The Community School of the Arts is blessed to have a faculty with such a wide array of voice and instrumental talent, and our program would not be possible without the time and talents of these dedicated instructors! Please take a moment to browse their biographies and the areas they teach.

Keyboard & Harp

Manica Gentry, piano
Julia Jun, piano and choral accompanist
Ramona Kim, harp
Luke Norell, Piano Program director
Mary Rose Norell, piano & CSA Director
James Richardson, organ
Ana Neufeld Weaver, piano and YHO assistant
Anne Marie Weaver, piano

Strings

Kent Dutchersmith, string bass
Rafael Chávez y Morenoguitar & ukulele
Natalie Pfiefer, cello
Don Savoie, guitar
Solomia Soroka, violin
Rosalyn Troianoviolin, viola, & Suzuki

Orchestra & ECoSistema

Kent Dutchersmith, ECoSistema Lead Teaching Artist
Hillary Harder, ECoSistema and CSA Program director
Victoria Petrak, Youth Honors Orchestra Musical Director
Rosalyn TroianoAllegro Beginning String Ensemble

Vocal and Choir

Sandy Hill, voice & Shout For Joy
Kristin Kauffman, Rejoice Choir & Sommo Voci
Rebecca Dengler Kaufman, voice

Winds, Brass, & Percussion

Micah Detweiler, percussion
Erin Yoder, French horn
 

Music Together

Jenny Campagna, co-Director & MT specialist
Hillary Harder, co-Director and MT specialist
Rachel Hostetler, MT specialist
Becky Overholt, MT specialist
Kristen Snyder, MT specialist


Rafael Chávez y Moreno, guitar

B.A. Goshen College

Rafael Chávez y Moreno has taught guitar for almost 10 years at various music schools in the area. Rafael graduated from Goshen College in 2009 with a BA degree in Music Business and Technology. He is also an active performer, playing various musical styles in bands such as Kansas Bible Company, Lalo Cura and WIlson’s Reservoir. Rafael specializes in Jazz, Rock and Latin genres and enjoys instructing all levels.


Rebecca Dengler Kaufman, voice

M.M. University of Northern Colorado

B.A. Goshen College

Rebecca Dengler Kaufman is a graduate of Goshen College and received her Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Northern Colorado. While attending UNC Rebecca appeared onstage as Cherubino inLe Nozze di Figaro and Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus. She also received 1st place at the National Association of Teachers of Singing competition in the Colorado/Wyoming chapter. After attending UNC Rebecca taught in the music department at Arapahoe Community College in Littleton, Colorado while performing throughout the Denver Metro area. In Denver, Rebecca was a regular soloist at St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral as well as performing in the Opera Colorado chorus. She has appeared as soloist in Vivaldi’s Gloria, Copland’s In the Beginning, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and Handel’s Messiah. Currently, Rebecca helps many young Elkhart County students find joy and confidence in singing through vocal instruction. She performs with the Saint Joseph Valley Camerata as well as finding opportunities to serve as soloist in the Michiana area in the midst of raising her three beautiful children.


Micah Detweiler, percussion

M.M. University of Wisconsin-Madison

B.A. Goshen College

Micah Detweiler is a sought after teacher and performer based in Northern Indiana. He has taught at Northridge High School and Middle School, The University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Goshen College. While teaching at Northridge, Micah’s students were awarded first place in the PASIC chamber music contest. Past students have also been accepted to the Indiana All-State Percussion Ensemble, the Leigh Howard Stevens Indiana Marimba Seminar, Birch Creek Music Performance Center, and the Interlochen Summer Arts Camp.  Additionally, Micah’s past students have gone on to study at renowned music schools such as the University of Michigan School of Music and the Eastman School of Music. Micah is a graduate of Goshen College and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His principal teachers were Dr. Anthony DiSanza, and Dr. Christopher Fashun, with additional world percussion study with Thomas Ross and Todd Hammes. Micah has also spent four summers studying and instructing with Leigh Howard Stevens at the Indiana LHS Marimba Seminar.


Kent Dutchersmith, ECoSistema Lead Teaching Artist, String Bass Instructor

M. Mus. Ed. Anderson University

B.A. Goshen College

Kent is a Goshen native who studied Elementary Education, Music and TESOL at Goshen College.   Kent taught elementary music in the Goshen Schools System for 18 years, which included 10 years of leading Orff Ensembles.  Through his masters in Music Education at Anderson University, he received his Orff Schulwerk certification.  Kent is a multi-instrumentalist, with his primary instruments being the cello, string bass and the electric bass.  As the ECoSistema Lead Teaching Artist at the Boys and Girls Club of Goshen, Kent teaches string ensembles and private string lessons.  He teaches private bass lessons through GC’s Community School of the Arts in local schools.  Kent performs with the Maple City Community Orchestra, the Elkhart County Symphony Orchestra, The Lost Luggage jazz ensemble, and Faithful Bread.  He is also on the board of the Maple City Community Orchestra.


Manica Gentry, piano

Performer’s Certificate, Trinity College of Music, London (Thailand) 

Manica Gentry has taught piano lessons to students through the CSA since 2004. Before that time she taught applied piano to students from grades 3 through 8 at Trinity College of Music and Royal School of Music (Thailand), and was also a piano teacher at St. Joseph Convent School and the Progress School in Thailand.


Hillary Harder, ECoSistema and CSA Program director

M.A. in Teaching Longy School of Bard College

B.A. Goshen College

Hillary Harder is a 2015 graduate of Goshen College with a dual concentration in voice and violin and a Spanish double major. Hillary also holds a Master of Arts in Teaching from Longy School of Bard College, the first graduate degree inspired by Venezuela’s El Sistema music education philosophy. Hillary taught at Roosevelt STEAM Academy in Elkhart for two years, where she was awarded the honor of Elementary Teacher of the Year for Elkhart Community Schools. Previously serving as the ECoSistema Coordinator for Horizon Education Alliance, Hillary helped launch the ECoSistema (Elkhart County El Sistema) program, a music and youth development program promoting equitable access, excellence, and empowerment through music. As the Community School of the Arts and ECoSistema Program Director at Goshen College, Hillary is passionate about building relationships with students and families and working to provide access to holistic, equitable music program offerings for Elkhart County community members from birth through young adulthood. Hillary oversees ECoSistema, Music Together, the Youth Honors Orchestra program, and the Community School of the Arts choir program. Hillary also has the honor of serving as the co-facilitator for the Equity-Centered Pedagogy Working Group for El Sistema USA and co-teaching graduate courses for Longy School of Music’s online Master of Music in Music Education program.


Sandy Hill, voice and Shout for Joy Children’s Choir

M.M. University of Texas at Austin

B.M.E. University of Wisconsin (Eau Claire) 

Coloratura soprano Sandy Hill has taught private vocal instruction in the Goshen community since moving here with her family in 1999, and before that at the Wausau Conservatory of Music (Wis.). Sandy has performed on Wisconsin Public Radio’s Live from the Elvehjem and has appeared in a variety of musical and operatic roles. She was chosen as an intern to participate in the National Association of Teachers of Singing Internship Program at Penn State University with master teacher Jean Westerman Gregg. Sandy has taught voice with the CSA since 2003 and has directed Shout for Joy since 2008.  Shout for Joy has performed with the South Bend Symphony in Requiem of the Innocent by Jorge Muñiz and most recently with the Goshen High School choirs in John Rutter’s Mass of the Children.


Julia Jun, piano and choral accompanist

B.M.E. Goshen College

A South Korean born and raised in Malaysia, Julia (Hyeyin) Jun began her piano studies under Mrs. Ng at the Doremi Music School in Alor Setar, Malaysia, finishing her precollege studies with Dr. Luke Norell at the Goshen College Community School of the Arts. Since then, she has studied music in Malaysia, South Korea, and the United States, helping her gain a multicultural perspective of the performing arts. Julia Jun is currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in Music Education at Goshen College, studying piano with Dr. Matthew Hill and the viola with Dr. Rosalyn Troiano. Under the guidance of Dr. Mary Rose, she also serves as one of the teaching interns for the CSA, conducting piano lessons with a primer student. Passionate about outreach in music, she hopes to return overseas and share the joy of music with international students across the world.

Kristin Kauffman, Rejoice Children’s Choir & Sommo Voci

B.A. Goshen College

Kristin Kauffman is a graduate of Goshen College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in K-12 Music Education. She served as Choral Director at Central Noble High School and Middle School in Albion (Ind.) from 2000-2004 where she also provided private voice instruction and taught courses in Music Theory and Musical Theater. Kristin has privately taught students throughout Elkhart and St. Joseph counties and currently teaches voice at Fairfield Junior/Senior High. Beyond the classroom, Kristin is an adjudicator with the Indiana State School Music Association, a guest song leader for area retreats and conferences, and a clinician who was selected by the Indiana Music Education Association as the guest conductor for the 2017 Circle the State with Song Elementary Choral Festival. She is a member of Belmont Mennonite Church in Elkhart (Ind.) where she is active in music leadership. This is Kristin’s 11th season as Director of the Rejoice Children’s Choir and her 2nd season as Director of Sommo Voci.


Ramona Kim, harp

M.M. Indiana University South Bend

B.M. Azusa Pacific University

Ramona Kim, a native of southwest Michigan, began her study of the harp at the early age of 7. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Azusa Pacific University in southern California and a Master of Music degree with an emphasis in harp performance from Indiana University South Bend where she studied with Suzann Davids. Ramona also attended the Salzedo Harp Colony in Camden (Maine), for intensive study with Alice Chalifoux, former Cleveland Symphony principal harpist. In addition to teaching in her home studio, Ramona is the adjunct professor of harp at Goshen College and Bethel College. She also is the principal harpist for Elkhart Symphony Orchestra, Symphony of the Lakes in Warsaw, and plays periodically with South Bend Symphony Orchestra.


Hannah Lehman, piano and choral assistant

Hannah Lehman began her piano studies at age seven, under the instruction of Evalyn Wohlford. Since then, she has studied with Dr. Pamela Haynes and Dr. Matthew Hill, developing an extensive range of piano and music skills. She has earned several gold ratings at ISSMA piano competitions at both the district and state level. Hannah has also studied clarinet and voice, participating in various ensembles including IMEA All-State Honor Choir and PFW Three Rivers Honor Band. Studying Music Education at Goshen College, she has gained piano pedagogy skills through the instruction of Dr. Mary Rose Norell, and is currently a teaching intern for the CSA. Hannah is passionate about sharing her skills and love of music to the next generation of musicians.


Luke Norell, piano

D.M. Indiana University

M.M. Indiana University

B.M. University of Northwestern (St. Paul MN)

A native of rural Minnesota, Luke Norell has concertized internationally as soloist and chamber musician. His prizes include first place awards in the Schubert Club Competition, the Minnesota MTNA Competition, and the Third Biennial Lee Piano Competition. Luke studied with André Watts at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, while teaching as an Associate Instructor, and working as the Accompanying Coordinator. During the summer, Dr. Norell teaches at the Young Artist World Piano Festival and the University of Northwestern Piano Institute.


Mary Rose Norell, piano and CSA Director

D.M. Northwestern University

M.M. Indiana University

B.M. Indiana University

A Goshen native, Mary Rose (Jordan) Norell began her piano studies under Marvin Blickenstaff in the Goshen College Piano Preparatory Department. She has developed a vibrant performance career at home and abroad, concertizing in Ravinia’s Bennett Gordon Hall and Chicago’s Cindy Pritzker Auditorium, as well as at venues in Norway, England, Austria, Italy, and Lithuania. Active as a concerto soloist, Mary Rose has performed with ensembles such as the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, the Northwestern Summer Orchestra, the Elkhart County Symphony, and the Maple City Chamber Orchestra. She frequently performs with her husband Luke as the Norell Piano Duo, and enjoys playing chamber music of all varieties. Passionate about outreach in classical music, she works as a Guest Artist for the Ravinia Festival’s “Reach*Teach*Play” program, giving interactive lecture-performances for children in inner-city Chicago Public Schools. Mary Rose currently serves as Director and Piano faculty member of the CSA, and teaches Piano Pedagogy at Goshen College, which includes leading group classes for young beginners in the Piano Pedagogy Lab Program.


Victoria Petrak, Musical Director of Youth Honors Orchestras

M.M. Kent State University

B.M. Baldwin Wallace University

Victoria Petrak is a conductor, performer and educator recently appointed Director of Orchestras for Concord Community Schools in Elkhart. She recently completed her Masters degree in Orchestral Conducting at Kent State University under the instruction of Dr. Jungho Kim, and earned her BM in violin performance and BME in music education at Baldwin Wallace University where she studied violin with Dr. Julian Ross and Katherine Bormann. Victoria’s conducting education has included study with Octavio Más-Arocás and Tiffany Chang, and master classes in the United States and Europe with Howard Williams, John Farrer, Markand Thakar, and Kevin Noe. While studying at Kent State University, Petrak worked with Kent State University Orchestra, Opera Production and Scenes, and New Music Ensemble. Additionally, Victoria is on faculty at Camp Encore/Coda in Sweden, Maine and conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra, teaches private lessons and coaches chamber music. Previously, she taught middle school band in Lakewood City Schools, and was an ensemble manager and assistant at Interlochen Arts Camp. Victoria served as assistant conductor at Shaker Heights High School, and assistant to Octavio Más-Arocas for the Baldwin Wallace Symphony Orchestra and Conservatory Summer Institute orchestras. She was chosen as the first guest conductor for the Contemporary Youth Orchestra under the direction of Liza Grossman, and conducted the United States premiere of Fay Wang’s The Play of Toys. An advocate for contemporary music, Victoria has conducted multiple world premieres with the Baldwin Wallace Symphony Orchestra, BW Brass Ensemble fanfare project, and the premiere of Scott Little’s opera Story of an Hour with the Kent State University Opera scenes program. She hopes to continue to diversify the repertoire performed by orchestras, and increase the accessibility of orchestral music. As a performer, Victoria enjoys playing in orchestra and has toured Europe with the International Youth Symphony Orchestra, as well as performed with the National Music Festival Orchestra, and Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival Orchestra.


James Richardson, organ">James Richardson, organ

M.M. University of Oklahoma

B.M. DePauw University

James Richardson is a Goshen-based organist and church musician. He is Director of Sacred Music and Organist at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Goshen, Indiana where he serves as choir master, organist, cantor, as well as part-time music teacher for elementary music K-5 at the St. John the Evangelist Catholic School. His duties include coordinating cantering schedules, musical programming & arranging, providing music at 5 weekly masses, and rehearsing the adult choir. He is adjunct instructor of organ at Goshen College. Richardson has a Master of Music degree in Organ Performance from the University of Oklahoma, and a B.M. in Music from DePauw University.


Don Savoie, guitar

Described as the original blue-eyed soul artist, singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, Don Savoie specializes as a performer and instructor in vocals, piano, guitar, bass, and harmonicas. Savoie began his career while in high school in southwestern Michigan, continuing at the University of Michigan as a part of the vibrant Detroit-Ann Arbor Blues and rock and roll scene from the mid-seventies to the mid-eighties. An international artist, Don toured in Europe in 1979 and 1982, and played at the Montreux Fest. Savoie has performed with numerous and varied artists, including Joe Cocker, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jackson Browne, Patti Smith, Weather Report, John Mayall, Koko Taylor, Ramsey Lewis, Son Seals, and Luther Allison. He continues to perform in the region, working nearly 150 show annually throughout southern Michigan, northern Indiana and Chicago. His discography includes CDs released in 1992, 1993, 1994, 1999, 2001, 2006, 2014, and 2019. Don served as professor of Music at the University of Notre Dame 2001- 2015 and currently is on faculty at Goshen College and other local universities.

Solomia Soroka, violin

D.M.A. Eastman School of Music University of Rochester

D.M. Kiev Conservatory

M.M. Kiev Conservatory

B.M. Kiev Conservatory

Violinist Solomia Soroka, born in L’viv, Ukraine, made her solo debut at age 10, playing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with the L’viv Philharmonic Orchestra, and has since performed with orchestras in Ukraine, Australia, and the United States. Her recitals in Washington D.C. were part of the Smithsonian Institute performing arts series and she received the following review in the Washington Post: “Soroka is a superbly equipped violinist, at ease with the technical challenges of Sarasate or of Jeno Hubay’s Czardas No. 2, but even more impressive in the gentler moments….  Her tone is warm and mellow on the low strings, brilliant on the high strings, perfectly controlled and expressively used.” Dr. Soroka has appeared as soloist and as chamber musician at concerts and festivals in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Italy, Czech Republic, Ukraine, USA, Canada, China, Korea, and Taiwan. Dr. Soroka performed premieres of a number of important contemporary Ukrainian compositions for violin, including works by Borys Lyatoshynsky, Myroslav Skoryk and Yevhen Stankovytch. Solomia Soroka has toured and recorded extensively with her husband, the American pianist Arthur Greene. Their Naxos recording of Four Violin Sonatas by William Bolcom was selected as a Recording of the Month with the highest ranking for both artistry and sound quality by Classics Today, and received reviews in various distinguished journals: “Another virtuoso piece…confidently delivered by this brilliant duo” (Gramophone). Dr. Soroka is currently a violin professor at Goshen College, and is on the faculty of Castleman Quartet Program, and Schlern Music Festival. She studied with Hersh Heifetz, Bohodar Kotorovych, Liudmyla Zvirko and Charles Castleman.


Rosalyn Troiano, violin, viola and String Academy Director

D.M.A. Eastman School of Music

Rosalyn Troiano has directed CSA’s string program since 2004. Having worked as teaching assistant to Eastman professor of viola George Taylor, she currently serves as lead instructor of CSA’s viola and violin students of all levels and ages, and directs the school’s Allegro and Vivace string ensembles for beginning and intermediate players. A certified Suzuki instructor, Rosalyn also leads CSA’s active Suzuki program in private and group instruction.



Ana Neufeld Weaver, piano

B.M.E. (in progress) Goshen College

Ana Neufeld Weaver has been pursuing her love of music since the young age of 6, when she began piano lessons. Since then, she has studied piano with numerous teachers, including Ana Yoder Coulter, Dr. Jessica Briggs, and currently, Dr. Matthew Hill. Throughout her musical career, Ana has explored areas other than piano. She has played violin since 4th grade, and enjoys singing. Along with her passion for music, Ana has cultivated a deep passion for teaching. Her teaching career began by teaching violin lessons in her hometown and helping with the local elementary orchestra program. She recently began teaching piano for the CSA. Ana strives to use her love of music to make a difference in the lives of the children she teaches.


Anne Marie Weaver, piano

Ph.D. University of Rochester, Eastman School of Music

M.M. Bowling Green State University

B.A. Goshen College

Anne Marie Weaver has nearly two decades of experience teaching private piano lessons to students of all ages, in Indiana, Ohio, and upstate New York. She performs across Michiana as a collaborative pianist, including accompanying Vesper Chorale in Mishawaka. As a musicologist she serves as an adjunct faculty member at Goshen College, and she is also the director of musical activities at College Mennonite Church.


Erin Yoder, horn

M.M. Northwestern University

B.A. Goshen College

Erin Yoder is a native of Goshen, Indiana, where she attended Goshen College and earned degrees in both music performance and biology. In addition, she graduated from Northwestern University with a master of music performance in horn. Erin has studied with David Mosley, Bruce Heim, Barry Benjamin, and Arnold Jacobs.  She taught applied horn lessons at both Bethel College and Goshen College, and played principal horn in the Maple City Chamber Orchestra. Erin is currently studying at Indiana University with Myron Bloom (modern horn), Richard Seraphinoff (natural horn), and working toward a doctorate in brass pedagogy.