphony education projects and residencies and holds the title of Lead Residency Teacher.

Anne’s students have won and placed at many local, regional and national competitions. They have been featured performers numerous times with the Omaha Symphony and at other local events, including 16 years of Omaha Symphony Christmas Celebration concerts, Joslyn Castle’s 2017 Arts and Literary Festival, Opera Omaha’s production of Brundíbar and 2014 National Opera Week and the Blue Barn Music Festival. Her studio’s Celtic fiddling group, Anne’s Band of Merry Fiddlers, has been featured on the Omaha Symphony’s Celebrate Creativity Concerts, the Omaha Symphony Spooktacular Family Concerts and the 2018 and 2020 Celtic Journey pops concerts. Anne and her students have appeared on TV and radio and have been featured in articles in the Omaha World-Herald and Her Family Magazine.

Kimberly Fredenburgh is Professor of Viola and Head of the String Area at the University of New Mexico where she teaches private viola students, classes in orchestral audition preparation and coaches chamber music ensembles. Ms. Fredenburgh is Principal Violist of the Santa Fe Symphony and the Santa Fe ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, and is Acting Principal of the New Mexico Philharmonic. She has performed numerous seasons with the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. She was previously Associate Principal viola of the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra for seven years and also taught on the faculty at Arizona State University

Ms. Fredenburgh was a co-principal violist with the New World Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas and has appeared in Carnegie Hall with Sir Georg Solti conducting. She has been featured as a soloist with orchestras in Arizona, New Mexico, Brazil, Spain, Italy and South Africa. Ms. Fredenburgh has delivered pedagogical papers at several National ASTA conferences and has also performed at the International Viola Congresses and Competitions

A native of Longview, Washington, Clark Potter is Professor of Viola at the Glenn Korff School of Music at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, where he is also on the conducting faculty. Mr. Potter is principal viola of the Lincoln Symphony, director of NEBratsche (the UNL viola ensemble), and he is an active performer as a solo recitalist and chamber musician. Mr. Potter has conducted the Lincoln Youth Symphony since 2007 and has conducted that ensemble in Rome, Prague, Budapest, Dresden, Leipzig, Vienna, Dublin and Belfast. He is also a member of two chamber ensembles: the Nebraska Chamber Players and the Trans-Nebraska Players, and he is in demand as an adjudicator and clinician at schools in Nebraska and around the region. He has conducted All-State Middle School Orchestras in Iowa, Oregon and Alabama, and he has appeared more than 20 times as a guest conductor of high school honors orchestras in Kansas, South Dakota, Nevada and Nebraska. In 2007, Mr. Potter was selected to receive the award for Private String Teacher of the Year by the Nebraska chapter of the American String Teachers Association, and in 2008 he was honored as the String Educator of the Year in Nebraska by the same organization.

In 2019, Potter traveled three times to Europe. In March, he conducted the Lincoln Youth Symphony in Rome. In April, he was invited to conduct a youth orchestra in Budapest comprised of musicians from International Christian Schools from many of the major cities of Europe as well as Istanbul and Moscow. Then in October, Mr. Potter was invited to give a lecture regarding “The Shakespeare Project” and perform with his quintet, the Trans-Nebraska Players, at the Musical Intersections in Practice conference held at Churchill College, Cambridge University in Cambridge, England. That performance included works which Potter arranged of orchestral pieces inspired by Shakespeare’s plays and readings from Shakespeare by scholar and actor, Mr. Tim Cribb, a fellow at Churchill College.

In 2017, Professor Potter gave the world premiere of the 1946 viola sonata by Oscar-winning film composer Ernest Gold in Lincoln with Professor Mark Clinton, and later in the year presented a lecture/recital of the work at the American Viola Society meetings in Los Angeles.

Mr. Potter worked for several years with Dr. Gregory Bashford and students of UNL’s Biological Systems Engineering department to develop an instrument that measures breathing rates and intensities while playing the violin or viola. Results of initial testing were documented in the presentation “How do Upper String Players Breathe When They Play? Can Anything be Done to Help?”, given at the March 2015 ASTA National Conference in Salt Lake City and the Nebraska Music Educators Conference in November of 2015.

In addition, Profesor Potter recently completed his second edition of the first five of the six cello suites by Bach for viola, and in 2019 he was awarded a Research Council grant-in-aid to purchase a 5-string viola for the viola studio at UNL, which will allow him to complete the edition with a version of the sixth and final suite.

In the spring of 2013, Mr. Potter received two significant awards. First, he was awarded “Outstanding Faculty in Outreach, Engagement and Service” for the College of Fine and Performing Arts at UNL. Second, he was awarded the “Golden Baton Award” for his dedication and work as a musician and citizen in Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra.

Prior to his appointment at Nebraska, Mr. Potter taught nine years at Eastern Oregon University, where he was associate professor of strings and conductor of the Grande Ronde Symphony. He received his graduate degrees from Indiana University and California Institute of the Arts and his bachelor’s degree from Western Washington University. He has studied with Peter Marsh, James Dunham, Charmian Gadd, Richard Goldner, and Mimi Zweig.

During the summers, Mr. Potter is on the faculty of the Omaha Conservatory of Music Institute. He has been a performer in the Oregon Coast Music Festival Orchestra, a guest artist at Rocky Ridge Music Center, artist/teacher of viola and chamber music at the Young Musicians and Artists summer program in Salem, Oregon, the Puget Sound Chamber Music Workshop, Lutheran Summer Music program and the Csehy Summer School of Music. He is active in the American String Teachers Association: he served six years on the board of the Nebraska chapter, he was president of the Oregon chapter, and he has written for the organization’s national magazine. Mr. Potter recently served a three-year term on the Nebraska Music Educators Assoc. executive board. He has also dabbled in composition, having composed three pieces for young orchestras, music for two contemporary ballets, one full-length “cowboy” musical, several pieces for choir and pieces for smaller instrumental combinations, including a viola sextet.

In 2010, Mr. Potter performed the viola solo in Vaughan Williams’ Flos Campi with the Lincoln Symphony, and with the same orchestra he was featured with violinist Anton Miller, performing Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in 2005. In 2010 he performed the premiere of Martin Gaskell’s Fantasia for Viola and Orchestra in Austin, TX. In addition, he is half way to his goal of performing as a soloist or chamber musician in each of the 50 states.

Clark would rather be at home than anywhere else in the world, however, enjoying time with his family (wife, Jan; daughter Shannon and her husband Phillip; and son Samuel and his wife Alexandria). He is a big baseball fan, and his favorite hobby is to run and race on roads and trails year around.

Cellist Frances Borowsky has performed recitals in Rome, Paris, Warsaw, Frankfurt, Cologne, Yekaterinburg, Beijing, Tianjin, Hanoi, Jakarta, and Havana, in major venues such as the Kennedy Center, Kimmel Center, and Penderecki European Music Centre. She has been featured as soloist with the Tianjin Symphony Orchestra, Oregon Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, Rheinland-Pfalz Jugend Orchester, Gettysburg Chamber Orchestra, Polish Youth Symphony, Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, and Lebanon Valley College Orchestra.

​​A native of Baltimore, she grew up in an exceptionally musical family and thus honed her love for solo and chamber music performance. Together with her siblings, Frances performed her New York Debut at Carnegie Weill Hall at the age of twelve as a recipient of the Erick Friedman Prize for Outstanding Young Musicians. In December 2018, Frances performed together with her sister, Elizabeth, at Carnegie Hall Stern Auditorium as featured, invited soloists in a celebration of Antonin Dvorak. Recent performance highlights include concert tours in France, Israel, Lithuania, and Cuba, performing Vivaldi’s Double Cello concerto as soloist with Cecylia Barczyk and the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with her siblings and the Oregon Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, Schumann’s Cello Concerto and another Vivaldi Double Concerto (with violin) with the Susquehanna Symphony Orchestra, and Elgar’s Cello Concerto with the University of Maryland Repertoire Orchestra.
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​Frances performs frequently in the Amici Music Series with founder and pianist Dan Weiser, and has performed for the Riversdale Chamber Music Society with faculty from the University of Maryland, Chopin Club in Providence, Tempo New Music Series at UMD, and the UMD Chamber Music Showcase at the Millennium Stage at Kennedy Center. Frances has also collaborated with wind ensemble Quinteto Latino, pianists Brian Ganz and Georges Beriachvili, cellist Amit Peled, violinists Shmuel Ashkenasi and Borisas Traubas, and the Dagilelis Boys Choir of Lithuania.Her three solo performances at the Keshet Eilon Mastercourse in August 2017 were live-streamed and broadcast around the world. At the 2019 Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, she gave the U.S. premiere of the “Mirrors” cello octet by Richard Birchall together with Festival faculty and selected participants.

​Awards include the Grace Clagett Ranney Prize for excellence in chamber music at The Peabody Institute, first prizes in the Mary Graham Lasley Concerto Competition, Levine Chamber Music Competition (as part of Trio INUENDI), Baltimore Music Club Competition, and Peggy Friedman – Yale Gordon Competition, and second prizes in the University of Maryland Concerto Competition, and the Sylvia and Irving H. Cohen Competition.Throughout her career, Frances has been involved with performing and composing new music. She frequently performs together with her brother (violinist Emmanuel Borowsky) and sister (pianist Elizabeth Borowsky). As Artists-in-Residence at the Dilsberg Castle (Germany) in 2008, she and her siblings co-composed their first trio, “Postcards from Dilsberg,” which is available on DVD and published by ICRecords. Since then, they received several commissions to compose more trios, and frequently include these in performance.

Simultaneous to her performance career, Frances enjoys teaching cellists of all ages and levels. ​She teaches at Lebanon Valley College and Elizabethtown College. Since 2020, Frances has served as Executive Director of the Intermuse International Music Institute and Festival USA, where she teaches cello and chamber music to students from around the world, and collaborates with IIMIF faculty in chamber music performances. Frances is also Co-Director of the Vivaldi String Academy in Towson, MD, and Co-Founder and the Cello Finder of Grace Albert Strings.

Frances has received cello performance degrees under the tutelage of Cecylia Barczyk at Towson University (BM); Amit Peled at The Peabody Conservatory (MM); Alexander Huelshoff and Laurenciu Sbarcea at Folkwang University in Germany (MM); and Eric Kutz at University of Maryland College Park (DMA). Additionally, she has been mentored by prestigious cellists Janos Starker, Johannes Moser, and Michael Flaksman.​​

Karen Becker is Professor of Cello at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, principal cellist of Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra and director of the University of Nebraska and Lincoln Public Schools String Project. She is an active soloist and avid chamber player, performing regularly throughout the United States as well as Europe, Mexico, and South Korea. In addition to serving as faculty artist with the Red Lodge Music Festival in Montana and the Omaha Conservatory of Music Institute, she has served as artist faculty with the Ameropa Chamber Music Festival in Praque (Czech Republic) and Lutheran Summer Music. In Prague she performed in a series of concerts in various venues throughout the city, such as the prestigious Suk Hall at the Rudolfinum, Martinu Hall at the Academy of Music, and the Hall of Mirrors at the Klementinum. In May 2019 she traveled to Seoul, South Korea with Glenn Korff School of Music (and dance) students and colleague Hye-Won Hwang. While in Seoul, Becker gave masterclasses for high school and college-age cellists and performed in several venues with Hwang and the three UNL students, combining music and dance in new and exciting ways. During the summer 2023, Dr. Becker will serve as artist faculty for the Red Lodge Music Festival (Montana), Omaha Conservatory’s SounWaves music camp, and as Guest Artist faculty for the ICI (International Cello Institute), held on the St. Olaf campus in Northfield, MN.

Becker has recorded for several PBS documentaries and with several bands, including Bright Eyes. She tours regularly as a soloist and chamber player and is a member of the Concordia String Trio (CST) with violinist Marcia Henry-Liebenow and violist Leslie Perna. Centaur Records released CST’s CD Viennese String Trios in 2017 and their second CD, American Vistas, was released in 2018. A third CD, From the Heart of Ra, string trio and viola music by Boston composer Andrew List, was released in November 2022. She is a former member of Trio Nuovo and the Omega String Quartet, and served as principal cellist of both the Melkus Ensemble and the International String Orchestra. Becker has appeared as soloist and principal cellist with the Texas Cello Choir at national conventions as well as on “Front Row Center,” a Texas Public Television program.

In 2017 Dr. Becker gave the California premiere of Laurence Sherr’s Sonata for Cello and Piano: Mir Zaynen Do! as part of Daniel Pearl World Music Days; the same sonata for which she gave the world premiere at the University of Nebraska in 2015. She is a regularly featured artist on American Public Media’s Performance Today. In November 2021, Becker performed the Nebraska premiere of the beautiful neo-romantic cello concerto by Swedish composer Kurt Atterberg.

An active member of the American String Teachers Association (ASTA), Becker has served as a past president of both the Nebraska and Missouri chapters and has presented at numerous ASTA National Conferences, including those held in Atlanta, Georgia; Kansas City, Missouri; Louisville, Kentucky; Reno, Nevada; Providence, Rhode Island; Salt Lake City, Utah; Albuqurque, New Mexico; and Orlando, Florida. She has been on the planning committee for ASTA National Conventions and served on the organization’s committees at the national level. She is a recipient of the ASTA Citation for Leadership & Merit.

As a string educator, Becker enjoys serving as a cello clinician and master teacher for cellists of all ages. She has worked with young musicians as a guest conductor and clinician and in Lincoln as former director of the Junior Youth Orchestra, part of the Lincoln Public Schools youth orchestra program. She has conducted several orchestras in the University of Texas String Project and has appeared as guest conductor/clinician for honors orchestras throughout the United States. In October 2022 Becker was honored to receive an invitation to give the Pre-Collegiate Cello Master Class at the 2023 ASTA National Conference in Orlando. She always looks forward to having the opportunity to work with new students and help inspire them to become better musicians.

Becker received her Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and the Bachelor of Music degree from Ohio University. Her teachers have included her father David Becker, Leighton Conkling, Roger Drinkall, and internationally renowned string/cello pedagogue Phyllis Young. Before coming to Nebraska she was cello professor at Truman State University and served as String Project teacher at the University of Texas. An avid cyclist, she enjoys endurance cycling and participating in century rides.

Carey Beth Hockett graduated from the Eastman School of Music, receiving a Bachelor of Music degree with high distinction. From 1988 to 2006 she lived in London, England where she taught for the London Suzuki Group and in the Junior Department of the Royal Academy of Music. Hockett was a member of the International Suzuki Association’s Cello Committee and served as repertoire consultant to the Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music. She is recognized as a teacher trainer by the Suzuki Association of the Americas and the European Suzuki Association, and has given numerous workshops across the Americas and Europe. She is currently serving on the Board of Directors of the Suzuki Association of the Americas.

Matt Gold fell in love with the double bass when he began playing the instrument at the age of nine. He went on to study with John Chiego at the University of Memphis on a full scholarship, and later with the distinguished bass pedagogue Lawrence Hurst at Indiana University where he earned a Masters Degree in Music Performance. While at IU, Matt also had the privilege of working with Bruce Bransby, former Principal Bass of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Stanley Richie, the world-renowned Baroque violinist. Matt has been a tenured member of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, and has played with the Louisiana Philharmonic and Virginia Symphony Orchestras. Nowadays, he can frequently be seen on stage at Richmond’s Carpenter Theatre with the Richmond Symphony.

Matt has always had a strong interest in a variety of eclectic styles. In high school, he began rock and jazz lessons on guitar and studied jazz bass at the University of Memphis with Tim Goodwin, formerly of the Kennedy Center “Jazz Ambassadors” program. Matt has also taken composition lessons from Prix deRome winner Kamran Ince. He currently plays double bass in Goldrush, a Richmond-based rock band.

A dedicated teacher, Matt is a classical bass instructor at the College of William & Mary and the Omaha Conservatory of Music Summer Institute, alongside a very successful studio of private bass students. When he is not making music, Matt loves to go on runs through Richmond’s beautiful Museum District with his wife, Treesa Gold, violinist, and their two dogs, Ringo and Rubeus.

The versatile Ernest Richardson is in high demand as conductor, composer, arranger, organizational leader and inspirational speaker.

His versatility finds him within one season conducting Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite or Broadway artists in the works of Leonard Bernstein, a live-to-movie production of Harry Potter, facilitating strategic decision-making for leading arts organizations, or training young musicians for the passionate, persistent pursuit of perfection.

He has been at the forefront of symphonic video/live music productions, conducting live-to-movie scores of the Harry Potter series with CineConcerts, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park, Back to the Future, Pirates of the Caribbean, Singing in the Rain, Casablanca, Ratatouille, Star Trek (2009), the Charlie Chaplin silent film The Gold Rush and most recently Star Wars.

May 2020 marks his live-in-concert album debut with indie rock band Guster on OMAGAH! for their live performance with the Omaha Symphony in collaboration with the MAHA Music Festival in February 2019. The recording is available on guster.bandcamp.com or gustermerch.com.

Richardson is presently the principal pops conductor and resident conductor of the Omaha Symphony at his appointment in 2015. Since 1993, he has laid the groundwork for and led in the development of the Omaha Symphony’s vaunted education and community engagement programs. In addition to his artistic leadership in the creation of the annual sold-out Christmas Celebration production and internationally performed “Only in Omaha” productions, he leads the successful Symphony Pops, Symphony Rocks and Movie Music Series. The highly successful Family Series was created under his artistic leadership and he is one of the visionary forces behind the new and innovative Symphony Joslyn Series. As chief architect of the Omaha Symphony’s education and community engagement programs, Richardson has been at the forefront of crafting the vision for the programs and their impact on the community. The pivotal point in his leadership can be traced to the first education report written in the beginning of his tenure with the Omaha Symphony. This report paved the way for the structure, function and programming of the education department leading to innovations in all programming including the creation of Choral Collaborative, Celebrate Creativity, Music Alive!, the Family Series and Mission: Imagination.

Learn more about Ernest at: www.troutmaestro.com

Patricia Ritchie combines her love for performing and teaching in Omaha, where she has taught Orchestra in the Omaha and Millard Public Schools for nearly 40 years. She earned her Bachelor of Music Degree in Music Education from Ball State University in Muncie, IN and her Master of Music Degree in Cello Performance from the University of Denver-Lamont School of Music. Patricia has served as a guest conductor and clinician, adjudicator, coach, private lessons teacher, OAYO board member, cellist with the Omaha Symphony, and has performed for movie soundtracks. She has served as President of Nebraska Chapter of American String Teachers Association, Chair of Orchestra Affairs for Nebraska Music Educators, and as a conductor for Nebraska Ambassadors of Music European Tours.

Jack Winerock received undergraduate and master’s degrees at the Juilliard School of Music and a doctorate from the University of Michigan. Currently Professor of Piano at the University of Kansas School of Music, he was awarded the prestigious Kemper Teaching Award in 2003. In 2009, he was chosen Teacher of the Year by the National Federation of Music Clubs, and in 2010 he presented the Chopin Master Class at the MTNA (Music Teachers National Association) annual convention.

Winerock received Second Prize in the International Bach Competition, made his orchestral debut with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C, and played his New York debut at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center. He has toured Europe, Asia, and South America as well as the United States. In 1986, he gave the first performance of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue in the People’s Republic of China, and in l990, he was appointed the first U.S. Visiting Professor at the Chopin Academy in Warsaw.

Winerock has achieved national and international acclaim as a performer, teacher, and lecturer. He currently performs solo recitals and presents numerous master classes in Korea, China, Hong Kong, and Singapore. His students have won prizes in national and international competitions, including the Chopin Competition in Warsaw, the MTNA, the National Federation of Music Clubs, and the Johanna Hodges. They hold important faculty positions both in the United States as well as in conservatories in Europe and Asia.
Winerock is also Artistic Director of the International Institute for Young Musicians (IIYM) Piano Competition and Festival held every summer at the University of Kansas.

With performances spanning distinguished venues and festivals in over thirty countries, Elizabeth Borowsky is equally at home performing as a soloist on the stages of Carnegie Hall and The Kennedy Center as she is getting up-close-and-personal with audiences in community venues, from Cuba to Lithuania. She is lauded as a sensitive and dynamic collaborative pianist, having performed with renowned soloists Amit Peled, Cecylia Barczyk, James Stern, Erick Friedman, Chin Kim, and Teresa Kubiak among others. Learn more about her career as a performer.

As founder and director of Piano Prodigies LLC, a unique approach to private piano instruction that focuses on the artistic and personal development of each student, Elizabeth has earned a reputation as a dedicated and effective teacher. She has presented workshops on yoga for musicians, stage presence, artistry, and improvisation at high schools, colleges, conferences, and summer festivals. She serves as Executive Director of the Intermuse International Music Institute and Festival USA, an annual solo and chamber music program. Learn more about her life as a teacher.

As a composer, Elizabeth has written and published music for piano, trio, and orchestra. She frequently writes custom compositions for her students, blending her passion for performance, collaboration, and storytelling, with nurturing the next generation of music lovers. Learn more about her work as a composer.

Jeremy Powell is a voice teacher with experience internationally, working with singers of varying genres, varying ages, and achieving a variety of goals for clients, all within one area of specialty: TECHNIQUE.

Jeremy has formed a strong international reputation as a specialist in two major areas of technique: 1. Building voices from the ground up for those who are new to vocal technique, and 2. Solving problems and repairing injuries/poor habits for established professional singers.

As an experienced professional onstage performer, as well as an experienced professional pianist, Jeremy’s knowledge of the demands on a working singer provide insight into not only what is required by casting directors/directors/musical directors, but also the physical demands on the voice from the singer’s perspective. (It doesn’t hurt to have a professional standard pianist as your voice teacher either…..)

It should be fun!! When building or repairing a voice, it is very much Jeremy’s philosophy that the sessions should be extremely focused and productive, but also enjoyable…….We can laugh a lot at the same time as we make that voice brilliant!!

Siri Howard is a Broadway actress, recording artist, and concert performer who began her professional career at age 10 and has continued to perform on some of the world’s most prestigious stages. On Broadway Siri has appeared in: Les Misérables and The Sound of Music (Broadway cast recording).

National Tours include: The Phantom of the Opera, Parade, Les Misérables 25th Anniversary Production, and The Sound of Music starring ‪Richard Chamberlain.

Regionally Ms. Howard has been seen in: The Music Man (Marian Paroo), North Shore Music Theatre; Sweeney Todd starring Emma Thompson, Lincoln Center/ PBS; South Pacific (Nellie Forbush), Gulf Coast Symphony and Kupferberg Center for the Performing Arts; Fiddler on the Roof (Hodel), Maine State Music Theatre; A Little Night Music 25th Anniversary Production (Fredrika), with the Philadelphia Orchestra; Les Misérables (Cosette), Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Maine State Music Theatre, and North Shore Music Theatre; Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (Angel), Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival; Oklahoma! (Laurey), Gulf Coast Symphony.

Siri has also appeared as a soloist with the Omaha Symphony, NJ Symphony Orchestra, and the Steamboat Springs Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Howard has performed with the USO for veterans and active-duty military, as well as the Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball Drop in 2016. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from University of Maryland College Park and a Master of Arts in vocal performance from the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College.

Kyle Branzel envisions a future in which we are all free to listen to our hearts and safe to express what we find there. A multi-disciplinary theatre artist based in NYC, Kyle works as a director, music director, pianist, coach, and teacher, helping actors and singers use their voices and bodies to tell dynamic stories with confidence and pride. As an educator, he has presented workshops and lecture series at Hartt School of Music, Roosevelt University, Western Illinois University, John Brown University, and Omaha Conservatory of Music. He is the creator of Rock U, a comprehensive system for interpreting and performing popular music, as well as In a Nutshell with Kyle Branzel, a YouTube series aimed at helping actors nail their auditions. In a previous life, Kyle was an actor in plays and musicals Off-Broadway, on national tours, and regionally, most notably starring in the first national tour of Murder for Two. He is an Ohio native and avid poker player. BFA Musical Theatre, Roosevelt University. Learn more about Kyle at kylebranzel.com

Max Quinlan is a Broadway Resident Director, Director, Broadway Performer, Jeff Award-Winning Actor, and Audition Coach based in New York City. Currently, Max is serving as the Resident Director for the North American U.S. National Tour of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. Previously, Max served as the Resident Director for the 2014 Broadway Revival of LES MISERABLES. Max has an extensive background working as a director, performer, instructor, and in casting, spanning much of North America.

Max recently made his film Directorial debut with the short SAMMY’S FEDORA. Other favorite Directing credits include: COMPANY (BC/EFA Benefit), SHOW BOAT (Gulf Coast Symphony), NEXT TO NORMAL (BC/EFA Benefit), RAGTIME (Brooklyn Players), DETROIT (Guild Hall, East Hampton), WHY WE TELL THE STORY (Brooklyn Players), and the review PLACES TO GO (Resonance Voices of Omaha).

​As a performer, Max has been seen starring on Broadway, National Tours, and Regional stages alike. Highlights from his performance career include LES MISERABLES 2014 Broadway Revival (OBC), EVITA Revival 1st National Tour (Che), LES MISERABLES 25th ANNIVERSARY National Tour (Marius), Jeff Award-Winning performance in THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA (Fabrizio, Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire), and Broadway World Award-Winning performance in JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (Jesus, Theatre at the Center). Max made his professional performance debut at the age of 12 as The Little Boy in the Chicago Company of RAGTIME starring Hinton Battle, LaChanze, and Barbara Walsh.

​​As a Guest Concert Soloist, Max has had the honor of working with Maestros Paul Gemignani, James Levine, Michael Krajewski, Jack Everly and the late Erich Kunzel. He has sung with the Utah, Indianapolis, Chicago, Omaha, Florida, and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestras.

​​Max grew up in the Chicago land area and earned his B.F.A. in Musical Theatre from the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music. In addition to directing and performing, Max has an extensive background serving as a guest instructor for many different performance based organizations. Max has had the pleasure of working with The Growing Studio, Broadway Classroom, On & Off Broadway Inc., Educational Performance Tours, Camp Broadway, and Broadway Artists Alliance. He delivers a wide array of classes focusing on audition coaching, song interpretation, vocal coaching, and introduction to professional theatre. Max has also worked for the New York Casting Office STEWART/WHITLEY.

​​Max teaches an ongoing Song Interpretation Master Class in New York City “Bring YOU to your work”.
The class is dedicated to discovering each actor’s individual voice in a fun, safe, supportive environment. It is a chance to fully bring one’s self to a story or explore a character’s journey in song.

Melanie Walters is an Omaha-based actress and choreographer. Her work has been seen in productions of Spamalot, Young Frankenstein, Legally Blonde, Altar Boyz, Little Women, Caroline, or Change, Evil Dead: The Musical, The Producers, Mamma Mia!, Sister Act, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, and Indecent. She also serves as choreographer for a number of high school show choirs throughout the midwest, as well as clinician and adjudicator.

As a performer, favorite roles include Eva Peron (Evita), Aida (Aida), Velma Kelly (Chicago), Cassie (A Chorus Line), Judy (9 to 5), Lucy Harris (Jekyll and Hyde), Mary Magdalene (Jesus Christ Superstar), The Narrator (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat), and the Lady of the Lake (Spamalot).

Pianist Ellen Sommer is a sought-after collaborative pianist, chamber musician, and coach. Her reputation for excellence has led to extensive engagements throughout the United States, Canada, Central and South America, Europe, and Asia. Recent performances include a chamber music recital at the Montgomery Arts House for Music and Architecture in Malibu, California with Maria Newman, Scott Hosfeld and instrumentalists from the Metropolitan Opera orchestra; and a series of concerts and masterclasses in San Jose, Costa Rica at the Universidad de Costa Rica and Casa de la musica in Quito, Ecuador.

Ellen can be heard on numerous professional recordings, including five under the auspices of Potenza Music and Albany Records. Her performances of Ingrid Stölzel’s compositions were recently released on Parma Records’ The Gorgeous Nothings. Recently Ellen recorded with saxophonist, Nick May, performing compositions of the late David Maslanka. This recording will released by Albany at a later date.

Ellen is a founding member of Allégresse, a trio that champions fresh, inspiring repertoire, both established and contemporary, for flute, oboe, and piano. Recipients of the National Endowment for the Arts American Masterpieces: Chamber Music Grant, the trio has performed throughout the United States and the globe. Allégresse recently premiered Bonnie McLarty’s, Still Life with poetry by Caryn Miriam-Goldberg, and Stölzel’s,The Gorgeous Nothings based on Emily Dickinson’s writings. Both works were commissions for the trio and soprano, Sarah Anderson. They will release their third album spring 2019.

Ellen is in high demand as a pianist for regional, national, and international conferences, competitions, and festivals, including MTNA, NATS, IDRS, and ICA and for concert series and radio broadcasts such as the Dame Myra Hess recital series in Chicago. She frequently performs live on Kansas Public Radio.

Ellen is Lecturer in Piano at the University of Kansas School of Music, where she regularly performs with faculty, visiting artists, and students. From 1994-2003, she taught piano and voice at Missouri Western State University. Ellen serves on faculty as a coach and collaborative pianist at the Omaha Conservatory of Music Institute, Brian Lewis Young Artist Program, Sound Encounters Suzuki String Camp, Midwestern Music Camp, and Interlochen Arts summer camps. In 2016 Ellen was named one of three Distinguished Alumni from Missouri Western State University.

Marcey Yates is a recording artist, music producer, sound engineer and founder of Culxr House, a creative art/community space where artists and entrepreneurs can grow and enrich their own artistic talents and create opportunities.

In addition to his solo work, Marcey is one half of the duo Dilla Kids, winner of the 2018 Omaha Entertainment and Arts Award for best hip hop/rap. Backed by a sound best described as “expressive vinyl hip hop,” he has played with Rakim, P.O.S, Black Milk, Freddie Gibbs, B-Real, Weezer and more at the Maha Festival, Lincoln Calling festival and SXSW. Marcey regularly lends his talents as an established producer to emcees searching for the ideal beat.