Roger Coleman
Roger Coleman began piano studies at age 19 with Arthur Cunningham of Nyack, NY and went on to receive a BA in Music and a BFA in piano performance from SUNY Buffalo where he studied with Stephen Manes. Continuing at the University of Maryland, he received a Master of Music degree under the tutelage of Dr. Stewart Gordon.
Currently Roger is Professor of Music at the Takoma Park/ Silver Spring campus of Montgomery College where he teaches piano, guitar, theory as well as History of Classical Music, Jazz and American Popular Music. He enjoys playing a wide variety of styles including Jazz, with the Swingtime Big Band and Paramount Jazz Orchestra; and Rock with The Brighton Blackjacks, Downwire and Cure the Rot. He has composed music for theater, solo guitar, and various ensembles.
Hilary Van Wagenen Henry
Since giving her first solo recital at age seven, Hilary Van Wagenen Henry has performed in Italy, Russia, and the United States. Recent performances have included soloing with the chamber orchestra I Soloisti di Perugia in Perugia, Italy, performing solo works by Brahms in Assisi, Italy, and giving solo recitals at the Thrasher-Horne Center for the Performing Arts in Orange Park, Florida, the Steinway Societies of Nashville and Knoxville, TN, and many others. She was the featured musical performer for The Washington ARTS Group’s 30th anniversary gala, where she shared the program with artists from other disciplines. In a similar vein, Ms. Henry collaborated with painter Lauren Shea Little to create a multimedia experience recasting Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.” Ms. Henry is a prizewinner in several competitions, including the National Federation of Music Clubs Student Competition, the Catholic University Concerto Competition, the Concert on the Green Young Artists Competition, and finalist in the International Young Artists Competition in Washington, D.C. She has participated in music festivals such as Pianofest Perugia in Perugia, Italy, Washington International Piano Festival, the Taubmann Institute, and Music Naturally in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Ms. Henry received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The Benjamin T. Rome School of Music at The Catholic University of America, where she studied with Dr. Ivo Kaltchev. She is a 2011 La Gesse Foundation fellow, and will be performing in France, Germany, and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in the upcoming season. She lives with her husband, two-year old son (whose favorite composer is Beethoven) and eleven-year old greyhound in Silver Spring, MD. She teaches students of all ages at her home, and loves sharing her knowledge and love of music with others. When she’s not making music, she enjoys running, playing with legos, and learning about dinosaurs.
Sandra Segal
Sandra Segal began her piano studies at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago at age four. After earning mathematics and statistics degrees at the University of Chicago, she resumed piano studies at the Chicago Musical College of Roosevelt University in Chicago with Saul Dorfman; at Montgomery College with Richard Werder; and at the University of Maryland with Santiago Rodriguez and Roy Johnson, earning a BM with honors in piano performance. She obtained her Master’s degree in piano performance at Catholic University where she studied with Thomas Mastroianni and Luiz de Moura Castro. She now studies privately with Leander Bien, composes and arranges music, and teaches piano and theory in her private studio in Rockville.
Robert C. Snyder
Robert C. Snyder, M.D. is currently Chairman of Pathology at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring. An avid chamber musician, Bob has performed numerous recitals with Marilyn Cotlow, Metropolitan Opera Soprano; Davyd Booth, violinist and John Eitzen, cellist (members of the Philadelphia Orchestra); and various chamber musicians at local embassies as former Music Director of the James Monroe Society. He has a greater than 30 year four-hand piano collaboration with Galen Deibler, retired professor of piano at Susquehanna University. Having coached chamber music extensively with International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition Silver Medalist Susan Starr, he is presently studying privately with her in Philadelphia. Dr. Snyder is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Music Conservatory of Shenandoah University.
Ellen Tenenbaum
Ellen Tenenbaum currently studies piano with Leander Bien, having studied with Carolyn Lamb Booth from 2000 to 2009. Ellen performs in library, hospital, church, embassy, and senior living settings across the Washington area, in a volunteer capacity and for charitable events and causes. Her recital engagements involve discussing the music and composers followed by playing their works. She combines music with family and work as a study director at the evaluation research firm Westat.
Viscount Thurston
Viscount Thurston began piano studies at age 7. At his first public performance at age 17, he played Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 in Denver, Colorado with the orchestra led by his teacher, Antonia Brico. As a graduate student at Ohio State University, Viscount won the music school's concerto competition and performed Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 with the university orchestra. Studying with Rosemary Platt and then Richard Tetley-Kardos, he completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance in 1984. In 2003, he enjoyed the opportunity to reprise his performance of the Rach 3 in Colorado, this time with the Littleton Symphony Orchestra. He won 2nd place in the 2009 Washington International Piano Artists competition and was the 1st prize winner in 2010. Viscount is also a performing member of the DC-based Friday Morning Music Club. He manages leadership development programs for the Federal Aviation Administration at its headquarters in Washington, DC, and lives with his wife, Vickie, in Columbia, Maryland. Their four grown children, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, and one granddaughter all live in the Baltimore metro area.
Felicia Weiss
Felicia Weiss began studying piano at age nine, and in high school formed a chamber ensemble that went on to win the Long Island, New York Teen Talent competition. Currently, she studies piano with Myriam Avalos. Felicia is a performing member of the Friday Morning Music Club, attends the AlpenKammerMusik summer festival in Austria, and actively participates in the Levine School of Music’s chamber music program.