Faculty and Staff Biographies
Christine Allison, Violin. B.M., Cleveland Institute of Music. Christine Allison began playing the violin at age 4. Since then her musical studies have taken her all over the US and Europe. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music where she studied with Stephen Majeske. She won a fellowship to play with the Chicago Civic Orchestra which led to a performance in Carnegie Hall. She received a Masters of Music degree from the DePaul School of Music where she studied with Joseph Genualdi and the Chicago String Quartet. Miss Allison has held positions including concertmaster of Mansfield Symphony, principal second violin of the Chicago Civic Chamber Orchestra, associate principal of the Crested Butte Music Festival. She has also played with the Colorado Music Festival, the Ravinia Festival Orchestra, and the AIMS Festival in Graz, Austria. Christine has been playing and teaching in the Hampton Roads area for 6 years since she began playing with the Virginia Symphony. In addition to the Norfolk Academy of Music, Christine is also on faculty of the Governor’s School for the Arts. Her solo work has been broadcast on WHRO.
Jena Chenkin, Park View Strings. B.A., University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Ms. Chenkin’s teachers include Gerry Horner, a member of the Fine Arts Quartet. Ms. Chenkin has been a member of numerous orchestras, including the Milwaukee, Waukesha, Racine, and Green Bay Symphony Orchestras. She has appeared as soloist with the Racine and UW-Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Chenkin served as director for the Williamsburg Junior Orchestra Camp and is a member of the American String Teachers Association. She also teaches at the Governor’s Magnet School for the Arts.
Rachel Ruth Crumbly, Piano. M.M., University of Michigan; B.M., Wheaton College. Mrs. Crumbly's teachers include Daniel Paul Horn, Louis Nagel, Joanne Smith, and Kelley Benson. While a student, she was awarded the William Phemister prize in piano and the Joanne A. Smith prize in Piano Pedagogy. Mrs. Crumbly was a full-time lecturer in the pedagogy department at the University of MIchigan, where she began her
teaching career. She has performed extensively as both soloist and collaborator, and has worked locally with other soloists and groups such as the Virginia Chorale and Virginia Symphony Chorus. While continuing to thoroughly enjoy teaching and performing, Mrs. Crumbly truly adores her main "gig" as stay-at-home mom to her daughter, Eden.
Amy Davis, Viola & Violin. M.M., the Peabody Conservatory; B.M., Bowling Green State University. Ms. Davis is currently a member of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. She is a former teaching assistant at the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Arts and was the recipient of a Talented Students in the Arts Mentor Fellowship at the Aspen Music Festival and School. Ms. Davis has performed and studied at the International Musician's Seminar in Prussia Cove, England and with the Jerusalem International Symphony and the National Repertory Orchestra.
Charlene Dimalanta Dismaya, Piano, B.M., Virginia Commonwealth University, Mrs. Dismaya’s teachers include Landon Bilyeu and Elizabeth Sjolund and pedagogy with Stephen Kolb and Melissa Marrion. Mrs. Dismaya has been awarded the Paderewski Medal, the GPA Award for the Office of Student Minority Affairs and has been featured in Who’s Who Among America’s Colleges and Universities. In Richmond, Mrs. Dismaya participated in Commonwealth Singers , Filipino Americans Coming Together and she served as the student representative for VCU’s Faculty Search Committee . Mrs. Dismaya has also taught private piano and group music classes (for pre-school & elementary) at The Courthouse Montessori School in Virginia Beach, The Virginia Beach Music Academy and A-Major Music (in Richmond). Mrs. Dismaya has performed in a master class with Andre-Michel Schub and performs as the pianist for The Chrysler Museum’s Annual Holiday Festival. She is an active accompanist and is the pianist for First Church of Christ Science Church.
John S. Dixon, Executive Director. M.B.A., Harvard Business School; M.A., Oxford University. Prior to joining The Academy, Mr. Dixon pursued a 20-year career in international business. He is organist and composer-in-residence at Providence Presbyterian Church in Kempsville and his music is frequently used in churches throughout Hampton Roads. His compositions also have been performed by many of the Academy’s faculty and members of the Virginia Chorale and the Virginia Symphony. Mr. Dixon is an experienced adjudicator, clinician and active member of the Tidewater Chapter of The American Guild of Organists. Occasionally he can be heard broadcasting classical music on WHRO FM 90.3, the fine arts public radio station serving Hampton Roads.
Karen S. Dixon , Director of Development. M.B.A., Harvard Business School; B.S., University of Virginia; B.S., Wake Forest University. Mrs. Dixon has founded a business, worked in corporate banking in Pittsburgh and London and worked in the steel industry as an engineer. Prior to joining The Academy, she was an active volunteer in schools, church and with the Children’s Hospital of the Kings Daughters while raising two children. Mrs. Dixon enjoys singing in choirs and playing handbells and is an enthusiastic audience member at concerts throughout Hampton Roads.
Carol Thomas Downing, Violin, Sight Singing & Music Theory. M.A., University of St. Thomas; B.A., Towson University, Summa Cum Laude. An experienced singer, violinist, children’s choral director and an avid Celtic fiddler, Ms. Downing has trained young musicians from preschool through the university level. Her teachers include Ruth Drucker (voice) and Berl Senofsky (violin). She has served as faculty member and chairperson of the Musicianship Department at the Peabody Preparatory of the Johns Hopkins University, faculty member of the Walden School for Young Composers (Dublin, N.H.) and is a contributing author to The Walden School Musicianship Course: A Manual for Teachers, (2002). She is founder of the Peabody Children’s Chorus (Baltimore), and founder and artistic director of the Virginia Children’s Chorus. She is a frequent conductor and adjudicator for All-City & District Chorus events and a clinician for community Suzuki violin workshops. Ms. Downing is trained in the Suzuki and Kodaly methods. She is a member of the American Choral Directors Association, Chorus America, the Organization of Kodaly Educators, and the Suzuki Association of the Americas.
Galina Epelman, Piano. The Professional Music School, Petrogradsky District of Leningrad; B.M., Kirov Music College. Ms. Epelman has worked as a faculty member of the Petrogradsky District Music School, a private and group piano instructor and currently on the faculty of the Music Department of Old Dominion University. She has participated in masterclasses with distinguished affiliated artists at Leningrad State Conservatory. Ms. Epelman has been a member of National Performers Society, Young Concert Artists, Inc., and is currently a member of the Tidewater Music Teacher's Forum. Ms. Epelman is an active participant at TTMT and ODU sponsored piano competitions and scholarship auditions. Recently, four of her students won Glover Scholarships and four were finalists and 2 nd place winners at the ODU Classical Period Competitions.
Sarah Ford, Suzuki Violin & Summer Camps. M.M., University of Georgia; B.M., Ohio Wesleyan University. Mrs. Ford is the coordinator of The Academy’s Suzuki Violin Program. She has completed training through Book 3 with Martha Shackford, Honda Cole and Susan Kempler. Ms. Ford is the music teacher at Loch Meadow Kindergarten. She has taught Creative Music Classes, Musicianship and Girl Scout Badges and is a member of American Orff-Schulwerk Association and Suzuki Association of the Americas.
Kathleen Franz, Voice. Graduate Study, University of Iowa; B.A., Luther College. Ms. Franz’s teachers include Herald Stark, Norman Gulbrandsen and Robynne Redmon. Ms. Franz has been a soloist with the Virginia Symphony, Williamsburg Symphony, Norfolk Cantata Chorus, Schaumberg Symphony, and the Bach Society Choral of Minnesota. She has also performed with the Minnesota Opera, Virginia Opera, Rockefeller Chapel Choir, Norfolk Savoyards and was chosen to participate in a masterclass conducted by Marilyn Horne. Ms. Franz has sung with the Virginia Chorale, and has been a core member and soloist with the Virginia Symphony Chorus, with which she traveled to Europe as alto soloist. She is a co-founder of Virginia Art Song Society and serves as alto soloist at Ohef Sholom Temple.
Rebecca Gilmore, Cello. M.M., Rice University; B.M., Indiana University. Ms. Gilmore is currently a member of the Virginia Symphony. Her instructors include Janos Starker, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Norman Fischer, and Desmond Hoebig. She has performed in the National Repertory Orchestra, the National Orchestral Institute, Garth Newel Chamber Music Center, and the North Carolina School of the Arts’ International Music Program. Ms. Gilmore was Principal Cellist with the Greensboro Symphony and has performed with the Charlotte Symphony, Charlotte Repertory Orchestra, and recently performed Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with the Greensboro Symphony Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Gilmore has also performed in Colorado with the Breckenridge Music Institute as well as the Brevard Music Center.
Kirsty B. Green, Violin. Conservatoire Populaire of Geneva; B.M. and M.M., North Carolina School for the Arts. Ms. Green is a member of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra with whom she has performed for seven years. Born in Geneva, Switzerland, she graduated with honors from the Conservatoire Populaire and is a licentiate of the British Royal Schools of Music. Ms. Green is an active soloist, having appeared with orchestras in Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Switzerland, and the US. She has been featured on classical radio programs including the Vermont Public Radio and Radio Geneva and produced “The Violin Music of Arthur Foote” recording for New World Records. Ms. Green is a member of the Ghent Trio, and also serves as a faculty member at Virginia Wesleyan College, and Eastern Music Festival.
Scott Harris, String Bass. Manhattan School of Music; Georgia State University. Mr. Harris has been principal bassist with the Virginia Symphony since 1992. He has performed in a wide range of musical styles. He has performed with the Macon, Georgia Symphony; Atlanta Ballet Orchestra; and orchestras in Savannah, Charlotte, Jacksonville, and Charleston. Local engagements have included Virginia Symphony Mozart and More performances and recitals at Virginia Wesleyan and ODU. Mr. Harris has recorded the music of John Luther Adams and has appeared as soloist and chamber musician with the Virginia Arts Festival.
Karen A. Hoy, Voice. M.S., the Juilliard School; B.M., Temple University. Ms. Hoy has performed extensively in opera, oratorio and recital. Her major instructors were Ellen Faull, Estelle Liebling, and Eleanor Steber. She has won numerous national vocal competitions including first place in both the Liederkranz and Kosciusko Foundation's vocal competitions. Prominent conductors she has worked with include Gustave Meier, Anton Coppola and James Conlon. She also teaches voice, diction and art song at the Governor’s School for the Arts in Norfolk.
Art Song is an area of special interest for Ms. Hoy having co-founded the Virginia Art Song Society. She has presented numerous recitals including American Song Settings of the Poetry of Emily Dickinson, Sea Pictures, Metamorphoses Melodieuses and a Mother's Day Recital with her daughter. Ms. Hoy is President of the Virginia Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and has had many student competition winners at the state and regional levels.
Linda Hurwitz, Violin & Suzuki Violin. M.M., New England Conservatory. Ms. Hurwitz has been a member of the Virginia Symphony and the Virginia Opera Orchestras for 20 years. She participated in the Symphony's tours to Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. She has also performed with the Richmond (Virginia), Portland (Maine) and New Orleans (Louisiana) Symphonies, the Virginia Arts Festival, and the Broadway Tours at Chrysler Hall. She has served as a string teacher for the Norfolk and Virginia Beach City Public Schools, and currently holds a position with the Suffolk Public Schools. Ms. Hurwitz regularly coaches the violin sectionals of the Bay Youth Symphony and Concert Orchestras. She was selected for "Who’s Who in American Women" and "Who’s Who in America" for her talents and achievements as a teacher and performer. She is a member of the American Federation of Musicians and the Suzuki Association of the Americas.
Catherine Keresztesi-Stevens, Suzuki Violin. B.M., Eastern Michigan University. Ms. Keresztesi-Stevens received her Suzuki education with Hiroko Iratani Driver at the Blue Lake Suzuki Camp in Michigan. She co-authored a Suzuki reading method with Evelyn Avsharian, Mississippi Hot Dog Lonely Hamburger Band and Happy Hamburger Hoe-down. She is Montessori Preschool trained and is completing a master’s degree in early childhood education.
Bokyung Bonnie Kim, Flute. M.M., Professional Studies, Manhattan School of Music; 1 st Diploma, Conservatoire de St. Maur; 1 st Diploma, Conservatoire du 10em de Paris. Ms. Kim is a winner of the Young Artist Competition in France and Concours l’UFAM, Bellin and Nerini. She has served as a faculty member at the Manhattan School of Music, and Sam Yook University in Korea. Ms. Kim has performed numerous concerts in France, Korea and the US and has taught master classes in Korea and in the US. Her students have won numerous competitions at regional and national levels. Ms. Kim is on the faculty of Old Dominion University, Christopher Newport University, Tidewater Community College and Hartwick College Music Festival.
Stephen Kolb, Founder & Piano. M.M., Northwestern University; B.M., Wheaton College. Mr. Kolb served as The Academy of Music's Executive Director for its first decade, and is currently the Director of Development for Park Place Child Life Center, an urban ministry to children in Park Place. Mr. Kolb's teachers include David Kaiserman, Daniel Paul Horne, William Phemister, Reginald Gerig, Andor Kiszely and Maureen Hooper. He served as a member of the piano faculty at Wheaton College, where he also founded a children's music program. Mr. Kolb has appeared locally in numerous classical and jazz solo and accompanying roles and has recorded with the ACC Heritage Band (Langley), Swing Shift (jazz trio), and the Virginia Symphony. He holds certification in Orff-Schulwerk, (Levels I, II and III). Mr. Kolb has been recognized by the Cultural Alliance of Hampton Roads for contributions to the cultural life of the area. He is a past chairman of the Southern Region of the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts and past board president of Bay Youth Orchestras of Virginia. He lives in Norfolk with his wife, Virginia, and their two sons, Peter and Brendan.
Joshua Lessard, Guitar. M.M., Norfolk State University; B.M., Old Dominion University. Mr. Lessard is currently an adjunct music professor at Old Dominion University and orchestral director at Ruffner Academy. As an active composer, Mr. Lessard has worked with the Lafayette Trio, ODU Brass Quintet, ODU Madrigals, and the NSU Brass Quintet. He has served as a faculty member of the Governor’s School for the Arts and as an adjunct music professor at Norfolk State University. As an accompanist and a soloist, Mr. Lessard has performed for several recitals and special events.
Christine Mathews, Suzuki Piano. B.S., Eastern Nazarene College. Ms. Mathews received her Suzuki piano training from Patricia Pavlack and Dr. Haruko Kataoka and has taught this method for over twenty years. She studied choral conducting at Westminster Choir College and was a chorus member of Boston's Handel & Haydn Society. In addition, she has served as organist and music director for several churches.
Robert McDonald, Drums/Percussion. Virginia State University. Mr. McDonald has performed professionally for over 30 years. He has toured internationally, and has made TV and film appearances with actor/singer, Melba Moore. Mr. McDonald has opened for Freddie Hubbard, Stanley Turrentine, Roy Ayers, The Whispers, Hampton Jazz Festival, and others. He also served in the U.S. Army Band. Currently, Mr. McDonald performs throughout Hampton Roads as a jazz, pop, gospel, and rhythm and blues drummer.
Tracy McDonald, Suzuki Violin. M.M., Western Michigan University; B.M., The Cleveland Institute of Music; H.S., Interlochen Arts Academy. Ms. McDonald has taught violin for the past twelve years and maintained an active schedule as a freelance musician. She has performed with many professional ensembles including Virginia Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony, and Spoleto Festival Orchestra. Ms. McDonald has also worked as the strings teacher for Cape Henry Collegiate School in Virginia Beach. She is a former teaching assistant for Renata Knific and has studied with many distinguished teachers including: David Updegraff, David Cerone, Linda Cerone, and Catherine Tait.
Christina B. Morton, Park View Elementary Strings & Summer Camps. M.Ed., Old Dominion University; B.M.E., Northwestern University. Ms. Morton has been a member of the Virginia Symphony for over twenty years. She is well known in the Hampton Roads area as a Suzuki violin instructor. Ms. Morton has taught for “Twinklers to Sizzlers... Suzuki Violin” and Norfolk Public Schools (strings and harp). She also teaches at the Hebrew Academy of Tidewater and Home School Plus (at Ingleside Baptist). She conducts the Bay Youth Junior and String Orchestras, and serves as guest conductor for All-City orchestra programs throughout the Tidewater area.
Maiyah Olivas, Taiko(Japanese Folk Drumming). Creative Writing Certificate, Columbia University; B.A., University of Virginia. Ms. Olivas first drummed and danced with Charlottesville’s Chihamba West African Group, and then studied Taiko in Tokyo for 3 years with Kenny Endo and Kobayashi Seido. After returning to the US, she joined Soh Daiko, a professional-level Taiko group in Manhattan, performing with them for 5 years in venues such as Sesame Street and the Smithsonian Institute. She has taught at the North American Taiko Conference, the Collegiate Taiko Invitational and the Summer Taiko Institute. She is a third-degree black belt in Uechi Ryu Karate Do (which she taught at UVA) and has a private coaching practice specializing in stress release. Her work incorporates body/mind integration, feng shui, Reiki and Flower Essence Therapies.
Gayle Pritchard Pougher, Piano. M.M., Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University; B.M., Southern Methodist University. Ms. Pougher’s teachers include Louise Bianchi, Paul Van Katwijk, Alfred Mouledous, John Edward Price, and Walter Hautzig. She has taught piano for over thirty years in Dallas, Baltimore, Williamsburg, Richmond, and Chesapeake. Ms. Pougher currently teaches at Norfolk Academy and performs frequently at First Lutheran Church, Norfolk.
Joanne Robinson, Creative Music Classes & Summer Camps. B.M., University of Wisconsin, Madison; M.M., The Peabody Conservatory of Music of Johns Hopkins University. As a vocal soloist, Ms. Robinson has a wide performance history including a position with the Virginia Opera Company as a Spectrum Resident Artist. One of her responsibilities was to bring opera to elementary schools throughout Virginia. Ms. Robinson has had extensive experience working with young children and also teaches preschool Sunday school music at First Presbyterian Church of Norfolk. She also maintains a private voice studio and pursues her solo performance career.
Ann Elizabeth Scott, Registrar & Voice. Old Dominion University; Christopher Newport University. Ms. Scott is a very familiar face to local concert-goers. She has been a soloist with the Virginia Symphony and will be performing the Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem with the Symphony and the Virginia Symphony Chorus this fall. She will also join the Virginia Symphony Chorus as soloist for their European tour next summer. She was a member of the Virginia Chorale, Virginia’s only professional choral ensemble, for four seasons and often appeared as a soloist during her tenure with the Chorale. She has performed with the Virginia Opera and has been a guest soloist with many other local groups. Ms. Scott spent the 2005 summer at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, where she participated in master classes with internationally renowned singers Bo Skovhus and Gabriella Lechner. She was a finalist in the AIMS Meistersinger Competition and was coached and conducted by Edouardo Mûller for the final level of competition. Her primary teachers have been Anna Gabrieli, Robynne Redman and Dr. Tod Fitzpatrick. In addition to her work at The Academy, Ms. Scott is the soprano section leader and soloist at St. Paul's Episcopal Church and a member of the professional core of the Virginia Symphony Chorus.
Jennifer Snyder, Chamber Ensemble Program. M.M., the Juilliard School; B.M., Ohio State University. Ms. Snyder is currently in her fourth season as Assistant Principal violist with the Virginia Symphony. Ms. Snyder has performed with the Columbus Symphony, ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, New World Symphony, Norfolk Chamber Consort, Virginia Chamber Players, Venus Chamber Players and Manhattan Virtuosi. She has participated in music festivals in both the US and oversees. Ms. Snyder is a seven time scholarship winner of the American Symphony Orchestra League and grant recipient from the International Congress of Symphony and Orchestra Musicians. She was a Diehn Scholar, (NY) ASTA scholarship recipient and has also been honored as an Outstanding Young Woman of America. Ms. Snyder is an advisor to the Sphinx Organization, a Music scholarship assistance fund which aids in the mentoring and financial support of minority student musicians and was a member of the active West Side String Quartet which performed as mentors for inner city children. Currently, she also teaches viola at ODU.
Jean Thiel, Organ & Handbells. D.M.A., University of Missouri; American Guild of Organists, A.A.G.O.; M.M., University of Michigan; B.M., Lawrence University. Dr. Thiel has served as organist and choir director in churches throughout Hampton Roads.
Virginia Vail, Voice. B.M.E, Wheaton College. Ms. Vail is a classically trained soprano who performs locally in classical, cabaret, theater and jazz venues. She is also an actor and has worked for a variety of theaters, including a one-woman show at the 40th Street Stage singing from the Cole Porter songbook in the multi-media production, "Let's Do It." She has done solo cabaret shows of American popular song and jazz standards as well as a variety of musical theater productions and has been a soloist with the Virginia Symphony and the professional vocal ensemble the Virginia Chorale. She has been with the Chorale for eleven seasons; she has also been a soloist for eleven years with the choir of Trinity Episcopal Church in Portsmouth.
David Vonderheide, Trumpet. B.M., Northwestern University. Mr. Vonderheide has been Second Trumpet of the Virginia Symphony for over seven years. His principal teachers are Vincent Cichowicz and John Rommel. He also teaches trumpet at the College of William and Mary. Prior to moving to Virginia, David was a free-lance musician in Chicago, IL. He has performed with numerous festival orchestras in the US, Japan and Europe.
Dionne Wright , Cello & Chamber Music Program. M.M., Pennsylvania State University; B.M., Ohio University, Magna Cum Laude. Ms. Wright attended the Governor’s School for the Arts. She has performed in Bath, England, as principal cellist of the Dublin Music Festival in Ireland, and the Soesterberg International Music Festival in Holland. Also, she has performed with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, the Virginia Symphony, the Virginia Beach Symphony, and the River Cities Orchestra, as well as other regional orchestras and music festivals across the country. Recently, Ms. Wright performed as principle cellist of the Kennedy Center National Symphony Orchestra Summer Music Institute, where the world premier of her piece “Cello Quintonomy: A Piece for Five Cellos” was performed on the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage.
