Winds/Strings

Jessica has studied flute and piano privately since she was in middle school. She holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in Flute Performance from Northwestern University and the University of Louisville. She also recently completed her Master of Music Education degree at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music. Jessica performs on flute and piccolo with the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra and the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic. Jessica has been teaching piano and flute for the Stafford Music Academy since 2008.

Trumpet player Sean Burdette is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Music at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music under the direction of Edmund Cord. Primarily a classical performer, Sean is also proficient at jazz and baroque styles. He holds an undergraduate degree in Music Education and Music Performance from Alderson Broaddus University, and Masters in Music from Indiana University. While at Alderson Broaddus, he was president of the local chapters for Phi Mu Alpha Fraternity, and National Association for Music Education. He also founded Theta Tau Upsilon Fraternity of Music, an organization to help promote music at low-income schools. Honors and awards he received included winner of the biannual concerto and honors recital competition from 2009-2014. Sean has played with the West Virginia Symphony, Indiana University Philharmonic, and Indiana University Wind Ensemble. He studied under Todd Wilson, Timothy DeWitt, John Rommel and Edmund Cord, with additional baroque trumpet study under Kris Kwapis.

Rebecca Salo is currently pursuing her masters degree in horn performance at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music under the guidance of Jeff Nelsen. She enjoys teaching horn players of all ages, and she has maintained a private studio since 2015. Her teaching experiences include touring with the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp International Youth Symphony Orchestra as the principal horn and staff, working as a counselor and sectional coach at Blue Lake, directing horn choir events, and organizing numerous student recitals. Rebecca’s performance highlights include soloing with the Lafayette Symphony Orchestra as a winner of the Keller Competition (2018), receiving the Purdue Sudler Prize in the Arts (2018), soloing with the Kokomo Park Band (2017), playing principal horn in the Purdue Philharmonic Orchestra (2015-2018), and playing in the orchestras and chamber ensembles at Indiana University. Her former teachers include Wayne Lu and Kazimierz Machala.

Derek Granger is an Associate Instructor of Saxophone at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he is pursuing his Master of Music degree in Saxophone Performance in the studio of Otis Murphy. A native of Las Vegas, Nevada, Derek graduated from the University of Arizona in 2011 with degrees in Music Education and Saxophone Performance. Derek served as the Director of Choirs at Flowing Wells High School in Tucson, Arizona from 2011 until 2017, during which time he also played alto saxophone with the Presidio Saxophone Quartet and freelanced throughout the Tucson area. Former teachers include Timothy McAllister, Kelland Thomas, and Mark McArthur.

Sun Huh is a native of South Korea. Huh began the violin at age 8, and she is the winner of many national competitions in South Korea. In 2002, she began her studies under Professor Stephen Picard at the Hanns Eisler Hochschule fuer Musik in Berlin, Germany for two years. She later finished her undergraduate studies and earned a diploma and Konzert-Examen in solo performance with Professor Ida Bieler at the Robert Schumann Musikhochschule in Duesseldorf. In Germany, Huh began her European career and was the winner of many prizes both as a soloist and as a part of a chamber music group. She debuted with the Bochum symphony orchestra and later gave more concerts with several German orchestras. She was also featured as a chamber musician in a performance with the Heine string quartet in Ochsenhausen in Germany.

In 2009, Huh was awarded the prestigious “Barbara and Jacobs” scholarship to pursue her Performer Diploma at Indiana University Jacobs School of music under the tutelage of the Queen Elizabeth competition gold medalist, professor Ik-Hwan Bae. After finishing her Performer Diploma, Huh continued her studies at the Jacobs School of Music and obtained a Masters of Music degree under internationally-renowned violinist and pedagogue, Professor Mark Kaplan. Huh is in her 2nd year of DM studies with professor Mark Kaplan at IU. She held a concertmaster position during her MM degree, and she is actively performing as a chamber musician as well as a soloist during her studies at IU.

Christa Cole is a violinist, pianist, and music theorist hailing from Boise, Idaho. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Music Theory with a minor in Violin Performance at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she studies with Grigory Kalinovsky. Christa received a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from the Oberlin Conservatory, where she studied with David Bowlin. While at Oberlin, Christa performed Shulamit Ran’s Violin Concerto with the Oberlin Orchestra as a winner of the Conservatory’s annual concerto competition. Christa began her violin studies at age 4 under the Suzuki method. While in high school, she took Suzuki Teacher Training courses for Violin Books 1 and 2 and started her own violin studio. In addition, Christa studied piano formally for 15 years.  As a music theorist, Christa combines her passion for teaching, performing, writing, and thinking about music, and she aims to nurture this passion in all her students.

Christopher Alley is originally from El Paso, Texas and has been playing the viola since age 10. He attended Idyllwild Arts Academy and went on to earn a Bachelor of Music in Viola Performance from the University of Texas at Austin in 2015. He earned a Master of Music in 2017 and Performer’s Diploma in 2018 from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. His principal teachers include Donald McInnes, Roger Myers, and Edward Gazouleas. He studied violin and viola pedagogy with Mimi Zweig and studied chamber music with members of the Miró and Pacifica string quartets. Christopher is an avid performer of orchestral and chamber music. He currently performs as a member of the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, and Owensboro Symphony Orchestra. He has appeared in concert at the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival and the Round Top Festival Institute.

Anthony D’Agostino has been studying and playing music in different settings for the past fourteen years, and has been teaching for the past two and a half years. Anthony completed his undergraduate degree in Double Bass performance with an emphasis in jazz studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he performed in the symphony, jazz ensemble and combos, and contemporary music/improvisation ensemble. Since then, Anthony has performed and taught as a freelancer in the Milwaukee area and became involved in Milwaukee’s creative/improvised music scene. Anthony is also an avid performer of  contemporary music, performing and premiering works in Milwaukee, Chicago, Toronto, and Brooklyn. A recent transplant to Bloomington, Anthony is excited to bring his skills and experiences to Stafford
Music Academy where he teaches double bass, electric bass, guitar, ukulele, and beginning piano.

Cellist Shinyoung Kim is a passionate educator and performer. Currently in his first year of his Doctorate of Music program at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, Shinyoung is comfortable performing as soloist, within a chamber group, or in an orchestra. Shinyoung has performed as soloist with orchestras such as the Oklahoma Youth Orchestra and the University of Central Oklahoma Chamber Orchestra. As a chamber musician, Shinyoung has been a part of award winning string quartets and was a part of the inaugural Undergraduate Honors String Quartet at the University of Oklahoma. As an orchestral musician, Shinyoung has served as principal cellist of the University of Oklahoma Symphony and the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra. Shinyoung has been heard in notable halls throughout the country such as the Meyerson Center in Dallas, the Chicago Symphony Center, Carnegie Hall, and Severance Hall in Cleveland. Even having performed at these great venues, Shinyoung is equally happy performing at nursing homes and senior centers, hoping to use music as a way of serving the community.

Shinyoung comes all the way from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, having lived there for most of his life. He did his undergraduate studies at the University of Oklahoma, and continued his studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he received his Masters. As a Doctorate candidate at Indiana University, Shinyoung hopes to further his knowledge of the cello to best serve his current and future students. Shinyoung’s teachers include Tess Remy-Schumacher, Jonathan Ruck, Melissa Kraut, and currently, Emilio Colon.