Music at Meredith College Link to Meredith College Home Page

Music Faculty

Full-time Faculty: Frances M. Page • Kent Lyman • W. David Lynch • Risa Poniros • Anthony Vaglio, Jr. • Jim Waddelow • Ellen Williams

Adjunct Faculty: Karen A. Allred • Lisbeth Carter • Janet Cherry • Carol Chung • Erik Dyke • Don Eagle • Margaret Evans • Phyllis Garriss • Jimmy Gilmore • Pamela Halverson • Virginia Ewing Hudson • Donna Jolly • Tom L. Lohr • Pam Nelson • Frank Pittman • Georgia Schmidt • Ed Stephenson

School of Music Faculty: Wilinda Atchley • Judy Dunson • Marta C. Findlay-Partridge • Margaret Garriss • Pin Pin Jong • Tom L. Lohr • Joseph O'Donnell • Nancy Riva-Palacio • Georgia Schmidt • Angela Stephenson

Accompanists: Sophia Johnson • Tricia Strong

Frances M. PageFrances 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.

She 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 LymanKent Lyman, professor of music and coordinator of piano instruction, has been on the Meredith faculty since 2000.

Lyman has distinguished himself as a soloist and chamber musician throughout much of the United States, South Korea, China and Brazil. He has appeared at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, at the National Conference of the Sonneck Society for American Music, on the Temple Square Concert Series in Salt Lake City, Utah, and on concert series at the College of Charleston, Winthrop University, Francis Marion University and Indiana University in Indiana, Pennsylvania. He has performed as a soloist or duo pianist with the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra, the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, the Raleigh Civic Symphony, the North Carolina Governors School East Orchestra, the Broward Symphony Orchestra in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and the Florence Symphony Orchestra in Florence, South Carolina. He has traveled numerous times to South Korea, where he has lectured, performed and given master classes at universities and schools throughout the country. During his sabbatical leave in the fall of 2007, he spent several weeks traveling, teaching and performing extensively throughout South Korea and China. This trip also included a fascinating excursion to North Korea.

Lyman has recorded for the Centaur label, and can be heard on a CD performing chamber works of the late American composer Virgil Thomson. He is a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music with the Music Teachers National Association, and has held administrative positions on the boards of state chapters of MTNA in South Carolina and 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, Lyman received his bachelor's degree from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, and master's and doctorate from Indiana University in Bloomington, where he studied with renowned pianist James Tocco. He currently resides in Cary, NC, with his wife, Rebecca, and their six children.

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

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W. David LynchW. David Lynch joined the Meredith faculty in 1969 and served as head of the department through 2007. He teaches organ, music history, music appreciation, church music, and theory seminars. Lynch, also an active organ recitalist, choral conductor and church musician, 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

Risa PonirosRisa Poniros has served on the Meredith music faculty since 1995. She has performed extensively in both opera and musical theatre. Some highlightedroles include Mimi in La Boheme, Cio Cio San in Madame Butterfly, Anna Maurrant in Street Scene, the Wicked Witch in Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, as well as leading roles in Carnival, The Mikado, Music Man and The Sound of Music. Regional performances include solo work with the North Carolina Symphony, Knoxville Opera Company, Asheville Symphony Chorus, Brevard Music Festival, North Carolina Theatre, National Opera Company and Savannah Onstage. She has also sung in world premieres of two operas at Meredith College: Tom Lohr's The Practical Heart and Benton Hess's Felice. Poniros serves as an active guest clinician, recitalist, and concert performer throughout the Southeast.

Degrees Held: B.M., University of North Carolina at Greensboro; M.M. University of Tennessee at Knoxville; post-graduate Certificate of Vocal Performance, Northwestern University; Ed.D., Columbia University Teachers College in New York

Courses Taught:Applied Voice; Fundamental Concepts in Music; Director of ENCORE!; Vocal Literature; Class Voice Phonetics; Topics in Vocal Research

Contact: 222 Wainwright, (919) 760-8376, PonirosR@meredith.edu

Audio clip: Listen to an audio clip of Risa Poniros singing in Tom Lohr's Biblical Songs, a setting of Psalm 128.

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 WaddelowJim 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 musical theater productions in the Department of Theater and Dance. Jim is the Interim Music Director and Conductor of the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra and he has been the Orchestra Director of the Inspiration Point Fine Arts Colony Summer Music Camp in Eureka Springs, Arkansas since 1999.

He has conducted over 30 operas and musicals at the college and professional level. 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. Principal teachers include Gary Lewis, Ralph Morris, Roger Strong and Lon Dehnert. Jim is a member of the Conductor’s Guild, College Orchestra Director’s Association, American String Teacher’s Association, Music Educators National Conference 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 WilliamsEllen Williams, professor of music and coordinator of vocal studies, has been on the Meredith faculty since 1992.

Williams, a mezzo-soprano, has performed extensively throughout the United States and Europe, and has appearanced locally with the Winston-Salem, Greensboro and North Carolina symphonies. Her concert repertoire includes works ranging from Bach and Handel to Rossini and Stravinsky. She 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 in 1990. The duo presented concerts in Italy and Germany, and Williams gave a series of master classes in Essen-Werden in 2003. Williams and Rhodes released a CD of American vocal duet music on the Albany label in 1995, and a second CD featuring vocal works of Libby Larsen was recently released also by Albany. Williams was named a 2003 Regional Artist by the United Arts Council of Wake County.

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

Karen A. AllredKaren A. Allred received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in May 2007. She holds the Master of Music degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she studied with Michael Zenge. She joined the faculty of Meredith College in 1989. Further studies include work with Taubman techniques.


She gave an all-Chopin recital in Bougival, France, just outside of Paris, in 2008. She has collaborated with members of the North Carolina Symphony as well as having appeared as a solo recitalist, chamber musician and soloist with orchestras in Colorado, South Carolina, New York, North Dakota, Washington, D.C., and North Carolina. Critics have described her playing as “stunning,” having a “lovingly produced sound that circled and enveloped the listeners” and presenting a “confident mastery” (CVNC).


Allred was awarded an Emerging Artist Grant from the City of Raleigh Arts Commission in 1991–92 in the area of piano performance. In 1991 she was a semi-finalist in the National Beethoven Piano Sonata Competition as well as an alternate in 1993. Performances in master classes have included work with Ruth Laredo, Paul Schenley, Menahem Pressler, Clifton Matthews, John Perry, and Walter Hautzig.


She maintains a private studio in Chapel Hill where she enjoys teaching adults and pre-college students of all ages. Her students have received awards at state and international levels.


Allred is an active festival and master class clinician, adjudicator, and recitalist. She gave a workshop for the Wilmington Piano Teachers Association in 2005 (“Preparing Students to be College Piano Majors”), the Charlotte Piano Teachers Forum in 2000 (“Beyond the Page”), and was a presenter of the NCMTA piano contest repertoire list for the state of North Carolina in 2003. She presented a session on Sergei Lyapunov’s Preludes, Op. 6, at UNC-G’s nationally acclaimed Focus on Piano Literature (“Russian Romantics”) in 2006. Areas of current research and interest include the solo piano works of Sergei Lyapunov, Russian piano literature, and the Russian language. She is currently working on a performer’s guide for Sergei Lyapunov’s Preludes for solo piano, Op. 6.

Allred is President of the Mallarmé Youth Chamber Orchestra (MYCO), serves on the Board of Directors of the Raleigh Chamber Music Guild, and is the College Faculty Chair on the Board of the North Carolina Music Teachers Association.

Degrees Held: B.M., Meredith College; M.M., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; D.M.A., University of North Carolina at Greensboro


Courses Taught: Piano. Her studio includes college piano majors as well as non-majors, pre-college students (beginning–advanced), advanced adults, and music theory for pre-college students.

Contact: 210 Wainwright, (919) 760-2877, allredk@meredith.edu

Audio clips: Listen to an audio clip of Karen Allred performing Debussy's Cloche à travers les feuilles (Images, Book I).

Wilinda AtchleyWilinda Atchley has taught Suzuki violin at Meredith since 1987. Atchley received her early music training in Kansas and New Mexico, and attended graduate school at the University of Kansas and University of Wisconsin.

Degrees Held: B.A., Eastern New Mexico University

Courses Taught: Suzuki violin, Coordinator of the Suzuki Music Program

Contact: 207 Wainwright, (919) 760-8638, Atchleyw@meredith.edu

Voice instructor Lisbeth CarterLisbeth 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, Carter1043@nc.rr.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 ChungCarol Chung joined the faculty of Meredith College in 2002, and is a founding member of the chamber music group Quercus. This season’s highlights include a series of performances of the Bach Goldberg Variations, arranged for string trio, with fellow Quercus members David Marschall, viola & Bonnie Thron, ‘cello, alongside the visual artistry of Abie Harris. 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 (formerly the Opera Company of North Carolina) and performs regularly with the North Carolina Symphony and the Mallarmé Chamber Players. She is also a first-year teacher trainee in the Alexander Technique at Chesapeake Bay Alexander Studies in Greensboro. In the summers, she performs with the Colorado Music Festival, a professional summer orchestra based in Boulder. Previous summer season highlights have included collaborations in world music with the Grammy-nominated salsa fusion group, Gonzalo Grau y La Clave Secreta.

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 David Updegraff and Bernhard Goldschmidt. 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: P18 Jones, (919) 760-2822, MOWDAVE@aol.com

Erik DykeErik Dyke has taught double bass at Meredith since 1990. In addition, he has been double bassist with the North Carolina Symphony since 1978. Dyke is a graduate of the University of Michigan. As a student of Lawrence P. Hurst, Dyke continued studies at the Aspen Music Festival with Stuart Sankey and Peter Mercurio at the Music Academy of the West for many years.

Dyke has been Operations Manager at the Music Academy Summer Festival in Santa Barbara, California since 1985. He has also performed at the Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds, Las Palmas, Canary Islands Opera and the Santa Fe Opera.

He performs on a five-string bass instrument of Italian/English origin and on a 1790 Italian four-string model which was long heard with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. A frequent collaborator with leading singers and instrumentalists in a variety of popular genres, Dyke is the owner of a newly refurbished Steinway grand piano.

Courses Taught: Double bass

Degrees Held: B.M., M.M., University of Michigan

Don Eagle has taught trumpet at Meredith since 1986. He served in the US Army from 1972–75, during which time he was selected assistant lead trumpet in the school wide jazz lab band at the Naval School of Music in Little Creek, Va., and served as first trumpet/section leader in the 82nd Airborne Division band.

He has played at the Library of Congress and as a soloist with the NC Chamber Players, recorded the soundtrack for the National Opera Company production of "The Elixir of Love" for WUNC-TV, and played lead and solo trumpet on the big band segment of the UNC-TV production "Yusef and Friends." Eagle has recorded with the St. Stephens Chamber Orchestra, and the N.C. Symphony (most notably the Robert Ward celebration).

Eagle has been the recipient of a Raleigh Arts Council emerging artist grant, and has served as third trumpet in the NC Symphony since 1981. He currently teaches at Duke University and Meredith College and maintains an active private studio. His most recent recording with organist Marilyn Keiser and the Ciompi Quartet, "Studies in Relief," is available on the "Pro Organo" label.

Courses Taught: Trumpet

Degrees Held: Undergraduate study, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, additional private study

Contact: deagle001@gmail.net

Music instructor Margaret EvansMargaret 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. For the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth, she performed two Mozart piano concertos in the composer’s chamber arrangement with the Ciompi Quartet. 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). 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 Evans have increasingly won recognition in regional piano competitions, receiving prizes as soloists and concerto performances 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 include the NCMTA State Conference in 2000 (guest banquet speaker), where she described preparing a semi-finalist of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs; the World Piano Pedagogy Conference 2003 in Nashville, TN, (session leader with Patrick Kavanaugh, Improving Upon Excellence); the Rocky Mount Piano Teachers in 2004 (Mastering Memory); the Wilmington Piano Teachers Association in 2005 (Preparing Students to be Piano Majors in College); the Charlotte Piano Teachers Forum in 2005 (What’s Working Now: A Peek Inside an Ever-Evolving Studio); and the Nash County Piano Teachers in 2008 (Developing a Healthy Piano Technique in Our Students). 

Evans currently serves on the Executive Board of NCMTA. She was instrumental in establishing 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.

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 GarrissMargaret 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 GarrissPhyllis 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 GilmoreJimmy 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 The Lamar Stringfield 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: P216 Wainwright, (919) 760-2895, hellocello2@mac.com

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Sophia JohnsonSophia Johnson, accompanist, joined the Meredith Department of Music in 1998. She has an extensive background in piano and organ. In addition to accompanying vocal lessons at Meredith, she has been organist for St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Sanford for more than 20 years. She has also been the staff organist and organ instructor for Stephenson Music Company.

Her ability to play both classical and popular styles from the page and by ear has earned her an excellent reputation; she is frequently in demand as an accompanist and as an entertainer throughout the Piedmont region of North Carolina. Johnson performed for 15 years at the Plantation Inn and has been playing dinner music at the Capital City Club for more than 10 years.

Courses: Accompanist for vocal lessons

Contact: 217 Wainwright, (919) 760-2394

Donna Jolly has taught piano at Meredith since 1988. Jolly has an active career as a soloist, collaborator, teacher and church musician. She is also orchestral pianist with the N.C. Symphony and organist at First Baptist Church in Raleigh.

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 JongPin 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. LohrTom L. Lohr has been an Instructor of Piano at Meredith College since 1979, teaching piano, composition, choral arranging, and music theory seminars. Lohr coordinates 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. 

 

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 current 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.

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:

Pam NelsonPam 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

Joseph O'Donnell teaches Suzuki violin in Meredith's community music program. 

Degrees Held: B.M., M.M., East Carolina University

Courses Taught: Suzuki violin

Contact: P8 Jones Hall, (919) 760-8537, erfael@nc.rr.com

Frank PittmanFrank Pittman is a nationally-certified teacher of music who has taught piano at Meredith College since 1998. Pittman has performed as recitalist, concerto soloist, and chamber musician throughout the United States and in Europe; he has appeared in live broadcast over British Radio. Pittman was the co-facilitator of the Chopin Festival held at Meredith College and performed the complete series of Mozart's violin sonatas with violinist Carol Chung as part of the Mozart at Meredith celebration. Recently he joined forces with Chung, violist David Marschall, and cellist Bonnie Thron as founding members of the Quercus Quartet. His teachers have included Robert Morris, Duke Miles, Harvey Wedeen, Lambert Orkis, Joseph Di Piazza, and Walter Hautzig. A frequent lecturer, adjudicator, and master class clinician, he has served on the faculties of the Governor's School of North Carolina, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Actors Center in Philadelphia, Durham School of the Arts; he has has also been guest Lecturer of Music Theatre at Temple University. Pittman is a member of music honor fraternity Pi Kappa Lambda, the College Music Society, the American Brahms Society; he is also the current president of the NC Music Teachers Association, an affiliate of the Music Teachers National Association. Pittman is a native of Davis, North Carolina.

Degrees Held: B.M., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; M.M., Temple University; D.M.A., University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Courses Taught: Piano, Accompanying

Contact: 203 Wainwright, (919) 760-8367, PittmanF@meredith.edu

Audio clip: Listen to an audio clip of Frank Pittman and Kent Lyman performing Saint-Saëns' Carnival of the Animals as a part of the Steinway Legendary Piano Tour, when Pittman performed on Van Cliburn's piano and Lyman on Vladimir Horowitz's piano.

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

Georgia Schmidt has taught Suzuki violin in the non-credit program at Meredith since 2001. Before coming to Meredith, she taught in the public schools and privately in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and North Dakota. She has also played extensively in orchestras and small ensembles.

Degrees Held: B.M.E., University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh; Suzuki Teacher Training Courses 1A-8

Courses Taught: Suzuki Violin

Contact: 204 Wainwright, (919) 760-8536, schmidtg@meredith.edu

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 StephensonEd 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 StrongTricia Strong, accompanist, joined the Meredith staff in 2006, where she accompanies voice students. Strong is also the accompanist at St. Augustine's College and was previously on staff at the North Raleigh Christian Academy as a music educator.

Strong is currently collaborating with Meredith piano faculty member James Fogle on a recital featuring vocal and piano works of women composers.

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 • James Fogle • Kent Lyman • W. David Lynch • Risa Poniros • Anthony Vaglio, Jr. • Jim Waddelow • Ellen Williams

Adjunct Faculty: Karen A. Allred • Janet Cherry • Carol Chung • Erik Dyke • Don Eagle • Margaret Evans • Phyllis Garriss • Jimmy Gilmore • Pamela Halverson • Virginia Ewing Hudson • Donna Jolly • Tom L. Lohr • Pam Nelson • Frank Pittman • Georgia Schmidt • Ed Stephenson

School of Music Faculty: Wilinda Atchley • Judy Dunson • Marta C. Findlay-Partridge • Margaret Garriss • Pin Pin Jong • Tom L. Lohr • Joseph O'Donnell • Nancy Riva-Palacio • Georgia Schmidt • Angela Stephenson

Accompanists: Sophia Johnson • Tricia Strong

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