2025 Faculty Artists

Joshua Zona - Music Director

Throughout the country conductor Joshua Zona is gaining increasing recognition for his inspired performances, commitment to education and dedication to community involvement that are the hallmarks of a successful 21st-Century conductor. As Music Director of the Rapides Symphony Orchestra in Alexandria, Louisiana, Mr. Zona has led the orchestra to new heights of artistic excellence, audience involvement and organizational growth. Joshua Zona is currently in his eighth year as Music Director of the Rapides Symphony in Alexandria, Louisiana. Mr. Zona has also held conducting positions with the Symphony of Southeast Texas, Southeast Texas Youth Symphony and the Muncie (Indiana) Symphony. He is also the founding music director of the Renova Music Festival in western Pennsylvania.

Mr. Zona's conducting engagements abroad including performances with the St. Petersburg (Russia) Academic Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg (Russia) Chamber Orchestra, the Constanta (Romania) Symphony , the Puebla (Mexico) State Symphony, San Remo (Italy) Symphony, and return engagements with the City of Grossetto Symphony in Tuscany, Italy and EurOrchestra in Bari, Italy.

A native of New Castle, Pennsylvania, Mr. Zona started piano study at the age of 7 and made the Horn his principal instrument while in high school. He earned Bachelor's degree from the Ohio State University, continued graduate studies in Horn at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and conducting at Ball State University. Maestro Zona also holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Michigan State University. He is a part-time faculty member at Louisiana State University - Alexandria.

Carol Chung - Violin & Alexander Technique

Lauded for her “heartfelt delicacy” (Raleigh News & Observer) and for performances that “pack an emotional wallop” (CVNC.org), violinist Carol Chung is founding first violinist of the Lyricosa Quartet, Concertmaster of North Carolina Opera, and a certified Alexander Technique teacher. She has also been playing with the North Carolina Symphony, serving as either an acting section or substitute violinist since the fall of 2000. In the summers, she performs with the Colorado Music Festival based in Boulder's Chautauqua Park.

 An avid chamber musician and coach, Chung is a chamber music coach for the North Carolina Chamber Music Institute and the Lamar Stringfield Music Camp in Raleigh, NC. She was a founding member of the piano quartet Quercus from 2009-2017, performing across Central North Carolina. She has also appeared on the North Carolina Symphony's Manning Chamber Music Series and the Colorado Music Festival's Chamber Music Series. Previous summers were spent at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival/Yale Summer School of Music, the Sarasota Music Festival and the Kent/Blossom Music Festival, working and performing with members of the Tokyo and Vermeer Quartets, Ani Kavafian, William Preucil, Joseph Silverstein, and members of the Cleveland Orchestra.

 As an Alexander Technique (AT) teacher, Chung has conducted workshops for the Chamber Music Intensive at the Center for Musical Arts in Lafayette, Colorado, as well as for students and teachers of the school districts of Durham and Wake County Public Schools in North Carolina. She also maintains a private teaching studio, working with students of varying levels of AT experience, from AT teacher trainees to beginners.

 Chung received both her bachelor's and master's degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with David Updegraff and Bernhard Goldschmidt. She received her Alexander Technique teacher training from Robin Gilmore and the guest faculty of Chesapeake Bay Alexander Studies in Greensboro, NC, earning her teaching certification in 2012. She continues to deepen her understanding of the Alexander Technique through post-graduate studies with senior, second-generation teacher Tommy Thompson.

Matt Pickart - Viola

Matt Pickart is Director and Co-founder of Clazz International Music Festival in Arcidosso, Italy, and Assistant Professor of Music at Webster University in Saint Louis, where he serves as Director of Chamber Music and teaches violin, viola, improvisation, and music entrepreneurship.  He has the distinct honor and privilege of having performed at both Jazz at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Music Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. Other career highlights include performances with The Who, Barry Manilow on tour, as concertmaster for Josh Goban and The Vogues, and as principal violist for Bernadette Peters and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

As a soloist, he has appeared with orchestras in the USA, Canada, Italy, and the Netherlands. As the former violinist and vocalist of the Hot Club of Pittsburgh and a featured artist of Jazzstadt Stuttgart, Pickart has performed and recorded in multiple genres internationally. Active in the Saint Louis area, Pickart has performed with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, as lead violinist of Mariachi Saint Louis, classical-jazz fusion group Bach to the Future, St. Louis’s klezmer big band Klezundheit, Ariel Concert Series, and Chamber Project Saint Louis.

Dr. Pickart is lucky to count some of the great luminaries of the music world, among his teachers, such as: Sidney Harth (legendary American concertmaster); Yuri Gandelsman (former principal violist of Israel Philharmonic and violist with the Fine Arts Quartet); and Rodney Whitaker (bassist of Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.)

Prof. Pickart has also served on the faculty of Beloit College, University of Missouri- St. Louis, Michigan State University Community Music School, Duquesne University’s City Music Center, and University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Summer Music Clinic among numerous other programs. He is also currently on the faculty of Webster University’s Community Music School and Jazz Saint Louis Jazz Academy. Pickart is in demand as a clinician, adjudicator, hosting talks on music entrepreneurship; and as a special guest for string masterclasses, in the classical canon, improvisation, jazz, and other styles. His students have gone on to attend prestigious institutions on scholarship such as Belmont University, Berklee College of Music, and the New England Conservatory. As a testament to his pedagogy, several of his former students, have entered the profession in multiple styles, teaching and playing.

For further information, please visit www.mattpickart.com.

Susan Nelson - Bassoon

Susan Nelson is the Associate Professor of Bassoon and Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Studies at Bowling Green State University (BGSU), Ohio, and enjoys an active career as a performer, teacher, and clinician. Dr. Nelson is an advocate for new music as well as chamber music for the bassoon, and is the Director of the non-profit organization Bassoon Chamber Music Composition Competition (BCMCC). She has also taught bassoon and theory at Stephen F. Austin State University and played with the Stone Fort Wind Quintet in Nacogdoches, Texas. In the summer Dr. Nelson teaches at various camps, including BGSU’s Double Reed Camp and The Renova Festival. She has performed with the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria, Michigan Opera Theatre, Shreveport Symphony Orchestra, Toledo Symphony Orchestra, Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra, Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, Adrian Symphony Orchestra, and Helena Symphony, among others. She has also given solo performances at the International Double Reed Society Conferences in Redlands (CA), Oxford (OH), New York, Appleton (WI), and Tokyo, Japan. Dr. Nelson taught at both Adrian (MI) and Heidelberg (OH) Colleges and was a member of the Heidelberg faculty wind quintet. She also held the position of principal bassoon in the Great Falls Symphony and was a member of the Chinook Winds quintet in Great Falls, Montana. She can be heard on Elements, a CD release from the BCMCC through the MSR Classics label, which features the winning works from the 2012 and 2014 BCMCC competitions. Dr. Nelson is a graduate of the University of Kansas, the University of Oklahoma, and the University of Michigan. Her primary teachers include Jeffrey Lyman, Carl Rath, and Alan Hawkins.

Victor Correa-Cruz - Violin

Violinist and conductor Víctor Correa-Cruz is developing an intense career in the United States and Europe. As a soloist, he has toured with Ceske Budegovice Symphony (Czech Republic), University of South Carolina Symphony, Southeastern Symphony Orchestra (USA), Zug Collegium Musicum (Switzerland), Leonberg Symphony (Germany), Nis Symphony Orchestra (Serbia) and prestigious ensembles based in Spain like Frolov Chamber Players, Orquesta Sinfónica de Extremadura, Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid, Camerata del Prado, Orquesta de Cámara de Badajoz, Orquesta de Zaragoza, Christmas Classical Orchestra and “Queen Sofía” Chamber Orchestra. He has shared the stage with renowned artists such as Luiz de Moura Castro, Alberto Nosè, Sven Arne-Tepl, Miriam Kirby, Ashley Wass, Andrés Díaz, Wayman Chin, Daniel del Pino, José Enrique Bouché, Dennis Parker, Grazia Raimondi and Alberto Bocini. He has been awarded prizes at international competitions such as “Jeunesse Musicales,” “Villa de Madrid,” “Cremona International Quartet Competition,” and the “Rose-Mary Álvarez Conducting Contest of South Carolina.” He is regularly invited to perform at major international music festivals (Austin, Norfolk, New Orleans, Stuttgart, Madrid, Stamford, Ravenna…) and has been broadcast nationwide by Spanish National Public Radio. He is a faculty member of the Stamford International Music Festival in England and the Nelli Shkolnikova Academy in France. He performs regularly as a member of the Mediterranean String Trio based in Madrid and with pianist Paloma González, with recordings on Centaur Records and Sonart. Trained at the National Youth Orchestra of Spain and the Youth Orchestra of European Countries, Victor Correa-Cruz has subsequently held concertmaster positions at different European and American orchestras. He has taught master classes in the USA, Spain, England, Germany, Serbia, Portugal, France and Italy. In Spain, his native country, he earned his degrees from Badajoz, Escorial, and Madrid Conservatories, pursuing further studies at Indiana University (MMus), University of South Carolina (DMA), and Escuela Superior “Reina Sofía” (Artist Diploma). His main violin teachers have been Pedro León, Yuval Yaron, Nelli Shkolnikova and Zakhar Bron. In addition to his engagements as a violinist, he frequently appears as a conductor in the international arena. Victor Correa-Cruz is currently Professor of Violin and Orchestra Director at Southeastern Louisiana University (USA), acting regularly as guest concertmaster in Rapides Symphony and Acadiana Symphony, two of the main orchestral ensembles in the state of Louisiana. He keeps a thriving agenda of master classes and performances worldwide.

Kenneth Long - Clarinet

Clarinetist Kenneth Long is currently associate professor of clarinet and woodwind coordinator at Georgia State University. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, a Master of Music degree from Yale University where he was awarded the prestigious Thomas Daniel Nyfenger Prize for most outstanding woodwind performer, and a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Ohio State University.

He enjoys a multifaceted performing career including orchestral, chamber music and solo engagements. He currently serves as clarinetist/bass clarinetist with the Utah Festival Opera Orchestra and has performed with many of the Southeast's preeminent ensembles including the Atlanta, Sarasota and Charleston Symphony Orchestras. He is a founding member/principal clarinetist of the Atlanta Chamber Winds (heard on Albany Records), principal clarinetist of the contemporary chamber ensemble Bent Frequency, and has been a guest artist on numerous occasions with the Atlanta Chamber Players.

Dr. Long's appearances abroad have included solo and chamber music performances in Germany, Greece, China, Canada and Mexico. Recent conference and symposium highlights include solo performances at the San Francisco Festival of Contemporary Music, National Association of Composers/USA East-Coast Chapter Conference in New York City, Indiana State University Contemporary Music Festival, College Music Society National Conference in Portland, OR, and a solo recital at the Society of Composers, Inc. National Conference in Atlanta. A recognized scholar on the music of Elliott Carter, he presented lecture-recitals on Carter's solo clarinet work Gra at the 2009 International Clarinet Association ClarinetFest® in Porto, Portugal and at the 2009 College Music Society Southern Chapter Conference at the University of Central Florida. Dr. Long has performed several of Carter's works in the presence of the composer-most notably his Clarinet Concerto in New York City under the baton of Charles Neidich.

Prior to his arrival at Georgia State, Dr. Long was an active freelance clarinetist performing with several orchestras in the New York City area including the American, New Haven and Princeton Symphony Orchestras, among others. He has performed professionally at every major concert venue in NYC including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center and Symphony Space. Live chamber performances have been heard on WNYC-New York and WABE-Atlanta. He has served as principal clarinetist with the Breckenridge Music Festival Orchestra and the Ashlawn Highland Opera Orchestra, and was a fellowship recipient at the Aspen, Tanglewood, National Repertory Orchestra and Norfolk Music Festivals. Primary teachers include James Pyne, David Shifrin and Charles Neidich.

Upcoming recording releases include Rites of Passage featuring the solo clarinet music of the late Donald Erb and his protégés Paul Osterfield and Nickitas Demos on the MSR Classics label, and Odysseia featuring premiere recordings of chamber works by George Tsontakis, Christos Samaras, Theodore Antoniou and Demos on the Albany label.

Wendy Case - Violin

Known for her burnished, resonant sound and wide-ranging color palette, violinist Wendy Case offers audiences shared experiences of another realm—a more vivid and layered way of being in the world. Her performance credits include Carnegie Hall, the Goethe Institute of Calcutta, the Vietnam National Academy of Music, and the Kimmel Center of Philadelphia. Case’s programs often showcase the work of new and underrepresented composers such as Chiquinha Gonzaga, Dominique Le Gendre, or Sungji Hong, paired with more traditional works such as those by Ysaÿe or Clara Schumann. Recent projects have included a week of concerts and master classes in Vietnam and performances at the Teatro Levino de Alcântara of Brazil. Last season, she performed as guest soloist with the Urban Troubadour orchestra of Akron in Abel’s Delights and Dances, a jazz-influenced string quartet concerto, originally written for the Sphinx Competition.

Case’s first CD, (2022)“The Tiger and the Clover, ”showcased seven commissioned works for solo violin and electronics. A sought-after chamber musician, Wendy has performed with members of the Emerson and Cavani quartets, the Lysander Piano Trio, and members of the Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, and Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Her upcoming recording release with the Dana Piano Trio showcases the unpublished works of the 19th century female composer, Emilie Mayer. As an orchestral player, Wendy performs regularly with the Atlanta and Pittsburgh Symphonies, as concertmaster for the conductorless Dana Ensemble, and in the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus, Ohio. As a studio artist, she has recorded numerous sound tracks for SONY and Ocean Way studiosin Nashville. Dr. Case holds degrees from the University of Michigan, Cleveland Institute of Music, and StonyBrook University. She currently serves as violin faculty and Director of the Preparatory Division at Bard College. She previously held positions at Youngstown State University, Berry College, Chattanooga State, and Covenant College. A committed educator, she offers online technique courses, as well as in-person workshops and masterclasses on the interplay of acoustical physics and kinesiology in performance.

Sheryl Hadeka - Horn

Sheryl Hadeka is currently second horn in the Pittsburgh Opera and the assistant librarian of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. She is also the orchestra librarian and manager for the Music in the Mountains Festival in Durango, CO, where she performs as a horn player as well.

Sheryl has held playing positions in orchestras such as the Buffalo Philharmonic, Omaha Symphony, Tucson Symphony, and Louisiana Philharmonic on top of being a substitute horn for the Pittsburgh Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Dallas Symphony, and others.

As a devoted teacher, Sheryl has taught at SUNY Buffalo State, University of Nebraska Omaha, and Loyola University New Orleans. She has also maintained a private studio of students who have gone on to attend prestigious programs at Indiana University, the Eastman School of Music, Northwestern University, and the New World Symphony.

Sheryl Hadeka grew up in Vermont and started on piano at the age of 5. When asked to pick an instrument for band, she chose the French horn and decided that she wanted to be a professional musician in high school. She attended the Eastman School of Music and received a Bachelor’s of Music degree in Horn Performance and Music Theory and then continued with a Master’s of Music in Horn Performance at Southern Methodist University.

Evan Drachman - Cello

Cellist Evan Drachman, Founder and Artistic Director of The Piatigorsky Foundation, has combined musical talent with artistic vision to create a rich and varied career. Mr. Drachman spends much of his time performing recitals, concerti and chamber music in the United States and abroad. As Artistic Director of The Piatigorsky Foundation, he has become one of this country’s most respected authorities on the presentation of live classical music to diverse audiences. The Foundation’s mission is to make live classical music a part of the fabric of everyday life for underserved communities throughout the United States. The organization is named for Mr. Drachman’s grandfather, cellist Gregor Piatigorsky.

 Mr. Drachman received his BMA from The Curtis Institute of Music in 1988. His teachers have included Luis Garcia-Renart, Orlando Cole, Laurence Lesser, William Pleeth and Stephen Kates. In 1994, Mr. Drachman performed with the Odessa Philharmonic in Odessa and Kiev. In 1997, at the invitation of Mstislav Rostropovich, Drachman traveled to Russia to perform as soloist with the St. Petersburg Symphony under Maestro Rostropovich.

In 1999, Drachman recorded his first CD, A Frog He Went a Courting, with pianist Richard Dowling. The Baltimore Sun’s Steven Wigler wrote of the recording: “Drachman possesses in abundance two qualities for which his grandfather was revered: the ability to make the cello imitate the human singing voice and, even more important, the ability to tell a story.” Following this success, Drachman and Dowling released two more recordings titled, Infinity in 2004 and Romance and Revelation in 2007. Evan Drachman’s newest CD, Full Circle was recorded with pianist Victor Santiago Asuncion on June 30th and July 1st, 2012 in Mechanics Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts.

 This season, Drachman will be performing repertoire including works by Beethoven, Bruch, Saint-Saens, Faure and Ravel. On the travel schedule, both the United States and Mexico will be featured.

 Evan Drachman currently lives in Maryland with his wife Joan and their two sons, Eli and Oliver.

Mingyao Zhao - cello

Recognized for her passionate, artistic, and dynamic performances Mingyao Zhao has performed extensively as a soloist and recitalist in China, the United States, Canada, South Korea, and Poland. During the 2022-23 season she performs Lynn Purse’s Watershed as soloist with the Erie Philharmonic as well as Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with the Lakeside Symphony Orchestra. She also makes chamber music appearances with “Stars in the Classics” and City Music Cleveland. In the fall of 2023 she will perform as a featured artist with The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus at Severance Music Center. Ms. Zhao has performed with superstar violinist Vadim Gluzman at the North Shore Chamber Music Festival in Chicago as an Arkady Fomin Young Artist Award recipient and has been winner of numerous prizes including the bronze medal at the IX Carlos Prieto International Cello Competition, winner of the Cleveland Institute of Music concerto competition, recipient of the Aldo Parisot Award, the silver medal at the Texas Young Artist Music Competition, and first prize in the Haydn Competition at CelloFest in Fort Worth. Ms. Zhao is a member of the Canton Symphony Orchestra and frequently performs as acting principal cello. She was formerly principal cello of the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra and has appeared as a substitute with The Cleveland Orchestra and the Akron Symphony among many other orchestras. In addition to a busy performing career Ms. Zhao also teaches cello on the faculties of The College of Wooster and Oberlin Community Music School. Formerly, she has taught at The British School in Beijing, Texas Christian University, and at the Yale University School of Music.

Simon Ertz - Viola

Simon Ertz is principal viola of the Winston Salem Symphony and plays as a regular substitute in both the Charlotte and North Carolina Symphonies. Simon also regularly performs as principal viola with both the North Carolina Chamber Orchestra and North Carolina Opera. He has appeared as soloist with the Winston Salem Symphony and regularly performs on the Greensboro Symphony Chamber Music Series. After graduating from the Royal Northern College of Music Simon worked with orchestras across the UK including the BBC Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the Northern Chamber Orchestra. As a member of the Degas Quartet from 2002 until 2010, Simon has performed in venues across the country including appearing as guest artists at the Aspen Music Festival, the Chicago Chamber Music Society and at the Library of Congress where he performed on the Tuscan Medici Stradivarius.

Since moving to North Carolina, Simon completed a Doctoral of Musical Arts at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro and now teaches at UNC Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University. He plays a viola made by his brother, Neil Ertz.

Leah Forsyth - Oboe

Leah Forsyth  serves as the Assistant Professor of Oboe at Northwestern State University, and holds the positions of Principal Oboe with the Rapides Symphony Orchestra in Alexandria, LA, and Second Oboe with the Texarkana Symphony. She performs regularly with the Shreveport Symphony as well as other orchestras throughout Louisiana and Texas. Prior to joining the NSU faculty, she served as an Oboist with the United States Army Field Band in Washington DC. 

Professor Forsyth is a founding member of the Three Reeds Duo with husband and saxophonist Paul Forsyth. Three Reeds has performed internationally, and commissioned many new works featured on their two albums, Signals Cross (2016) and Metamorphosis (2019), available on all streaming platforms.  

A native of Central Ohio, Ms. Forsyth holds a B.M. from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory and an M.M. from Florida State University where she studied with Dr. Mark Ostoich and Dr.Eric Ohlsson respectively. When not making reeds, Leah can be found gardening and being an animal rescue advocate.  

Kathryn Umble - Flute

Kathryn Thomas Umble, is Associate Professor of Flute at Youngstown State University. In addition to performing principal flute with the Warren Philharmonic Orchestra, Umble holds the piccolo position with the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra and has performed principal flute with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra and the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra. She has presented recitals?in Europe and throughout the United States, including venues such as Alice Tully Hall and Symphony Space, New York, and the Milhaud Society at the Cleveland Institute of Music with members of the Cleveland Orchestra. Kathryn Umble was featured guest artist of the Pittsburgh Flute Club, concerto soloist with Warren Philharmonic Orchestra, guest artist in recital with the Aurista Ensemble in New York City, winner of the 2009 Pittsburgh Concert Society Major Auditions Competition, and?she performed in recital at the 2011 National Flute Association Convention in Charlotte, NC. Umble is a founding member of Duo Allant, a flute and guitar ensemble -duoallant.com. Dr. Umble can be heard on the Naxos, Dana, GMMC, and Access Labels.
Dr. Umble has also served on the faculties of Bowling Green State University and Grove City College. She holds degrees from the University of Michigan, Bowling Green State University, and Michigan State University and was awarded the Prix d'excellence for Outstanding Musicianship from the Fontainebleau School of Music, France.
Kathryn Umble has also served as a National Flute Association competition judge and flute pedagogy panel member. She conducted the Dana Flute Ensemble in a full concert performance at the 2005 OMEA Conference and the 2006 and 2009 National Flute Association Conventions in Pittsburgh and New York City.