Our Teaching Artists provide one-on-one instruction in our Musical Mentors Online and Musical Mentors Academy programs. We are fortunate to have on our roster some of the most accomplished young musicians and educators of our time. Our Teaching Artists have trained at prestigious music programs, performed with world-renowned musicians, and demonstrated a profound dedication to the craft of teaching.

Kinseli Baricuatro (Bass – Los Angeles, CA)

Kinseli Baricuatro is a session musician and producer based in Los Angeles, California. Originally hailing from Texas, this predominantly focused bass player has played with artists of all genres with a focus in R&B/Neo-Soul and Indie pop. She has been featured in She Shreds Media with an article titled Back to Bassics: A Guide to the Low End, an editorial focused on guiding beginner bass players through their journey on their new instrument. She is a two time nominee for the Austin Music Awards, Best Bassist, and has played in festivals such as Treefort Fest, Mala Luna, and SXSW.

Taylor Clay (Denver, CO)

Saxophone

Taylor Clay was born in Brooklyn, NY and began his music journey at the age of 13 under the guidance of his father and drummer, John Clay, and high-school band director. Taylor then went on to study at Crane School of Music in Potsdam, NY. During this time he studied with Christopher Creviston, Eric Alexander, and Lenny Pickett. After completing his degree in music performance in 2012, Taylor then moved to Greeley, Colorado to attend the University of Northern Colorado as a graduate student and teaching assistant. Here, Taylor studied under the guidance of Andy Dahlke and Jim White. Taylor currently lives in Denver, Colorado and is a busy freelance musician, and is a prominent figure in the jazz community.

Taylor Dupuis (Nashville, TN)

Voice

Taylor Dupuis is a singer, songwriter, and performer based in Nashville, TN. She began singing at the age of eight. Over the years she has been in and out of voice lessons and studied vocal performance at Columbia College Chicago.

Taylor has been active in the music industry for 10 years, writing songs, recording, and going on tour across the U.S. as the front woman for the rock band Roanoke. Her music has been featured in publications such as American Songwriter, No Depression, The Huffington Post, The Tennessean, and PopMatters.

Taylor is passionate about all things music, and is dedicated to bringing her expertise, enthusiasm, and passion to each lesson.

Joseph Engel (Denver, CO)

Cello

Joe Engel is a Denver based performer and educator with more than 20 years of experience with the cello. He is a member of the Fort Collins Symphony and Alternate Assistant Principal for the Billings Symphony in Montana. As a member of the rock band “Milquetoast & Co.”, and the Balinese performing arts group “Gamelan Tunas Mekar”, Joe draws on both classical, contemporary, and non-western music for inspiration. Joe has taught extensively throughout the Front Range as a private and group instructor.

Joe Etzine (Philadelphia, PA)

Guitar

Joe Etzine is a guitarist, producer, composer, and bandleader who has been performing and teaching in the New York tri state area for over a decade. Studying classical composition at Carnegie Mellon and Jazz at William Paterson, he draws from a wide range of musical experiences and influences. He has studied with older masters such as Mulgrew Miller, Bucky Pizzarelli, and Gene Bertoncini to new masters like Wayne Krantz and Charlie Hunter. As a teacher, he has worked with all ages of students both privately and in classrooms with an emphasis on play, improvisation, and self-expression. Most recently you will find him performing and producing video game music with artists like Patrick Bartley, Adam Neely and his friends in the NYC VGM scene.

Daryl Gott (Aurora, CO)

Saxophone

Daryl Gott began playing the saxophone in fifth grade and developed quickly. Gott studied at the City College of New York (earning a degree in jazz performance) and later earned a Master’s degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder. A fixture on the Denver music scene during the past decade, Gott teaches at the Colorado Conservatory for the Jazz Arts and has worked with Eric Gunnison, Danny Gottlieb, Ethan Iverson, Jon Gordon, Dick Oatts, Greg Gisbert and Sean Jones plus the top local musicians.

Jordan Grantonic (Boulder, CO)

Violin

An avid chamber musician, teacher, and advocate for diverse representation in the arts, Colorado violinist Jordan Grantonic merges these passions together through curated performances and her work as a Teaching Artist with El Sistema Colorado in Denver. Drawn to contemporary music especially, Jordan has performed in dozens of world premieres by composers such as Leilehua Lanzilotti, Curtis Stewart, and Yvette Young. Jordan is also the violinist of the Boulder Altitude Directive, a new music ensemble in Boulder, Colorado.

Jordan received her bachelor’s degree in violin performance and minor in English studies from Youngstown State University in 2019 where she studied with Dr. Joseph Kromholz, and her master’s degree from the University of Colorado under the guidance of Karòly Schranz formerly of the Takács Quartet. She is currently working towards an Artist Diploma at the University of Colorado with Prof. Alex Gonzalez. Outside of music, Jordan enjoys running up mountains, painting, baking bread, and bothering her two cats.

Gergana Haralampieva (New York, NY)

Violin

Gergana is a Bulgarian-American violinist who is a passionate chamber musician and educator. Born into a family of music teachers, Gergana began singing in her father’s children’s choir at the age of three and playing the violin at the age of six. Although she was born in Bulgaria, she spent her whole childhood living in the Czech Republic where her parents worked and in 2005 moved to Massachusetts after her dad won the Diversity Immigrant Visa lottery. After moving to Massachusetts, Gergana continued her violin studies at the New England Conservatory’s Preparatory School and later attended the Walnut Hill School for the Arts. Upon her graduation from the Walnut Hill School, she moved to Philadelphia to pursue her Bachelor’s Degree at the Curtis Institute of Music where she studied with Ida Kavafian and Pamela Frank. In 2016, she moved back to the Boston area to complete a Masters Degree from the New England Conservatory under the tutelage of Paul Biss and Miriam Fried.

Gergana is currently a member of Ensemble Connect at Carnegie Hall which is a two year fellowship for young professionals who want to expand their experience in teaching, community engagement, advocacy, entrepreneurship, and leadership. She is also the co-founder and co-director of Long Island Chamber Music (LICM). LICM presents engaging chamber music performances and community engagement events of the highest caliber that are specifically tailored to celebrating the history and culture of Long Island.

Alex Heffron (Brooklyn, NY)

Guitar

Alex Heffron is an accomplished guitarist based in Brooklyn, NY. His impressive resume includes performances with acclaimed artists Big Gigantic, Veronica Swift, Ernie Watts, The Colorado Symphony, Remy Le Boeuf, Adam Deitch, John Riley, Kenwood Denard, Pat Coil, Greg Gisbert, Art Lande, Tony Monaco, Matt Wilson, Melvin Butler, Howard Levy, Donald Harrison, and many others.

He is an active composer and is leading his own band which blends the tradition and the current trends in jazz. His music has been featured on stages all across the country, as well as at festivals like the 5 Points Jazz Festival, Telluride Jazz Festival, Evergreen Music Festival, Boulder Jazz and Arts Festival, and New West Fest.

Alex was also selected as one of 89.3 KUVO’s 30 musicians under 30 initiative, which highlighted young and upcoming musicians around the Denver area. He is also KUVO’s artist of the month for December of 2019.  He has been playing guitar since he was 9 years old and studied with the best in Denver and around the world.
He holds a BM from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Jeremy Jordan (East Stroudsburg, PA)

Piano

Critically acclaimed, “a clear technical virtuoso”, “a rare talent”, and “a true Wunderkind,” Chicago native Jeremy Ajani Jordan burst onto the music scene at age 9 playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in a live televised performance. Jordan was born into a musical family where his mother and father were his first instructors. They ensured that his burgeoning talent was nurtured by providing a strong foundation in classical training and also encouraged his study of improvised music and composition. Jordan went on to appear on the acclaimed radio program From The Top and From The Top: Live from Carnegie Hall performing Liszt. Since then Jordan has made his solo Carnegie Hall debut performing Chopin, Liszt, Schubert, and Wagner.

After winning the 2006 Steinway Concerto Competition playing the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 1, Jordan delivered acclaimed performances with the Ars Viva Symphony Orchestra and concerto performances and recordings with the Chicago Sinfonietta and the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. Following studies at The Juilliard School, Jordan received undergraduate and graduate degrees on the Van Cliburn and Irene Diamond scholarships. Acclaimed for his virtuosic deliveries of his Liszt/Horowitz, Wagner, and Saint-Saens transcriptions, Jordan has also performed to thunderous applause in appearances at the United Nations Arts Council, the American Liszt Society, Concertgebouw, Tokyo Opera City, Prague’s Rudolfinum, and Chicago’s Ravinia Festival. He has appeared as a chamber musician in tours throughout North America, Europe, and Japan.

Jordan continues to compose solo piano music, chamber music, orchestral music, and electronic music. His compositions have debuted on National Public Radio and have received world premieres at Seattle’s Emerald City Music Festival, New York’s National Sawdust, and Ireland’s Sounds From a Safe Harbour. His most recent album ‘For Flint’ featured several original jazz compositions and raised money to purchase clean water for families affected by the Flint Water Crisis.

Sarah Jylkka (Denver, CO)

Violin/Viola

Sarah Jylkka is a Detroit native living in Denver, Colorado. Sarah earned her Bachelor’s in Music Education from DePauw University in Indiana and holds a professional teacher’s license in the state of Colorado. She plays both violin and viola professionally in classical settings and electric violin in the Viking rock band, Nordic Daughter. Sarah Jylkka is the founder and director of a community music project called Intramural Musicians.

Sarah enjoys playing in music jams, performing with her fellow string musicians, hiking, biking, cooking, and going to comedy shows.

Ronald Long

Violin

American violinist Ronald Long spends most of the year performing with major UK ensembles including the Aurora Orchestra, Welsh National Opera, Chineke! Orchestra and Southbank Sinfonia to name a few. When he’s not performing on the stage, he has a love for working with Hollywood actors on how to play the violin, conduct and write music on the screen. Ronald has been heard in festivals throughout the world from the Ghent Festival, Edinburgh International Festival, Eastern Music Festival, Cambridge Music Festival, Wimbledon Music Festival, and London’s BBC Proms. 

Ronald graduated from the Manhattan School of Music studying with Pinchas Zukerman’s assistant Patinka Kopec and spent a year of Masters at the Paris Conservatoire studying with Boris and Daniel Garlitsky.

Ronald hopes to continue his career in chamber music, teaching and inspiring other young musicians. 

Alex Petti (New York, NY)

Guitar, Songwriting

Alex Petti is a Lebanese Irish-Catholic writer from Massachusetts who grew up as a pop punk rocker. Though his dreams of headlining Warped Tour have ended, the energy of the genre still infuses his music. His show, The Trouble With Dead Boyfriends (music and lyrics) was produced at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh (2016), won Best in Fest at Premiere Premieres! at MCL Chicago (2017), won Best Score at SheNYC at the Connelly Theater (2018), and was workshopped at Berklee School of Music in Boston (2019). Alex was commissioned by CPA Theatricals to write and record music for Girlhood: The Musical, which premiered at the Bravo Performing Arts Center (2019). He has been a host at a Musical Theater Factory Salon in March 2021 and was invited to showcase songs from his musical, Alex Petti and The Nervous Rex Present The Hometown Tour, at Musical Theater Factory in the 2021-2022 season. Alex also leads the New York based rock band ‘good thoughts’ who released their debut EP ‘For Hard Times/From Hard Times’ in October 2021.

Alex is a proud graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, a member of the BMI Advanced Musical Theater Workshop, and a proud Dad to his cat, Sonia.

Kaycie Satterfield (New York, NY)

Guitar, Bass

Kaycie Satterfield is an established singer-songwriter, guitarist, vocalist and bassist. Growing up in Austin, Texas, she cut her teeth performing festivals around Texas with several Western Swing outfits. She was involved in choir and rock bands from a very young age, and also competed in songwriting competitions in central Texas including Old Settler’s Music Festival. Kaycie attended Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, where she earned a Bachelor of Music in Commercial Music with a voice principle and an emphasis in composition and arranging. During her time at Belmont, she sang in Belmont Chamber Singers, a chamber vocal ensemble, and Jazzmin, Downbeat award-winning jazz vocal ensemble. She was also part of indie-rock group The Reckless Charms, whom were chosen for a live audition in Los Angeles for America’s Got Talent in 2015. Her senior year, she was chosen as one of four finalists in Belmont School of Music’s 25th Commercial Showcase. She taught at Southern Girls Rock and Roll Camp every summer. After graduation, she spent a season as the house guitarist at the world-famous Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Michigan. She then performed locally in Nashville, including as a house band member for She’s A Rebel: A Girl Group Tribute Show before moving to New York. There she began working as a singer-songwriter, performer, session and live musician for artists such as Madame Gandhi, as well as songwriter and music educator. She is currently working on her debut album.

Prawit Siriwat (Irvine, CA)

Rose Stoller (Beacon, NY)

Voice

Rose Stoller is an NYC-based multidisciplinary artist. She merges her influence of contemporary jazz, r&b, the Laurel Canyon folk rock scene, Brazilian music, and ambient soundscapes into a corner of her own. Rose has worked as an actor and collaborator in various theatrical productions, both with her co-created production company, Rascal Arts, and with a variety of other organizations nationwide. Recent involvement includes The Atlantic Center for the Arts (New Smyrna Beach, Florida) and The Puzzle Festival of New Works (NYC).

Colin Stranahan

Drums

Born In Denver, Colorado, and the son of a Jazz Educator, Colin Stranahan has always been surrounded by music. By his teenage years he was already actively working on the local Denver scene, and has recorded multiple records of Capri Records. After receiving the prestigious NFAA Presidential Scholar award in 2005 , he studied in California for one year as a Brubeck Institute Fellow. Shortly there after he attended the prestigious Monk Institute of Jazz. Stranahan was also one of the winners of the 2012 Thelonious Monk Drum Competition. Now living in Brooklyn, New York, Colin is among the most sought-after drummers in the world. working with such artist as Kurt Rosenwinkel, Jonathan Kreisberg, Fred Hersch, Terence Blanchard, Dave Kikoski, Kevin Hays, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and many others. He also now is part of a collective trio featuring some of the most talented and praised you musicians in New York City. Rick Rosato on bass and Glenn Zaleski on piano. Together they are the Stranahan/Zaleski/Rosato trio. They have recorded 2 albums that have been very successful and a third on the way which was recorded Live at Smalls which is scheduled to be released in 2015. Colin Stranahan currently holds teaching positions at a couple of different conservatories in Europe, where he teaches both private lessons, and ensemble teaching. Aarhus Royal Academy of Music, and London’s Royal Academy of Music. Colin also has started teaching at a few summer Jazz programs including The Brubeck Institute Summer Jazz Colony, and The Fara Sabina Summer Jazz school and Festival in Fara Sabina, Italy. Colin also has been giving drum master classes all over the world. Some of these recently have included, Oberlin Collage, New England Conservatory, International Jazz Conference in Thailand, and at the Singapore Esplanade Jazz Festival.

Claire-Frances Sullivan (New York, NY)

Voice

New York City based and rural Michigan bred, Claire-Frances is an actor, singer, musician, composer/lyricist, and playwright. She graduated from Central Michigan University with a BFA in Musical Theatre Performance. Claire-Frances has most recently performed in New York City with the Signature Theatre Company, TheaterLab, and in various cabaret settings.

Claire-Frances is an internationally produced and award-winning playwright with work produced by and/or developed at the Powerhouse Theater, Midland Center for the Arts, TACT studios, The Pulp Stage Theatre Company, Festival 56, and the Bread and Roses Theater. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Playwright’s Center of Minneapolis, and is a lyricist with the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. Claire-Frances’s original musical, Fostered Love, was the recipient of the Kennedy Center’s National Musical Theatre award through the Michael Kanin Playwriting Awards in 2018. Her work includes short plays, full-length plays, song cycles, and full-length musicals with original book, music, and lyrics.

Whatever the medium, Claire-Frances is dedicated to being a person and what that means when you get to make art with other people. You may have seen her at the Open Jar Institute for Musical Theater, at the Powerhouse Theater Training Company as a playwriting apprentice, or at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in residence as a playwright observer. When she’s not making things, Claire-Frances loves playing Stardew Valley, spoiling her two cats, and tending to her family of plants.

Maxim Tikhonov (Denver, CO)

TUBA
Maxim Tikhonov is a freelancer, educator, and tubist based in Denver, Colorado. He is a substitute tubist for the Colorado Springs Philharmonic and Longmont Symphony Orchestra. In addition to his classical performance experience, he has performed with a variety of non-classical artists, including Jamey Haddad, Luis Perdomo, Jonatha Brooke, Helio Alves, and Arun Ramamurthy.

He began his education on trombone in the 5th grade, switching to tuba in the sixth grade because his school band had no tubist. Starting his sophomore year of high school he began studying with Thomas Hornig of the California Symphony.

He received his undergraduate degree at Oberlin College and Conservatory, where he studied with Dennis Nulty of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and David Saltzman of the Toledo Symphony Orchestra.

Maxim is currently completing his Masters in Music Performance at the Lamont School of Music, where he studies with Stephen Dombrowski of the Colorado Symphony.

Anthony Trionfo (Flute, NYC)

Praised as a “breezily virtuosic flutist” by The New York Times, Anthony Trionfo has performed as a soloist with orchestras including the Grant Park Festival Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and Riverside Symphony. In recital, Anthony recently presented programs alongside pianist Albert Cano Smit for the Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota, Morgan Library & Museum, and Cosmos Club in Washington, DC. He is second flutist of ProMusica Chamber Orchestra in Ohio and frequently appears with the Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and Princeton Symphony.

Anthony is a founder of the Umoja Flute Institute, a non-profit dedicated to providing flutists of African descent with the tools needed to succeed and thrive at all levels of music-making. He serves on Aspen Music Festival and School’s Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA) Committee and has collaborated with the Sphinx Organization, DC Youth Orchestra Program, and Harmony Program. Anthony won first prize in the 2016 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions. He has presented masterclasses for Florida State University, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Ithaca College, and the Juilliard School.

Anthony will serve as instructor of flute for the Interlochen Arts Academy spring 2024 semester. He studied at the Colburn School with James Walker and the Interlochen Arts Academy as a student of Nancy Stagnitta.

Erica Tursi (Medford, NJ)

Violin

Erica Tursi is a classical violinist that enjoys performing, teaching, and spending time with her cat, Bentley. She has received top prizes at competitions in the United States and in Europe as a founding member of the Omer String Quartet, which include first prize in the Young Concert Artists International auditions, first prize at the Premio Paolo Borciani Competition in Italy, First prize at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and 2nd prize at the Trondheim International Competition in Norway. The quartet has been hailed by the New York Times as “glowing and vividly dramatic.”

Erica received a Masters of Music at The Juilliard School, a Bachelors of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music as well as Suzuki certification (books 1-10 and pre-twinkle), and a Graduate Diploma from The New England Conservatory of Music. She has held a private teaching studio for over 8 years, and she has experience teaching in the New England Conservatory Prep program as well as undergraduate chamber music students at Yale University and the University of Maryland. In addition to being a teacher at MMC, she is currently leading virtual masterclasses in the Harmony Program, based in NYC and teaches at the Bronx School for Music.  

Tamara Winston (Nashville, TN)

Oboe

Paraguayan/American oboist TAMARA BENITEZ WINSTON is the acting English Horn/Oboe of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra. As a recent alum of Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect, Tamara enjoys a busy orchestral career and performs regularly with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the New York City Ballet, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, and the Montclair Orchestra. She is a founding member of the NYC based woodwind quintet, ConnectFive.

As a teaching artist, Tamara is passionate about sharing music with a wide range of audiences and promoting inclusivity in arts education. As part of her Ensemble Connect fellowship, Tamara created and performed numerous interactive performances for communities throughout New York and abroad. She is on the oboe faculty at the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College.

This past summer, she performed at the Grand Teton Music Festival. During previous summers, she has attended Classical Tahoe, The Aspen Music Festival, the Spoleto Festival USA, National Symphony Orchestra Summer Institute, Brevard Music Center, and the Eastern Music Festival where she won the concerto competition performing the Kalliwoda Concertino.

Tamara holds a bachelor’s degree from The Juilliard School and a master’s degree from Mannes School of Music. She has studied with Nathan Hughes and Elaine Douvas. Other primary teachers include Richard Dallessio, Jelena Dirks, and Linda Strommen.

Carter Yasutake (New York, NY)

Trumpet

Carter Yasutake is a professional musician with over 15 years of experience as a performer. He attended the New School and studied with musicians such as Jimmy Owens, Cecil Bridgewater, Eddie Henderson, Bobby Sanabria, Billy Harper & Ahmed Abdullah. All of whom would be integral in shaping his musical and teaching philosophy.

Since moving to New York city in 2002, Carter has performed with such notable acts as Irving Street Repertory, LCD Soundsystem, Macklemore, David Byrne & St. Vincent. He is currently working with Brooklyn-based bands: Midnight Magic, Underground System, Living Language, and the Great Long Meadow Fire.

Sophia Zhou (Milbrook, NY)

Piano

New-York-based pianist Shuhui (Sophia) Zhou has been performing as a soloist and chamber musician internationally in the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Carnegie Weil Concert Hall, the National Sawdust in New York City, Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Shanghai Concert Hall, etc. She is the winner of the V BPA International Piano Award of Barcelona and completed a critically acclaimed concert tour across Spain.

As an avid collaborative musician, her recital partners include members of New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera House, HK Philharmonic Orchestra and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.

Sophia is passionate about music across genres and styles. She has recorded and premiered works by living composers such as Thomas ades, Benjamin Broeming, and Alexander Goehr.  She has worked extensively as a vocal pianist with Brooklyn Art Song Society, Mannes Opera, Bare Opera, Classical Lyrical Arts in Italy, to name a few. She was a fellow with Bach Institute in 2016, and performs with Emmanuel Music in Boston and Mannes Baroque Ensemble in New York City on harpsichord and chamber organ.

Born and raised in Shanghai, Sophia was offered full scholarship by Oberlin College as the first double-degree Bachelor student from China, majoring in Piano Performance and German literature.  She continued her studies in Vienna, Austria with Dr. Jan Jiracek von Arnim in University of Music and Performing Arts, as well as musicology with Dr. Morten Solvic, renowned Mahler scholar based in Vienna. Sophia frequently performs and further her studies in European summer festivals, working with renowned pianists and pedagogues from Germany, England, France, Italy and Spain.

Sophia is currently a graduate fellow in Bard Conservatory of Music, assisting the Graduate Vocal Program and serving as a secondary piano instructor. She has been on faculty staff in Wilton Music Studios in Wilton, CT and Hoff-Barthelson Music School in Scarsdale, NY. She enjoys working with students ranging from absolute beginner to young professionals, as well as whoever wants to explore the joy of music and the art of piano playing.

In her spare time, Sophia loves practicing yoga, listening to French chansons, programming new concert ideas, and working on a translation project of Jan Swafford’s Brahms biography from English to Chinese, to be published in 2025.