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Music Department Faculty |
| Betty Allen (President Emeritus; Master Voice) has appeared as soloist with Bernstein, Boulez, Casals, de Waart, Dorati, Kubelik, Leinsdorf, Maazel, Munch, Ormandy, Ozawa, Pritchard, Solti, Steinberg and Stokowski. In 1964, she made her opera debut at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Argentina; her North American debut with San Francisco Opera in 1966; her New York City Opera debut in 1973; and the Metropolitan Opera’s mini-Met in 1974. Ms. Allen regularly appeared at the Marlboro, Casals, Ravinia, Saratoga, Tanglewood, Cincinnati May and Caramoor Music Festivals. Ms. Allen is also a member of the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music. |
| Fred Alston Jr. (Piano, Accompanist, Theory, Children’s Choruses) choral director and bassoonist, is an Associate Musician at St. Mark’s Church. He has appeared as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic Young People’s Concerts. Mr. Alston is an alumnus of Indiana University and the Curtis Institute of Music and was principal bassoon with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Alston can be heard on CTI Records. |
| Jill Austen (Theory) holds degrees in flute performance from the Philadelphia Musical Academy and the University of Minnesota. She has performed and taught throughout the United States, Europe and the Caribbean. Ms. Austen has also served on the faculties of College of the Bahamas, University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas, University of Minnesota and the Jamaica School of Music in Kingston, Jamaica. She has taught workshops for the National Youth Orchestra of Trinidad and Tobago, Greater Twin Cities Youth Orchestra in Minnesota, and the Youth Orchestras of San Antonio. In June 2002, Ms. Austen was a featured performer for the American Harp Society’s national conference in a world premiere of composition for flute and harp by Irish composer Declan Townsend. She and harpist Kitty Eliason have recorded two CDs of chamber music for flute and harp. |
| James Bartow (Guitar) A director/producer, composer, singer and musician, Mr. Bartow has taught at HSA for over twenty years. He was Director of the Community and Culture Program at HSA and is a faculty member at Hunter College and the Borough of Manhattan Community College. Mr. Bartow has also taught on the faculty of Vassar College. He was the stage manager for the 1994 tribute to Dr. W.E.B. DuBois at Carnegie Hall. Mr. Bartow earned his BM and MME degrees from the Manhattan School of Music. A writer and curator, Mr. Bartow has contributed to numerous exhibitions, publications and recordings. |
| Lucia Bradford (Voice) earned her BA and MM degrees in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy at Westminster Choir College. Ms. Bradford is a Marian Anderson Scholar. She has performed works by Schubert, Rossini and Moses Hogan at the Kimmel Center with the renowned pianist Maestro Christoph Eschenbach at the piano and in Undine Smith Moore’s The Scene for the Life of a Martyr with the Witness Orchestra and Chorus. She placed second in the advanced lower division of the NATS competition (2004) and in 2003 she received an encouragement award from the Marian Anderson Awards. She has performed with the Westminster Opera Theater in Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief and Bizet’s La Tragedie de Carmen, Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet, Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers and Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges. |
| David Burnett (Violin, Viola, Orchestra Director) has been on the violin faculty of HSA for 16 years. He is head of the string department, conducts the string orchestra and has 52 private students. Mr. Burnett also teaches at the Langston Hughes Middle School and P.S. 6 in Brooklyn through Artsconnection. He began studying the violin with Galina Heifetz while a student at Music and Art High School and subsequently was self taught. Mr. Burnett completed his undergraduate studies at Oberlin Conservatory with Marilyn McDonald, followed by studies with Lynn Chang at the Boston Conservatory, and then private studies with Daniel Phillips in New York. Mr. Burnett’s string quartet, The West Village Quartet, has performed together for over 18 years and currently has a residency with the Baltimore Symphony. |
| Gwendolyn Bynum (Piano, Accompanist) is a native of Philadelphia, where she attended the Settlement Music School and Temple University, where she studied with Natalie Hinderas. Ms. Bynum taught at the Settlement Music School and Freedom Theatre, and was Music Director for SMYTE Music Theatre for teens. As a principal coach and accompanist for Opera Ebony, she designed opera-training workshops and a young artist recital series. She has sung in choirs under the batons of Eugene Ormandy, Zubin Mehta and James Levine. |
| Judith Dansker (Music Explorations, Recorder) received her BM and MM from Juilliard and has studied with Robert Bloom and Sara Lambert. She has performed in solo and chamber concerts nationwide, and at the Library of Congress, Alice Tully Hall and Frick Museum. She is a founding member of the Galliard Woodwind Quintet and member of Trio Sonata. She is a faculty member of Simons Rock of Bard College, the Hotchkiss School and Artist/Faculty with the Kent Silver Bay Music Festival. |
| Bob Dellureficio (Bobby Dee) (Guitar) attended the Berklee College of Music. A composer and guitarist, he has been part of the alternative music scene for almost twenty years and considers blues, jazz, classical and Eastern music among his strongest influences. Bobby Dee has performed throughout Europe and the U.S. with Ronald Shannon Jackson and The Decoding Society, as well as in major jazz festivals. He has collaborated with Woody Shaw, Gunter Hampel and Dave Douglas and has been a session guitarist for New York City commercial houses. Mr. Dellureficio’s recordings include Bob Dee Band, Double Talk and Bob Dee’s Cosmosis, From Head to Soul. He has taught at Pampalone Music in Wichita, Kansas, Mind Builders Creative Arts Center and currently teaches at the Abrons Art Center at the Henry Street Settlement. |
| Donald Eaton (African Percussion, Director Percussion Ensemble) received a BA from City College and has directed the Percussion Ensemble of Dance Theatre of Harlem. Mr. Eaton has studied with Ola Jagon, Orlando Puntilla, Lui Bauzo and Mar Gueye and has worked with Edie Gorme and Steve Lawrence, Andy Williams and Arthur Mitchell. He has performed with the Metropolitan Opera and at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Kennedy Center and on Broadway. |
| Fima Farberg (Piano, Accompanist) received his BA and MM degrees from the Leningrad Conservatory and is the former Director of Piano Department of Leningrad Music School. He has taught master classes in piano and accompanied ballet and voice performers. Mr. Farberg has conducted string and choral groups and is the Chief Accompanist for the Leigh Welles School of Dance, Dance Theatre of Harlem and the Milton Fehrer School of Dance. |
| Eli Fountain (Percussion) has performed with the National Tour of Jelly’s Last Jam starring Maurice Hines. Mr. Fountain has recorded with Lena Horne, Max Roach, Geri Allen and Terrance Blanchard and has accompanied The Temptations, Nancy Wilson, Toni-Tony-Tone, Peabo Bryson, Freddy Jackson, Whitney Houston, Joe Williams, Bob Hope and Glen Campbell. His TV credits include The Cotton Club, Live with Regis and Kathy Lee, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and Sit Down and Listen. |
| Patrice Jackson (Cello) received her BM degree from Juilliard in 2007. She has studied cello with Aldo Parisot and Janos Starker and has studied chamber music with Claude Frank and members of the Tokyo and Chiarra String Quartets. Ms. Jackson won the Sphinx Competition in 2002 and as a result has performed solo concertos with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Atlanta Symphony. She is currently the principal cellist of the Soulful Symphony and a member of the Ebony Strings Quartet. |
| Bradley Jones (Double and Electric Bass) received a BA from Jersey City State College. He has studied with Lou Kosma and Lisle Atkinson. As a member of Jazz Passengers he has recorded and toured extensively and his compositions can be heard on the band’s LP Implement Yourself. Brad has worked with Elvin Jones, Muhal Richard Abrams and Henry Threadgill. Brad also teaches music at Waldwick High School. |
| Charles Jones (Piano) earned a BM at North Carolina School of the Arts and a MM degree at Juilliard. He was soloist with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and a winner of the Young Artists Competition. Mr. Jones was featured on WNYC’s Young American Artists series as winner of the Piano Teachers’ Congress Auditions. He is a recipient of a grant from the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund. |
| Tsyala 'Delilah' Khudad-Zade (Piano) received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Music College and Tbilisi Conservatory in the former Soviet Union. She is a piano soloist, teacher and accompanist. Ms. Khudad-Zade taught at the conservancy in Alma-Ata and received a citation and diploma for first accompanist in the regional Tchaikovsky competition among the former Soviet republics. |
| Elektra Kurtis-Stewart (Suzuki Violin) graduated from the Sibelius Academy in Helaika, Finland, majoring in violin. She has performed with the Warsaw Grand Opera Orchestra in Poland and works with a number of New York City orchestras. Ms. Kurtis-Stewart also teaches at the Hoff Barthelson School of Music and Mind-Builders. She is a certified Suzuki Violin Instructor and leader of Ensemble Elektra, an improvisational World Fusion music group. |
| Rafi Malkiel (Trombone) is a trombonist and composer, and a member of Salsa Picante, Pan con Timba and Mo’ Guajiro. Mr. Malkiel has participated in the JVC Jazz Festival, NYC Summer Stage, Sydney Festival (Australia) and Red Sea Jazz Festival. He has toured with groups such as the Duke Ellington Orchestra and Salsa Picante. Mr. Malkiel holds a BA from the New School and a Master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Slide Hampton, Conrad Herwig, Reggie Workman and Ray Anderson. |
| David Miller (Flute, Bassoon) earned a BS in Music Education from Ball State University and completed graduate studies at the Manhattan School of Music and Long Island University. Mr. Miller was a member of the National Symphony Orchestra and the United States Navy Band. He works with a number of New York City orchestras and is a bassoonist with the Jupiter Symphony Orchestra. |
| Steven Oquendo (Trumpet, Jr. Jazz Orchestra Director) is a distinguished trumpet player who has studied at the Third Street Music School, Harlem School of the Arts, LaGuardia High School and Manhattan School of Music. Mr. Oquendo has taught at the Celia Cruz High School of Music. As a musician, he has toured in Africa, Europe, South America and the Caribbean. Mr. Oquendo has recorded and performed with a diverse range of artists including Destiny’s Child, Celia Cruz, Wynton Marsalis, Eddie Palmieri, Ray Santos and Jon Faddis. |
| J.D. Parran (Saxophone, Clarinet, Ensemble Director) is a renowned performer of the saxophone, clarinet and flute. For two decades, his featured instrument has been the rarely heard alto clarinet. A native of St. Louis, he was a member of the Black Artist Group (BAG) and he has performed or recorded with Derek Bailey, Muhal Richard Abrams, Douglas Ewart, James “Jabbo” Ware, Quincy Troupe, Hamiet Bluiett, Lena Home, Frank Foster, George E. Lewis, Leroy Jenkins, Don Byron and Julius Hemphill, among others. |
| Marcus Persiani (Piano), pianist and arranger, has worked and toured with Mario Bauza’s Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, Joseph Bowie and Defunkt and Willie Colon and Legal Alien. He has also performed with Max Roach and Sacred Drums, Dizzy Gillespie, Paquito D’Rivera, Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions, and Tito Nieves. Mr. Persiani holds a BM in Piano Performance from the American Conservatory of Music. |
| Bernard Phillips (Flute, Theory) was principal flute for the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra. He served as music director, played solo flute in the Broadway productions of Sunset Boulevard and subbed in many Broadway shows including Man of La Mancha. He can be heard on the Kulture, BMG and the Really Useful recording labels. Mr. Phillips holds an MM from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and a BM from the School of Music at Florida State University, where he was a pupil of Albert Tipton. He has performed at the Aspen Music Festival and currently plays piccolo with the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra and the Gateways Festival Orchestra. |
| Bruce C. Purse (Trumpet) studied trumpet with William Paul Overby and earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Southern Illinois University. He has performed with Lester Bowie, J.D. Parran, Oliver Lake, Kelvyn Bell, John Hicks, Olu Dara, Henry Threadgill, Arthur Blythe and Bob Stewart. He has worked with Warner Chappell Music as a staff writer and as a musician with Johnny Kemp, Melba Moore, Kashif, Puff Daddy, Mary J. Blige, Vincent Henry and Prince Charles Alexander. |
| La-Rose Saxon (Voice) received her Master’s degree in vocal music from Manhattan School of Music. Ms. Saxon has performed in Porgy and Bess and with the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra and the Frankfurt Opera. She is a nationally and internationally acclaimed soprano. |
| Tatyana Shtilman (Piano) has been a soloist with the Moscow Philharmonic, playing in Moscow and other cities in the former Soviet Union. A graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, she is a well-established chamber musician. Before leaving Russia she worked as a piano teacher at the lppolitov-lvanov Conservatory. |
| Sonelius Smith (Piano) is a pianist, composer, arranger and educator who has taught beginning through advanced piano and theory privately. He has held educational concerts and workshops throughout the Midwest and the East Coast Mr. Smith holds a BS from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, where he majored in Music Education. |
| Beverly Somach (Violin) made her New York debut at the age of 12 and has appeared in recitals at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Town Hall and Merkin Hall. She was a soloist with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony and Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Somach is on the faculty of the Henry Street Music School, The Ridgewood Conservatory and has conducted master classes throughout the U.S. |
| Erik Torrente (Theory) is an alumnus of HSA’s College Prep program. He completed his degree in jazz performance at the New School of Music in 2001. |
| The Harlem School of the Arts is funded, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York City Council, Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, New York City Department of Youth and Community Development, The Carnegie Corporation, The After-School Corporation, Altman Foundation, Jean and Louis Dreyfus Foundation, United Jewish Appeal and other corporate, foundation and individual partners. HSA is a member of the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts. |