Our faculty and staff are committed to developing the next generation’s composers, performers and arts advocates.
Faculty and staff take an active role in Walden’s community life by living alongside the students in dormitories. They eat meals together, participate in various school-wide recreational activities, and share the tasks that maintain the school and assure the safety of all it members. Our philosophy is that by participating together in all levels of community life, faculty, staff, visiting artists, and students can create an environment where close relationships develop and creativity flourishes.
Outside of the summer session, our leaders are distinguished in the fields of composition, theory, arranging, performance, pedagogy, arts administration, and arts advocacy. Our staff holds degrees from institutions such as Eastman School of Music, Mills College, Yale University, Williams College, University of Washington, Luther College, New England Conservatory, College of Wooster, University of Michigan, Peabody Conservatory, Northwestern University, Columbia University, Oberlin College Conservatory, University of California, Swarthmore College, University of Southern California, SUNY-Buffalo, University of Cincinnati Conservatory, SUNY-Stony Brook, New England Conservatory, Harvard University, and Duke University.
Meet the 2024 Young Musicians Program Faculty & Staff
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Aidan Gold
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Cara Haxo
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Carlos Henrique Pereira
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Dahlia Riddington
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David Carlton Adams
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Francesca Hellerman
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Hilary Kole
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Jeff Dutter
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Kari Francis
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Kittie Cooper
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Luke Schroeder
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Marco Roberts
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Margaree Jordan
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Nate Trier
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Paul Zito
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Ross Karre
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Samantha Wolf
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Sammi Stone
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Seth Brenzel
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Shannon Dunning
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Theo Trevisan
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William Bolles-Beaven
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Zaki Andoh
Aidan Gold
Faculty, Young Musicians Program
Aidan Gold is a composer, conductor, percussionist, and educator. His work often focuses on musical games, improvisation, theatricality, and narrative/storytelling. He is fascinated with the idea of music as a social act – a game/ritual that we perform to allow us to communicate and connect with one another, defining, challenging, and expanding our individual and collective identities.
Gold is currently pursuing a DMA in Composition at the Juilliard School. He has a MM in Composition from USC, and a BM in Composition and a BS in Computer Science from the University of Washington. Gold’s composition mentors include Andrew Norman, Nina Young, Frank Ticheli, and Huck Hodge. His music has been performed by the Seattle Symphony, the Juilliard Orchestra, the JACK Quartet, and others, and has won awards including the Arthur Friedman and Palmer Dixon prizes.
Gold is also a conductor and is passionate about working closely with performers to innovate methods of performance and connections between musicians. He was the assistant music director of the USC Student Symphony Orchestra from 2020-2021. Gold is also one of the founding members of AFK, a NYC contemporary chamber music collective that focuses on interactive musical experiences. His other interests include origami and hiking.
Cara Haxo
Faculty, Creative Musicians Retreat
Academic Dean, Young Musicians Program
At the encouragement of her mother, Cara Haxo begrudgingly attended Walden as a student in 2004. As soon as she arrived on campus, she immediately fell in love with everything about Walden and came back for another five summers. She is thrilled to return to Walden more recently as a faculty member and academic dean. Cara is the winner of the 2022 National Women’s Musical Festival Emerging Women Composers Competition. She was also awarded the 2019 International Alliance for Women in Music Libby Larsen Prize, the 2013 National Federation of Music Clubs Young Composers Award, and the 2013 IAWM Ellen Taaffe Zwilich Prize. Her works have been premiered by the May Festival Youth Chorus, Hub New Music, Quince Ensemble, and Splinter Reeds, amongst other ensembles.
Cara is a Visiting Assistant Professor at The College of Wooster in Ohio. She earned her Ph.D. in Composition at the University of Oregon, where she worked as a Graduate Teaching Fellow in Music Theory. She also holds degrees from Butler University and The College of Wooster. She previously taught courses in composition and theory as an Adjunct Instructor of Music at Notre Dame College (Ohio), and private piano, theory, and composition lessons through the Butler Community Arts School in Indianapolis. When she is not composing, Cara enjoys baking desserts, going on long road trips, and hanging out with her cat, Pippin. For more information, please visit http://chaxomusic.com.
Carlos Henrique Pereira
Carlos Henrique Pereira is an accomplished composer, performer, educator, and music producer. Alongside his thriving career as a musician, he has been deeply committed to educating students since the age of 18 when he began teaching at the music conservatory in his hometown. Carlos draws from his extensive studies in classical music, Brazilian music, popular music, and jazz to enrich his teaching, exposing his students to a diverse range of musical styles. He firmly believes in the inherent musicality of every child and sees it as his duty to nurture and develop their musical abilities. Carlos’s teaching approach focuses on instilling joy and fun into music, fostering a sense of accomplishment through personalized and attainable goals for each student.
Carlos’s journey as a composer started at a young age, and despite the absence of formal training, he made history by becoming the youngest composer to have a work selected for the Brazilian Contemporary Music Biennial in Rio de Janeiro in 1983. His compositions were featured alongside those of renowned Brazilian modern composers. Throughout his career, Carlos has composed and recorded four albums of original compositions, with his fifth album currently in progress. His musical contributions have garnered numerous awards and recognition. Notably, Carlos has composed and arranged music for various dance companies in New York and has performed at venues such as Carnegie Hall and Merkin Hall. He has had the privilege of collaborating with many esteemed jazz artists. During his time in New York, Carlos also produced a diverse catalog of original music that has been featured in numerous movies and TV shows worldwide.
In 2009, Carlos received a grant in Brazil to compose his third album, titled “Minas, Gerais,” which was released in 2011. Dedicated to his home state, the album received widespread acclaim from critics and fans, earning a nomination for the 24th Brazilian Music Awards.
Since relocating to California, Carlos has captivated audiences through various performances, including appearances at the Healdsburg Jazz Festival and the Blue Note in Napa. His musical endeavors have been acknowledged and supported by organizations such as the San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music, where he was awarded the 2016 Music Grant Program, and Creative Sonoma, which honored him with the 2019 Next Level Grant award. Carlos takes immense pride in being a father to his nine-year-old son and eleven-year-old daughter, whom he affectionately considers his favorite students.
Dahlia Riddington
Staff, Young Musicians Program
David Carlton Adams
David Carlton Adams is a composer, performer, and presenter of instrumental, vocal, and electronic music that seeks to cut, reflect, connect, and heal. He engages with contemporary chamber music, opera, improvisation, rock, and more. David’s music has been performed by the Talea Ensemble, the JACK quartet, Wet Ink Ensemble, and many others. He is pursuing a doctorate in composition at the Peabody Conservatory, working with Felipe Lara, Oscar Bettison, Joel Puckett, Jessica Hunt, Tony Arnold, and Wendel Patrick as a composer, teacher, singer, and producer. He is a co-director of Fast Forward Austin, a new music non-profit. As a teacher, David spent the last 4 years as a Graduate Assistant in Music Theory at Peabody, assisting Drs. Joel Puckett and Jessica Hunt in the entire undergraduate core theory curriculum while completing his master’s degree and doctoral coursework. Before attending Peabody, David co-designed and taught the music curriculum for the Middle Years Program at the International School of Texas, and taught thousands of private lessons in the Austin metropolitan area. From complex modernist mayhem to soothing laptop noise, interdisciplinary dreamlands to riff-heavy hip-hop, from games and graphically redacted grooves to microtonal madness, David lives in sound, and he’s not afraid to try something wild.
Francesca Hellerman
Staff, Creative Musicians Retreat
Faculty, Young Musicians Program
Francesca Hellerman is a composer whose works joyfully uncover the tactile richness of gestures and sounds made by instruments, electronics, and found objects alike. Her work has been performed by the PRISM Quartet, members of the International Contemporary Ensemble, the Walden School Players, and TAK Ensemble. Her music has been heard in a variety of spaces, from concert halls or museum galleries (at the Williams College Museum of Art) to outdoor stages (at Mostly Mozart Festival), a cabin on a lake (at New Music on the Point), or a patch of grass under a tree (at the Clark Art Institute). Francesca also performs as a choral singer and on electronics, piano, and more, having appeared in or alongside the Williams Chamber and Concert Choirs, Peabody Camerata, the Williams Percussion Ensemble, and New Music Williams.
Francesca is currently pursuing a M.M. in composition from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, where she studies with Sky Macklay. She previously obtained her B.A. in music from Williams College. Francesca first fell in love with composition and group music-making at The Walden School’s Young Musicians Program, which she attended as a student for eight summers and whose warm community she is thrilled to have returned to as a teacher.
Hilary Kole
Faculty, Young Musicians Program
Hilary is a singer, composer, and arranger who can be seen performing throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan with her small ensemble and as a guest artist with symphony orchestras, including the New York Pops, Indianapolis Symphony, and The Denver Symphony, among others. Before becoming a solo orchestral artist, she co-wrote and starred in the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway reviews “Our Sinatra” and “Singing Astaire,” both of which had long New York runs and toured extensively nationwide. She made her professional career debut at the legendary Rainbow Room as the youngest singer ever to grace the stage. From there, she made her concert hall debut at Lincoln Center and has appeared at Carnegie Hall in a Tribute to Oscar Peterson as well as at the Canadian Memorial to Dr. Peterson at Roy Thompson Hall alongside Quincy Jones and Herbie Hancock. Additional major concert appearances include headlining in New York City at Town Hall, The Blue Note, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops. Hilary also headlines throughout the world at major Jazz Festivals including the Umbria Jazz Festival, The Montreal Jazz Festival, as well as throughout Japan and Europe.
As a recording artist, Hilary has recorded with music legends David Brubeck, Oscar Peterson, Michel LeGrand, Hank Jones, John Pizzarelli, Monty Alexander, Kenny Barron, and Freddy Cole among others. Hilary’s debut recording, “Haunted Heart” was released to critical acclaim in 2009, (Gold Disc Award in Japan, 4 stars in Downbeat) and her sophomore recording, “You Are There” was named as “Record Of The Year” in USA Today, as well as the 2010 Bistro Award for “Record of the Year”. Her third release, “A Self- Portrait” has been named as a top ten in USA Today. Her newest record will be released at the end of 2024. Hilary is currently composing a three-act original musical. She was honored to attend the Walden Summer music program for six summers as a teenager and went on to receive her BA from Manhattan School of Music in composition. She is thrilled to be back at Walden this summer!
Jeff Dutter
Staff, Young Musicians Program
Kari Francis
Choral Director, Young Musicians Program
Kari Francis (she/her) is a vocalist, arranger, and choral music educator who has shared the stage with Imogen Heap, competed on Season 3 of NBC’s The Sing-Off with Kinfolk 9, and can be heard beatboxing on Grammy Award-winning pianist-composer Cory Smythe’s album Accelerate Every Voice. Currently a choral conducting doctoral student in the Sacred Music program at the University of Notre Dame, her past teaching includes choral arranging, ear training, music theory, and directing vocal ensembles at the College of Saint Rose, Mannes School of Music, CUNY Hunter College, and Teachers College Columbia University. Kari was previously a conducting fellow with the Young People’s Chorus of New York City and has taught in NYC public schools as a Midori & Friends vocal teaching artist. Her writings on contemporary a cappella have been published by GIA Music and NATS, and she frequently leads workshops on arranging, vocal percussion, and group vocal improvisation at music festivals and conferences around the world. Kari holds degrees in music education from the Eastman School of Music, Teachers College Columbia University, and music theory/composition from the University of California, San Diego. Her research interests include choral improvisation, collaborative learning, and popular music in the choral classroom.
Kittie Cooper
Faculty, Academic Dean, Director of Electronic Music, & Director of Composers Forums
Young Musicians Program
Kittie Cooper is a sound and intermedia artist, performer, and educator based in Charlottesville, Virginia. Kittie makes work that explores the spectrum between silliness and seriousness, and in particular where those two qualities overlap with spookiness. Much of their work deals with the messy insides of humans, electronics, and other everyday things. Their work has been called “highly original and wonderfully fun.” Kittie’s music has been commissioned and performed by International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Ensemble Dal Niente, Splinter Reeds, TAK Ensemble, Warp Trio, Popebama, and Ghost Ensemble. She has also performed and presented at a variety of festivals and conferences across the United States, and performs regularly as a guitarist, electronic musician, and improviser.
Currently, Kittie serves as Education Director and a teaching artist for MIMA Music, an educational nonprofit that builds community through collaborative music-making. During the summer, she serves as Director of Electronic Music, Director of Composers Forums, and Faculty for The Walden School Young Musicians Program—this will be Kittie’s eleventh year at Walden! Kittie holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Simon Fraser University’s School for Contemporary Arts, an MEd in Special Education from George Mason University, and a BM from Northwestern University in Music Education and Guitar Performance. Kittie also likes ghost stories, chili, and cats.
You can find more info about Kittie and their work at kittiecooper.com.
Luke Schroeder
Staff, Creative Musicians Retreat
Assistant Director of Operations, Young Musicians Program
Luke was born in Fairbanks, Alaska, and currently lives in Austin, Texas. He graduated from Texas Tech University, where he received a BM in Music Education, in 2023. At Texas Tech, Luke played Viola in the University Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Bravura, and New Music Ensemble and sang with the Texas Tech Matador Singers. He has played with the Wichita Falls Youth Symphony Orchestra and Wichita Falls Symphony Orchestra as well. Luke worked for the Texas Tech String Project throughout college. String Project is an organization funded by Texas Tech University that allows string music education students to teach beginner string players. Luke now works as a middle school Orchestra & Guitar teacher at Webb Middle School in Austin, Texas. He has been working for Walden since 2019, where he has worked as a staff member, teacher, conductor, and Assistant Director of Operations. Luke is looking forward to a fun and exciting summer at Walden!
Marco Roberts
Staff, Young Musicians Program
Marco is an emerging writer, composer, improviser, and researcher from Seattle, Washington. He just completed his junior year at Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania where he is pursuing an honors BA in History and minoring in Arabic Studies and Music. He attended Walden as a student for six summers from 2015 to 2020, and is beyond excited to return as a staff member. Marco’s primary instrument is piano, but he sings and fiddles on the guitar occasionally as well. He is involved with the Swarthmore College Chorus, and has had his compositions premiered by members of The Walden School Players and Ensemble Dal Niente.
Though primarily trained in classical music, he also enjoys singing, playing and listening to music from across the world, from 19th century Italian Opera, to vocal jazz, to alternative rock, to traditional Chinese and classical Arabic music. He is particularly interested in the intersections of Music and World History, especially as someone from an international background, and with a passion for learning new languages. Marco is Chinese from his mother’s side, and grew up in Beijing for most of his life. Outside of music and the classroom, you will likely find him playing badminton or niche card games with his friends and having after dinner chai or tea, which he likes to make for his friends. He also loves traveling, hiking, and reading.
Margaree Jordan
Nurse, Young Musicians Program
Margaree Jordan ignited her passion for nursing after a fateful trip to India during a college year abroad, where she worked in a small rural village providing health services. She graduated with her BSN in 2002 and spent her first few years working in both critical care and community health. She then shifted her focus to ambulatory care, and was both an educator and nurse leader in a number of surgical specialties. She completed her MSN in 2015 and transitioned to full time nursing professor in Minnesota, while working per diem providing telehealth triage. Her last 6 years have been spent in leadership and education roles in both telehealth and clinical practice, and she recently transitioned into a role as Director of Health Services at the Dublin School (where she is also an alum!).
She lives in Dublin with her children and a small leopard gecko (even though she dislikes reptiles). In her spare time she likes to do anything outside (running, hiking, swimming, camping). She also writes semi-professionally and is an avid home cook.
Nate Trier
Faculty & Academic Dean, Young Musicians Program
Nate Trier is a composer and producer, based just outside of New Haven, CT, who creates electronic music that features lyrical piano and accordion melodies over churning soundscapes of buzzing drones, fuzzy drums, and crackling static. He describes his music as “classical ambient beats;” others have described it as “quite engrossing” (KFFP) and “like looking into your soul” (Raighes Factory). His music has travelled worldwide: abstract visual artist Sergei Petrov used Trier’s music for installations in Zelenograd, Russia, and the 48th International Summer Course for New Music in Darmstadt, Germany distributed a recording of Trier’s fixed-media piece, “Serial Parameter Shift,” to attendees. Trier has released several collections of electronic music, including singles, EP’s, and albums.
Paul Zito
Young Musicians Program staff
Paul was born in Mayfield Heights, Ohio and is going into his Junior year as a Music Education major at The College of Wooster. He plays the clarinet and has participated in Wooster’s marching band, symphonic band, musical pit, and premiered compositions of his peers as well as one of his own. As a singer, Paul has sung in the Wooster Chorus and was provided the opportunity to sing with Cleveland Orchestra Chorus during their Holiday Concerts the past two years, and in the Blossom Festival Chorus last summer. He has toured with both the Scot Symphonic Band and Wooster Chorus over the past two years during spring break, performing in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Indiana. In addition, he music directs two a cappella groups at Wooster and loves every opportunity he can get to be in front of a group and direct. When he’s not doing music, Paul enjoys playing video games, playing tennis, getting food with friends, and attending concerts. He is excited to work with so many new faces at Walden this summer!
Ross Karre
Technical Director, Young Musicians Program
Ross Karre (he/him b. 1983 in Michigan) is a percussionist, filmmaker, and producer based in Oberlin, OH and New York City. He is the associate professor of percussion at Oberlin Conservatory. After completing his Doctorate in Music at UCSD with Steven Schick, Ross formalized his visual studies with a Master of Fine Arts. He is a percussionist for the International Contemporary Ensemble where he was artistic director from 2016 to 2022. He has performed regularly with red fish blue fish, Third Coast Percussion (Chicago), and Yarn/Wire (NYC). He has performed at major festivals all over the world, including the Mostly Mozart Festival (NYC), the Holland Festival (Netherlands), Ojai Festival (CA), LA Phil Noon to Midnight, Lucerne Festival, Taipei International Percussion Festival, Big Ears (TN), MONA FOMA (Tasmania), Diskotek (Greenland), and Music Today Biennial (Brazil). 10.67 Cycles, Karre’s solo album featuring the music of Ash Fure and Pauline Oliveros, is available on Bandcamp. His video design work has been presented all over the world in prestigious venues such as the Kulturkirche Liebfrauen Duisburg, Muziekgebouw Amsterdam, BBC Scotland, Western Front, MCA Chicago, the Park Avenue Armory, the Kennedy Center, The Kitchen, Roulette Intermedium, Miller Theatre at Columbia University, and the National Gallery of Art. Karre’s archival documentary and documentation work preserves unique moments in the creative processes of Claire Chase, Pauline Oliveros, Steven Schick, Matthias Kaul, Fritz Hauser, and creative collaborations of Third Coast Percussion, Yarn/Wire, ICEensemble, Mount Tremper Arts, Baryshnikov Arts Center, and the Oberlin Percussion Group.
Samantha Wolf
Faculty, Young Musicians Program
Samantha Wolf (b. 1990) is an Australian-born, US-based composer and sound designer. Described as “haunting,” “enigmatic,” “inspired,” and “a force to be reckoned with,” Samantha‘s music blends the classical, contemporary, and electroacoustic worlds while being grounded in the notated tradition. Her music has been featured by the Melbourne and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras, Bang on a Can, Elision, the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music, Ensemble Offspring, Rubiks Collective, Pique Collective, Impuls Academy, and The Song Company. Samantha holds undergraduate degrees from the Queensland and Melbourne Conservatoriums in Australia, and two Masters degrees from the Yale School of Music in the US. She is the recipient of several major awards, including the University of Sydney’s Sue W Composition Prize, Rubiks Collective’s Pythia Prize, and Ensemble Offspring’s Noisy Women commission. In 2023-2024, Samantha is Co-Artistic Director of the University of Alabama Contemporary Ensemble, Artist in Residence at the Longy School of Music in Boston, and the newest member of ICEBERG New Music Collective in New York, NY.
Sammi Stone
Director of Operations
Faculty, Young Musicians Program
Sammi Jo Stone is an arts administrator, oboist, saxophonist, and woodwind enthusiast. She lives in Norwich, Connecticut, and is originally from Baker City in rural northeastern Oregon. She studied music at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, and the University of California San Diego, and has performed with Long Beach Opera, the Berkshire Symphony, the Grande Ronde Symphony Orchestra, and the La Jolla Symphony. She is passionate about teaching, learning, and discovering new abilities and skills, and hopes to do an unassisted chin-up before the end of the year. Sammi discovered Walden as a Creative Musicians Retreat participant in 2017.
Seth Brenzel
Executive Director & Director, Young Musicians Program
Seth Brenzel, Executive Director, has been associated with The Walden School for nearly 40 years. He was fortunate to be a student at Walden for six magical summers (1985-1990), and since 1994, has served the School as a staff member, faculty member, board member, Director of Operations, and as the Associate Director from 1996 to 2003, when he became Walden’s Executive Director. Since 1995, he has sung tenor with the Grammy Award-winning San Francisco Symphony Chorus, and is currently a professional (AGMA) member of that ensemble.
In 2023, Seth was appointed by Mayor London Breed to serve on the San Francisco Arts Commission. Seth chairs the board of the PRISM Quartet and serves on the boards of Ensemble Dal Niente and of the San Francisco Friends School, a board he has previously co-clerked. He has also served on the boards of Swarthmore College and Earplay. Seth received his B.A., with degrees in Music and Political Science, from Swarthmore College, where he served as President of the College’s Alumni Association. He received an M.B.A. from the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, with a focus in non-profit management and marketing. He is a graduate of Leadership San Francisco, where he serves as an alumni advisor.
Prior to becoming Walden’s first full-time Executive Director, Seth worked part-time for Walden during the year and held positions as a senior consultant at Deloitte Consulting, in marketing and public relations at the San Francisco Symphony, and led both the marketing and the enterprise sales teams for an internet software company, now part of Adobe. When not at Walden, Seth lives in the Bernal Heights neighborhood of San Francisco with his husband, Malcolm Gaines, and their daughter, Cora.
Shannon Dunning
Staff, Young Musicians Program
Shannon Dunning is a performer originally from Bristol, Virginia. Currently, she is studying Music and Dance at The College of Wooster in Ohio. She found her love of performing through a youth summer musical program, and has continued to work with the performing arts through dance companies, musical productions, and most recently the Wooster Chorus. Her favorite past performance was a ballet choreographed to works by George Gershwin, and her dream role is Beatrice from Much Ado About Nothing. When she’s not singing or dancing, or choreographing, Shannon loves to photograph her friends, read, or daydream about the beach.
Theo Trevisan
Faculty, Young Musicians Program
As a child, Theo sang at the American Boychoir School, performing in 30 states and South Korea with world-class conductors and ensembles. Theo received a B.A. from Princeton, studying composition, computer science and consort singing. He studied composition with Jeff Snyder, Dan Trueman, Donnacha Dennehy, and Dmitri Tymozcko; voice with Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek; and conducting with Gabriel Crouch. He is currently pursuing his Masters in Composition at USC, studying with Ted Hearne, Donald Crockett, and Andrew Norman.
Theo’s music has been performed by many collaborators, including the International Contemporary Ensemble, TAK Ensemble, Mivos Quartet, Antioch Chamber Ensemble, Princeton University Glee Club and Chamber Choir, Princeton Laptop Orchestra, DJ Sparr, David Friend, Matthew Gold, and Soo Yeon Lyuh. He has sung with the choir of St. James in the City LA, Tonality, C3LA, Gallicantus, USC Chamber Singers, various Princeton choirs, and the Princeton Katzenjammers acapella group. Additionally, he sings in the recently founded octet Exilio, which is dedicated to programming new music and composers from historically underrepresented groups. Theo contributed to software development of Dan Trueman’s bitKlavier app and Jeff Snyder’s Vocodec instrument, and he has been teaching ear training classes for National Children’s Chorus since 2024.
Other interests include reading obscure history, playing strategy games, telling bad puns, skiing, and vegetarian cooking. Theo has been a part of the Walden community for many years: he attended the Young Musicians Program from 2014-2017 and the Creative Musicians Retreat from 2019-2021, and he has worked at the Young Musicians Program in various capacities since 2019. Learn more at theotrevisan.com
William Bolles-Beaven
Faculty, Young Musicians Program
William Bolles-Beaven is a composer and educator based in New York City. His compositions attempt to bring awareness to the present moment by writing for performers as whole persons (calling for vocalizations, bodily actions, etc.) and articulating space (moving sound through an ensemble as well as allowing the hall to speak). As a composer and educator, his main aim is to show that there is more to know and feel than what we know and feel.
He received his Bachelor of Music from Oberlin Conservatory studying under Elizabeth Ogonek and received his Master of Music from Manhattan School of Music studying under Reiko Fueting. In 2018, he was a fellow of the United States Teaching Assistant Program of the Austrian Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF), which was administered by Fulbright Austria (Austrian-American Education Commission). As part of the fellowship, he taught English to high school students in Bregenz, Austria.
William Bolles-Beaven’s compositions have been performed domestically and abroad (Italy, Germany) and have received recognitions such as the Nicholas Flagello Award, the Aschaffenburg Prize, second place in the Carl Kanter Prize, and being named a finalist in the ASCAP Morton Gould Composition Awards 2022. He has worked with artists such as Jordan Bartow, Teagan Faran, Nicole Brancato, Marius Staible, Austin Philemon, Elizabeth Gartman, Dan Lippel, and the Mivos Quartet.
William Bolles-Beaven currently teaches music theory and ear training at Manhattan School of Music’s Precollege Division while pursuing his Ph.D. in composition at the CUNY Graduate Center with Jason Eckardt.
Zaki Andoh
Staff, Young Musicians Program
Zaki Andoh is a composer, musician, and songwriter from New York. He attended the Walden Young Musicians Program in the summer of 2019 and is thrilled to return as a staff member. Though he was initially trained in Western classical music, Zaki enjoys experimenting with jazz and other contemporary styles in his compositions. He has experience playing piano, trombone, and guitar, and recently spent time learning Hindustani classical voice and sitar. This fall, he will be starting his freshman year at Williams College, where he hopes to study music composition, creative writing, and theoretical physics.
Summer 2025
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