Strings Lessons

Betsy Bronstein

Betsy Bronstein received her BM in Cello performance from the St. Louis Conservatory of Music.  She holds both an MMA and DMA in Cello from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.  Her teachers have included Gabor Rejto, Yuan Tung, Timothy Eddy, Bernard Greenhouse, and Henri Honneger.  She studied Suzuki Teacher Training with Sally Gross.

Betsy has performed as a member of the Boston Philharmonic, and Symphony Pro Musica.  For over 10 years, she was the cellist for Aequalis, a trio she co-founded which commissioned, premiered and recorded works by American composers. Aequalis presented 50 concerts per season nationwide at universities, on concert series and as soloists with the Phoenix, Honolulu and New Hampshire Symphonies. The group can be heard on New World Records.   

Betsy also worked for Johnson String Instrument company for 2.5 years, where she oversaw cello quality control. She performs Jazz and folk music on violin and cello with Samuel Politz.  Betsy joined the Joy of Music faculty in 2014.  She also teaches at The Worcester Music Academy, and maintains a private studio in her home.

Programs

Private Lessons: 
Cello, Violin

Debby Greenebaum

Debby Greenebaum holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Violin Performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and a Master of Arts in Education from Lesley University, where she earned her Massachusetts Early Childhood Certification (N-3). Debby received her Suzuki training at the School for Strings in NYC and was an intern with Roberta Gauspari Tzavaras, helping her prepare inner-city students for performances at Lincoln Center and the White House. Before moving to the Worcester area in the summer of 2009, Debby taught violin and chamber music at the Smith College Campus School and was the Director of violin programs in the Holyoke Public Schools and at the Conservatory Lab Charter School in Brighton. In addition to chamber music performances, Debby has played with the Springfield and New Hampshire Symphonies, the Philharmonic Orchestra of New Jersey and the Philharmonia Virtuosi in NYC.

Debby is Director of Greenwood Music Camp's Junior Camp, where she has served on the faculty for many years.  She also serves as Program Manager and Community Liaison for the Worcester Chamber Music Society's Neighborhood Strings Program.  Debby joined JOMP's faculty in 2009. 

Private Lessons: 
Violin

Peter Hughes

Peter Hughes was a scholarship student at both the New England Conservatory of Music and the Longy School of Music. He studied violin with Grant Rudnicki, Sarah Scriven, Eric Rosenblith and Janet Packer and music theory with Judy Ross and Eric Sawyer.  Peter studied chamber music at the Marlboro Music School and Festival and Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music.  A Worcester native, Peter became the Worcester Symphony Orchestra’s youngest member at the age of fifteen. He worked under several conductors, including Michael Tilson Thomas and Joseph Silverstein.

As an active freelancer in the greater Boston area for many years, Peter has played with many groups, including the Lyric Stage of Boston, Reagle Players, Speakeasy Stage Company, Life Story Theater and Boston Children's Theater. He currently plays with the Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra and is a founding member of Musique Makers, a trio performing classical and jazz styles.  His past teaching includes Worcester Academy, Robinson Music and the Wachusett Regional High School after school music program.  Peter has served as a faculty member at Joy of Music since 2007.

Programs

Private Lessons: 
Violin, Viola

Aaron Packard

Aaron Packard holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and a Master of Music degree from SUNY Stony Brook, both in Violin Performance. He has served as concertmaster of the Oberlin Conservatory Orchestra and the Round Top Music Festival Orchestra in Texas. In addition to maintaining a private studio in the Bloomfield-West Hartford area, Aaron has served as adjunct professor of violin and viola at the Hartt School of Music Community Division.  He is a member of the New England Piano Trio, Cuatros Puntos String Quartet, and Praxis, an experimental ensemble based in New York City.  Aaron currently teaches at the Groton School and has been a member of Joy of Music's faculty since 2010.

Programs

Private Lessons: 
Chamber Music, Violin, Viola

Olga Pineda

Olga Pineda has a Bachelor's Degree both in Music Education (Magna Cum Laude) with Violin and Piano as her principal instruments; and Marketing Management. Also, she has earned her Master of Science in Marketing. Olga was a member of the First Violin Section of the only national orchestra in the Philippines, the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra. Also, she was a pioneer member of the Clarion Chamber Ensemble under the leadership of David Johnson.  Currently, Olga is a member of the New England Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Roderick MacDonald.   Olga has been teaching the violin and piano since 1988 and taught at Joy of Music from 2004 through 2010.  We are delighted to welcome her back to the faculty as of September 2016.

Programs

Private Lessons: 
Piano, Violin

Regie Pineda

Reginald Pineda earned his Bachelor of Music degree in Violin Performance from the University of Sto. Thomas in Manila. He came to the United States in 1994 and entered the Boston Conservatory, where he studied violin with Lynn Chang, Victor Romanul, and Bonnie Bewick Brown and Chamber Music with Patricia McCarty, Andrew Mark and Ronald Feldman. After receiving a Graduate Performance Certificate from the Conservatory in 1997, Regie returned to the Phillipines. For the next five years, he served on the faculty of the University of Sto. Thomas and as Principal second violinist with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra. He was also a founding member and principal violinist of the Clarion Chamber Ensemble under the leadership of flutist David Johnson.

Regie is currently a member of the Thayer Symphony Orchestra, the Eleva Chamber Players, and performs frequently throughout New England. He has been on the faculty at Joy of Music since 2004, and is currently music director at Our Lady of the Lake Church in Leominster.

Programs

Private Lessons: 
Chamber Music, Violin, Viola

Caroline Reiner-Williams

Caroline Reiner-Williams enjoys a busy schedule as both performing and teaching artist, as well as arts administrator. Prior to earning her master’s degree in music performance and pedagogy from the Longy School of Music, Ms. Reiner-Williams toured the U.S., Canada, U.K., and Europe as a member of several chamber ensembles, including the Boston Youth Symphony. Today she is active throughout New England as a chamber and orchestral musician, performing regularly with the Nashaway Piano Trio and the Bangor Symphony Orchestra. In addition to serving on the faculty at Indian Hill Music, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), and the Shrewsbury Public Schools, Ms. Reiner-Williams was recently appointed Program Director at Worcester’s Joy of Music Program. She joined the JOMP faculty in 2010.

Programs

Private Lessons: 
Chamber Music, Cello

Cynthia Schilling

Cynthia earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from University of Massachusetts Amherst Commonwealth Honors College, where she received the Chancellor’s Talent Award and Eugenie M. May Piano Award for outstanding musicianship. She studied piano with Gilles Vonsattel at UMass, and with Elinor Freer and Martin Canin for three summers at Bowdoin International Music Festival. Cynthia has performed solo piano and chamber music at Bowdoin International Music Festival, Buffalo Center for 21st Century Music, and Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival. She has also performed piano, violin, and viola in the UMass Symphony Orchestra, Five-College Baroque Ensemble, UMass Women’s Choir, UMass Percussion Ensemble, Symphony Pro Musica, and Fitchburg State Community Orchestra.

Related Sites: 
Private Lessons: 
Piano, Violin, Viola

David Siegel

David holds a B.M. In Violin Performance from the Manhattan School of Music. His primary teachers were Erick Friedman and Aaron Rosand. He participated in master classes with the Hungarian violinist Sandor Vegh at the Mozarteum in Salzburg.

He has performed extensively, often as concertmaster, with a variety of organizations such as Boston Landmarks Orchestra, Boston Ballet, Wang Center, Citi Center, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra and Springfield Symphony. He has toured with Philharmonia Hungarica, Goldovsky Grand Opera and Phantom of the Opera National Tour.

David has taught with the Wellesley, Newton, Lincoln, and Shrewsbury Public Schools. He also has maintained a private studio.  David joined the Joy of Music faculty in 2016.

Private Lessons: 
Violin

Anita Sulski

Anita Sulski received her Bachelor of Music in violin performance from the Royal College of Music in London in 1998, studying under Yossi Zivoni. In 1996, she studied abroad in Salzburg at the Mozarteum with Ruggiero Ricci and performed frequently with the Mozart Players. Anita also enjoyed immersing herself in Austrian folk culture, participating in the 1996 folk music competition in Innsbruck, Tyrol. While living in London she performed with a number of chamber music groups in London, Spain, Portugal, Morocco and the United States.These groups included members of the London Symphony Orchestra and the English National Opera orchestra. From 1998 to 2000 Anita was a full-time tutor at the Edward Said National Palestinian Conservatory of Music in Ramallah. From 2000 to 2002 she was a member of the Cyprus State Chamber orchestra. Currently, Anita is a Playing Member of the Lexington Symphony, plays regularly with the Chorus of Westerly in Rhode Island, the Worcester Chorus Orchestra, and Vista Philharmonic. She also has a large private studio in Lexington.  

Private Lessons: 
Violin

Timothy Terranella

Timothy Terranella is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, holds a Master of Music degree and Artist Diploma from the Boston Conservatory, and did additional graduate studies at the New England Conservatory.  His teachers have included Leonard Rose, Orlando Cole, Mischa Nieland and Ronald Thomas (cello), as well as Bernard Goldberg, Randolph Bowman and Jeanne Baxtresser (flute).

Tim has performed as cellist and flutist with many of the area’s most prestigious musical organizations including the Boston Symphony Orchestra (sub); the Boston Ballet; Boston Esplanade Pops; the New Hampshire, Cape Cod, Nashua, Massachusetts and Claflin Hill Symphony Orchestras; Boston Bel Canto Opera; Boston Lyric Opera; and in New York City as a member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.  Tim is a founding member of the Bostonian Chamber Players and often plays with the Guilded Harps of Boston.

Having previously taught at Boston University and the Buckingham Browne and Nichols School, he currently teaches at the Groton School in Groton and Indian Hill Music School in Littleton. Tim has served on Joy of Music’s faculty since 1990. I n addition to teaching cello and flute, he is the conductor of the JOMP Youth Orchestra. 

Programs

Private Lessons: 
Flute, Chamber Music, Cello

Dr. Ning Tien

Dr. Tien earned her B.A. and M.A. degrees and Performer's Certificate in cello performance with Paul Katz at the Eastman School of Music, and her D.M.A. in cello performance with Dennis Parker at Louisiana State University. She has premiered and recorded works written for her, including Cello Concerto by Dinos Constandinides; Himalaya Capriccio by Tian Lian-Tao; and Second Sonata for Cello and Piano by John Sichel. JOMP was honored that Ning gave the world premiere of a work written for her on her Faculty Recital in May, 2009 - Siren Nadamide’s “Zodiac with Twelve Animals” for cello and piano. Dr Tien has made solo and chamber music appearances at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, as well as in Boston, Baltimore, Atlanta, Rome, Athens, Vienna and Beijing. In 2009, she performed with the Holy Cross Theatre Department in a production of the gamelan opera “Mimpi” at the 31st Bali Arts Festival.

Before moving to New England, Dr. Tien served on the faculties of Hastings College (NE), Kean University (NJ) and Columbus State University (GA). She was a member of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, and co-principal cellist with the Hastings Symphony Orchestra. Ning's students are award recipients at: Canadian Royal Conservatory Music development Program, Level 10 Strings, Gold Medal, National Youth Orchestra, Co-Principal, National Youth Orchestra 2, Principal, International Music Competition Grand Prize Virtuoso Rome, Grand Prize, Crescendo International Music Competition, USA, Top Prize, Bay State Contest, Top Prize, Music Teachers National Association Quad State Conference, Presenter, Music Educator Associations of MA, NH, GA All State Festival Orchestra, as well as Senior and Junior District Festival Orchestras.  Ning has been teaching at Joy of Music since 2003.   For more information about Dr. Tien, see her website at celloandstrings.net

Private Lessons: 
Chamber Music, Cello

Rui Xu

Rui Xu has a B. M. Degree in Double Bass Performance from the Manhattan School of Music where he studied with Linda Knight and Jeremy McCoy.  His Master of Music in Double Bass Performance is from the New England Conservatory, where he studied with Don Palma.  Currently, Rui continues his DMA studies at Boston University with Todd Seeber. 

Rui has appeared with various orchestras and ensembles in many venues including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Boston Symphony Hall.  He is a frequent guest with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and New World Symphony.

An active teacher, Rui maintains a private studio throughout Metropolitan New York and Greater Boston. He enjoys working with students of all ages.    Many students successfully entered the New York Youth Symphony, National Honors Orchestra and Manhattan School of Music Precollege Program after years of study with Rui. He joined the Joy of Music Faculty in the fall of 2022. 

Private Lessons: 
Double Bass
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