Encore Music Studio Faculty
Lisa Alexander, is a freelance bassoonist and chamber musician in the New York metropolitan area and currently holds positions with the, The Ridgefield Symphony, The Little Orchestra Society, and has performed with the New York City Ballet Orchestra, The American Symphony, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, The NY Choral Society and many others. Ms. Alexander is also Adjunct Professor of Bassoon at Hofstra University and also teaches at the JCC- Thurnauer School of Music in Tenafly, NJ. She holds a Master of Musical Arts degree from Queens College, and Bachelor of Performance and Music Education degree from The Peabody Conservatory.
Matt Bilyk,received his BA in Jazz Performance from Manhattan School of Music in 1997. After graduating college, Matt started his freelance career by subbing in the pits of Broadway. In addition, Matt has had the privilege to work with such performers and groups as: Warren Vache, The Irish Tenors, Bobby Rydell, Jimmy Beaumont, The Happenings, The Classics, Mel Cater, Sonny Turner, The Dupree’s, Connie Francis, The Guy Lombardo Orchestra, Bob Crosby and The BobCats, The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, The Walkmen, The Richie LaBamba Big Band, Joan Rivers, Joe Piscopo, and many more. Matt Bilyk directs the Jazz Ensemble and serves as Assistant Marching Band Director at Northern Valley Regional Old Tappan High School, and is on staff for the Encore Music Program in Ridgewood NJ and Elefante Music in New Providence NJ. In the spring of 2012 Matt was honored to be asked to conduct one of the Region I Jazz Ensembles. The group consisted of some of the best young Jazz players in northern New Jersey. In addition to playing, giving clinics, and adjudicating, Matt has a private studio full of young and talented students.
Elise Carter, flutist, performed her debut solo recital at Weill recital hall in Carnegie hall in October of 2005. She followed up this performance with another performance in Jan. 2007 at Weill recital hall as part of Artist International’s alumni series. As well as her solo endeavors, Ms Carter is a member of the chamber ensembles Uptown Flutes (debuted at Carnegie hall in 2002) and the Apollo Quintet. She performs regularly with the Garden State Philharmonic and the Verismo Opera, the Blue Hill Troupe the Ibex Chamber Orchestra, and others. She has given concerts in venues in the New York Area such as Central Park Summer Stage, Trinity Church noon day series on Wall Street, and St John the Divine. She has performed the Mozart flute Concert, the Griffes Poem, and the Vivaldi piccolo concertos with the North Jersey Symphony and the Christ Church Orchestra. She can be heard on 5 commercially available CDs; Into the Next Dimension with guitarist and composer Dave Calkins (heard widely on national public radio), A Flute Renaissance , An Uptown Christmas with the Uptown Flutes, The Valley recorded by the Irish rock band; The Temp, and Waiting for Love, a children’s cantata by G. Chiusano and M. Hochman. As well as a performer, Ms Carter is an award winning composer, and is published by Falls House Press. She has studied with Katherine Hoover for composition and has studied flute with Stephanie Jutt, Linda Wetherill, Thomas Robertello, Julius Baker, Bart Feller and Diva Goodfriend-Koven for flute. Ms Carter received her bachelor of Music from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Ms Carter is also the music director at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Dumont, NJ. Ms Carter is also the subject of the documentary entitled: Debut: the Road to Carnegie , (released in Jan 2007).
Alison Crossley, a New Jersey native, received her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Flute Performance from Carnegie Mellon University and her Master of Arts Degree in Music Performance from New York University. Alison has performed nationally and internationally as an orchestral and chamber musician. Alison’s most recent engagements have been with The Chelsea Symphony and Metro Chamber Orchestra. Other highlights include appearances at Avery Fisher Hall, The Tribeca Film Festival, The National Flute Association and The Greater Boston's Flute Conventions, The International Flute Festival of Chile, and at The Ritz-Carlton in Doha, Qatar. She has attended programs at The Banff Centre, The Brevard Music Center, and The Lake Placid Institute. Alison has been an Encore Music Studio instructor and the Director of the Ridgewood High School Flute Ensemble since 2005. Alison is also on faculty at The Rudolf Steiner School in Manhattan and is an active member of In The Pocket NYC.
John Ferrari, enjoys a varied career as a versatile classical and hand percussionist, drummer, conductor, and educator in the New York area. He is a founding member of the Naumburg Award winning New Millennium Ensemble as well as drummer/percussionist for Meridian Arts Ensemble-Brass & Percussion. Frequent recipients of the ASCAP/CMA Award for Adventurous Programming, both groups have collectively released twelve critically acclaimed recordings. Between these groups and others he has toured extensively as both performer and clinician in the U.S., Europe, Mexico, Central and South America, and Asia. Mr. Ferrari is a frequent guest artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and has performed and recorded with most notable chamber-music organizations around New York, including: Bang On A Can All-stars, Cygnus, Da Capo Chamber Players, The Group for Contemporary Music, New Jersey Percussion Ensemble, New Music Consort, Orion and Peterson String Quartets, Patrick Grant Group, Riverside Symphony, Sequitur, and Talujon Percussion Quartet. Musically active in chamber, orchestral, pop, jazz, Broadway, dance, film and television, he can be heard on the CRI, Centaur, Koch International, Channel Classics, New World, CGNJ and sTRANGE mUSIC record labels. This summer John performed in the Shakespeare in the Park Festival production of Sondheim's 'Into The Woods'. He has also recently played with Yo-Yo Ma, and in the Broadway pit orchestras of Curtains, Legally Blonde, Gypsy, and Tale of Two Cities, as well as Radio City's Christmas Spectacular. Mr. Ferrari holds DMA and MM degrees from SUNY Stony Brook, and a BM from William Paterson University where he has been on the performing arts faculty since 2002. He is also on faculty for Manhattan School of Music's Contemporary Performance graduate program, Hunter College, and is on the artist/teacher roster for Princeton University. This summer Mr. Ferrari joined the music faculty of the Paramus Summer Music and Arts Program, and this fall will also join the teaching roster of Elisabeth Morrow School in Englewood.
Gary Fink, is the director of Jazz and Percussion at Ridgewood High School and the director of the Encore Music Studio. He has been teaching percussion lessons in the Ridgewood community since 1990 and also taught the percussion methods course at William Paterson University. Many of Mr. Fink’s students audition successfully for County, Region and All-State ensembles as well as for admissions into music camps and college music programs. In 1998 and 2007 Mr. Fink was awarded a Teacher Recognition Certificate from the National Foundation for the Advancement in the Arts. Mr. Fink studied music at Eastman School of Music under Gordon Stout, Ernie Muzqiz and David Mancini, and at William Paterson College with Ray DesRoches, Elliot Zigmund and Horacee Arnold. Mr. Fink has been the percussion arranger and instructor for the RHS Marching Band since 1986. He founded the RHS Percussion Ensemble in 1986, which has been recognized as a superior group by nationally known clinicians and educators. The ensemble has been chosen to be a part of the Chamber Society of Lincoln Center’s Young Musicians Program 13 times since 1998, the first and only percussion ensemble to receive that honor. Mr. Fink has also directed the NJ Region I Percussion Ensemble, the New Jersey City University Percussion Ensemble, USSBA All Star Percussion Ensemble, NJ Region I High School Jazz Ensemble, has toured China as director of HYPE and, since 1992, has toured Europe as director of the American Music Abroad Red Tour Percussion Ensemble. Mr. Fink was the Principal Percussionist for the Ridgewood Concert Band from 1984-2001. He was a founding member of the Ethos Percussion Group and has performed or conducted in the pit orchestra of over 130 musicals. Mr. Fink composed the Drumset Audition etudes for the NJ All-State Jazz Ensembles, and the Percussion Audition Etudes for the Music Educators of Bergen County Middle School and High School Bands. Mr. Fink is a Yamaha Clinician for symphonic percussion and he also gives clinics and workshops on drumset. He has been directly involved with the revamping of percussion auditions for NJ All-State Band, NJ All-State Jazz Ensembles and Bergen County Bands, and is the Percussion Coordinator for NJ Region I Bands and Bergen County Bands. Mr. Fink is active as a clinician for symphonic percussion and drumset, and has coached students in the Region I Jazz Ensemble, Bergen County Band and the Region I Symphonic Band.
James Garde is a proud product of the Ridgewood School system. After graduating from Ridgewood High School in 1993, Mr. Garde went on to get his Bachelor's of Music in Music Education from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. He has studied saxophone, flute, and clarinet with Gunnar Mossblad, Eric Weidman, Jeffrey Haas, and Sal Lozano. Performances have included the North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland, the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra in Virginia, Disneyland in California as a member of the All-American College Band, pit orchestras for many local high school productions, many different parts of NJ with the New Jersey Saxophone Ensemble, and as a part of the Music Ministry at Church of the Presentation in Upper Saddle River. Mr. Garde teaches 4th through 8th Grade Band as well as Video Production and runs the television studio at the Carlstadt Public School in Carlstadt, NJ. He is the former marching band director at Ridgewood High School, and the current music arranger for both the Midland Park and Indian Hills High School Marching Bands. Mr. Garde has been teaching lessons in the Encore Program for 4 years and is an assistant with the jazz program at Ridgewood High School.
Daryl Goldberg, cello, has been praised by the New York Times for her musicality, skill and commitment. She performs frequently at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and the Broadway Theaters with such orchestras as American Ballet Theater, Little Orchestra Society and the New York Pops. She has served as acting Principal for both the Chautauqua (N.Y.) Symphony Orchestra and Opera during their summer season. Ms. Goldberg has been presented in recital at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and has been a featured soloist on numerous chamber music concert series throughout the New York Metropolitan area. Her broadcasts include the National Public Radio series, All Things Considered, WBAI’s Around the Town, and Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion. She is a graduate of Northwestern University and the Yale School of Music and has recorded for CBS, CRI, EMI and RCA.
Andrew Haderthauer, is a resident of Ridgewood and an R.H.S. graduate. He studied percussion with Gary Fink for seven years and continued his studies at the University of Delaware under percussionist Tom Palmer. Andrew worked with the Summer Music Academy in Ridgewood from 2004 to 2007 and currently works as a percussion instructor with the R.H.S. Marching Band, as well as providing private instruction for several of the students. He is also a member of the Ridgewood Concert Band.
Joe Hakim, is a versatile musician, having had many different performing opportunites on a number of instruments. He had the opportunity to study with such great musicians as Rufus Reid, Todd Coolman, and Dave Holland. Mr. Hakim earned a BA in Performance with a major in Double Bass and minor in Piano from William Paterson University, during which time he won first place in Downbeat Magazine’s Student Competition. Mr. Hakim has performed throughout the U.S. and abroad in many different musical environments, including Classical, Jazz, and Pop music. He has played on many famous stages in New York, and has performed original compositions while doing so. Mr. Hakim is also in demand as a studio musician, playing on many recording projects in various styles. After hundreds of engagements as a sideman, Mr. Hakim’s first project as a leader is soon to be completed. Mr. Hakim currently holds a full schedule of private students, and has also taught at the Middle School and College levels. Currently, he performs and teaches Guitar, Acoustic and Electric Bass, and Piano.
Ben Hankle has been a freelance trumpeter in the NYC area since the late 90’s. Having grown up in North Jersey, he had the opportunity to perform in such iconic jazz clubs as the Village Vanguard, Birdland, and the Blue Note while still a teenager. His career has included Broadway, jazz, and orchestral performances, as he currently subs in the orchestra of the hit Broadway show Chicago, leads his own jazz quintet, and performs with many of the best bands around including, the Joe Elefante Big Band, the Mike Lee Big Band, and the George Gee Big Band. He has traveled the world as lead trumpet for P&O, Celebrity, and Royal Caribbean Cruises and throughout his career he has had the opportunity to perform and/ or record with such artists as Milt Hinton, Arturo Sandoval, Louie Bellson, Barry Manilow, Gladys Knight, The Osmonds, Phil Smith, John Hendricks, Tierney Sutton, Bob Mintzer, Charles McPherson, Rufus Reid, Slide Hampton, Wynton Marsalis, Boyz II Men, Roger Webster, Christian McBride, and Buddy DeFranco. Ben is a graduate of the Mason Gross School of the Arts (Rutgers) having received his MM in Jazz Performance in 2011.
Marcia Hankle, BM, Oberlin Conservatory and MM Duquesne University, has performed extensively in the Metropolitan area with such groups as New Jersey State Opera Orchestra, Long Island Philharmonic, Queens Symphony, St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, Bronx Art Ensemble, Wayne Chamber Orchestra, New Jersey Pops, Phoenix Quintet, Uptown Flutes (Carnegie Hall debut 2002) and Englewinds (Grammy nomination 2008). She has toured with the Broadway company of “Jesus Christ Superstar”, the National Ballet of Canada, and the Moiseyev Dance Co., as well as performing with the Aspen Festival Orchestra and Festival of Two Worlds Orchestra in Spoleto, Italy. Her faculty positions have included William Paterson University, Riverdale School of Music, and the Ridgewood Encore Music program. She maintains a private flute studio in Teaneck, NJ.
Christine Ims, violist, holds degrees from Ohio University and Juilliard, and received her D.M.A. from Yale University. While in Ohio, she received an Ohio State Teaching certificate and taught strings in Worthington and Findlay, Ohio. During her years at Yale, she was teaching assistant to Harold Coletta. In addition to her studies at the Juilliard School, she also took Suzuki String training with Louise Behrend at New York’s School for Strings. She has been Principal Viola of the Oklahoma and Kansas City Symphonies, and the New Hampshire and Eastern Music Festivals, where she taught private lessons and coached student chamber music groups. She is an active chamber music player, performing in chamber music recitals throughout the metropolitan area, and has worked with such renowned artists as Leonard Rose and Nabuko Imai. Ms. Ims performs with many orchestras in the New York area, including the New York Pops, the Brooklyn Philharmonic and the orchestras of the New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theater, and is also Principal Viola of both the Glimmerglass Opera and the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic. She has taught both violin and viola in the Encore Music Program, and also maintains a private teaching studio in Teaneck, New Jersey.
Colleen Keating, is a graduate of Westminster Choir College (MM Voice Performance and Pedagogy). She has performed on national tour in a select choir for Andrea Bocelli and Metropolitan Opera star, Denyce Graves. As a soloist, she performed The National Anthem at a Philadelphia Philllies and Boston Red Sox game. In addition to teaching young people in the Encore program, she has taught voice to students of all ages and stages in her private studio and in the Community Schools of Ridgewood Glen Rock, Midland Park and in Ramsey Adult School.
Suzanne Kellow, received her Master of Arts degree in Music Education from Columbia University Teachers College and her Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana. She is the conductor of the Ridge School Early Morning Chorus, “Rhythm of Dawn”, as well as the new conductor of Ridgewood Community School’s Adult Choir beginning in October of 2008. Her performances include choral singing with the Philadelphia Orchestra with Elaine Brown’s “Singing City Choir” as well as a member of The Metropolitan Singers, a New York choral group under the direction of Maestro Dino Anagost. She was a singer/actress with the former Light Opera of Manhattan theatre company and performed the role of “Pitti-Sing” in “The Mikado” as well as an ensemble member in most of the Gilbert and Sullivan repertoire. As a former member of Ridgewood’s Gilbert and Sullivan Society, she performed the role of “Angelina” in “Trial by Jury”. Suzanne is the founder of Gilbert and Sullivan showcases and workshops for Ridgewood elementary schools’ assembly programs and Arts Day presentations. In addition, she founded “Broadway Bits”, a theatre group for young children. A former music director of College Club’s “Capers”, she continues her roles of vocal coach and rehearsal pianist for “Jamboree”, a Ridgewood High School college fundraiser spectacular! Suzanne maintains an active studio in voice and piano in Ridgewood. Her vocal students have successfully auditioned and enrolled in music programs at Carnegie Mellon University and Northwestern University as well as the prestigious Governor’s School of the Arts program in New Jersey.
Gregory Landes, Is Director of Percussion Studies at The Calhoun School in New York City. He has appeared as both a timpanist and percussionist in many symphony orchestras, as well as a drummer and percussionist for many Broadway productions. Gregory was the principal timpanist with the New Haven Symphony and has also performed as principal timpanist and percussionist with the American Symphony Orchestra, New York Chorale Society, The Brooklyn Philharmonic, Princeton Symphony, Garden State Philharmonic, Albany Symphony, Manhattan Philharmonic, Little Orchestra Society of New York, Westfield, Greenwich, Stamford, and Westchester Symphonies, Masterwork Chorale Orchestra, Opera Northeast and the Goldman Band. Gregory has performed in every major concert hall in New York, including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, BAM and The Allen Room (Lincoln Center Jazz). He has participated in several prestigious summer music festivals including: The Tanglewood Jazz, Bard, Caramoor, Waterloo, Cape May, and National Repertory Orchestra. Gregory has performed throughout the world including performances on all four islands of Japan with the opera "Porgy and Bess", a tour of Australia and Germany with the ground-breaking new music group Absolute Ensemble, Kristjan Jarvi director and throughout Europe with various orchestras. Gregory also has toured the US with his duo Synchronicity as well as The Fireworks Ensemble. Gregory has performed with many great artists including Paquito D’Rivera, Chuck Mangione, Steve Gadd, Julie Andrews and Steven Sondheim. Gregory received his B.M. from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and his Masters degree from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Roland Kohloff, principal timpanist of the New York Philharmonic. While attending Juilliard, Gregory performed under the batons of Zubin Mehta, Leonard Slatkin, Gerard Schwartz, Lucas Foss and Otto Werner Mueller. Gregory also recorded two premiers with the Juilliard Orchestra (on New World Records), and traveled to Norway with the Juilliard Brass Ensemble. Gregory has performed as both drummer and percussionist for numerous Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, including: "Newsies', "Avenue Q", "In The Heights," “Curtains,” “The Grinch,” “AltarBoyz,” “Wicked,” “Chitty2 Bang2,” “42nd Street,” “Play Without Words,” “Ragtime,” “Les Miserables,” “Falsettos,” “Putting It Together,”(with Julie Andrews), “Gypsy,” “Guys and Dolls,” “Forum,” “Showboat,” “Crazy for You,” “BatBoy,” “Big,” “Grease,” and many others. Gregory Landes' recording credits include the Summit Brass: American Tribute as well as The Hora Decima Brass Ensemble both on Summit Records, The Julliard Orchestra on New World Records, the musicals, “Curtains” on The Blue Note Label Group “Falsettoland” on DRG Records, and “Putting It Together” on RCA Victor/BMG Classics as well as “A, My Name Will Always Be Alice” on Original Cast Records. In 1997, Gregory and his brother Garah Landes formed the Piano and Percussion duo, Synchronicity.
Christine MacDonnell, (Faculty member since 1999) a native of New Jersey, has performed as a soloist and with numerous ensembles and orchestras both home and abroad. She earned her Bachelor of Music degree from Loyola University New Orleans and her Master of Music degree from The Julliard School in New York. Her teachers include Stanley Drucker, Leon Russianoff, William Blount, and Steve Cohen. As a soloist and clinician, Ms. MacDonnell has performed throughout the New York metropolitan area, 2001 Clarifest in New Orleans, Georgia State University in Atlanta, the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission, Music Outreach programs in New York City, Rio de Janeiro and Portugal. She has held principal clarinet chairs in the Orquestra Sinfonica Brasileira in Brazil and Nova Philharmonia Portuguesa in Portugal as well as performed at the White House with the “President’s Own” Marine Band. As a freelance player in New York she has performed with numerous Broadway shows, National Touring productions of Falsettos, Miss Saigon, Phantom of the Opera and You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Ray Charles, Arethra Franklin, Patti Lapone, Northeast Philharmonic Orchestra, North Jersey Philharmonic, Opera Northeast, and Queens Symphony. Currently Christine is a faculty member at the United Nations International School and a member of the chamber group Metamorphic Winds. She also has just released her solo clarinet album "Clarinet Rhapsody", hailed as "beautifully played and well-deserving of its title" and can be obtained cdbaby.com.
LeeAnn Newland, is currently teaching in the Teaneck Public Schools. Aside from her teaching duties she is an active freelance musician in the Tri-State area. Her ensemble performances include The American Ballet Theater Orchestra, Queens Symphony Orchestra, Delaware Symphony Orchestra, numerous Broadway pit orchestras and the Papermill Playhouse. She is also the Solo Eb horn for the award winning Gramercy Brass Orchestra in New York, where she is a member of the advisory Board and a member of the Gramercy Brass Institute faculty.
Micheale Ryan, received her Master’s Degree in Woodwind Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music, and her Bachelor’s Degree in Woodwind Performance from Boston University. While in Boston, she was the class clarinet instructor at Boston University, taught privately in the Norwood, Needham, and King Philip schools, as well as being on the roster of Young Audiences of Massachusetts. After being cast in the off-Broadway musical, “Swingtime Canteen” she relocated to New York City. She currently maintains a private teaching studio in Englewood, NJ. She is also a substitute instructor for the Julliard School’s “Music Advancement Program”, as well as being a Master Teacher for Young Audiences of New York, participating in their “Millennium Orchestra” and “Inside Classical Music” programs. Micheale’s career includes performances with; Sarasota Opera, Spoleto Festival, NY Gilbert and Sullivan Players, Masterworks Chorale, Bronx Concert Singers, Pittsburgh Ballet, DiCapo Opera, Florida Orchestra, and the Naples Philharmonic. She also performs with the chamber ensemble “Metamorphic Winds”. She stays active in the theater world by substituting in various Broadway pit orchestras, including the “Lion King”, and “Wicked”. Micheale can also be heard performing with clarinetist, Richard Stoltzman, on his recording “Aria”.
Amanda Zampolino, who has been teaching music for 27 years, holds the fifth grade instrumental position at Somerville, Travell and Orchard School. She earned a Bachelor of Violin Performance and Music Education degrees at East Carolina University and after earning a Masters Degree from Cincinnati University College Conservatory, she joined the Colorado Springs Symphony Orchestra and taught in the Colorado Springs Public Schools. When her musical career later took her to New York City, she trained at the School for Strings (Suzuki Certification), the Trevor Day Institute (Orff Certification), and New York University (Kodaly Certification). She has also taught at the School for Strings working with the late Ms. Louis Behrend, the Collegiate School, the Juilliard School and Metropolitan Montessori School. Her students have performed at Carnegie Hall, with Peter, Paul and Mary, Lincoln Center, and at the White House. Recently, Amanda has completed a Masters Degree at Farleigh Dickinson University in Educational Leadership. Mrs. Zampolino spends her summer months teaching instrumental music at the Ridgewood Music Academy and Nyack Music Camp in Nyack, New York.
