Simon Bilyk
Private Instructor, violin
Simon Bilyk began his violin studies in the Orono Public Schools at age 10. In 2007, he received a performance degree from Oberlin Conservatory, studying with Milan Vitek. Before college he was a five time winner of the Arcady Youth Competition and a first prize winner in the Bangor Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition (he is now a 1st violin in the orchestra). He has been heard as a soloist on MPBN's, 'Mainestage' performing with the Pierre Monteux School Orchestra and appears in three recordings on the Oberlin Music label, one of which was recorded live in Carnegie Hall, in 2007.  He began teaching with BCC in the Fall of 2008.

Lydia Forbes
Private Instructor, violin and viola
Lydia Forbes, who was born in Boston, joined the DaPonte String Quartet on June 15, 2005. Until her move to Maine, she lived in the Netherlands. Lydia graduated from Yale College, where she studied with Dorothy Delay and won the Weckstrom Prize for Musical Performance, and the New England Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Masuko Ushioda and received a Master's Degree with honors. She also studied in Austria with the Alban Berg Quartet and in Amsterdam, on a Beebe fund Grant, with Vera Beths. Lydia was a former member of the new music Zephyr Kwartet in Amsterdam, as well as the acclaimed early music group, L'Archibudelii.

Gilda Joffe
Bay Chamber Concerts Music Director of Education
Music Director, Odeon Chamber Orchestra
Private Instructor, violin
Gilda Joffe, violinist, received her B.M. and M.M. degrees from the Juilliard School of Music in New York where her principal teachers included Joseph Fuchs as well as Joel Krosnick and Robert Mann of The Juilliard String Quartet. During her 10-year tenure in Sweden as a 1st violinist of the Swedish Radio Orchestra under Esa-Pekka Salonen, she performed and toured frequently including performances at the London Proms Festival, The Paris Opera and the Musikverein in Vienna. Gilda resides in Lincolnville, Maine.

Kathie Johnson
Artistic Director,
Next Generation Youth Chamber Music Program
Private Instructor, piano
Pianist Kathie Johnson received her B.M. and M.M. degrees from the Eastman School of Music.  She appears in chamber music recitals across the country with leading instrumentalists.  She was Director of Chamber Music for the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra for the past nine years.  She has been on the faculty of Madeline Island Chamber Music Camp in Wisconsin and lectured at Northern Illinois University and at the National Suzuki Conventions.  Kathie was coordinator of Chamber Music Chicago’s Discovery Competition and the Chicago Area Music Teachers’ Association Competition and the Sonatina Festival.  She was the 2000 recipient of the Kay Logan Award for excellence in chamber music teaching, a national honor presented by Chamber Music America.

Marc Johnson
Artistic Director,
Next Generation Youth Chamber Music Program
Marc Johnson, cellist, was a long-time member of Bay Chamber Concerts’ former resident ensemble, the Vermeer Quartet, and is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music.  While still a student, he was the youngest member of the Rochester Philharmonic and subsequently performed as a soloist with that orchestra.  In addition to numerous awards, Marc won the first prize in the prestigious Washington International Competition.  Before joining the Vermeer Quartet, he was a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony.  As a member of the Vermeer Quartet, he served on the Resident Artist Faculty at Northern Illinois University at DeKalb.  In September of 2007, he joined the faculty of Boston University.

Michael Reynolds
Music Director,
Odeon Chamber Orchestra
Artistic Director, Fall Foliage Adult Chamber Music Weekend
Michael Reynolds, cellist, attended the Curtis Institute of Music and Yale University and began his career as a founding member of the Muir String Quartet. He has appeared as recital and orchestral soloist throughout the United States. He is the director of the Montana Chamber Music Festival and the Executive Director of Classics for Kids Foundation which gives quality student instruments to communities and schools around America. Mike has been a professor of music at Boston University since 1983 and received an honorary doctorate from Rhode Island College in 1995.

Mesa Schubeck
Private Instructor, piano
Mesa Schubeck is a recent graduate of University of Maine, Orono with a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance and a minor in Business Administration.  She began teaching piano privately in 2008.  She grew up in Blue Hill, ME with her parents and two younger sisters in a house full of music.  Mesa’s mother and father have been playing in a contra dance band since before she was born and recently Mesa has joined the band on keyboard.  She began piano lessons when she was 7 and continued through high school, studying with Win Pusey of Brooklin, ME, Ginger Hwalek of Bangor and Baycka Voronietsky at UMO.  In 2003 Mesa won first place in the Ocy Downs Piano Competition.  She was a participant in the Kneisel Hall Young Musician’s Program as well as Bay Chamber’s Next Generation Youth Program.  Mesa is a self taught jazz musician, playing piano and singing in the Jazzband and Jazz Combos at George Stevens Academy as well as the UMaine Jazz Ensemble at UMO.  Mesa is currently living in Portland, ME.

Marshunda Smith
Conductor, Odeon Youth Orchestra
Cellist Marshunda Smith received her B.A. from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and earned her M.M. in Orchestral Conducting at the University of Southern Maine. In 1997 she founded the Lake Terrace String Trio in Tennessee, performing and managing the ensemble until her move to the Maine. She and her group were finalists Music Teacher's National Association Chamber Music competition. In addition to conducting the Odeon Youth Orchestra, Marshunda is the orchestra manager of the Portland Youth Symphony, as well as faculty cellist and youth orchestra director of the Mountain Top Music Center in Conway, NH. She resides in Saco, Maine and is a private instructor in Portland and the Camden/Rockport area.