Faculty

Conductor

Cellist and conductor Bryan Eckenrode made his Lincoln Center Debut in 2003 with a return engagement in 2006. He is on the faculty of Niagara University, Canisius College, Daemen College, and is conductor and music director of strings at Villa Maria College. He is music director of the Chautauqua Regional Youth Symphony conducting the Prelude Strings Orchestra and the Young Artists Orchestra. Mr. Eckenrode graduated cum laude from SUNY at Stony Brook and holds a Master of Music degree from SUNY Buffalo. He is principal cello with the Western New York Chamber Orchestra, and a member of the Lexington String Quartet, Vinci d’Amore and Camerata chamber groups. He has performed with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Ars Nova, Erie Philharmonic Orchestra, Erie Chamber Orchestra, and the British Columbia Mozart Festival Orchestra. He has recorded with artists Ani DiFranco, Sixpence None the Richer, Seven Day Faith, Them Jazzbeards, John and Mary, Allison Pepitone, not only as a cellist but as a bagpiper and flutist. He is married to the internationally acclaimed soprano, Cristen Gregory.

Violin

Violinist and teacher, Martha McIlhatten Thomas has performed with some of the greatest musicians of our time—Aaron Copland, Joseph Silverstein, Arnold Steinhardt, Ida Kavafian, Nadja Salerno- Sonnenberg, Dizzy Gillespie, Marvin Hamlisch, Glenn Dicterow, Leonard Slatkin, and Kurt Mazur. She also solo-serenaded baseball legend, Yogi Berra, on his 74th birthday! For nine years, she studied with Sally Thomas, Ivan Galamian's assistant and a member of the Juilliard violin faculty, attending both The Mannes College and the prestigious Meadowmount School. As Assistant Principal Second Violin with the Virginia Symphony for eight seasons, Ms. Thomas also performed extensively in New York City, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Before moving to Buffalo, she held a teaching post at Montclair State University, where thirteen of her younger students were selected to perform for violinist, Joshua Bell. Ms. Thomas holds a Bachelor's Degree in Early Childhood Education, the equivalent in Music, a Master's Degree in Violin Performance, and extensive Suzuki Certification. Former Concertmaster of the Amherst Symphony Orchestra, and currently performing with WYNCO, the Southern Tier Symphony, and at Shea’s, Ms. Thomas has teaching studios in both Amherst and Houghton. She is a proud mother and grandmother who lives with her husband Steve Thomas and enjoys needlepoint and fitness walking.

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Cindy Lin, a former member of the Nashville Symphony, earned her Master of Music in Violin Performance and Suzuki Pedagogy at the Cleveland institute of Music, as a scholarship student. Her first public performance was at age seven, and has since performed as a soloist with the Pacific Symphony, Orange County Philharmonic, Ars Nova Musicians and Camerata di Sant’Antonio. Ms. Lin has participated in many music festivals, including the New York String Seminar, Aspen Music Festival, Pacific Music Festival and the National Orchestral Institute. An active chamber musician, she was a member of the Westside Trio, which performed extensively in the New York/New Jersey area. The trio gave its New York debut recital at Carnegie’s Weil recital Hall in 1996 as winners of the Artist International Competition. Ms. Lin has taught at the Cleveland Music School, Austin Paey University and Buffalo Suzuki Strings. Currently, she performs regularly with the Buffalo Philharmonic and teaches at Orchard Park Music School.

An active freelance violinist, Greg Docenko was born to a musical family. He studied violin with Bernard Mandelkern, Mathew Tworek, Thomas Halpin, and Charles Haupt, received his Bachelors of Music from the University of Buffalo and studied abroad, receiving his Masters of Music at the Conservatorio D'Andrea in violin performance and music education. He has appeared in concert with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Erie Philharmonic, Chautauqua Symphony, Clarence Summer Orchestra, and as guest soloist with various community orchestras. Mr. Docenko is the soloist/conductor of the Johann Strauss Orchestra and first violinist of the Richmond String Quartet, both based in Buffalo. A guest lecturer at Buffalo State College since 2002, he teaches a string techniques course for music education students. He has developed a renowned private studio for classical violin, jazz studies, and world music and also owns Docenko Studios, known for instrument repair, sales, and appraisals. Well respected as an arranger and composer for all types of ensembles, he also plays the accordion, guitar, and piano. Mr. Docenko, his wife, and two children live in Orchard Park, along with his Vuillaume acoustic violin and his homemade electric violin.

Lisa Lantz, Chair of the Division of Performing Arts at Alfred University, is an Associate Professor of Music/Strings, and Music Director of the AU Symphony Orchestra. She is also an Adjunct in Italian for the Division of Modern Languages.

Dr. Lantz received her Master of Music from the University of Michigan, where she studied with Ruggiero Ricci, and her Doctor of Musical Arts from the Ohio State University. She also studied with Aaron Rosand in Nice, France; Nathan Milstein in Zurich, Switzerland; and Jacob Krachmalnick, former concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

An experienced orchestral and chamber musician, Dr. Lantz has performed with many regional orchestras including as Co-Concertmaster of the Southern Tier Symphony, The Orchestra of the Finger Lakes, Flint, Saginaw, and Ashland Symphony. She has taught at Kenyon College, Ohio University, The Ohio State University, University of Michigan, and University of Toledo, and has served as a chamber music clinician for the Delaware Music Festival at Ohio Wesleyan University.

Within the community, Dr. Lantz is the music director of the Alfred University Youth Orchestra, Junior Strings, and heads the Beginning String program, all of which she founded upon her arrival at Alfred University.

Dr. Lantz is an experienced orchestral conductor with performances in both symphonic works as well as choral, including Handel’s Messiah, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Bach’s Magnificat, Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, and Mozart’s Requiem. In June 2005, Dr. Lantz participated in an International Conductor’s Workshop, in Varna, Bulgaria.

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Born in Shanghai, China, violinist Lin He began his musical training at the age of five. He is currently a Doctoral candidate at the Eastman School of Music, studying with Zvi Zeitlin. Mr. He has performed concertos with the Jiang Su Symphony, the Tuscarawas Philharmonic and the Wooster Symphony and has presented recitals at University of Utah, Ball State University, Middle Tennessee State University, University of Nebraska, Mount Union College, and Nanjing School of the Arts. Mr. He has played first violin in the Shanghai Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Boston Symphony, New World Symphony, Akron Symphony, Des Moines Symphony, Syracuse Symphony, Chicago Jazz Orchestra, and Aspen Chamber Symphony. Recently, Mr. He was invited to the Rome Festival to be the concertmaster of its 2006 summer season.

Lin He won first prize in the Padesta Solo Competition and received the Creative Achievement Award, the William Forest Chamber Music Award, and the 2003 John Celentano Award for Excellence in Chamber Music from the Eastman School of Music. Mr. He can be heard on the 8 CD set of The Complete Musician , a theory textbook written by Steven Laitz at the Eastman School of Music.

Mr. He has taught at Drake University, Houghton College, College of Wooster, Eastman School of Music and Pennsylvania State University. He was a co-founder of the Melody Quartet at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and has been a member of the Eastman Chamber Music Society, the Serendipity String Quartet, and the Wooster Piano Trio. Mr. He has given master classes at Nanjing School of the Arts, Shanghai Normal University, Roosevelt (Iowa) High School and Olean (NY) High School. He was the featured guest speaker for the 2007 Drake University Music Education Symposium. Lin is currently Assistant Professor of Violin at Louisiana State University School of Music in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Viola

Leslie Bahler has spent a lifetime in music as a performer and educator.

She has been a member of the Richmond, Palm Beach and Wheeling Symphonys and the Florida Philharmonic; the latter recorded an award winning CD of Mahler's Symphony # 1 on the Naxos label. She presently is a member of, and has been a soloist with Ars Nova, Camerata di Sant' Antonio and Western New York Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Bahler has performed with the Buffalo Philharmonic orchestra and can be heard on the Buffalo Philharmonic's Naxos CD, Music of Aaron Copland and Viva Vivaldi Vignettes, the most recent Ars Nova CD. She teaches viola and violin, directed the Florida Music Festival in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for seven years, and has been Co-Director of Vivace since its inception. She also sings with the Western New York Chorale and the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus.

Sam Marchan, a native of Venezuela, has established himself as an outstanding performer and teacher. He is part of the Artist Faculty at the Walnut Hill/Sphinx Academy in Boston.

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Cello

Cellist Nancy Baun is a critically acclaimed soloist, having performed with over a dozen orchestras in her home state of Pennsylvania. A student of Orlando Cole, she has since studied chamber music with Menahem Pressler and Timothy Eddy, and appeared in master classes for Lynn Harrell and Nadja Salerno Sonnenberg, as a fellow at the Aspen Music Festival. A seasoned chamber musician, she has performed over 1,000 events throughout the United States, Europe, Iceland, and Canada, including three concerts at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall. She appears on nine recordings including a Grammy nominated series on the Naxos International label. As an educator, Ms. Baun has served on college faculties, taught elementary music, and presented a broad roster of community education events at conferences, art galleries, and science museums. In Buffalo, she performs with the Western New York Chamber Orchestra, the Roycroft Chamber Music Festival, and Young Audiences of Western New York, for which her education series combining music and art has received a national grant. She summers as guest faculty at festivals in Pennsylvania, New York, and Vermont, and is a founding member of the Ravel Trio, based in Baltimore. She lives with her husband, saxophonist Steve Rosenthal and their hockey goalie son, Max.

Cellist David Schmude, a native of Ann Arbor, completed his Bachelor of Music degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He was a student of Stephen Geber. Mr. Schmude has participated in a number of festivals, including the Kent/Blossom Festival, National Repertory Orchestra, National Orchestra Institute and the Pacific Music Festival in Japan. He has been a member of the Canton Symphony, Florida Orchestra and the New World Symphony in Miami. He was also adjunct professor of cello at Western Kentucky University at Bowling Green. Mr. Schmude has been a soloist with Ars Nova Musicans and Camerata di Sant’Antonio. Currently, he is a member of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and teaches cello at the Orchard Park Music School.

Bass

Bill Staebell has been teaching music at the Iroquois School District since 1983, where he conducts five orchestras and coaches numerous chamber groups. He is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music; he studied Jazz studies and contemporary media/music education, and received his Masters Degree from Fredonia College. Bill is currently conductor of the Southtowns Youth Orchestra, and has also conducted Orchard Park Symphony, Erie County Festival groups and various All State and County Orchestras throughout New York State. As a classical bassist, he has performed with major symphony orchestras, including the Buffalo Philharmonic, Rochester Philharmonic, New Mexico Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, National Symphony of Canada in Ottawa, Gulf Coast Symphony,Florida, and the Boston Pops Orchestra. In demand as a Jazz bass player, he has recorded on Motown Records with Bobby Militello, on Chrysalis Records with the group "Auracle" and performs with many local artists such as Sal Andolina, Mary Stahl, Rick Strauss and Carla Valenti. Bill resides in Orchard Park with his wife and three children.

Guitar

Piano

Pianist Sharon Johnson has been a soloist with the Greensboro Symphony and the Greensboro Philharmonia; a recitalist at the North Carolina Museum of Art and Dickinson State University, and at the Baltimore Composers Forum in Maryland, premiering several new music works. Miss Johnson earned a DMA in accompanying and coaching at the University of Minnesota and is a much sought after accompanist; she was an official accompanist for the International Tuba/Euphonium Conference, the International Double Reed Society, the master classes of Keith Underwood and Eugene Rousseau, and has accompanied for numerous master classes and coachings. She has been heard on Minnesota Public Radio as the pianist for the Ted Mann Vocal Quartet of the University of Minnesota, and played in recital with Immanuel Davis, Clifton Ware and Jean Del Sarto. Currently, Miss Johnson is assistant professor of piano and accompanying and director of outreach groups at Houghton College.

Yoga

Lisa Griffis Davis, a Buffalo native and long time advocate of the visual and performing arts, joins Vivace as a certified yoga instructor. Her initial passion was dance -- studying and performing as a youth, teaching and promoting as an adult. She spent many years fund raising for the Ashford Hollow Foundation which includes the Essex Arts Center and Griffis Park.

In the 1990’s, Lisa managed the Essex Arts Studio offering yoga, modern dance and creative movement. She also taught dance to inner city children through the Pick of the Crops ‘Learning on the Move’ program. Lisa has also worked in the jewelry industry in sales, design and display. Currently, she continues practicing and instructing the art of movement through Hatha and Vinyasa Yoga at Rising Sun Yoga. Lisa enjoys teaching both children and adults.

Registrar

Photographer

Sarah K. McIlhatten, 26, is based in New York City. Sarah has been passionate about photography for several years now.  Sarah as assisted many professional photographers in the NY/NJ area. Sarah is currently working as a portrait photographer for World Yach Dinner Cruises in New York City, and is avidly trying to expand her own person business, Big Brite Lite Photography. Sarah is extremely passionate about her work, and enjoys being creative every day.