Oboist Elizabeth L.K. Berman is no stranger to Howard Community College, where she is currently a faculty member for the Music Department and its noncredit counterpart, The Music Institute.  She has been an active chamber and freelance musician since 1998 and has played in a variety of settings, including musicals, recitals, and wedding ceremonies. 

She received her Bachelor of Music in Oboe Performance from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University and her Bachelor of Arts in Romance Languages from the Johns Hopkins University Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, both in May 2005.  She recently completed her Master of Arts in Arts Administration from Goucher College, writing her major paper on the economic condition and challenges of today’s symphony orchestras.  Her oboe teachers have included Jane Marvine, Leslie Starr, and Barbara Girdler.  She has coached with many highly-acclaimed musicians including bassoonist Phillip Kolker, chamber musician Clinton Adams, baritone John Shirley-Quirk, and oboists Joseph Turner and Joseph Robinson.

Elizabeth has had the pleasure of touring with the national tours of Annie and Oliver!, musical productions of NETWorks Presentations, LLC, of Columbia, MD and Musical Theatre Associates, of New York, NY, respectively.  She learned a great deal about conducting and computer music while on the road as she was the Assistant Conductor on Annie and the NOTION operator for both shows.  Following 18 months of touring, she finished the necessary coursework, internship, and completed her major paper for her master’s degree.  Her internships, with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, enlightened her on both the state of symphony orchestras and symphony orchestra management, with particular attention to marketing, development, and database management.

Happy to be returning, she looks forward to working with the rest of the music faculty and returning to the Music Institute’s staff.  She is also currently a staff member at the Howard County Arts Council, exploring the realm of her master's field: arts administration.

Todd Butler, trumpet and jazz improvisation

Originally from Pottstown, PA, Todd Butler migrated to Baltimore to attend Towson University.  He received a Bachelors degree in trumpet performance and a Masters degree in jazz performance from Towson and was awarded several music scholarships.

Todd has established himself as a versatile performer and teacher on the Baltimore scene.  In his sixteen years as a professional musician, Todd has become one of the top commercial trumpet players in the Baltimore/D.C. area, performing many styles of music.  He has performed at the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Grammy Showcases in Washington D.C & New York City, the International Association of Jazz Educators Convention, several festivals and concerts, and has performed with Little Feat, Bela Fleck, Lenny Pickett, Jackson Browne, Billy Bob Thornton, Ron Holloway, Sam Bush, Warren Haynes, Dana Carvey, David Spade, Robert Townsend, Jim Snidero, and The Drifters.

Butler's recording credentials include numerous CDs and commercial jingles such as the theme to the Baltimore Today Show and the NBC Theme for WBAL-TV.

Dr. Kyle Coughlin, clarinet, saxophone, and jazz improvisation

Clarinetist, saxophonist, composer, teacher, and writer Kyle Coughlin is a versatile musician who is proficient in styles ranging from jazz to classical to popular music.  He earned both his Masters and Doctorate degrees in clarinet performance from the Peabody Conservatory, as a student of Loren Kitt, and he received his Bachelors degree from the University of Maryland as a student of Ed Walters.

As a classical soloist, Dr. Coughlin has performed the Mozart Clarinet Concerto with the Loyola DaCamera and the Columbia Orchestra.  He has also performed numerous solo recitals in the Baltimore-Washington area.  His clarinet honors include first prize in the Professional Division of the Baltimore Music Club, and finalist in the Buffet North American Clarinet Competition.  In 2007, he was awarded a Solo Instrumental Performer grant from the Maryland State Arts Council for his classical clarinet work.

As a jazz musician, Dr. Coughlin has played at every major venue in the Baltimore-Washington area, including Blues Alley, the King of France Tavern, the New Haven Lounge, the Baltimore-Washington Jazzfest, and the Kennedy Center.  In 2004, he was a featured soloist at ClarinetFest, the annual conference of the International Clarinet Association.  He has performed with several outstanding New York-based jazz musicians, including Terell Stafford, George Colligan, Alex Norris, and Lou Rainone.  He also has performed and recorded with The Todd Butler Group, John Blount, and guitarist Mark Stanley.

Dr. Coughlin has worked as a freelance musician with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Maryland Philharmonc, the National Gallery Orchestra, Concert Artists of Baltimore, the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, and the orchestras at the Kennedy Center, the Lyric Opera House, Arena Stage, Wolf Trap, and Merriweather Post Pavilion.  He has also worked with Manhattan Transfer, Ray Charles, Carol Channing, Tommy Tune, Marie Osmond, Tony Curtis, the Moody Blues, Roger Daltrey, and many others.  His musical journeys have led him far beyond his home state to concerts throughout the East Coast, California, and Evian, France.

An active educator, Dr. Coughlin teaches private lessons on clarinet, saxophone, and jazz improvisation.  He has written two educational books, Beginning Jazz Clarinet Studies, Volumes 1 and 2, which are publshed by SkyLeap Music.  Presently, he is finishing his Beginning Clarinet Songbook, which will be an interactive online teaching tool with an accompanying CD.

Dr. Coughlin has released two critcally acclaimed jazz CDs, When Afternoons Return (2001), and In the Shadow of Palms (2002).  He has won several honors for his compositions, including a grant from the Maryland State Arts Council in 2003.  His composition credits also include works for Fox Television, the Discovery Channel, and several commercial jingles.

Jared Denhard, bag pipes, Celtic harp, euphonium, jazz improvisation, trombone, and ukulele

Celtic harper, storyteller, highland piper and trombonist Jared Denhard is a member of the Celtic rock band O’Malley’s March, the medieval jazz group Keltia, and the early music ensemble Boar’s Head Consort.  He is a visiting artist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s Arts Excel educational outreach program. 

A popular performer at Celtic, classical, and jazz events in the Mid-Atlantic region. Jared has performed as soloist on the highland bagpipes with the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Municipal Band, and the Lexington Brass Quintet.

Jared is also an active composer whose works have been performed and recorded by the United States Air Force Band, The Kinetics Dance Theatre, the London Portable Harp Company, and the Annapolis Brass Quintet.

Jared is a 1989 graduate of the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland.  He and his wife Heather live in Columbia, Maryland, with their seven children.

Jared's CDs, Cold Nights of Winter, Songs of Innocence, Canterbury Suite, Idylls of the King,  Winter Spirit, and Legend of the Selkie are available through his label.

Dr. Amelia Fannin, bassoon

Dr. Amelia Fannin is a freelance bassoonist in the Baltimore - Washington DC area. She currently performs with ensembles such as the Alexandria Symphony, Fairfax Symphony, and the Concert Artists of Baltimore. Dr. Fannin is newly appointed as Adjunct Faculty in Applied Bassoon at Howard Community College and The Music Institute. She has over ten years of private studio teaching experience, as well as serving as the sabbatical replacement at Florida State University in the fall of 2007. Her students have been successful at All-State competitions in Texas and Florida and have been accepted to music programs at FSU, LSU, and the Univ. of North Texas. Though she will always be a Texan at heart, Dr. Fannin is very happy to make Ellicott City, Maryland her new home.

In 2009 Dr. Fannin completed her doctoral treatise, Charles Koechlin's Silhouettes de Comédie for Bassoon and Orchestra: An in Depth Study and graduated from Florida State University. In the same year, she won the 2nd bassoon position with the Tallahassee Symphony. In addition, she maintained a busy freelance career, performing with ensembles such as the Palm Beach Opera, Southwest Florida Orchestra, Florida Grand Opera, Pensacola Symphony, and Seraphic Fire. Dr. Fannin holds Bachelors of Music Performance and Music Education from the University of North Texas, as well as a Master of Music Performance from The Eastman School of Music. While studying at Eastman, she was a member of the Eastman Chamber Music Society and the Catherine Filene Shouse Arts Leadership Program. Her primary teachers include Jeff Keesecker, John Hunt, and Kathleen Reynolds.

Melissa Lindon, flute

A Howard County native, Melissa completed her Artist Certificate in Flute Performance at Southern Methodist University, where she studied with Jean Larson and Deborah Baron (piccolo). She began her flute studies with her mother, Marlee Lindon, and studied with Emily Skala before attending Boston University. She received her Bachelor of Music (magna cum laude) and Master of Music degrees in Flute Performance from Boston University as a student of Doriot Anthony Dwyer and Marianne Gedigian. Other influential teachers include Keith Underwood, Martha Aarons, David Shostac, and Linda Toote.

As Adjunct Faculty at Howard Community College and Flute Instructor for The Music Institute at HCC since 2003, Melissa teaches students of all ages and levels. She is co-director of "Flute-a-rama," a weeklong summer flute camp in Takoma Park, Maryland, where she maintains an active private studio. Previous faculty appointments include the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras Independent Schools Orchestra Program, Winchester (MA) Community Music School, Creative Arts for Kids (Reading, MA), and the acclaimed Duncanville (TX) Independent School District Band Program.

An active orchestral, chamber and solo freelancer in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area, she has performed at venues including The John F. Kennedy Center for the Arts, Strathmore Mansion, Fairfax Old Town Hall, the Hillwood Museum, and Buckingham's Choice. A wind quintet aficionado, she is founder and flutist of the Patagonia Winds, and flutist with the Georgetown Quintet, which was nominated for the Washington Area Music Award as Best Chamber Ensemble of 2009. She is also a performing member of the Friday Morning Music Club and co-principal flute and solo piccolo of its orchestra, Avanti. She performed with Boston area ensembles, including the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, Cape Symphony Orchestra, New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, and Atlantic Symphony Orchestra.

She was a featured soloist with the Meadows Wind Ensemble and the Texas Festival Orchestra, and a finalist in the prestigious Pappoutsakis Flute Competition in Boston. She was a 1996 recipient of the P.E.O. Scholar Awards grant. As a member of the Meadows Wind Ensemble, she premiered Stephen Jones' Passages in Manchester, England and is featured on the ensemble's recording of that work on the CD Snow Tracks on the Gasparo label.

Also a certified yoga teacher (RYT500), Melissa brings particular attention to breathing, posture and body awareness to her flute teaching. She has been featured as a clinician leading "Yoga for Musicians" workshops at the Trevor Wye Masterclass at Boston University, the Flute Society of Washington's Mid-Atlantic Flute Fair, and Howard Community College, and works individually with professional and student musicians to apply yoga practices to achieve freedom and ease in their music-making.

www.melissalindon.com

Dave Rybczynski is a graduate candidate in Music Education at Towson University and has been teaching saxophone, clarinet, and various classes and ensembles at Howard Community College for seven years. Dave wrote the curriculum for our Jazz Theory course. He has toured extensively throughout the United States, Japan, Canada, and Central and South America with the Glenn Miller Orchestra and Columbia Artists Big Band Series, including performances at Carnegie Hall and many other major concert halls at home and abroad. He is also an active freelance musician and bandleader in Maryland and Washington, D.C. and has many performances to his credit with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Tony Bennett, Patti Austin, Martin Short, The Four Freshman, and countless area groups in genres ranging from opera to jazz, Motown to salsa. Dave has also performed as a recitalist and with the Old Line Quartet in concert series at Loyola College, Goucher College, Howard Community College, and at the U.S. Navy’s International Saxophone Symposiums. He has recorded with groups for the Sea Breeze label, PBS television, and various movie trailers.

Dave has also studied at Berklee College of Music and the University of Maryland with jazz saxophone greats George Garzone, Chris Vadala, Billy Pierce, and Andy McGhee. He is currently a student of Michael Bayes of the U.S. Navy Band. Prior to teaching at Howard Community College, he taught in various capacities at The McDonough School, Loyola College, Goucher College, and the Towson University Preparatory.

Dave will give a recital of concert saxophone music in the Monteabaro Recital Hall at Howard Community College on February 6, 2011 at 4pm.

Melissa Wertheimer, flute and piccolo

Melissa Wertheimer is a diverse performer of solo, chamber, and orchestral music. She is a piccolo specialist, new music enthusiast, and dedicated scholar of women in music. An artist-teacher, Ms. Wertheimer is Adjunct Faculty at Howard Community College in Columbia, MD, as well as at The Music Institute, HCC's community music division. Ms. Wertheimer is also a Music History Instructor for the Peabody at Homewood Program of the Johns Hopkins University. Additionally, she teaches flute at the Chesapeake Arts Center, the J. Friedman Music School, and from her private studio.

With the Dahlia Flute Duo, Ms. Wertheimer has given recitals, lectures, and workshops in 11 states. The Duo has received grants from Yamaha, the College Music Society, the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts, and the Peabody Institute. The Dahlia Flute Duo also hosts an annual summer flute masterclass, and continually premieres new works.

Ms. Wertheimer won second place in the 2009 Piccolo Artist Competition of the Flute Society of Washington, DC. In 2007, she became the first student in the history of Ithaca College to win the Ithaca College Concerto Competition on piccolo. Ms. Wertheimer has performed as principal flute in the orchestras of the College Light Opera Company, Maryland Choral Society, Syracuse Chorale, and Ithaca College at Avery Fisher Hall. She is the Instrumental Artistic Director of hexaCollective, as well as the ensemble's flutist and piccoloist. She also performs with Vivre Musicale and the Golden Egg Ensemble. Ms. Wertheimer has been featured on the NPR program "Crossing Borders," the Peabody Spotlight Series, and the Peabody Institute Thursday Noon Recital Series.

She holds an M.M. in Piccolo from the Peabody Institute and a B.M. in Flute from Ithaca College. Her teachers include Marcia Kämper, Laurie Sokoloff, Wendy Herbener Mehne, and Carron Moroney.