Institute Team
Institute Team (in alphabetical order)
LOGAN CONTRERAS, ART SONG COORDINATOR
A native Coloradoan, mezzo-soprano Logan Contreras has developed a rich and varied career on the operatic and concert stages. She completed her Doctor of Music Arts in Vocal Performance from the Conservatory at the University of Missouri-Kansas City in May 2019. As a part of her doctoral studies, Dr. Contreras created the Kassia Database, a database of art song by women composers. Read more…
MANDART CHAN, HEAD OF DEIA AND COMPOSER DIVERSITY DATABASE COORDINATOR
Mandart Chan (he/him) embraces his intersectionality as a gay, cis-gender, neurodivergent, first generation Chinese/Hong Kong - Canadian male. He was born & raised as a visitor on the lands of the Musqueam people, also known as Richmond, BC. He holds a BMus and PDPP from University of Victoria and a MMus the American Band College of Sam Houston State. Currently, Mandart is pursuing a Master of Professional Education in Equity, Diversity, and Social Justice at the University of Western Ontario. Mandart was in the classroom teaching Band, Leadership, and Social Justice in schools in Alberta and British Columbia and considers Volunteerism, Social Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Community main pillars in life. He currently works as Education Officer for the Ministry of Education & Child Care in British Columbia, authoring “Anti-Racism Education in BC : A Teachers’ Guide” which was released in early 2023. Mandart has been an active volunteer with the BC Music Educators’ Association, the Canadian Music Educators’ Association, and the Victoria Pride Society. Mandart lives as a visitor on the lands of the Lekwungen People, also known as Victoria BC with his partner Jason and their dogs Tikka & Masala.
PATRICIA J. CORRON, ORCHESTRAL PROGRAMMING & OPERA COORDINATOR
Dr. Patricia J. Corron is Associate Professor Emeritus of Voice at the State University of New York at Fredonia, where she taught studio voice and vocal pedagogy. She also served as Associate Director for Academic Affairs of the Fredonia School of Music. She holds a BM in Voice from the Dana School of Music at Youngstown State University and holds an MM and DMA in Voice with a concentration in vocal pedagogy from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. Supplementary studies include a Performer's Certificate from the Royal School of Church Music, Great Britain.
ROB DEEMER, INSTITUTE DIRECTOR
Rob Deemer is a composer, conductor, educator, and author who advocates for living composers and composers from historically excluded groups and who explores the role that contemporary concert music plays in today’s society. Deemer is a full professor and head of composition at the School of Music at the State University of New York at Fredonia.
LIN FOULK BAIRD, CHAMBER DATABASE CO-COORDINATOR
Lin Foulk Baird is Professor of Horn at Western Michigan University, where she teaches horn and is a member of the Western Brass Quintet and Western Wind Quintet. Especially interested in music with horn by female composers, Dr. Baird has performed and presented lectures on works by women and female performers at universities and festivals throughout the United States. Her first compact disc, “Four Elements: Works for Horn and Piano by Female Composers,” was released in 2004 and is now available digitally through Centaur Records. She has also published an annotated guide to works for horn and piano by female composers and a website at www.linfoulkbaird.org, which lists over 2,000 works with horn by female composers.
MIA FRITZE, ORCHESTRA DATABASE CO-COORDINATOR
Mia Fritze is a horn player and teacher currently living in Vermont. She is also the Operations Assistant for the VT Youth Orchestra Association and the Horn instructor for their Endangered Instruments Program. Mia holds a BA in Music Education from Concordia College in Moorhead, MN and a MM and PC in Horn Performance from Northern Illinois University.
MOLLY GIBSON, EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
Molly Gibson is an undergraduate Music Education student at the State University of New York at Fredonia. Her musical studies are completed alongside teaching students, Spanish studies and an interests in Arts Administration and Orchestral studies. Molly is an active part of the music community on the campus and in the music school. Within Molly's Research Fellowship, she will be working with the Orchestral Database, as well as creating new developments in the Institutes media.
SARA GRAEF, CHAMBER DATABASE CO-COORDINATOR
Sara Carina Graef’s music has been performed around the United States as well as in Canada, Turkey, Hungary, Austria, Mexico, and the Czech Republic. Dr. Graef is a Professor of Music at California State University, Los Angeles. She earned her Bachelor of Music in flute performance and composition from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and her Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts in composition from the University of Southern California. Dr. Graef is passionate about advocacy and activism, and her works often take on themes of social justice, feminism, nature, or the environment.
NATALIE MANNIX, CHAMBER DATABASE CO-COORDINATOR
Natalie Mannix is an avid soloist, chamber musician, orchestral performer, and educator. She is currently Associate Professor of Trombone at the University of North Texas and trombonist with the Stiletto Brass Quintet and Lantana Trio. Previously, she was Principal Trombone in the Delaware Symphony for 14 years, and a member of the United States Navy Band in Washington, DC for over nine years where she performed with the brass quintet, concert and ceremonial bands. Natalie serves on the Executive Board and as chair of the Advisory Council for Diversity for the International Trombone Association and on the Executive Board as Treasurer for the International Women’s Brass Conference.
DR. CORY MEALS, HEAD OF ANALYTICAL ACTIVITIES
Dr. Cory Meals is a member of the Music Education faculty at the University of Houston where his duties include teaching courses relating to instrumental music education, and pursuing research that explores how students experience and interact with music in learning contexts.
JENNIFER MECKLER, ORCHESTRA CO-COORDINATOR
Jennifer Meckler is a music educator, arranger, conductor, and viola player, living in New Jersey. Jennifer is the Orchestra Director at High School South in the West Windsor-Plansboro Regional School District in West Windsor, NJ. Jennifer holds a BM in Music Education from Ithaca College and a MM in Music Education from William Paterson University. Jennifer has arrangements for school orchestras published with Tempo Press, a division of Luck's Music Library.
SUSAN SMITH, MUSIC EDUCATION ADVISOR
Susan L. Smith has taught general, choral, and instrumental music at the elementary through collegiate levels in Florida, Virginia, and Alabama and has served as an author, clinician, conductor, and adjudicator across the United States. She is the Southern Division President of the National Association for Music Education and was formerly an Assistant Professor of Music Education at Troy University. She is the Past President of the Alabama Music Educators Association and the current faculty advisor for the Troy cNAfME Chapter. Currently, Smith is the President/CEO of RWS Music Company – an educational music publisher created by her late husband, Robert W. Smith.
LAUREN SPAVELKO, CHAMBER DATABASE CO-COORDINATOR
Lauren Spavelko’s works have been performed across the United States, as well as in Italy and Singapore. She has been commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Central Ohio Symphony, the Johnstone Fund for New Music, and numerous artists & performing ensembles. Spavelko has won multiple awards, including the 2017 Gian Carlo Menotti Young Composers Prize in Spoleto, Italy and the Ruth Anderson Commission Prize from IAWM. She has been a finalist for the NATS Art Song Composition Award and for the American Prize in Vocal Chamber Music and Orchestral Music.
CATRINA TANGCHITTSUMRAN, DATABASE MANAGER & WIND BAND CO-COORDINATOR
Catrina Tangchittsumran-Stumpf, Ed.S., is the Director of Bands at Thomas Jefferson Middle School in Arlington Virginia. She is a National Board Certified Teacher and regularly leads professional learning sessions on instructional strategies to promote equity and inclusion in music and classroom settings. She is the chair of the VBODA Inclusion Committee and was named one of School Band and Orchestra Magazine’s “50 Directors Who Make A Difference” in 2020.
Fellows & Interns
HANA CAI, RESEARCH FELLOW
Dr. Hana Cai serves as an Assistant Professor of Music at Ithaca College where she conducts the Treble Chorale and Chorus and teaches conducting. In March 2019, she was the winner of the ACDA Conducting Competition in Kansas City, MO. She has presented her research on tokenism at ACDA conferences and her Mandarin Chinese diction for singers and conductors was published in the Fall/Winter 2021 issue of The Choral Scholar & American Choral Review. She holds degrees from the University of Maryland, the Eastman School of Music, and Indiana University.
EMILEE EWING, RESEARCH FELLOW
Emilee is a flutist and teacher located in Laramie, Wyoming. She obtained a Bachelor's degree in Music Performance with a minor in American Sign Language from Oklahoma State University. Currently, she is the Graduate Teaching Assistant of Flute at the University of Wyoming, working towards a Master of Music in Performance degree.
HUMAY GASIMZADEH, RESEARCH FELLOW
Originally from Azerbaijan, Humay Gasimzadeh is currently pursuing her Doctorate Degree in Contemporary Performance program at Bowling Green State University in the studio of Dr. Robert Satterlee. She is interested in performing and promoting piano music most recently composed especially by people of color and underrepresented groups, making new music user-friendly for everyone, and rethinking old and idolized rituals of piano performance. She likes to think of the piano as a vault where a large body of acoustic sounds is kept securely. Different cultures, races, individuals, genders, ethnicities… and the list is endless…manifest themselves through this large body, melding into each other, and co-exist in harmony and peace.
TONIA ASEL KAUFMAN, WIND BAND CO-COORDINATOR
Tonia Asel Kaufman is a public high school band director and music educator in suburban Philadelphia. Earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education and Saxophone Performance, and a Master's in Educational Administration, she currently is pursuing a Ph.D. in Music Education at Temple University. She was awarded the 2014 Pennsylvania Music Educator Association (PMEA) Citation of Teaching Excellence and named a Colonial School District Master Teacher. She is a frequent presenter and panelist at local, state, and regional music education conferences. Serving in a variety of additional roles, she has been an adjunct professor of music education, guest conductor, music arranger, visual designer, and a conductor on the American Music Abroad Bronze Tour to Europe. She maintains National Board Certification in EA/YA Music, and is a certified life coach. In her free time she enjoys traveling, reading, listening to live music, and spending time with her nieces and nephews.
AMANDA LAWRENCE, RESEARCH FELLOW
Amanda Lawrence is a South African flutist and musicologist (in training) currently based in Vancouver, Canada. A passionate performer and academic who holds a BMus (Stellenbosch University, 2019) and MMus (University of British Columbia, 2022) in Flute Performance, Amanda is currently furthering her graduate studies in Musicology at UBC. She plans to explore relationships between music and identity – focusing on how imposed gender structures and race ideologies impact composers (and their works), performers, and music institutions.
AMANDA MARQUART, RESEARCH FELLOW
Amanda Marquart serves as Assistant Director of Bands at Ridge Point High School in Missouri City, Texas. She came to Ridge Point in 2022 from Cypress Fairbanks ISD. Mrs. Marquart served as the Assistant Director at Rowe Middle School and Anthony Middle School. Amanda graduated magna cum laude from the University of Houston with a BM in Music Education and was a member of the French horn studio under Mr. Phil Stanton, Mr. Gavin Reed, and Mr. Roger Kaza.
We can’t thank our former Research Fellows, Interns, and Volunteers enough for the many hours of work they put in helping to make our many resources a reality…but we can try. Sincere thanks to all who have helped to build all of our various resources throughout the years (and if we haven’t recognized you here, please let us know)!
Jennifer Barker
Dr. Meredith Bowen and her students
Sophie Browning
Hana Cai
Michael Canon
Damon Coachman
Timothy Cunningham
Mary Daugherty
Reina Dickey
Alberto de la Paz
Emilee Ewing
Peter Fitzgerald
Dr. Jeff Francom and his students
Jane Frasier
Alexandra Fol
Cody Alan Ford
Kelsey Gamza
Humay Gasimzadeh
Samantha Giacoia
Skylar Ginsberg
Hannah Grasso
Natalie Groom
Joanna Hersey
Aaron Hill
Jeffrey Hunsaker
Rebekka Irwin
Gretchen Renshaw James
Matthew James
John Johnson
Tess Jones
Mara Keen
Britney Kieselhorst
Leila Koch
Dan Kolan
Amanda Laurence
Andrea Layedra
Laura Lentz
Anne Linebarger
Song Lyu
Ariel Magno Da Costa
Amanda Marquart
Philip Marra III
Jose Luis Maurtua
Gaelen McCormick
Caiti McKinney
Immanuel Mellis
Sherlita Mickens
Nicole Murray
Jacob Myers
Huy Nguyen
Kathleen O'Mara
T Parker
Sean Penzo
Pedro Pastor
Emily Perez
Anya Pogorelova
Jonah Popp
Stefanie Proulx
Lydia Jane Pugh
Wesley Rhodes
Godwin Sadoh
Lisa Santoprete
Janice Shieh
Jess Sisti
Laura Smith
Erin Snedecor
Darren Sobol
Gregory Stead
Emma Louise Steiner
William Stellbrink
Minna Stelzner
Emily Joy Sullivan
Phil Vallejo
Mickie Wadsworth
Mateo Wojtczack
Avery Wolf
Jonathan Wong
Katherine Wynn
Hila Zamir
Wiola Zochowska