The Berkshire Music School, located at 30 Wendell Avenue in downtown Pittsfield, will be holding a free open house on Saturday, January 28, from 10 am to noon in the Taft Recital Hall (back building). The morning is designed for prospective students and parents to meet some BMS faculty members, visit the school, try out an instrument at the Instrument Petting Zoo, and view a children’s music class (11 am). Refreshments will be served.

The Berkshire Music School begins a new year of classes, workshops and ensembles for students of all ages in addition to a full range of private music instruction for various instruments or voice.  All sessions are taught by professional musicians and held at the School’s campus at 30 Wendell Avenue, downtown Pittsfield.  There is a $30 non-refundable registration fee for each student.

Music for Infants, Toddlers and Preschoolers classes, designed to increase children’s awareness of rhythm, ability to sing and move creatively to music, led by Tari Wheeler Roosa, begin on Saturday, January 28 and run every Saturday for 15 weeks.  Music for Infants and Toddlers, for children ages three months to two years, takes place from 10 am to 10:40 am; parent must attend all classes; tuition is $105.  Music for Preschoolers, for children ages two to four years, takes place from 10:45 am to 11:25 am; parent must attend all classes; tuition is $105.  Introduction to Suzuki takes place from 9 am to 9:45 am for children ages four through seven and is designed for those considering a Suzuki instrumental program; parents must attend all classes; tuition is $155.

Orchestra, led by Norman Thibodeau, begins Tuesday, February 7, from 5:15 pm to 6:45 pm, and runs every Tuesday for 10 weeks.  Community musicians are invited to join BMS students to perform expanded chamber repertoire.  Members of the Stockbridge Sinfonia are encouraged to attend and serve as section leaders. Open to anyone age 10 and older with intermediate to advanced skills on winds and strings. Tuition is $100 for non-BMS students, $60 for BMS students, and free for Sinfonia members.

The Adult Guitar Club, led by Karl Rausch, is designed to help adult beginners learn the guitar in a friendly group lesson. Minimum enrollment is three students. Tuition is $125. Guitars are available to rent if needed.

Cabaret Workshops for Adults, led by Sherri James Buxton, begin on Monday, February 27 and run for 8 weeks. Students are coached on phrasing, style, technique, stage presence and performance, as well as learning how to choose appropriate music and keys. Two levels are offered, one at 6 pm and one at 8 pm, and students will be placed by experience and /or a vocal audition.  Public performances are given at the end of the eight week session.  Bob Shepherd is the accompanist.  Tuition is $280.

In addition to classes and workshops, BMS offers chamber music training for young to advanced string quartets and flute ensembles.  For more information, call Berkshire Music School at 413-442-1411 or visit the website at berkshiremusicschool.org.  BMS is a 501-c-3 non-profit organization and has served the Berkshire region for over 70 years.

Berkshire Music School Alumni Garner National Recognition

Madalyn and Cicely Parnas, alumni of the Berkshire Music School, have recently received significant recognition of their music talents.  Cicely, cellist, age 18, was selected to be “Artist in Residence” on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today”, with daily performances and interviews with host Fred Child the week of December 5-9.  Madalyn, violinist, age 20, has just won a Marshall Scholarship, which will pay all of her costs to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London next year while she completes her Masters degree in one year.  Madalyn studied violin at the Berkshire Music School with Laura Donovan and Cicely studied cello with Erica Pickhardt.  Both Madalyn and Cicely were the youngest top place winners of BMS’s Merit Scholarship competition at age 9, and remain the youngest winners.

Madalyn joins the elite group of American Marshall Scholars following her selection for this very competitive award. The Marshall Scholarship covers the cost of graduate study and living at a British university of the recipient’s choice. The Marshall Scholarships were established in 1953 as a British gesture to the US for the assistance received after WWII under the Marshall Plan. Financed by the British government, the prestigious scholarships are awarded to American students who have demonstrated academic excellence and leadership potential. Up to 40 are selected each year. Madalyn will attend the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she will study with world renowned violinist and pedagogue György Pauk.

Cicely was invited to be an inaugural performer on a new Performance Today series called “Young Artists in Residence.” There were five radio segments broadcast daily beginning Monday, December 5th, and ended Friday, December 9th. Cicely was featured performing and interviewed by Fred Child each day.

Madalyn is presently completing an Artist Diploma with Jaime Laredo at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.  A former student of James Buswell, Ms. Parnas graduated summa cum laude with concentrations in Music and French from The College of Saint Rose. Madalyn performs on a 1715 Alessandro Gagliano violin and is the granddaughter of legendary cellist Leslie Parnas.

Born in 1993, cellist Cicely Parnas is one of the finest young artists performing today. A unique presence on the concert stage, she is recognized for her highly individualized sound, exquisite tone, and spontaneous creativity fueled by an affable fearlessness. Cicely’s cello studies began at age four, and she made her orchestral debut at nine. Since then Cicely has performed over thirty times as guest soloist with orchestras, including the New York String Orchestra conducted by master musician and conductor, Jaime Laredo, and David Alan Miller’s Albany Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Parnas has claimed her seventh 1st prize in soloist competitions winning the 2011 Cello Concerto Competition at the Jacobs School of Music.

Cicely is a full-tuition scholarship recipient in the prestigious Artist Diploma Program at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music studying with cellist Sharon Robinson. She is the granddaughter of world-class cellist Leslie Parnas, and a former student of cellist Peter Wiley. Ms. Parnas performs on a 1712 Giovanni Grancino violoncello.

For more information about the Parnas sisters, visit their website at www.parnasmusic.com.

Bonnie McCubbin holds both a Bachelor and Master of Music in Violin and Vocal Performance. She has over 20 years of experience of public and private music instruction and has numerous performance credits on both violin and voice.  Ms. McCubbin is also a Kripalu certified Yoga and YogaDance teacher.  She has taught students from age two to 82 years.

Paul de Jong holds a Performance Certificate in cello from the Manhattan School of Music and has taken Doctoral courses at the University of Illinois.  A native of the Netherlands, Paul began his own cello studies at age five. He is a successful concert and recording artist, composer, university lecturer and founding member of “The Books”.  He has an active private teaching studio of students, beginners to advanced, of all ages.

Paul Green began the clarinet at age 8 and at age 13 was recommended to Leonard Bernstein by Stanley Drucker, the first clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic, to perform and record Saint-Saens’ “Carnival of the Animals”. Paul earned a BA in Theory and Composition from Yale, with continued studies at Juilliard, and a Master in Jazz Performance at Florida International University. Paul is founder of Klezmer East and active in the Berkshire Klezmer scene, and is currently the Principal Clarinetist with the Florida Grand Opera Orchestra.

Emily Duff earned a BA in Jazz Studies at Westfield State University.  She has a very active performing career and was voted “Best Soloist” at the Villanova Jazz Festival.  Emily has a full private studio and combines her performance teaching with ear training, transcription, composition, philosophy and theory.

New Trustees joining the BMS board in September are Laura Rosenthal and Camp Gordinier. Laura is an actuary with Berkshire Life, with degrees in mathematics from Mount Holyoke and Virginia Tech.  She is a Fellow in the Society of Actuaries. Laura is on the Board of Knesset Israel and has been an active participant with the BMS Adult Cabaret Workshop. She is also a cellist as well as choral singer.  H. Camp Gordinier (Camp) earned a BA from Brown University and served as a Russian linguist with the US Army for four years after college. He earned a M.Div (cum laude) from the Episcopal Divinity School in 1970 and served parishes until 1994, at which point he took up teaching in public schools. Camp takes jazz piano at BMS with Dave Bartley.

Returning Trustees are Ken Green, Sarah Novak, Paul Sundberg and James Wojtaszek. The Berkshire Music School is in its 70^th year of providing music education to the greater community as a 501-c-3 nonprofit organization.  It is located at 30 Wendell Avenue, downtown Pittsfield and its Executive Director is Tracy Wilson

On several occasions she was piano soloist with the former Pittsfield Symphony Orchestra and she was an incorporator of the Berkshire Symphonic Festival (now Tanglewood). But the effort most dear to Mrs. Crane was the founding of the Pittsfield Community Music School (now the Berkshire Music School). It is no mere coincidence that BMS was established at the same time as the Tanglewood Music Center (Tanglewood’s summer training institute).

As the School completes over sixty-five years of existence, we continue our mission of providing quality education in music, and musical opportunities to people in the greater Berkshire community, regardless of race, sex, religion, ethnic origin, age, or disability. We honor our founder’s legacy by continuing to grow and prosper, while turning no one away on account of inability to pay. Berkshire Music School is a member of the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts. The School is an equal opportunity employer and is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.

History of BMS

The Pittsfield Community Music School opened its doors to 40 students in 1940, thanks to the philanthropy of Winnie Davis Long Crane. While the name evolved into the more inclusive Berkshire Music School in 2002, the original mission remains steadfast: “…to provide quality education in music and musical opportunities to people in the greater Berkshire community regardless of race, religion, ethnic origin, disability, age, or ability to pay.”

The School moved to its 1870 historic Pittsfield home in 1943. A carriage barn on this Wendell Avenue property was restored in 1996 to create a 90-seat recital hall and additional teaching studios. Mrs. Crane guided and served the Music School for 37 years. She and her husband, Bruce Crane, faithfully filled the annual gap between tuition income and operating expenses. Upon her death, Mrs. Crane generously bequeathed an endowment which continues to support the vision of the School today. Proceeds of this endowment do not meet the needs of BMS in 2008, nor did it provide for any depreciation and capital needs.

BMS Board of Trustees 2011-2012

• Anne Marcure,
  President
• Lyndon Moors,
  Vice President
• Vickie Hornstein,
  Secretary
• H. Camp Gordinier
• Ken Green
• Sarah Novak
• Laura Rosenthal
• Paul Sundberg
• James Wojtaszek
• Tracy Wilson, Executive Director

BMS Profile

• Berkshire Music School, a private, non-profit organization founded in 1940
• 450+ students taking weekly private lessons and chamber coachings over a 34-week school year.
• 10 summer camps for young people ages 6-18.
• 40 faculty members, 50% with Masters Degrees.
• Facilities open 60 hours a week for lessons and coaching, making BMS one of the busiest cultural facilities in downtown Pittsfield, includes 14 teaching studios and 90 seat recital hall.
• 12% of student body receives financial aid, work study or merit scholarships. No one is turned down for music lessons due to inability to pay. Annual Music Marathon supports financial aid and merit scholarships. $22,000 distributed last year.
• BMS alumni are attending Hartt School of Music, Juilliard, Eastman School of Music, New England Conservatory, Boston and Oberlin Conservatories. Twenty-four BMS students recently won positions in the Western Districts music competition, and 6 have recommendations to All-State.
• BMS boasts more than a 90% retention rate. 7 new instructors were hired in 2007 to accommodate growth.
• Off-site performances include events for the Berkshire Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club of Pittsfield, Goodwill Industries, United Cerebral Palsy, Tanglewood, OLLI, Berkshire Visitors Bureau and nearly every assisted-living/senior center in Berkshire County.
• Grants awarded by Legacy Bank Foundation, Greylock Federal Credit Union, Berkshire Bank Foundation, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, Rotary Club of Pittsfield, United Way of Pittsfield and a number of other local cultural councils.
• BMS is an anchor in the Berkshire Creative Economy and an active member of Berkshire Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Inc. and Berkshire Visitors Bureau.
• Staff of 3 full-time and 3 part time, 10 member Governing Board, 15 member Advisory Board.

Berkshire Music School Mission Statement

The mission of the Berkshire Music School is to provide quality education in music and musical opportunities to people in the greater Berkshire community regardless of race, religion, ethnic origin, disability, age, or ability to pay. We are an independent, nonprofit organization. Full tuition covers only 55 percent of actual expenses. The rest comes from the community: local corporations and small businesses, board members, alumni, parents of students, and our students themselves, who raise scholarship money for others in the annual Marathon.

• Education: BFA Piano Performance, SUNY Buffalo
• Experience/Affiliations: Created the music department at The Academy at Swift River in Cummington; composer and musician for the Washington Performing Arts Society
• Special Interests: Active performer as a soloist, and in jazz ensembles throughout Western Massachusetts

DAVE BROWN, guitar

• Education: BA Jazz Performance, U-Mass, Amherst
• Experience/Affiliations:Showband musician with cruise line
• Special Interests: Active performer with a number of local bands and theatre productions

JACK BROWN, voice

• Education: BM, College of Wooster
• Experience/Affiliations: Faculty, The Hotchkiss School; Choir Director, Simons Rock and MCLA; Artistic Director Berkshire Lyric Theatre
• Special Interests: Bass-baritone soloist throughout the northeast and Canada

SHERRI JAMES BUXTON, voice

• Education: M.Ed, Cambridge College; BME, Indiana University
• Experience/Affiliations: Public school teacher; appeared on Broadway
• Special Interests: Professional cabaret singer

CAROLINA CARRY, choir

• Education: MA Music Composition, City University of New York; BM, Boston College
• Experience/Affiliations: Co-founder of D’Arte a Musica; worked in theater and national television
• Special Interests: Cantilena Chamber Choir; Saratoga Choral Festival; Organization of American Kodaly Educators

BILL CHAPMAN, Jazz Ensemble

• Education: MEd, BM, Westfield State College; studies with Billy Martin of Medeski, Martin and Wood
• Experience/Affiliations: Adjunct faculty, MCLA; endorses Noble & Cooley, Vic Firth Drumsticks
• Special Interests: Performs with Empire Brass, Charles Neville, John Medeski and other northeast groups

BETH CRAIG, cello

• Education: BS Performance, Mannes College of Music; MM Performance, Kent State University; major teachers-Claus Adam, Yehuda Hanani
• Experience/Affiliations: Teaching cello at Miss Hall’s, Indian Mountain School, Rudolph Steiner School, Hawthorne Valley School. Previously cellist with orchestras in Brazil, Ohio, and Pennsylvania
• Special Interests: Performer, composer for theater productions and small groups with jazz and improvisation focus.

OTHA DAY, drumming

• Education: MM Piano Performance, Piano Pedagogy, Music Education, Eastern Illinois University; private studies in African, Caribbeab and Japanese drumming.
• Experience/Affiliations: Adjuct faculty, Williams College; leads drumming workshops for corporations and groups; operates individual and group piano studios.
• Special Interests: Solo performer specializing in classical piano music of Black composers

PAUL DEJONG, cello

• DMA, Univ. Illinois. 
• Active concert and recording artist.
• Founding member of “The Books”.

EMILY DUFF, saxophone

• BA, Jazz Studies. Westfield State Univ. 
• Award winning jazz soloist, active performer.

OUISA FOHRHALTZ, violin, viola

• Education: MM, U-Mass, Amherst
• Experience/Affiliations: Suzuki instructor; violinist with Albany and Berkshire Symphonies
• Special Interests: violinist with Vivante Trio

JUDITH GRAY, voice

• Education: MM Voice Performance, University of Michigan
• Experience/Affiliations: Adjunct faculty at Smith College and The Berkshire School
• Special Interests: International soprano soloist performing oratorio, recital and orchestral works

PAUL GREEN, clarinet

• MM, Clarinet performance, Juilliard;
• Founder of Klezmer East and Berkshire Jewish Music Festival.
• Current Principal Clarinet of Florida Grand Opera.

DAVID GROVER, guitar, song writing

• Experience/Affiliations: Founder of the National Children’s Music Project; award winning singer/song writer with Emmy and Grammy nominations; performed at the White House; toured nationally with Arlo Guthrie; created several family music recording and videos
• Special Interests: David Grover and the Big Bear Band, performs regularly throughout the region

SUSAN HADFIELD, piano

• Education: MM Performance, N.E. Conservatory; BA, Mt. Holyoke College; performance certificate, Kodaly Institute
• Experience/Affiliations: Taught at Milton Academy and other private schools; member New England Piano Teachers Assn.
• Special Interests: Choral, & instrumental accompanist; adult students

RAHIMA HOHLSTEIN, piano

• Education:DMA Piano and Theory, University of North Carolina; MM, The Boston Conservatory
• Experience/Affiliations: Taught music at The College of St. Rose, and University of North Carolina; College Music Society member and lecturer
• Special Interests: Soloist and ensemble performer

YELENA LEVINA, piano

• Education: USSR state certified, Nizhney Novgorod Pedagogical University and Music College
• Experience/Affiliations: Piano teacher Nizhney Novgorod, Bennington Music School, and Pittsfield High School
• Special Interests: Accompanist, private lessons in piano and theory

BING LIU, viola, violin

• Education: MA Viola Performance, Boston University; Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing
• Experience/Affiliations: Member of Suzuki Association of America
• Special Interests: International soloist and orchestral performer; member of Berkshire Trio

CHARLES MARSHALL, piano

• Education: BS, Music Education with Piano Concentration, Gordon College; graduate courses, Music Education, (Orff & Kodaly) Westminster Choir College
• Experience/Affiliations: Interim Choir Director/Organist First Congregational Church, Dalton; Founder, Director & Instructor of Marshall Arts Academy of Music; music instructor grades Pre-K-12
• Special Interests: Marshall Arts Entertainment

KATHLEEN MCDONALD, voice

• Education: MFA Vocal Performance, University of California
• Experience/Affiliations: Faculty member of Berkshire Community College and Windsor School of Music
• Special Interests: Performer and instructor in solo, opera and musical theatre

CHRISTINE MORTENSEN, French horn

• Education: MM Performance, UMass, Amherst; BME, Oberlin Conservatory
• Experience/Affiliations: Teacher at Northampton Community Music Center and Greenwood Music Camp
• Special Interests: Active performer; member of Berkshire Brass Quintet, principal horn of Connecticut River Valley Orchestra, and Da Camera Singers

JOANNE NELSON-UNCZUR, oboe

• Education: MM Performance, Cincinnati Conservatory; BME, Ithaca College
• Experience/Affiliations: Music teacher, public schools
• Special Interests: Active performer

ART NIEDECK, percussion

• Education: BM, Juilliard School of Music
• Experience/Affiliations: Percussion teacher, public schools
• Special Interests: Pittsfield City Jazz Board Member

CHRISTINE NOBLE-DROSEHN, voice

• Education: BA Vocal and Theatre Performance, Franklin Pierce College, NH
• Experience/Affiliations: Choral Director, Darrow School; repertoire performer, Hancock Shaker Village
• Special Interests: Active soloist; church choir

CHRIS OBERFIELD, piano

• Education: MEd, Westfield State College; BS, Indiana University of PA
• Experience/Affiliations: Retired music teacher, public schools; “Piano Kids” instructor; choir director, organist, soloist and accompanist for several churches
• Special Interests: Serves as organist, First Baptist Church, Pittsfield

CINDY OGULNICK, violin, viola

• Education: BME, Performance, SUNY Potsdam
• Experience/Affiliations: Teacher, public schools
• Special Interests: Member of Berkshire Symphony and Rosamund String Trio

ZAFER PONTER, bassoon, recorder

• Education: BA, Rowan University
• Experience/Affiliations: Principal bassoon with Sage City Symphony; member of Bennington Trio, Gramercy Quintet, and Taconic Consort
• Special Interests: Active freelance performer with area ensembles

SHARON POWERS, flute, recorder

• Education: BM Flute and Composition, Juilliard and Manhattan School of Music
• Experience/Affiliations: Flute instructor and orchestra director regionally and abroad in France and Bangkok
• Special Interests: Soloing with national orchestras

KARL RAUSCH, guitar

• Education: BM, Berklee College of Music
• Special Interests: Active recording artist and performer

AMY RENAK, piano

• Education: BA, Mary Washington College; graduate studies, Hartt School of Music, University of Hartford
• Experience/Affiliations: Faculty of BCC; Director of Music, Zion Evangelical Church
• Special Interests: Active performer and accompanist.; choir director and organist

TARI WHEELER ROOSA, flute, recorder, programs for young children

• Education: MME, University of Colorado; BM, University of Lowell; Suzuki and Early Childhood training
• Experience/Affiliations: Music instructor in MA, VT, and CO public schools; assistant conductor of the Eagles Band
• Special Interests: Active performer; flutist for Berkshire Children’s Chorus; Jovia Trio

HARRIET ROTHSTEIN, piano

• Education: MM, Temple University
• Experience/Affiliations: Taught piano for more than 25 years
• Special Interests: Professional collaborative pianist

DOUG SCHMOLZE, classical guitar, composition, voice

• Education: Studies at Berklee School of Music
• Experience/Affiliations: Certified Music Practitioner in the Music for Healing and Transition Program
• Special Interests: Soloist tenor and church choir member. Has performed with Berkshire Choral Festival, Berkshire Opera, Cantilena Chamber Choir and Crescendo Chorus of Lime Rock CT.

BOB SHEPHERD, Piano accompanist for Adult Cabaret

• Education: Master’s degree, MCLA
• Experience/Affiliations: Longtime professional jazz pianist in many New England groups, bass studies with Percy Heath
• Special Interests: Owner, Otis Manor Studios, voiceovers, multitrack recording and MIDI arranging 

ALICE SPATZ, double bass, mand0lin, theory / composition

• Education: MFA Composition, Bennington College; BA, New School for Social Research
• Experience/Affiliations: Published composer; co-author of a series of bass pedagogy books
• Special Interests: Active performer with the folk group “Wintergreen” ensemble; published composer

JEAN STACKHOUSE, piano

• Education: MM, University of Oklahoma; BM, De Pauw University
• Experience/Affiliations: Former faculty member of New England Conservatory and Westminster Choir College; founder of Piano Performance Seminars
• Special Interests: Active performer; contributor to “Keyboard Companion”

TRISTAN SULLIVAN, percussion, music therapy

• BA Music, Westfield State College.
• Public & private school experience with students with cognitive disabilities.

PAUL SUNDBERG, trumpet

• Education: BM, Oberlin Conservancy of Music
• Experience/Affiliations: Former Williams College trumpet instructor, brass ensemble director
• Special Interests: Founding member, Berkshire Brass Quintet;

PETE SWEENEY, percussion

• Education: Drummer’s Collective, NYC; studies with Joe Morello
• Experience/Affiliations: Faculty member of National Guitar Workshop and the Vic Firth Education Program author of “The Complete Drumset Method”
• Special interests: Jazz trio leader; member of Latin/Jazz group “Sensemaya”

NORMAN THIBODEAU, flute, orchestra

• Education: MM Flute and History of Music, Peabody Conservatory
• Experience/Affiliations: Served as assistant principal flute of the Orquest Sinfonica del Estado de Mexico
• Special Interests: Active conductor and composer

KRISTEN TUTTMAN, piano

• Education: BM, Vassar College; Hartt School of Music
• Experience/Affiliations: Instructor at Syracuse University, SUNY New Paltz, and Hartt School of Music
• Special Interests: Performer with Albany Symphony Orchestra and Eribeth Chamber Players

DAVID WAMPLER, trombone

• Education: MM, University of Nebraska
• Experience/Affiliations: Faculty member of College of St. Rose and Simon’s Rock
• Special Interests: Professional musician

ERIN M. WHITE, advanced clarinet

• Education: BME, Hartt School of Music, University of Hartford
• Experience/Affiliations: Teacher at Lee High School; taught band, choir, history and theory
• Special Interests: 1st Clarinet with Hartt Symphony Band