The Music Academy's staff consists of highly qualified music educators from Baltimore, York, Washington DC and Virginia. All are excited to be a part of EMC’s Music Academy and to contribute to the artistic development of the children in our community.

Chalet Harris, Music Academy Director
Chalet is a classically trained soprano with roots in York County. With over 18 years of experience, Chalet has performed throughout Europe and in Russia. She has trained with Margaret Moul Carli, Barbara Stenger, Rickey Payton and Nina Brown. Her study has included Operatic Aria, Italian Art Song, German Lieder, American Art Song, Broadway inspired pieces and others. She has been a part of many choral programs including The Baltimore Choral Arts Society (conducted by Tom Hall and performed with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and BSO Pops), the West Virginia All-State Collegiate Choir (conducted by Dale Warland), York Oratorio Society, Masterworks Choral (performed with the Millbrook Orchestra), and the Frederick Choral Arts Society. Chalet traveled with the Pennsylvania Ambassadors of Music on the European Tour in 1994. She also had an extensive involvement with Peace Child International and it's York Chapter. She traveled with Peace Child to Russia as a part of an eighteen member American cast to write, learn and perform an original play. She was a featured vocal soloist, oboe player, choreographer, actor and dancer. She also performed inside the United Nations for the World Summit for Children in 1990. Chalet also plays a variety of musical instruments. She was a member of the Reading Buccaneers Drum and Bugle Corps where she played the soprano and alto bugles. Chalet has extensive teaching experience in the marching band area. She is the Director of Renaissance Foundation for the Performing Arts, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to the marching music genre. Renaissance currently supports Renaissance Indoor Percussion, an independent competitive indoor marching percussion program. Chalet is working on the completion of her B.S. degree in Recreation and Leisure Administration with a Music Minor at York College. She lives in Railroad with her husband Brian and their children Nathan and Nicholas.

Brian Harris
Brian's marching percussion experience began with the Toppers Drum and Baton Corps of Baltimore in 1981. His drum and bugle corps career began in 1989 when he marched with the Reading Buccaneers. Brian began teaching percussion with high school marching bands in 1993. He is currently a percussion instructor at Susquehannock HS. He has also worked with Bishop McDevitt, Allegany, Long Reach, Fort Hill, Westmar, Walkersville & Middletown(PA) High Schools. Brian and his wife Chalet run Renaissance Foundation for the Performing Arts, a non-profit organization that creates marching-music activities in the South Central PA Region.

Laura Tauzin
Laura Kathleen Tauzin, is a 1997 graduate of Elizabethtown College. She earned a B.S. in music therapy with dual concentrations in voice and piano. Laura is a 2002 graduate of Towson University with a M.S. in music education and a concentration in vocal performance. Laura attended the ACT (Advanced certification) program at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland to complete her teaching certification in music N-12 in 2002-2003. She has studied the piano since the age of eight through the disciplines of Sherrill K. Trimpey, John Harrison, and Gino Guanere. She studied briefly with Barbara and Gerhardt Stuhrstedt, piano coaches, during master classes. As a musician, Laura is more widely recognized for her work as a vocalist. She has received scholastic and intercollegiate achievements in choral music at both the state and regional levels and has performed in locations all over the Mid-Atlantic Region. Laura, a lyric soprano, has studied voice with Alison Mekeel, Phyllis Drackley, and Carolyn Black-Sotir. She has participated in master classes with Ruth Drucker, Thomas Houser, and Penelope Jensen. Laura has performed as a soloist and as a member with the Elizabethtown Concert Choir and Chorale, York Symphony Chorus, York Chamber Singers, Towson University Choral Society, and the 2002 SATB Festival Singers. She has also participated in college and community theater experiences, such as West Side Story and The Sound of Music. Laura is the music therapist/music teacher and Internship Director for the Kennedy Krieger Institute (Fairmount School) in Baltimore, MD where she uses music to support students with autism spectrum disorders in the special education setting and supervises music therapy interns. She also teaches infant toddler music classes in the New Freedom community. She has formally served as music director/organist for several local parishes in Southern York County. Laura resides in York with her husband, Mark, daughter, Kylie, and son, Mason.

David Frieman
David is a versatile bassist, classically trained. He has performed in a wide variety of groups, currently The Hopkins Symphony Orchestra and several jazz, bluegrass and rock groups. David received his formal training from Towson University where he earned a Bachelors of Science Degree in Music Education. His lessons will focus on building technique and principles vital to playing all styles of music.

Seth Kibel
Seth is one of the Mid-Atlantic region's premier woodwind specialists, performing and recording on saxophone, clarinet, and flute. He is currently the leader and primary composer for The Alexandria Kleztet, a genre-bending klezmer band he founded in the Baltimore/Washington area. The band’s three albums, Y2Klezmer, Delusions of Klezmer, and Close Enough for Klezmer are all available internationally. All three albums received the Washington Area Music Association’s (WAMA) award for "Best World Music Recording" following their release. The Alexandria Kleztet was named "Best World Music Duo or Group" by WAMA for 2003, 2004, and 2006. Seth also received individual awards for "Best World Music Instrumentalist" in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 and was named "Best Jazz Instrumentalist" for 2005 and 2007.
Seth has fronted a variety of swing and jazz groups, including Corner Pocket, Air Mail Special, The Bay Jazz Project, and Seth Kibel’s Dixieland All-Stars. In 2002, he was commissioned to write, perform, and record an original score for Dreams in the Golden Country, an original theatrical production at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. In 2004, he released his first jazz CD, a joint album with violinist Susan Jones entitled Nuts and Bolts and he produced A Chanukah Feast, an album for the DC-based charity Hungry for Music featuring both regional and national artists. In 2005 and 2006, he was the recipient of an "ASCAPlus" grant, as well as a Silver Prize (2nd place) winner in the Mid-Atlantic Song Contest, in the "jazz/blues/instrumental" division. In 2007, he released The Great Pretender for Azalea City Recordings. On the album, Seth brings his raucous, blues-drenched sound to 10 songs with support from some of the most skilled artists in the Mid-Atlantic and beyond. This album was named "Best Blues or Traditional R&B Recording" for 2007 by WAMA. Seth has performed with such notables as Sam Moore (Sam & Dave), Percy Sledge, The Coasters, and Johnnie Johnson. Additionally, he has appeared with many notable groups in the Baltimore/Washington area, including The Daryl Davis Band, Project Natale, Christian Josi, The Tom Cunningham Orchestra, The VanDangos, and The Hot Kugel Klezmer Band, just to name a few. He has performed at the Kennedy Center, the Carter Barron Amphitheatre, the Lowell Folk Festival in Lowell, Massachusetts, as well as on several European tours. (www.sethkibel.com)

James Gummer
James Gummer began playing drums in 1987 and is proud to be part of the original MTV generation. He has played everything from Metal to Jazz to Traditional Irish music. James has studied with drummers such as Mark Lortz, Gene Barnett, Dr Bill Watson, and Wes Crawford and is now a teacher himself. He teaches privately and is the drum and percussion instructor at The Saint James Academy in Monkton, Maryland. He has performed with many bands throughout the Baltimore - Washington area and beyond including the Corrupted, The Doug Mattingly Band, Krytonik, Tradewindz, and with Celtic Music legend Maggie Sansone. He has played various productions such as the original Ballets, Excalibur and Celtic Christmas Suites with the Ballet Theater of Maryland, Twistin’ to the 60’s at King’s Dominion in Doswell Virginia, and the American premier of Six Dead Queens and an Inflatable Henry. James has also been the resident drummer at the Maryland Renaissance Festival since 1997.

Matthew Collis
I first began playing music in the school band. Five years of playing in the band taught me to read and appreciate all forms of music. My first taste of guitar music came listening to my father and brother playing guitars and trying to imitate their movements. Eventually, I was able to play chords and sing along. Thirty-three years later I am still playing and singing along. I hope that through my teaching you or your child, will come to enjoy and appreciate your own guitar playing. My goal is to teach you how to play the guitar and as importantly to have fun. I hope to see you at my class at the Music Academy at EMC.

Errol Harrigan
Errol Harrigan has been performing for over 20 years. This native New Yorker from the Bronx made his debut at the young age of seven in a school play “Peter Pan.” Classically trained in piano since age seven, Errol and his older sister started the first gospel choir at Crawford United Methodist Church. He is a vocal instructor, choir director, music teacher, theatrical coach; and a mentor for fine arts. He minored in Theatre at Western Connecticut State University. Errol has performed in numerous children’s plays including “Androcles and the Lion." Other acting endeavors include “The Boys Next Door,” “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye,” “Night of the Living Dead,” as well as “Looking for Jesus” and numerous skits performed at New Psalmist Baptist Church in which he portrayed a southern father. Mr. Harrigan directed a community production of “The Wiz”, and is the Director of Fine Arts at Willow Park Academy, as well as Choir Director and Class Instructor. Errol also coaches flag football in Randallstown, MD. He is a classically trained pianist, songwriter, and composer, who enjoys spending quality time with his family.

Wendy Balder
A piano teacher since 1994, Wendy Balder has a Bachelors of Music degree in Composition and a Masters Degree in Piano Performance. She has also studied abroad, in Barcelona, Spain and Paris, France, where she received training in music theory, musical analysis, counterpoint, and piano.
Ms. Balder has given talks about studies with master teachers and has given educational piano recitals for friends and the families of her piano students. In these recitals Ms. Balder talked briefly about each piece before performing it to give the audience structural pointers for listening. Ms. Balder has also invited students to her home for a lesson in music appreciation.
Ms. Balder is a member of the Music Teachers National Association and its local chapter in Maryland, MSMTA. Her students have participated in Master classes and recitals hosted by the MSMTA. Her students have also participated in the Trinity College of London Exams, and have been prizewinners.
Ms. Balder loves listening to classical music of all periods, from medieval to twenty first century, as well as traditional and other music from all over the world. Ms. Balder also enjoys hiking and bicycling and working out to keep healthy.

Alec Leventis
Alec Leventis is from Timonium, MD and is an undergraduate student at Towson University majoring in instrumental music education. With a degree focusing on the trumpet, he has studied under Todd Butler, Luis Engelke, Rene Hernandez, John Miliauskas, Dana Rothlisberger, and the Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps. At Towson, he has been a part of the big band, pep band, brass quintet, is a soloist in the marching band, and is currently the trumpet section leader of the Towson University symphonic band. He has been teaching at the Baltimore County Summer Music Festival for the last two years and assists in teaching the Dulaney High School marching band in Timonium, MD. Alec has also performed at many venues including the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, the Navy-Marine Corps Stadium, Camden Yards, M&T Bank Stadium and with prestigious groups including the United States Navy Band and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.