SPECIAL MUSIC SCHOOL - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Executive Support Manager and Board Liaison
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director and Adult Division Manager at Kaufman 's Lucy Moses School
Alicia is Assistant Director and Adult Division Manager at Kaufman's Lucy Moses School and Producer of the Kaufman Music Center International Youth Piano Competition. She holds a BA in Theater from Williams College, has studied Dalcroze Eurythmics and is a former teaching artist at City Lights Youth Theater. Her directing, costume design and acting credits include Target Margin Theater, American Opera Projects (Lincoln Center Festival), Ontological-Hysteric Theater, Galapagos, HERE, 92NY's Makor Center
Andrea has more than 30 years' experience teaching all ages and is currently on the faculty at Kaufman Music Center, Logrea Dance Academy and the Ohman Ballet School. She holds a BA in Dance from Oakland University and trained at the Princeton Ballet School, and has danced professionally with the Eglevsky Ballet, Richmond Ballet, Russian Ballet Theatre of Delaware and Ballet Theatre Pennsylvania. She directed her own school in Michigan for many years.
Job Titles:
- Dean of Music, High School
Angela is currently Theater Coordinator at Kaufman Music Center with Sean Hartley and has been both the production coordinator and choreographer for the Broadway Playhouse series, and production coordinator for the Broadway Close Up series for over 16 years. She's written and directed for Kaufman's Summer Musical Theater Workshop and has taught movement and acting for the Winter Arts Camp. She loves watching children develop a strong connection to musical theater.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
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- Vice President of the Board of Trustees
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- Vice President of the Board of Trustees
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- Treasurer of the Board of Trustees
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- Member of the Board of Trustees
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- Member of the Board of Trustees
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- Member of the Board of Trustees
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- Billing & Payroll Coordinator
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- Senior Director of Marketing & Communications
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- Member of the Board of Trustees
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- Member of the Board of Trustees
- Honorary Chair
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Finola Merivale is an Irish composer of acoustic and electro-acoustic music, currently living in New York City. She is a Dean's Fellow at Columbia University where she is pursuing a DMA in Composition, studying with George Lewis, Georg Friedrich Haas and Zosha Di Castri. Themes that run across her music include climate change, inequality and a sense of place - both real and imagined.
Her compositions have been performed internationally - in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia - and featured at festivals such as the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival, the Contemporary Music Festival of Buenos Aires, and Vox Feminae in Tel Aviv. Her music has been performed by musicians of the Chicago and St. Louis Symphony Orchestras, the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Talea Ensemble, Desdemona Ensemble, Crash Ensemble, Nois Quartet, PRISM Saxophone Quartet and Bearthoven, amongst others. Projects in 2020-21 include commissions from bassoonist Rebekah Heller, pianist Karl Larson and her first evening-length multimedia work for Real Loud.
Finola will have three records released in 2021, including her first solo album, String Music of Finola Merivale recorded by Desdemona Ensemble. Pathos Trio is releasing her new work oblivious / oblivion on their debut album and Nois Quartet is releasing her 2016 saxophone quartet Kenopsia.
Finola also plays gamelan, which she has spent time studying in Java, Indonesia. During her mid-twenties, she spent two years teaching English in Hong Kong. When she's not composing, she enjoys exploring New York City, yoga, playing with her adopted cat Saffron, cooking vegetarian food for friends, and relaxing with a cup of Barry's Tea, which hails from her home county of Cork.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Member of the Development and Event Management Team
- Institutional Giving Associate / Development Operations Assistant
A Steinway Artist, Hsing-ay is focused on the art of listening, finding innovative solutions that synthesize music training, biology and emotional insight. Through concerts, residencies and courses, she empowers performers and learners to find transformational pathways through her performances and teaching on how creative listening is essential to making music and living fully. The recipient of numerous awards, Hsing-ay trained at Juilliard and Yale School of Music and has performed at Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Music Director
- Director of Kaufman 's Lucy Moses School
- Director, Lucy Moses School
Dr. Kesselman is a past recipient of ten America-Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarships. He received his B.M. degree, cum laude, from S. Rubin Academy of Music in Tel Aviv, and his M.M. and D.M.A. degrees from Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore. His teachers have included Yoheved Kaplinsky, Emanuel Krasovsky and Irina Zaritskaya. Currently, he serves as the Director of Lucy Moses School and Music Director of Special Music School (M. 859) at Kaufman Music Center in Manhattan, at curates the popular Tuesday Matinees series at Kaufman's Merkin Hall. Dr. Kesselman serves frequently as a judge in international competitions and auditions, including Concert Artist Guild, New Orleans International Piano Competition, Astral Artists, Virginia Wering International Piano Competition and Boston University. He is also the Founder and Artistic Director of the Kaufman Music Center International Youth Piano Competition. Dr. Kesselman is a member of the piano faculty at Lucy Moses School and Special Music School at Kaufman Music Center.
A pianist praised by The New York Times, Igal serves as Director of Kaufman's Lucy Moses School and Music Director of Special Music School. One of today's most forward-thinking performers and music educators, he also curates Kaufman's popular Tuesday Matinees series and is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Kaufman Music Center International Youth Piano Competition. Igal holds degrees from S. Rubin Academy of Music and Peabody Conservatory of Music.
Job Titles:
- Vice President of the Board of Trustees
An actor and teaching artist specializing in working with children, Jacob has been a member of the Kaufman theater community since 2003. He honed his acting skills at the Waterwell Drama Program at the Professional Performing Arts School and received his BA in Theatre & Performance from SUNY Purchase. Jacob currently works as a child wrangler and actor at The Metropolitan Opera and is a teaching artist and director of children's theater at Kaufman Music Center.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
A New York-based songwriter, actor, musician and teacher, John grew up performing professionally, beginning with the NYC/Metropolitan Opera and New York Philharmonic, and has been teaching children for the better part of a decade. He's been part of the Kaufman family for over 10 years as a Summer Musical Theater Workshop camper and counselor, and a performer with the Poppyseed Players. He received a BFA in Musical Theatre from Montclair State University.
Job Titles:
- Director of Artistic Planning
Job Titles:
- Chief Development Officer
- Member of the Development and Event Management Team
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
A chamber musician, orchestra director and soloist, Jude performs internationally on historical forms of the violin. He's the first violinist of Sonnambula and a principal player with the American Bach Soloists. Jude has recorded for Centaur, Avie and Naxos, and has enjoyed collaborations with many of America's period orchestras. He is a faculty member at Kaufman Music Center, and in the summers he's the Program Director for the Clarion Collegium Week workshop.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
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- Member of the Board of Trustees
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- Member of the Board of Trustees
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- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Kate Sheeran became Executive Director of Kaufman Music Center in August of 2018. Since then, she has launched several Center-wide initiatives, including Artists-in-Residence, robust community programming, and increased collaborations between the Center's schools and professional presenting sides. Notably, she has led Kaufman Music Center through the COVID-19 crisis, resulting in programmatic and organizational success and international acclaim for its innovative approach during this time. Through the launch of Musical Storefronts, over 130 safe concerts were produced for the community and to employ professional artists when concert halls were closed. The initiative was featured in 60 print and television news stories spanning 17 countries including The New York Times, Forbes, BBC, Al Jazeera, CBS, ABC, and NBC. At the same time, Middle School students from Kaufman Music Center's Special Music School wrote and illustrated the book Who is Florence Price? which became published internationally by G. Schirmer and reached #1 in classical music biographies on Amazon. The story has been featured in national press including NPR, GMA3, and The Kelly Clarkson Show, and the project has resulted in an ongoing partnership with The Philadelphia Orchestra.
Previously, Kate served as Provost and Dean of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. In that capacity, she served as the chief academic officer of the institution, oversaw all curricular and programmatic areas, led the faculty, and launched a professional development curriculum for all students. Earlier in her career, Kate was a member of the leadership team at Mannes School of Music, where she was an assistant dean and directed all pre-college and continuing education.
As a professional horn player, Kate has performed with a wide range of ensembles including Ensemble Signal, The Wordless Music Orchestra, Alarm Will Sound, Ensemble LPR, and the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. She has recorded for the Nonesuch, Cantaloupe, Western Vinyl, New Amsterdam, XL, Tzadik and Warp labels, and for commercial television and film. Kate has been a faculty member at Dickinson College, Susquehanna University, Bucknell University and Mannes Prep.
Kate received her undergraduate degree, Certificate in Arts Leadership, and Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, and an MM from the Yale School of Music. She has served on the Boards of Kinhaven Music School and Alarm Will Sound and is currently on the Boards of the Lincoln Square Business Improvement District and JACK Quartet.
Kate Sheeran became Executive Director of Kaufman Music Center in August of 2018. Since then, she has launched several Center-wide initiatives, including Artists-in-Residence, robust community programming, and increased collaborations between the Center's schools and professional presenting sides. Notably, she has led Kaufman through the COVID-19 crisis, resulting in programmatic and organizational success and international acclaim for its innovative approach during this time. Previously, Kate served as Provost and Dean of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Most know Ken, a cellist celebrated for his musicianship, as a YouTuber, social media personality, and for pioneering his unique style of playing the cello like a guitar. He's one-third of the band Empire Wild and founder and producer of JHMJams, a video series of pop covers by classical and jazz musicians. Currently a Kaufman faculty member, Kubota holds degrees from The Juilliard School (BM, MM), and has served on faculty at the Peabody Preparatory under Johns Hopkins University.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Kristian de Leon is a Brooklyn-based composer and artist who aims to create colorful, imaginative works that explore the threads that connect our human condition. He focuses on blending elements of acoustic, electronic, and visual media, looking to find inventive ways to push past traditional conventions, fostering a new kind of connection to those who interact with his work. His recent projects include compositions for acoustic-electric ensemble and dynamic lighting, works for creative movement and adaptive fixed media, and real-time visual synthesis for generative electronic music.
Kristian has written for a number of premiere performance artists and ensembles such as JACK Quartet, Bergamot Quartet, Hypercube Ensemble, Transient Canvas, and the CSUF Wind Symphony. He also has worked closely with individuals and organizations, including Southern California Marimba and Brooklyn Motion Capture Dance Ensemble, creating new works for different mediums ranging from traditional concert music to experimental live sound design.
Kristian is currently living in Brooklyn, NY with his obscenely large house cat, Bagel, and holds a Bachelor's degree in Percussion Performance from California State University, Fullerton, and a Master's Degree in Music Theory and Composition at NYU Steinhardt under Michael Gordon, Shelley Washington, and Robert Honstein. He is also a proud Rustic Percussion Artist (rusticpercussion.com, @RusticPercussion on Instagram).
Job Titles:
- Administrative Associate
- Registrar
Job Titles:
- Member of the Development and Event Management Team
- Manager, Events & Individual Giving
Job Titles:
- Founding Member of the Activist Orchestra the Dream Unfinished
A strong advocate for social equality, critically-acclaimed pianist, activist and educator Kyle P. Walker is a founding member of the activist orchestra The Dream Unfinished. He's been featured on NPR and NY Public Radio and has performed at many prestigious venues including the Apollo Theater and the Kennedy Center. Kyle received his MM from Mannes College and teaches at Kaufman Music Center, the Fort Lee School of Music and the Artist Program at Suzuki on the Island.
Job Titles:
- FOUNDER and DIRECTOR, the HEBREW ARTS SCHOOL
Job Titles:
- Member of the Development and Event Management Team
- Manager, Institutional Giving
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- Member of the Board of Trustees
A professional performer, writer and educator with 13+ years of teaching experience, Mary is a graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy and holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from The New School. She attended Kaufman's Summer Musical Theater Workshop as a camper, intern, assistant director and film editor and has taught at Different Directions, Bank Street School and Little Leaf Preschool. Mary is in the process of completing her third original full-length musical.
Job Titles:
- Registrar
- Music Program Coordinator
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- Pathways & Partnerships Manager
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- Member of the Board of Trustees
Michael is a pianist, clarinetist, composer and teacher who has served on the faculty of Kaufman Music Center, Columbia University, Diller-Quaile School, and the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. He received a Diplôme Supérieur from the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze in Switzerland and earned a Dalcroze Certificate and License from Juilliard and the Longy School of Music, and has served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Dalcroze Society of America.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Omar is an award-winning composer, arranger, performer and educator who has composed music for film, podcasts, dance pieces and a web series; has co-written three original musicals with a fourth on the way; and is working on his first solo album. Since graduating from Swarthmore College in 2020, he's been a teaching artist at Rosie's Theater Kids and Different Directions, where he teaches classes ranging from musical theater, singing and music composition to stage combat.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Rafael is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory of Music at the John Hopkins University and a Fulbright Scholar who has concertized in Germany, Central and South America, Puerto Rico and New York. An experienced educator and current Kaufman faculty member, he has given masterclasses and has served as Chairman of the Piano Department at the Turtle Bay Music School as well as a judge in numerous piano competitions.
Job Titles:
- Marketing & Communications Associate
Job Titles:
- Founding Director of Kaufman 's Jazz Program
Celebrated as both a jazz guitarist and educator, Roni is the founding director of Kaufman's Jazz Program and leader or co-leader on a dozen acclaimed albums. "The people who come to my jazz camps are serious amateurs," Roni says. "I give them the opportunity to learn a lot - repertoire, rhythms, techniques - but I also give them the space to enjoy themselves in a relaxed, vacation-friendly environment. The goal is to have fun learning."
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
- Honorary Chair
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- Member of the Board of Trustees
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- Co - Founder
- Director
- Small Ensembles
Sarah Goldfeather is a composer-performer who lives in Jersey City. Her compositions include commissions from pianist Timo Andres, ETHEL quartet, a 25-minute song cycle she performed with Contemporaneous, and several works for her ensembles, Exceptet and Cipher. Future projects include works for Warp Trio and Alkemie. She received a 2023 Finalist award from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
Sarah co-writes and performs music for Goldfeather, an experimental pop band based out of New York City. The whimsical brainchild of Sarah Goldfeather and Mike Tierney, Goldfeather's music has been described as "a nightmare funhouse-mirror take on Carly Rae Jepson-style upbeat pop [that is] deeply disconcerting and outrageously fun" (National Sawdust Log), with songs that are "as crazy as they are catchy... a three minute rush of conflicting emotions over sonic exploration... sounds from one universe seem to be leaking into another" (New Sounds), "giddy, cute, vulnerable, and delightful" (I Care If You Listen), "full of light and life" (The Current, Minnesota Public Radio), and "poignant...striking and laudable" (The Deli Magazine). Their fourth studio album, Change, was released in 2023 on innova (American Composers Foundation).
Sarah has also had an active career as a violinist and singer. She was the violinist in the Tony Award-winning and Grammy-nominated Broadway production of Oklahoma! and the 2023 production of The Coast Starlight at Lincoln Center Theater, and has additionally performed as a soloist in for The NYU International Conference of the Arts in Berlin, the AMEE Festival in Madrid and Valencia, the TEDxMET series at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and has been a featured composer-performer for the WildShore Festival in Alaska, The Present Music Festival in Milwaukee, The Johnstone Fund for New Music in Columbus, OH, The Laudie D. Porter Artist Series at Carleton College in Northfield, MN, The Center for New Music in San Francisco, The MATA-Ecstatic Music Festival at Merkin Hall, and more. Sarah has additionally performed at The Barclay's Center, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Alice Tully Hall, The Bang on a Can Marathon, The Park Avenue Armory, and with Courtney Love, Ronnie Spektor, Lizzo, Kimbra, to name a few. Her television performances include the 2019 Tony Awards, the Tonight Show, the Today Show, and Kelly and Ryan.
Sarah is the co-founder and artistic director of Exceptet, an "eclectic" and "quirky" (New Yorker) seven-piece new music ensemble that commissions new works from emerging composers including recent Barlow Prize Winner Katie Balch. Sarah is also the co-founder and violinist of Cipher, a soprano-violin duo with Justine Aronson.
Job Titles:
- Young People 's Division Manager
Arts administrator, music theorist, violinist and conductor Scott Taylor directs the Young People's Division at Kaufman's Lucy Moses School and also serves on the violin, theory and ensemble faculty at Greenwich House Music School. He earned a Master of Music in Music Theory from the Mannes College of Music in New York and studied orchestral conducting under Hynek Farkaĉ at Pražská konzervatoř (Prague Conservatory) in the Czech Republic.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Chairman of Admissions Committee
- Director, Theater@Kaufman
- Director, Theater@Kaufman Dalcroze Program Coordinator
As Kaufman's director of musical theater, Sean produces and hosts the popular Broadway Close Up and Broadway Playhouse series and teaches at Kaufman's schools. As a lyricist, composer and/or playwright, his productions include the upcoming Prelude To A Kiss (book by Craig Lucas, music by Daniel Messe), Cupid and Psyche (with composer Jihwan Kim, Drama Desk nomination), Little Women (Syracuse Stage, Village Theater) and Snow (ASCAP Harold Arlen Award for Best New Musical) among others.
Job Titles:
- President of the Board of Trustees
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- Member of the Board of Trustees
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- Member of the Board of Trustees
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- Member of the Board of Trustees
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- Member of the Board of Trustees
Sonya Belaya is a pianist and a singer bred by the traditions of the Russian school. Her roots are planted in these memories-playing piano during overflowing dinners, and singing Soviet bard songs around family campfires. Her love of song is audible in my patterns of speech. You'll hear her voice carry in its distinct presence. She speaks through art based in vulnerability and emotional transparency. She finds this vulnerability in free improvisation, writing songs, and in creating unapologetic experiences that say, "I feel with you." Her focus as an artist is to use vulnerability and personal emotional inventory for social change. By openly exploring trauma, depression, loss and grief in a vulnerable way, she creates space for others to be comfortable with self-reflection and deep empathy. Building community and connectivity in this way allows for more personal emotional inventory that leads to a greater understanding of happiness and suffering. Empathy and vulnerability are where we solve social issues, and create a sense of understanding across boundaries.
Job Titles:
- Secretary of the Board of Trustees
Yukiko has a BA in piano performance from Osaka College of Music in Japan and has performed as soloist with Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra and Arukadia Chamber Society, and released a solo recording with EMI. A faculty member at Mark Morris Dance Center and Kaufman Music Center, she received a Certificate from New York Dalcroze School of Music and is a former Vice President of the Dalcroze Society of America. She received additional training at Columbia University Teachers College.