Michael Hershkowitz, Director of Concerts and Community Education, Executive Director of the Stony Brook Performing Arts Institute

A lifelong musician, Michael has a diverse background including public education, marketing, publicity, graphic design, arts administration, stage management and artist relations. After graduating from James Madison University with a degree in Music Education, he taught for four years in public schools. Michael completed his Masters Degree in Music at Stony Brook University and made the move into the business world as a Marketing Associate and for Connolly and Co., an orchestral products company, and later as the Artist Relations Manager for Thomastik-Infeld strings, Vienna, singing such clients as Glen Dicterow, the Shanghai Quartet and Hillary Hahn. Michael is currently pursuing an M.B.A. while he works at Stony Brook.

In addition to his work at Stony Brook, Michael maintains an active schedule of trombone performance and private instruction. In 2004 he founded the Long Island Symphonic Winds, a wind ensemble dedicated to performance of original, contemporary composition.

Dorothea Cook, Director, Music Basics for Kids

A native of Seattle, Washington, Dorothea Cook (”Deede” to her friends) majored in performance at the University of Washington where she studied violin with Vilem Sokol and Emanuel Zetlin.

In 1991 Deede moved to Long Island to be with her husband, Peter Winkler, where she taught privately and completed a multidisciplinary bachelor’s degree in music and psychology at Stony Brook University. Her studies included jazz improvisation with Todd Coolman and continuo realization with Arthur Haas. Her search for a holistic approach to music education led her to the pedagogy of Emile-Jacques Dalcroze, which she studied in New York City at the Dalcroze School of America and the Diller-Quaile School of Music, working with Robert Abramson, Ruth Alperson, and Anne Farber. She has taught Dalcroze Eurythmics at the Lucy Moses School of Music and Dance, the Stony Brook Summer Music Festival, the Diller-Quaile School of Music, and is director of the Music Basics for Kids program at Stony Brook University.In addition to her teaching activities, Deede plays Baroque violin and viola in period music ensembles, including the Stony Brook Baroque Players, and performs with the violin/piano duo Silken Rags with her husband, Peter Winkler.

Tae Sakamoto, music theory

Born in Japan, composer and pianist Tae Sakamoto's musical experience and talent extends into the fields of conducting and singing as well, making her a versatile and sought-after musician. After moving to the United States, she began studying composition with Paul Salerni and piano with Eugene Albulescu at Lehigh University, where she was the recipient of the Presidential Scholarship and William's prizes, and winner of the Fifth Annual Lehigh Concerto Competition. Besides being a solo recitalist, she often appeared as rehearsal accompanist, assistant conductor, and continuo player for Lehigh's opera/musical program. After receiving a Bachelor's degree from Lehigh, Ms. Sakamoto went on to complete her Master's degree in composition at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where she is currently finishing her Ph.D. As an active and passionate educator, she teaches music theory and ear-training courses at Stony Brook University, Long Island University (C.W. Post Campus), Suffolk County Community College, and the Pre-College Program at Stony Brook.

Marc Levine, chamber, violin

Adam Meyer, chamber, viola

Adam Meyer is the founding violist of the Bryant Park Quartet, based in New York City. In addition to his work with the Bryant Park Quartet, Adam has performed chamber music with such artists as Itzhak Perlman, David Finckel, Ronald Leonard, Merry Peckham, and Rohan DeSilva. A dedicated teacher, Adam is on faculty at the Stony Brook University Pre-College Program, the New York Youth Symphony Chamber Music Program, and is faculty and co-founder of a summer chamber music camp for elementary students in his hometown of Des Moines. His strong belief in community and school outreach has led to frequent collaborations with "New Performing Arts" in Kentucky to present chamber music in underserved public schools as part of rural residencies throughout the state. In addition to his work as a violist, Adam serves as the Program and Development Manager for The Perlman Music Program, a non-profit organization he has been involved with since 2003. Adam holds degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory, and The Juilliard School, and is currently finishing his Doctorate of Music Arts degree at Stony Brook University. His teachers have included Heidi Castleman, Kathy Murdock, Peter Slowik, and Hsin-Yun Huang.


Tomoko Fujita, chamber, cello

Tomoko Fujita is the founding cellist of the Bryant Park Quartet and a musician of wide-ranging interests. Tomoko has presented solo and chamber music recitals at many venues including the Staller Center for the Arts, Alice Tully and Paul Recital Halls of Lincoln Center, the Kosciusko Foundation, and Duncan Recital Hall. An award-winner as a Tanglewood Music Center fellow, she was also a member of the New Fromm Players, Tanglewood's contemporary music ensemble-in-residence. Tomoko has recently performed baroque cello in the Boston Early Music Festival and the Naumburg Orchestral Concerts series. In addition to teaching at the Stony Brook University Pre-College Program and the Port Jefferson Music Academy , and maintaining a private studio, she has served on the faculty of the Zephyr International Chamber Music Course and Festival in Courmayeur , Italy. Tomoko graduated summa cum laude from Rice University with a double degree: a B.M. in cello performance as a student of Norman Fischer; and a B.A. in psychology. She earned a M.M. at The Juilliard School while studying with Joel Krosnick and Darrett Adkins. She is currently working with Colin Carr in the D.M.A. program at Stony Brook University.

Michael McCurdy, percussion

Dr. Michael J. McCurdy is a percussionist and teacher in New York City, is currently a part-time lecturer at Stony Brook University, and is a promotion associate at G. Schirmer/Associated Music Publishers. He is also a teaching artist for the Brooklyn Academy of Music, where he has presented workshops to urban students on subjects as diverse as Process Music, Junk Percussion, Ugandan Drumming, and contemporary solo percussion. Over the past few years, he has been a performer at Electronic Music Midwest, the Sparks Festival of Electronic Music, the Other Minds Festival of New Music, the Festival of New American Music, the April in Santa Cruz New Music Festival, and the Bang on A Can Summer Music Institute. He has performed with, among others, Continuum Chamber Ensemble, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the Albany Symphony, the Sacramento Philharmonic, and Sacramento Opera.

Ilari Kaila, music theory


Kathleen Gorman, voice, opera

Recently, Kathleen has worked with the New York City Opera Project as Mrs. Gleaton in their production of Susannah. With the Brooklyn Repertory Opera company, she played Constance Purity in their the modern opera AFRAID, and Despina in Mozart's Cosě fan tutti. At The Danny Kaye Playhouse in Manhattan, Kathleen performed the role of Maryanna in Nicolas Flagello's opera The Sisters, marking the second time this opera has ever been performed. In the summer Kathleen worked in Boston as part of the Crittenden Opera Studio workshop. She is currently working on her graduate degree in Vocal Performance at Stony Brook University under Elaine Bonazzi.

Jonathan den Herder, chamber, cello

Chris Graham, percussion

Gabe Shuford, jazz

Gabriel Shuford is an accomplished jazz pianist and a prize-winning harpsichordist. Recently, he was awarded top prize at the 6th Irving and Mae Jurow International Harpsichord Competition held at the University of North Texas in March 2007. He has performed with leading ensembles such as the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Past Perfect, and the Texas Early Music Project. Since receiving a scholarship in Jazz Studies at Lawrence University, he has gone on to perform with several well-known jazz musicians including Ray Anderson and Paquito D’Rivera. This is his ninth year of teaching the Jazz Workshop in the Pre-College program at Stony Brook University—an experience that he says has been rich and rewarding.



Kevin Kwan Loucks, piano

Pianist Kevin Kwan Loucks has performed in The Kennedy Center, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, La Maison Française Embassy of France in Washington D.C., and on NPR’s Performance Today, live from Aspen’s Harris Concert Hall. He was featured in recital at Prösels Castle in Italy, and as soloist performing concertos of Liszt and Tchaikovsky with the U.C. Irvine Symphony Orchestra, and Beethoven with the Bratislava Chamber Orchestra in Austria. Recent New York appearances include Juilliard’s Evening of Chamber Music and Wednesdays at One in Alice Tully Hall, Music at the Grazhda, and Bargemusic in Brooklyn. Also active as a chamber musician, he has been featured at the Moulin d’Andé in Normandy, The American Church in Paris, in Prague’s Lichtenstein Palace with principle members of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and with Edgar Meyer at the Laguna Beach Chamber Music Festival in California. He has attended the Aspen Music Festival, Music@Menlo, and the Piano Masterclasses at The Banff Centre, where in the summer of 2008 he will be participating in the Collaborative Piano Internship program. A recent graduate of The Juilliard School, he earned his Master of Music degree as a student of Julian Martin. He received his Bachelor of Music degree studying with Nina Scolnik at the University of California, Irvine, and is currently a candidate of the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at SUNY Stony Brook where he is working with Christina Dahl.


Adult Program
Anna Vinnitsky
Pavel Vinnitsky
Barbara Norpoth
Michael Douglas Jones
Marc Levine

Administration
Katherine Hasard, Assistant
Judy Lochhead, Faculty Advisor
Peter Winkler, Faculty Advisor