Music for Life
Larry Neeck
Larry Neeck is an internationally recognized composer, with more than one-hundred fifty works for concert band, jazz ensemble, and orchestra.published. He is frequently commissioned to write for schools, bands, and festivals, and often works as a guest conductor and clinician.
In addition to his work as a composer, Mr. Neeck had a successful career as a middle school band director, retiring after thirty-two years from the Webster (NY) Central School District. He directed concert bands, jazz ensembles, taught wind and percussion classes, and co-founded the Willink Middle School Student/Parent Band, now in its twenty-fifth season.
Mr. Neeck holds a B.A. in Music from the University of Pittsburgh, and an M.M. in Music Education from the Eastman School of Music. He is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), National Association for Music Education (NAfME), New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA), and the New York State Band Directors Association (NYSBDA).
Priscilla Todd Brown
Green Band
(Priscilla is on hiatus from the Green Band for the fall semester, 2020. She'll be back in the spring.)
After completing a preparatory degree at Eastman, Priscilla Todd Brown studied at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music where she graduated with a degree in oboe performance. A professional oboist, Priscilla has played, toured, and recorded with the Boston Symphony, the Boston Pops, and the Bethlehem Bach Orchestra. She played with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra for a number of years and with many other local groups. Her Masters degree in education is from Nazareth College.
Priscilla directed the bands and music program at East High School in the City of Rochester for almost twenty years, and received the Rochester Philharmonic Musicians' Award for Outstanding Music Educators (Instrumental Music - Band) in 2002. She is delighted to continue conducting with the New Horizons Band.
Tom Indiano
Concert and Symphonic Bands
Tom has over 40 years of experience as a successful conductor and school music educator. He recently retired from his position as Band Director at Sutherland High School, in Pittsford. He has also been the Director of the Webster Village Band since 2005, so some of you may know him from there.
Tom is an accomplished saxophonist, and woodwind specialist, and has taught many students privately over the years. He’s an Eastman School of Music graduate, and was awarded the prestigious Rochester Philharmonic Music Educator Award for Band in 2011. Tom was the unanimous choice of the interview committee, and we are pleased that he has agreed to come on board.
In addition to all of his musical accomplishments, Tom is an easy-going, caring individual, whom I think will fit well with New Horizons. He brings a genuine warmth, with a touch of humor, to everything he does.
Anne Kunkle
Sax Ensemble
A native of Myrtle Beach, SC, Anne Kunkle earned her Bachelor of Music degree with High Distinction as a double major in Saxophone Performance and Music Education from the Eastman School of Music, where she was a student of Dr. Chien-Kwan Lin. In the Spring of 2019, Anne earned her Master of Music degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as a student of Professor Debra Richtmeyer.
Anne is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Saxophone Performance and Literature at the Eastman School of Music, where she serves as the ESP Assistant Director, teaches at the Eastman Community Music School, and is a mentor for the New Horizons Music program.
Juli Elliot
Chorus
Juli Elliot is a Rochester, NY based vocalist, pianist and conductor. She is an active church musician, recitalist, ensemble singer and choral conductor (Eastman-Rochester New Horizons Chorus) as well as an instructor of voice and piano. In Rochester, she has performed with Voices (William Weinert) and Madrigalia (Cary Ratcliff) as vocalist and pianist as well as singing with early music ensemble, Musica Spei.
Aside from making music, Ms. Elliot has enjoyed the administrative and promotion side of music by serving on the boards of the Cathedral Choir School and Society for Chamber Music Rochester. Ms. Elliot studied World Religion and Music at Ashland University (OH) and Piano Pedagogy at Portland State University (OR).
Maruice Conn
Full & String Orchestra
Maurice Cohn is a graduate student in conducting at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. In Rochester he serves as assistant conductor of the Eastman School Symphony Orchestra, frequently conducts the OSSIA New Music Ensemble, and is the co-artistic director of the Arts@Ascension Music Festival.
He also travels to work with the Knox-Galesburg Symphony and the Zafa Collective (a Chicago-based contemporary music ensemble) as a regular guest conductor.
Ken Scott
Sax Ensemble
Kenneth Scott recently retired from 33 years of public school teaching in Wayne and Oswego Counties. Through that time he was an active member of NYSSMA and MENC and was a NYSSMA adjudicator of woodwinds for 12 years. During his tenure, Ken directed band, jazz ensemble, clarinet and saxophone choirs, and other various small ensembles from grades 4 through 12. In addition, he taught theory and composition geared to fulfill the three and five credit NYS music sequence. While teaching in Hannibal, NY, Ken co-directed a community band with member’s ages ranging from 19 to 83. In 1977 Ken graduated from the Crane School of Music in Potsdam, NY with a B.M. in music education and performance. Earning a MS/CAS in Educational Administration from SUNY Oswego in 1989, Ken served as Music Department Chair for three years in Oswego County before moving back to Rochester.
Ken Scott resides in Webster, NY, with his wife Judy and their three teenagers. Within this very musical household, all are accomplished downhill skiers and active participants in Garth Fagan Dance.
Charlie Carr
Jazz Workshop
Trumpet player and educator Charlie Carr is a multi-faceted artist, garnering great success in performance and music education across the United States. Equally at home in small groups and big bands, Carr maintains an active schedule of performance in Western New York, in addition to leading several projects that engage his diverse musical interests. His passion for education and versatility as an ensemble director and lead trumpet player has taken Charlie around the world to perform and present at national and international music festivals, music camps, and conferences. Charlie currently teaches at the Eastman School of Music and the Eastman Community Music School in Rochester, New York, in addition to maintaining a full studio of trumpets and students seeking to further their improvisatory abilities.
Tierney McLean
Green Band and Antique Brass
Born and raised in Spencerport, Tierney McLean has loved music all her life. Eastman Community Music School is near and dear to her heart, as she is a proud alumna. Awarded the Spencerport Music Association Scholarship upon her high school graduation in 2011, she moved to Ohio to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree in Trumpet Performance at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music under the instruction of Alan Siebert and Philip Collins.
Tierney is currently on faculty at the Roberts Community Music School, where she teaches private trumpet lessons, as well as being a staff member in the Eastman Community Music School office. Locally, she has performed with the Brighton Symphony Orchestra, the Greater Rochester Women’s Philharmonic, the South Seneca Music Festival Orchestra, and the Center Stage Pops Orchestra. Earlier this year, she was named a board member of the Greece Performing Arts Society, which keeps her active in the larger musical community, when she is not playing and teaching.
Emily Bieker
Flute Ensemble
Emily Bieker, originally from Waukee, Iowa, is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Flute Performance and Literature at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY.
Prior to living in Rochester, Emily lived in Chicago while attending DePaul University where she received her bachelor’s degree. During her time at DePaul, Emily was an active participant in the school’s orchestral, wind, chamber, and opera orchestra ensembles as well as other orchestral opportunities throughout the city. Emily has been a prizewinner in the Wisconsin Flute Festival Competitions, as well as being named a Nerenberg Foundation Scholarship Winner through Chicago’s Musician’s Club of Women annual competitions in 2018.
She is a Friends of Flutes Foundation grant recipient, which aided her in attending the prestigious Aspen Music Festival and School. Emily’s primary teachers include Bonita Boyd, Mark Sparks, Alyce Johnson, and Sandra Moore Wacha.
Alan Woy
Clarinet Choir
(formerly Concert and Symphonic Bands)
A recent addition to the Rochester community and the Eastman Community Music School, Alan Woy retired from full-time teaching at the Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam in 2004. He has continued to lead an active musical life as a performer, teacher, and conductor. As an Emeritus Professor at Crane, he currently teaches adjunct clarinet. A faculty member at Crane since 1971, he taught studio clarinet, woodwind techniques, and conducting.
He was also a chamber music coach and band director for many years, most recently conducting the Crane Wind Ensemble. Dr. Woy is currently principal clarinet and a charter member of the Potsdam Clarinet Quartet, the Orchestra of Northern New York, and Northern Symphonic Winds. He was a member of the Potsdam Woodwind Quintet for 33 years until his retirement. Since moving to this area he has joined music educator wind ensembles in Rochester and Syracuse. Active as guest soloist, clinician, and conductor, Dr. Woy is an All-State Adjudicator for the New York State School Music Association. He earned his Bachelor of Music in Performance from Illinois Wesleyan University (1967,) and his Master of Music in Performance (1969) and Doctor of Musical Arts (1979) from the University of Colorado.
Cheryl Guth
Green Strings
Cheryl Guth retired in 2017 after a 38 year career teaching strings and orchestra in Pennsylvania and New York. She worked with students in elementary through high school. For the last 29 years of her career, she taught in the Brighton Central School District where she taught lessons on all string instruments and conducted orchestras at the elementary and high school. The high school ensembles included three orchestras and many chamber groups.
She received the Rochester Philharmonic Music Educator Award in 2006.
Since retiring, she has been teaching Music Education courses at Roberts Wesleyan and Nazareth Colleges. She conducted the Monroe All County Elementary Orchestra in March 2019. In September 2019, she began as the orchestra conductor for the New Horizons Green Strings orchestra.
Cheryl has a B.S. in Music education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and an M.A. in Mu- sic performance from the same university. She has performed with the Roberts Wesleyan Orchestra and the Greater Rochester Women’s Philharmonic.
