Piano Faculty

Ivana Bukvich - Head of Piano Department. Artist Diploma, M.M., Indiana University at South Bend; B.M., Music Academy at Belgrade (Yugoslavia); additional studies at DePaul University. Performances with the Dame Myra Hess Series (Chicago), the Edinburgh Festival, White Nights Festival with Valery Gergiev, Rotterdam Phillips Festival; visiting lecturer University of Illinois at Chicago; active chamber musician and accompanist.

Elif Allenfort - Undergraduate work at Hacettepe University Ankara State Conservatory, Ankara, Turkey. Postgraduate at Royal Conservatory of Brussels and Queen Elisabeth Musical College. Artist Diploma, Roosevelt University, 2005. Active performer and teacher throughout Chicagoland area.

Andrea Bartolomeo - B.M., Bowling Green State University. Graduate studies in organ performance and church music, Bowling Green State University. Assistant Director of Music at Immaculate Conception Church in Chicago.

Luke Bartolomeo - B.M., Bowling Green State University.  Assistant Director of Music at Immaculate Conception Church in Chicago.  Also taught at Music Schools of Northwest Ohio, Creative Arts at Bowling Green State University, and privately.  Certified in Music for Young Children group piano instruction method. *

Benjamin Bolasny - Jazz Piano

Chelsea Burns - B.M. (Piano Performance), University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Curriculum Developer and Training Administrator for Kindermusik International; independent piano teacher for the University of North Carolina Greensboro Community Music School. *

Philip Caldwell - M.A. (Interdisciplinary Arts) Columbia College Chicago; B.M. (Piano Performance) Sherwood Music School. Music director and performer with American Theater Company, Annoyance Theater, Davenport's Cabaret, Goodman Theater, Live Bait Theater, Second City, and Victory Gardens Theater.

Otilia Calin - National University of Music at Bucharest, Romania. Post-graduate work at MusikhochschuleLuebeck – Germany.

Bette Coulson - M.M., American Conservatory of Music, B.M., Chicago Conservatory College; Professional Teaching Certificate, Music Teachers National Association; additional studies at Interlochen, the University of Michigan, and Northwestern University. Member of the Lakeside Piano Duo and the Piano à la Quartet. 

Marjorie Delaplane - O.P. M.M., University of Michigan; B.M., Sienna Heights College; advanced study with Jorge Bolet, Indiana University; Certificate, Mozarteum in Salzburg. Performances with the Bourgeois-Delaplane duo piano team.

Aubrey Faith-Slaker - M.M. Southern Methodist University; B.M. University of Illinois; maintained private studio and performed chamber music in Cheyenne, Wyoming; Suzuki trained as a child at the Music Institute of Chicago; teaching at the Suzuki-Orff school. *

Laura Fenster - M.M., University of Southern California; B.A., University of California, Los Angeles; Diploma in Advanced Performance Studies, Concordia University. Recital appearances with the Dame Myra Hess Series (Chicago), Allied Arts Piano series, and tours of the Far East.

Christopher Goldston - M.M. (Piano Performance and Pedagogy), Northwestern University; B.M. (piano performance), University of North Carolina. Compositions and piano pedagogical works published by Alfred Publishing Company and FJH Music Company, Inc. Also teaches at Columbia College Chicago and University of Illinois at Chicago.

Yvonne Huntley - M.M., University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, B.M., Bennett College, Post-Graduate studies, University of Maryland-College Park. Also taught at Virginia Commonwealth University Community School of the Performing Arts and the Wisconsin Conservatory in Milwaukee.

Thomas Jefferson - M.M., Roosevelt University, B.M.ED., Texas A&M University, D.M.A., Northwestern University. Minister of Music at Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica in Chicago; accompanist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Musicians Residency Program; director, Sherwood Gospel Workshop.

Christopher Narloch - M.M. Piano Performance and Pedagogy, Bowling Green State University. B.M. Piano Performance and Pedagogy, Viterbo University.

Elizabeth Newkirk - B.A., Columbia College, Chicago. Performances with Chicago Civic Orchestra and chamber musician with CSO.

Gerald Rizzer - M.M., Yale University; B.M., University of Chicago; additional studies at the Juilliard School of Music. Founder and Artistic Director of the Chicago Ensemble; founder of the Sherwood Summer Chamber Music Institute.  

Erica Tam-Wang – M.M. and Performer’s Diploma, Indiana University; B.M., St. Olaf College; additional studies at the Chautauqua Institution. Piano and music theory instructor at Indiana University; accompanist at Wheaton College and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Musician’s Residency Program at South Shore Cultural Center. Note: on maternity leave until the week of Nov. 26, 2007.

Lisa Van Duyne - B.A., in progress (Piano Performance and Pedagogy) Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. Additional studies at the Melba Conservatory, University of Melbourne, Australia. Member, MTNA; additional teaching experience at the Oak Brook Academy of Music and Art and the Music Arts School in Highland Park. *

* Suzuki Faculty