Kasia Witek is a multimedia designer and a graduate of the Master of Fine Arts program ( Design and Technology ) at Parsons School of Design in New York City. She has worked as an Associate Creative Technologist for Edelman Digital and for over a decade has worked extensively as a film producer, editor and visual designer at Arts in Education Roundtable, the 92nd Street Y, Lincoln Center Theater, InsideSchools.org and the New York Philharmonic. One of her documentaries about The New York Philharmonic School Partnership Progam has been displayed in the lobby of David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center for several years. Ms. Witek has created all of the creative and multi-media content for BridgeMusik, including four full length concert films, over 90 videos, advertising and print materials, program books, video, still photography and logo design.

Native New Yorker and 2019 New York Bistro Award winner,  Shirley Crabbe sings songs that speak to the heart. As a teenager, Shirley was inspired by a performance of Ella Fitzgerald singing the song "A Tisket, A Tasket" in an old Abbot and Costello movie. “I’ve always had a passion for singing, but  when I heard Ella sing, I knew that “jazz singing” was for me.”

Following her passion, Shirley pursued her dreams first to Illinois to earn a Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University, and then back home to New York, to pursue a Master’e in   Voice at the distinguished Manhattan School of Music (MSM). During the day she studied classical music uptown at MSM, but in the evening, she traveled downtown to sing jazz in the clubs.

Since that time Shirley has performed at festivals, jazz clubs and concert series in New York City and it’s surrounding area. She has appeared at some of New York’s best Jazz rooms such as Minton's, Jazz at Kitano, Birdland, Metropolitan Room and at the historic Lenox Lounge, where to a sold out audience, she debuted music from her inaugural CD HOME.

Once the opening act for the jazz icon Abby Lincoln, Shirley has recorded with the soulful jazz saxophonist, Houston Person and has also   performed with the celebrated jazz pianist Harold Mabern,  bassist Jamil Nasser, Donald Vega, David Budway, Ron Blake, David Glasser, Brandon Lee, Matt Haviland, Cameron Brown, Jon Burr, Jim West and others.  

A highly sought-after pedagogue, violinist Elizabeth Faidley has been hailed as an “amazing and inspiring teacher” by the New York Times.  She is the recipient of the American String Teachers’ Association 2011 “Studio Teacher of the Year” award for the state of New Jersey. She has also been honored with multiple teaching awards, including ones from the Union City Symphony and the Korean Radio Broadcast Network. In addition to being on the faculty of the Pre-College Division of the Manhattan School of Music, she has a large private studio in the New York City metropolitan area where she teaches violin performance to aspiring players from ages 3 to 23. Her students have won national and international competitions and have performed in such great halls as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, and the White House. They are routinely accepted, with scholarships, to the world’s premier music conservatories including The Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory, the Juilliard School, Peabody Conservatory, Rice University, the Royal College of Music, and The Cleveland Institute.  Her students routinely perform with orchestras around the NYC area.  The NY Times described Ms. Faidley as “…fiercely yet compassionately committed to her students, to her colleagues, and to the art of music.”

Ms. Faidley routinely brings in major concert artists and teachers to give private masterclasses to her studio .  The last four years have included Ray Chen, Stefan Jackiw, Charlie Siem, Dmitri Berlinsky, Ronald Copes, Lisa Batiashvili, Sarah Chang, and Katie Lansdale.

She won the prestigious Melissa Tiller Memorial Prize for graduate performance and while still a student at Peabody, joined the faculty of both the preparatory and conservatory divisions after serving as a teaching assistant to Shirley Givens. Besides Givens, her major pedagogical influences include Ivan Galamian, Joseph Gingold, Paul Rolland, and Shinichi Suzuki, and Rebecca Henry.  She also studied with such masters as Daniel Heifetz, Yuri Masurkevich, Christian Teal, and Qing Li.

Ms. Faidley currently employs fourteen violin and musicianship faculty members as part of her school, The Elizabeth Faidley Studio.  All students of any faculty member have access to recitals, masterclasses, private camps, and other performance opportunities.  Ms. Faidley works directly with each teacher in weekly consultations to ensure a balanced musical education for each student.

Ms. Faidley also shares her passion for teaching through her writing. She has completed work on the second edition of a book for children titled “Pre-Twinkling to the Stars: Your Joyful Journey Begins” which focuses on a strong technical foundation for beginning violinists. Her second book, a beginning theory workbook for beginning and intermediate violinists, is also available. She has also published several essays in the American Suzuki Journal and is currently writing a third book on the art of pedagogy entitled, “What Happened to the Nurture?”  The book reflects her teaching philosophy, which seeks to empower the entire, unique person as the foundation of the musician. She generously makes time to mentor her students through auditions, competitions, and performances and stays in touch with them between and beyond studio lessons.

Elliott Forrest is a Peabody Award winning Broadcaster, Producer & Director.

He is the recipient of broadcasting's highest honor, the George Foster Peabody Award and two New York State Broadcasting Awards. He can be heard on 105.9 FM WQXR and WNYC in New York. He is heard nationally as the radio host of the syndicated concerts from The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. For WQXR he produced and hosted, THE WQXR CLASSICAL COMEDY CONTEST at Carolines on Broadway, which was also shot for WNET Ch. 13 in NY. Hosts the national broadcasts of SPRING FOR MUSIC live from Carnegie Hall, where he has appeared more than 60 times.

Elliott directed the "fusion oratorio" CONSIDERING MATTHEW SHEPARD by Craig Hella Johnson and Conspirare for KLRU, PBS TV in Austin. The special airs in 2018.

He produces projections, lighting and theatrical elements for major orchestras around the country including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Houston Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, The Atlanta Symphony, The Pasadena Pops and the Little Orchestra Society in NY. You can some of the latest concerts at www.SymphonicSpectacular.com .

Elliott is the Executive and Artistic Director of the new ArtsRock in Rockland County, NY, producing and presenting concerts, events and series of programs. www.ArtsRock.org

Overlapping his broadcasting work he has been a media trainer, presentation coach and lecturer. Working first in New York with Carl Byoir and Associates, then Hill & Knowlton Public Relations he then went on to consult with Virgil Scudder and Associates, one of the top media training companies in the world. For the past 15 years he has prepared CEOs, managers, sports figures, doctors, authors, rock stars, celebrities and politicians on how to deal with the media, be on radio and television, handle crisis situations and give press conferences. Both individually and in large groups he has instructed people on how to enhance their presentation skills. From New York to Toronto to Marrakesh he has lectured or coached men and woman from such fields as entertainment, education, health, finance, technology and international trade.

Heather Hurley is a ten year resident of Pearl River, NY. Born and raised on Long Island, she studied classical piano as a child, though decided to study Drama Studies at SUNY Purchase. Heather’s varied background and experience in the performing and creative arts has given her a broad perspective and understanding of the importance of arts education, and the profound impact that music serves in the lives of students.

She is the mother of a teenage daughter and volunteers for local high school productions, is an avid musical theatre enthusiast, and is an active community advocate in Orangetown. She is honored to be a member of the BridgeMusik Advisory Board, and is excited to help bring the magic and experience that is BridgeMusik to larger audiences.

Robert Emmet "Bob" McGrath (b. June 13, 1932 in Illinois) has been playing the role of Bob Johnson as a member of the cast of Sesame Street since the show's inception in 1969.

Bob McGrath first became interested in music at the age of 5; his immediate family acquired a piano when his grandmother moved into another house. His mother was a pianist in her own right; McGrath attributes his initial interest in music to her.[1] In high school, McGrath had a job at a radio station in an adjacent town. He was also involved in numerous musical plays and competitions. He later attended the University of Michigan as a voice major. During the time of the Korean War, McGrath was deployed to Germany, where he worked as part of the 7th Army Symphony. He joined a quartet, and the group toured France for about a month. Soon after, McGrath moved to New York, where he became part of another quartet.

McGrath performed with record producer/singer Mitch Miller's troupe, starting when one of Miller's long-time tenors bowed out in December of 1959, on records and then on TV's Sing Along with Mitch (1961-1964). (YouTube) He was actually a member of the chorus ("The Sing Along Gang"), but he got a chance to perform a solo on a St. Patrick's Day show, amazing audiences, including Miller himself. McGrath eventually became a featured soloist. Though the show's run ended in 1964, the cast and crew were invited to perform in Las Vegas and Japan.

While on tour with Miller, Bob McGrath developed a sizable teenage following, where he was known as Bobu Magurasu (ボブ・マグラス). After eight hit albums and more than 30 hit singles, he continued to tour to sellout crowds. After three years, offers were made for him to move to Japan and continue recording and touring. However, pop stardom was passed over in preference to his family.

McGrath learned about the Sesame Street casting call from a good friend. He was skeptical about the show's concept, but did sign on along with Matt Robinson, Will Lee, and Loretta Long.

Bolstered by his long-term Sesame Street work, McGrath has remained a popular and recognizable stage performer and recording artist, in addition to authoring several children's books. He continues to perform in concerts and make public appearances during the seven to eight months when Sesame Street is not taping shows. Traditionally his stage show consists of healthy amounts of Sesame Street songs along with Broadway music and movie tunes that appeal to children. He collaborates with several nonprofit organizations, including the Telemiracle Foundation in Saskatchewan, Canada (for which he appeared in annual Telemiracle telethons for many years, often accompanied by his daughter), and the Variety Children's Charity in British Columbia, Canada. On May 17, 2007, he lent his voice to a recording for Songs of Love, a charity which produces songs for the benefit of children with long - term health impairments. In 2004, McGrath stated he had no intention of retiring.

A versatile musician acclaimed for her expressivity and sincerity, Beata Moon continues to reach audiences through her many-faceted roles as composer, pianist, educator, impresario and activist. An American of Korean descent, Moon was born in North Dakota and raised in Indiana, where she began studying piano at age five. She made her orchestral debut with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra at age eight and concertized throughout the Midwest, giving recitals and appearing with various orchestras in the region. Moon graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree from the Juilliard School where she was a student of Adele Marcus. After completing a semester of the Masters Degree Program at Juilliard, she took a break from playing to reflect on what music meant to her personally. It was at this time that she discovered composing and teaching, which resulted in a return to performing. The role of the composer as performer and educator is an important one in Moon’s life. She is an ardent ambassador for new music and has enjoyed working as a music television host (WNYE; NY, NY) as well as an impresario in her outreach to broader audiences. Moon has also worked with youth in homeless shelters and performed in community facilities. Moon composes music in a variety of genres: orchestral, concert band, solo instrumental, chamber, and vocal, including children’s songs.

Her four CDs of original music were enthusiastically received by press and public alike and continue to be broadcast throughout the world. Reviewer Andrew Druckenbrod of Gramophone magazine wrote, “Moon writes compelling music that is utterly sincere.” She has created and performed interactive concerts for children for Musica Reginae, a classical music collective based in Queens, NY. Moon also works as a teaching artist for Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the New York Philharmonic and Marquis Studios where she has led workshops and designed curricula tailored for students and participants of various backgrounds and disabilities. Moon incorporates current social issues to use as inspiration for creative-choice making in her activities. She was recipient of the International Teaching Artist Conference grant and traveled to Seoul, Korea in 2019 to work with the El Sistema-based Orchestra Dream in Seongbuk and its teaching artists. Moon is one of the presenters at ITAC5. Moon enjoys interacting with the audience in her piano recitals, which feature both traditional and contemporary works. She poses inquiry questions in her interactive recitals to engage and inspire curiosity from audience members and listeners. Through her various roles as a teaching artist, performer, composer and activist, Moon is able to fulfill her wish to work musically with people of all ages and backgrounds. She believes that going beyond the listening experience, engaging in the actual composition and creation of music is an invigorating way to process life’s varied experiences while striving towards social change. Moon hopes to reach and engage all people through her music and work.

Danny Mui is the 2nd/Bass Clarinetist of the New York City Ballet Orchestra at Lincoln Center. Prior to joining the orchestra, he was the Principal Clarinetist of the Baton Rouge Symphony and 3rd/Utility Clarinet in Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra. Danny has won and received awards in numerous solo and chamber competitions such as The Fischoff National Music Competition, National Arts and Letters Mid-Michigan Wind Competition, American Opera Society of Chicago Competition, Chicago Chamber Winds Competition, Evanston Music Club Competition, Jacqueline Event Concerto Competition, and Yamaha Young Performing Artist Competition.

He has also performed with the Grand Rapids Symphony, Ann Arbor Symphony, West Michigan Symphony, and Dearborn Symphony. Danny holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Western Michigan University, a Master of Music in Clarinet Performance from Northwestern University, and a Specialist Degree in Clarinet Performance from the University of Michigan.

Priscilla Peña-Carney has a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from the State New York State University of Potsdam College–Crane School of Music with a concentration in voice. She also holds a Masters in School Administration from College of Saint Rose. She has taught at South Orangetown Middle School as the choral director since 1998. While at South Orangetown she has taught an array of choral repertoire to choirs as large as 140 to small vocal ensembles.

Over the years she has had many community members participate with the choirs, including professional vocalists and instrumentalists. Ms. Peña-Carney has coordinated communities events including choral, band and orchestras students, as well as teachers and parents. In 2001 she was instrumental in reviving the musical theater production at South Orangetown Middle School which had been defunct for over fifteen years. As a music educator her goal is to share her joy of music and singing to last a lifetime.

Internationally acclaimed conductor Leonard Slatkin is Music Director Laureate of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) and Directeur Musical Honoraire of the Orchestre National de Lyon (ONL). He maintains a rigorous schedule of guest conducting throughout the world and is active as a composer, author, and educator.

Highlights of the 2018-19 season include a tour of Germany with the ONL; a three-week American Festival with the DSO; the Kastalsky Requiem project commemorating the World War I Centennial; Penderecki’s 85th birthday celebration in Warsaw; five weeks in Asia leading orchestras in Guangzhou, Beijing, Osaka, Shanghai, and Hong Kong; and the Manhattan School of Music’s 100th anniversary gala concert at Carnegie Hall. He will also conduct the Moscow Philharmonic, Balearic Islands Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Louisville Orchestra, Berner Symphonieorchester, Pittsburgh Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, RTÉ National Symphony in Ireland, and Monte Carlo Symphony.

Slatkin has received six Grammy awards and 33 nominations. His recent Naxos recordings include works by Saint-Saëns, Ravel, and Berlioz (with the ONL) and music by Copland, Rachmaninov, Borzova, McTee, and John Williams (with the DSO). In addition, he has recorded the complete Brahms, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky symphonies with the DSO (available online as digital downloads).

A recipient of the prestigious National Medal of Arts, Slatkin also holds the rank of Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor. He has received Austria’s Decoration of Honor in Silver, the League of American Orchestras’ Gold Baton Award, and the 2013 ASCAP Deems Taylor Special Recognition Award for his debut book, Conducting Business. His second book, Leading Tones: Reflections on Music, Musicians, and the Music Industry, was published by Amadeus Press in 2017.

Slatkin has conducted virtually all the leading orchestras in the world. As Music Director, he has held posts in New Orleans; St. Louis; Washington, DC; London (with the BBCSO); Detroit; and Lyon, France. He has also served as Principal Guest Conductor in Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Cleveland.

Melissa White, a first-prize laureate in the Sphinx Competition, has received critical acclaim for solo performances with many of America’s leading ensembles, including the Cleveland Orchestra; the Boston Pops; and the Atlanta, Baltimore, Colorado, Detroit and Pittsburgh symphony orchestras. She performed and is credited as the feature violinist in Jordan Peele's 2019 blockbuster, Us, and most recently performed on the soundtrack to Spike Lee's latest film, Da Five Bloods (2020). As a founding member of the Grammy Award-winning Harlem Quartet. She has appeared in many of the country’s most prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall, the White House for former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, and the Kennedy Center; and internationally in Europe, Africa, Japan, and the U.K., where the ensemble is currently Quartet-in-Residence at the Royal College of Music in London. In addition to her musical career, Melissa has enjoyed practicing various styles of yoga for over a decade and completed her 200-hr RYT in both Vinyasa and Ashtanga at Sampoorna Yoga School in Goa, India. She along with her dear friend and fellow violinist, Elena Urioste, founded Intermission -a ground-breaking program that unites body, mind, breath, and music-making through yoga and meditation. Intermission is comprised of Sessions for students, Retreats for professionals, and an APP for absolutely everyone!

Susan Hellauer is a native of the beautiful Bronx, New York, where she grew up rooting for the Yankees. While earning a B.A. in music as a trumpet player from Queens College (City University of New York), an increasing fascination with medieval and Renaissance vocal music led her to convert to singing, and to pursue advanced degrees in musicology from Queens College and Columbia University. Susan handles Anonymous 4's medieval music research, and is an adjunct Assistant Professor of Music at Queens College, CUNY, where she directs the Collegium Musicum. She has appeared as a vocal soloist with the Harp Consort, Parthenia, and the 2006 U.S. Fes Festival of World Sacred Music.

Susan leads Chant Camp workshops throughout the U.S., and is proud to be a volunteer EMT and ambulance driver with the Nyack Community Ambulance Corps.

Frederick Zlotkin (cello), winner of the International Music Competition at Geneva, is recognized as one of today’s outstanding musical artists.   Among the highlights of his wide musical career are solo engagements with l’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Minnesota Orchestra, the New York City Ballet, National Symphony Orchestra and the St. Louis Symphony, chamber music appearances as member of the Lyric Piano Quartet, guest artist with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Aspen Music Festival, Chicago’s Ravinia Festival and the Minnesota Sommerfest, and his post, for over 30 years, as Solo Cellist for the New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center. 

In the metropolitan area he has also served as Principal Cellist for numerous orchestras and performs regularly with the New York Philharmonic.  Zlotkin has recorded for hundreds of motion pictures and with numerous contemporary artists such as Frank Sinatra, Madonna, Aretha Franklin, Neil Young, and many others. Zlotkin, who earned his doctor’s degree from The Juilliard School, studied with Gregor Piatigorsky, Leonard Rose, and Channing Robbins.  A member on the faculties of Manhattan School of Music, Queens College, Hoff-Barthelson Music School and the Brooklyn College of Music, he has also served as Adjunct Professor at SUNY-Purchase and as Music Director of the Montauk Chamber Music Society.

At the New York City Ballet, Dr. Zlotkin has performed the Walton Concerto (Peter Martins, choreographer), Tschaikowsky’s Roccoco Variations (Christopher Wheeldon, choreographer) and the Shostakovich Cello Sonata (Melissa Barak, choreographer) in addition to numerous other solo and chamber music works.

A founding violinist member of the North Country Chamber Players, Ronnie served as its Artistic Director from 1984 until 2002. As a longtime member of the Grammy® Award winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, he served several terms as an Artistic Director and also served as the Managing Director from 2002 to 2008, during which time he led a major organizational turn-around and received the first Orpheus Leadership Award. As a violinist, he has toured throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia with Orpheus and other groups. Mr. Bauch has appeared as a soloist with Orpheus, the American Symphony, the Long Island Philharmonic, the American Composer’s Orchestra, and the Westchester Philharmonic, and has performed on hundreds of national and international radio and TV broadcasts and recordings with Orpheus and other ensembles.

As the primary architect of the Orpheus Institute, a virtual conservatory-without-walls curriculum for training 21st century musicians, he designed groundbreaking experiential programs for the Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, Indiana University, the Paris Conservatory and Interlochen Arts Academy. As the creator of the Orpheus Process® demonstration, Mr. Bauch has been a featured speaker at Stanford, Columbia and Hitotsubashi (Tokyo) Universities, the Universities of Pennsylvania, Illinois, Iowa, California at Berkeley, NYU, and Baruch College. In May 2000, Slate Magazine featured Ronnie in a weeklong series chronicling the life of a touring orchestra musician.

Bachelor of Fine Arts from Syracuse University in Art Education
Master of Science from SUNY New Paltz in Early Childhood
School District Administrator from Iona College
Worked as an art teacher and Art and Music Curriculum Coordinator for 35 years in the South Orangetown Central School District.
Currently the Activity Director at Dowling Gardens, an independent senior living center in Sparkill, New York

My goal is to connect the residents of Dowling Gardens to the variety of cultural resources in our community.

Rick Pakola is of counsel to the Law Office of William F. Smith, Esq., located in Bardonia, New York.  He is also a Deputy Town Attorney with the Town of Orangetown, New York, and the elected judge for the Village of West Haverstraw, New York.

Rick graduated with a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and received his law degree from Fordham University School of Law, and a Masters of Law (LL.M.) from the George Washington University School of Law.

He is the father of two young volinists, who have participated in and benefited from BridgeMusik programs, and is honored to be a member of the Advisory Board.

Ronald de Ramon has been an accountant since 1987 and a licensed certified public accountant for about twenty years. He has provided all types of accounting, tax and advisory services for both for profit and not for profit organizations. He has an accounting firm in Nanuet and he is also an accounting and business instructor at SUNY Rockland Community College and other local schools.

He serves on a board of director and provides pro bono services to a number of local churches, firefighters and not for profits.

Lastly he has provided important and essential help to Bridgemusik during our formation and start up period.  

WINCENC Hailed "Queen of the Flute" (New York Magazine) at the outset of her, now, brilliant 48 year career, flutist CAROL WINCENC was First Prize Winner of the (sole) Walter W. Naumburg Solo Flute Competition, as well as the Lifetime Achievement Award recipient from the National Flute Association, the National Society of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Music, and Distinguished Alumni Awards from Manhattan School of Music and the Brevard Music Center. During the past two seasons she performed, recorded and gave masterclasses as an exclusive Burkart Flutes Artist in Beijing, Shenyang, Seoul, Warsaw, Prague, Venice, Nice, and Thessoloniki. In North America she performed as soloist and chamber musician from coast to coast, including Seattle, Phoenix, Dallas, Edmonton, Banff, Iowa City, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Tucson, Palm Beach, Sarasota, Philadelphia, Boston and her home city, New York.

Recently she recorded an all Uebayashi album with the award winning Escher String Quartet, and video/audios in partnership with her collaborator/pianist Bryan Wagorn of the Metropolitan Opera. Most recently she and Mr. Wagorn performed to a sold out house at Weill Carnegie Hall for the "Naumburg Looks Back" series. Delighting audiences for over four decades with her signature charismatic, high virtuosity and deeply heartfelt musicality, she has appeared as soloist with such ensembles as the Chicago, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Detroit and London Symphonies, the BBC, Warsaw and Buffalo Philharmonics, as well as the Los Angeles, Stuttgart and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestras, the latter for which she was Principal and Solo Flute from 1972-77. She has performed in countless festivals such as Mostly Mozart, Aldeburgh, Budapest, Frankfurt, Santa Fe, Spoleto, Music at Menlo, Aspen, Yale/Norfolk, Sarasota, Banff and Marlboro. The muse of today's most prominent composers, Ms. Wincenc has premiered numerous works written for her by legends Christopher Rouse, Henryk Gorecki, Lukas Foss, Jake Heggie, Paul Schoenfeld, Tod Machover, Yuko Uebayashi, Thea Musgrave, Andrea Clearfield, Shi-Hui Chen and Joan Tower. In great demand as a chamber musician, Ms. Wincenc has collaborated with the Emerson, Tokyo, Guarnieri, Cleveland, Juilliard and Escher String Quartets, and performed with Jessye Norman, Emanuel Ax and Yo-Yo Ma.