2019 Faculty

Fresno, California

Dr. Cari Earnhart serves as the Director of Choral Activities at California State University, Fresno, where she conducts the Fresno State Concert Choir, Chamber Singers, and Masterworks Chorus, and teaches undergraduate/graduate conducting. In demand as a conductor, clinician, and adjudicator, Dr. Earnhart has worked with choirs in the US and abroad. As a conductor abroad, she served as Director of Choral Activities at the American University of Sharjah and as guest conductor with the Budapesti Vándor Kórus in Budapest, Hungary, and the Istanbul International Chamber Choir, as well as Maestro of Ensemble Vocale Tempus Floridum and Maestro Collaboratore of Coro dell’ Accademia del Diletto and Coro Polofonico del Caricentro in Florence. Dr. Earnhart was the first female Conductor of the UNT Men’s Chorus and served as Assistant Conductor of Schola Cantorum of Texas in Ft. Worth. In addition, she has served as guest conductor for honor choirs and choral festivals and as a guest lecturer for conducting and vocal master classes. In April 2017, the Fresno State Chamber Singers performed under her direction at the Library of Congress to honor the 21st US Poet Laureate. She frequently presents workshops on Arabic choral music, vocal health for singers and conductors, and vocal epidemiology and serves as the ACDA Western Division Repertoire and Resources Chair. An accomplished vocalist, Earnhart has performed professionally as a soloist in the US, Europe, and the Middle East. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and Master of Music degrees in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy from Oklahoma State University and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting with related field studies in Vocal Pedagogy from the University of North Texas in Denton. She is very excited to be returning for her second year as faculty at Quartz Mountain.

New York, New York

Originally from Copenhagen, Denmark, Marianne Dello Joio danced with the companies of Paul Taylor, Senta Driver, and Diane Gray. In 1980, she was invited by Martha Graham to join the faculty of the Graham Center in New York. She was a faculty member from 1980 to 2010, and served as both Director of the School and Dean of Students. Martha Graham selected Marianne to introduce the Graham technique at The Royal Danish Ballet, in Copenhagen, and also had Marianne twice assist in setting a Graham Center in Firenze, Italy. Marianne was appointed in 2000 to teach Graham technique at the Ailey School. In 2014, she was appointed a faculty member at American Ballet Theater’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School. Her other teaching includes American Ballet Theater Summer, French Academie of Ballet Summer, Studio Maestro New York Summer Intensive, The International Danse Center Paris, Dansens Hus Copenhagen, Ballet Akademiet Stockholm, and Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. Ms. Dello Joio resides in New York City with her husband, composer Justin Dello Joio, and their daughter Chiara.

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Bryan is a teacher, filmmaker, and photographer who currently serves as Chair and Associate Professor of Film at Oklahoma City University. His professional experience includes working for Panavision-Chicago and as a freelance producer, writer, editor, and cameraman based out of Atlanta where he won a Southeast Region Emmy Award. His film interests include American independent cinema and personal documentary, and his writing is included in "Devised and Directed by Mike Leigh," a collection of essays on the British director’s work that Bryan co-edited with Marc DiPaolo.

Morgantown, West Virginia

Violinist Dr. Mikylah Myers’ performances have been called “energetic and virtuosic” by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and “captivating” by Boulder, Colorado’s Daily Camera. An award-winning chamber musician, Myers is Professor of Violin at West Virginia University, Coordinator of the WVU School of Music’s String Area, and violinist of the Lyon Piano Trio. She has performed internationally as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Italy, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary, and was a 19-year member of the Britt Festival Orchestra in Jacksonville, Oregon. Myers received her doctoral and master’s degrees in violin performance from the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music, where she studied with Fredell Lack, and her bachelor of music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where she studied violin with Roland and Almita Vamos. She was also a four-year-member and co-captain of the Oberlin College varsity women’s soccer team. She can be heard on Delos and Parma Records.

Fort Worth, Texas

Dr. Misha Galaganov, chair of strings at TCU, has performed in Russia, Korea, China, Italy, Israel, Czech Republic, Mexico, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Austria, and the USA in many prestigious venues, including Concertgebouw, Carnegie, and Shanghai Concert Halls. He has premiered more than 20 compositions by composers from all continents. An active advocate for chamber music, Galaganov has founded and directed chamber music programs in the Greater Youth Orchestra of Fort Worth, Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute, and at TCU (Chamber Music Roundup festivals and Academy). He was also a co-founder of the chamber music program at Steinway Hall in Fort Worth. Galaganov has taught in many festivals and given master classes in Europe, America, and Asia. Many of his viola and violin students have successful solo, teaching, and orchestra careers in many countries around the world. Galaganov performs and records on Mansuy a Paris viola.

Chicago, Illinois

Jeremy Attanaseo is the Assistant Principal Bass of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. He has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Grant Park Orchestra, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Minnesota Orchestra, the Joffrey Ballet, and the Chicago Philharmonic. He is also principal bass of International Chamber Artists and New Millennium Symphony Orchestra. He was previously Principal Bass of the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra as well as a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. Jeremy is part of the applied bass faculty at DePaul University. He also teaches bass pedagogy to music education and performance majors. Jeremy received his Bachelor of Music and Masters of Music in bass performance from DePaul University where he studied with Rob Kassinger.

Chicago, Illinois

Deb Stevenson has been a freelance oboist in the Chicago area for over 30 years. She is founder and oboist with the Metropolis Quartet. She is also a member of the Metropolis and Lake Forest Symphonies, and is co-founder of the Mozart Journey—a collaboration with the St. Charles Singers and orchestra. Other groups frequently performed with are the Milwaukee Symphony, Ars Viva Orchestra, Handel Week Festival, and the Apollo Chorus. Ms. Stevenson can be heard on recordings of the Strauss Alpine Symphony and Stravinsky's complete Firebird with the Chicago Symphony; I Know Where I'm Going and Christmas in St. Charles with the St. Charles Singers; The Soundstage Sessions with Stevie Nicks, Messiah with Apollo Chorus; numerous recordings for GIA music publishing company and the Milwaukee Symphony; and Music from the Bolivian Rainforest with the Metropolis Symphony. As a contractor, Ms. Stevenson has hired performers for the St. Charles Singers concerts, recordings and Mozart Sacred Choral Works series—the Mozart Journey, as well as for the Heartland Voices and Canterbury Singers. In her work for the Paramount Arts Center, the Rialto Square Theater, and the Chicago Theater, she has provided musicians for artists such as Bernadette Peters, Bob Newhart, Marie Osmond, Smokey Robinson, Eddie Vedder, Video Games Live, and Mannheim Steamroller. She has provided orchestras for the Paramount Arts Center’s highly acclaimed, in-house-produced Broadway musical series. In addition to teaching at Wheaton College, Vandercook, and North Park Universities, she also maintains an active private teaching studio. Her students have gone on institutions such as Eastman, Interlochen Arts Academy, DePaul, Roosevelt, the University of Illinois, and the President’s Own Marine Band. Ms. Stevenson has studied oboe and English horn at the University of Louisville, Northern Illinois University, Boston University, and Northwestern University, where she received her Master of Music degree. She has studied with Grover Schiltz, Ray Still, Marion Gibson, Carl Sonik, and Larry Thorstenburg.

Nashville, Tennessee

Maya Stone is a champion of music. She has commissioned and premiered several works by American composers. Currently, Stone is Acting Principal Bassoon with the Huntsville Symphony and Second Bassoon with the Sphinx Symphony in Detroit. Stone is a freelance musician in the Nashville region. She is also passionate about participating in the rise of musicianship and life skills in youth. She gives recitals and master classes around the U.S. each year. Dr. Stone was a visiting professor at Universities in Missouri and Ohio. Prior to that, she was Assistant Professor of Bassoon at Middle Tennessee State University, and in 2004, she held a visiting professorship in Double Reeds at Austin Peay State University. Dr. Stone has a D.M.A. from the University of Texas at Austin, an M.M. in from Michigan State University, and a B.M. from SUNY Potsdam. Her teachers include Kristin Wolfe Jensen, Barrick Stees, and Frank Wangler.

Jonesboro, Arkansas

Dr. Christopher Wilson is the Principal Trumpet of the Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra and Artist/Associate Professor of Trumpet at Arkansas State University. The journal of the Music Critics Association of North America described Wilson’s playing as “eloquent” and “masterful” in a 2018 review. He is an active soloist and clinician and has performed throughout the United States, Italy, and Japan, including multiple featured performances at the International Trumpet Guild Conferences. Previously, Wilson was a member of the United States Air Force Band, Washington, DC, where he was a featured tour soloist performing the Arutunian Trumpet Concerto. Wilson released New Horizons in 2013, a solo album of new original recital pieces for trumpet. The album was featured on National Public Radio as its “delight of the week.” Wilson often performs with the Arkansas Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Memphis Symphony, and Wheeling Symphony orchestras and is a Yamaha Performing Artist/Clinician.

Tallahassee, Florida

John W. Parks IV, Professor of Percussion at The Florida State University, holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music, Northwestern University and Furman University. He is artist/clinician for Malletech, Avedis Zildjian Cymbals, Black Swamp Percussion, and Remo. Parks made his Carnegie Hall solo recital debut in Weill Recital Hall in May of 2007, and has performed with diverse organizations ranging from the Eastman Wind Ensemble on their 2000 tour of Japan and Taiwan and the Schlossfestspiele Orchestra of Heidelberg to the Kansas City, Alabama, Key West, and Jacksonville Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Florida Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic, and Eastern Music Festival Faculty Orchestra. John also leads the FSU Percussion Ensemble, winners of the 2007 and 2011 Percussive Arts Society International Percussion Ensemble Competitions, and in 2013 was inducted into the Engineering Wing of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences as a voting member of the Grammy Awards.

Norman, Oklahoma

Konrad Eek is a photographer, custom framer, and arts educator based in Norman, Oklahoma. A product photography specialist his portfolio ranges from frying pans to fine art. As a framer his work varies from the simplest frame to multi floor office installations, with a new emphasis on individual hand crafted frames for artists and collectors. As an educator he has served as an adjunct professor for Oklahoma City Community College for over 15 years. Eek has facilitated many workshops for a diverse group of arts organizations and commercial clients. He is the author of many courses and articles for Lynda.com covering framing, exhibiting, photo lighting, Photoshop, and traditional black and white photography. He has also served the Oklahoma Arts Institute in a number of roles for over 25 years.