Adria Benjamin:

A viola teacher and conductor at Merrywood, Adria has been a longtime member of Orchestra Lumos’s viola section and serves as the orchestra’s personnel manager.  She has worked at the Mannes College Preparatory Division teaching viola, chamber music, and conducting the orchestra.

Margi Kugelman Hofer:

A viola student at Merrywood, Margi is currently the Executive Director of the Coby Foundation (www.cobyfoundation.org) as well as an Independent Curator (www.margihofer.com).  She has written and published several books, including: A New Light on Tiffany: Clara Driscoll and the Tiffany Girls; Making it Modern: the Folk Art Collection of Elie and Viola Nadelman; Stories in Sterling: Four Centuries of Silver in New York; and The Games We Played: the Golden Age of Board and Table Games.  She currently lives in NYC with her husband Andrew.  She has 3 adult sons and one grandson.  To this day, she still plays the viola and enjoys playing chamber music.

Brenda Herschbach Jarrell:

A cello student at Merrywood, she now works as an intellectual property lawyer in Massachusetts.

Elizabeth Rohr:

Elizabeth was a violin student at Merrywood.  She then returned to high school, participating in district, regional, and state orchestra festivals.  During the summer of 1980, she attended the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts as part of their music program.  She majored in Fine Arts at Haverford College, while playing in the orchestra and singing with the chamber singers.  Thereafter, she received her Master’s degree in Architecture from Carnegie Mellon University, playing in the student orchestra while there.  She worked as a registered architect for several years before switching to financial services, becoming a marketing manager and obtaining several industry-related certifications.  She also became a certified therapeutic horseback riding instructor specializing in teaching students of all ages with all types of disabilities.  A long-time member and concertmistress of the Rose Tree Pops, Elizabeth still plays her violin at least weekly.  She began studying bluegrass music in 2018 (after attending a Wernick Method summer camp) and is currently a member of The Festers bluegrass band in which she both fiddles and sings.  The band plays at farmer’s markets, special events, and parties.  They’ve also played at the Albert Music Hall in NJ and the State Theater in MD.

Wendy Rolfe-Dunham:

A flute teacher at Merrywood, Wendy earned her Bachelor’s degree in Music at Oberlin Conservatory of Music.  She then completed her Masters and Doctorate degrees in Flute Performance from the Manhattan School of Music.  She currently plays not only the flute but also the piccolo and historical flutes.  She is a professor at the Berklee College of Music and plays with both the Boston Baroque Orchestra and the Cape Symphony Orchestra.  She’s published articles in Flute Talk, The Instrumentalist, and The Flutist Quarterly.  Recordings include Images of Brazil, Images of Eve, and others with the Boston Baroque Society, The Handel and Haydn Society, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, chamber ensembles, and others.  From the National Endowment for the Arts she was awarded the Fulbright Senior Specialist, Solo Recitalist Grant.

Nick Rozen:

A trumpet student at Merrywood, he earned his Master’s degree in Engineering.  Now an aerospace engineer, he works for a non-profit research organization.  He married a “lovely woman from Ireland” with whom he has children.  He notes that “music was good for my brain and soul.  I’m still not a ‘great’ player but I’ve at least had some fun playing jazz and classical.  Still noodling around.  Still love jazz, which Mrs. Hurwitz barely tolerated.”

Ilene Stahl:

A clarinet student at Merrywood, Ilene is now the featured clarinetist of the Klezmer Conservatory Band and is the clarinetist and leader of Klezperanto (www.klexperanto.com).  She has had the pleasure of teaching many students over the years, including at KlezKamp in NY, at KlezKanada, and privately.  While still a student at Hampshire College, she won a position in the Klezmer Conservatory Band in 1987.  With KCB, Ilene has performed extensively throughout the United States and internationally.  She has been featured on radio and TV broadcasts, including them Great Performances programs “In the Fiddler’s Echo,” “Eternal Echoes,” and “Rejoice” with Itzhak Perlman.  She is a soloist in Perlman’s ongoing concert touring klezmer ensemble.  Her musical theater experience includes the world premiere of the American Repertory Theater’s production of Shlemiel the First and Borschtcapades with Joel Grey.  Ilene is known for her passionate performance style as well as her soulful interpretations of traditional Yiddish music.  In 1999, she and some of Boston’s most acclaimed klezmer musicians formed Klezperanto to expand the possibilities of Yiddish and Mediterranean melodies.

Matthew Strassler:

Still playing the piano for enjoyment, Matt has become an internationally renowned physicist.  He recently published an acclaimed book on physics, Waves in an Impossible Ocean.  He has his own blog page (https://profmattstrassler.com/blog/) and even has a page dedicated to him on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Strassler).

 

Elizabeth Tillman:

A piano student at Merrywood, Liz is now an internal medicine physician and medical professor.  She still enjoys playing the piano for herself and in 2023 she decided to start taking violin lessons.  She has presented internationally on the topic of Moral Injury in Medicine.

Barbara Crouse Vaughan:

A violin teacher at Merrywood, Barbara currently plays both the violin and viola.  She performs with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and with Hop River Chamber Music.  She previously taught violin in the Mansfield Public Schools and violin/viola at Eastern CT State University.  Enjoying travel abroad, she resides in CT.

Deborah Boykan:

https://friendsofrobbinslibrary.org/azalea-chamber-music-sunday-february-11-2024-3-pm/
https://newtonfreelibrary.libcal.com/event/14203259

Cathy Chutich:
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/cathy-chutich/403464009

Lindy Clarke:
https://oslmusic.org/bios/lindy-clarke/

Sandy Dennis:
https://www.mtholyoke.edu/directory/faculty-staff/sandra-dennis

Adam Ainspan:
https://www.companionanimalclinicvirginia.com/doctors-staff/adam-s-ainspan-dvm

Adria Benjamin:
https://www.newschool.edu/mannes/faculty/Adria-Benjamin/
https://orchestralumos.org/musicians
https://www.feenotes.com/database/artists/benjamin-adria/

Cindy Betancourt-Smith:
https://digital.library.in.gov/Record/BSU_photo-29675
https://dmr.bsu.edu/digital/collection/MusCnrtEvnt/id/9844/

Anne Black:
https://emmanuelmusic.org/personnel/anne-black
https://proarte.org/profiles/anne-black
https://www.dinosaurannex.org/anneblack
https://handelandhaydn.org/about/musicians/orchestra-and-chorus/anne-black/
https://artsarlington.org/featured-artist-anne-black/

Linda (Betancourt) Geidel:
https://briarwoodclinic.com/meet-our-therapists/f/linda-geidel-lmhc
https://adamfrankcl.blogspot.com/2011/01/1st-staff-bio-linda-geidel.html

Phillip Keoghan:

www.philkeoghan.com

Sean Lyons:
https://lyonsjazz.com/bio

Lia Purpura:
https://liapurpura.com

Barbara (Crouse) Vaughan:
https://www.hoprvrmusic.com