College of Charleston Music Department

Adjunct Faculty

Beth Albert, percussion
Beth Albert is principal timpanist with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. She has also played with the Richmond, Baltimore, and Delaware Symphony Orchestras. She received the Bachelor of Music degree from the Juilliard School and the Master of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Suzanne Fleming Atwood, voice
Suzanne Fleming-Atwood is a graduate of Cincinnati Conservatory and Catholic University in Washington, D.C., and has also studied in Italy. She teaches voice and diction at the College of Charleston and directs the Charleston Children's Choir. She performed the role of "Gretel" In the November performance of "Hansel and Gretel" with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra.
Lee Barbour, jazz guitar
Lee Barbour graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in jazz performance from the University of South Carolina in 2001. Upon graduation, he moved to Charleston and immersed himself in the city's local jazz scene. In the fall of 2002, at the age of 25, he became the youngest adjunct faculty professor at the College. He balances his teaching with performing several nights a week at venues such as Mezzane and Satchmo's. When not teaching, performing, composing, or practicing, he works with computer audio and video.
Quentin Baxter, jazz percussion
Quentin Baxter is a graduate of the College of Charleston and also studied at the University of South Carolina. He appears throughout the Lowcountry. He facilitated the drum position at Serenade, a major production/musical review, and toured Japan, Guam, St. Croix, and Hawaii. Mr. Baxter has performed with many musicians including Charlie Byrd, Billy Childs, and Marcus Roberts. His group Emanon has an affiliation of approximately twelve musicians and its configuration varies from duos to octets. Emanon has a two-fold agenda: 1) to present the only "true" American artform with a continual fresh approach, however never sacrificing the intent and integrity of true improvisation and swing, and 2) to continue to explore and/or create new ways to present their instruments as an extention of human expression.
Art Bumgardner
Dr. Bumgardner has a DMA from the University of Texas at Austin in Vocal Performance with a minor in musicology. He has appeared as baritone soloist in numerous recitals, operas, oratorios and cantatas in the Midwest. He has served as Chorus Master for the Duluth-Superior Symphony Chorus for several major works including Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Handel's Messiah and the Requiem of Brahms and Verdi. Dr. Bumgardner served for more than thirty years as instructor of voice and twenty-five years as Music Department Chair at the University of Wisconsin-Superior where he received the Burlington Northern Faculty Achievement Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1992. He has published articles on the life and works of American composer Norman Dello Joio. Most recently, Dr. Bumgardner served as Interim Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Superior.
Laury Christie, voice
Laury Christie is currently Visiting Professor of Voice. She recently completed a 24 year tenure as Professor of Voice and Certified Teacher of the Alexander Technique at the University of South Carolina, School of Music. With 35 major opera roles in the soprano repertoire to her credit, she has performed in hundreds of operas, concerts, oratorio and in recital throughout Europe and the USA. She has been featured at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, USC, Alice Tully Hall, NYC and on Public Radio. CD recordings include "Spirals of Light" Works of composer Meira Warshauer and most recently a commemorative CD featuring excerpts from concerts performed during her past 24 years at USC. Proceeds from this CD are given to a vocal scholarship for a female student majoring in vocal performance. She presents masterclasses on the regional, national and international level. Her students have been successful in numerous vocal competitions throughout the USA as well achieving professional careers in education and on the concert and music theater stages. She was awarded the highly coveted USC Innovative Teaching and Research Grant to train and be certified in the Alexander Technique. She developed the first courses in the Alexander Technique to be integrated into a Southern University Music Curriculum. In addition, she created the community Voice Lesson Program enabling people in the community and surrounding Columbia area to study voice with a graduate assistant vocal-performance major. In May 2004, Ms. Christie was named Distinguished Emerita Professor of Music by the University of South Carolina.
Frank Duvall, jazz bass
Frank Duvall is one of the most respected and sought-after bassists in South Carolina. A native of Rome, Georgia, he received a Masters degree from the University of South Carolina. Upon graduation, he moved to New York City, where he played the Blue Note and Birdland jazz clubs, performed in off-Broadway shows and worked extensively in recording studios on music for television and movies. Mr. Duvall's resume includes performances with Marian McPartland, Freddie Hubbard, Dizzy Gillespie, Buddy DeFranco, Chris Vadalla, Carl Fontana, Nneenna Freelon, Chris Potter, and Bill Charlap. He is the musical director at the Charleston Grill. For more information: www.frankduvall.com
Tacy Edwards, flute
Tacy Edwards is piccoloist of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra.She has published two flute method books, Developing Doubtful Digits and The Ultimate Workout Book for Professional Flutists, and is nearing publication of a third book entitled Bach and Beethoven for Flute and Guitar. She has been a member of the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, Philharmonia Virtuosi, the Columbus (Ohio) Symphony Orchestra, the East Texas Symphony, and the Buffalo Philharmonic. She is a member of the chamber group Chacabuco which specializes in music of Latin America. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree in flute at the Univerisity of Kansas. This past year she has founded two new companies, www.SymphonyConsultant.com and www.ClassicallyCharleston.com, to aid people in the music industry. She chaired the 1994 and 1995 CSO Designer Showhouses and formed two flute clubs in the USA: The Niagara Frontier Flute Association and the Central Ohio Flute Association. She plays an Anton Braun flute and piccolo.
Johnifer Q. Fashion, gospel choir
Johnifer Q. Fashion has been the director of the College of Charleston Gospel Choir since 1992. A graduate of the College, he holds the M.Ed. Degree in Secondary Administration from The Citadel and has also studied at the University of South Carolina. He has toured and performed at the American Church in Paris, Sunny Isle Baptists Church in St. Croix,VI, Ebenezer Baptist Church in New Orleans, The American Embassy In Luxembourg, and the University of Milan, Mt. Moriah Baptist Church in Los Angeles.
Mark Gainer, oboe
Since 1984, Mark Gainer has been principal oboist with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and its woodwind quintet, and has been a featured soloist with the CSO on numerous occasions. He holds degrees from The Hartt School and the Juilliard School of Music, and has performed with the Mexican State Symphony and the Filarmonica de Caracas. As an active chamber musician, Mr. Gainer organized and performed in recitals all over the Americas and spent his summers participating in the Colorado Music Festival, the Bedford Springs (PA) Music Festival, the New Southwest Chamber Orchestra (NM), the Vale Veneto Music Festival in Brazil, and was a soloist in the Spoleto Chamber Music Series.
Tommy Gill, jazz piano
A native of Charleston, Tommy Gill began studying piano at the age of five. His interest in jazz performance and composition compelled him to continue his studies in Boston at the New England Conservatory of Music where he studied jazz piano with Fred Hersch and Jaki Byard. After completing his degree in piano technology, Mr. Gill moved to New York where he became a Steinway Concert Piano Technician working for great pianists such as Vladimir Horowitz and Herbie Hancock. He has performed and recorded from Boston to Los Angeles leading his own group as well as performing with other jazz artists including Billy Harper, Jimmy Knepper, Johnny Coles, Bud Shank, Shorty Rogers, Bob Belden, Ronald Westray, Sonny Fortune, Ron Free, Terry Gibbes, and Buddy De Franco. He completed his piano performance degree while studying with Enrique Graf at the College of Charleston.
Julia Harlow, harpsichord, organ
Julia Harlow is currently Organist at Second Presbyterian Church in Charleston. She earned the Doctor of Musical Arts in Organ Performance and Pedagogy at the University of Oregon, the Master of Music in Early Keyboard Performance at the University of Oregon, and the Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance from the University of Iowa. She has extensive performance experience of early music, as well as European, Balkan and Middle Eastern folk music. She has often performed as harpsichordist or organist in Piccolo Spoleto, on the Early Music, Choral Artists/Festival of Churches, and L'Organo series. In her spare time she enjoys playing the bagpipes with the City of Charleston Police Pipes and Drums.
David Heywood, jazz flute, pep band
David Heywood received his Bachelor's Degree in Flute Performance from North Texas State University, and his Master's Degree in Jazz Studies from the University of South Carolina. While living in Texas, he was a member of Fort Worth Early Music and the Dallas Bach Society for ten years, with performances in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Kansas, as well as three appearances at the Boston Early Music Festival. Since moving to Charleston, Mr. Heywood has become a regular fixture in the local jazz scene, and has also been a guest soloist with the University of South Carolina Swing Shift Big Band, as well as being featured on the Macon-based jazz group Inside Out's premier CD. He has performed with Dave Pietro and Bert Ligon, to name a few. Mr. Heywood is also a published arranger of flute choir music, with offerings in the Southern Music Company and Alry Publications catalogs. His current responsibilities at the College of Charleston include directing two of the jazz combos, the Basketball Pep Band, and teaching private lessons.
Jan Marie Joyce, viola
Jan-Marie Christy Joyce is in her fourth season as Principal Violist with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. After earning a master's degree in Viola Performance from Louisiana State University in 1996, she completed a professional studies certificate in 1998 from the Cleveland Institute of Music under Stanley Konopka (Assistant Principal Violist of The Cleveland Orchestra). Jan-Marie is former Principal Violist of the Canton (OH) Symphony Orchestra and currently spends her summers as a member of the Breckenridge Music Institute Orchestra in Colorado. She also holds a bachelor's degree in Trumpet Performance.
Damian Kremer, cello
North Carolina native Damian Kremer has performed throughout the world as a soloist and as a chamber and orchestral musician. He has served as the principal cellist of the Chautauqua Music Festival Orchestra and the Lansing Symphony, and has toured internationally with the New World Symphony. Mr. Kremer also has been a member of: the Metropolitan Orchestra and the Fidelio String Quartet, both of Lisbon, Portugal; the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra in the Canary Islands; the Honolulu and Savannah Symphonies; and, currently, with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. He served for eight summers as the teaching and administrative assistant to Owen Carman; director of the famous Meadowmount Summer School of Music. Mr. Kremer's former teachers include Leslie Parnas, Tanya Carey, and Owen Carman. He maintains a very active solo and chamber music performing schedule throughout the southeast, as well as in Japan, where he spends much of his time during the summer.
Amos Lawrence, violin
Amos Lawrence began his musical training at the age of four and attended the North Carolina School of the Arts on a full scholarship. He studied with the legendary Ivan Galamian at the Curtis Institute of Music and received his Master's degree with Distinction in Performance honor from the New England Conservatory of Music. There he served as concertmaster and soloist of the New England Conservatory Orchestra and won the Charles Ely Scholarship Award. A member of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, he has served on the faculty of the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina, the Piano and Strings Workshop at the College, and the Tennessee Valley Strings Camp in Huntsville, Alabama.
Jill Terhaar Lewis, voice
Ms. Lewis earned a DMA in Vocal Performance with a minor in music history from the University of South Carolina. In addition to performing on the operatic stage, most recently in the title role of Puccini's Suor Angelica, she is a sought-after collaborator for vocal chamber music as well as for new works by prominent contemporary South Carolina composers. She has given masterclasses and served as an adjudicator for the South Carolina Music Teachers National Association and the South Carolina Music Educators Association. Ms. Lewis was a semi-finalist in the Birmingham Opera Vocal Competition in 2005 and the winner of the Charlotte Opera Guild Vocal Competition. She is currently the Artist-in-Residence at Charleston Southern University.
Richard Marcus, wind ensemble
Mr. Marcus earned a Master's Degree in Conducting from Butler University in Indianapolis where he studied with Stanley DeRusha. He has participated in masterclasses with some of the world's leading wind band conductors including Frederick Fennell, John Paynter, Craig Kirchhoff, and Timothy Rhenish. Mr. Marcus has directed bands, choirs, and orchestras of all levels including the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra and the Athenaeum Pops Orchestra. His ensembles have consistently earned superior ratings in music festivals in Florida, Virginia, New York, and the Bahamas. While at St. Pius X High School in Atlanta, Mr. Marcus served as spokesperson for the Southeast for the National Catholic Band Association, and he organized the first Honor Band and Choir Festival for the Archdiocese of Atlanta.
Charles Messersmith, clarinet
Charles Messersmith is a native of California and has lived here in Charleston for four years. He attended school at the Cleveland Institute of Music where he received a Bachelor in Music in 1991 while studying with Franklin Cohen. He then went back to California to study with David Breeden and received his Masters degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. In 1994, he was appointed principal clarinet of the Augusta Symphony, and four years later he was appointed to the Second Clarinet position of the Charleston Symphony where he plays now.
Lorenzo Muti, orchestra
Lorenzo Ricci Muti was born in Spoleto, Italy. He started his musical career at the age of seven, when he was chosen for a singing role in Menotti's opera "Matia Golovin." He performed at the Brussels International Expo, on New York City's Broadway, and at La Scala Theatre in Milan. After an intense singing career, he started conducting studies at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome, and then moved to the U.S., where he studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and the Juilliard School. His conducting debut took place during the 1977 Spoleto Festival. Since then, Maestro Muti has conducted both for the Italian and Charleston Spoleto Festivals, in major European cities such as Rome, Florence, London and Amsterdam; and for several American opera companies. Muti is the Artistic Director of the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle since 1988 and Conductor/Artistic Director of the Tar River Philharmonic Orchestra since 1989.
Brandon Nichols, horn
Brandon Nichols has served as Principal Horn of the Charleston Symphony since 1991, having been a member since 1989. As a frequent soloist with the Charleston Symphony, Mr. Nichols has performed Schumann's Concertstuck and Mozart's Symphonie Concertante on the Masterworks series as well as works by Haydn, Telemann, Richard Strauss, Fiala, Franz Strauss and Bach on the Chamber Series. During the 1993-94 season he took a one year leave to serve as Principal Horn of the Milwaukee Symphony, where he can be heard performing on several compact disc recordings on the Koss label. In the summer of 1998, Mr. Nichols was invited to Toronto to play with the Canadian Brass Quintet. He was one of a select few hornists worldwide being considered for the horn position in the Canadian Brass.
Irina Pevzner, piano
Irina Pevzner, born in Ukraine and raised in Latvia, earned her bachelor’s degree in piano performance and music education from Mansfield University (Pennsylvania), magna cum laude. She earned her master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University. Irina has performed throughout Latvia, Ukraine, and throughout the east coast of the U.S. She is a certified music teacher in Pennsylvania and has taught extensively at the Carnegie Mellon University Preparatory School. Currently, Irina is enrolled in the Artist Certificate Program at the College of Charleston, where she studies with Enrique Graf.
Charlton Singleton, jazz trumpet
Lowcountry native Charlton Singleton is an accomplished musician, specializing in trumpet and piano. As a trumpeter, he currently performs with the Charlton Singleton Quartet, Plane Jane Explosion, and Gradual Lean Jazz Quartet. He has performed with the Charleston State Company, Piccolo Spoleto, the Moja Festival, and released two CD's with the group Skwzbxx. He studied at the Berklee College of Music and received a Bachelor of Arts in Music Performance degree from South Carolina State University.
Deborah Styles, voice
Deborah Styles, soprano, holds degrees from Furman University and Columbia College. She has also pursued the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Louisiana State University, where she studied with the Metropolitan Opera star, Martina Arroyo. She has appeared as soloist with the Dallas Civic Chorus, Greenville Civic Chorale, LSU Symphony Orchestra, and Columbia Choral Society. Ms. Styles has performed leading operatic roles in productions of Aida, The Magic Flute, The Bartered Bride, Faust, Amahl and the Night Visitors, and The Marriage of Figaro with companies in Greenville, Columbia, Birmingham, and Baton Rouge. She has been the recipient of many awards, including the first prize at the Southern Regional Opera Competition in Birmingham, AL.
Kathleen Wilson, harp
Eunjoo Yun, piano
Eunjoo Yun has won prizes in competitions such as the Jewish Community Competition in Baltimore, the Brevard Festival Concerto Competition, and the Southeastern Competition in North Carolina. She received the 1995 South Carolina Arts Commission Fellowship in music and was named to the Community Tour Artist Roster. She studied at the College of Charleston with Enrique Graf and received the Outstanding Student Award from the Music Department and the Edwin Davis Peacock Award for Outstanding Piano Performance. She is founder and director of the piano faculty of the Charleston Academy of Music.
William Zehfuss, trombone
William Zehfuss has been principal trombonist with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra since 1985. He has also played with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Savannah Symmphony Orchestra, Brevard Music Center Orchestra and the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. He earned the Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University and has taught at Brevard Music Center and the University of South Carolina.