Faculty & Staff

Saxophone soloist, chamber musician, researcher, and pedagogue Andrew J. Allen has premiered more than two dozen works for his instrument from such composers as François Rossé, Robert Lemay, Fang Man, Jesse Jones, Greg Simon, and Jay Batzner. He has appeared as a concerto soloist with the Wichita Falls Symphony Orchestra, the Oklahoma State University Chamber Orchestra, and the University of Arkansas Wind Symphony, and has given performances throughout the United States, Canada, Great Britain, France, and Croatia.  Allen’s recordings include Step Inside: New American Music for Saxophone and Percussion and The Avenging Spirit, both on the Equilibrium label, and he is a featured soloist on Spring Shadows: Electronic Solo Works by Anne Neikirk on Ravello Records. He has garnered considerable critical acclaim: The Instrumentalist has lauded Allen as “a master of all sizes of saxophone,” while The Saxophonist has hailed his "virtuosic saxophone performance,” and The Saxophone Symposium has cited his “complete control of the instrument.”

As an ensemble musician, Allen has performed with the Wichita Falls Symphony Orchestra, the Lone Star Wind Orchestra, the Bryan Symphony, the Midland Symphony, Symphony Orchestra Augusta, and the South Carolina Philharmonic. Present chamber ensemble activities include The Palmetto Saxophone Quartet, the percussion and saxophone group Rogue Two (with Gordon Hicken), and the flute and saxophone ensemble The Allen Duo (with Elise Naber Allen). Equally adept as a commercial musician, Allen has served as a sideman with a diverse variety of artists including R&B luminaries The Temptations and country music legend Ronnie Milsap. 

Allen is one of the most active scholars and public pedagogues of the saxophone today. His writings have appeared in The Instrumentalist, Music Educators Journal, Teaching Music, The Saxophone Symposium, College Music Symposium, The NACWPI Journal, The American Music Teacher, JazzEd, and School Band and Orchestra, and his transcriptions and arrangements are available through Dorn Publications and Lovebird Music. Allen has presented clinics across the country, including at the state music education conventions of Georgia, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Texas, and he has given masterclasses and lectures at some of the most prestigious schools of music in the United States, including the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music, Bowling Green State University, Duquesne University, and Shenandoah Conservatory, among many others. He is assistant editor of The Saxophone Symposium, the peer-reviewed journal of The North American Saxophone Alliance. 

Andrew J. Allen is Associate Professor of Saxophone and Coordinator of Winds & Percussion at Georgia College & State University, and he serves as President-Elect of the North American Saxophone Alliance.  His previous academic appointments include positions at Midwestern State University, Valley City State University, and Claflin University. His students have performed at national and regional conferences of The North American Saxophone Alliance, the American Single Reed Summit, the United States Navy Band International Saxophone Symposium, and at the state music education association conventions of Georgia and Texas. He was the recipient of the 2023-2024 Georgia College & State University College of Arts and Sciences Excellence in Teaching Award and has been recognized as a Sigma Alpha Iota National Arts Associate.

Allen holds degrees from Tennessee Technological University, Central Michigan University, and the University of South Carolina. His primary teachers include Phil Barham, John Nichol, and Clifford Leaman, and he has received additional instruction from Joseph Lulloff at the Brevard Music Center; Claude Delangle, Vincent David, and Arno Bornkamp at the European University of Saxophone; and Christine Rall at the Rascher Saxophone Quartet Workshop. Allen is a Conn-Selmer Artist-Clinician, a Vandoren Performing Artist, and a Key Leaves Endorsing Artist, and he performs exclusively on Selmer Paris saxophones and Vandoren mouthpieces, reeds, and ligatures. 

Dr. Jennifer Flory has been Director of Choral Activities at Georgia College since August 2005. She serves as Professor of Music at Georgia College in Milledgeville. She conducts University Chorus and the auditioned Max Noah Singers, and teaches choral and vocal music education and conducting courses. Flory made her Carnegie Hall debut with two world premieres in 2018. Flory has commissioned a number of new choral works from composers such as Emma Lou Diemer, David Hamilton, and Carrie Magin, and premiered them with Georgia College ensembles. She is also busy as guest conductor for honor choirs and serves as an adjudicator for LGPE and Literary. She has been Director of Music at First Presbyterian Church in Milledgeville since 2006 and performs in the community as a mezzo-soprano soloist.

Flory’s most recent research began as graduate mentored research in 2017, and was published in 2019 as an eighty-seven-page compilation of literature for treble choirs written by American composers since 1988 in Research Memorandum Series (RMS), a Journal of The American Choral Foundation, initially published by Chorus America. That index transformed into an undergraduate mentored research project to publish an online database (americantreblechoral.org) in 2020. Dr. Flory, the graduate alumna, and the undergraduate student presented: “American Treble Choral Index: A Concert Building and Reading Session” at the Georgia Music Educators Association Annual In-Service Conference in 2021. Flory has also researched, performed, and published about the music of prolific New Zealand composer, David Hamilton, including three issues of the Research Memorandum Series (2012-2014), In 2019, she took professional leave to visit Hamilton in New Zealand and work on an index of his music. Flory was also compiler for the Spring 2008 and 2009 issues of RMS; the first article details the choral-orchestral music and the latter article indexes the choral music of Emma Lou Diemer.

In 2014, Flory was initiated into Omicron Delta Kappa, a national leadership honor society, and, after a highly competitive application and selection process, Flory was selected as a Governor’s Teaching Fellow. In 2018, Flory was awarded the Council of Public Liberal Arts College's Charles Dunn Award, which recognizes a faculty member whose commitment to student success goes "above and beyond" the classroom and office, the traditional roles of teacher, academic advisor, and mentor. In 2021, Flory was recognized with a Noteworthy Performance Post-Tenure Review with excellence in following areas: service to the community, mentorship, leadership, and research. In 2022, Flory was invited to join Phi Kappa Phi, a multidisciplinary collegiate honor society. Flory holds both a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Music Education Degrees from Otterbein College (now University); and both a Master of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati.

Dana Gorzelany-Mostak is an Associate Professor of Music at Georgia College. A musicologist by profession, she teaches various music history courses, including Music History I & II, American Music, Studies in World Music, and American Music and Politics, as well as conducts Women’s Ensemble and Music Theatre Scenes. Her research on music and American presidential campaigns appears in Music & Politics, the Journal of the Society for American Music, and the Journal of Popular Music Studies. Her work on America’s Got Talent star Jackie Evancho appears in the edited volume Voicing Girlhood in Popular Music: Performance, Authority, Authenticity (Routledge) and in the journal American Music. In 2018 Gorzelany-Mostak won an Award of Excellence from the Broadcast Education Association for “Songs in the Key of President C: Music on the Campaign Trail,” a digital lecture funded by a grant from the Society for American Music. Gorzelany-Mostak is the founder of Trax on the Trail, a website and research project that tracks and catalogues the soundscapes of US presidential elections. At present, Gorzelany-Mostak is working with Jennifer Flory (Professor of Music, Georgia College) to create a recording of 19th-century campaign songs as part of the project "Songs of Political Persuasion: Hearing Music on the US Presidential Campaign Trail, 1840–1918." In addition to writing essays for several public musicology websites, Gorzelany-Mostak has provided her expert opinion for news outlets such as the BBC, The Guardian, Variety, Pacific Standard, Inverse, and The Boston Herald. Her forthcoming book, Tracks on the Trail: Popular Music, Race, and the US Presidency, analyzes the official and unofficial musical activity surrounding 21st-century presidential campaigns, shedding light on how the racialization of sound intersects with other markers of difference and ultimately shapes the public discourse surrounding candidates, popular music, and the meanings attached to race in the 21st century (University of Michigan Press, 2023).

Hailed by Cincinnati City Beat as “extraordinarily evocative” for his performances and reviewed by the Salisbury Post as playing with “great beauty and extraordinary brilliance,” for his Sibelius Violin Concerto, Dr. Bryan Emmon Hall has enjoyed success as both a performer and teacher. Bryan has performed in such venues as the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, and the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, China. He has also appeared as a soloist with the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra, Shasta Symphony Orchestra, Balcones Symphony, Salisbury Symphony Orchestra, Winston-Salem Piedmont Triad Symphony Orchestra, Austin Civic Orchestra, Central Texas Orchestra, Juneau String Ensemble, Cincinnati Accent Festival Orchestra, and many others. Dr. Hall has performed extensively in the United States and abroad as a chamber, orchestra, violinist, violist, and conductor.

Most recently Bryan Hall has appeared on stage for guest performances and/or masterclasses at Seattle University, Denison University, Idaho State University, Seattle Pacific University, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Chatter Chamber Series in New Mexico, University of Houston, Truman State University, Western Washington University, Colburn Performing Arts School, Stanford University, South by Southwest Festival in Austin, University of California at Santa Barbara, Gumi, Korea; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Beirut, Lebanon; Erbil, Iraq; Bali, Indonesia; and Pörtschach, Austria. Bryan Hall has performed in the sections of leading professional orchestras including the Austin Symphony Orchestra, Austin Lyric Opera, Round Rock Symphony, Juneau Symphony Orchestra, Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, Boise Baroque, and the Utah Symphony Orchestra.

Bryan attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts during high school where he studied with Nicholas Mann, Joseph Genualdi, and Kevin Lawrence. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music where he studied with Kurt Sassmannshaus. He completed both his Masters and Doctoral degrees at The University of Texas at Austin, Butler School of Music, under the tutelage of Brian Lewis. Other significant teachers at Texas include David Kim and Anne Epperson. Bryan Hall has won numerous awards including Starling Scholarship at UT and CCM, Baur Scholarship Competition, and the Young Texas Rising Stars Competition.

Dr. Hall is a deeply committed teacher who began teaching privately while still in high school. In Cincinnati, he taught violin and school orchestra for numerous elementary, middle, and high schools in the area where he started over 200 new violin students. Bryan has a passion for teaching people of all ages and skill levels. Bryan Hall held the position of Violin Teaching Assistant for the totality of his graduate studies at The University of Texas at Austin. In addition to his collegiate teaching duties, he also taught in the famous UT Austin String Project at the pre-college level. Dr. Hall has been on faculty at numerous summer festivals including Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival (where he is artistic director), Seattle-Japan Suzuki Institute, 6th Asian International Suzuki Institute in Bali Indonesia, Honolulu Suzuki Institute, Fairbanks Suzuki Institute, Louisville Suzuki Institute, UAF Summer Academy, UT Austin Longhorn Band Camp, Brian Lewis Young Artist Program in Kansas, American Voices YES Academy (Youth Excellence on Stage) held in Beirut, Lebanon and Erbil, Kurdistan, University of San Jose, Costa Rica Masterclass Series, and the Seattle Young Artist Coleman/ James studio. Bryan also enjoys playing different styles of music in his Persian Classical/ Independent Rock Band called Tehranosaurus that actively tours around the United States and abroad.      

Dr. Hall served on the faculty of The University of Alaska Fairbanks as the violin/ viola professor and pedagogy coordinator.  He was Concertmaster of the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra, conductor of the Northern Lights Symphony Orchestra, and conductor of the Fairbanks Youth Symphony Orchestra. He was visiting Concertmaster of the Juneau Symphony Orchestra 2018-2019. Dr. Hall was president of the Alaska ASTA Chapter 2015-2016. His articles are published in publications like String Magazine. Bryan Hall is currently the Assistant Professor of Upper Strings and Orchestra Conductor at Georgia College and State University.

Tina Holmes-Davis is associate professor of music, specializing in music education at Georgia College and State University.

            Holmes-Davis’ primary research interests include self-regulate musical learning and impacts of disability in music education. She also conducts research on and supports mentored undergraduate and graduate student research. Her music education students have completed 30+ guided research projects since 2015 on topics including: teaching students with special need in the music classroom, music program advocacy, trauma-informed and culturally-responsive teaching strategies, and the roles of women composers and conductors.

            Holmes-Davis’ teaching duties include undergraduate foundational courses in music education and specialized courses in elementary and middle school music pedagogy. She teaches graduate courses in curriculum, research, and community and philosophical music perspectives. She is also the founder and executive director of the Center for Music Education (CME) at Georgia College, which functions as a public outreach arm of the music education area. The CME was designed to promote collaboration and mutual achievement through departmental and community-based interaction. Toward that end, the CME delivers 8-12 professional development workshops for pre-service and in-service music teachers annually, and supports several community-based music endeavors within the music department, such as BASF Bobcat keys and a Suzuki-style strings initiative at the Baldwin County Early Learning Center.

            Holmes-Davis is a stroke survivor and plays a one-handed adaptive clarinet.

Prior to her appointment at Georgia College, Holmes-Davis taught middle school band in the Clayton County Public Schools (2002-2008), elementary music in Rockdale County (2008-2010), and middle school band in Henry County (2010-2015). She earned Bachelor of music and music education degrees from Georgia College and State University, a Master of Education degree in music education from Auburn University, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts in music education degree from Boston University.

Holmes-Davis currently lives in Warner Robins, GA with her adoring husband, Jay Davis, and the wonder twins, who are off to college soon.

Pianist Hue Jang has been noted for her insight and passion in both her solo and collaborative performances. She has presented solo performances at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and other world-class venues in Europe, Asia, and throughout the US. Her Seoul Arts Center debut recital was reviewed in The Piano, a major music magazine in Korea, and described as a “… performance in complete harmony, along with Jang’s elegant and confident intuition, perfect technique, noble, and intellectual expression.” Her live performances have been broadcasted on WIN-TV Chicago News 24, the University of Illinois radio station WILL, and from Valdosta State University.

Dr. Jang’s collaborations include performances with the Azalea String Quartet and piano duet partner Dr. Reid Alexander. Additionally, she gained substantial experience in opera coaching and accompanying with Carlos Montané and Maestro Ubaldo Gardini, ensemble coaching with Ian Hobson, Dennis Helmrich and Sibbi Bernhardsson, and master classes with Vladimir Feltsman, Ursula Oppens, and Boaz Sharon, among others. 

Dr. Jang published her article "Apex by Sukhi Kang: Cultural Differences Reflected in Performance Practice" in the Korean Dalcroze Journal, and presented her doctoral thesis research on the piano music of Sukhi Kang and Chul-Ik Hwang at the annual Conference of the Illinois State Music Teachers Association. As a member of MTNA and a dedicated teacher, she regularly adjudicates auditions and competitions, and gives lectures and invited talks at universities, conferences, and seminars. She also contributed to Sekwang Publishing’s Korean translation of the widely used Piano Repertoire Guide: Intermediate and Advanced Literature by Cathy Albergo and Reid Alexander (Stipes, 2011).

Dr. Jang is currently a staff pianist and piano instructor at Georgia College. She previously served as a member of the music faculties at Valdosta State University in Georgia, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Millikin University in Illinois. She received her D.M.A. in piano performance and literature and second M.M. in piano pedagogy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, M.M. in piano performance and post-graduate Performance Certificate from DePaul University in Chicago, and B.M. from the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. Her most influential teachers include Ian Hobson, Reid Alexander, Eteri Andjaparidze, Dmitry Paperno, and Edward Auer.

David Harned Johnson is a composer and violinist currently teaching at Georgia College. He has previously taught at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas, the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington and Mercer University’s Townsend School of Music in Macon, where he was chair of theory and composition as well as concertmaster of the Macon Symphony Orchestra.

Born and raised in California’s High Desert, he completed a Bachelor of Music degree in violin performance and composition at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California. At Yale University, he earned an Masters of Music degree in composition, and went on to receive a Doctor of Music Arts degree in composition from Indiana University.

Johnson’s original works for orchestra have been performed by the Macon Symphony Orchestra, the University of Arizona Philharmonic, the Lake Union Civic Orchestra in Seattle, the Claremont Young Musicians Orchestra, the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra, and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Honduras. Johnson’s original chamber music has been performed at many national conferences, including the National Flute Association, the North American Saxophone Alliance, and the International Double Reed Society.

Website: www.davidhjohnson.com

Dr. Youngmi Kim, a South Korean soprano, is an Associate Professor of Music and the Voice Area Coordinator at Georgia College. She previously taught at Radford University in Virginia and Wilberforce University in Ohio. Dr. Kim received her education at the College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) at the University of Cincinnati, earning a DMA and MM, and at Ewha Womans University in Korea, where she obtained a BM degree.

Dr. Kim has been honored with numerous accolades, including first prize at the William C. Byrd Young Artist Competition and third prize at the Louisville Bach Society Gerhard Herz Young Artist Competition. She reached the finals of The Lyndon Woodside Solo Competition, where she won the Richard Westenberg Award for 18th-Century Stylistic Interpretation. During her time at CCM, Dr. Kim received the Emilie Dieterle Award and was a recipient of several graduate scholarship awards. She has also been a featured soloist in numerous productions, with her exceptional voice being praised by San Francisco Classical Voice as "one of those silvery, 'strand-of-pearls'-type voices." The Columbus Dispatch complimented "the liveliness of her voice," while The Flint Journal commented that "from [Ms. Kim's] petite frame and gentle presence bellowed a forceful, yet graceful and flowing voice." Music in Cincinnati also praised that "[Youngmi Kim's] clear, flexible voice brought beauty and substance to everything she sang... Her coloratura was every bit as spectacular as his in their mutual cadenza, earning them a warm round of applause."

A versatile artist, Youngmi Kim is an accomplished interpreter of early music. She frequently performs as a vocalist with the Catacoustic Consort, an acclaimed Cincinnati-based early music chamber ensemble. Dr. Kim has also performed with other significant period performance ensembles, including La Donna Musicale and Apollo's Cabinet. She is featured on the recording "Le Stagioni (The Seasons): Virtuoso Italian Madrigals" with the early music ensemble Gravitación. Dr. Kim has participated in the Vancouver Early Music Festival and L'Accademia D'amore in Seattle, where she worked with celebrated early music specialist Stephen Stubbs.

As a recitalist and chamber music artist, she has performed in prestigious venues such as Spivey Hall, the Franz Liszt Museum in Hungary, the Newton Free Library in Boston, the Moss Arts Center in Virginia, and Weil Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York. She has also performed and given masterclasses at numerous universities, including Murray State University (KY), the University of Texas, Arlington (TX), Lee University (TN), Toccoa Falls College (GA), Ewha Womans University (Seoul, Korea), Ball State University (IN), Central State University (OH), and the University of Mount Union (OH).

Dr. Kim has appeared as a soloist with the Richmond Symphony, Flint Symphony, Honolulu Symphony, Kentucky Symphony, Lebanon Symphony, and Louisville Bach Society. She is a frequent performer in her native Seoul and has collaborated with the Korean Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra on numerous occasions, notably with conductor James Judd. Dr. Kim was also featured as a soprano soloist in Brahms's German Requiem with the Seoul Philharmonic under the direction of maestro Myung-Whun Chung.

She has served as the Treasurer for the Georgia chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) between 2020 and 2023.

Pianist Owen Lovell has appeared as a soloist and critically acclaimed chamber musician in twenty U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.  Commercial releases include tracks with rock musician Kip Winger (2008, Frontiers Records) and ASCAP award–winning composer Randall Bauer (2016, Albany Records). Owen has performed in live broadcasts on Wisconsin Public Radio and Austin, Texas NPR affiliate, KUT–FM. He has worked with many prizewinning composers, most notably Lowell Liebermann, Michael Torke, Samuel Adler, Joan Tower, Dan Welcher, Eric Ewazen, David Maslanka, Denis Smalley, and Roberto Sierra. Owen maintains professional two–piano and violin and piano collaborations, delighting audiences in settings ranging from rural community churches to the Kennedy Center.

Dr. Lovell earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in piano performance from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, and holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin. His principal instructors included Boris Slutsky, Dr. Betty Mallard, Gregory Allen, and Julian Martin. Owen is an MTNA Nationally Certified Teacher of Music, serving actively on the executive board of its state and local affiliates, and is frequently in demand as a clinician and adjudicator throughout the United States.

Appointed in the fall of 2016, Dr. Lovell is an Associate Professor of Music and coordinates the keyboard area and Bobcat Keys after school program at Georgia College, the state’s designated public liberal arts university.  Additionally, he is a piano technician and the piano review editor for Larry Fine’s Acoustic and Digital Piano Buyer (www.pianobuyer.com and printed semiannually), the standard consumer reference for piano shoppers. He previously served on the keyboard faculties of the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire, the University of Texas - San Antonio, and Texas State University.  Visit his YouTube channel for more information and links to recordings.

Dr. Don N. Parker serves as Chair and Professor of Music (Percussion) at Georgia College and State University. In 2018 Dr. Parker performed with the Three Rivers Percussion Ensemble (All-Collegiate Directors Group) at the North Carolina Day of Percussion and the All-Star Jazz Combo, featuring Mr. Ronald Carter (former Director of Jazz Studies at NIU), as a part of the first annual Fayetteville State University Jazz Day. He presented a percussion clinic/masterclass and recital at the University of Mount Olive (NC) with his trumpet/percussion duo, Double Take, which released its second CD of commissioned works, Atmospheres, in 2008. Dr. Parker has served as an artist-in-residence and guest clinician/conductor for a variety of festivals and organizations, including the River City Drum Corp, the annual Keeper of the Dreams Celebration (Louisville, KY), the HBCU-NBDC All-Star Percussion Ensemble, and the H.O.P.E. Summer Percussion Camp at the University of Louisville. Dr. Parker also served as director for the summer music camps at Fayetteville State University.  

Dr. Parker has performed with the Fayetteville Jazz Orchestra and Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra since 2003 as a featured soloist and principal percussionist. The Haydon/Parker Duo’s second CD, Reunion (2015), is available on the ACA Digital Recordings/Albany Record. As part of the album release tour, Parker’s jazz vibes/piano duo presented jazz clinics and concerts at Fayetteville State University and Claflin University (SC). 

In 2007 and 2015 Dr. Parker contributed a teacher resource guides to Teaching Music through Performance in Jazz,Vols. I & II, a series complied and edited by Richard Miles and Ronald Carter (GIA Publications). He recently presented an open forum panel discussion titled “Beyond the Tradition: Preparing the 21st-century Musician at Historically Black Colleges and Universities”at the 2017 National Association of Schools of Music conference in Phoenix (AZ). 

Dr. Parker holds active membership in PAS, NACWPI, MENC, JEN, and the American Federation of Musicians and has served as president of the NC Percussive Arts Society State Chapter. Prior to his appointment at Georgia College, Dr. Parker taught and served as Interim Chair/Director of the Fine Arts Series and Assistant Chair at Fayetteville State University, and held teaching positions at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, Chadron State College (NB), and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. Dr. Parker has a B.M. in Performance and Music Business from DePauw University and a M.M. and D.M.A. in Percussion Performance from the University of Texas-Austin. Dr. Parker has endorsements with Sabian Cymbals, Mapex Drums, Mike Balter Mallets, Vic Firth Sticks, Remo World Percussion, LP Music Group, and Majestic Percussion. For more information go to: www.parkerlinchmusic.com.

Laurie Peebles is currently the Assistant Professor of Music Therapy and Graduate Coordinator at Georgia College. Laurie received a Bachelor’s of Music in Music Therapy and a Master’s of Music in Music Education at Converse College and a Doctor of Philosophy in music education with an emphasis in music therapy at the University of Miami. She completed her music therapy internship with the Fulton County School System and she joined the music therapy team at The George Center for Music Therapy, in Atlanta, GA a private practice, which specializes in catering to children with exceptionalities. She worked with children with autism, Emotional Behavioral Disorders, mental disabilities, survivors of abuse, children who have lost parents or siblings, and/or other varying health impairments. From 2012 to 2014, Laurie served on the executive board as secretary of the Music Therapy Association of Georgia. In 2014, she began working as the music therapist on the Oncology units at Greenville Memorial Hospital, in Greenville, SC, a program funded by a LiveSTRONG grant. Beginning in 2016, she began providing music therapy services at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami, FL providing music therapy services on the cardiology, neurology, and intensive care units. During this time, she also providing music therapist services with the private practice Wholesome Harmonies Music Therapy, LLC in Miami, FL.

In 2019, Laurie was the recipient of the AMTA Music Therapy Perspectives Graduate Research Award for her research study Trends in Music Therapy Preprofessional Supervision: A Systematic Review. Her research on music therapy reimbursement practices in the United States has been published in Music Therapy Perspectives. She has presented at several national, regional, and state music therapy conferences on topics which include supervision, the clinical use of technology, and her experience starting a music therapy program in Zhengzhou, China. She has been member of AMTA since 2008. Her other professional affiliations include Pi Kappa Lambda and the Music Therapy Association of Georgia.

When not practicing music therapy, Laurie continues to enjoy performing on flute. In 2014, Laurie was the winner of the South Carolina Flute Society Masterclass competition. In 2015, Laurie performed for Sir James Galway in a masterclass at the Galway Flute Festival in Weggis, Switzerland. In 2018, Laurie performed at the National Flute Association conference with the University of Miami Frost Flute Ensemble under the direction of Trudy Kane.

Dr. Lev Ryabinin graduated with distinction from the Kharkov Institute of Arts, Ukraine, continued his education at the Samuel Rubin Academy of Music at Tel-Aviv University and received his Master’s Degree in Piano Performance from Roosevelt University in Chicago. Dr. Ryabinin earned his Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Iowa, where he held a three-year teaching assistantship. Dr. Ryabinin won First Prize in the Tel-Aviv Academy Competition and was a finalist in the Kankakee Piano Concerto Competition. Dr. Ryabinin has worked as a collaborative pianist/accompanist for Interlochen Center for the Arts, Chicago Opera Theater, Roosevelt University, the University of Iowa, and numerous music theatre productions. He has also presented recitals in Germany, Ukraine, Israel, Spain and the United States. Dr. Ryabinin currently serves as staff accompanist and piano instructor at Georgia College.

Dr. Bradley Sowell is a recent graduate of the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music at the University of Memphis in Memphis, Tennessee. Previously, Dr. Sowell served as an adjunct voice faculty member at Rhodes College in Memphis, TN. He also taught at Georgia College and State University as a limited-term lecturer of voice and aural skills and an adjunct voice professor.

Dr. Sowell is equally at home on the stage. Most recently, he performed in Così fan tutte as Guglielmo in Salzburg, Austria, for the Austrian American Mozart Academy. This was an auditioned summer program, where he was awarded a work-study scholarship to attend and provided vocal coaching. Past roles include Sam in Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti (University of Memphis), Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro (Salzburg, Austria), Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro (University of Memphis, University of South Dakota), Sir Roderic in Gilbert and Sullivan's Ruddigore (University of Memphis), Dater #12 in Michael Ching's Speed Dating Tonight (University of South Dakota), and Dr. Blind in Die Fledermaus (University of South Dakota). He was also the baritone soloist for Faure's Requiem (Memphis, TN) and Orff's Carmina Burana (Georgia College). He has performed recitals across the country.

Recently, Dr. Sowell presented a poster called “Musical Borrowing in Ben Moore’s Comedy Songs” at the Southern Region College Music Society conference.

Additionally, Dr. Sowell has been an accompanist for choirs, churches, and soloists. He frequently attends NATS student auditions as an adjudicator. He also has served as a clinician for high school choirs and a masterclass teacher at colleges.

Dr. Sowell received his Doctor of Musical Arts (Vocal Performance) from the University of Memphis, his Master of Music (Vocal Performance) from the University of South Dakota, and his Bachelor of Music Education (Choral Music Education) from Georgia College.

Robert Stewart is currently a Lecturer of Music Therapy at Georgia College. Robert received a Bachelor of Science in Music from Florida Southern College and both a Master of Music Therapy as well as a Doctor of Philosophy in Music Education with an emphasis in Music Therapy from Florida State University. He completed his music therapy internship with Trustbridge Hospice in West Palm Beach, FL and then went on to work at Florida State Hospital, a forensic psychiatric hospital in Chattahoochee, FL, as a music therapist in the Treatment Department. In this capacity, he worked with residential adults experiencing severe and persistent mental illness addressing goals such as readiness development, creative wellness, substance abuse recovery, illness management recovery, and court competency. Robert also spent much of his time at the Medical Services Unit providing one-on-one music therapy services to residents who were also experiencing medical crises during their stay at FSH. In addition to providing music therapy services, Robert also began a partnership with the Monticello Acting & Dance Co. in Monticello, FL where he offered private lessons in guitar, electric bass, and ukulele and continues to provide instruction virtually. In 2019, Robert left his position at FSH to begin his doctoral degree at FSU. In 2020, he was hired at the Apalachee Center, an acute psychiatric hospital in Tallahassee FL, to provide music therapy services part-time while completing his degree. In 2022, he earned the Jayne Standley Scholarship in Music Therapy award for his academic efforts.

Robert is NICU-MT certified and has been a member of AMTA since 2013, with whom he presented at National Conference, discussing topics such as using music therapy to address court competency restoration and digital/audio recording techniques for music therapists. His other affiliations include Order of Omega Honor Society and Theta Chi Fraternity.

Outside of music therapy, Robert is an avid guitarist. He has performed with the Trinity United Methodist "Circle of Friends" Praise Band, two theatrical productions (Beehive and Winter Wonderettes) with the Monticello Opera House, the Tallahassee Homeless Shelter Rock Band, and the Florida Southern College Jazz Band. Additionally, he has studied classical technique under the guidance of several esteemed educators including Bruce Holzman, Silviu Ciulei, Morgan Stuart, Mark Switzer, and Jeff Rogers.

Dr. Clifford N. Towner is Director of Band Activities and Professor of Music at Georgia College and State University. His responsibilities include conducting the Wind Symphony and Jazz Band, as well as teaching classes in conducting and music education. Dr. Towner holds a D.M.A. degree in Wind Conducting from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he studied with Dr. Carolyn Barber, a Masters of Music degree in Music Education from Wright State University, where he studied with Dr. David Booth, and a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Dr. Terrence Milligan. Dr. Towner has also taught in the public schools for ten years in Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Dr. Towner has several scholarly pursuits including wind repertoire and concert programming. He has presented at many conferences including the Georgia Music Educators Association (GMEA), the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA), and the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE). He has been published in the Association of Concert Bands Journal and the Journal of Band Research. His dissertation An Evaluation of Compositions for Wind Band According to Specific Criteria of Serious Artistic Merit: A Second Updatehas been downloaded thousands of times and is utilized at universities around the country.

Dr. Towner maintains an active schedule as a popular guest conductor and clinician. He holds membership in CBDNA, WASBE, GMEA, NAfME, JEN, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. Cliff resides in the Milledgeville, GA with his wife Gina, and their daughter Laura and son Nathan.

Katie Whipple is a licensed and board-certified music therapist with advanced training in Neurologic Music Therapy® and experience working with a variety of individuals including children and adults with intellectual disabilities, autism, significant medical conditions, emotional and behavioral health conditions, and sensory impairments as well as older adults and cancer survivors. Currently, she serves as lecturer and undergraduate program coordinator in the music therapy program, as faculty advisor to the student organization, The Music Therapy Society, and as the CMTE Committee Chair for the Music Therapy Association of Georgia. She teaches a range of undergraduate and graduate music therapy courses including Intro to Music Therapy, Practicum courses, Psychology of Music, Internship Supervision, and Qualitative Research.

Whipple has presented at several national and regional music therapy conferences on a variety of topics including research, community music therapy, supervision, and technology. She has also been invited to present at other universities and numerous community events such as nursing symposiums, healthy communities summit, and local organizations. She has received awards for her work with the community and music therapy students, including the Excellence in Clinical Instruction by the Dean of the College of Health Sciences. Prior to joining Georgia College, she received the Community Partner Award from the Music Therapy Department for her work involving music therapy students in engaged learning experiences at a local non-profit organization, The Life Enrichment Center.

She is also a practicing clinician and established the Music Therapy Program in the Baldwin County School System in Milledgeville, GA where she currently works with exceptional and neurodiverse K-12 students. She has also organized and directed over a decade of community music therapy performances advocating and highlighting the talents of adults and children with intellectual disabilities while providing music therapy students with engaged learning experiences. She studied classical guitar during her undergraduate work at Georgia College and has taught private guitar and piano lessons in the community. She is a proud Double Bobcat earning her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in music therapy from Georgia College & State University.  She also earned her Doctor of Education in Leadership, with a concentration in Higher Education from Valdosta State University, and her research interests include experiential learning, clinical training, and arts-based analysis. 

Elise Naber Allen is adjunct instructor of flute at Georgia College and State University. She has performed with the Bismarck Mandan Symphony Orchestra and the Wichita Falls Symphony. In 2017, she performed at the National Flute Association conference as a member of the NFA Professional Flute Choir, and she has performed at multiple conferences of the North American Saxophone Alliance as a member of the Allen Duo, a flute and saxophone ensemble committed to commissioning and performing new music. Prof. Allen has been published in The Instrumentalist and The Woman Conductor, and she has presented research and clinics at both the Texas and Georgia Music Educators Association Conferences.

Along with her duties at Georgia College, Ms. Allen is a band director at Oak Hill Middle School in Milledgeville. Prior to working in the Baldwin County Schools, she taught band at Monroe County Middle School in Forsyth. Before returning home to Georgia in 2019 she was the band director at Jacksboro Middle School, Windthorst Independent School District, and Wichita Christian School in Texas. 

Ms. Allen holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Education and a Performer’s Certificate in flute from the University of South Carolina and a Masters of Music in Music Education from the University of North Texas. She has received additional training in flute pedagogy at Texas Woman’s University. Her primary teachers include Jennifer Parker-Harley, Pamela Youngblood, and Lisa Mahoney.

Dr. Araya has taught students from various backgrounds and countries and has greatly enjoyed motivating students and the rewarding challenge of curating individual lesson plans and curricula for each student. Dr. Araya received his master’s degree at the Cleveland State University studying under Tom Freer, and his Doctorate Degree at the University of Georgia under Timothy Adams Jr. and Kimberly Toscano Adams. As a teacher he was the coordinator of percussion studies in the Institute of Secondary Studies University of Chile, and instructor at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory, both in Chile. In the United States, he has been the percussion instructor at The Beck Center for the Arts Academy as well as The Westlake Music Academy. Dr. Araya is currently the Percussion faculty Instructor at the Georgia College State University and the Percussion Instructor at Anderson University in South Carolina, he teaches applied percussion lessons, percussion ensemble and percussion methods. Dr. Araya was the former primary instructor of African Hand Drumming and Percussion Methods for Music Therapists classes at the University of Georgia, in which he taught over 110 students every semester for four years. As a performer, he has performed with the Symphonic Orchestra of Chile and Philharmonic Orchestra of Chile, both in Chile. In the United States, he has performed with the Cleveland Winds Ensemble; the Suburban Orchestra; the Augusta Symphony; and the Cleveland Philharmonic, as well as Folk and Latin South American music with the band, Chakaimanta, in Cleveland, Ohio. Internationally he has performed in Campos do Jordao and Jaragua do Sul, both in Brazil, as well as performing in Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Peru, Brazil.

A native of Monroe, Georgia, Zandra Bell-McRoy has been a music educator since 2002.  Upon graduating from the University of Georgia in 2001 with degrees in music and music education, Dr. Bell-McRoy began her career as a high school band director in Troup county, and later Clayton county.  She has also served as a middle and high school band director in Clayton, Walton, and Gwinnett counties.  Bands under her direction have consistently received superior and excellent ratings.  Her most recent appointment is as Director of Bands at Cedar Shoals High School, in which she oversees all aspects of the comprehensive band program as well as serving as a teacher leader.  Dr. Bell-McRoy also serves as the Virtual PLC Lead for 6-12 Band with the Georgia Department of Education.

Dr. Bell-McRoy received her Doctor of Education in Music Education from the University of Georgia under the direction of Dr. Roy Legette in 2014.  While studying at the University of Georgia, Dr. Bell-McRoy served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant earning awards for teaching and being selected to participate in the Future Faculty Program, a small cohort of promising graduate teaching assistants poised to serve as scholars and educators in higher education.  She maintains an active research presence, being invited to present her research at conferences and symposia across the country.  She was honored to serve as the Tau Beta Sigma Women in Music Series speaker for the Southeastern Division Conference in Athens, Georgia in 2011.  Her research interests include multicultural music education, gender and music education, music teacher preparation, and music teacher evaluation and supervision. 

Professional affiliations include the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), Georgia Music Educators Association (GMEA), National Band Association (NBA), American Educational Research Association (AERA), Phi Beta Mu (International Bandmasters Fraternity), Pi Kappa Lambda, Kappa Delta Pi, Tau Beta Sigma (Honorary), Sigma Alpha Iota, and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.  Dr. Bell-McRoy serves as a flutist with Tara Winds Symphonic Band, as well as a freelance performer around the Atlanta area.  Dr. Bell-McRoy is an active clinician and adjudicator in the state of Georgia.  She resides in Monroe, Georgia with her husband, Darvin, who is a band director in Gwinnett County.

Rebecca Rowell Cooke, the daughter of Edd and Ruth Rowell of Macon, began her journey in music singing harmonies with the family of five on road trips. She sampled violin, oboe, and piano before deciding clarinet was her favorite. Rebecca participated in All-State band or orchestra every year from 7th grade through the 12th grade. She went to Governor’s Honors Program in music as a sophomore and the following year received the Bellsouth Scholarship to study at Brevard Music Center for the summer.

Cooke studied with William E. Fitzgerald, Dr. James E. Jensen, and Dr. Theodore E. Jahn. Rebecca holds degrees from Samford University and the University of Georgia in clarinet performance, piano, voice, and music history. She has performed as principal and assistant principal with the Macon, Alabama, Gainesville, Toccoa, and Monroe Symphonies, and as soloist with the Alabama Symphony Chamber Orchestra and at Piccolo Spoleto in Charleston on Eb Clarinet. Although Rebecca has not yet crossed off the bucket list goal of singing back-up with Billy Joel, she has performed in groups with John Berry and Special Consensus, and performed for master classes with Wynton Marsalis, Richard Stolzmann, and Howard Klugg.

Rebecca has been teaching clarinet privately since 1990 and has served as instructor for bands and band camps in Georgia and Alabama, including the Band and Drum Major Academy at GC&SU for several years. At the University of Georgia, Rebecca served as Dr. Jahn’s assistant, teaching the freshmen clarinet majors and any minors or elective students brave enough to sign up for her class. In 1999, she was named “Outstanding Teaching Assistant” for the university. While at Samford and UGA, Cooke performed with the wind ensembles, orchestras, contemporary chamber ensembles, and countless other chamber groups including a chamber group dedicated solely to the music of Iannis Xenakis.

Rebecca is currently serving as adjunct faculty at Georgia College and Wesleyan College where she teaches clarinet, seminars, and woodwind ensembles. She also serves as Graded Choir Coordinator at First Baptist Church of Christ, Macon. Rebecca is a member of the International Clarinet Association, the professional fraternity Delta Omicron, and MMC of Macon. She lives in Macon with her husband, the Honorable K. David Cooke, Jr., and their three children, just a block down from her mother, where their children take piano lessons from her first piano teacher.

Susan E. Craig Music Therapy career began in 1976 when she accepted a position as Music Therapist at a 135 bed Developmental Disability Unit at Central State Hospital. In 1978 she was promoted to Team Leader, and in 1986 she was promoted to Service Director/Nursing Home Administrator. Because of Deinstitutionalization, this unit closed in 2010.  She then became the Nursing Home Administrator for a Skilled Bed Facility and this program closed in 2015. During her tenure at Central State Hospital, Susan wrote, choreographed, and directed at least ten Mayor’s Day Performances, which were shows that involved the individuals and staff and members from the community. They performed for the local community, the Governor’s wife as well as other dignitaries.  As the Skilled Care Facility continued to downsize, Susan accepted a part-time position working in the community auditing records and was later asked to assume the role of Interim Director of the Community Developmental Disability Program.  Susan retired from working in the community in 2019. 

 During the downsizing of the Skilled Care Facility, she became an Adjunct instructor with Georgia College in 2012 and she was assigned duties as a Practicum Supervisor. She later began teaching Piano for Music Therapists and the Instrumental Survey Class for Music Therapists. In 2019 she was asked to assume a Part-time Lecturer Position in the Creative Arts Therapists Department at Georgia College. She was asked to teach the Advanced Practicum, Piano for Music Therapists, Instrumental Survey and Leadership Classes for the FY 2019-2020.   Susan will assume the Permanent Part-Time Position as Music Therapy Lecturer on August 1, 2023. Susan has been the organist at a local Church since 1977. Susan is a member of the Music Therapy Association of Georgia and the American Music Therapy Association.  She is Licensed as a Music Therapist in Georgia and she is Board Certified. She is also certified in Neurologic Music Therapy.  She has been a Licensed Nursing Home Administrator since 1982.

Chris Enghauser who earned a MM in Music Performance from The University Georgia, a BM in Music Performance from George Mason University, is a section bassist with the Macon Symphony and Albany Symphony, Principal Bassist of the Toccoa Symphony in Toccoa, Georgia, and a frequent section player with the Columbus Symphony and Rome Symphony. Chris’ performing experience includes freelancing in a range of styles including jazz, rock, bluegrass, folk, and world music. Chris has been the recording bassist for Rolling Stones pianist Chuck Leavell, also having toured extensively with him and The Randall Bramblett Band. Chris recorded on Chuck’s cd Back to the Woods, which also features guitar legends John Mayer and Keith Richards, and for the Cartoon Network’s Squidbillies Theme. Other recording credits include Commonality by jazz saxophonist Jeff Coffin (of Bela Fleck and the Flectones and Dave Matthews Band), legendary jazz guitarist Mimi Fox’s DVD Live at the Palladium, Randall Bramblett’s Meantime, and recordings for NPR, Compass Records, Sugar Hill Records and Homespun Video. On the road, Chris performed with national Broadway tours of Pump Boys and Dinettes, A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline, Cole Porter’s Anything Goes, as house bassist aboard The Queen of the West Riverboat, and international touring to Canada and Bermuda with the Billie Holiday Tribute Band. Chris had also performed with Bela Fleck, Roy Wooten, Victor Wooten, Sarah Evans, Amy Ray, Randy Sabien, Barbara Lamb, Mark Feldman, David Blackmon, Chester Thompson, Jeff Mosier, David Greir, Mac Davis, Cecil Welch, Curley Maple, Augusta Symphony, and Gainesville Symphony. Present teaching positions include Adjunct Professor of Bass at Georgia College; Adjunct Professor of Bass and Jazz Combos at Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, AL; Director of Bands at Monsignor Donovan Catholic High School in Athens, GA; Jazz/Rock Bass Instructor at the UGA Community Music School; Bass Instructor at The Athens School of Music. Previous teaching experience includes Academic Program Specialist in the Jazz Studies Dept at the UGA, clinician for the UGA Jazz Festival, Jazz Band Director for the UGA Summer Music Camp, co-coordinator of the UGA Bass Symposium, and has twice been the Bass Instructor for the Southeastern Bluegrass Association’s Bear on the Square Bluegrass Festival in Dahlonega, GA.

Praised for her voice of “terrific force” (South Florida Classical Review), Los Angeles native soprano Samantha Frischling is currently based in Atlanta. Her past roles include both Blanche and Madame Lidoine in Dialogues des Carmélites, Almera in Nico Muhly's Dark Sisters, and Micaëla in Carmen, as well as selections from Fidelio, Der Rosenkavalier and Don Carlo. She has been a young artist with festivals around the country and abroad, including SongFest, the Milnes Voice Studio at the Savannah Voice Festival, Miami Music Festival, and IVAI New York. Most recently, she returned to Spoleto Festival USA for her second summer as a Vocal Fellow

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Passionate about concert repertoire, she has been a soloist in works including Corigliano’s Fern Hill and Bach’s Magnificat with Atlanta Master Chorale, and Haydn’s Missa Brevis St. Joannis de Deo and Mozart’s “Laudate Dominum” with the Emory Mastersingers. In 2022, she returned to Emory to join the Emory University Chorus and Symphony Orchestra as the soprano soloist in Mozart's Requiem. She is also an active chorister, singing with the Atlanta Master Chorale, the Spoleto Festival USA Chorus, and other choral ensembles around the country.

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She is an alumna of Emory University, where she graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Music and Psychology. While at Emory, she was a two-time recipient of the Excellence in Music Award, as well as a recipient of the Robert Shaw Outstanding Singer Award, the Lemonds Award for Music Study Abroad, and the Charles E. Shepard Scholarship for Graduate Study. In May 2019, she received her Master of Music in Voice from the Mannes School of Music in New York City, where she was a recipient of the Provost’s Scholarship.

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Offstage, she is passionate about building bridges between her music and psychology studies by researching how vocal music education can help students develop self-efficacy and resilience, and teaches voice through The Galloway School and Atlanta International School, as well as privately. Additionally, she is the administrator for the Emory University Chorus, the orchestra manager for the Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra, and an alumni relations liaison for the Emory Concert Choir, where she enjoys continuing to serve music and musicians from behind the scenes. In her free time, you can find her checking out museums, binge watching sci-fi shows, or visiting her family and her labradoodle, Charlie, back in Los Angeles.

Mandy Gunter currently teaches at Burnette Elementary in Gwinnett County. She holds degrees from Georgia College and Lesley University. Mandy holds a post Level-III Orff Schulwerk teacher education. Mandy has served on the National Board of the American Orff Schulwerk Association and was chair of the Communications Committee and served as the Chair of the Virtual Programming Sub Committee. She has also served as President of the Atlanta Area Orff Chapter and currently serves as the Advocacy Chair. Mandy was named 2023-2024 Teacher of the Year at her local school and was named Top 25 for Gwinnett County Public Schools. She presents Workshops throughout the United States.

Tenor Chris Hendley holds a Bachelor of Music Education from Auburn University, a Master of Music Education from the University of Georgia, and a Ph.D. in Music from the University of Georgia.  His research interests include Baroque English music and theatre and Shakespearean appropriation. He has over thirty years of experience as a performer, educator, and vocal/acting coach.

Dr. Hendley is a professional singer/actor with numerous stage credits. He has held leading roles in such operas as Il Campenello, Die Zauberflöte, and Susanna’s Secret, and musical theatre credits include Henry Jekyll/Edward Hyde in Jekyll and Hyde, “Bobby Strong” in Urinetown: the Musical; and “Jesus” in Godspell, “El Gallo” in The Fantasticks, “Gaston” in Beauty and the Beast, and “Gomez” in The Addams Family: the Musical. Dr. Hendley has also been a featured soloist for the Macon Concert Association and the Atlanta Lyric Theatre Summer Spotlight Series, and was a semi-finalist in the 2003 American Traditions Competition, in Savannah, GA.

Dr. Hendley spent most of his career at Georgia College & State University where he held the rank of Associate Professor. At GC&SU, he taught Applied Voice, Music History, American Music, Research in Music Education, and often served as the music director for the GC&SU Theatre Department. Other appointments include serving as Assistant Professor/Coordinator of Music Education at Albany State University, and as Assistant Professor of Voice and Music Theatre at Muskingum University.

            Stephen Hoy began playing the trombone in southeastern Pennsylvania at the age of ten. During those formative years he studied with Dr. James Thurmond, a former member of the Philadelphia Orchestra and organizer of the U.S. Navy School of Music. While in high school he performed under the direction of a number of well-known conductors and music educators, including:  Col. Arnold Gabriel of the U.S. Air Force, Dr.’s George Cavender and William Ravelli of the University of Michigan, and Albertus L. Meyers, a cornet soloist with the John Phillip Sousa Band in the 1920's.            

            After graduating from Lebanon Valley College (Annville, PA) in 1977 with a performance degree, Stephen enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and served for nine years as a trombonist with the 581st Air Force Band in Warner Robins, GA and the 602nd Air Force Band in Biloxi, MS.  During his career in the military he performed all over the southeast, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Antigua, the Azores, and Panama. Highlights of his time in the service include playing with jazz trombonists Rob McConnell, Bill Watrous, and Slide Hampton and performing in the premier of El Camino Real by composer Alfred Reed. 

            A number of years after separating from the Air Force he enrolled at Mercer University in Macon, GA to complete the certification requirements necessary to become a music educator in Georgia. After graduating Stephen was employed as a middle school band director in Warner Robins. While teaching 6th, 7th, and 8th graders he also developed a successful private studio regularly sending students to Georgia's All-State bands. At the same time Stephen continued to be active as a trombonist performing with Colony IV Brass Quintet, the Georgia Big Band, and Wellston Winds. Suring the summer months he participated in Summer Jazz programs in Jackson, MS both as an educator and performer.  Each Summer Jazz event culminated in a recording session of original or newly arranged pieces performed during the week.

            Stephen returned to Mercer and earned his Master’s in Trombone Performance in 2009 studying with Colin Williams, currently co-Principal Trombonist of the New York Philharmonic. Continuing to perform he joined the Ocmulgee Symphony Orchestra as Principal Trombonist. He has also played with the Macon Symphony Orchestra, the Albany Symphony Orchestra, with Sara McLachlan at Atlanta's Chastain Park, with The Temptations, and with a New York based Ray Charles Review. Stephen is a regular participant at the Southeast Trombone Symposium as part of the Professor's Choir. Most recently he founded Slide Effects, a trombone quartet that has performed in a number of different venues in the Middle Georgia area.

            Stephen is married and has two adult children. In addition to his musical activities he is the author of The Fragrance of Paradise, a book chronicling his spiritual journey through illness, a liver transplant, and subsequent recovery. He publishes a free e-newsletter about his rose growing hobby that is sent to subscribers on five continents. In 2019 Mercer University Press published a history Stephen authored entitled, Camp Oglethorpe: Macon Georgia’s Little-Known Civil War Prisoner of War Camp, 1862-1864.

Robert E. Krout, EdD, MT-BC is Professor Emeritus and former Chair of the Music Therapy Department at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Robert moved to Texas from New Zealand, where he founded and directed that country’s first university post graduate music therapy program. He was previously Music Therapy Manager at Hospice of Palm Beach County, Florida, where he founded and directed an AMTA National Rosted Internship. Prior to that, Robert taught at the State University of New York at New Paltz. In addition to teaching at Georgia College, he teaches in the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, TX. Robert is the author or co-author of numerous music therapy clinical, educational, and research publications. 

A native of Germany, soprano Camilla Packroff holds a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from Mercer University in Macon, Georgia where she studied voice with Dr. Martha Malone. Prior to her time at Mercer, she attended Berry College where, on top of her studies in Music, she also pursued a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics. At Berry College, Ms. Packroff studied under Ruth Powell Baker and was a member of the Berry Singers under the direction of Harry Musselwhite and Dr. Paul Neal. Ms. Packroff is currently serving as an adjunct instructor of voice at Georgia College and State University, the vocal coach at the Academy for Classical Education in Macon, and as a soloist and choir member at Mulberry Street United Methodist Church in Macon.
    As a singer, Ms. Packroff has participated in Master Classes with Gary Wedow, Christopher Halloway, and Christian Sineath, National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) auditions on both the Georgia and Southeastern Level and Jugend Musiziert in Germany, where she was awarded second prize in North Rhine-Westphalia in 2011. She is also the 2017 Recipient of the Rome Music Lovers Club Award and Scholarship. Ms. Packroff has been a member of numerous choral ensembles, including the Berry Singers, Berry Voices and Mercer Singers, where she has contributed both as a soloist and an ensemble member. At Mercer University, she was also featured in Mercer University Opera Productions such as Orpheus in Opera (Euridice), Guys and Dolls (General Mathilda Cartwright) and Operatic Gems. In her solo work, Ms. Packroff specializes in Early Music, especially the works of Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frederic Handel, and she has collaborated with instrumental artists including Adam Hayes and John Davis on these works. She is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda and Phi Kappa Phi.
    In her free time, Camilla Packroff is an avid cook and baker and she can often be found in the grocery store looking for interesting ingredients. She loves to travel and flies home to Germany whenever possible, both to visit her family there and to explore the country. Her love of old buildings, especially the great cathedrals and their remarkable acoustics, has made a significant impact on her appreciation of Early Music.

Victor Pires was born in Bauru in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. It was there that he started his studies on the trumpet with Devanildo Balmant, in the Guri Project. He also studied with João Xavier in the Tatui conservatory at a young age. During his experience as a foreign student, he lived in Texas for his Junior year of high school. There, Mr. Pires studied with Dr. John Kennedy and won Texas All state 5A Symphony Band 1sr Chair, 2015 All-region, TMEA HS Symphony Orchestra 1st Chair and Solo and ensemble state competition with "Outstanding Solo" award. 

Mr. Pires returned to Brazil and did his bachelor’s degree in trumpet performance at University of Campinas with Dr. Paulo Ronqui as his trumpet instructor. He also did several music festivals and has experience in many groups such as Piracicaba Symphony Orchestra, Mozarteum Symphony Orchestra and São Paulo Youth Symphony Band. 

In fall of 2021, Mr. Pires moved back to the USA for his master’s degree in trumpet performance at Georgia State University, where he studied with Dr. Alex Freund. In 2022, Mr. Pires won the 1 st prize at the International Trumpet Guild competition in the Orchestral Excerpts division and in 2023 the 3 rd prize at the National Trumpet Competition in the graduate solo division. Mr. Pires is currently working in his DMA in trumpet performance at University of Georgia, studying with Mr. Phillip Smith, and holds an adjunct trumpet professor position at Georgia College and State University. Mr. Pires is active in the Atlanta area as a performer and teacher and also works as the lead trumpet in the First Baptist Church of Atlanta

Dr. Chantae D. Pittman is the Director of Choral Activities at Campbell High School in Smyrna, GA in the Cobb County School District, and adjunct professor at Georgia College and State University. Dr. Pittman is passionate about all forms of music. She is a proud graduate of Tennessee State University having received her Bachelor of Science in Music Education in 2010. She has since earned a Master’s Degree in Music Education at VanderCook College University (Chicago, IL, 2013). In May 2021 Dr. Pittman graduated from The University of Georgia where she completed her Doctorate in Education with an emphasis in Choral Music Education.  During her 12-year career in choral music education she has taught students from elementary through high school. Due to that experience, and her demonstrated commitment to excellence in performance, she is highly respected as a choral clinician, music education consultant, instructor, grant writer, and adjudicator. She is very active as a soprano soloist and choral musician as a member of the Grammy award winning Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus since 2011, and the Atlanta Women’s Chorus since 2020. Having performed with orchestras, choirs, and small vocal ensembles throughout her career as a musician, Dr. Pittman proudly continues to learn, grow, and develop as a musician and pedagogue. She is a proud and active member of the Georgia Music Educators Association (GMEA), National Association for Music Education (NAfME), National Educators Association (NEA), Georgia Association of Educators (GAE), Sigma Alpha Iota, Professional Music Fraternity, Inc., and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.

"Matthew Robinson earned his graduate degree from the Georgia State University’s School of Music in 2019. He has been invited to numerous academic performances like the 2016 Georgia Music Educators Association as well as participating in chamber guitar events with world-renowned artists. His ongoing venture into the world of guitar ensemble music has been a particularly relevant source of inspiration for his own guitar compositions - which eventually earned him the 2018 Austin Texas Guitar Composition Competition award. With his experience in guitar ensembles he hopes to continue teaching for the guitar as a chamber instrument and to see it prosper as such."

Andrew Sehmann is a musician based in the South-East United States. He has played under multiple conductors such as Keith Lockhart, Bruno Weil, Kai Rohig, Jeff Tyzik, Dirk Meyer, Jack Walker, Joann Faletta, Ken Lam, Kayoko Dan, Phil Smith, Garrett Keast, Matthias Bamert, John Morris Russell, and Morihiko Nakahara.

Andrew is a native of Central Kentucky and has played with multiple groups around that area, such as the Madison Brass, London Orchestra, and the Lexington Philharmonic. While in Kentucky, he studied at Eastern Kentucky University under his father, Mick Sehmann. Andrew graduated from EKU Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor's in Music Performance. Currently, he teaches at Young Harris College, and Georgia College in Milledgeville. The SWQ does educational outreach programs and community service within the Athens Area, teaching children about the wind instruments. In addition to his chamber experience, Andrew plays with multiple orchestras in the Southeast. He is third horn in the Augusta Symphony, and also a section horn of the Atlanta Ballet orchestra.

In addition to Orchestral and chamber playing, Andrew is an accomplished soloist. He began his soloing career at age 16 when he won the Borchardt Concerto Competition in Central Kentucky. In addition to this, Andrew has soloed with Eastern Kentucky University's Symphony Orchestra three times. While at EKU, he also performed a guest artist series at the University of the Cumberlands in 2014.  In 2016, Andrew won the International Horn Society's Tuckwell and Hawkins Awards. Also, during the convention, he placed second at the yearly Premier Soloist Competition. Finally, in 2017, Andrew won the scholarship competition of the Pro-Mozart Society of Atlanta, an all instrument competition. The winner studies in Salzburg at the Mozarteum.

Andrew is also passionate about teaching.  At GCSU, Andrew teaches both lessons and various classes, such as Music in Civilization. Current and former students have place first chair in the Georgia Allstate Symphonic Band, been accepted to and attended GHP, and attended NYO-USA at Carnegie Hall. Anyone is welcome to take privately from him. Information for this can be found above on the page entitled Lessons.

In addition to Horn, Andrew has played violin since the age of three. While more focused on horn recently, Andrew was a member of the EKU String Orchestra for six years and still performs a few times a year in both Kentucky and Georgia. Andrew graduated from EKU with a minor in violin performance, in addition to the horn performance degree.

His previous teachers have included: Marie-Luise Neunecker, Wolfgang Vladar, Johannes Hinterholzer, Jean Martin-Williams Mick Sehmann, Richard Deane, James Naigus, Hazel Dean Davis, Achim Reus, and Kevin Reid. Andrew's horn of choice is a Rauch (No. 127) and is highly proficient on both Wagner Tuba and Alto-Horn. He lives with his wife Ashley, a private piano teacher in Athens with their rescue dog, Stella.

Mr. Taylor studied with Harvey Shapiro at The Juilliard School from 1980-1985 where he earned a Bachelor and Master degree in music and was a recipient of the Eva Shapiro Memorial Scholarship. Before attending The Juilliard School he was a member of the Toledo Symphony and principal cellist of the Little Orchestra Society of Toledo. While in New York he served as principal cellist of the Juilliard Conductor's Orchestra, and was a member of the National Orchestra Association Orchestra. From 1987-1992 he was a member of the Savannah Symphony and also played with the North Carolina Symphony, Charleston Symphony and Jacksonville Symphony. He has been on the faculty of Valdosta State University since 1992 where he has served as the principal cellist of the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra, the cellist of the Azalea String Quartet, and the primary cello instructor.  He has appeared as a soloist with the Toledo Symphony, Little Orchestra Society of Toledo, Brevard Music Center Orchestra, Savannah Symphony, and the Valdosta Symphony. He performed the American premier of Johan de Meij's "Casanova" in 2001 and the world premier of Arthur Rodriguez "Elegy and Rondo" in 2009 with the VSU Wind Ensemble.

"He showed complete control of the music, playing with a smooth technique and a warm, rich tone."

-- The Toledo Blade

"The concerto's difficulties proved to be no obstacle to Mr. Taylor. He negotiated the double-stops and various other technical obstacles with disarming ease. The most impressive quality in his playing is the maturity of his musical insight." 

-- Savannah News-Press

In addition to his teaching duties at GCSU, Mr. Wucher the Fine Arts Consultant for the Baldwin County Schools. He held a similar position in Clarke County before coming to Baldwin County. He retired as the Coordinator of Music Education for the Fulton County School System in Atlanta, Georgia.  He is a resident of Milledgeville where he lives with his wife Susan and their two Collies, Skye and Laddie.  He has four children and eight grandchildren. 

He holds Bachelors and Masters of Music Education degrees from the University of Southern Mississippi and a Specialist degree in Educational Leadership with an emphasis in Curriculum from State University of West Georgia.  While employed with Fulton County, Mr. Wucher provided leadership for a staff of over two hundred music teachers in the areas of General Music, Choral Music, Instrumental Music and Music Therapy.  During his thirty-two years in Fulton County, he also served as an elementary, middle and high school band director, County Department Chair in Music Education, and Acting Executive Director of Secondary Curriculum.  Mr. Wucher supervised the system’s four Magnet Programs; Arts and Sciences, International Studies, Mathematics and Science and Visual and Performing Arts and was the Executive Director of the Fulton County Employees’ Charitable Fund, an organization that annually raises approximate a half million dollars to support charities and organizations in the metropolitan Atlanta area. 

 Under his leadership the Baldwin County Department of Music has named as one of the top 100 Communities for Music Education for eight consecutive years in a survey conducted by the National Association of Music Merchants Foundation.  While serving in Fulton and Clarke County, those school districts were also recognized for the same distinction. In addition, the Fulton County Music Program was recognized in by the President’s Council on the Arts and Humanities in a publication entitled Gaining The Arts Advantage: Lessons Learned From School Systems That Value Arts Education.

 Bands, Orchestras, and Choirs from the Fulton County Schools have performed at numerous state, regional, and national conferences. Groups have made invitational appearances at the Georgia Music Educators State Conference, Troy State University, University of Georgia, University of South Carolina, University of Southern Mississippi, Southern Divisional MENC, National MENC, and the Mid-West International Band and Orchestra Clinic.

 Mr. Wucher has published articles in journals including the Georgia Middle School Journal, The Georgia Music News, Georgia ASCD Reporter, Band and Orchestra Times, and the MENC Journal.  He has served as a lecturer and workshop leader for the Fulton County Staff Development Department, Georgia Staff Development Council, Georgia State Principals’ Institute, Georgia Department of Education Leadership Institute, and Clayton College and State University. He is a Certified Band Adjudicator for the Georgia Music Educators Association.  Mr. Wucher has performed, lectured and conducted on a local, regional and national level at conferences including the Georgia Music Educators Association In-Service Conference and the Mid-West International Band and Orchestra Clinic.

 During his career he has held several key leadership positions.  He is past president of the Georgia Coalition for Arts Education and the Georgia Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.  He served on the boards of the Atlanta Youth Jazz Orchestra, Georgia ASCD, Atlanta Symphony Education Committee, and Clayton College and State University Board of Visitors. He is past Government Relations Chair for the Georgia Music Educators Association, was a member of the Fulton County Schools Leadership Advisory Council, and was a certified Curriculum Auditor through Phi Delta Kappa. Presently, Mr. Wucher is Secretary for the Milledgeville Rotaary Club, Chair of the Baldwin County School Charitable Fund for Excellence, In addition to being the Retired Members Chair, and State Ethics and Responsibilities Chair for the Georgia Music Educators Association.

Mr. Wucher was selected as Georgia Music Educator of the Year in 1995, and The American Music Therapy Association’s Advocate of the Year in 2002.  In 2020, Mr. Wucher was the recipient of the Distinguished Career Award the Georgia Music Educators Association. for He holds membership in Phi Kappa Phi, Pi Kappa Lambda, Phi Beta Mu, Kappa Kappa Psi, and Phi Mu Alpha.

Tammie Burke has been the Office Coordinator for Creative Arts Therapies since 2015. She began her career in the Registrar’s Office in May of 2004 as coordinator of Office Services.

Erin Kelly is a board-certified music therapist serving as the Clinical Coordinator for the Music Therapy Clinic at Georgia College. She received her bachelor’s degree in music therapy with a minor in Spanish from Georgia College & State University, where she was named a Presser Scholar. She is anticipated to graduate with her Master of Music Therapy degree from Georgia College & State University in December of 2024. She completed her music therapy internship at Prisma Health in Columbia, South Carolina, working with pediatric and adult medical patients as well as adolescent and adult psychiatric patients.

Upon graduating with her bachelor’s degree, Erin returned to Georgia College to serve as a graduate assistant in its music therapy clinic, where she provides music therapy services to exceptional students in the Baldwin County School System. She has previously worked as a music therapist at Small Steps Music, L.L.C., where she worked with children and adults with intellectual disabilities and served as a music lesson instructor. Having studied voice as an undergraduate student, Erin enjoys singing in the choir at her local church, and in her free time, she enjoys songwriting, listening to podcasts, reading, and exercising.

Christina O'Steen has worked as a full time coordinator of office services since January 2012. Chris provides administrative support to the chair of the music Department. She also coordinates the everyday duties of the music office, this includes helping students and faculty with various issues. She has a degree from Georgia College (Bachelor of Business Administration/Management of Information Systems). She enjoys working in the Music Department.

Kate Phillips, a part-time office assistant since March 2016, works mostly with concert programs and publicity. She has two degrees from Georgia College—a Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance and a Master of Middle Grades Education. A retired school teacher, Kate is currently a church organist at Milledgeville First Presbyterian Church. She also enjoys her “retirement” job at Georgia College!

Professor Emeritus Richard Greene is a classical guitarist, composer and analytical musicologist. Dr. Greene received a Bachelor of Music in Guitar Performance degree from Loyola University in 1970, a Master of Fine Arts in Guitar Performance degree from Tulane University in 1976 and a PhD in Analytical Musicology from the University of Leeds in 1992. He is one of the world's leading authorities on the music of the English composer Gustav Holst, whose composition, "Jupiter" (from "The Planets") is a favorite of most bands and orchestras. Dr. Greene's books on Holst and music analysis are published world-wide. As a composer, Dr. Greene has been commissioned to write for many different media and styles, from opera to musical comedy, and from solo guitar to orchestral works. As a performer, he has been involved in solo and chamber recitals from coast to coast, and he has recorded a CD of his own compositions. Dr. Greene teaches courses in music history and literature, music theory, classical guitar and interdisciplinary studies.

Dr. Maureen Horgan taught for the Georgia College Music Department from 2002 to 2018.  Her classes included studio brass, brass ensembles, brass and string methods, aural skills, music and civilization, jazz history, and improvisation. With degrees from the New England Conservatory, Yale University School of Music, and SUNY Stony Brook, Maureen had a long career as a professional musician, performing in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Jordan Hall, and Boston Symphony Hall, and with renowned musicians including Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, Henry Mancini, Victor Borge, Jacki Byard, Phil Wilson, and Brian Wilson. She commissioned four works: for brass quintet (John Hennecken), trombone quartet (Perry Goldstein), trombone and digital media (Douglas O’Grady), and trombone, flute, and digital media (O’Grady). Her solo CD Moe’s Bit o’Blues is distributed internationally by the Centaur Label, and she also has recorded for other labels.  A Shires Trombone Artist, Dr. Horgan’s performing career included 33 years with the New Hampshire Music Festival, and performances with a wide range of ensembles including Monarch Brass, the Opera Company of Boston, the Boston Philharmonic, Nashua (NH) Symphony, and the Jazzabelles. She performed solo trombone at international festivals including the International Trombone Festival, the Eastern Trombone Workshop, and the International Women’s Brass Conference, and was a guest speaker/performer at numerous universities, including Yale University, Florida State, and the University of North Texas. Dr. Horgan’s teaching credits include Wheelock College, Plymouth State University (NH), public school experience in Massachusetts and Hawaii, and the New England Conservatory Preparatory School, where she taught trombone and brass chamber music for twenty years. She also taught and performed in Honduras, most recently in June 2009 where she was the featured soloist with the Banda de los Supremos Poderes de Honduras. Dr. Horgan is a Past President of the International Women’s Brass Conference, and is an avid backpacker, hiker, cyclist, and runner. 

Chesley Mercado came to Georgia College and State University in 2000 as an assistant professor, the second person to be hired into the Music Therapy Department at that time.  Because she had come from the working world of music therapy, she found time on her hands to develop a performance based music therapy program.  This set the stage for the rest of her 19 year journey with Georgia College and State University. She has served as both State vice president, and president of the Georgia Music Therapy Association, and sat on the state music therapy committee which pushed the Professional Georgia State Music Therapy License bill through the Georgia State Congress. She is the author of the text book The Natural Role of Music Therapist in Administration.

Dr. Tolbert received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Music Education from the University of Georgia in 1997, the Master of Education in Music Education from Georgia Southern University in 1986, and the Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Berry College in 1970. 
 
Dr. Tolbert has twenty years of experience as an instrumental music educator teaching in Polk, Glynn, McIntosh and Oconee County schools before coming to GC. Dr. Tolbert continues to be an active performer around the state as a professional percussionist with orchestras such as the Savannah Philharmonic Orchestra, Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, Macon Symphony Orchestra, and the Rome Symphony Orchestra.  She has performed with such artists as Ray Charles, Shirley Jones, Bernadette Peters, Benny Goodman and others. 
 
Honors include the Gene M. Simons Fellowship Award for musical and academic excellence given by the School of Music of the University of Georgia, Student Organization Advisor of the Year at Georgia College as the Sigma Alpha Iota women's music fraternity advisor and GC 2006-2007 Excellence in Teaching Award.  
 
Dr. Tolbert also served as the Music Education Coordinator, CNAfME Advisor and Web Master for the department. She has served as Chair of the College division of the Georgia Music Educators Association.  She is also the Webmaster for the NAfME: National Association for Music Education History Special Interest Research Group (HSRIG) and was recently elected as national chair of the HSRIG for 2014-2016. For a link to the History SRIG, click on hsrig.gcsu.edu.    

Dr. Tolbert retired as Professor Emeritus from Georgia College in 2014.