Brian Abrams
Associate Professor
Music Therapy - Undergraduate Coordinator
Contact info: tba

Brian Abrams, Ph.D., MT-BC, LPC, LCAT, FAMI, has been a music therapist since 1995, with clinical experience involving a wide range of populations. He completed undergraduate studies at Vassar College and SUNY New Paltz, and graduate studies at Temple University. He served on the faculty at Utah State University from 2001-2004, and at Immaculata University from 2004-2008. He has published and presented internationally on a wide range of topics such as music therapy in cancer care, music psychotherapy, and music therapy research. Currently, he is serving as President of the Mid-Atlantic Region of the American Music Therapy Association (2007-2009).

Andrew Adelson
Visiting Specialist
Oboe
973-622-7212
andrew.adelson2@verizon.net

Andrew Adelson can be heard playing both oboe and English horn in orchestras, chamber music ensembles and as a soloist in the U.S. and abroad. He has been the solo English horn/oboe with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra since 2000. He has also performed with the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic, American Symphony Orchestra, Riverside Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Mexico City Philharmonic. As a chamber musician, Mr. Adelson has performed with the Aspen Wind Quintet and Bargemusic. He can be heard playing on recordings on the Delos and Koch labels. He earned his Bachelor's and Master's degrees at the Juilliard School, where he studied with John Ferrillo and Elaine Douvas. His connection with Juilliard has continued through teaching master classes in Interpersonal and Ensemble Skills for the Orchestral Player as well as master classes in instrument repair. He has also taught at New Jersey City University, Drew Summer Music and Manhattan School of Music. Mr. Adelson has played on Broadway in the pit orchestras for King and I, 1776, and the Sound of Music. He has spent summers playing in Tanglewood, Interlochen and Waterloo Music Festivals and as a chamber music coach and performer at Rencontres Musicales Internationales at Sainte-Foy-la-Grande, France.

Robert Aldridge
Cali School Director
Associate Professor of Music
Theory-Composition
973-655-7028
aldridger@mail.montclair.edu
Robert Aldridge - Website

Robert Aldridge's works for orchestra, opera, music-theater, dance, string quartet, solo and chamber ensembles have been performed throughout the United States, Europe and Japan. He has received numerous fellowships and awards for his music from the Guggenheim Foundation (2002), the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2000), National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Massachusetts Artist's Foundation, Lila Wallace/Reader's Digest Fund, the Oregon Arts Commission and the Portland Arts Council. His tone poem, Leda and the Swan, a commission from the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, The Nashville Symphony Orchestra, The Louisville Orchestra, and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, was premiered in January, 2003 at the New Jersey Performing Center for the Arts (NJPAC). He was a founder of the Composers in Red Sneakers, a composer consortium which achieved international recognition in the 1980's. Recordings of his music are available on BMG, GM, Foghorn, SoundVision, Open Loop and Northeastern labels. He received a Doctorate in Composition from the Yale School of Music, a Master's Degree in Composition from the New England Conservatory of Music, and a Bachelor's Degree in English Literature from the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Melody Alesi-Pazian
Adjunct Faculty
Music in Film
973-655-7212

Melody Alesi is a performing artist, teacher, writer, director and producer for theater and opera. Her background in music and literature has led to a strong interest in film and film music. She trained as a classical soprano and has performed with the Hong Kong Opera (Marguerite in Faust), Sofia National Orchestra in Bulgaria (Violetta in La Traviata), L'Opera Martinique (Donna Anna in Don Giovanni), and as a solo artist at Alice Tully Hall in New York City. Ms. Alesi is the recipient of many awards including the Licia Albanese/Puccini Foundation Scholarship and the Enrico Caruso International vocal competition. She has worked under the baton of conductors such as Will Crutchfield for Bel Canto at Caramoor (Luisa Miller) and Anton Coppola in Sacco and Vanzetti (Luigia Vanzetti). She is currently working on a libretto for a new opera and is the author of numerous short stories and memoirs. She holds a Masters degree from the College of Staten Island in English Education and is completing her Masters in English and Dramatic Literature.

Lourdes Armada
Director, New Jersey Children's Choir
Music Prep
973-655-4443

Shelley Axelson
Adjunct Professor
Music Education
973-655-7212
axelsons@mail.montclair.edu

Before coming to the Cali School, Shelley Axelson held a similar position at the University of Indianapolis in Indianapolis, Indiana, where her responsibilities included teaching conducting, clarinet, and a variety of instrumental music education classes. Prior to her appointment at Indianapolis, Prof. Axelson was the Director of Bands at Central College in Pella, Iowa, Pasco Middle School in Dade City, Florida (co-author of Secondary Music Curriculum), and Richardson Junior High School in Richardson, Texas. Prof. Axelson received an undergraduate degree in Music Education from the University of South Florida, a Master's Degree in Conducting from the University of Michigan, and the Doctor of Music degree in Conducting from Northwestern University. Her principal conducting teachers were Mallory Thompson and H. Robert Reynolds.

Seth Baer

Seth Baer attended the Juilliard School and Princeton University where he graduated with honors while studying with Frank Morelli. At the age of 19, Seth won a substitute position with the Philadelphia Orchestra. During the 2003-2004 season, Seth served a one-year position with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. He has performed extensively with top ensembles including the Pennsylvania Ballet, Haddonfield Symphony, Opera Orchestra of New York, and the Brooklyn Philharmonic. Seth has performed with the New York String Orchestra Seminar as principal bassoon. He also won First Prize in the Hewlett-Woodmere Young Artist Competition and was featured on the Mcgraw-Hill Young Artist Showcase on WQXR radio. As a chamber musician, Seth has performed at Bargemusic and is a member of the Fountain Chamber Music Society, with whom he maintains a residency for the Carnegie Hall education department, headlining their CarnegieKids and Musical Explorers series. He has performed at The Music Academy of the West, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Spoleto Festival in Italy, and at the Altenburg Music Festival in Germany. In 2004, he was a festival soloist at the Bridgehampton Chamber Musical Festival. Most recently, he was principal bassoon of the Mark Morris Dance Group Orchestra and the Key West Symphony. He is currently a member of Amici New York, the resident orchestra at the OK Mozart festival in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Seth has taught classes at the Juilliard School and Mannes School of Music; he has also coached the New York Youth Symphony and New Jersey Youth Symphony.

Gina Balestracci has been at MSU since 1988. She came to Montclair from Stanford University, where she had been director of publicity and public information in the music department, and before that from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she worked in the library system. At the Cali School, Balestracci oversees all of the school of music’s academic administrative needs. She also teaches Freshman Seminar for Music Majors, sings with the Collegium Musicum, and teaches in the University’s Honors Program.

Crystl Baltazar
Adjunct Faculty
General Education
Accompanist
Secondary Piano
973-655-7212

Pianist Crystl Sonomura Baltazar maintains the roles of both performing artist and educator. A native of Honolulu, Hawaii, she is a graduate of the University of Hawaii and the Eastman School of Music. As a collaborative arts specialist, she accompanies and coaches in many of the voice and instrumental studios in the department, as well as performing with faculty in recital. As a soloist, Ms. Baltazar won awards in the Young Keyboard Artist's Association and International Piano Recording Competitions. Also notable are collaborations in recitals with International Horn Competition Winner, Karl Pituch, and masterclass studies with Dalton Baldwin and Malcolm Bilson. She has performed in several concert series, as well as seasons with the Honolulu Symphony and Chamber Music Hawaii. Her teaching credits include Nazareth College and the New Jersey School of Arts. In addition, she freelances for various vocal, choral and chamber venues in the New York metro area. She is currently pursuing her doctorate.

Donald Batchelder
Visiting Specialist
Trumpet
973-736-7299
donbatchelder@verizon.net

Donald Batchelder is Principal Trumpet of the New York City Opera Orchestra, where he has played full-time since 2000. Recognized as an outstanding free-lance trumpeter in the New York area since 1983, he performs frequently with the Metropolitan Opera, the Brooklyn Philharmonic and the American Symphony, and on Broadway. In addition to his work with the New York City Opera, Mr. Batchelder holds the principal trumpet chairs in the Westfield (NJ) Symphony and the Stamford (CT) Symphony. He earned both a Bachelors and a Masters Degree from the Juilliard School, where he studied with William Vacchiano and Mel Broiles. Other influential teachers include Vince Penzarella, Arnold Jacobs and Philip Smith. Among Mr. Batchelder's recent solo appearances: When Speaks the Signal-Trumpet Tone by David Gillingham, with the Ridgewood Concert Band; the Shostakovich Concerto for Piano and Trumpet with both the Stamford Symphony and the New York Virtuosi; the world premiere of Trent Johnson's Concertino for Trumpet and Organ; David Sampson's Triptych with the Westfield Symphony; and Herbert L. Clarke's Southern Cross with the Goldman Band. Mr. Batchelder joined the music faculty of Montclair State University in September 2000.

Daniel Beliavsky
Adjunct Professor
Introduction to Music
973-655-7212
deb228@nyu.edu

Daniel Beliavsky performed Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra during the opening concerts of the 1993-1994 subscription season. Since then, Daniel has often appeared as a soloist with orchestra and in recital in both the United States and Europe. He has played twice in Russia in the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, and has recorded a compact-disc with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. In addition, he has recorded three compact-discs on the sonatabop.com label. His discography includes the world-premiere recording of Lukas Foss' complete piano works, Mussorgsky's Pictures from an Exhibition, and numerous works by Scarlatti, Bach, Schubert, and Chopin. Daniel is a Steinway Artist and Personality, and lives in New York City, where he is an active composer, theorist, and performer. In addition to his teaching at Montclair State University, he is on the faculty of NYU, Yeshiva University and Queensborough Community College.

Stephen Benson
Visiting Specialist
Guitar
Jazz
973-655-7212
stephenbenson@earthlink.net

Guitarist Stephen Benson is a freelance performer who has remained active on the studio, jazz and broadway scene for twenty years. He holds a Bachelor of Music from the Hartt School of Music in Hartford, CT, and a Masters from Manhattan School of Music. He has taught at Hartt School of Music and the Turtle Bay Music School in New York. Benson toured Europe as a member of the Giora Feidman Trio, performed at the Carnevale in Venice, Italy, for two years and at the Grand Canyon Music Festival in Arizona. He has worked extensively on Broadway in such shows as The Lion King, 42nd Street, and Wicked. He performs many styles of jazz from bebop to fusion to blues and R & B and has worked with artists including Phoebe Snow, John Sebastian and Evelyn Blakey.

Dorita Berger
Visiting Specialist
Music Therapy
973-655-3458
dsberger@mags.net

Dorita S. Berger, MA, MT-BC, LCAT, a concert pianist and educator, is a Board Certified Music Therapist. She holds degrees from Carnegie-Mellon University and New York University, with additional professional studies at the Juilliard School. She inaugurated and conducted the music therapy program at Giant Steps School for Autistic and Neurologically Impaired children in Connecticut; she serves as music therapist consultant and service provider for special needs institutions and schools in Fairfield County, Connecticut. Her extensive private practice, The Music Therapy Clinic (CT), serving special needs populations of all ages. She has numerous published articles and books on music therapy and the impact of music on human development. Among her published books are Music Therapy, Sensory Integration and the Autistic Child (2002) and The Music Effect: Music Physiology and Clinical Applications (2006). She is a member of the American Music Therapy Association, Autism Society of America, the New York Academy of Science, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, CT Mental Health Study Group of the APA, and Connecticut Music Therapy Alliance, which she founded. She also continues performing and teaching piano.

Nancy Billmann
Visiting Specialist
French horn
973-655-7212
nancybillmann@verizon.net

Horn player Nancy Billmann leads an active freelance career that includes chamber music, contemporary music, orchestral, operatic, and Broadway experiences. Billmann was a member of the Dorian Wind Quintet for 13 years and is active with chamber music ensembles in the New York area. As an orchestral musician, she frequently performs with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, New York City Opera, American Symphony, Stamford Symphony, the Manhattan Sinfonietta, and on Broadway. She has appeared at OK Mozart, Tanglewood, the Festival Institute at Round Top (where she was also a faculty member), the Caramoor Festival, and the Monadnock Music Festival. Ms. Billmann grew up in Wisconsin, and received a Bachelor of Music Degree from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where she studied with Douglas Hill.  She completed both her Master’s Degree and the Professional Studies Program at The Juilliard School, studying with David Wakefield and has made her home in New York City since 1989.

David Bixler
Visiting Specialist
Saxophone
973-655-7212
David Bixler - Website
dbixler1@nyc.rr.com

Alto saxophonist David Bixler is known on the New York jazz scene as an accomplished sideman, bandleader and composer. He has performed and toured with the orchestras of  Lionel Hampton, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, and Duke Ellington, and Bobby Sanabria at prestigious venues including the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Symphony Center in Chicago, the Snow Mass Jazz Festival in Aspen, CO, and New York's JVC Jazz Festival. Since 2000 David has been a member of the Grammy-nominated Chico O'Farrill Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, two years ago taking over the lead-alto chair. The band has toured throughout Europe, North America and Central America in addition to performing at Birdland in New York City each Sunday. David has collaborated with trumpeter Scott Wendholt, guitarist John Hart, Ugonna Okegwo on bass, and Andy Watson on drums. His debut Jazz Quintet CD entitled Lost In Queens was released in May of 2000. In the fall of 2003, David's second CD, Show Me The Justice, received national airplay and critical praise for his compositions and improvisations. His 2006 CD, Call It A Good Deal, featuring all original compositions by David Bixler, is garnering critical acclaim. A new composition for alto saxophone and string quartet was debuted January 2007 with the South Dakota Symphony string quartet. David holds a Bachelor of Music degree and Performer’s Certificate from Indiana University and a Masters in Composition from Montclair State University. 

T.K. Blue
Adjunct Professor
Introduction to Jazz
973-655-7212

T.K. Blue, also known as Talib Kibwe, studied with Billy Mitchell, Jimmy Heath, Chris Woods, Ernie Wilkins, Frank Foster, Sonny Red and Jimmy Owens, Rashaan Roland Kirk, Yusef Lateef, Joe Newman, Paul West, and Reggie Workman. He attended New York University, where he earned bachelor's degrees in both music and psychology, and earned a master's degree in music education from Teacher's College at Columbia University. He lived in Paris for many years and has performed numerous times in Africa. He has toured and recorded with Winds of Manhattan, many African musicians including the notable Manu Dibango and the Senegalese group Xalam. His recordings include Egyptian Oasis (which led to a number of State Department tours), Introducing Talib Kibwe (Evidence) and several CDs on the Arkadia Jazz label and Rhythm in Blue on his label JAJA Records. He has also worked extensively with Randy Weston, Chico Hamilton, Archie Shepp, Bobby McFerrin, James Weidman and Chris McGregor. He has performed on the BET Jazz channel, at Alice Tully Hall for the Jazz at Lincoln Center series and at the North Sea Jazz Festival held in Den Haag, Holland.

Stephen Brennfleck
Accompanist
973-655-7212

David Brown
Accompanist
973-655-7212

David Brown received his Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from the Crane School of Music (SUNY-Potsdam) and Masters in Music and Music Education from Columbia University. He has also studied piano privately with Robert Guralnik, Morris Borenstein and Ada Kopetz-Korf. Before coming to Montclair State, he performed extensively as an accompanist and recitalist throughout the Hudson Valley and Catskill regions of New York State. One such performance as an accompanist in a program of Schubert, Debussy and Puccini prompted a critic from The Times Herald Record to write: "I particularly admire the way he draws colors from the keyboard that are appropriate to the mood of each piece." He has performed both classical and jazz music live on the WAMC Northeast Public Radio Network.and has served as music director for over 50 musical theater productions - including works of Sondheim, Lerner/Loewe, and Marc Blitztein. He ran a successful piano studio for over 20 years.

Heather Buchanan
Assistant Professor of Music
Director of Choral Activities
Music Education
973-655-7913
buchananh@mail.montclair.edu

Australian born choral conductor Heather J. Buchanan is a vibrant performer and dynamic pedagogue, having earned widespread recognition and respect for her work in the USA and abroad.  She conducts the 150-voice MSU Chorale and 50-voice University Singers in a wide range of concert settings including MSU Peak Performances, main stage professional collaborations with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, choral festivals in Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall, and European venues such as the Ferenc Liszt Zeneakadémia in Budapest, Rachmaninoff Hall in Moscow, and the Tsarskoe Selo in St. Petersburg.  She is highly sought after as a guest conductor and teacher for organizations in the USA, Europe and Australia.  Prior to Montclair she was on the conducting faculty of Westminster Choir College of Rider University for five years, where she conducted Westminster Schola Cantorum and taught graduate and undergraduate conducting. A certified Andover Educator, Ms. Buchanan specializes in the applications of Body Mapping (somatic pedagogy) for musicians and is a passionate advocate for promoting awareness of issues relating to musicians’ health.  She is also a Ph.D. candidate with the University of New England (Australia) researching the impact of Body Mapping on student musicians’ perceptions of their performance and development. Ms. Buchanan consistently receives glowing reviews of her performances, most recently for her work with the Elmer Gantry opera chorus, which garnered accolades from both the New York Times and the New Jersey Star Ledger critics (January 2008) for its “heartfelt conviction,” “new-minted enthusiasm, vibrancy,” and being “a marvel of diction, tuning and rhythm.” Choirs under her direction have won critical acclaim for their “impeccable dynamics and diction,” “vibrant sound,” and singing with the “crispness and dexterity of a professional choir.” Ms. Buchanan is co-editor and compiler of the GIA choral series Teaching Music through Performance in Choir (Vol. 2, 2007; Vol. 1, 2005), has published a DVD-video Evoking Sound:  Body Mapping & Gesture Fundamentals (GIA Publications: 2004 &2002), and two choral octavos in the Evoking Sound Choral Series (GIA). 

Charles Bumcrot
Visiting Specialist
Trumpet
973-655-7212
cbumcrot@optonline.net

Chuck Bumcrot earned the M.M. in Performance and Literature at the Manhattan School of Music after completing a B.M. in both Music Ed. and Performance at San Francisco State University. He is currently Principal/Solo trumpet with the New Haven, CT, based Orchestra New England. He can be heard with the American Symphony Orchestra, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, The Orchestra of St. Lukes, Brooklyn Philharmonic, New York Chamber Symphony, The Westfield Symphony, The Little Orchestra Society of New York, Solisti New York, NPR and PBS, as well as Japan National Television and Radio. Recording labels include Sony/CBS, CBS Masterworks, Deutsche Grammophon, Delos, Koch International Classics, New World and CSM. Most recently, Mr. Bumcrot performed the world premier of William Ryden's Sonata for Trumpet and Orchestra (commissioned by Orchestra New England). He also participated on several Grammy nominated recording sessions and collaborations, is in the process of commissioning several works, and is recording a disc of solo works for trumpet.

Patrick Burns
Adjunct Professor
Theory/Composition
973-655-7212
burnsp@mail.montclair.edu
patrickburnsmusic.com
www.myspace.com/pjbmusic

Patrick Burns (b. 1969) teaches courses in orchestration, counterpoint, and music composition at the Cali School, and also teaches instrumental music in the Caldwell-West Caldwell Public Schools. His compositions for symphonic band are performed by bands of every level throughout the country. The United States Army Band, “Pershing’s Own”, has performed his music in Washington, D.C. and at Carnegie Hall. His music has also been performed at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago. He  has been featured as guest conductor and clinician with public school, community, university and honor bands in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia and has recorded and, as director of Imperial Brass, has concertized with world-renowned brass artists Philip Smith, Warren Vache, Roger Webster and Chris Jaudes. Patrick’s music has appeared on Bandworld magazine’s Top 100 list of band compositions twice and is published by G. Schirmer, Daehn Publications, FJH Music Company, Wingert-Jones Music and TRN Music Publisher. The Instrumentalist and School Music News have also printed favorable reviews of Mr. Burns’ band music and The Classical New Jersey Society Journal has praised his chamber music. His music can be heard at his websites.

Robert Butts
Adjunct Professor
Introduction to Music
973-655-7212
boblute@aol.com

Robert Butts is the conductor of the Little Opera of New Jersey (Westfield) and the Baroque Orchestra of North Jersey. He has served as conductor with the Skylands Youth Symphony and the Highland Park Recorder Society and Chamber Orchestra. His work with the Highland Pak Recorder Society earned him the 1996 DeMarsh Award from the American Recorder Society. With the Baroque Orchestra of Boonton he presents an annual Vivaldi Festival featuring chamber and orchestral works by Vivaldi and his Venetian contemporaries. He led concerts at the 1999 and 2001 Boston Early Music Festival. He has conducted the Philharmonica de Stat Botosani orchestra in Romania and performances of Verdi's Il Trovatore and Rigoletto with Opera Constatna. He was guest conductor for the Philharmonic Society of St. Petersburg, Russia. His compositions have been published and he has won awards at the Leo Traynor competitions. He has contributed reviews and articles to Opera News, Classical New Jersey, American Music, Continuo, American Recorder, and Lute Society Quarterly. He served as pre-concert lecturer for the New Jersey Symphony Amadeus Festival at NJPAC and Princeton's Richardson Auditorium. He lectures regularly throughout the metropolitan area. He studied conducting at Juilliard School and received musicological training from MSU and the University of Iowa.

C

Vicki Carter
Accompanist
973-655-7212

Percussionist Barry Centanni attended Montclair State University before earning degrees in performance from the Manhattan School of Music and Juilliard He is the principal percussionist with the Orchestra of St. Luke's and performs with many other orchestras including the New York Pops, Connecticut Grand Opera and New Jersey State Opera. His television credits include Live from Madison Square Garden, Live from Lincoln Center, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra and the Orchestra of St. Luke's performing with Frederica Von Stade and Kathleen Battle. As a freelance percussionist, he has performed with Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Sting, Whitney Houston, James Taylor, and Elton John. He has taught at SUNY Purchase, the Mannes College of Music, Columbia Teachers College and the Montclair Kimberley Academy.

Dennis Cinelli
Assistant Professor
Guitar - Program Coordinator
973-655-7212
dcinelli@nyc.rr.com
Dennis Cinelli - Website

Dennis Cinelli is active as a soloist and chamber musician on early guitars, lutes and mandolins. He has performed with the American Symphony, Bach Aria Group, Artek, Ars Antigua, the Barros Classical Consort, New York Collegium, Lord Chamberlain's Consort, Ivory Consort and his own Cinelli Duo playing concerts throughout the United States and Europe. He has appeared on artists' series at Yale, Ohio, Wake Forest and Appalachian State Universities. Presented in recitals sponsored by the Philadelphia and Piedmont Classical Guitar Societies, Mr. Cinelli has also accompanied Robert Osborne, Louise Wohlafka, Jeffrey Gall and Pino de Vittorio on lutes and early guitars. Dennis currently performs with the O'Brien/Cinelli Duo. With noted performer and teacher Patrick O'Brien, he has done many recitals throughout North America while researching and developing repertoire for early plucked instruments. Featured in concerts at the Festival de Wallonie in Belgium and the Caramoor and Boston Early Music Festivals, Mr. Cinelli has also spent summers teaching and performing at the International Toscanini Early Guitar Festival/Competition in Stresa, Italy and the Lute Society of America's Summer Seminar.

Amy Clarkson
Visiting Specialist
Music Therapist
973-655-7212

Amy L. Clarkson, MMT, MT-BC, CP is a board certified music therapist and certified practitioner of psychodrama, sociometry and group psychotherapy. She currently provides music therapy services for children on the autistic spectrum at the new Children's Center of Montclair State University, an inclusive setting for preschoolers, toddlers and infants. Amy also provides music therapy and psychodrama services for children and mothers who have been affected by domestic violence through the PALS (Peace: A Learned Solution) Program of Women's Crisis Services of Hunterdon County. Amy has been a fieldwork supervisor and adjunct faculty member at Montclair State since 1998. She has served as the vice president and president of the New Jersey Association for Music Therapy.

Joe Coco
Adjunct Professor
General Education
Rap and Rock
973-655-7212
cocojoseph@hotmail.com
Joe Coco - Website

Joe Coco is a songwriter, singer and guitarist who has performed extensively throughout the United States and Europe since 1970. His many songs and albums (500 songs; 25 albums since 1979) reflect a strong social conscience. He has worked at venues such as New York City's Folk City, L.A.'s Troubador, the Alcomo Blues Festival in Sicily (with duo partner Michelle Lotta) and the Atlantis Club. He has also appeared in all of Italy's premier concert halls during a 1998-99 tour of the the rock opera Tommy. He sang and played harmonica on Eyesight To The Blind while acting in 10 choral parts. Since 1995, Mr. Coco has collaborated with Michele Lotta in many performances. Among his songs are Compassion and Where the River Meets the Sea about his travels while discovering his Sicilian roots in 1993-94. Among Coco's 24 albums, Arizona-The Ballads is a two volume set from 1989 that featured songs about culture shock and coming of age. In addition to his work as a musician, Mr. Coco holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Rutgers University. He has held 45 solo exhibits in the US and Italy and his work is represented in museums worldwide.

Paul Cohen
Visiting Specialist
Saxophone
973-655-7212
paulc135aol.com

Paul Cohen holds an M.M and DMA degrees from the Manhattan School of Music. He has appeared as soloist with many orchestras including the New Jersey Symphony and San Francisco Symphony. His many solo orchestra performances include works by Debussy, Creston, Ibert, Glazonov, Martin, and Villa-Lobos. He has played in numerous ensembles including the Cleveland Orchestra, Santa Fe Opera, New Jersey Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Long Island Philharmonic, Group for Contemporary Music, New York Solisti and the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra. He has recorded three albums with the Cleveland Symphonic Winds under the direction of Frederick Fennell, a compact disk of the music of Villa-Lobos with the Quintet of the Americas, and recordings with the Saxophone Sinfonia, Paul Winter Consort, and the New Sousa Band. Recent recordings include an environmental-Jazz CD of solo improvisations and his solo CD, Vintage Saxophones Revisited, featuring the premiere recording of Cowell's Hymn and Fuguing Tune No. 18. He has published more than 100 articles on the history and literature of the saxophone.

Steve Colson
Adjunct Professor
Music and World Cultures
973-655-7212
colsonpiano@hotmail.com

Adegoke Steve Colson, pianist and composer, has performed internationally as a bandleader of ensembles from trios to orchestras. Born in New Jersey, he graduated from Northwestern University School of Music. In 1972 Steve joined Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), a cooperative influencing music internationally in the 20th and 21st Century; he has performed with or featured in his own groups a host of luminaries and innovators. Appearances have taken him throughout the U.S., Western Europe, The Caribbean, Turkey, Israel, and Africa; he has headlined the largest Jazz festivals in the world (North Sea Jazz Festival, Chicago Jazz Festival, Red Sea Festival). Steve has awards from State Arts Councils (IL, NJ, NY, PA), the National Endowment for the Arts, Rockefeller Foundation, Meet the Composer, Lila Wallace–Reader’s Digest Foundation, and Arts International. NJ Chamber Music Society commissioned “…as in a Cultural Reminiscence…” – an orchestral collaboration with word masters Amiri Baraka (The Dutchman, Blues People, Last Poet Laureate of NJ) and Richard Wesley (Talented Tenth, Uptown Saturday Night) that has met only standing ovations in the USA and France.  Steve is on American, European and Japanese record labels: Columbia/Sony, Evidence, and Black Saint. He is ASCAP-affiliated, and his latest CD collaboration with his wife, vocalist/lyricist Iqua Colson, is Hope For Love on their own Silver Sphinx label.

Angela Cordell
Visiting Specialist
French horn
973-655-7212
on leave 2008-2009

Angela Cordell maintains a varied chamber music and orchestral career in New York City. She has performed at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, performed and toured frequently with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and has also played with the Orchestra of St. Luke's, the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, at Bargemusic, and as a guest at the Kingston Chamber Music Festival. She also plays frequently in the Broadway theaters. She spent several summers at the Marlboro Music Festival and toured with Musicians from Marlboro. In the 2001-2002 season she lived in Mexico where she was principal horn of the Orquesta Sinfonica del Estado de Mexico, maintained a private studio of young conservatory musicians and coached members of the youth orchestra in Toluca. Ms. Cordell received a bachelor's degree at Florida State University where she studied horn with William Capps and Terry Roberts, and piano with James Streem. She then went on to attend the Juilliard School where she received a master's degree studying with Jerome Ashby.

Mary Ann Craig
Professor of Music
Former Director of Bands
Euphonium
Conducting
973-655-7779
craigm@mail.montclair.edu

Prof. Mary Ann Craig teaches conducting, brass classes, and applied euphonium. She is immediate Past President of the International Tuba-Euphonium Association, an organization of 2,000 members from over forty countries. As a conductor Prof. Craig conducted the leading professional, military, and conservatory concert bands in Russia, Ukraine, and Hungary, and the World Honors Ensemble in Finland. She was awarded the title of Honored Professor of Moscow State University of Culture and Arts in 2003 for the contributions she has made to the development of wind bands in Russia. Prof. Craig has been the New Jersey State Chair for the College Band Directors National Association and the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors. She served on the Board of Directors of the International Women's Brass Conference and as Chair for the Society for Music Teacher Education-Eastern Division. Prof. Craig was the first woman to be invited to be guest conductor of the Pennsylvania Intercollegiate Band Festival since its founding. As a euphonium soloist and low brass clinician, Prof. Craig has appeared throughout the United States, Japan, Europe, Australia, and Canada. She is the founder of the Colonial Euphonium and Tuba Institute and a member of the Colonial Tuba Quartet (CTQ). Prof. Craig has released two solo euphonium recordings as well as a CD with the CTQ. She is featured in Anne Gray's Women in Classical Music.

Martina Cukrov
Accompanist
973-655-7212

Terezija Cukrov
Accompanist
973-655-7212