Music & Movement Faculty

Wendy Ardizzone: Director; Piano; Music & Movement - Wendy Ardizzone earned her Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where she studied piano with Jack Radunsky and Emil Danenburg, chamber music with Jack Fraser, and Dalcroze Eurhythmics with Inda Howland. Wendy’s love for chamber music had been kindled during summers spent at Kinhaven and Greenwood Music camps. She also gained extensive experience as a collaborative pianist at Oberlin, serving as accompanist for many Student and Senior Recitals. While at Oberlin, she spent a summer studying with her father, Beveridge Webster, at Aspen Music School. Wendy’s interest in teaching young children led her to do graduate work in Early Childhood Education at Tufts University, where she studied music for preschoolers with Beatrice Spaulding. She later resumed piano and chamber music studies with Victor Rosenbaum and her study of Eurhythmics at the Longy School of Music with Lisa Parker and Anne Farber. Wendy has collaborated in performances with many musicians, including Leone Buyse, flute, Michael Webster, clarinet, Arturo Delmoni, violin, Kevin McGinty, piano, Beth Pearson, cello and George Seaman, cello. 

Wendy founded the Joy of Music Program in the fall of 1986 as a program of music and movement classes for preschoolers. When she made the decision to incorporate JOMP as a non-profit community music school in 1989, she gave up her professional performing to focus her creative energy on managing and developing the school and teaching. But one of her favorite things to do at JOMP is accompany students on recitals, whether they are beginners giving their first performance or advanced students challenging her with professional level repertoire. Wendy was the 2002 recipient of the YWCA of Central Massachusetts’ Katharine Erskine Award in the Arts and Humanities. 

Elisabeth Gondek: Voice; Music & Movement - Elisabeth Gondek received her Bachelor of Music in Education and Vocal Performance from Anna Maria College. She has performed throughout Massachusetts and New England on many solo and duo recital programs as well as with various groups, including Worcester Opera Works. Recent roles she has sung include Countess Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, Laurentia in The Beautiful Bridegroom, the Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Casilda in The Gondoliers, and Amalia in She Loves Me. She is a soprano soloist and section leader at St. John’s Catholic Church and St. Joseph’s on the Holy Cross campus. 

Elisabeth previously taught voice at the Bancroft School and Auburn’s after school music program, and Early Childhood classes at Pakachoag Music School of Greater Worcester. In addition to teaching voice at Joy of Music since 2007, she currently runs a vocal studio at her home in Shrewsbury and teaches music at the Here We Grow Pre-School in Auburn.

Patti Puracchio Lahey: Sing and Sway; Music & Movement;Creative Art & Movement: - Patti Puracchio Lahey holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Smith College, where she majored in Theater and Dance with a concentration in Education and Child Development. She went on to earn a Masters of Arts degree from Lesley University in Expressive Arts Therapies. Her graduate work focused on Dance and Movement Therapy with extensive coursework in Art and Music Therapies and Psychodrama. From 1984 to 1994, Patti was Director of Expressive Arts and Recreation Therapies at the Jewish Home for the Aged in Worcester. From 1989 to 1994 she was also their Director of the Volunteer and Community Programs. In 1982-1984 she implemented a pilot program in the expressive therapies for the inpatient psychiatric unit at St. Vincent Hospital. Patti is a certified teacher in the Lebed Method, a movement therapy program for cancer survivors and individuals with chronic illness. She is also a certified Yoga Kids instructor and a certified teacher of Zentangle, a therapeutic art form.

Patti is currently Music & Movement Specialist at the Village Green Preschool and an Expressive Arts Therapist with the VNA pediatric palliative care program, doing home visits with children with life-threatening illnesses and their siblings. She has been on the faculty at Joy of Music since 1997.