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Oscar Ravina
Professor Emeritus
Violin

Amy Reich
Adjunct Professor
Theory
973-655-7212

Amy Reich studied composition with William Thomas McKinley at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. She received a Ph.D. from Harvard University where her principal teachers were Earl Kim and Leon Kirchner. Her works have been performed by the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, the Cleveland Chamber Collective, Dinosaur Annex, Josquin Cage and presented by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Chamber Series and Composers in Red Sneakers (of which Ms. Reich was a founding member). Ms. Reich has received grants from Meet-the-Composer, the Massachusetts Council on the Arts, the American Harp Society and Harvard University. She has also been the recipient of a fellowship to the Tanglewood Music Center.

Ruth Rendleman
Professor of Music
Piano - Theory - Music History
973-655-7208
rendlemanr@mail.montclair.edu

Ruth Rendleman was educated at the North Carolina School of the Arts, Manhattan School of Music, and Columbia University. She is a specialist in the performance of eighteenth-century music. She has been the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities for research and studies at the University of Maryland and has served on the faculty of the Aston Magna Performance Institute. She has performed as a solo artist and in chamber recitals throughout the New York metropolitan area. Her tours abroad have included performances in Korea, China (where she was artist-in-residence at the Shanghai Conservatory), and Australia. In the New York Times, Joseph Horowitz wrote that: "The performance showed force and fluency, consistently communicative. Her work had a firmness of design and continuity of emotion." Her interest in contemporary music led her to commission her colleague, Ting Ho, to write a piano sonata for her. She has received two major commissions from the N.J. State Arts Council for new piano works. Prof. Rendleman founded Montclair State's Preparatory Center for the Arts and Stokes Forest Music Camp. She has served as the music coordinator of the New Jersey School of the Arts and served on the board of the College Music Society. She also served as chair of the Committee on the Status of Women for the College Music Society.

Scott Davenport Richards
Assistant Professor
Musical Theater
973-655-2099
richardssc@mail.montclair.edu

Scott Davenport Richards holds a BA degree from Yale University and MFA from New York University Tisch School of the Arts. He is a recipient of the Jonathan Larson and Frederick Loewe awards. His works bridge many different forms of music and drama. In spring 2008, Charlie Crosses the Nation (music, libretto, orchestration), was performed by the New York City Opera as part of the VOX festival of new opera and A Thousand Words Come to Mind (written with playwright Michele Lowe) opened at The Zipper Theatre. A Star Across the Ocean, a work for four voices and orchestra, was premiered by the Montclair State University Symphony in 2007, featuring Tony Award-winner Chuck Cooper. His works for children include a number of commissions from Theatreworks U. S. A.: Corduroy (music, lyrics, orchestration),  Sundiata! The Lion King of Mali (music, lyrics, orchestration), Island of the Blue Dolphins (orchestrations) and Junie B. Jones (orchestration). His play-scores have been heard at resident theatres around the country including The Public, The Old Globe, The Alliance, and Madison Repertory Theatre. Highlights include the world premiere of Lee Blessing’s Cobb featuring Oscar Winner, Chris Cooper and Delroy LIndo at The Yale Repertory and the U. S. premiere of Nikos Kazantzakis’s Christopher Columbus at the New Federal Theater. As an actor, Mr. Richards originated the role of Sylvester in the original Broadway production of August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. 

Jennifer Rivera
Visiting Specialist
Voice
973-655-7212

Mezzo-soprano Jennifer Rivera was awarded the 2002 Stanley Tausend Award for Outstanding Debut Artist from the New York City Opera. Her increasingly active career has included performances as Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Lazuli in Chabrier’s L’Etoile, Hansel in Hansel and Gretel, Rosina in Barbiere di Siviglia, Meg in Little Women, and Mhrynne in Lysistrata. She has performed with the Portland (OR) Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Kentucky Opera, Opera Columbus, Lyric Opera (Cleveland), Florentine Opera (Milwaukee), Lyric Opera (Kansas City) and Opera Hong Kong. She made her South American debut in the title role of La Cenerentola with Opera di Colombia in Bogota in the summer of 2004, sang Meg in Little Women in Tokyo and Nagoya, Japan as part of the World Expo 2005, and was a finalist in the Placido Domingo World Opera Competition, performing in concert in Madrid under the Baton of Maestro Domingo. She made her professional recital debut at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. A radio broadcast recital, part of the Marilyn Horne Foundation’s “On Wings of Song” recital series was aired on New York’s WQXR. In 2000, Ms. Rivera joined Horne for a concert at Carnegie Hall. Ms Rivera earned her bachelors degree from Boston University and her masters from the Juilliard School.

Holli Ross
Visiting Specialist
Vocal Jazz Ensemble
973-655-7212
www.stringofpearls.net

Holli Ross has performed in top clubs from New Orleans’ Snug Harbor to NY’s Blue Note.  She has recorded extensively with various vocal ensembles that have led to appearances in Germany, France, and Japan as well as the Monterey Jazz Festival and the JVC Jazz Festival.  Holli is a published lyricist with ASCAP and GEMA. Her songs have been recorded by jazz artists, Janice Seigel from Manhattan Transfer, Mark Murphy, Meredith D’Ambrosio and Carmen Bradford of the Count Basie Orchestra. Holli has recorded with Jon Faddis, Claudio Roditi, Romero Lumbambo, Eddie Monteiro, Randy Sandke, Bob MIntzer, and Wolfgang Lackerschmid.  Most notably, Holli has recorded several CDs with her female vocal trio String Of Pearls. Holli conducts clinics nationally and abroad and teaches extensively in the New York area, most notably at Hofstra University, Montclair State University, and Mannes College of Music.  She is also a member and has performed for the International Association of Jazz Educators.

Frances Rowell
Visiting Specialist
Cello
973-655-7212

A versatile and enterprising cellist dedicated to musical outreach, Frances Rowell received Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the Juilliard School. In 1992 the city of Allentown, PA bestowed on Ms. Rowell its Arts Ovation Award for outstanding achievement in the performing arts. She has premiered several cello works written for her, including Gwyneth Walker's North Country Concerto with the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra in 1995 and Douglas Oven's Concerto for Cello with the Allentown Symphony Orchestra in 1996. Ms. Rowell has been a member of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra since 1995. As a member of the Craftsbury Chamber Players she performs chamber music each summer in her home state of Vermont. Ms. Rowell is a past Coordinator of the NJSO's REACH Program (Resources for Education and Community Harmony). She is currently on the roster of Young Audiences of New Jersey in a string quartet program. She also serves Young Audiences as a teaching artist working with young soloists from the radio program From the Top in presentations in public schools. In addition, she holds a United States Patent for a portable endpin resonating platform for the cello.

Steven Ryan
Accompanist
917-414-3025
Steven Ryan - Website

Pianist Steven Ryan has performed solo, chamber and orchestral concerts in the United States and Europe, and is a distinguished accompanist and vocal coach. He has served as an orchestral keyboardist with most of the major orchestras in New York City, played celesta with the Berlin Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall and performed on the synthesizer with the Moody Blues rock band. He regularly performs with several orchestras in the northeast, including the American Symphony, Riverside Symphony and the New Jersey Philharmonic. As a vocal accompanist Mr. Ryan has performed with such noted singers as Lucy Shelton, Irene Gubrud, Paul Sperry. He has been an avid vocal accompanist and voice coach throughout his career. He has been privileged to work with eminent artists such as Frederica Von Stade, Catherine Malfitano, Carmen Pelton, Milagro Vargas and the Wagnerian soprano Linda Kelm. Mr. Ryan earned his Bachelors of Music from the University of Minnesota. While in Minneapolis, he had the honor of assisting Neville Marriner as a rehearsal pianist, often working one-on-one with him and his guest soloists. He also appeared with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Charles Dutoit.

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Stephanie Samaras
Visiting Specialist
Voice
Musical Theater
973-655-7212

Stephanie Samaras is a pioneer in applying healthy classical technique to the training of voices in the pop field. Her lecture and video, Classical Training Applied to the Pop Voice, has been presented at the First International Congress of Voice Teachers in Strasbourg, France, and also at the National NATS convention in Los Angeles. Professionals from the world of Broadway - among them directors Tommy Tune and Jeff Calhoun, and the casting agencies of Hughes/Moss and Johnson/Liff - send singers to work with her. Her students have included Tony Award winner Scott Wise (who acknowledged Stephanie in his acceptance speech), Broadway performer Evan Pappas (star of My Favorite Year and Parade), Patrick Swayze and his wife, actress Lisa Niemi, soap star Ricky Paull-Goldin (Another World, Days of Our Lives and also star of the Broadway revival of Grease!), Jennifer Garner (Ally McBeal and Alias), Vanessa Ferlitto (CSI New York), and others whose faces are familiar from the TV screen. She has also worked with Carol Leifer (comedienne and Seinfeld writer), Mark Weiner (Weinerville Cable TV), Hiram Kasten (Seinfeld character) and the late comedian Dennis Wolfberg.

Jeff Scott
Visiting Specialist
French horn
973-655-7212

Jeff Scott received his Bachelor's degree from Manhattan School of Music, and Master's Degree from SUNY at Stony Brook. He studied with Jerome Ashby, David Jolley, Scott Brubaker and William Purvis and performed in a wind quintet coached by the late Samuel Baron of the New York Woodwind Quintet. Mr. Scott's performance credits include The Lion King and other Broadway shows such as, On the Town and Showboat. He has been a member of the Alvin Ailey and Dance Theater of Harlem Orchestras since 1995 and has performed under the direction of Wynton Marsalis and Arturo O'Farrill with the Lincoln Center Jazz and Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestras. He has performed extensively as a studio musician and can be heard on movie soundtracks scored by Terrence Blanchard, Tan Dun and on commercial recordings with notable artists such as, Chico O'Farill, Robin Eubanks, Freddy Cole, and Jimmy Heath amongst others. He has toured with artists such as Barbra Streisand and the late Luther Vandross. Mr. Scott is also an arranger and composer whose works include scoring the off-Broadway production of Becoming Something, The Canada Lee Story, the staged production of Josephine Baker: A Life of Le Jazz Hot, and many arrangements and original works for wind and brass quintet, horn quartet, and jazz ensembles. Mr. Scott has been on the horn faculty of the Cali School of Music since 2002.

Harry Searing
Visiting Specialist
Bassoon
973-655-7212

Harry Searing is an active freelance artist on both bassoon and contrabassoon in the New York City area and has been for over 30 years. Most notably, he has performed many concerts with the New York Philharmonic with such great conductors as Bernstein, Boulez, Mehta, and Leinsdorf. In addition to performing with practically every classical organization in the New York – New Jersey area, he has performed with several distinguished groups while on tour, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Sir Georg Solti, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2002 he took up the Heckelphone and performed nine concerts with three different organizations on that extremely rare instrument. He can be heard as bassoon soloist in the soundtrack to Brian DePalma’s 2004 film, Femme Fatale. In addition to performing, Mr. Searing has an extensive career in music publishing, having worked for such publishers as Boosey & Hawkes, Schott, and G. Schirmer. In 2003, he started his own publishing firm, LRQ Publishing, devoted to the bassoon music of the great Brazilian composer Francisco Mignone. He is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music where is studied with Stephen Maxym.

Gloria Shih
Accompanist
973-655-7212

Arlene Shrut
Visiting Specialist
Voice
973-655-7212

Arlene Shrut is the founder and artistic director of New Triad for Collaborative Arts, dedicated to transforming the experience of live classical music through offering essential performance skills to musicians. A faculty member of the Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music, she is an admired keyboard performer hailed as a "strong and sensitive pianist" by the New York Times. Arlene has performed in major venues in America, Canada and Europe, and recorded for Dorian, Albany, Summit, Centaur and Orion labels. She served on the faculties of Syracuse University, Mannes College and the Aspen Music School and was honored in 2003 as inaugural "Coach of the Year" in Classical Singer Magazine.

David Singer
Professor of Music
Clarinet
Woodwinds Coordinator
Chamber Music
973-655-7217
singerd@mail.montclair.edu

The New York Times wrote about David Singer, “To describe his playing would be to enumerate a catalogue of virtues.” His career as one of the most highly respected clarinetists in the U.S. has been established through performances as principal clarinetist of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, frequent guest appearances with the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, participation at the Marlboro and Spoleto Music Festivals, and in chamber music performances with some of the greatest musicians of our time including Yehudi Menuhin, Rudolf Serkin, Yo Yo Ma and the Emerson, Cleveland and Shanghai String Quartets. Robert Aldridge wrote Concerto For Clarinet and Chamber Orchestra for Mr. Singer and performances of that work with both Orpheus and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra resulted in rave reviews:  “…teeming with energy…rowdy, ethnic and fun” (Los Angeles Times) and “Singer was brilliant…pity the poor clarinetist who has to follow in his  footsteps,” (Star Ledger, Newark, NJ ). In spring 2008 he was one of three judges for the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society II International Competition, a competition for young musicians to receive the opportunity to perform with the prestigious Chamber Music Society. Also in the spring, he toured throughout Japan and Korea as a featured performer with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in the premiere of a work by Joan Tower.

Georgia Smith
Visiting Specialist
Music Therapy
973-713-4397

Georgia M. Smith, MA, MT-BC, ADC is a board certified music therapist, certified activity director and former nursing home administrator. She has been a clinician for more than 25 years and has co-authored an article in Art Psychotherapy Journal on the use of art and music with adult psychiatric patients. She currently provides end-of-life music therapy services for geriatric adults in nursing facilities and client's homes for Hospice of New Jersey.  She also provides music therapy services on the Behavioral Health Unit at Morristown Memorial Hospital in the Atlantic Health System.  Georgia also has a private practice for adults with developmental disabilities in Southern New Jersey. She has been an on-site practicum supervisor in geriatrics and psychiatry for Montclair music therapy students for many years and has been a faculty supervisor and visiting specialist for MSU since 1998.  She has served as Vice President and is currently Newsletter Editor for the New Jersey Association of Music Therapists.

Joseph Smith 
Adjunct Faculty
General Education
Introduction to Music
(973) 655-7212
JSpgrs@aol.com

Joseph Smith is known for presenting lesser-known works through performances, recordings, publications, and broadcasts. His work has been featured on NPR's Performance Today. He writes the column, "Rare Finds," for Piano Today. These have been published as a collection, Piano Discoveries by Ekay Music. He ahs also written for other piano magazines, including the British Piano. Smith has brought many works to public attention through recordings including Familiar Melodies and Piano Waltzes from Beethoven to Poulenc (Brioso). He is editor of such diverse anthologies as Four Early 20th Century Piano Suites by Black Composers, Country Gardens and Other Piano Works by Percy Grainger, American Piano Classics, and Tangos, Milongas, and Other Latin-American Dances for Solo Piano. His anthology of romantic music, Romancing the Piano, has just appeared in the Steinway library of piano music. Mr. Smith has been engaged as lecturer by music schools, universities, and other organizations nationally. He was twice invited to address the International NY Competition for Outstanding Amateur Pianists. Smith has an entry in the new edition of David Dubal's The Art of the Piano, and is cited in Maurice Hinson's The Literature of the Piano.

Dennis Smylie 
Visiting Specialist
Clarinet and Bass Clarinet
(973) 655-7212
dsmylie@mymailstation.com

Bass clarinetist Dennis Smylie received his bachelor's and master's degrees from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Joseph Allard. His other teachers have included Alfred Zetzer, Stephan Freeman, Kalman Opperman and Bill Street. He is a member of the American Symphony and the Brooklyn Philharmonic and has performed with the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Ballet and Opera, the Buffalo Philharmonic, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the St. Louis and Montreal symphonies, and Speculum Musicae. Mr. Smylie was the bass clarinet soloist in the premiere performance and recording of Donald Martino's Triple Concerto. He has given recitals and presentations at Juilliard, Oberlin, Yale, Princeton, Kent State University, Florida State University and the University of Washington in Seattle, as well as in Salida, Aspen, Weill Recital Hall, Symphony Space in New York City, and the Cleveland Museum of Art. Mr. Smylie has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, Nonesuch, New World Records, CRI, RCA and Virgin Classics.

Peter Stewart
Visiting Specialist
Voice
(973) 655-7212
stewartdavila@nyc.rr.com

Baritone Peter Stewart has created many new works in collaboration with composers. He has toured extensively in Europe, Australia, Asia, and North America with Philip Glass and Robert Wilson in Einstein on the Beach, Monsters of Grace, The White Raven, and La Belle et la Bete, and has joined the Philip Glass Ensemble at the keyboards in Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, and Anima Mundi. Mr. Stewart has also created roles and recorded many new operas for Gavin Bryars/Robert Wilson, Julius Hemphill, Anthony Braxton, Meredith Monk, Fred Ho, Harry Partch and Hans Werner Henze, among others.

Anastasia Swope
Visiting Specialist
Voice
(973) 655-7212

Soprano Anastasia Ellanna Swope's appearances have included recitals of art songs in New Jersey and Indiana, participation in a Women Composer's Symposium, and an performance on the High Mountain Orchestra's Hobart Manor Series. She collaborates regularly with members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in concert, performing a variety of repertoire from Britten to Vivaldi, from Fauré to Rutter. She has sung under the batons of Zdeneck Macal, Robert Spano, and Joseph Flummerfelt, with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. She has collaborated with pianist Ana Cervantes in the presentation of Braiding the Tresses: Weaving Poetry and Passion into Song, called "a superb recital, memorably flawless, and what an evening of art song should strive to be. . ." (Classical New Jersey). She initially pursued a major in classics at the University of the South, but her B.A. ultimately became a double degree in Latin and music. She holds a Master's Degree in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy from Westminster Choir College, where she studied with Lindsey Christiansen and Glenn Parker.

Kimberly Syvertsen
Visiting Specialist
String Techniques
Preparatory Center: Violin/Viola
(973) 655-7212 (Cali School); (973) 655-4443 (Prep)
syvertsenk@mail.montclair.edu

Violinist Kimberly Syvertsen holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory, where she studied with Shirley Givens. She has also studied with Matthew Pierce, Tao Chang Yu, Pamela Frank, and Joseph Lin. She is an Artist Diploma candidate at the Cali School. She has studied music pedagogy with Suzuki specialist Martha Thomas and Rebecca Henry. She serves as a conductor and chamber music coach in Youth Orchestras of Essex County and is a counselor/chamber coach at the ASTA-NJ Chamber Insitute. She is active as a chamber musician, has participated in the Heifetz International Music Festival, and was an Artist Fellow at Hampden-Sydney Music Festival. She performs with the Cali School's graduate string ensemble, The Verismo Quartet, which was founded in 2005 and made its debut on the Colonial Symphony's chamber music series opposite Met Opera tenor Bruce Rameker. She is entering her second year as Director of Youth Symphonies at the MSU's Music Preparatory Center, where she conducts the University Youth Orchestra and Chamber Sinfonia.

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André Tarantiles
Visiting Specialist
Harp
(973) 655-7212

André Tarantiles received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Indiana University School of Music. He has concertized throughout the United States and performed as soloist in all the major concert halls in New York City. He has appeared on national television accompanying opera stars including Aprile Millo, Benita Valente, Renée Fleming, Marcello Giordani, Ramon Vargas, and Christine Goerke. Currently principal harpist for several ensembles including the Metropolitan Opera Guild, New York City Opera National Company, Glimmerglass Opera Festival, Arizona Opera Wagner Festival, New Jersey State Opera, the Center for Contemporary Opera, Teatro Grattacielo, and the Casals Festival in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He has also performed in orchestras backing up headliners as diverse as Placido Domingo, Marilyn Horne, Ella Fitzgerald, Shirley Jones, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé, Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, Connie Francis, Roberta Flack, John Denver, Whitney Houston, Natalie Cole and Patti Lupone. He has performed in The Fantasticks (the world's longest running musical), Radio City Musical Hall and on Broadway (harp and synthesizer). Mr. Tarantiles is featured on CDs for several labels and he is also the official harpist of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.

Gwendolyn Toth
Visiting Specialist
Harpsichord
973-655-7212

Gwendolyn Toth is recognized as one of America's leading performers on early keyboard instruments and performs with equal ease on the harpsichord, organ, fortepiano, and clavichord. She holds the D.M.A. in performance from Yale University. She is Director of Music at St. Francis of Assisi Church in New York City and has taught at Yale University, Mount Holyoke College and Mannes College of Music. She has won prizes in the Magnum Opus Harpsichord competition and in American Guild of Organist competitions. She has been heard in concert throughout North America, Europe and the Far East, and on radio networks in Holland, Germany, France, and America's National Public Radio. She has performed in early music festivals in Boston, USA; Utrecht, Holland; Regensburg, Germany; and the Czech Republic. She has recorded CDs of organ works by Heinrich Scheidemann and J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations. Ms. Toth also has an active career as conductor of historical performance ensembles and orchestras. She is the director and founder of New York City's virtuoso period instrument ensemble, Artek, that has released the first North American recording of Monteverdi's opera, Orfeo. Ms. Toth's interests also extend to contemporary music. She has worked and recorded with eminent composer/performers such as John Cage, Rhys Chatham, Petr Kotik, Dave Soldier, Louis Andriessen, and Elliot Sharp at BAM Next Wave Festival, The Kitchen, Bang on a Can Festival, Cage Nachttage in Köln, Germany, and others.

Kyle Turner
Visiting Specialist
Tuba
(973) 655-7212
kturner6@nyc.rr.com

Kyle Turner has performed over 500 concerts with the New York Philharmonic. He also performs regularly with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke's, Saturday Brass, Concordia Orchestra, Solisti New York, Riverside Symphony, Solid Brass, and the Lake George Opera Orchestra. He has also performed with many other ensembles including the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra, NYC Ballet, NYC Opera, the American Composers Orchestra, American Ballet Orchestra, New York Chamber Orchestra, the American Horn Quartet, various Broadway shows (playing bass-trombone and tuba), and Harmonic Brass of Munich. Mr. Turner also works in the recording industry and has played for over 75 television commercials, feature films such as The Rookie, Tom & Huck, Journey of August King, Ransom, Michael Collins, Primary Colors, You've Got Mail. He has recorded for many labels including Sony, Deutsche Grammophon, Nonesuch, Warner Brothers, Angel, Dorian, EBS, Music Masters, Koch Classics, Arabesque, Musical Heritage Society, and many independent labels. His solo album, Expressions, has received rave reviews since its release in 2005.

Joseph Turrin
Adjunct Professor
Music in Film
973-655-7212
Joseph Turrin - Website

Joseph Turrin is active as a composer, orchestrator, conductor, pianist, and teacher. He studied composition at the Eastman School of Music and the Manhattan School of Music. His works have been performed by the New York Philharmonic, St. Martin-in-the-Fields Academy Orchestra. Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, Baltimore Symphony, Gewandhausorchester (Leipzig, Germany), Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Turrin has appeared as a conductor with the Pittsburgh, Baltimore, New Orleans, Detroit, and New Jersey Symphonies; he has performed as a pianist on many recordings and as orchestral pianist for the New Jersey Symphony. His compositions for film and theater include scores for Alan Alda's film A New Life, Little Darlings, Weeds (with Nick Nolte), Tough Guys Don't Dance (Directed by Norman Mailer), Verna-USO Girl (with Sissy Spacek and William Hurt and nominated for 3 Emmy Awards), Nightmare on Elm Street 3, Kingdom of Shadows (narrated by Rod Steiger), Broken Blossoms (1919 silent film classic directed by D.W. Griffith, starring Lillian Gish) and for the restoration of the silent film classic Sadie Thompson. Other silent film classics that he has scored include, Diary of a Lost Girl, Intolerance and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. His work in musical theater includes performances on Broadway with Michael Feinstein as well as the score for Frankie, with a libretto by Broadway legend George Abbott.

Nicholas Tzavaras
Artist-in-Residence
Shanghai Quartet
Cello
973-736-7212
tzcello@gmail.com
Shanghai Quartet Website

A native of Spanish Harlem in New York City, cellist Nicholas Tzavaras has quickly become an internationally sought after chamber musician, soloist and educator across three continents.   Quoted by the New York Times as having an “extremely impressive, richly singing sound,” cellist Tzavaras has concertized around the globe, from Zurich’s Tonhalle to Tokyo’s Kioi Hall. He has recorded for the Delos, Bis, Camerata, and New Albion labels.   Summer engagements have included the Santa Fe, Greenwood, Taos, and La Jolla Festivals, Radio France Festival in Montpellier, and the Marlboro Festival.  Since 2000, Tzavaras has been the cellist of the internationally renowned Shanghai Quartet. He is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music and SUNY Stony Brook. In addition to teaching at Montclair State University, Mr. Tzavaras is a guest professor at the Shanghai and Central Conservatories in China.  During his graduate studies he began a cello program for the Opus 118 Music Center in East Harlem of which he is now an advisory board member.  Mr. Tzavaras’s family can be seen in the Academy Award nominated documentary Small Wonders, the motion picture Music of the Heart starring Meryl Streep, and with the Shanghai Quartet in Woody Allen’s Melinda Melinda.