Faculty & Staff
Performance Faculty
Tim Heath
Assistant Teaching Professor and Director of Bands
Dr. Timothy Heath is the Director of Bands and an Assistant Teaching Professor of Music at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. At Wake Forest, he oversees all aspects of the band program and teaches conducting and wind band history. Dr. Heath was previously the Director of Athletic Bands and Assistant Professor of Music Education at Samford University.
Natalie Smith
Assistant Teaching Professor and Assistant Director of Bands
A native of Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, Dr. Natalie Smith earned her Ph.D. in Music Education at Auburn University with certificates in College and University Teaching and Program Evaluation. She was a Graduate Teaching Assistant for the Department of Music at Auburn, teaching undergraduate music major and non-music major courses and performing administrative duties. Prior to her appointment at Auburn, Smith served as an elementary instrumental music teacher for Baltimore County Public Schools.
Christopher Gilliam
Assistant Professor and Director of Choral Activities
A conductor praised for his “precision and clarity,” and performances hailed as “enlightened,” Christopher Gilliam is the Director of Choral Activities at Wake Forest University, director of the Winston-Salem Symphony Chorus, and Director of Music at Highland Presbyterian Church in Winston-Salem.
J. Aaron Hardwick
Assistant Teaching Professor and Symphony Orchestra Director
James “Aaron” Hardwick has established a reputation as an outstanding conductor, collaborator, and educator — setting himself apart with his engaging, charismatic. and musically precise approach on and off the podium. Highly versatile and musically insightful, his artistic collaborations span multiple genres including standard classical repertoire, musical theater, opera, video game music, popular music, and new works.
Stewart Carter
Professor, music history, and Director of Collegium Musicum
Stewart Carter teaches music history and co-directs the Collegium Musicum. He is Past-President of both the Society for Seventeenth-Century Music and the American Musical Instrument Society. Recent publications include The Trombone in the Renaissance (Pendragon) and, with Jeffery Kite-Powell, A Performer’s Guide to Seventeenth-Century Music (Indiana).
Elizabeth Clendinning
Associate Professor, Associate Chair and Director of Gamelan Giri Murti
Dr. Elizabeth Clendinning is Associate Chair and an Associate Professor of Music, specializing in ethnomusicology. She is the director of Wake Forest University’s Gamelan Giri Murti Balinese gamelan ensemble, and teaches courses in world, Asian, and popular music. Her research interests are interdisciplinary by nature, focusing on engaging with multiple aspects of the following constellation of subjects: Indonesia, especially Bali; the Asian-American diaspora; pedagogy; film and television; and cultural and environmental sustainability.
Ziyi Geng
Director, Chinese Ensemble and Assistant Teaching Professor of Chinese, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures
Julio Jeri
Adjunct faculty, trumpet and Director of Jazz Ensemble
Julio Jeri is a trumpet artist from Peru and an active freelance musician in the continental United States. He specializes in various genres and has performed with groups such as Orquesta Mayor and West End Mambo. He has recorded professionally with the Charlotte Jazz Orchestra, Ryan Saranich’s Pocket Language, Caique Vidal y Batuque, and the 2019 Disneyland All-American College Band. He has also served as conductor and director of Central Brass Band, Ambassadors – Peruvian Band, the Charlotte United Community Brass Band, and the Nuestro Tiempo Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble.
Kathryn Levy
Professor of the Practice, flute and Director of Flute Choir
Kathryn Levy serves as Professor of the Practice in Flute at WFU. In addition to her studio teaching, she has developed flute choir and wind chamber music programs.
Bryon Grohman
Associate Professor, voice
Admired by Opera News as “a superb singing actor with a clear, ringing instrument and peerless diction,” tenor Bryon Grohman has received international recognition for his performances of opera, oratorio, and ensemble repertoire, most notably with Seraphic Fire, one of America’s leading professional vocal ensembles.
Caryn Greco
Assistant Professor, voice
Hailed as having a voice “with a rich core and sparkling bloom in its upper register” and “a soaring operatic lyric Soprano” by Pittsburgh Owlscribe, Caryn Greco has performed on the operatic and concert stages across North America and Scandinavia. She has appeared with the Pittsburgh Savoyards, ViVace Opera (Vancouver, BC), Toronto Summer Opera (Ontario), Finger Lakes Opera (New York), Portland Summer Opera (Oregon), Pittsburgh Festival Opera, Undercroft Opera, Bloomington Summer Opera (Indiana), Nordic Song Festival (Sweden), and Steel City Opera.
Elizabeth Pacheco Rose
Adjunct faculty, voice
Lyric soprano Elizabeth Pacheco Rose possesses an alluring stage presence with dramatic flexibility; whether singing Mimí, Pamina or Mélisande, she captures the essence of each role. She excels on the operatic stage, as well as in concert, recital and musical theatre. Her repertoire encompasses a wide range of works from baroque to contemporary music.
Kristin Schwecke
Adjunct faculty, voice
Kristin Schwecke has been heralded by Opera Lively as “A name to keep in mind…Her voice filled the house and dominated the stage. Simply spectacular! What a promising dramatic soprano!” On the operatic stage, Kristin’s highlights include La Contessa in Le nozze di Figaro with Hubbard Hall Opera Theater, First Lady in The Magic Flute with Piedmont Opera, Magda in La Rondine with the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute, Abigail in Robert Ward’s The Crucible with Piedmont Opera, and 2nd Sprite in Rusalka with North Carolina Opera, and as the title role in the World Premiere of Michael Ching’s opera Anna Hunter with The Savannah Voice Festival. She holds a Masters degree in Voice from the University of Wisconsin Madison and a Performing Artist Certificate from the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
Joanne Inkman
Teaching Professor, piano
Teaching Professor of Piano, Joanne Inkman, received her early music training in piano, viola and music theory in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She frequently performed in festivals and recitals in Vancouver, receiving an Associate Performer’s Certificate from the Royal Conservatory of Toronto. After studying at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, she earned a Bachelor of Music and the Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She received an Archie Fund award in 2013, to participate in the GP3 Conference at Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and through another Archie Fund award in 2014, participated in the National Conference on Keyboard and Pedagogy in Chicago, Illinois. She has extensive and diverse performance experience.
Larry Weng
Assistant Professor, piano
Winner of the 2019 NYCA Worldwide Debut Audition and a laureate of the 2016 Queen Elisabeth International Piano Competition, Larry Weng has been described in The New York Times as playing with “steely power and incisive rhythm.” Of his 2014 New York debut at Weill Hall, the New York Concert Review described him as “an extremely sensitive musician and mature interpreter,” and “mature beyond his years.”
Mathilde Handelsman
Visiting Assistant Professor, piano
Praised by The Boston Globe for her “mesmerizing” performance, and recognized for her “calm technical mastery, immediate understanding of balance” as well as “extraordinary vigor, flawless musicality,” (Dernières Nouvelles d’Alsace, 2013). Dr. Mathilde Handelsman is a concert pianist, author, and educator from Paris, France. Handelsman’s career as a soloist and collaborative musician has led her to perform from a young age across Europe, Canada, and the United States, and to work with conductors such as Seiji Ozawa, Stefan Asbury, Luigi Gaggero, JoAnn Falletta, and Ankush Kumar Bahl.
Susan Bates
Adjunct faculty, organ and harpsichord
Susan Bates served as Organist and Music Associate at Centenary United Methodist Church from March 2011 to December 2021, with previous appointments at West Market St. United Methodist Church in Greensboro and at Home Moravian Church. She has also served on the music faculties of Greensboro College and High Point University. Professor Bates’ was educated at Salem College and Yale University, where she earned the M.M.A. in organ performance. She also studied harpsichord at the Yale Collection of Early Instruments.
Mary Ann Bills
Adjunct faculty, piano
Mary Ann Bills has been an adjunct professor of piano at Wake Forest University since 2001. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Washington State University and a Master of Music degree in Accompanying from the University of North Carolina – Greensboro. In addition to her teaching, Mary Ann Bills worked for more than twenty years as a staff accompanist at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts where she served as Cantata Singers accompanist as well as music director and pianist for both the undergraduate opera workshop and for the A. J. Fletcher Opera Institute’s Educational Outreach Program. She also frequently performs chamber music with some of the area’s leading musicians.
Yong Im Lee Federle
Adjunct faculty, piano
Dr. Yong Im Lee Federle has performed numerous solo and chamber recitals throughout South America and the United States. She is a recipient of the Steinway & Sons Top Teacher Award for three consecutive years (2016, 2017, 2018) and is a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music.
Anna McRay
Adjunct faculty, piano
Anna McRay is a pianist, teacher, and collaborator with a vibrant accompanying schedule of both classical and musical theater repertoire. Along with her accompanying, Anna fosters a deeply rooted passion for the intersection of arts and well-being, both in regards to the health of performing artists and in terms of leveraging the arts in all its forms to create and sustain healthy populations and communities.
Matt Reid
Adjunct faculty, jazz piano
Developing a deep love for the jazz idiom, Matt relocated to Greensboro, NC in 2013 to complete his undergraduate studies at Guilford College, graduating in 2016 with a B.A. in Jazz Piano Performance, and in 2017 was accepted into the prestigious Jazz Studies program at North Carolina Central University. Matt has performed as part of the esteemed NCCU Jazz Ensemble at the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival, the Ray Charles Performing Arts Center at Morehouse College and many other regional performance venues. In May of 2019, Matt graduated from NCCU with a Master of Music degree in Jazz Studies Performance.
Matt currently serves on the faculty of Guilford College, North Carolina A&T State University, and the Music Academy of North Carolina, as well as Wake Forest University. Matt is also the assistant director of the Greensboro Big Band, a City of Greensboro ensemble and also serves on the faculty at the John Coltrane Jazz Workshop in High Point, NC. In addition to numerous local, regional and national venues, curates and performs weekly with his jazz trio at Double Oaks Bed & Breakfast in Greensboro, NC.
Anthony Tang
Adjunct faculty, carillon
Anthony M. Tang is a 2011 graduate of Wake Forest University with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication. During his four years at Wake Forest, Anthony served as Percussion Section Leader in 2008 and as Drum Major in 2009 and 2010 for the Spirit of the Old Gold and Black, and he has played the Wake Forest University carillon in Wait Chapel since his sophomore year.
Jacqui Carrasco
Professor and Chair, violin and viola
Violinist Jacqui Carrasco has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, Mexico and Russia, and in styles as diverse as Argentine tango, jazz, and avant-garde new music.
Marco Sartor
Assistant Teaching Professor, guitar and jazz guitar
Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, Marco Sartor is a top prize winner in numerous international competitions, and has performed solo and chamber music recitals in three continents to critical and public acclaim. He has appeared with orchestras such as the Allentown Symphony, Virginia Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Ann Arbor Symphony, and SODRE in Uruguay.
Evan Richey
Adjunct faculty, cello, music production and recording
Evan Richey has used his well trained ear to make recordings for over 30 years. His interest in recording started while at The Juilliard School in New York City where he studied with Lynn Harrell, one of the world’s foremost cellists.
Edward Cho
Adjunct faculty, cello
Edward Cho (D.M.A., M.M., B.Mus.) is a Canadian-Korean cellist, pianist, and composer, originally from Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. He has been a two-time grand winner of the Competitive Music Festival of New Brunswick, winner of the Ken Murray Concerto Competition, and a laureate of the Elora TD Canada Trust Competition and the Canadian National Competition.
Court Wynter
Adjunct faculty, bass
Double/Electric bassist Court Wynter received both his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in classical double bass performance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. He has enjoyed a musical career which has taken him all over the eastern portion of the United States and covers a multitude of genres ranging from bluegrass to jazz.
Helen Rifas
Adjunct faculty, harp
Helen Rifas began playing the harp at age 12, with the encouragement of her school orchestra director. She earned a bachelor’s degree in music from Reed College and a master’s degree in harp from the University of Oregon School of Music, where she was a recipient of the Ruth Lorraine Close Musical Fellowship.
Katherine Wiley
Adjunct faculty, violin and viola
Rachael Keplin
Adjunct faculty, violin and viola
Dr. Rachael Keplin is a violist and string pedagogue in Greensboro, North Carolina. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Viola Performance from the University of North Carolina Greensboro, a Master of Arts in string pedagogy from The Ohio State University, a Bachelor of Music in viola performance from Kennesaw State University, and is a registered Suzuki teacher. Rachael is the viola artist and assistant director for modern chamber groups Chamber Brews and Sounding Board. She regularly performs with the Greensboro Symphony, North Charleston Pops, and North Carolina Opera. She is passionate about youth outreach and has served as an orchestral coach for mutiple youth organizations throughout Atlanta, Columbus, and Greensboro. Rachael recently published her dissertation “Mindfulness and Free Improvisation: A Holistic Approach to Cultivating Creativity and Awareness” and continues her work and research in free improvisation through teaching and performance on her Boss RC-600.
Kathryn Levy
Professor of the Practice, flute and Director of Flute Choir
Kathryn Levy serves as Professor of the Practice in Flute at WFU. In addition to her studio teaching, she has developed flute choir and wind chamber music programs.
Robert Campbell
Adjunct faculty, French horn
Robert Campbell is the principal horn for the Winston-Salem Symphony Orchestra and the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra. He has been a member of the Charlotte Symphony and NCSA’s International Music Program Orchestra. He was soloist and Principal Horn player of the IMP orchestra for their 1985 European tour which took him to Italy and Germany.
Oskar Espina-Ruiz
Adjunct faculty, clarinet
Oskar Espina-Ruiz has performed at major concert halls and festivals to high critical acclaim, including concerto performances at the Philharmonic Hall in St. Petersburg, Russia, and recitals in New York City, Washington DC, Moscow, Madrid, Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. His chamber music collaborations include the American, Argus, Ariel, Cassatt, Daedalus, Escher, Shanghai and Verona quartets.
Brian French
Adjunct faculty, trombone
Brian French is the principal trombonist of the Winston-Salem Symphony and has performed as soloist numerous times. He is also the principal trombonist of the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra and previously held principal positions in the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago—the training program of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Brian has performed regionally with many orchestras, including those of Asheville, Charlotte, and Roanoke, the North Carolina Symphony, and the North Carolina Opera as guest trombonist, tenor tubist, and bass trumpeter.
Brent Harvey
Adjunct faculty, tuba and euphonium
Raised in Apple Valley, Minnesota, Dr. Brent Harvey serves as Assistant Professor of Low Brass at Winston-Salem State University in addition to his teaching at Wake Forest. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Minnesota, and Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Julio Jeri
Adjunct faculty, trumpet and Director of Jazz Ensemble
Julio Jeri is a trumpet artist from Peru and an active freelance musician in the continental United States. He specializes in various genres and has performed with groups such as Orquesta Mayor and West End Mambo. He has recorded professionally with the Charlotte Jazz Orchestra, Ryan Saranich’s Pocket Language, Caique Vidal y Batuque, and the 2019 Disneyland All-American College Band. He has also served as conductor and director of Central Brass Band, Ambassadors – Peruvian Band, the Charlotte United Community Brass Band, and the Nuestro Tiempo Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble.
Anna Lampidis
Adjunct faculty, oboe
Dr. Anna Lampidis is principal oboe of the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle and Salisbury Symphony Orchestra and also holds positions of oboe and English horn with the Greensboro Symphony. Her playing has been described as “impeccable”, “lovely” and “outstanding” in concert reviews by Classical Voice North Carolina.
John R. Beck
Adjunct faculty, percussion, Afro-Cuban drumming
John R. Beck, Professor of Percussion at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, also teaches at Wake Forest University. He is the principal percussionist of the Winston-Salem Symphony and is a member of the Greensboro Symphony, Brass Band of Battle Creek, and the Philidor Percussion Group.
Tim Heath
Assistant Teaching Professor and Director of Bands
Dr. Timothy Heath is the Director of Bands and an Assistant Teaching Professor of Music at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. At Wake Forest, he oversees all aspects of the band program and teaches conducting and wind band history. Dr. Heath was previously the Director of Athletic Bands and Assistant Professor of Music Education at Samford University.
Music History and Theory, Ethnomusicology, and Composition Faculty
Stewart Carter
Professor, music history, and Director of Collegium Musicum
Stewart Carter teaches music history and co-directs the Collegium Musicum. He is Past-President of both the Society for Seventeenth-Century Music and the American Musical Instrument Society. Recent publications include The Trombone in the Renaissance (Pendragon) and, with Jeffery Kite-Powell, A Performer’s Guide to Seventeenth-Century Music (Indiana).
Elizabeth Clendinning
Associate Professor, Associate Chair and Director of Gamelan Giri Murti
Dr. Elizabeth Clendinning is Associate Chair and an Associate Professor of Music, specializing in ethnomusicology. She is the director of Wake Forest University’s Gamelan Giri Murti Balinese gamelan ensemble, and teaches courses in world, Asian, and popular music. Her research interests are interdisciplinary by nature, focusing on engaging with multiple aspects of the following constellation of subjects: Indonesia, especially Bali; the Asian-American diaspora; pedagogy; film and television; and cultural and environmental sustainability.
Megan Francisco
Assistant Professor, musicology
Megan Francisco holds a PhD in musicology from the University of Washington where her research drew on film, race, and gender theories to analyze Battlestar Galactica‘s landmark science fiction score.
David Geary
Assistant Professor, music theory
David Geary is an Assistant Professor of Music at Wake Forest University and teaches courses in music theory and music history. He earned his PhD in Music Theory from Indiana University where his dissertation analyzes rhythm, meter, and the evolution of the drumset in American popular music.
Dan Locklair
Professor and Composer in Residence
The music of Dan Locklair is widely performed throughout the United States and around the world. His prolific output includes symphonic works, a ballet, an opera and numerous solo, chamber, vocal and choral compositions.
Staff
Matt Buie-Nervik
Technical Manager, Brendle Recital Hall and Wait Chapel
Ryan McCollum
Instructional Technology Specialist
Collaborative Pianists
Mary Ann Bills
M309 Scales Fine Arts Center
Jonathan Borton
M309 Scales Fine Arts Center
Anna McRay
M309 Scales Fine Arts Center
Lauren Winkelman
M309 Scales Fine Arts Center