Ivy Zenobi
Chamber Ensembles & Violin Workshops
Violinist and violist, Ivy Zenobi, is embracing a diverse career as a symphonic, chamber musician, rock musician, and private instructor. In recent years, concert appearances include the Santa Rosa Symphony, San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, Chora Nova, The National Geographic Symphony, and the Philharmonic Kitchen. Outside of the classical scene, Ivy was a member of the rock band Naked Fiction, performed at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, recorded at Skywalker Ranch and The Bachelor (Season 22 Episode 3). Ivy Zenobi received her B.M. from the University of Colorado at Boulder and her Masters from the University of Toronto, Canada. Ivy became Suzuki Certified under the tutelage of Dr. William Starr and was chosen to attend the Starling-Delay Violin Symposium held at The Juilliard School. Ivy has a competitive studio of over thirty students, many which go on to study at programs such as the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Pre-College and Interlochen Center for the Arts Summer and Pre-College programs. Outside of music, Ivy enjoys spending time with her French bulldog, Lola, hiking, traveling, and cooking (and eating, of course).
Robert Bowman
Jazz Ensemble, Jazz Theory & Improvisation
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We are delighted to have Robert Bowman with us for another great year of Summer Music Academy, directing the Jazz Band and teaching Jazz Theory and Improvisation.
Joyce Park
Cello Workshops, Kinderviolin
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Joyce Park was born in Seoul, Korea and moved to Piedmont, CA at the age of 10. She is currently pursuing her Masters Degree in Cello Performance at San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She received her Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance and Music Education at California State University, Sacramento where she was a student of Andrew Luchansky. At Sacramento State she was the winner of the 2014 concerto competition and performed as a soloist with the Symphony Orchestra as well as being an apprentice teacher in the String Project. For the past five years, she has been teaching privately in the Sacramento area and is also the private cello instructor at Norcal Music & Arts studio and at New World Music Academy. She is currently the cellist in the Mersonacta Quartet where she performs throughout California. Aside from cello, she is an active pianist and is currently the piano accompanist at the S.A. Church in Sunnyvale.
Chris Newton
Guitar Workshops
Multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, composer, arranger, producer, music teacher Chris Newton has been playing music in the Bay Area for the last twelve years with upcoming performances in solo and collaborative projects.
He received his AA in Music from Santa Rosa Junior College and his bachelor of Jazz Guitar Performance from Sonoma State University. Upon completion, he began teaching music in elementary schools in Sonoma County. He is as passionate about performing as he is about sharing and teaching music to the next generation.
Darina Drapkins
Kindermusicianship; Rhythm; Movement
Darina Drapkin is a life-long singer and musician. Having studied classical piano, guitar, flute, percussion, ukulele, and most recently violin, she feels at home with a wide variety of styles and genres of music, both as a teacher and performer. Darina performs with the Sonoma County women’s Balkan choir “Gradina." Darina has studied classical piano for 17 years, and Balkan voice with Lily Storm of Kitka, for over a decade. She is well versed in the Kodaly method of music education.
Alex Volonts
Violin/Viola Workshops
Alexander Volonts is a musician and educator based in Santa Rosa, California. As a member of the Santa Rosa Symphony since 2007, Volonts has been performing music on a regular basis for the community. Raised in Long Island, New York, Volonts attended the North Shore Suzuki Institute and later the Juilliard School’s pre-college program. In 2009, Volonts graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory with B.M. in viola performance. In 2013, he became a faculty member of Santa Rosa Symphony’s Simply Strings program, an El Sistema-inspired afterschool program that provides musical training to under-resourced children in the Roseland community of Santa Rosa.