Janice Kyle, oboist, received her Bachelor of Music degree at California State University in Sacramento. She studied with Ben Glovinsky and Neil Tatman. She followed up her B.M. with graduate studies in oboe performance at Indiana University with Jerry Sirucek. She has taught elementary music at Westport Central School and oboe performance at Plattsburgh State University. She performs in various solo and ensemble venues in the Adirondacks with the Adirondack Wind Ensemble, Champlain Valley Voices Orchestra, the Key Winds Trio, and the Trillium Chamber Players of which she is a founding member. Janice often borrows from other instruments’ repertoire for performance on oboe. She enjoys cold, snowy winters skijoring (sometimes off piste) with her dogs. Janice and her husband, Hans, (and the dogs) live in New Russia, New York.
Janine Scherline is the principal clarinetist with the Adirondack Wind Ensemble and teaches applied lessons at SUNY Plattsburgh. Especially fond of performing in chamber settings, she loves playing regularly with Trillium, in unique musical settings and as a guest soloist and performer around the Adirondack Region. In her role as Director of Donor Engagement at Adirondack Foundation, Janine enjoys working with generous people who are making a positive difference through philanthropy. She also enjoys spending time outdoors—especially on snowshoes in the winter—with her husband Todd whom she met at Ithaca College while completing her masters in clarinet performance, and with their feline companions Ginsu and Peeka.
Timothy Mount, pianist, singer, and choral conductor, is Professor Emeritus of conducting at Stony Brook University, one of the leading graduate music programs in the country. He conducted nine commercial CDs with professional choirs and orchestras in New York City and Moscow and two with the Stony Brook Camerata Singers. Tim guest conducted many choirs and for over ten years was conductor of the professional chorus and orchestra at the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival. He published five articles concerning choral music and a video, Refine Your Conducting Technique, available from Santa Barbara Music. In winter 2018, his article, “Preparing for the First Rehearsal: A Guide for Choral Conductors,” appeared in the online journal, Chorteach. A bass-baritone, Tim sang with virtually every professional choir in New York City. He now plays piano chamber music in the Adirondacks when he isn’t captaining tour boats on Lake Champlain or caretaking remote island lighthouses around the world.
An active proponent of the solo viola, Patricia McCarty has performed to consistent critical acclaim throughout North America, Europe, Japan, Australia and Venezuela, appearing as soloist with orchestras such as the Detroit Symphony, Houston Symphony, Boston Pops, Orchester der Beethovenhalle Bonn, l’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Turiae Camerata of Valencia, and Kyoto and Shinsei Nihon Symphonies. Her recital appearances include New York, San Francisco, Boston, Detroit, Caracas, Valencia, Geneva, five International Viola Congresses, and a debut at London’s Wigmore Hall hailed by the Times to be “an outstanding exhibition of string playing of the highest American class.” Winner of the First Silver Medal and Radio Prize in the Geneva International Competition when she was eighteen, Ms. McCarty has also been awarded two National Endowment for the Arts Solo Recitalist Grants and the John Knowles Paine Award for performance of new American music. Her recordings for Ashmont, Equilibrium, ECM, and Northeastern labels, featuring viola works by Rebecca Clarke, Bach, Telemann, Schubert, Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann, George Balch Wilson and Keith Jarrett, have received international accolades, including Gramophone’s “Critics Choice” and Strad “Selection CD”.
As chamber musician Ms. McCarty has performed at festivals including Aspen, Marlboro, Tanglewood, Sarasota, Bowdoin, Bay Chamber Concerts, Aria (Canada), Hokkaido (Japan) and the Australian String Academy in Sydney. Former member of the Lenox Quartet, she has also toured with Music from Marlboro, Boston Chamber Music Society, and Boston Symphony Chamber Players, with whom she has recorded works by Brahms and Dvorak. Other collaborations include musicians as diverse as composer Lou Harrison and his gamelan ensemble, Joseph Silverstein, Maureen Forrester, and jazz pianist Keith Jarrett, whose work Bridge of Light for viola and orchestra Ms. McCarty commissioned, premiered and has recorded for ECM.
Soloist in the New York premiere of the orchestral version of Britten’s Lachrymae, Ms. McCarty has performed numerous world premieres, including works by Daniel Pinkham, Tibor Serly, Jerome Rosen, Marjorie Merryman, Elizabeth Vercoe and Martin Amlin. Her research of viola repertoire has been published in Strad, Symphony Magazine, Strings, American Viola Society Journal and American String Teacher and she is a contributing author to the book Playing & Teaching Viola, published in 2005 by American String Teachers Association. She has given master classes throughout the U.S., as well as in Canada, Venezuela, Australia and Spain, and her translated articles have appeared in Korean and Dutch string teaching publications. Former assistant principal violist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Ms. McCarty teaches viola and professional orchestral audition preparation online, and is a faculty member of the InterHarmony Music School. Her former students are employed in professional orchestras, chamber ensembles, university and pre-college faculties worldwide.
Singer, soloist, and director Amy Nelson has had a lifelong involvement in music. An accomplished soprano, she has performed in venues from Vienna, Austria to Carnegie Hall. She participated in both the Metropolitan Opera Auditions and the Bel Canto Competition, where she was a quarter-finalist. Amy has performed with the Madison Opera, Madison Savoyards, Hartford Players and the Festival Choir of Madison. As a soloist with the Festival Choir, Ms. Nelson performed in the prestigious Ost-West Musikfest in Austria, the first choral performance ever invited to the event. For the Hartford Players Amy has sung lead roles in musicals including Oklahoma and Guys and Dolls, and also directed Godspell. Amy has studied with Lois Fisher, Julia Faulkner, Kitt Reuter-Foss and Joseph Martorano. She now makes her home in New York State’s Adirondack Mountains, where she teaches music and is a familiar recitalist and performer.
Marilyn Reynolds graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Royal Conservatory of Brussels (Belgium), where she attained “First Prize with Distinction” as a student of Andre Gertler. While studying in Brussels she also performed in the Belgian Radio Orchestra. Other teachers include Margaret Pardee, David Cerone, Richard Young, and Shmuel Ashkenasi. Ms. Reynolds studied chamber music with the Lenox, Guarneri, New Hungarian, and Vermeer String Quartets. She attended the Meadowmount School of Music and was a Fellow in Tanglewood’s Berkshire Music Center Orchestra. As a member of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, she performed, recorded, and toured internationally with the group for over 30 years. During that time Ms. Reynolds was also a busy freelancer in New York, performing in many Broadway shows, including several by Steven Sondheim. Now residing on the west shore of Lake Champlain, Ms. Reynolds plays throughout the North Country and Quebec, and is especially fond of performing chamber music with Metamusic and the Trillium Chamber Players. She teaches violin and viola at her home in Rouses Point.
Brian Donat is a full time freelance cellist who moved to Rochester after ~10 years of living and working in the Adirondack region of NY. An alum of Houghton College and the Meadowmount School, he keeps busy by teaching privately and performing with anybody who will have him – orchestras, musicals, weddings, ballets, chamber concerts, choirs, churches, etc. When he’s not playing cello, he can usually be found playing outside – hiking, running, xc skiing, or biking. He lives in Webster with his wife, Jolene, and their two four-legged “children.”
No stranger to Vermont and New York audiences, Robin Cameron-Phillips has performed with Toronto New Chamber Orchestra, Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Burlington Choral Arts Society orchestrasand the local Adirondack Wind Ensemble among others.
As a chamber musician, Robin is most active with Vermont Classic Consort Trio and has been a featured and frequent guest soloist for Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble.
She is a long-time member of the well-known Vermont Virtuosi Flute Ensemble and appeared on Live on Vermont Public Radiofeaturing “Pipe Dreams” concert series 1-6 as well as UVM, Middlebury College, Brattleboro and Montpelier. “Pipe Dreams 7” was performed this past summer for the Concerts on the Hill Series in Weston, UVM, Middlebury College, Brattleboro and Montpelier.
Recent performances include playing in Keene Valley for theEast Branch Friends of the Arts in “ADK Women in Music” asguest soloist with Trillium and with an all-Ukrainian (almost)orchestra presented by the Caspian, Vermont, Highland Center for the Arts in their “Monday Music Series”. She is heard regularly performing in the well-known Hand House concerts,most recently in “Singing Noise Colors” in celebration of renowned Vermont composer Dennis Bathory-Kitsz, this past October.
Originally a native of Westchester, NY, Robin earned her flute master’s in performance from Northwestern University and herbachelor’s in performance from Ithaca College.
Teachers include Walfred Kujala (Chicago Symphony), John Krell (Philadelphia Orchestra), and Timothy Hutchins (Montreal Symphony). Master class performances include those withGeoffrey Gilbert (teacher to James Galway, William Bennett andTrevor Wye) and Chicago Symphony’s Dale Clevenger, Arnold Jacobs, and Vince Cichowicz.
Robin lives on the beautiful Cumberland Head Peninsula, loves to dig in the dirt and spend quiet reading time with her chubby tuxedo cat, Snow Bottom.
Jennifer Moore, pianist, has taught PreK-12 music in the northern Adirondacks of New York State for nearly 15 years. Her educational journey includes a BFA in Piano Performance from Purchase College (studying piano with Maria Shielska, John Cobb, Vladimir Feltsman, and Steven Lubin; vocal accompanying and coaching with Steven Blier and Dennis Helmrich), graduate work in Vocal Accompanying and Coaching at Westminster Choir College (studying with JJ Penna and Dalton Baldwin), a MM in Music Education from the Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam (serving as accompanist and assistant conductor of the Hosmer Choir), and is currently a DMA candidate in Music Education at Boston University focusing on rural music education research. She has been both an Associate and Full Conductor at the Choral Institute at Oxford while attending the 2017, 2019 and 2022 summer sessions at St. Stephen’s House under the direction of James Jordan, James Whitbourn, and Steve Pilkington.
Jennifer has been an active member of the Piano by Nature Board of Directors coordinating a robust virtual and live concert series as well as educational outreach programming throughout the region. She also serves as a member of the Depot Theatre’s Education Advisory Committee, a professional theatre organization dedicated to providing rich learning opportunities for all students both on and off stage. She has enjoyed decades of performance opportunities on stages large (Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, UNESCO, Chicago Cultural Center) and sall (Middlebury Town Hall Theatre, Piano by Nature, Harborside Concert Series, and a host of public school festivals) as collaborative pianist, chorister, and conductor. Jennifer is very happy to be serving as Trillium’s interim pianist for the fall season.
Michael Lewandowski began drum set at age 17 playing rock and roll by ear for two years before taking
lessons and learning how to read music. His musical style is diverse and covers just about all
genres including rock, blues, jazz, funk, classical, world, and more. He earned a Writing degree
with a Music Minor from SUNY Plattsburgh in 2001. He spent some time in the SUNY
Plattsburgh Jazz Ensemble, Symphonic Band, and Dr. Rick Davies’ first incarnation of the
Mambo Combo. His role as manager for the Adirondack Youth Orchestra from 2001-2003
inspired him to consider a teaching career. In 2006 he earned a Music Degree at Ohio
University and began teaching in many of the schools in the North Country area. He has taught
General Music from pre-K to 12th grade, Choral, Orchestra, Wind Band, and Jazz Ensemble. In
2020 he earned his Master of Music at SUNY Buffalo State. Currently, he is an active performer
and works with the Adirondack Jazz Orchestra, Adirondack Wind Ensemble, The Thugtet, and
many other pit orchestras and small combos. He is the Band Director at Chazy Central Rural
School as well as adjunct lecturer at SUNY Plattsburgh.
Matthew Dunne, guitarist, bassist, and composer, has had a distinguished career as a performer
and composer in both jazz and classical music, playing at festivals, in concert halls, and in jazz
clubs. He has written music for many classical guitar soloists and ensembles, including Grammy
winners David Russell and the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, with several acclaimed recordings of
his music on major labels.
Matthew was a professor of music at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where he directed a
thriving guitar program for 27 years, and his students have won prizes in international
competitions and enjoyed professional success for generations. He has a DMA from UT Austin
and a MM from Florida State University, and a BM from the Crane School of Music at SUNY
Potsdam.
In March 2020, Matthew and his wife Elizabeth Coccia moved full time to Keene, NY, where
they had been summer residents for several years. Since then, he has continued to perform,
compose, and contribute to the area’s thriving arts scene. He is the president of East Branch
Friends of the Arts and serves on the board of directors for the Essex County Arts council.