FACULTY
PIANO
Tanya Schwartzman - Music Theory, Organ, Chamber Music
Tanya Schwartzman is the Music Director of the Sharon Music Academy, which she has founded in 1990. She is Nationally Certified Teacher of Music in Piano, Master Teacher of World Piano Competition and is a faculty member of several international summer music programs. Tanya holds MA in Musical Education from the prestigious Novosibisrk Conservatory (Russia) and conducted postgraduate studies at the Moscow Pedagogical University, where she subsequently taught piano pedagogy to the future piano teachers. She is the author of several articles in the field of Music Theory and Pedagogy. Among her students are many winners of local, national and prestigious international piano competitions, including International Young Artists Competition in Washington, DC, Manchester Young Artist Competition in Connecticut, Young Promise International Music Competition. Tanya’s students have been selected to perform in Holland, Switzerland and France, as well as on the famous stages in US, such as Carnegie Hall in New York and John. F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC.
She is frequently invited to serve as a judge at various piano competitions.
Iryna Gendin
Iryna holds MA in Musical Education from Lvov State Conservatory (Ukraine) and B.A. in Piano Performance from Dnepropetrovsk College of Music (Ukraine). She was a faculty member of the Ukraine National Music School for Gifted Children and prepared many winners of the national competitions. She has 20 years of experience teaching piano. Among her students are the winners of the American Fine Arts Festival in New York and Young Soloists Festival in New Hampshire.
Lilit Karapetian - Ear Training, Music Theory
Lilit is a graduate of the famous Moscow Conservatory (Doctorate Degree in Piano Performance) and was a student of the internationally acclaimed pianists Mikhail Pletnev and Lev Vlasenko. She has performed extensively in her native Armenia, Russia as well as internationally to high acclaim in the press and from the renowned authorities in the musical world, including praise from Paul Badura Skoda, Mikhail Pletnev and Daniel Pollock. Lilit has had an impressive number of solo recitals in Syria, Jordan, the United States, Great Britain and Argentina. In 1994 she was invited to perform in the prestigious Grande Finale concert together with Ann Shein, a world-famous pianist, at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Her 1995 recital at the Washington Arts Club and a series of concerts in Buenos-Aires and Cordoba in 1996 were highly praised by international press and the local musical circles. She also performed with the Arlington Symphony and the Williamsburg Symphony orchestras. In 2006-2007 she had solo recitals in Venice, in the National Museum of Musical Instruments in Rome and Teatro di Marcello of Rome (Italy). Lilit has authored several articles on musicology and theory of piano interpretation. She has been teaching piano for more than 15 years. She is on the faculty of New England Conservatory Preparatory School.
Lisa Leong - Music Theory
Lisa Leong has worked with composers such as John Cage, Mario Davidovsky, Steven Stucky, Gunther Schuller, Alvin Singleton and Chen Yi. Her interest in new music has led to performances with the Auros Group for New Music and Underground Composers in Boston, Ensemble X, Mother Mallard's Portable masterpiece, Cornell Contemporary Chamber Players, Milwaukee Symphony clarinetist William Helmers, Thamyris, and Soli. As a winner of the Schubert Club's Young Artist of the Year, she appeared as soloist in Ravel's Piano Concerto in G with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. In June 2004, she appeared at the Institute and Festival of Contemporary Performance at Mannes College in New York, alongside members of Speculum Musicae. Her performances have been broadcast on Radio France, WGBH in Boston, Georgia Public Radio's "Atlanta Music Scene," and recorded by National Public Radio's "Performance Today" . Ms. Leong was Artist Affiliate at Emory University and adjunct faculty at Clayton State University. She graduated with an MM in Piano Performance at New England Conservatory, where she studied with Veronica Jochum and Stephen Drury. She is also the pianist for the Atlanta-based ensemble Bent Frequency and Sonic Generator at Gerogia institute of Technology. Lisa has been teaching in various music schools for more than 10 years.
Nicolai Lomov - Piano Master Classes
Nicolai's talent was recognized at an early age and by age five he was selected to be a student at the Mussorgsky State School for Gifted Children. His formative training took place at the Moscow Tchaikovsky State Conservatory, completing his PHD in 1971. While still a student he represented Russia in numerous international competitions, including the Beethoven, Montreal, and Queen Elizabeth in Brussels. Over the next twenty years he performed numerous recitals throughout the former Soviet Union and was a soloist with many major Russian orchestras, including the famous Moscow and Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestras. His solo performances are recorded on CD, are often aired on the radio, and are reviewed in newspaper and magazine articles. Mr. Lomov has been teaching piano and chamber music for more than 35 years at the prestigious conservatoires in Russia and USA including the St. Petersburg Conservatoire (Russia), New England Conservatory and Adamant School of Music, Vermont. Mr. Lomov has judged multiple local, national and international competitions.
Tanya Levina
Tanya has more than 25 years of experience teaching music and piano performance. She is an assistant to professors of New England Conservatory and Longy School of Music, where she works with the students, who compete in international piano competitions. Tanya is a Certified "Music Together" instructor and holds BA in piano performance and early childhood education from highly acclaimed Gorky State Conservatory, Russia. She also graduated from the same conservatory with double MA degree in piano performance and music theory and composition.
Synthia Sture
Synthia holds MM in piano performance from Longy School of Music, where she studied piano with Wayman Chin and jazz piano with Peter Cassino, and BM from the Latvian Music Academy, Riga, Latvia. She has extensively performed in US and on many stages throughout the world, including Germany, Japan, France and South Korea. She is the 1st Prize winner of La Grange Symphony Orchestra Competition, La Grange, Georgia. She is an accomplished accompanist and frequently works at Longy School of Music, Tufts University and Leslie University as well as with various chamber ensembles throughout New England. She has been teaching piano since 1990. Synthia is a Doctorate Candidate in Piano Performance at Boston University.
Pei-yeh Tsai- Ear Training, Organ
Pei-yeh Tsai holds Doctorate Degree in Musical Arts from Boston University and MM Degree in Piano Performance from Julliard School. Her list of achievements include First Prize, New England International Chamber Music Ensemble Competition; Viardo Prize, Viardo International Piano Competition; First Prize, Richmond Piano Competition; Rose Milholland Award, Peabody Conservatory, Fourth Place, Iowa International Piano Competition. She has given many solo performances all over the world and has performed chamber music with many world renowned musicians. Pei-yeh is a church organist and a choir director and has been teaching piano in Boston area since 2000.
STRINGS
Victor Romanul - Master Classes in Violin
Victor Romanul is a world renowned solo violinist and Bessie Pappas chair in violin section of the famous Boston Symphony Orchestra. He has given masterclasses throughout the country at many schools including Northwestern, Columbia, Oberlin and SUNY Stony Brook.
Several years ago, composer John Williams wrote a violin-viola duo, "Duo Concertante" for Victor and Violist Michael Zaretsky, to whom the Duo is dedicated. Victor has been named in "The Best of Boston" under the category, "soloist with orchestra".
Igor Cherevko - Violin
Igor holds Master of Music in Violin Performance Degree from renowned Odessa Conservatory (Ukraine). He has been a chair of the string department at the State Music College (Ukraine), where he worked with gifted children and taught future violin teachers violin pedagogy. He has been performing as a soloist and concertmaster of the Ukraine Chamber orchestra and is currently an active member of Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra, MA; Cape Symphony Orchestra ,MA; Nashua Symphony Orchestra, NH and Bangor Symphony Orchestra, ME.
Jo Manning - Violin, Viola, Early Childhood Music Education, Suzuki Violin
Jo Francine Manning-Souza has received a Bachelor's and Master's Degrees from The Boston Conservatory of Music. She is a violinist with certification in the 10 volumes of the Suzuki Method as well as Orff for General Music. She has her certification in grades Pre-K-12 and has taught at all levels in the public school and college. Her students have won awards at Disney World, Six Flags, and at the Junior and Senior Districts and Semsba Festivals. Ms. Manning belongs to The Star Players of Taunton, the Newton Symphony and The Boston Repertory Orchestra. She is the solo violinist for St. Mary's Church in Mansfield. Ms. Manning has played at Boston Symphony Hall and Lincoln Center with the Newton Symphony.
Clayton Mathews - Violin
Clayton Mathews is a graduate of Berklee College of Music where he studied violin performance and music production. He started to play violin at age 8 and through high school he played in New World Youth Symphony Orchestra and jazz combos. He has toured the United States with an international orchestra under the Patronage of Queens Noor and Rania of Jordan and Saudi Arabia for artist Zade Dirani and has received a Congressional Commendation Congresswoman Jane Harman for his efforts in community service. Clayton has developed a repertoire of compositions that combines his classical training and improvising elements of jazz and bluegrass. He has closely worked with artists Phillip Bailey (Earth Wind and Fire) and Gloria Estefan, Howard Shore, Steve Gadd and has recently preformed at the National 4th of July Parade in Washington D.C. Clayton has frequently caught the attention of the press, including a cover article in the Boston Globe for “Bluegrass Goes Bigtime at Berklee”, a Cambridge Imagine Magazine feature “Clayton Mathews, Berklee Bourgeoning Jazz Violinist”, and an interview on the subject of “non-verbal communication” with Psychology Today Magazine.
David Cruz - cello, chamber music
David graduated with a Master’s in Music from “The Jacobs School of Music” at Indiana University, where he studied under the guidance of distinguished cellists and Professors Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi and Janos Starker. At this same University he work as an Assistant of Professor Susan Moses (String Academy). He is pursuing a Doctorate in Music at the Boston University “School of Music”, under the guidance of Professor Michael Reynolds for whom he has been working as teaching assistant. From 2005 to 2009 David taught at the Escola Profissional de Arte de Mirandela, and from 2008 to 2009 at the Piaget Institute of Mirandela and the University of Minho in Braga (Portugal). From 2006 to 2009 he was the principal cello of Minho Chamber Orchestra and was invited to play as principal cello in the Chamber Orchestra of Guarda and the Medina Ensemble (Portugal). Throughout the years, David has performed regularly both in solo and chamber music in Portugal, Spain,
France, Switzerland, USA and Cape Verde. In 2005, and as a competition winner, he was invited to integrate the recording of a CD with pieces by the Chilean composer Juan Orrego Salas, in commemoration of his 80th anniversary.
In 2010 he was dedicated by the Mexican composer Alejandro Castillo a piece for solo cello and magnetic tape, performed for the first time in August 2010 in Bloomington, Indiana.
Jeremy Harman - cello
Cellist Jeremy Harman is active both as a freelance musician and music teacher in the Boston and NYC areas. In recent years he has performed with a diverse group of artists including John Williams, Lady Gaga, Sting, Elton John, Bobby McFerrin, Peter Gabriel and Quincy Jones in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, the Kodak Theatre, and Walt Disney Hall. As a member of the NYC-based Sirius Quartet (siriusquartet.com) he has performed and given workshops in Germany, Switzerland, China, Taiwan, and Malaysia. Jeremy received his Bachelor of Music degree at the UMKC Conservatory in his hometown of Kansas City, and then moved to Boston to study at the Longy School of Music, where he received his Master of Music degree with distinction in performance. Jeremy is a faculty member of several prestigious music schools.
WOODWINDS
Mario Cerra - Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute
Mario is a graduate of the University of Music of Rosario, Argentina and Berklee College of Music. He is a receipient of Joe Viola Award. Mario is a renowned performing and recording artist with many CDs, live and TV performances and radio concerts to his credit. He has performed with internationally acclaimed artists including Greg Hopkins, Joe Lovano, and Maria Schneider. Between 2003 and 2007 Mario lived in Buenos Aires Argentina, where he became one of the country’s most sought-after musicians in the capacity of band-leader, sideman, recording artist and music educator. Mario is the author of several published books on music education. He has been teaching woodwinds since 1996.
GUITAR
Phillip Mazza
Phillip holds MM in music performance and composition and BA in jazz performance from University of Rhode Island. He is a recipient of the Bobby Hackett Jazz Scholarship and the Antonio Cirino Memorial Art Education Fellowship. Phillip has been a professor of Jazz history at the URI and is a founder and a leader of a Jazz/Classical Chamber Quintet Interplay. He has been teaching guitar since 2003. His teaching incorporates composition, fingerboard technique, rhythmic concepts, improvisational techniques, practice ethics and music theory. Phillip teaches all styles, from Rock, Pop and Jazz composition to classical guitar and Latin arranging.
Björn Wennås
Björn received a BA from Uppsala University, a Diploma from Berklee College of Music, and MM with distinction from Longy School of Music. He made his debut on stage at the age of 12 with the Flamenco group Los Dos Jovenes led by acclaimed guitarist and educator Miroslav Simic. Björn eventually developed an interest in jazz and went on to play guitar in several big bands and smaller ensembles. He was nominated in 2004 for the "Just Plain Folk&s Award" for the best jazz vocal composition and in 2005 he was a finalist in the International Massimo Urbani Competition , a jazz soloist competition that takes place in Camerino, Italy. Björn is an active composer and currently co-leads BC Quintet featuring his original compositions drawing inspiration from both rock and jazz tradition as well as from contemporary music. He also frequently performs with Newpoli, a Southern Italian Folk Ensemble, and plays classical guitar solos, duos and trios.
VOCAL
Victor Kray - voice, piano
Victor Kray is a vocal teacher and music producer with 30 years of professional experience as a session singer, keyboard player, and arranger. Being both a singer and a record producer, he understands all aspects of vocal artistry for stage performance and recording. He has developed a unique method of “voice tuning” - the technique he uses to teach singers to stay in tune. He coaches “a cappella” ensembles and produces recordings at Harvard, MIT, Dartmouth, Brown, Boston University, Tufts University, Bentley College, Brandeis University and other colleges. Victor’s work with “Dartmouth Aires” has won Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award (CARA) for Best All-Male Collegiate Album in 2003 and 2005. During his tenure as an executive producer and music director of Megapolis International Agency in Moscow, Victor has created and produced recordings for four rock and pop bands, while contributing as a composer, arranger and lead singer to many of their hits. He is a graduate of Kiev Conservatory and Jazz Music School with major in vocal and piano. His students have successful singing careers all over the world.
Nicole Ferretti - voice, piano
Nicole Ferretti is a classically trained singer with several years of teaching and stage experience. She holds a Master’s Degree in Vocal Performance from Boston University and a BM in Vocal Performance from Florida International University. In addition to extensive study in classical and operatic repertoire, both abroad and in the U.S., she is also practiced in the genres of pop and musical theater.
Nicole is committed to providing an inspirational and positive learning environment through musical study. Many of her vocal and piano students received awards and performance recognition in local talent shows and competitions throughout the city.
Nicole enjoys an increasingly active performing career in Boston including roles with Opera del West and Metro West Opera.
Faculty At-A-Glance
When we began this venture, we conceived Sharon Music Academy to be a contributing cultural force in the local community. We knew that it would attract talented teachers, but the faculty roster that we have developed over the years is beyond our wildest dreams. We are thrilled that so many world-class musicians and educators have signed up to be part of this program.
We have teachers with the Doctorate Degrees in Music, winners of prestigious competitions, award winning and recording artists.
We have spent a lot of time and effort to select the best music instructors for our students. We always search for instructors, who are highly professional, love to teach and have a complete dedication to their students. That is why so many students of the Sharon Music Academy stay in touch with their instructors long after they graduate from our Academy.
Every year the faculty of the Sharon Music Academy gives a concert as a part of a fundraising event to benefit some charitable cause. For all our students and community at-large this highly entertaining and educational event serves as an inspiration to study music. Clips from these concerts can be found in our Media Archive.
