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DATE: September 4, 2008 MEDIA CONTACT: Cathy Farmer
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE cfarmer@pamusacad.org
717-399-9733PENNSYLVANIA ACADEMY OF MUSIC EXPANDS FACULTY AND PROGRAM
Lancaster, Pa. – As the Pennsylvania Academy of Music launches its inaugural school year in its new 63,000 square foot center in downtown Lancaster, it is expanding its programs and academic faculty. Frances Veri, Dean of the Academy, announces the following additions:
Jennifer Lobo is the new musical director of the Academy Children’s Choir and member of the voice department. She holds an M.A. in Voice Performance from New York University (NYU) and has served as adjunct music faculty member at NYU and at the Manhattan School of Music.
Also new to the choral program is Dimitry Shmelev, a choral conductor and voice instructor who earned graduate degrees from the St. Petersburg Conservatorium and previously served as conductor for Glinka State Capella, a celebrated Russian choir dating back to 1479.
Rainer Beckmann is director of the Academy’s new Early Music Program. A graduate of the Utrecht School of the Arts, Netherlands, he holds a doctorate from the University of Georgia and has received first prize at the Holland Open Recorder Festival Competition.
New piano instructors are:
Yanni Potamousis, who holds a doctorate from Rutgers University and has been an adjunct professor of music at New Jersey City University, a piano instructor at the Hudson Valley Academy of Music, and a faculty member at the Garden State Music Festival.
Ju-Ping Song, a Ph.D. from New York University who currently is on faculty at Hunter College in New York City.
Irina Shmeleva, who earned graduate degrees from the St. Petersburg Conservatory in her native Russia and previously was a music instructor at the Sviridov School of the Arts in St. Petersburg.
The strings department is expanding with the addition of Kelly Ali, string bass instructor who holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Maryland and has performed with the Heidelberg Symphony, the Virginia Symphony, and the National Philharmonic Orchestra.
Matthew Allison, a Doctor of Music from the University of Kansas where he previously served as a graduate teaching assistant, joins the Academy as a flute instructor.
Located at 42 N. Prince Street in Lancaster, the Pennsylvania Academy of Music is one of only 12 autonomous pre-collegiate schools accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music. In its new facility, it can accommodate up to 600 students, ages 4-adult, with a curriculum including applied lessons, composition, and early development, pre-collegiate, chamber music, choral, and performance programs.
The Pennsylvania Academy of Music is a non-profit pre-collegiate institution dedicated to the musical advancement of its students. Founded in 1990, the Academy attracts students from an immediate nine-county area as well as from around the world, who study disciplines ranging from instrumental, chamber music, orchestra, opera and vocal performance to music composition and theory, improvisation, accompanying ,jazz and recording. The Academy has a widely accomplished international faculty and is one of only 12 autonomous pre-collegiate music schools in the country accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music.
