Music Faculty

Ben Aldridge holds both Bachelors and Masters degrees from Yale University, and has been a member of the Binghamton Philharmonic since 1991.

Mr. Blake received a Bachelor of Science in music education at Hartwick College (2001), and a master’s degree in trombone performance from Binghamton University (2006). He serves as an Artist-in-Residence at Hartwick College, where he teaches trombone, directs the trombone choir, and has taught methods courses in brass and percussion.

Fideliz Campbell has been an Artist in Residence in piano at Hartwick College since 2013. She is also an adjunct professor in Keyboard Techniques and Class Piano. She serves as accompanist for music students, performing for convocation, jury and recital. In spring of 2014, Fideliz was the music director for Carrie the Musical held at Slade Theater. 

Ms. Castel in on the faculty of Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York where she teaches Voice, Vocal Methods and Opera Scenes Class. Ms. Castel’s career path began in Musical Theater when she began performing in Equity theaters at the age of 16. She performed in the Lyric Opera of Philadelphia before moving to New York City where she founded the New York Opera Studio and produced operatic works as well as opera educational programs for schools. The NYOS has offered summer training programs for young singers at Vassar College and Sullivan County Community College.

Jill Czarnecki is the music teacher at Valleyview Elementary School in Oneonta where she teaches General Music, Band, and Chorus. She attended the Crane School of Music for her Bachelors in Music Education and Piano Pedagogy, and Boston University for a Masters in Music Education.

A resident of Otego, Ms. Donaldson is the general music teacher at Greater Plains School, an artist-in-residence at Hartwick College, and serves as the Choir Director at the First Presbyterian Church in Oneonta. She attended the Crane School of Music for her Bachelors in Music Education and Indiana University at Bloomington for a Masters in Opera Performance where she studied with Gabriella Tucci and Nicola Rossi-Lemeni.

A native of Prince Edward Island, Canada, Graeme Francis received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Texas at Austin. His percussion teachers include Jill Ball, Thomas Burritt, Doug Howard, Kalman Cherry, Ed Smith, Tony Edwards, Brannen Temple, Daniel Glass, and Carl Allen.

Dr. Ana Laura González serves as adjunct faculty in music theory department and Artist in Residence of Flute at Hartwick College since 2011. She is a native of Argentina and her repertoire spans from classical to contemporary music, with an emphasis on academic music from her home land. Her dissertation “European Cosmopolitanism to Folkloricism” analyzed elements of nationalistic language in earlier Argentinean academic music to the pure expression of traditional elements in flute music by Amancio Alcorta, Alberto Williams, and Angel Lasala. She has also been published in the Flutist Quarterly.

Daniel Hane is a bassoonist with the Tri-Cities Opera Orchestra, the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, and the Catskill Symphony, and performs frequently with the Binghamton Philharmonic, Symphoria, Hartford Symphony, Albany Symphony, and Glimmerglass Festival.  Mr. Hane teaches at Colgate University, Cornell University, and Hartwick College.  He received a Bachelor of Music degree from Georgia Southern University and a Master of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music.

Stephanie Hollander is an active freelancer in the NY Metro-Area. She has performed with many distinguished groups such as; Hudson Valley Philharmonic, Patriot Brass, The South Florida Symphony Orchestra, Miami Symphony, Bard Conducting Institute, Central Park Symphony, Washing Heights Chamber Orchestra, Bach Festival Orchestra, Albany Symphony, Concert in the Villages, Woodstock Chamber Orchestra and numerous others. In March 2017, she was principal horn for the North East tour of the distinguished pop Italian group, Il Volo. Her playing has brought her to play at many distinguished music halls through out the United States and to many venues internationally in Italy and Cuba.

Evan Jagels has a Master’s Degree in Jazz Performance from the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, where he was the recipient of the Michael Feinstein Award. He has studied with Antonio Hart, Ron Carter, Buster Williams and Yoshio Aomori. He has also studied piano with Jeb Patton and Charles Eubanks. Evan is an actively working bassist. In addition to jazz, he regularly performs rockabilly, country, rock and bluegrass.

Stephen Markuson’s musical career has been that of a stage actor and instructor. For the past 30+ years, he has performed throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe in opera, recital, oratorio, and musical theatre, seen locally with numerous productions by Orpheus Theatre and the Catskill Symphony. In addition, he holds a distinction of being in the first cast of the Glimmerglass Opera production of La Boheme.

Tenor Steven Nanni, “a world class tenor who has natural musicality, artistic instinct and vocal talent, sang the role of Nemorino in Donizetti’s L’elisir D’amore beautifully” (Irish Times) … “A particularly strong performance … Nanni sang beautifully” (Boston Globe). “Among Steven’s many talents are his natural musical instincts. He is a singer from the old school of bel canto and expressive line; a complete musical instrument and artist” –Nico Castel (Metropolitan Opera diction coach, Juilliard School professor).

Gregg Norris earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Music Education from Hartwick College (Oneonta, NY) in 1984, and his Master’s Degree in Social Sciences from Binghamton University in 1991.  He has been the senior high band director in the Sidney Central School District since 1985.  Among his responsibilities are directing the senior high concert band, stage band, jazz combo and marching band, as well as teaching classes in music theory and music appreciation.  He is chapter advisor to the Sidney High School Tri-M Music Honor Society.  

Diane Paige is a musicologist whose research focuses on music of the Czech lands, women and music, and music and war.  She teaches a broad range of courses at Hartwick such as Music of the Roma (Gypsies), Music of World Wars I and II, and Music of the African Diaspora.

Andrew D. Pease (Assistant Professor of Instrumental Music) directs Hartwick’s Wind Ensemble and Brass Ensemble and teaches conducting and orchestration.  He began his career in New York City, where he led the Columbia University Wind Ensemble and Columbia Summer Winds.  He has degrees from Dartmouth College, Columbia University, Hofstra University, and a DMA in wind conducting at Arizona State University, where his primary teachers were Gary Hill and Wayne Bailey.  While in Arizona, he conducted all levels of instrumental ensembles and founded the professional Sun Valley Chamber Winds.  Dr. Pease runs two websites dedicated to the music of the wind band.  Wind Band Literature delves deep into over 300 works. The Wind Band Symphony Archive is a living record of wind band symphonies.

Spencer Phillips is highly sought after as both an orchestral bassist and chamber musician throughout the United States and abroad. Recent performance engagements include a US tour with the Munich Symphoniker, performances with the Michigan Opera Theater, Solo Bassist with the International Chamber Orchestra led by violinist Dimitri Berlinsky, as well as recording the complete Beethoven Symphonies with Orchestre de la Francophonie Canadian, under Jean-Philippe Tremblay.

William Pomares holds a Master of Music in Saxophone Performance at the University of Northern Colorado and a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam. 

Oboist Allison Rubin received her Bachelor of Music degree from The Juilliard School (New York Philharmonic Scholarship recipient) and her Master of Music degree from Yale (Merit Scholarship recipient).

Robin Seletsky attended the New England Conservatory of Music, where she performed Debussy’s Premiere Rhapsodie with the Boston Pops as the first prize winner in the NEC graduating competition.

Meghan K. Sheehy received her B.M.Ed., M.M. in Music Education, and Ph.D. in Music Education from The University of Southern Mississippi. Her dissertation, A Quantitative Analysis of the Relationship Between K-12 Music Educators and Collegiate Music Education Researcher and Instructors: Is There a Disconnect? was supervised by Dr. Steven R. Moser, and focused on interpreting the relationship between music researchers and practitioners to determine if and where disconnect may exist.

A native of Germany, Uli Speth completed his undergraduate studies at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria as student of Harald Herzl. Uli participated in numerous performance classes given by Yfrah Neaman, Thomas Brandis, Jaap Schroeder, and Nicolaus Harnoncourt among others and, after moving to the US, earned his Master of Music degree from the Mannes College of Music. He was a student of Felix Galimir from whom he received both violin and string quartet training.

Dennis is an active performer and composer. He has written several compositions for guitar such as “Five Studies for guitar,” “Fugue in C Minor,” “Suite in G# Minor,” “Theme and Variations,” “Ten Tone Tune,” and “Etude for Five Guitars.” He is the founder and past president of the Classical Guitar Society for Upstate New York and has recorded two solo albums “Dennis Turechek Plays Dennis Turechek” and “Nine Views from the Bridge.”

Born and raised in the Boston area, Charles Vatalaro was a regular on the local club circuit by his mid teens. His first big break came as a member of the Greater Boston Youth Jazz Ensemble led by John LaPorta.