Performing Arts

List of 17 members.

• 

  Julia Ohm 

  Performing Arts - Dept. Head

  978-827-7220

  johm@cushing.org

  Bio

  Julia Ruth Ohm began at Cushing Academy in 2007, happily joining her former Music Director, Desh Hindle, with whom she worked in Princeton, New Jersey, for six years prior. In addition to chairing the Performing Arts Department, she serves as Theatre Director for the Academy and teaches a variety of theatre arts, from history to playwriting, acting, and performance art. Her outside interests include an extensive passion for travel, writing poetry and prose, and her grown children who keep her busy with their creative and challenging energy. Brought up in the Midwest, Ms. Ohm has lived all over the United States but still finds New York City and parts of the Garden State to be closest to her heart. She holds a Master's Degree from New York University's School of Education (Music & Performing Arts) and a B.F.A. from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. She has a minor in romantic poetry and has taught Advanced English in Cushing's summer session for several years. 
• 

  Desh Hindle 

  Director of Music

  978-827-7219

  dhindle@cushing.org

  Bio

  Desh Hindle arrived at Cushing in 2006 as Director of Music. He spends his time leading the school’s choirs, directing the classical chamber music program, teaching music theory and composition, and musically directing the winter musical production. Before joining the Cushing community, he spent five years directing the music program at The Hun School of Princeton, in Princeton, New Jersey. He holds a master’s of music in composition from The Hartt School, where he received the Diemente Award for composition in 2001. His music has been selected in competitions for performance in New York City and Hartford, Connecticut. Mr. Hindle also holds a B.A. from Bates College, where he graduated with high honors in music. Prior to becoming a professional educator and musician, he was Director of Financial Aid and Residency Planning at the Boston University Medical Campus. He grew up in West Newbury, Massachusetts, and attended St. Andrew’s School in Middletown, Delaware. In high school, Mr. Hindle was an avid musician and a cross-country runner. Aside from his musical pursuits, he also enjoys hiking, reading, writing and spending time with his wife and three children at their home on campus.
• 

  Rebecca Rice 

  Director of Dance

  978 827 7221

  rrice@cushing.org

  Bio

  Rebecca Rice began teaching at Cushing in 2009 as an adjunct ballet instructor and has continued to develop classes in modern/contemporary dance, choreography, history, and appreciation. In addition to teaching academic classes in dance, she teaches private lessons and provides educational and performance opportunities for the students. Ms. Rice moved to Ashburnham in 2005 from Boston where she spent twenty years developing dance programs at MIT and the Boston Ballet, as well as at the Dana Hall School in Wellesley and the Winsor School in Boston. She is a professional dancer and award-winning choreographer who continues to produce concerts of her own work throughout New England with her company, Rebecca Rice Dance.  
  
  In 2011, Ms. Rice was a Cultural Envoy with the U.S. State Department where she created new choreography for the Samruk Dance Company in Almaty, Kazakhstan. She received her Bachelors of Fine Arts in Modern Dance from the University of Utah and her M. Ed in Arts Education from the University of Pittsburgh, where she was awarded a graduate teaching fellowship and was a founding member of the Pittsburgh Dance Alloy Modern Dance Company. Her background includes work with Bill Evans, Mark Morris, and Alvin Ailey; her technique blends the styles of ballet, modern, and contemporary dance.  
  
  Ms. Rice is devoted to teaching dance as a creative, collaborative art form that blends her interests in music, art, and theater. Her teaching philosophy encompasses her love of dance and movement with the idea that dance is for everyone. She enjoys sharing her expertise with both the rote beginner and serious student while providing educational opportunities towards students' artistic growth and enjoyment. Born into a family of dancers, Ms. Rice grew up performing Denishawn Dance throughout New England and New York City with her grandmother, Marion Rice and mother, Mona Rice, who started the dance program at Cushing in 1961. Her other interests include oil painting, film/video, photography, new music, and women's studies, art and technology, as well as many outdoor activities including skiing, hiking, and tennis.
  
  Raised in Ashburnham, Ms. Rice is thrilled to be back in this beautiful town and countryside while she shares her love of dance at Cushing. She is the mother of two children, Erik and Ashley, and her husband has been on faculty at the Winsor School in Boston for twenty years.
• 

  Jerry Sabatini 

  Jazz Ensemble Director

  jsabatini@cushing.org

  Bio

  Jerry Sabatini has gained wide recognition in the Boston jazz scene as an adventurous, creative, and diverse trumpet player, improviser, composer, arranger, and educator. Known for his wide range of musical tastes, he performs in projects whose styles include traditional combo and big band jazz, Balkan brass bands, Middle and Far Eastern classical, Indian Hindustani classical, modern European and American classical, experimental and the avant garde, as well as in pop, rock, soul and funk bands.

   

  In 1995 he founded the progressive jazz ensemble, Sonic Explorers, and has been leading the octet as well as performing on trumpet, and composing and arranging the band's repertoire, since 1998. The group has five independently released CDs under Mr. Sabatini’s leadership, most recently American Gypsy (Nada Brahma Records), released in September of 2013. He also co-leads, performs, and has recorded with the world/jazz/folk trio Roving Soul, alongside fellow Sonic Explorers members Chris Veilleux and Greg Loughman.

   

  Since the 1980s, Mr. Sabatini has been performing, recording, and touring nationally and internationally with many of New England's most innovative and progressive ensembles. He has also shared the stage with some of the greatest internationally known musicians and composers such as Oliver Lake, John Tchicai, Charles Neville, Fred Frith, Elliot Sharp, Anthony Coleman, Joe Ford, Odean Pope, and Erkan Ogur.

   

  Mr. Sabatini has an undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from SUNY Buffalo, and a master’s degree in Contemporary Improvisation (formerly known as “Third Stream Music”, founded by Gunther Schuller and Ran Blake) from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Mass. In 2007, he was recognized as a finalist in the Massachusetts Cultural Commission's Music Composition Awards for his quintet works for Sonic Explorers' 2007 release, Lore of the Land.  Mr. Sabatini has been commissioned for modern big band and jazz combo works by Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Mass.; Worcester Polytechnical Institute; The Massachusetts Music Educators Association; Lunenburg (MA) Public High School, The Joy of Music Program in Worcester; and the Tahanto Regional High School in Bolyston, (MA). He teaches privately from his home studio in nearby Leominster, directs an adult jazz big band at Indian Hill Music School in Littleton, Mass., jazz combos at The Joy of Music Program in Worcester, and teaches jazz ensemble and jazz history classes at Cushing Academy. He is a frequent guest clinician and conductor at New England colleges, universities, and high schools, and leads weeklong summer jazz theory, style, and improvisation camps in Massachusetts.
• 

  Mary Carfagna 

  Cello Teacher

  978-827-7219

  mcarfagna@cushing.org

  Bio

  Cellist Mary Carfagna has performed with Boston Lyric Opera, Lexington Sinfonietta and Boston Civic Symphony.  Currently a member of Thayer Symphony, she has appeared as soloist with the North Shore Philharmonic, Trinity College Concert Series and the Elizabeth Carpenter Concert Series. She has performed on numerous folk, blues, rock and gospel albums and more recently recorded solo works for a documentary soundtrack. Ms. Carfanga is a graduate of CalArts, St. Louis Conservatory, and Brandeis University. She resides in Petersham with her husband poet Ric Carfagna and daughters Emilia and Aria.
• 

  Michael Caudill 

  Saxophone/Clarinet Teacher

  micaudill@cushing.org

  Bio

  Mike Caudill is a Boston-based performer, self-published composer, arranger, and educator. Performing throughout New England and touring with a variety of groups, Mr. Caudill also leads his own quartet and plays saxophone in the jazz fusion group City of Four.

   

  Some of Mr. Caudill’s recent achievements include earning the Lead Tenor chair in the 2015 Mid-Atlantic Jazz Orchestra directed by trumpeter Sean Jones; being named a 2014 Winner of the ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards; receiving five Downbeat Student Music Outstanding Performance/Arrangement Awards; and being named the 2013 Presser Scholar of Music at the University of Massachusetts.

   

  Along with commissioned works in both the jazz and symphonic realms, Mr. Caudill’s composition, “Scalene Scene”, was performed in March 2016 by the 360? Jazz Initiative Ensemble at the UNC Chapel Hill. In 2015, a collection of his original music was released on the album Pictures Around Us, and was performed as part of a short tour of the Nashville, Tenn., area. In 2014, he was named a winning composer in the Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards presented by ASCAP for his composition “Time to Go”. His roots as a composer are in tune writing for chamber groups and in computer-sequenced music. He currently writes and arranges for jazz combos, big bands, rock bands, saxophone quartets, sax choirs, concert bands, wind ensembles, and other ensemble formats.

   

  A former student of music at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Mr. Caudill holds a Master of Music in Jazz Arranging and Composition. He earned his bachelor’s degrees at UMass in Jazz and Afro-American Music as well as Acoustics. He has performed on stage with iconic jazz figures such as Randy Brecker, Dick Oatts, Dave Liebman, Sheila Jordan, and Karrin Allyson, among others. He has performed with groups across multiple genres, including with the acclaimed rock group 10,000 Maniacs.

   

  An adjunct music teacher at Cushing, Mr. Caudill also teaches private instrumental lessons to students of all ages and experience levels. He has performed at schools across the state to expose young people to live music, and has taught in clinics and master classes for young music students.
• 

  Margarita Chandler 

  Voice Teacher

  978-827-7219

  mchandler@cushing.org

  Bio

  Margarita Chandler has been a voice teacher for over 30 years and has been teaching voice at Cushing Academy since 2004, as well as giving private vocal instructions in her home studio. Mrs. Chandler was born in Rosenheim (Bavaria), Germany, and immigrated to America with her parents and three siblings as a young girl. She continues to speak fluent German and incorporates several foreign languages in her vocal teaching including German, Italian, Latin, Spanish, and French. She began her 12 years of piano study at age 8 and accompanies all her vocal students in performances/recitals. She also played flute, piccolo and accordion for many years. 

   

  Mrs. Chandler began her classical vocal training at the Jaco's School of Music, where she was selected as the outstanding vocal student of the year numerous times, and later studied at Union University, both in Tennessee. She continued her musical education at Oklahoma State University, majoring in vocal performance and German. During her school years, as a coloratura soprano, Mrs. Chandler won many singing competitions (including NATS), and was also very involved in musical theater. Throughout her singing career, she pursued continuous professional vocal training with numerous well-known vocal instructors and attended many master classes and vocal workshops in pursuit of vocal excellence. She has performed all types of music in concert including classical, oratorio, opera, and musical theater. Mrs. Chandler has been a featured soloist with many choral groups and orchestras over the years, and has appeared as soloist and recitalist in New York, Tennessee, Oklahoma, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. She has also appeared as soloist at many community functions throughout the area, as well as singing at many weddings and church functions. Mrs. Chandler has resided in Ashburnham for many years with her husband, Raymond, who is a psychologist and therapist.
• 

  Angel Hernandez 

  Violin & Viola Teacher

  978-827-7219

  ahernandez@cushing.org

  Bio

  Angel Hernandez Dominguez, a native of Cuba, studied violin at the Manuel Saumell Conservatory, in Havana, Cuba. He has performed with Mexico’s Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra, Queretaro Philharmonic, and the OFUNAM Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1994, he joined the faculty at the Cultural Institute in Tepic, Mexico, marking the beginning of almost two decades devoted to teaching and mentoring young violinists.

   

  In addition to teaching at Cushing, Mr. Hernandez teaches at Shrewsbury Public Schools and is on the string faculty at Indian Hill Music School. Since he moved to the United States in 2006, he has maintained an active performance schedule as a member of the Nashaway Trio, the Bach Consort, Trio Nuevo, Orchestra of Indian Hill, and the Bangor Symphony Orchestra. He also builds and repairs string instruments in his violin shop.  
• 

  Don Kirby 

  Drum Teacher

  978-827-7219

  DKrhythm@verizon.net

  Bio

  Don Kirby has been drumming for 51 years and has been teaching since 1983. Over the course of twelve years, he partook in private study with mentors Ernest Pickford, William Jamsa, Stanley Spector, Alan Dawson, and Fred Buda.

  
  At age 12, he auditioned for George Lawrence Stone and became a member of the National Association of Rudimental Drummers. During his high school years in Leominster, he was three times chosen for MMEA Central Senior District and twice for MMEA All-State, once for band and once for orchestra. Mr. Kirby toured Europe after high school with the Concordia Wind Ensemble before enrolling in Berklee College of Music. Interests in all styles of drumming have led Mr. Kirby to a lifetime career in bands too numerous to list. He currently has an active recording and gig schedule, primarily with the Mark Marquis Group. He teaches dozens of students each week at schools and at his home.
• 

  Kris Lucander 

  Double-Bass Teacher

  kbasslucander@comcast.net

  Bio

  Kris Lucander, originally from Westminster, is an adjunct faculty member of Cushing teaching double bass. He has been teaching in the Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School District since 1995 and has worked at all levels K-12 in the district. He has been in Westminster Elementary School since 2002, teaching General Music, Advanced Concert Band, Beginner Concert Band, Jazz Band, Chorus, and instrumental lessons before/after school. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education which he received from the University of Massachusetts-Lowell in 1992. Mr. Lucander’s primary instruments are electric bass and double bass, but also is accomplished in piano, and various brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments.

  
  Mr. Lucander has been a professional bassist/vocalist performing in a wide range of opportunities throughout New England. Ensembles include numerous jazz trios and big bands like the Kris Lucander Trio, Mark Chenevert Trio, and the Worcester Jazz Orchestra, classic rock and roll bands like Brother Maynard which includes faculty member Mr. Sharron), professional wedding bands, the Thayer Symphony Orchestra, and the Boston Cruise ship, the Odessey. He has performed and recorded for numerous original folk groups like The Mark Fisher Trio, Trilogy, GS Picard, The Rafters, Lee Villaire, Nate Smith, and Elizabeth Lorrey. Also, he performs in acoustic duo groups with Mr. Sharron, with the Westminster Town Band, original rock groups Stone Lily and Chandler Travis Philharmonic, the Montachusett Chorale, and has performed in over 100 musical productions including Forever Plaid in Boston, Mass.
  
  Mr. Lucander lives in Westminster with his wife Jennifer, and son Jonathon who enjoys music and plays trumpet in the Oakmont Marching Spartans, a group that Mr. Lucander once directed. He would like to thank his family for wonderful support and is thankful for the opportunity to play in the spring musicals here at Cushing. 
• 

  Eve-Marie Nezich 

  Flute Teacher

  978-827-7219

  enezich@cushing.org

  Bio

  Eve-Marie Nezich has a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education as well as a Performer's Certificate from the Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam and a Master of Music degree, Summa Cum Laude, in Flute Performance from New York University. She completed a post-graduate year of study in Flute Performance at the Royal Conservatory of Music, Brussels, Belgium, where she won a first prize in Chamber Music. Her primary teachers were Camilla Hoitenga and Julius Baker. Ms. Nezich spent three summers on the faculty of the New York State Summer Music Institute at Hartwick College.
  
  She is currently an adjunct faculty member of Cushing Academy, where she teaches flute lessons and coaches chamber music ensembles, and she also maintains a private teaching studio. Her students are regularly accepted at district, all-state, and all-Eastern music festivals, as well as into conservatories and universities as music majors. As a flutist, Ms. Nezich has appeared with the Albany Symphony Orchestra, the Queens Philharmonic, and the New Hampshire Philharmonic. She performs as principal flute with the New England Conservatory Metropolitan Flute Orchestra and has performed throughout the United States and Europe. She lives in Hubbardston, Mass., and also serves on the School Improvement Council of Central Tree Middle School in Rutland, Mass. Her daughter plays the violin in the orchestra and her son plays the cello. When not making music, she can be found running, skiing, on a yoga mat or in a saddle.
• 

  Troy Price 

  Guitar Teacher

  978-827-7219

  tprice@cushing.org

  Bio

  Not tied down to any one genre, Troy Price has been the "go to" guitar instructor for beginners and pros alike in Central and Western Massachusetts for over 15 years. With the ability to adjust to each student's ability and their need for the same material to be conveyed in so many different ways, he has developed methods to explain just about every essential musical idea effectively. Through thousands of hours of teaching both privately and in-group classes/clinics over the years, his methods are finely tuned and effective. Mr. Price’s teaching is based on an in-depth study of advanced techniques and concepts while making sure his students gain a core-knowledge of music theory along with the "chops" they need for whatever style they're focusing on. He is also a specialist in preparing students for college music programs as well as taking established players to the "next level" in all aspects of their playing. He has studied Commercial Music Performance at Lansing Community College, Jazz Studies at Michigan State University, and is currently working towards a Master Guitar Certificate at Berklee College of Music.
• 

  Joshua Quinones 

  English Teacher

  joquinone@cushing.org

  Bio

  Joshua Quinones joined Cushing’s English faculty in 2017 after earning his Master of Arts in Teaching at Brown University, with a concentration in Secondary English. A graduate of St. Mark’s School (Southborough, Mass.), he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Art History and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Mr. Quinones completed further study in English and Integrated Language Arts at The Ohio State University, and in theatrical performance with Brown University and the Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island. He student-taught English at Brown’s Summer High School and at The Wheeler School in Providence. He also served for one year as Assistant to the Music Director at St. Mark’s. His volunteer work includes serving as a crisis counselor with The Trevor Project, assessing suicide risk and creating safety-planning procedures for youth who identify as LGBTQ. In addition to teaching English and supervising a dormitory at Cushing, he assists with leadership in Cushing’s music and performing arts programs and manages Cushing's first a cappella ensemble.
  
  
• 

  Michelle Salvucci 

  Science Teacher

  978-827-7065

  msalvucci@cushing.org

  Bio

  Michelle Salvucci came to Cushing in the fall of 1998 through a series of happy accidents. With a B.S. in Environmental Studies, a minor in English, and a passion for dance, she has been able to fill a number of roles on the Cushing campus during her tenure here. Mrs. Salvucci has taught many levels of instruction in Biology, as well as her favorite course, Ecological Studies, and a variety of elective classes, including Genetics, Conservation Biology, Field Biology, Literature of the Naturalists, Global Health, and a travel course on the BP oil spill in Louisiana.  In addition, she has served as Director of Dance, Assistant Dean of Students, and dorm head for a variety of boys' dorms on campus.  In 2005, Mrs. Salvucci married the love of her life and they welcomed a daughter in 2008.  They are proud to be a part of this caring campus community. 
• 

  Mark St. Laurent 

  Voice Teacher

  Bio

  Mark St. Laurent has been a member of the Voice Faculty at New England Conservatory for 22 years and as Chairman of the Voice and Vocal Pedagogy departments for 11 years.  He has also been a member of the Voice Faculties at Brandeis University and Atlantic Union College. Over the last 30 years, Mr. St. Laurent has appeared with the Boston Lyric Opera, Lake George Opera, Longwood Opera, and the Liederkranz Foundation, and performed as a soloist at the Aspen Music Festival, Bach Aria Festival, Indian Hill Symphony, Monadnock Music, Emmanuel Music, the Boston Cecelia, Handel & Haydn Society, and the Masterworks Chorale.  He received his training at the Indiana University School of Music, receiving his Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in Vocal Performance and Vocal Pedagogy, and the Performer’s Certificate.  Mr. St. Laurent is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, National and Boston Chapters.
• 

  Berit Strong 

  bestrong@cushing.org

  Bio

  Berit Strong received a B.M. from the Hartt School of Music and an M.M. from New England Conservatory. Her principal teachers were David Leisner and Neil Anderson. Ms. Strong has performed solo guitar and chamber music throughout New England and Europe for upwards of 30 years.

   

  One of Ms. Strong’s biggest accomplishments was performing the lead guitar part in the 2016 Boston University Opera production of Angels in America by the modern Hungarian composer Peter Eotvoes. She also recently offered a solo concert featuring the legacy and repertoire of the great Andres Segovia on Indian Hill’s “Bach’s Lunch” Concert Series. In 1999, she was a featured guest soloist with The Orchestra of Indian Hill. Ms. Strong has performed in numerous master classes with Oscar Ghiglia, and strives to continue his legacy as a teacher of dynamic interpretations with a holistic injury-prevention approach towards the guitar. Additionally, she studied for two years in Milan, Italy, with musicologist and conservatory professor Ruggero Chiesa, who helped her gain a deeper understanding of technique and musical styles. Ms. Strong has served as a guest lecturer at Boston Conservatory, Hartt School of Music, and Tufts University.
• 

  Monica Tessitore 

  Piano Teacher

  978-827-7219

  mtessitore@cushing.org

  Bio

  Born in Brazil, Monica Tessitore began her musical career in the small town of Campo Belo, Minas Gerais. At age nine, she was invited to perform on a popular late TV show in São Paulo, Chopin’s Waltz Opus 70 no.1, at 2:00 AM, to everyone’s astonishment and achieving great success.  After moving to Rio de Janeiro, she studied piano at the Pro-Arte Seminários de Música with the well-known Brazilian pianist Homero Magalhães. Several years later she and her family moved to the capital, Brasilia, where she attended Escola de Música de Brasilia(EMB). In Brasilia, she continued her musical education with pianist Maria Apparecida Prista Tavares, a graduate of the Eastman School of Music.

   

  These formative years at the EMB were also important in Ms. Tessitore’s training as a chamber musician: coaching with musicians such as Antonio Guerra Vicente (cellist), Ludmila Vinecka (violinist) and Odette Ernst Dias (flautist); winning two chamber music competitions at the University of Brasilia (UnB); performing with the Orquestra da Escola de Música de Brasilia under Wolfgang Groth; and performing in master classes for the famous Magdalena Tagliaferro and Miriam Daulsberg. In Brasilia, she won first prizes at the Octavio Maul Piano Competitionand the Lorenzo Fernandez Piano Competition.

   

  Ms. Tessitore passed the exams for the Universidade de Brasilia and attended one semester before her acceptance at the University of Hartford in 1979.  As a student of Luiz Carlos de Moura Castro at the Hartt School of Music, she was granted the Alfred C. Fuller Scholarship.  While at Hartt School, she performed with the Emerson String Quartet and the Hartt Symphony Orchestra under the direction of the French conductor Charles Bruch. She graduated cum laude in 1983.

   

  Winning the scholarship from the Brazilian government (CAPES) for both her graduate and post-graduate studies, Ms. Tessitore attended the New England Conservatory of Music (MM’85) and Boston University (DMA’94) in the class of Veronica Jochum and Tong Il-Han. She has also performed with the Orquestra Sinfônica de Brasilia with composer and conductor Cláudio Santoro and she appeared with the Orchestra de L’Empodá with conductor Charles Coll in Spain (Girona).

   

  As a chamber musician, Ms. Tessitore attended the Taos Summer School of Music with the American String Quartet and Raymond Hanson. She has collaborated with cellists Peter Stumpf, Sergey Antonov; flautists Odette Ernst Dias, Beatriz Magalhães Castro; and with the Walden Chamber Players; and with the Quarteto de Brasilia.

  
  Her international appearances include solo recitals and with orchestras in South Korea at the Ton-Il Han International Summer Festival, at the Farra d’Isonzo International Piano Festival, at the SIPO (Semana Internacional de Piano Óbidos) in Portugal, and at the International Summer Piano Festival in Spain (Girona). She has performed for artists such as Victor Rosembaun, Leonard Shure, Russell Sherman, Boris Berman and Paul Badura-Skoda. 

   

  For several years she was the co-founder and artistic director of the Indian Hill Chamber Players, performing several concerts each year with the group, which included Julia Cash (violin), Erin Yeaman (cello), Lynn Basila (violin) and Rebecca Strauss (viola). An active teacher, soloist, and chamber musician, Ms. Tessitore has performed recitals at Lawrence Academy, Dartmouth College, Indian Hill Music, the Parish Center for the Arts, and Cushing Academy. Most recently she has performed with the Orchestra of Indian Hill with Bruce Hangen conducting.

   

  Sponsored by Certisign of Brazil, Ms. Tessitre recorded the CD (GLB label) titled “Piano” with music of Liszt, Schumann, L. Fernandez and O. Maul; and “Momentos Musicais” (Bostonia label) with all-Schubert compositions featuring cellist Sergey Antonov and pianist Ellina Blinder. She continues to travel to Brazil playing solo and chamber music concerts, and teaching master classes.  She has performed and taught master classes at the Conservatório de Música de Sergipein Aracaju. At the Universidade Estadual de Minas Geraisin Belo Horizonte, she gave a solo recital at the Assembléia Legislativa de Minas Gerais in the series Segunda Musical, a concert that was recorded and broadcasted on TV. In Rio de Janeiro, she frequently plays at the concert series Música no Museu, and has performed at the Museu de Arte Moderna, Centro Cultural do Banco do Brasil, Museu da República, and Palácio São Clemente. In Brasilia, she’s been an artist performer at the concert series Sextas Musicaisat Casa Thomas Jefferson and recently appeared with the members of the Brasilia String Quartet in a performance of Henrique Oswaldo’s Piano Quartet. 

   

  Ms. Tessitore is currently on the piano faculty at Indian Hill Music School, Assumption College, and Cushing Academy (since 2008). She is an advocate for music education and the lifetime benefits that it promotes to both students and society.