We are thrilled to announce the launch of a new community Music Academy at Shattuck-St. Mary’s School!
The Academy will provide a communal learning environment for private music lessons that can accommodate ALL ages and ALL musical abilities. Whether you are a beginner who wants to learn how to play the guitar, a singer who wants to join a local choir, or an emerging artist preparing to join a Shattuck-St. Mary’s performing arts Center of Excellence, we have a teacher for you!
Our faculty is comprised of carefully vetted instructors who are highly qualified performing artists from the Twin Cities as well as experienced local teachers.
It’s easy! Simply fill out this interest form to get started.
You can also email the Academy Director (Benjamin.Downs@s-sm.org) with the interested party’s age, level of experience, and instrument, and we will send you more information, including rates and detailed registration information.
Meet THE DIRECTOR
Dr. Benjamin Downs is a pianist, scholar, and teacher based in Minneapolis, MN, United States, and the current Director of the Pre-Conservatory Center of Excellence Program. As a performer, he has been a prize winner in numerous national and international piano competitions including the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Young Artist Competition, the Chautauqua International Piano Competition, the Northwestern Piano Competition, and the Cincinnati Chamber Music Competition. He has performed throughout the United States, Italy, Germany, and Switzerland as both a soloist, and with his wife, cellist Rebeccah Parker Downs. They have been featured performers at many venues including New York City’s WMP Concert Hall, the Bowdoin Music Festival, Brevard Music Festival, Chautauqua Music Festival, and the Linton Chamber Music Series. He has also collaborated with members of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, and Windsor Symphony Orchestra. He completed his DMA in piano performance at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music where his primary teacher was James Tocco. He also studied with Eugene and Elisabeth Pridonoff and Michael Chertock.
Benjamin is also an active musicologist and music theorist. He earned a PhD in the History and Theory of Music from Stony Brook University in 2018, specializing in philosophies of listening and European avant-garde music since 1968. He has received many awards for his scholarship, including a Fulbright Fellowship, a Paul Sacher Stiftung Research Scholarship, and two DAAD Fellowships. His work has been published in the Journal for Music Theory, Paul Sacher Stiftung’s Mitteilungen, and Music Research Forum.
Dr. Luke Williams has been described in performance as “masterfully communicative”, “powerful”, and “menacing and moving”. A versatile singing actor of classical and contemporary repertoire, Dr. Williams has performed with Skylark Opera, Out of the Box Opera, LOON opera, and Lyric Opera of the North in Minnesota, in addition to serving as a visiting assistant professor on the voice faculty of St. Olaf College for the 2018-2019 academic year. In 2017, while on faculty at the University of Central Missouri where Dr. Williams served as the director of opera and member of the voice faculty, he completed his doctorate in vocal pedagogy and performance from the University of Colorado, Boulder.
While completing his prior course work in Colorado he performed professionally with the Colorado Symphony in productions of Meredith Wilson’s The Music Man and Puccini’s Tosca. Other professional highlights include performances with Opera Delaware, Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theater, Middle America Freedom Band, the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, Boulder Chamber Orchestra, and the Delaware Valley Chorale.
Students of Dr. Williams have placed in and won numerous competitions, including district solo competitions, NATS competitions and the Petri Scholarship in Portland, Oregon. Outside of teaching students how to use their voices in a healthy and sustainable way, Dr. Williams enjoys playing ice hockey, barbecuing, woodworking, and backpacking with his wife.
A second-generation Japanese American and Twin Cities native, Eri Isomura is a freelance percussionist, music librarian, piano and percussion instructor, and music administrator.
Ms. Isomura is a core member of 10th Wave Chamber Collective, a Twin Cities-based new music ensemble. As a multi-genre percussionist, she enjoys performing in ensembles such as the indie-classical group Champagne Confetti, Zeitgeist, and Wayzata Symphony Orchestra.
Ms. Isomura earned her B.M. in Percussion Performance with distinction as a student of David Hagedorn and Phil Hey at St. Olaf College, and a M.M. in Percussion Performance at The Boston Conservatory.
As a pianist, Ms. Isomura studied piano through college, winning state and regional competitions while studying with Kent McWilliams. In 2008, St. Olaf College selected her to represent the college as part of their international Piano Tour. She is a member of the Minnesota Music Teachers’ Association and serves on the board of the Percussive Arts Society’s Minnesota Chapter (MNPAS).
David Crittenden is a guitarist, recording artist, and teacher based in the Twin Cities, MN. He has a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from the University of Georgia where he studied with John Sutherland. He received his Master of Music degree from Ball State University where he studied with Paul Reilly. For ten years he was a member of the Minneapolis Guitar Quartet.
Two of his works, Prelude and Dance and From a Distant Fiddle for guitar solo, are published by Amoriello Guitar Publications, and a book of his guitar quartets is published by Alfred Music Publishing. His compositions are included on the Minneapolis Guitar Quartet’s second recording, Over Land and Sea, Jeff Lambert’s most recent CDs (Sadko and the Ocean King, and Jeff Lambert - Guitar Concertos) and on Joseph Pecoraro’s latest solo CD (Perennials).
David also teaches at Hamline University and Bethel University in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Violinist Rômulo Sprung is an established teacher and performer in the Twin Cities area, while also pursuing his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Minnesota, studying with famed violin pedagogue Sally O’Reilly.
As a freelancer, Rômulo performs regularly with the Quad City Symphony Orchestra and the Duluth Symphony Orchestra. He was also the concertmaster of the Journey North Opera Company for the production of “The Rape of Lucretia,” by Benjamin Britten, which was named as one of the Best 10 Classical Concerts in Minnesota in 2019 by the Star Tribune.
A native of Brazil, Rômulo started violin lessons through the Suzuki Method at the age of nine. At thirteen, he won his first national competition in Brazil for young musicians, which sparked his desire to pursue a career as a professional violinist. After completing his undergraduate studies in Brazil with Dr. Fredi Gerling, Rômulo moved to the United States to pursue his Master’s Degree at Duquesne University as a student of Charles Stegeman, Concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Opera. Rômulo also holds a Performance Diploma from Roosevelt University in Chicago, where he studied with Yuan-Qing Yu, Assistant Concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He has also been fortunate to perform in master classes for Shlomo Mintz, Noah Bendix-Balgley, Andres Cardenés, Miriam Fried, and Shmuel Ashkenazi.
When Rômulo is not busy teaching or performing, he enjoys cooking, brewing espresso, and spending time with his wife, Morgan, and two cats, Louie and Hubert.
Autumn L. Zander is a pianist, teacher and writer based in south-central Minnesota. Her piano and music history focused articles appear American Music Teacher, Clavier Companion, Piano Journal of the European Piano Teachers Association and The Piano Teacher magazine of Australia. Her most recent feature length article, “In Conversation with Seymour Bernstein” was published in the 2019 spring issue of Piano Journal.
With a keen interest in pedagogy, Autumn strives to help students develop solid technical and musical foundations to support a lifetime of creating music. She has attended numerous summer institutes in the Taubman Approach to piano technique through the Golandsky Institute and in Dalcroze Eurhythmics through the Marta Sanchez Dalcroze Training Center at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA.
Autumn is a performing member of Thursday Musical and a regular presenter at the Minnesota Music Teachers Association State Convention. A Nationally Certified Teacher of Music, she holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance & Pedagogy from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin and a Masters of Music degree in Piano Performance & Pedagogy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She also serves on the piano faculties at MacPhail Center for Music, Minneapolis, MN and at the International Music Camp, International Peace Gardens, Dunseith, N.D.
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