Music Faculty
Full-time Faculty: Frances M. Page • Kent Lyman • Anthony Vaglio, Jr. • Jim Waddelow • Ellen Williams
Adjunct Faculty: Lisbeth Carter • Janet Cherry • Carol Chung • Margaret Evans • Phyllis Garriss • Jimmy Gilmore • Virginia Ewing Hudson • Donna Jolly • Tom L. Lohr •W. David Lynch • DeMar Neal • Pam Nelson • Jim Smith • Ed Stephenson
School of Music Faculty:• Judy Dunson • Marta C. Findlay-Partridge • Margaret Garriss • Jessica Jenkins Davis • Pin Pin Jong • Tom L. Lohr • Nancy Riva-Palacio • Angela Stephenson
Accompanist: Tricia Strong
Frances M. Page is Head of the Department of Music at Meredith College, where she also serves as Coordinator of Music Education. She teaches methods courses for music education majors and also K–6 teacher licensure students, advises music education majors and directs and supervises student teaching. Page is a Past-President of the North Carolina Music Educators Association and Past Chair of the Arts Education Leadership Coalition (AELC). She is also Past President of Southern Division MENC: The National Association for Music Education and in that capacity served on the National Executive Board of MENC. In July of 2004, Page was named “Tar Heel of the Week” by the Raleigh News and Observer and in the spring of 2007, she was designated by the Capital City Girls Choir as an MENC Lowell Mason Fellow.
Dr. Page is the founder and conductor of the Capital City Girls Choir, a three-choir organization for community girls from ages nine to eighteen. The choir has a busy performance schedule both in the United States and abroad. Performance venues have included the Spoleto Festival, Washington National Cathedral, and venues in England, Austria and British Columbia. Recognized for her expertise as a children's choral specialist, she frequently conducts workshops and festivals. She also has done considerable work in the area of curriculum integration and arts curriculum planning and assessment and consults with schools in that capacity. Page frequently serves on teacher education program approval teams for the NC Department of Public Instruction.
Degrees Held: B.A. in music education, Limestone College; M.M. and Ed.D. in music education, UNC-Greensboro. Orff Levels I, II, and III certification.
Courses Taught: Meredith Chorale; methods courses for music education majors and K–6 teacher licensure students. As the Coordinator of Music Education, she advises music education majors and directs and supervises student teaching.
Contact: 104 Wainwright, (919) 760- 8575, PageF@meredith.edu
Audio clip: Listen to an audio clip of the Meredith College Chorale singing Randall Thompson's Alleluia
Kent Lyman is a Steinway Artist, and has distinguished himself as a soloist and chamber musician throughout much of the United States, in South Korea, China, and in Brazil. He has performed and/or lectured in many venues, including the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina, the National Conference of the Sonneck Society for American Music in Worcester, Massachusetts, the Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities in Honolulu, the Temple Square Concert Series in Salt Lake City, Utah, the Hollins Keyboard Festival in Roanoke, Virginia, and on concert series at Bemidji State University, the College of Charleston, Winthrop University, Francis Marion University, and Indiana University in Indiana, Pennsylvania. He has made a number of trips to South Korea where he has taught master classes and performed as a soloist at universities and schools throughout the country, including the capitol, Seoul. During a concert tour of Asia in the fall of 2007, he added China to his list of international venues, with concerts and master classes at conservatories of music in Shenyang and Guangzhou. He has toured Brazil, where he performed at the University of Campinas, and served as the opening concert artist and as a judge for the 22nd annual Paulo Giovanini National Piano Competition in Araçatuba, Brazil.
Dr. Lyman has appeared with a number of orchestras, including the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, the North Carolina Symphony, the Raleigh Civic Symphony, the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle (Raleigh, NC), the Broward Symphony Orchestra (Ft. Lauderdale, Florida) and the Florence Symphony Orchestra (South Carolina). As one of twelve nationally selected finalists, he has performed at the Chicago Symphony’s Ravinia Festival in master classes with Menahem Pressler, Leon Fleisher, and Misha Dichter. He has toured the East coast with the Piedmont Trio in performances of a program commemorating the centenary of the death of Clara Schumann. Mr. Lyman has recorded for the Centaur label, and can be heard on a CD performing chamber works of the late American composer Virgil Thomson.
Kent Lyman is currently Professor of Music and Coordinator of Piano Studies at Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina. He has served previously on the faculties of music at Coker College, Southwest Missouri State University and Western Kentucky University. A native of Utah, he received his bachelor's degree from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, and master's and doctoral degrees from Indiana University in Bloomington, where he studied with James Tocco.
Degrees Held: B.M., University of Utah; M.M. and D.M., Indiana University
Courses Taught: Applied piano, piano pedagogy, keyboard harmony, accompanying
Contact: 205 Wainwright, (919) 760-8124, LymanK@meredith.edu
Audio clips:
- Listen to an audio clip of Kent Lyman performing Rachmaninoff's Elegie Op. 3
- Listen to an audio clip of Margaret Evans, Tom Lohr, Kent Lyman and Angela Stephenson performing Smetana's Rondo in C Major
- Listen to an audio clip of Virginia Hudson and Kent Lyman performing the Rachmaninoff Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 19
- Listen to an audio clip of Frank Pittman and Kent Lyman performing Saint-Saëns' Carnival of the Animals
Anthony Vaglio, Jr., professor of music, has been on the Meredith faculty since 1977. Vaglio maintains a deep admiration for and interest in The Schillinger System of Musical Composition, a mathematical approach to compostition developed by Joseph Schillinger. Vaglio leads his composition students to explore a variety of compositional techniques as they find their own style.
Degrees Held: B.A., Adelphi University; M.M., Butler University; Ph.D., Eastman School of Music
Courses Taught: Vaglio coordinates the beginning and advanced music theory program, teaches composition majors and offers mini-courses in the use of the music notation application Finale.
Contact: 111 Wainwright, (919) 760-8578, vagliot@meredith.edu
Jim Waddelow, a native of Oklahoma, joined the faculty of Meredith College as Director of Instrumental Activities in 2007. He conducts the Meredith Sinfonietta and serves as Musical Director for opera workshop and musical theater productions in the Department of Theater and Dance. Jim is the Music Director and Conductor of the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra and has been the Orchestra Director of the Inspiration Point Fine Arts Colony Summer Music Camp in Eureka Springs, Arkansas since 1999. Other Artistic Director appointments include the Oklahoma Haydn Festival, and White Iris Light Opera in Raleigh. He has conducted over 50 operas and musical productions at the college and professional level, including his present position as Music Director for Summerstock Productions in Edmond, Oklahoma. In 2011 he led Meredith students on a concert tour in Tuscany, Italy.
Previous appointments and affiliations include: Texas Tech University, Lubbock Moonlight Musicals, The Oklahoma Youth Symphony, The Lubbock Youth Symphony, Summer Overtures Theater, The University of Central Oklahoma, and The University of Arkansas. He also conducted the nationally recognized Putnam City North High School orchestra for six years. Jim is Vice President of the Southeast Division of the College Orchestra Director’s Association, and a member of the Conductor’s Guild, American String Teacher’s Association, National Association of Music Educators, and The College Music Society. He is an active clinician and adjudicator throughout the South.
Degrees Held: B.M.E., M.M., University of Central Oklahoma; D.M.A., Texas Tech University
Courses Taught: Orchestra, Conducting, Instrumentation, Orchestration, Instrumental Music Education.
Contact: 201 Wainwright (919) 760-8579; Waddelow@meredith.edu
Ellen Williams, mezzo-soprano, has performed extensively throughout the United States and Europe, and local appearances have been with the Winston-Salem, Greensboro and North Carolina Symphonies. Her concert repertoire includes works ranging from Bach and Handel to Rossini and Stravinsky. Ms. Williams has been on the North and South Carolina Touring Artist rosters with duo partner, Terry Rhodes, and together they premiered Stephen Jaffe’s FORT JUNIPER SONGS in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in 1990. They have presented concerts in Italy and Germany where Ms. Williams gave a series of master classes in Essen-Werden. Along with Ms. Rhodes, she released a CD of American vocal duet music on the Albany label in 1995, and their second, GRAND LARSEN-Y, was released in 2005 by Albany of Libby Larsen’s vocal music. In June 2006 she sang the role of Berta in Rossini’s LE BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA with the Opera Company of North Carolina. In October of that year she and Ms. Rhodes presented two recitals in California, one at Cal State LA and the other at UC Santa Barbara. A CD of the Schoenberg chamber version of Mahler’s DAS LIED VON DER ERDE with Ms. Williams as mezzo soloist was released January 2011 on the Centaur label. Ms. Williams holds her DM from Florida State University, the MM from New England Conservatory of Music, and a BA from Meredith College where she has served as Coordinator of Vocal Studies since 1992. She formed Capital Opera with colleague, Joel Adams, in 2003, and in 2010 served on a committee that merged Capital Opera with the Opera Company of North Carolina. She now is on the Board of Directors for the North Carolina Opera.
Ellen Williams is professor of music and coordinator of vocal studies, and has been on the Meredith faculty since 1992.
Degrees Held: B.A., Meredith College; M.M., New England Conservatory of Music; D.M., Florida State University
Contact: 221 Wainwright, (919) 760-8549, WilliamsEl@meredith.edu
Audio clips: Listen to an audio clip of Ellen Williams singing in Tom Lohr's Biblical Songs, a setting of Psalm 54
ADJUNCT & SCHOOL OF MUSIC FACULTY
Lisbeth Brittain Carter holds the B.M. Degree in Voice / Performance from The Boston Conservatory of Music, and the M.M. Degree in Performance and Pedagogy from Meredith College, where she has remained as Adjunct Professor of Voice since 1994; she directed the Meredith Opera Theater until the fall of 2003. Ms. Carter has been on the summer faculty of the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, since 2008.
Winner of the Metropolitan Opera New England Regionals in 1972, Ms. Carter received a scholarship from the Metropolitan Opera to study voice in London, England. Following two summers in the apprentice program at the Santa Fe Opera in New Mexico, she entered the auditions program at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, which led to a series of long term engagements within the German speaking countries. From 1976 to 1986, Ms. Carter was resident lyric soubrette with the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern, Nationaltheater Mannheim, Theater der Stadt Bonn, and the Dortmund Opera. Between 1980 and 1986 she appeared often with Theater des Westens in Berlin, followed by two seasons with the Eutiner Sommerfestspiel. From 1986-1988, Ms. Carter joined the Hamburg cast of "CATS" as Jenny Anydots & Grizabella, with over 600 performances.
Ms. Carter remained in Europe until 1990, teaching in Hamburg, Vienna, and Paris, where her students regularly performed in operas and musicals. She was the creator of the program of musical theater training at the Stella Academy in Hamburg.
Degrees Held: B.M. in Voice/Performance from The Boston Conservatory of Music, and an M.M. in Performance and Pedagogy from Meredith College
Courses Taught: Voice
Contact: 215 Wainwright, (919) 760-8529, LCarter1043@gmail.com
Janet Cherry has taught piano at Meredith since 1988. Keyboard technique is an area of particular interest, and has led her to study the techniques and teaching methods developed by pianist Dorothy Taubman. These techniques promote freedom, ease, and accuracy in playing while providing a philosophy of movement to protect pianists from physical tension and injury. From 1996 through 2000, she studied in Raleigh and in Philadelphia with Taubman Institute faculty member Robert Durso. In addition, she regularly attended the Taubman Institute during those years and participated as a practice assistant for students. Currently, she is exploring ways this technique can also benefit organists in their playing.
In 2003, Cherry completed a two-year term as Dean of the Central North Carolina chapter of the American Guild of Organists. She is a member of Music Teachers National Association, North Carolina Music Teachers Association, Raleigh Piano Teachers Association, and the Cary/Apex Piano Teachers Association.
Degrees Held: B.M., M.M., Meredith College
Courses Taught: Organ and Piano
Contact: 217 Wainwright, (919) 760-2369, CherryJ@meredith.edu
Carol Chung joined the faculty of Meredith College in 2002, and is a founding member of the chamber music group Quercus. Highlights of the upcoming 2012-13 season will include performances of the piano quartets of Martinu and Brahms. Lauded for her “heartfelt delicacy” (Raleigh News & Observer) and for her “searing and incisive renditions” (CVNC.org), Ms. Chung is active as a recitalist, chamber musician, coach & teacher. She serves as concertmaster of North Carolina Opera and performs regularly with the North Carolina Symphony and the Mallarmé Chamber Players. She is also a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique and is a graduate of the Chesapeake Bay Alexander Studies teacher training program in Greensboro, NC. In the summers, she performs with the Colorado Music Festival, a professional summer orchestra based in Boulder. Previous season highlights have included collaborations in world music with the Grammy-nominated salsa fusion group, Gonzalo Grau y La Clave Secreta, as well as performances of the Bach Goldberg Variations, arranged for string trio, with fellow founding Quercus members David Marschall, viola, & Bonnie Thron, cello, alongside the visual artistry of Abie Harris.
Ms. Chung began studies on both the violin and piano at the age of five, and at eighteen, chose violin for her major instrument. She holds both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in violin performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with violin department head David Updegraff and Bernhard Goldschmidt, principal second violinist of the Cleveland Orchestra. She has performed with the Cleveland Orchestra at the Kent/Blossom Music Festival and in the master classes of William Preucil, Ani Kavafian and James Buswell at the Sarasota Music Festival. She has also performed and coached with members of the Tokyo,Vermeer, Cavani and Juilliard Quartets. Formerly a member of the Canton (Ohio) and Virginia Symphonies, she resides in Raleigh with her husband, Jason Wilson, and their cat Roxie.
Degrees Held: B.M., M.M. in violin performance, the Cleveland Institute of Music
Courses Taught: Violin
Contact: 203 Wainwright, (919) 760-8329, chungc@meredith.edu
Judy Dunson has taught Suzuki guitar in the non-credit program at Meredith since 1985. She is an author whose publications include Verses, a supplement to Book 1 of Suzuki Guitar, and a book of Christmas and Hanukkah guitar music, O Come Little Children, which she co-authored with Norma McNamara. Dunson has also written a curriculum for parent training for Suzuki guitar and for four years was co-author of a column in Soundboard magazine.
Dunson has traveled widely throughout the U.S. as a guitar clinician at Suzuki institutes, and participated in a study trip to Spain while a student at Meredith. In 2002 and 2004 she taught master classes at the NC School of the Arts Statewide Suzuki Play-In. In 2002, Dunson staged and produced a work for guitar quartet, Ferdinand, by Munroe Leaf.
A founding board member of the Triangle Guitar Society, Dunson is also an active member in the Capitol Area String Teachers Association, the Central Carolina Chapter of AOSA, the Guitar Foundation of America, and the Suzuki Association of the Americas.
Courses Taught: Guitar. Her specialties include classical and folk guitar with a focus on the Suzuki method; her students range in age from four years old to adult.
Degrees Held: B.A., Meredith College
Contact: 204 Wainwright, (919) 760-2822, dunsonmj@aol.com
Margaret Evans joined the Meredith College piano faculty in 1994. Highly regarded as performer and teacher, she has been honored with awards in both areas. She holds degrees in piano performance from Northwestern University (D.M.), the University of Illinois (M.M.), and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (B.M., Phi Beta Kappa).
Evans has performed as recitalist, concerto soloist, and collaborative artist in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and in Switzerland. Concert venues have included the Art Institute of Chicago, Krannert Hall, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, the Academie de Musique de Sion (Switzerland), Chicago Symphony Hall Cliff Dwellers Club, and KUFM Public Radio (interview and performance). She enjoys presenting Lecture-Recitals in addition to traditional recitals, and is making her way through the catalog of twenty-five Mozart Piano Concertos. For the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth, she performed two Mozart concertos in the composer’s chamber arrangement with the Ciompi Quartet. Evans has performed in numerous master classes for such artists as Claude Frank, Walter Hautzig, Ruth Laredo, Menahem Pressler, Gyorgy Sebok, Nelita True, and Earl Wild. Further sources of study include the Taubman Institute, the TCU-Cliburn Institute (PianoTexas), Sheila Paige, and, most recently, the Sergei Babayan International Piano Academy.
Students of Dr. Evans have increasingly won recognition in regional piano competitions, receiving prizes as soloists and performing concertos with orchestra, while a few have been honored in national and international competitions. Her students have won graduate and undergraduate music scholarships to outstanding colleges, universities and conservatories such as Oberlin and Eastman.
Evans has judged American piano competitions from coast to coast, including the Bartok-Kabalevsky-Prokofiev International Piano Competition, MTNA Competition, and the ODU Classical Competition. In 2005 and 2009 she judged the Hong Kong Schools of Music Competition and has been invited to return to judge the Great Melody Competition in the summer.
Speaking engagements and topics have included the NCMTA State Conference (guest banquet speaker), Preparing a Semi-finalist at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs; the World Piano Pedagogy Conference in Nashville, TN, (session leader with Patrick Kavanaugh, Improving Upon Excellence); the Rocky Mount Piano Teachers (Mastering Memory); the Wilmington Piano Teachers Association and the Raleigh Piano Teachers Association (Preparing Students to be Piano Majors in College); the Charlotte Piano Teachers Forum (What’s Working Now: A Peek Inside an Ever-Evolving Studio); the Nash County Piano Teachers (Developing a Healthy Piano Technique in Our Students); Wake County Home School Association (Mission Possible - Careers in Music); the Cary Piano Teachers (Can We Use Method Books to Teach Technique?).
Dr. Evans currently serves on the Executive Board of North Carolina’s Music Teachers Association. She established the MTNA Collegiate Chapter at Meredith College in 2005, only the second such chapter in the state, and serves as its Faculty Advisor.
Her memberships in honorary societies include Phi Beta Kappa, Pi Kappa Lambda (Certificate of Honor), Phi Kappa Phi, Who’s Who in America, and Who’s Who among America’s Teachers. In 2011 she was awarded the honor, “Teacher of the Year,” by Ruggero Piano and Raleigh Piano Teachers Association, one of the largest and most active chapters in the country.
Courses Taught: Piano. Her current studio includes piano majors, pre-college students and advanced adults.
Degrees Held: B.M., University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (Phi Beta Kappa); M.M., University of Illinois; D.M., Northwestern University
Contact: 209 Wainwright, (919) 760-8349, evansm@meredith.edu
Marta C. Findlay-Partridge (non-credit program) has taught violin at Meredith for 20 years and also teaches at Athens Drive (Raleigh) and Cary High Schools. A member of the strings staff of the Wake County Public School System for 20 years, her orchestras have consistently been awarded superior ratings from the N.C. Music Educators Association Orchestra Contest/Festival.
An active performer in the Raleigh area, Findlay-Partridge has been the Associate Conductor of the Triangle Youth Symphony since its inception in 1994 and was the founder and conductor for nine years of the Raleigh-Triangle String Orchestra, the predecessor of the Triangle Youth Orchestra. She has performed with the Indianapolis, Wichita, and North Carolina Symphonies.
She is the 2004 recipient of the North Carolina Symphony's Maxine Swalin Outstanding Music Educator Award, which is presented annually to a North Carolina music teacher who serves the community as a role model in music education, instills a love for music in children and inspires students to reach appropriately high musical standards.
Degrees Held: Graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music. In 2002, she was among the first music educators to earn certification from the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards.
Courses Taught: Violin
Contact: 231 Wainwright, (919) 760-8536, marmiles@bellsouth.net
Margaret Garriss has taught violin at Meredith since 1989. She is a professional violinist, teacher and freelance musician who enjoys teaching both traditional and Suzuki students in private and group settings. While a student, Margaret was a scholarship recipient for the Paul Rolland International String Workshop held in Salzburg, Austria, and the Agnes Cooper Memorial Award from Meredith. She was also selected as Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges and was chosen as a member of The Outstanding Young Women of America.
Garriss holds professional memberships with the American String Teacher's Association, The Musician's Association Local 500, The Music Teachers National Association, Music Educators National Conference, The Suzuki Association of the Americas, The Capital Area Suzuki Teacher's Association, The Raleigh Music Club, Sigma Alpha Iota, and Pi Kappa Lambda.
Since 1982, Garriss has served as an Associate Coordinator for the Lamar Stringfield Chamber Music Camp held annually at Meredith. She is also a certified non-practicing member of the Feldenkrais Method and she traveled internationally for two years as a musical missionary with the Celebrant Singers organization based in California.
Degrees Held: B.M. magna cum laude, M.M. in Violin Performance and Pedagogy, Meredith College; certified in seven levels of Suzuki training
Courses Taught: Violin and Suzuki Violin
Contact: 118 Jones, (919) 760-2871, Meg333@earthlink.net
Phyllis Garriss, associate professor emeritus of string instruction, is founding director of the Lamar Stringfield String Music Camp, which observed its 25th Anniversary in 2004.
Previous teaching positions include DePauw University and Ball State University. A former National Secretary of the American String Teachers Association, Garriss is a member of the Music Educators National Conference, the Music Teachers National Association, the American String Teachers Association, Local 500 of the Musicians Association, and past-president of the Raleigh Music Club. She performs with the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra and the Capital String Ensemble.
Degrees Held: B.A., B.M. Hastings College; M.M., Eastman School of Music
Courses Taught: Violin and Viola
Contact: P12 Jones, (919) 760-2821, GarrissP@meredith.edu
Jimmy Gilmore has taught clarinet at Meredith since 1994. A student of Stanley Hasty, Leon Russianoff and Anthony Gigliotti, Gilmore was Principal Clarinet of the North Carolina Symphony through spring 2010, and is a former member of the Rochester Philharmonic and the U.S. Military Academy Band at West Point. He has made numerous appearances as soloist and recitalist throughout the Southeast. Gilmore also teaches at Duke University.
Gilmore is a published writer whose articles have appeared in The State magazine, The Spectator and Clarinetwork. In 1989, his one-act play, The Picture Album, won second prize in the Wachovia Playwrights Competition, a statewide contest. He is co-founder of Aurora Musicalis.
Degrees Held: B.M., Eastman School of Music; M.M., M.S., Juilliard School of Music
Courses Taught: Clarinet
Contact: 112 Wainwright, lizandjimmy@nc.rr.com
Virginia Ewing Hudson teaches cello and related subjects at Meredith College and has taught Music Appreciation at St. Augustine College. She co-directs youth programs for both the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle and is director of Meredith's Live Oak Chamber Music Camp.
Hudson has appeared as soloist with The Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, The Raleigh Civic Symphony and The Blue Lake Festival Orchestra. She has performed as a chamber musician with The Mallarme and Meredith Chamber Players and is a member of the Triangle Quartet. Hudson has served as principal cello for The Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, The Opera Company of NC, The Greensboro Symphony, The Raleigh Symphony, The Raleigh Civic Symphony, The Blue Lake Festival Orchestra and The International Music Program. She has also performed with the NC Symphony. Hudson has studied cello with such luminaries as Robert Marsh, Lev Aronson, Paul Olefsky and Colin Carr and chamber music with Josef Gingold and Dan Welcher. She has been heard on radio broadcasts, PBS, and various record labels.
Degrees Held: B.M., University of Texas; M.M., The North Carolina School of the Arts
Courses Taught: Cello
Contact: 216 Wainwright, (919) 760-2895, vehudson@mac.com
Audio clips:
- Listen to an audio clip of Virginia Hudson playing Tom Lohr's Songs from the Bible, with Mezzo-soprano (Lisa Fredenburgh), Cello (Virginia Hudson), Flute (Pam Nelson) and Piano (Tom Lohr).
- Listen to an audio clip of Virginia Hudson and Kent Lyman performing The Rachmaninoff Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 19
Jessica Jenkins Davis came to Meredith in 2011, where she teaches Suzuki violin with the Meredith Community School of Music. Jenkins Davis began her musical studies in San Diego, California as a Suzuki violin student. Her teachers include Melissa Reardon, Philip Tyler, Mary Gerard, and Shirley Stafford. At Point Loma, she maintained a successful Suzuki violin studio while holding leadership positions in the university orchestra. She also performed with the San Diego Lyric Opera and the Young Artist Symphony. During her undergraduate studies, she participated in the Centrum Chamber Music Festival in Port Townsend, Washington, studying with the renowned Tokyo String Quartet.
Jenkins Davis is a registered Suzuki teacher with the Suzuki Association of the Americas, teaching books one through ten, and has completed Suzuki short-term training with Michelle George and long-term training with Joanne Bath. She has served as an institute instructor in the North Carolina Suzuki Association and for Charlotte School of the Arts. She most recently coordinated the Suzuki violin program at Bath elementary school as a graduate assistant to Joanne Bath. Jenkins Davis has written many articles about the benefits of Suzuki education and is committed to bringing the joy of music into the lives of as many children as possible.
Degrees Held: B.M. in music education, Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego, CA; M.M. in violin performance with an emphasis on Suzuki Pedagogy, East Carolina University
Courses Taught: Suzuki violin
Donna Jolly has an active career as a soloist, collaborator, teacher and church musician. She holds the B.M. from East Carolina University in piano pedagogy and piano performance with a minor concentration in organ, and the M.M. from Meredith College in piano pedagogy and performance. In 1972 she was the National Federation of Music Clubs' Marie Morrisey Keith national collegiate competition winner, and performed at the national convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey as well as in concerts across North Carolina. She has performed as solo recitalist, concerto soloist, orchestral keyboardist, duo pianist, chamber musician, and accompanist for singers and instrumentalists as well as choral, operatic, and theatre performances across the United States and Europe. She has held church organist positions and maintained private teaching studios in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.
As a member of the piano faculty at Meredith College since 1988, she teaches college and pre-college piano. She has played with the North Carolina Symphony as orchestral pianist since 1989, and has served as organist at First Baptist Church in Raleigh since 1987.
Degrees Held: B.M., East Carolina University; M.M. in piano pedagogy and performance, Meredith College
Courses Taught: Piano
Contact: 218 Wainwright, (919) 760-8517, JollyD@meredith.edu
Pin Pin Jong grew up in Malaysia where she studied and trained under The Royal Academy School of Music. Later, she received a Performance Diploma (P.C.) and a Teaching Diploma (A.T.C.L.) from The Royal School of Music, London. She has taught piano at Meredith College since 2000. She is an active member of the Raleigh Piano Teachers Association and the North Carolina Music Teachers Association. Jong is frequently asked to judge piano competitions and festivals and her students have won recognition in both local and state competitions.
Degrees Held: P.C., A.T.C.L., Royal School of Music, London; B.M. magna cum laude, Meredith College; M.M. in piano, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Courses Taught: Piano
Contact: 220 Wainwright, (919) 760-2394, JongP@meredith.edu
Tom L. Lohr has been an Instructor of Piano at Meredith College since 1979, teaching piano, composition, choral arranging, and music theory seminars. Lohr is the Director of the Meredith College School of Music (the non-credit division of the Department of Music) as well as the summer piano camp, beginners' piano camp, middle school composition camp, intensive piano camp and high school theory camp.
During his time at Meredith College Lohr has taught undergraduate piano majors, graduate students and all levels of non-credit students in the School of Music ranging in ages from 6 to 82. Both his piano students and composition students are often winners of area competitions. Former students of his have pursued music further study at such noted schools as Indiana University, Boston Conservatory and the Julliard School.
As a composer, Lohr has written works for performers of various media including piano and piano four-hands. A selection of works includes a one-act opera, The Practical Heart (1998), Biblical Songs (1999), Songs from the Bible (2000–01), and Songs of the Indian Spirit (1999), and Improvisation, a solo piano piece written in 2002, for the Tour of Historic Steinway Pianos. During the summer of 2004, Lohr composed eleven solo piano pieces for the Raleigh Piano Teachers Association for use as competition pieces in that organization’s Young Artist Auditions. The pieces were written to mark the 50th anniversary of the Raleigh Piano Teachers Association as well as the 25th anniversary of the Young Artist Auditions, both of which were observed in 2005. All of these works are available through Shelkins Music Publishing Company. Also in 2004, Lohr received a commission to compose a work, Suite for Strings, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Lamar Stringfield Music Camp. In 2007 Lohr composed Festive Concert Overture to mark the 20th anniversary of the Philharmonic Association. The Triangle Youth Philharmonic opened their 2007–08 concert season with a performance of this work in Meymandi Concert Hall and performed the work again on their 20th Anniversary Alumni Concert in 2008 in the Koka Booth Amphitheater. In 2011, Lohr composed two new works for solo piano, both toccatas as tributes to the composers Bartok and Ginastera. These works were performed along with other original compositions on several lecture-recitals that year.
Lohr is active in both the Raleigh Piano Teachers Association and the North Carolina Music Teachers Association (NCMTA). He has served as an officer in both of these organizations and was a presenter in the 2005 Fall Conference of NCMTA where he presented a lecture-recital on many of his solo piano works. Lohr, a long-time member and former president of the Gamma Mu chapter of Pi Kappa Lambda was inducted in 1993 into the Beta Zeta chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota as an honorary member. He is a former advisor for SAI. At the fall 2012 conference of NCMTA Lohr will present a session on a new collection of pieces he composed. The pieces, Numbers, deal with musical representations of the numbers 1 through 12.
Degrees Held: B.M., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; M.M. University of Kentucky
Courses Taught: Piano, composition
Contact: 224 Wainwright, (919) 760-8378, LohrT@meredith.edu
Audio clips:
- Listen to an audio clip of Ellen Williams, mezzo-soprano, in a setting of Psalm 54, from Biblical Songs
- Listen to an audio clip of Tom and Susan Lohr, piano 4 hands, in a performance of The Fugue from Petite Suite for Piano, four hands
- Listen to an audio clip of Margaret Evans, Tom Lohr, Kent Lyman and Angela Stephenson performing Smetana's Rondo in C Major
W. David Lynch joined the Meredith faculty in 1969 and served as head of the department through 2007. He currently teaches organ and music history. Also an active organ recitalist, choral conductor and church musician, Lynch has served frequently as clinician for church music and worship-related workshops and as a consultant for organ installations. In the National Association of Schools of Music, he is a visiting evaluator and has been a member of the Commission on Accreditation and the Committee on Ethics.
Lynch's organ teachers have included Grigg Fountain, Garth Peacock, David Craighead, Arthur Poister and André Marchal. During the 1992–93 academic year and again in spring 2008, he was a visiting scholar at Duke University Divinity School, where he undertook studies in theology, church history, worship and spirituality. Since 1971, he has been Organist-Choirmaster at Christ Church, Raleigh.
Degrees Held: B.M., Oberlin College; M.M., Performer's Certificate and D.M.A., Eastman School of Music. Additional study at the Akademic "Mozarteum" in Salzburg, Austria; organ study in Paris and at Syracuse University and Duke University
Courses Taught: Organ, music history, music appreciation, church music, and theory seminars
Contact: 211 Wainwright, (919) 760-8385, LynchD@meredith.edu
DeMar Austin Neal IV, a North Carolina native, joined the Meredith faculty in 2010, where he teaches applied voice, lyric diction for singers, and art song repertoire. With a special talent for light opera and comedic roles, Neal made several praiseworthy debuts during the 2011-2012 season, including: El Dancaïro (Carmen) with North Carolina Opera; Papageno (Die Zauberflöte) with Varna Opera; and Ko-Ko (The Mikado) with Greenville Light Opera Works. The Greenville News lauded his turn as the cheap tailor-cum-executioner saying, “His Ko-Ko is bitingly crisp in expression and action – a performance artful and frequently hilarious. Neal possesses the soul of a true Savoyard.” He has performed a wide variety of stage roles, including: Junius in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, Belcore in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, Don Andres de Ribeira in Offenbach’s La Périchole, and Falke in Strauss’ Die Fledermaus.
Dr. Neal is also an active recitalist, adjudicator, masterclass technician, and researcher. He has received grants from the Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst, the Elon University Academic Technology and Computing Committee, Phi Kappa Phi honor society, Varna Music Academy, Songfest Professional Program, and the Franco-American Vocal Academy. In addition to university service, Dr. Neal currently holds the position of Secretary for the North Carolina chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. He is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda, NATS, Phi Kappa Phi, and the National Opera Association. His current scholarly interests focus on rehabilitative semi-occluded vocal tract voice therapy and the art songs of contemporary American composer Jake Heggie.
Degrees Held: B.M. – vocal performance, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; M.M. – vocal performance, The Boston Conservatory; D.M. – vocal performance, Florida State University
Courses Taught: Applied Voice, Italian & English Phonetics for Singers, German & French Phonetics and Repertoire for Singers, Baroque & Early Classic Music History
Contact: 222 Wainwright, (919) 760-8376, nealde@meredith.edu
Pam Nelson, a native of Louisiana, teaches flute and leads
the Meredith Flute Ensemble. She performs frequently throughout the Triangle area, where she has appeared
as principal flute with the Carolina Ballet's Nutcracker and the
Opera Company of North Carolina's Barber of Seville, as well as
with the North Carolina Symphony. She has perfomed in the orchestras
for several N.C. Theatre and Best of Broadway shows, including Evita,
Beauty and the Beast, and South Pacific. Her love of chamber
music is seen in her work with Montage, Silver and Gold, and several other
chamber groups of which she is a founding member.
Degrees Held: M.M., flute performance, N.C. School of the Arts; B.M.E., Southern Illinois University
Courses Taught: Flute and Flute Ensemble
Contact: 214 Wainwright, (919) 760-8509, nelsonp@meredith.edu
Nancy Riva-Palacio has offered individual piano instruction at Meredith's School of Music since 1979. A fluent speaker of French and Spanish, Riva-Palacio has also pursued studies in France at the Fontainebleau School of Music, l'Ecole Internationale d'Ete des Beaux Arts, and the Sorbonne, and at the University of Mexico in Mexico City. She shares with her students her strong interest and expertise in 20th-century French music.
Degrees Held: B.A. in piano and music theory, University of Richmond; M.A. in French, Columbia University
Courses Taught: Piano
Contact: 219 Wainwright, (919) 760-8570, rivapala@meredith.edu
Jim Smith directs the Meredith College Chorus. Previously, he served for many years as an associate professor of music at Peace College, where he taught voice and directed the college's two choral organizations. His voice students consistently achieved success in state and regional competitions, and his choirs made seven European concert tours, with performance venues including England's Canterbury Cathedral, Notre Dame and St. Chapelle in Paris, St. Mark's in Venice, the Duomo in Florence, and St. Peter's in Rome. In 2009 he served as an adjudicator for the 61st Hong Kong Music Festival, where he judged approximately 400 choirs and 750 vocal soloists during the month-long festival. He has served as the director of music in several Raleigh churches and is currently directing the music program at First Presbyterian in Rocky Mount. He is a founding member of the North Carolina Master Choral Chamber Choir, a professional choir of twenty-two singers.
Degrees Held: Bachelor of Music, St. Andrews Presbyterian College; Master of Music, West Virginia University. Postgraduate work: West Virginia University, the University of Georgia, Westminster Choir College, Smith College, Oberlin College, and Indiana University
Courses Taught: Chorus
Contact: 210 Wainwright, (919) 250-0036, jamesshawsmith@gmail.com
Angela Stephenson teaches studio piano through the preparatory program. She has a strong interest in piano pedagogy and has done special research on the piano music of Beethoven.
Degrees Held: B.M., M.M., Meredith College
Courses Taught: Studio Piano
Contact: 112 Wainwright, (919) 760-2368, Angelarose17@yahoo.com
Audio clips: Listen to an Audio clip of Margaret Evans, Tom Lohr, Kent Lyman and Angela Stephenson performing Smetana's Rondo in C Major
Ed Stephenson, professor of guitar, is a Toronto native who came to North Carolina to study with Aaron Shearer at the North Carolina School of the Arts. The Raleigh News and Observer stated: "Edward Stephenson is a superb musician and will soon be recognized as one of America's most promising young performers." Stephenson performs throughout North America as a soloist and as a member of the North Carolina Guitar Quartet, where he plays an integral part in commissioning new works for this genre. The Quartet's most recent project includes the recording of Voices from the Garden by David Kechley, now available on compact disc under the Liscio label. A highly sought-after musician in the Triangle area, Stephenson has played for the North Carolina Symphony, the North Carolina Theater, the North Carolina Bach Festival and the National Opera Company. In addition to his active performing career, Stephenson was awarded the North Carolina School of the Arts Teacher of the Year Award in 1995. For more information, visit his website: www.edstephenson.com
Degrees Held: B.M., North Carolina School of the Arts
Courses Taught: Guitar
Contact: P9 Jones, (919) 760-8492, Stephed@meredith.edu
Tricia Strong, director of Encore, joined the Meredith staff in 2006, where she also accompanies voice students and Opera Workshop. Strong has traveled the country as a singer in various musical groups, performed in Nashville as a studio musician, and sung with The Voices of Liberty at Epcot Center. She has produced two self-titled CD's as well as one book of piano arrangements entitled Songs and Hymns Without Words. Mrs. Strong has collaborated with Meredith piano faculty on a recital featuring vocal and piano works of women composers, as well as a recital entitled Love Songs: The Good, the Bad, and the Ridiculous. Strong appeared in Raleigh Little Theatre's production of The Light in the Piazza. She also accompanies the choir at St. Augustine's College and many soloists in the Raleigh area.
Degrees Held: B.M. in piano performance, M.M. in vocal performance, Meredith College
Contact: 223 Wainwright, (919) 760-8610, strongpa@meredith.edu
Full-time Faculty: Frances M. Page • Kent Lyman • Anthony Vaglio, Jr. • Jim Waddelow • Ellen Williams
Adjunct Faculty: Janet Cherry • Carol Chung •Margaret Evans • Phyllis Garriss • Jimmy Gilmore • Virginia Ewing Hudson • Donna Jolly • Tom L. Lohr • W. David Lynch • DeMar Neal • Pam Nelson • Jim Smith • Ed Stephenson
School of Music Faculty: Judy Dunson • Marta C. Findlay-Partridge • Margaret Garriss • Jessica Jenkins Davis • Pin Pin Jong • Tom L. Lohr • Nancy Riva-Palacio • Angela Stephenson
Accompanist: Tricia Strong
