El Sistema USA

Daniel Berkowitz received his bachelor degrees in both music and economics from Northwestern University, where he studied trombone with Michael Mulcahy, Randall Hawes and Charles Vernon. He has performed across Europe, Asia, and the US, including a residency in China with the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra. As an instructor, Berkowitz held master classes in China, and served on the staff of the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts and Northwestern’s National High School Music Institute. From 2008-2009, he lived and worked in London, studying with many of Europe’s most well-respected trombonists. In parallel, Berkowitz worked as an entrepreneur developing the infrastructure for Morningstar’s Pan European and Asian Fund research endeavor. He looks forward to combining his broad musical background and entrepreneurial experience to serve the Abreu Fellows Program. Read an interview with Daniel >

A recipient of the Priddy Fellowship in Arts Leadership, the Reinhard Mohn Fellowship for Social Entrepreneurship, and now named to the inaugural class of Abreu Fellows, Jonathan Govias is as accomplished beyond the podium as he is on it. Appointed music director of a professional orchestra at the age of 22, he has since earned a Doctorate in orchestral conducting and performed with orchestras on three continents, including a June 2009 debut with Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra. This was part of a remarkable summer in which he was the only individual out of some combined 250 applicants to attend the three most selective workshops in North America, at the invitation of conductors Kurt Masur, Kenneth Kiesler, Gustav Meier and Marin Alsop. Read an interview with Jonathan >

Lorrie Heagy is a music teacher and librarian at Glacier Valley Elementary School in Juneau, Alaska, where she works with community, parents and teachers to integrate and advocate the arts for all kids. She initiated the Art is Elementary program, which won the Kennedy Center’s Creative Ticket National School of Distinction Award, an honor given annually to only five schools in the country. The instrumental music program she helped initiate at Glacier Valley spread to other Juneau elementary schools through grants and school district funding. Lorrie also teaches at University of Alaska Southeast for its MAT Program in Elementary Education, and at the Basic Arts Summer Institutes for Alaskan teachers. She accompanies for local arts organizations throughout Juneau and was one of fifty teachers selected nationally as a 2009 Yale School of Music Distinguished Music Educator. Read an interview with Lorrie >

Rebecca Levi was born and raised in New York City. She studied classical music from an early age, playing piano and flute at the Mannes and Manhattan School of Music Preparatory Divisions. She then attended Yale University, where she played piano for musical theater productions and sang in the folk music group Tangled Up In Blue. In 2007, she graduated with a B.A. in Italian and English Literature. Since then, she has been living in Urubamba, Peru, working in a home for abused children and teaching music and English classes. Read an interview with Rebecca >

David Malek, clarinetist, is originally from San Antonio, Texas. In 1987 David made his solo clarinet debut with the San Antonio Symphony performing Debussy’s Premiere Rhapsody. His clarinet studies led him to the North Carolina School of the Performing Arts under the instruction of Robert Listokin. Here David was one of three students selected by Affiliate Artists, Inc. New York in their Search for Talent in America competition. In addition to an active chamber music career, David has performed in orchestras across Europe and the US. David’s chamber music group, Group du Jour, was selected as the first group to participate in the Chamber Music for Rural America Initiative sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and Affiliate Artists, Inc. After touring with The Russ Morgan Orchestra, the longest continuously touring big band in the country, David joined the United States Air Force Band in San Antonio, Texas as principal clarinet. While in San Antonio, David was professor of clarinet at St. Mary’s University for eight years and played clarinet in the Corpus Christi and Victoria Symphony Orchestras. Recently David was selected to play principal clarinet in the inaugural concert of the International Wind Symphony in New York’s Avery Fisher Hall. David’s passion for teaching has led him to working with kids in rural parts of America, inner-city high schools in San Antonio and most recently as a member of the Harmony Project, where he worked with underserved students in South Central Los Angeles. Read an interview with David >

Born in Ontario, Canada, Dantes is of Haitian and Cameroonian descent. He attended McGill University for a Bachelor’s in Music in Bassoon Performance, studying e Stéphane Lévesque and Mathieu Harel of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. He graduated McGill in 2005, receiving the award for “Outstanding Performance in Bassoon”. He then attended Yale University School of Music for a Master’s in Music in Bassoon Performance, studying with Frank Morelli and graduating in 2007. Dantes then went on to the Performance Residency Program at Carnegie Mellon Unversity, studying with Nancy Goeres of the Pittsburgh Symphony. Festivals he has attended include Orford Arts Center (2000, 2002), Banff Festival (2004, 2005) and Aspen Music Festival (2006, 2007). He has performed with Charleston Symphony, Wallingford Symphony and Aspen Chamber Symphony. He was a finalist for African American Fellowships with both Detroit Symphony (2009) and Pittsburgh Symphony (2008). His teaching credits include the Yale School of Music Outreach program (2006-2007), Coach at Carnegie Mellon University Basketball camp (2008), and working as a volunteer, camp counsellor, lifeguard and swimming instructor at the Downtown YMCA in Ottawa. He will volunteer for the Leading Note Foundation, an El Sistema-inspired music education program in Ottawa in September 2009. Read an interview with Dantes >

Born and raised in Guatemala City, Guatemala, Álvaro Rodas is a percussionist, teacher and arts administrator. A Fulbright Scholar, Alvaro holds a Masters degree in Arts Administration from Columbia University. From 1992 to 2004 he was principal percussionist at the Guatemala National Symphony. He also taught percussion at the Guatemala National Conservatory. For two years he co-directed an 80-piece high school marching band that was the first Latin American ensemble to take part in the 1994 Hollywood Christmas Parade. Since 1997, he has been deeply involved in the replication of El Sistema in Guatemala as an administrator, percussion instructor, and coordinator of programs throughout the country, including the formation of a youth orchestra in Quetzaltenango with a grant from the World Bank in 2000-2001. More recently, Alvaro worked in a remote Mayan village as a percussion teacher and administrative consultant for a rural youth orchestra supported by World Vision Guatemala. During 2008, he created an audience development project which included the first performing arts audience survey in Guatemala City. Read an interview with Alvaro >

Stanford Leon Thompson is a native of Decatur, GA where he began his musical studies at the age of eight. He studied trumpet with members of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Georgia State University. Stanford earned a Bachelor of Music from The Curtis Institute of Music where he held the William A. Loeb Fellowship. While in Philadelphia, he had the opportunity to perform with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Curtis Symphony Orchestra, Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, and Symphony in C, and recorded on the Ondine label with Christoph Eschenbach. Stanford also appeared as soloist with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Ocean City Pops Orchestra and the North Springs Philharmonic. He has led residencies with his brass quintet, Philos Brass, and performed extensively with the Rittenhouse Jazz Quintet. He has collaborated with such organizations as the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Kenyan Urithi Education Fund, The Curtis Institute of Music, Musicopia, and Symphony in C to design and present programs for students and adults. In addition to serving as the founding Artistic Director of the Reading Summer Music Institute, Stanford also serves as the Director of Operations for the Atlanta Trumpet Festival and served on the faculty of the Atlanta Academy of Music and Symphony in C Summer Camp. He manages professional music ensembles, maintains a private trumpet studio and counsels musicians of all ages. Read an interview with Stanford >

Christine Witkowski has shaped a musical career in both performance and outreach. At Northwestern University, she studied horn performance with Gail Williams and William Barnewitz, receiving her Bachelor of Music in 2007. While living in Evanston during her undergraduate studies, Christine began volunteering for Youth Organizations Umbrella Inc. and soon became the program director for “Breakfast Club,” a mentoring and tutoring program for disadvantaged youth. During her time at Northwestern, Christine was fortunate to have many fulfilling musical experiences, including attending the Colorado College Summer music festival, playing principal horn in the New York String Orchestra and attending the Norfolk chamber music festival. In the fall of 2007, Christine moved to Montreal to study horn with John Zirbel and attend McGill University for her master’s degree. While in Montreal, Christine appeared with the McGill Symphony Orchestra as a soloist playing Haydn’s First Horn Concerto, played extra horn with the Montreal Symphony, and was awarded a full fellowship to study at the Aspen Music Festival and School. Dedicated to music outreach, Christine recently won the horn position in the Miami Music Project in Miami, Florida, an organization that is dedicated to bringing music performance to children in the Miami area. Read an interview with Christine >

Kathryn Wyatt is an accomplished musician and new personality in orchestra management. As Director of Education and Community Engagement for the North Carolina Symphony from 2007-2009, she created and expanded programs that would inspire and captivate young audiences for the future of symphony orchestras. In 2006, she was selected to be an Orchestra Management Fellow of the League of American Orchestras. This year-long leadership training program is designed to launch executive careers in orchestra management through the observation of management practices in host orchestras, and an intense course of study and hands-on work experiences. Leading up to her work in orchestra management, Wyatt was a violist with the New World Symphony and the Youth Orchestra of the Americas. Her call to leadership in the arts was inspired by YOA’s joint performances with the Simon Bolivar Orchestra of Caracas, VZ in 2005. The power and success of El Sistema moved her to begin thinking how and where else this passion for music could translate to benefitting communities.Wyatt holds bachelor degrees in Political Science and Viola Performance from Indiana University as well as a Master’s Degree in Viola Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music. She has performed with the indie folk-rock chamber orchestra, Lost in the Trees, the New World Symphony, Verbier Festival Orchestra, Columbus Symphony Orchestra, Youth Orchestra of the Americas, and the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra of Charleston, S.C. Read an interview with Kathryn >