FACULTY AND STAFF

Michael Hershkowitz, Director of Concerts and Community Education
Executive Director of the Stony Brook Community Music Program
mhershkowitz@sbcmp.org

A lifelong musician, Michael has a diverse background including education, marketing, publicity, graphic design, arts administration, stage management and artist relations. After graduating from James Madison University with a degree in Music Education, he taught in public schools for many years. After Michael completed his Masters Degree in Music at Stony Brook University and made the move into the business world as a Marketing Associate for Connolly and Co., an orchestral products company, and later as the Artist Relations Manager for Thomastik-Infeld strings, Vienna, signing such clients as Glen Dicterow, the Shanghai Quartet and Hilary Hahn.

In 2006 Michael began his work in the Music Department at Stony Brook University first as the Concert Manager.  A few months later he was hired as the Interim Director of the then Pre-College and Community Music Program, and later was promoted to his current position where he oversees concert production, community outreach, publicity and the expansion of the new Stony Brook Community Music Program.

In addition to his work at Stony Brook, Michael maintains an active schedule of trombone performance and private instruction. In 2004 he founded the Long Island Symphonic Winds, a wind ensemble dedicated to the performance of original, contemporary composition. Michael lives on Long Island with his wife Shoshana, a choral director, and their daughter.

Dorothea Cook, Director of Children's Programs

A native of Seattle, Washington, Dorothea Cook (”Deede” to her friends) majored in performance at the University of Washington where she studied violin with Vilem Sokol and Emanuel Zetlin.

 In 1991 Deede moved to Long Island to be with her husband, Peter Winkler, where she taught privately and completed a multidisciplinary bachelor’s degree in music and psychology at Stony Brook University. Her studies included jazz improvisation with Todd Coolman and continuo realization with Arthur Haas. Her search for a holistic approach to music education led her to the pedagogy of Emile-Jacques Dalcroze, which she studied in New York City at the Dalcroze School of America and the Diller-Quaile School of Music, working with Robert Abramson, Ruth Alperson, and Anne Farber. She has taught Dalcroze Eurythmics at the Lucy Moses School of Music and Dance, the Stony Brook Summer Music Festival, the Diller-Quaile School of Music, and is director of the Music Basics for Kids program at Stony Brook University.In addition to her teaching activities, Deede plays Baroque violin and viola in period music ensembles, including the Stony Brook Baroque Players, and performs with the violin/piano duo Silken Rags with her husband, Peter Winkler.

Eileen Benedict, Director, Stony Brook Children's Choir

Eileen Benedict has recently retired from the Connetquot Central School district. In her 34 years in the district, she taught  elementary classroom music, middle school chorus, high school women’s choir, vocal lessons and music theory. In addition, Mrs. Benedict was vocal director for numerous middle school and high school musical theater productions. She was a frequent conductor for district-wide chorus and recorder ensembles.       

Mrs. Benedict received her Bachelors degree in Music Education from Dowling College and her M.S. from L.I.U. C.W. Post campus. She has presented “Music is Fun” singing and movement workshops, and conducted “American Folk Songs” and “ Broadway” programs in many public libraries. Mr. and Mrs. Benedict were musical directors for the spring productions at McGann-Mercy High School in Riverhead for 10 years. Mrs. Benedict conducted SCMEA Division I in 2000, 2006 and in 2010. She has also been honored to have conducted the North Fork festival in 2001 and the Hamptons MEA middle school festival in 2007 and 2011. Since summer, 2006, Mrs. Benedict has been conducting the Discovery Chorus and the Junior Chorus at USDAN Center for the Creative and Performing Arts.

Mrs. Benedict's lesson plans were published in the August 2009 issue of MENC's Teaching Music magazine. She was the general music mentor for MENC in the fall, 2008 and repeated that role in spring 2010. Mrs. Benedict recently presented "We Can Compose...plus more" as a clinician for SCMEA and at the 2010 NYSSMA all-state conference. Mrs Benedict is the children’s choir director for the SUNY Stony Brook Community Music Program. She and her husband are soloists, leaders of song, accompanists, and children’s choir directors at Infant Jesus Church in Port Jefferson.
 
Mrs. Benedict is a member of SCMEA, NYSSMA, ACDA and MENC and is an all-state certified NYSSMA judge.

Katherine Dowling, Teaching Assistant



Tomoko Fujita, cello

Cello Studio Lead Teacher

Artist-in-Residence (with Bryant Park Quartet)

Tomoko Fujita is the founding cellist of the Bryant Park Quartet and a musician of wide-ranging interests. Tomoko has presented solo and chamber music recitals at many venues including the Staller Center for the Arts, Alice Tully and Paul Recital Halls of Lincoln Center, the Kosciusko Foundation, and Duncan Recital Hall. An award-winner as a Tanglewood Music Center fellow, she was also a member of the New Fromm Players, Tanglewood's contemporary music ensemble-in-residence. Tomoko has recently performed baroque cello in the Boston Early Music Festival and the Naumburg Orchestral Concerts series. In addition to teaching at the Stony Brook University Pre-College Program and the Port Jefferson Music Academy , and maintaining a private studio, she has served on the faculty of the Zephyr International Chamber Music Course and Festival in Courmayeur , Italy. Tomoko graduated summa cum laude from Rice University with a double degree: a B.M. in cello performance as a student of Norman Fischer; and a B.A. in psychology. She earned a M.M. at The Juilliard School while studying with Joel Krosnick and Darrett Adkins. She is currently working with Colin Carr in the D.M.A. program at Stony Brook University.

Shoshana Hershkowitz, classical voice


Phil Salathé, theory, composition

 Phil Salathé is a composer, musician, teacher, and writer. His music has been performed in the United States and Europe, and ranges widely in scale and scope, from miniatures for solo instruments (Eight Pieces for Piano), to multi-movement compositions for large ensembles (Divisions for soprano saxophone and chamber orchestra). His recent works include several pieces written specifically for younger musicians (Islands for guitar orchestra, A Canon in Dorian Mode for string orchestra). He has penned articles and reviews for the Hartford Courant and Masstransfer magazine, among other publications, and recently contributed several musical analyses to an upcoming book about Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd.



Mario Gotoh, violin, chamber
Japan-born violinist and violist Mario Gotoh is currently a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate in a dual-degree performance program at SUNY Stony Brook University where she serves as the Teaching Assistant to the violin faculty and the instructor of undergraduate violinists. She was recently invited to be the viola teacher at SUNY Suffolk College.
 
As soloist with orchestras, Ms. Gotoh has performed the violin concerti and works of Bach, Barber, Dvorak, Glazunov, Mendelssohn, Sarasate, Sibelius, and Vivaldi since making her soloist debut at age 12. She has been awarded First Place in numerous solo and chamber music competitions. Her performances have been broadcast worldwide including NPR, CBC, PBS Television, TF1 French Television and radio stations across North America, Europe and Asia.
 
An active and avid chamber musician, Ms. Gotoh has performed on violin and viola with distinguished artists including Nobuko Imai, Frans Helmerson, Anton Kuerti, Philippe Graffin, the Emerson String Quartet, Chen Halevi, Michel Lethiec, Juliette Hurel, Marti Roussi, Claire Desert, and Marcello Nisinman, godson of Astor Piazzolla. She has concertized across North America, the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Her collaborative repertoire ranges extensively from rarely performed early music to contemporary music, world premiere performances and newly commissioned works. On baroque violin, Ms. Gotoh has performed and worked closely with Paul O'Dette, Kristian Bezuidenhout and Monica Huggett. She has also worked closely in contemporary music with Brad Lubman and various composers. Festival appearances include Music@Menlo, Festival Consonances in France, Music Academy of the West, International Stichting Masterclasses Apeldoorn in the Netherlands, the Banff Centre, Boston Early Music Festival and National ARTS Week with the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. Ms. Gotoh has served as concertmaster of numerous orchestras, including those at the Aspen Music Festival and School, Banff Centre, SUNY Stony Brook University and the Eastman School of Music.
 
Ms. Gotoh holds a Master of Music from SUNY Stony Brook, Bachelor of Music and Performance Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, where she was a recipient of the Excellence in Chamber Music Award. She was honored with the Highest Achievement Award upon graduation from New England Conservatory of Music Preparatory School. Her principal teachers have been Pamela Frank, Philip Setzer, Philippe Graffin, Soovin Kim, Sylvia Rosenberg, Ian Swensen, Naoko Tanaka, Hyo Kang  and Zvi Zeitlin on violin and Nobuko Imai, Daniel Panner, and Lawrence Dutton on viola. As chamber musician, she has worked closely with Jerome Lowenthal, Gil Kalish, Wu Han, Ralph Kirshbaum, Colin Carr, Lawrence Lesser, Ani Kavafian, Jorja Fleezanis, and the Brentano, Emerson, Jupiter, Muir, St. Lawrence, Takacs, Petersen, and Ying String Quartets.
 
As a versatile teacher, Ms. Gotoh has taught music history courses in the classroom at Stony Brook University, and has taught sectionals and orchestral studies as the hired Concertmaster for the Stony Brook Undergraduate Orchestra. She has taught chamber music to young students at music festivals including Music@Menlo’s Koret Young Performers Program and Music Academy of the West’s Merit Program and currently teaches chamber music in the SUNY Stony Brook Undergraduate Program, SUNY Stony Brook Precollege and Adult Chamber Music Programs. She also maintains a private studio of violin and viola students in New York and Long Island. As a passionate advocate for promoting music and music education to a wide audience, she frequently performs and organizes outreach concerts at numerous performances for schools, museums, hospices, and retirement communities throughout North America, including a recent tour through Canada with the Banff Centre’s 75th Anniversary Concert Tour ensemble.

Andrea Christie, piano, chamber

 Canadian pianist Andrea Christie is a versatile performing artist with a passion for late-romantic Russian works and contemporary compositions. She is currently a member of ‘Mimesis’ Ensemble, a New York City based contemporary music ensemble dedicated to performing works by living composers. In summer 2008 Ms. Christie completed a residency as a Piano Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, where she collaborated with the Mark Morris Dance Group and performed in the Festival of Contemporary Music: Elliott Carter Centenary Celebration. In 2007 she was a recipient of the Johann Strauss Foundation Scholarship, which sponsored her studies in Austria at the Mozarteum International Summer Academy and the International Summer Academy Prag-Wien-Budapest. Participation in other festival programs includes Icicle Creek Chamber Music Institute, Morningside Music Bridge, Orford Academy, Salt Spring Piano Festival, and Vancouver International Song Institute.

 A Native of Victoria, British Columbia, Ms. Christie has been playing piano since the age of four. Her formal training began at the Victoria Conservatory of Music, where she made her solo orchestral debut at age 14, performing Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto. Ms. Christie holds a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from the University of British Columbia, where she was a student of renowned Canadian pianist Jane Coop. She is currently pursuing a Master of Music Degree in Piano at SUNY Stony Brook as a student of Christina Dahl.
Scott Litroff, saxophone, jazz

A native of Long Island, New York, Scott earned his Bachelor of Arts in Music with Honors from Stony Brook University while studying with Dr. Christopher Creviston (Crane School of Music). He won the undergraduate concerto competition twice as the first and only saxophonist to take first prize, performing both the Villa-Lobos Fantasia and the Ibert Concertino with the University Orchestra. He then went on to receive his MM in saxophone performance from the Mannes College of Music in NYC, studying with Allen Won. He won the Mannes concerto competition as well, becoming the first and only saxophonist to take first prize in the school’s history. In 2008, Scott made his Lincoln Center debut, performing the Ibert Concertino with the Mannes Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall under the direction of David Hayes. In October 2008, Scott became saxophone instructor for Stony Brook University, a position he continues as a jazz DMA candidate and the teaching assistant to Director of Jazz Studies, Ray Anderson.

Scott is involved in various music scenes, both in and out of academic settings. In spring 2008 Scott played saxophone and flute with the St. Bart’s Players in an off-Broadway revival of Steven Sondheim’s “Follies,” which received critical acclaim as “…quite possibly the best revival off-Broadway has seen in many a year.” In October 2009, Scott played flute, clarinet, and violin on a west coast tour with Verve Artist Nellie McKay for her new album, “As Normal as Blueberry Pie,” performing multiple shows at San Francisco’s Yoshi’s Club and Seattle’s Jazz Alley. Scott is the host of a weekly jam session on Stony Brook University campus called “The Sessions,” performing as leader of the Wolfie House Band. Scott regularly premiers new music by both up and coming as well as established composers, including David Loeb, Dawn Chambers, Andriy Legikyy, Ronnie Reshef, and Martin Loyato. His equaled passions for classical, contemporary, and jazz have shaped Scott into a multitalented musician with a wealth of experience in different genres in which he continues to demonstrate great facility.
Christopher Graham, percussion

Chris Graham is a Freelance percussionist living and working in the Tri-State area.  He has performed with a variety of groups at Columbia University, Princeton University, Queens College, William Patterson, Tenri Cultural Center, Issue Project Room, The Knitting Factory, Symphony Space, and Carnegie Hall.  He has worked and performed with notable groups such as Newband, Talujon Percussion Quartet, The Aaron Siegel Ensemble,  Mantra Percussion Group, and is a co-founding member of the Iktus Percussion Quartet.  Previous teachers include Raymond DesRoches, Dr. Dominic Donato, Tom Kolor, Joseph Perira, and Eduardo Leandro.

ENSEMBLES-IN-RESIDENCE

Bryant Park String Quartet

ecipient of a 2008 Chamber Music America Residency Partnership Program grant, the Bryant Park Quartet is dedicated to presenting the spectrum of the string quartet repertoire to a wide audience. Based in New York City, the BPQ has performed as soloists with the Cornell Chamber Orchestra, and in recitals at Lincoln Center’s Paul Recital Hall, the Des Moines Art Center’s Levitt Auditorium, the Staller Center for the Arts Recital Hall at Stony Brook University, Azusa Pacific University’s Munson Hall, Biola University’s Crowell Hall, and on the South Country Concert Series in Bellport, NY. In an effort to reach a uniquely diverse audience, the BPQ has also presented recitals in art galleries, such as the Nassau County Museum of Art and the Seaport District Cultural Association’s Space Gallery in lower Manhattan; in outdoor concerts at Bryant Park; in community centers and in private house concerts; and live on KFMG radio in Des Moines, IA.

Dedicated to teaching, the Bryant Park Quartet will be the Ensemble-in-Residence at Stony Brook University’s Community Music Programs beginning in the fall of 2009. As invited teaching artists, the BPQ has given masterclasses and seminars, in addition to coachings and lessons, at Azusa Pacific, Biola, and Cornell Universities. The quartet has also led rehearsals and coached ensembles with the Greater Des Moines Youth Symphonies in IA and the Santa Barbara Youth Symphony in CA.
Their strong convictions about the importance of community and school education has led them to share their music with thousands of school children in rural Kentucky and Ohio under the auspices of New Performing Arts, Inc. and the Darke County Center for the Arts, and in the city of Des Moines, IA for which they were featured on Channel 12 News. The BPQ has also developed residencies aimed at introducing chamber music concepts to the string students in the Port Jefferson and Hewlett-Woodmere Public School Districts on Long Island, NY and in the West Des Moines Community Schools in West Des Moines, IA.

Formed in 2006, The Bryant Park Quartet has been coached by members of the Brentano, Borromeo, Cavani, Cleveland, Emerson, and Juilliard String Quartets, Itzhak Perlman, Heidi Castleman, Colin Carr, and Kathy Murdock. The BPQ has participated in the Chamber Music Workshop at The Perlman Music Program, the Juilliard String Quartet Seminar, and The Mannes Beethoven Institute.

Executive Director's Note

It is truly an honor to have the Bryant Park String Quartet be a part of the Stony Brook Community Music Programs.  The Quartet is not only one of the best young performing ensembles, but their dedication to education and advancement of their art is unsurpassed.  They make an immediate connection with their audiences, whether it be elementary music students just beginning their instruments or seasoned music aficionados.   


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