Meet our faculty!

Anthony Antolini
Instructor
Anthony Antolini, Ph.D., graduated from Bowdoin College and holds graduate degrees from Stanford University. He is a member of the music faculty at Bowdoin, where he teaches music theory and conducts the Bowdoin Chorus and the Rachmaninoff Choir.  He is also artistic director of Down East Singers and organist at the Episcopal Church of St. John Baptist in Thomaston.  He was elected by the Maine Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association as “Conductor of the Year” for the 1999-2000 season.  He has just completed a new performance edition of Rachmaninoff’s All-Night  Vigil (Vespers) to be published by E.C. Schirmer.

Malcolm Brooks
Private Instructor, composition/theory
Malcolm Brooks composes music for films, churches, and performing
artists. Films he has scored are televised throughout the world and
have earned numerous honors, including two Emmy nominations and a Peabody award. His works for churches are performed regularly,
including his Sanctus, which has been sung at over 300 services. Malcolm holds degrees from Columbia and Berkeley and is currently working on a doctoral thesis through Prescott College about creating folk songs from the ethnographies of people in Maine.

Jessica Day
Instructor, Music Together
Licensed Director, and certified Music Together® teacher, Jessica, originally from Montreal, Quebec, first came to Music Together® in 2008 through her pursuit to share her love of music with her own children. She then completed her own training with Music Together® in Hingham, MA at the South Shore Conservatory. She believes music is one of the greatest gifts a parent can give a child and that music creates a strong foundation for all other learning. She received a B.F.A. in Fine Arts from the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design and is near complete an M.F.A. in Education from Boston University.

Kathryn DerMarderosian
Private Instructor, voice
Kathryn DerMarderosian, soprano, received her music degree from Rhode Island College, where she studied with Mary Beck, and her Orff-Schulwerk certification from the Hartt School of Music.  She currently sings with the Boston Symphony and the Boston Pops as a member of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. Kathryn has performed as a soloist with Opera Rhode Island, The Newgate Theater, the Brown Jazz Chorus, and numerous chamber groups, both here and abroad. She has served as a music educator in the Eastern United States, Ecuador and Italy. Kathryn resides in Owl’s Head, Maine. 

Mary Anne Driscoll
Private Instructor, piano
California native Mary Anne Driscoll is a composer, performer and educator in the States, Europe and Japan. She learned jazz standards from her uncle, classical literature and conducting from Suzanne Toolan. She composed, played and taught while at College of San Mateo and San Francisco State.  Cecil Taylor introduced her in New York to a concert and recording career that includes performance with Abbey Lincoln, Jimmy Lyons, Dewey Johnson, Paul Murphy and William Parker.  Mary Anne lives in Belfast, Maine.

Lydia Forbes
Private Instructor, violin
Lydia has concertized throughout Europe with Ensemble L'Archibudelli, Zephyr Kwartet, Het Schoenberg Ensemble, Sinfonietta Amsterdam, Osiris Trio,and Ensemble Explorations.  She has performed for festivals in Europe, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S.. Recordings include as soloist with the Czech Radio Philharmonic for Vienna Modern Masters, for Sony Classical with L'Archibudelli, for CNM with Zephyr Kwartet, and for Harmonia Mundi with Ensemble Explorations.  She is presently a member of the DaPonte String Quartet, based in Maine.  Lydia lives in Alna, Maine, with her husband and three sons.

Glenn Jenks
Camden, Maine pianist, teacher, and composer Glenn Jenks is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Earlham College. As a touring musician his performing life embraced such diverse genres as folk, ragtime, and classical music. Now retired from the road, he concentrates his efforts on his private teaching practice which he has maintained for over 25 years. He has recorded over nine albums, and his own compositions have been heard on three continents.

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, Barbara Krakauer, as well as Joel Krosnick and Robert Mann of The Juilliard String Quartet. As a member of various chamber music ensembles, she performed frequently at  Merkin Hall , Carnegie Recital Hall and Alice Tully Hall. During her many year tenure in Sweden as a 1st violinist of the Swedish Radio Orchestra under Esa-Pekka Salonen, and member of New Stockholm’s Chamber Orchestra she performed and toured frequently throughout Europe, including performances at the London Proms Festival, The Paris Opera and the Musikverein in Vienna. “One of the reasons I love teaching so much, is the opportunity to give someone else a chance to enter a completely different world. No matter the age- the excitement of learning, and playing with others, is a wonderful journey to a new place. I often feel like a travel advisor suggesting a beautiful itinerary!” When not suggesting repertoire (itinerary) Gilda can be found in Lincolnville, with her husband,  and two cats, trying diligently to stick to an exercise program.

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.

Deirdre McClure
Conductor
Odeon Youth Orchestras and Adult Orchestra
Deirdre McClure's work conducting contemporary opera in the San Francisco Bay Area has earned her critical praise as Music Director and Conductor of the Oakland Opera Theater, an innovative and highly acclaimed company commissioning and presenting works by mainstream and emerging contemporary composers. Past work includes the Oakland Community Orchestra, the Women's Orchestra of San Francisco, the University of California Youth Music Program, as well as the San
Francisco Conservatory of Music Contemporary Music Ensemble. She has toured the United States, Canada, and Mexico performing live music for silent film with the Club Foot orchestra, and composed and conducted music for a television cartoon series on CBS. McClure received both her Masters and Doctoral degrees in orchestral conducting from the Peabody Conservatory of Music. She teaches at the University of New England, conducts the First Parish (Portland) Choir, and resides with her family in Portland, ME.

John Mehrmann
Private Instructor, percussion
Percussionist, drummer, pianist, vocalist, composer and improviser John Mehrmann received his MM in Composition from the New England Conservatory and his BM in Music Performance from the University of New Hampshire. As a percussionist, he has performed with the Portland Symphony Orchestra, Maine State Ballet, PORTopera and the Portland Ballet, among other ensembles. He frequently performs his own works and the works of others, and as one half of the Hodges/Mehrmann improvisation duo.  As a composer, his works have been commissioned or performed by organizations such as the Portland Symphony Orchestra (for its Percussion Kinderkonzert series) as well as soloists Sebastian Bäverstam, Ahrim Kim and Tony Rymer. 

Eliza Jacques Meyer
Private Instructor, cello
Cellist Eliza Meyer performs regularly with several Maine ensembles, including the Portland and Bangor Symphonies and Maine Pro Musica.  She received her B.M. degree from the Indiana University School of Music, and her M.M. from The Boston Conservatory, and has trained in both Suzuki and traditional methods of music education.  Eliza lives in Vassalboro with her husband Dave and her daughter Agatha, where they enjoy raising chickens and making maple syrup in the spring, kayaking and hiking in the summer, bringing in the harvest from their vegetable garden in the fall, and playing games by the woodstove in the winter.

Kirsten Monke
Private Instructor, viola & violin
Prior to joining the DaPonte String Quartet in 2008, Kirsten Monke served as Principal Violist of both the Santa Barbara Symphony and the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, and was violist with the award winning Anacapa String Quartet.  Ms. Monke has taught at UCSB and Westmont College, in addition to a variety of chamber music workshops across the country.  Ms. Monke received her B.M. and M.M. degrees at Indiana University, where her principal teachers were Kim Kashkashian and Georges Janzer.  She also studied at UCSB with Heiichiro Ohyama. 

Jim Nga
Private Instructor, piano
Jim Nga received his two piano performing diplomas (Associate and Licentiate) from the Trinity College of Music, London, B.A. degree from California State University Los Angeles, and M.M degree from Notre Dame de Namur University, Belmont, California. He was an active piano teacher and performer in the San Francisco Bay Area before relocating to Maine. He has performed in U.S., Belgium, Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan. He resides in Bangor, Maine and enjoys working with young children.

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.

Jeffrey Rojo
Private Instructor, guitar
Jeffrey Rojo began private  courses in Guitar Technique and Music Theory at age 13. At age 16 he enrolled at the ESM (Escuela Superior de Musica) in Mexico City, completing a 3 year program in Guitar Music Performance and Music Theory, later enrolling at the CIEM (Centro de Investigación y Estudios de la Música) where he completed his B.M. degree in Guitar Music Performance, Music Theory and Music Composition. In 2001 he was also certified and received diplomas in Guitar Music Performance and Music Theory from the ABRSM (The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music).

Glen Sargent
Instructor, clarinet, saxophone
Glen Sargent received a B.M. in performance from the Berklee College of Music in Boston. A member of the clarinet section in the Bangor Symphony Orchestra for 28 years, Glen also has performed with the Maine Grand Opera Orchestra, Maine Pro Musica, the Maine Saxophone Quartet; numerous jazz groups including the Al Corey Big Band and has also performed with the Temptations, Spectrum, and Manhattan Transfer.  He has been appointed adjunct instructor of saxophone at University of Maine, Orono beginning spring 2011.

Patricia Stowell
Private Instructor, piano
Pianist Patricia Stowell is an active pianist, chamber musician and regional competition adjudicator who also maintains a private studio in Bangor.  She loves teaching and coaching as well as giving master classes, which she conducts monthly for adult pianists at the Bay Chamber Community Music School.  Her educational background includes two degrees from Indiana University and a doctorate from Northwestern University with further studies in Germany (Stuttgart Hochschule fur Musik) and in Austria (Vienna Hochschule fur Musik).  In addition to playing regionally, her European performances include concerts in Bulgaria, Austria, Poland and Germany.