Creative Arts
Director of Graduate Music Therapy
becky.engen@alverno.edu
Assistant Professor, Director of Music Therapy
leslie.henry@alverno.edu
Adjunct Instructor (Voice) and Performance Coordinator
sarah.richardson@alverno.edu
Percussion Techniques, Adjunct Instructor
Carlos is a widely acclaimed percussionist, composer, arranger, and educator. He is committed to breaking down traditional percussion barriers to perform Latin rhythms, jazz, funk, and hip hop while retaining his distinctly Latin roots.
Glenn has been teaching violin and viola at Alverno since 2017. He has been a member of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra since 1980. He is currently in the Chris Hanson Band (swing), the Tritonics (roots reggae, ska), and Xalaat (West African). He is also a rhythm student of Hindole Majumdar. Glenn has his Bachelor of Music in violin performance from UW-Madison, and his masters from UW-Milwaukee, where he studied under Ralph Evans.
Adjunct Instructor
Megan is a freelance musician in the Milwaukee area and one of the founding members of Angelic Strings. She has played at Wisconsin Lutheran College and Wisconsin Lutheran High School, in addition to performing with the Jubilate String Quartet and the Lutheran Chorale. She has also participated in the Milwaukee Chamber Music Festival as first violinist with several trios and quartets.
Megan received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Violin Performance from UW-Milwaukee in 2010. She received her Masters degrees in Chamber Music Performance and String Pedagogy in May of 2013. Megan is on the faculty of the Waukesha String Academié and Wisconsin String Studio.
Adjunct Instructor
Mark Davis is a local expert in jazz piano who has studied with Barry Harris, David Hazeltine, Adelaide Banszynski, and more. He has been an adjunct faculty teaching the improvisational piano course since 2008. He has served as Chairman of the Jazz Institute at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music between 1994-2019 and Coordinator of Jazz Studies at Cardinal Stritch University between 1995-2015. Mark is a performer in Milwaukee and Chicago including the Pabst Theater, Jazz in the Park, Sharon Lynne Wilson Center, Summerfest, Lakefront Festival of the Arts and has played with the Cab Calloway Orchestra, Brian Lynch, Doc Serverinsen, and more.
Assistant Professor
Nancy Dexter - Schabow, MMT, MT-BC, WMTR is an Alverno alumnae who has served Alverno College in the role of Adjunct Faculty for over 20 years. Her 26+ years of clinical experience is primarily derived from the establishment of a thriving private practice that grew into the first music therapy clinic in Wisconsin in 1999. Nancy and her staff serve over 400 consumers each week, specializing in providing services for those diagnosed with autism and other developmental disabilities. In her role at Alverno, she brings real-life clinical experiences to her courses focused on improvisation, developmental disabilities, and theoretical frameworks.
Adjunct Instructor
Drew is a well-rounded performer and pedagogue who has studied under Davide Korevaar, Alejandro Cremaschi, Anthony Padillia, and Mary Van De Loo. He holds both bachelor and graduate degrees in Piano Performance and Piano Pedagogy. He is an active teacher with the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, St. Robert’s School, collaborative pianist at Shorewood School District, adjudicator with a variety of local and regional state teacher scholarship competitions, active board member for the Wisconsin State Music Teachers Association, and presenter at local and national music teacher conferences.
Drew coordinates our piano program and piano proficiencies.
Adjunct Instructor
Warren Enström makes sounds — but not always! His works exist across various mediums, including installation art, sonic composition, sculpture, performance art, and more. Often, his work brings audiences to see the world around them in new, detailed ways, encouraging a curiosity towards all aspects of life. Recent works have included a ninety-minute performance of moving furniture (Place in Exhaustion, 2016), a haunting sound installation in a 19th-century mansion in Middletown, Connecticut (remnant // residue, 2017), and a live-generated soundtrack to a video of glitch art created by Paul Mitchell, with choreography from Mauriah Kraker (wave function collapse, 2019).
MMT Adjunct instructor
Lisa Gallagher is the Research Program Manager for the Arts & Medicine Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. She is a board certified music therapist, researcher, author; and she is a frequent presenter at the local, national, and international level. Her clinical work has focused on palliative care, mental health, resilience, and well-being. Lisa is the recipient of the GLR of AMTA Scholarly Activity Award and the Blair L. Sadler International Healing Arts Award. The title of her 2020 Dissertation was: HeRe We ArtsTM: Utilizing the Arts to Improve Health, Resilience, and Well-Being.
David is an experienced choral conductor, church music director, and music educator and joined faculty as the Alverno Choir Director at Alverno in 2020. Previously he was an Assistant Professor of Music at Marian University. Currently he is the Artistic Director of the Fond du Lac Children’s Chorale and Organist and Sanctuary Choir Accompanist at the United Methodist Church of Shorewood. His experiences include music production, composing, vocal clinics, presenting, and service in a variety of capacities. He is a member of the American Choral Directors Association, Chorus America Wisconsin, Music Educators Association, Choristers Guild Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, College Music Society.
Adjunct Instructor, Performance Lab and Clarinet
Mary Jirovec has been an adjunct instructor at Alverno College since 2008. She presently teaches an Instrumental Performance Lab, and in the past, taught the Wind Ensemble and Clarinet lessons. She was also an Instrumental Music Teacher in the West Allis-West Milwaukee School District for 30+ years and previous to that, taught 2 years in Montana. She received both her B.F.A. and M.S. in Music Education from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she studied with principal Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra clarinetist Russell Dagon. She has also served as the Clarinet and Saxophone instructor at Cardinal Stritch University for 10 years. Mary was awarded the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017 and is listed in Who's Who Among America's Teachers. She presently performs with the Knightwind Ensemble, Wisconsin Intergenerational Orchestra and Cream City Clarinet Quartet. Other performances have been with the Crossroads Quartet, MAMCCO, various Woodwind Ensembles, and university and community pit orchestras. She enjoys traveling, reading, and teaching English to International adults and students.
Adjunct Instructor
Gerry is a freelance trumpet player in the Milwaukee area. He has over 20 years of teaching experience, and has taught at Alverno since 2015. He is currently principal trumpet of the Festival City Symphony, and has played with numerous Milwaukee area ensembles, including the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra, Kenosha Symphony and Racine Symphony. He has also performed in the pit orchestra for touring Broadway productions, and with the Festival City Symphony Brass Quintet, which performs for various festive occasions.
Adjunct Instructor
Makenzie is a board-certified music therapist who has worked almost exclusively in behavioral healthcare. She has specialized training in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) through Behavior Tech, LLC. Currently she is employed at the VA Medical Center and works on both the inpatient mental health unit and outpatient DBT program. Previously she has also worked at Rogers Behavioral Health System and Life in Harmony Music Therapy, LLC. Makenzie teaches behavioral clinical classes for music therapy majors.
John McIntyre is Professor of Music at St. Mary of the Woods College in Terre Haute, IN, where he also serves as music department representative to NASM. He served on the summer graduate faculty at Saint Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, IN, for two decades, having taught theory and composition, arranging, conducting, Gregorian Chant, and hymnody. He studied chant with Rev. Lawrence Heiman, CPPS, for many summers—and later served as assistant to Rev. Columba Kelly, OSB, who in recent years taught the annual Gregorian Chant Institute in Rensselaer. John has also taught at Texas Christian University and spent a year as a member of the Facultad de Artes, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia.
John is a talented composer and arranger whose work is published by Southern Music Company, GIA Publications, and Augsburg Fortress. In addition to teaching and composing, John has long been involved in music ministry at ELCA Lutheran parishes. He serves on the boards of the Terre Haute Symphony and the Terre Haute Children’s Chorus. He has received thirteen consecutive ASCAPLUS awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.
Adjunct Instructor, Music History, Flute, Performance Coordinator
Flutist Dr. Linda Nielsen Korducki, a native of Green Bay, completed her D.M.A. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She also holds degrees from the University of Minnesota and UW-Milwaukee, and completed Trevor Wye's prestigious "Flute Studio", a one-year residential course in Kent, England.
Nielsen currently serves as principal flutist of The Fox Valley and Oshkosh Symphony Orchestras. She has also performed with the Milwaukee Symphony, the Milwaukee Ballet, Pamiro Opera, Milwaukee Opera Theater, Bel Canto, Racine, Kenosha, Rockford, Chicago Pops and Wisconsin Chamber Orchestras. She has appeared as a soloist with the Fox Valley Symphony, Green Bay Civic Symphony and Concord Chamber Orchestra.
As a highly sought-after instructor, Linda maintains a private teaching studio in Milwaukee area and is a faculty member at Cardinal Stritch University and Alverno College where she teaches flute and music history. She served on the faculty of the International Music camp from 1991-2005 and has taught as a guest instructor at the University of Minnesota, UW-Whitewater, UW-Parkside and UW-Oshkosh.
Adjunct Instructor
Michael Oriatti brings impeccable credentials, relevant teaching and performance experience, and expertise both as a conductor and voice teacher. Currently Associate Professor of Music at Lyon College in Batesville, AR, where he directs the Lyon College Concert Chorale. Oriatti also directs the Batesville Choral Society, an adult community choir, and is a cofounder of the Weston Studio of Music’s Highlander Youth Singers and Wee Highlanders.
MMT Adjunct Instructor
Meredith has founded and led several music therapy organizations and programs, including Roman Music Therapy Services, Raising Harmony and Sprouting Melodies®, an award-winning early childhood music program with worldwide reach. Regionally and nationally, Meredith is in demand as a keynote speaker, program leader, business coach, and consultant, offering insights on clinical and range of professional and consumer audiences. Meredith’s publications include Leading the Way – Music Therapy Businesses of the Future, (co-editor)published by American Music Therapy Association and Early Childhood Mental Health and Music Therapy: Defining Universal and Preventative Models, Published in Ricerche di Psicologia (2016).
Adjunct Instructor
Emmy Rozanski is an enthusiastic music educator and active freelance trombonist in the Milwaukee and Chicago areas. She is adjunct music faculty at Alverno College, a teaching artist for Sistema Ravinia, and low brass instructor at Highland Park High School. In the summers of 2019 and 2018 Emmy traveled to El Salvador as a teaching artist with MusAid. She is researching motivation and growth mindset as they pertain to musicians and educators and presented on these topics at the 2019 International Trombone Festival and International Women’s Brass Conference. Emmy holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in trombone performance from Arizona State University. She is a passionate visual artist, as well as a musician. As part of her doctoral project she wrote and illustrated a children’s book about the trombone, Mr. Fitch Joins the Band.
Adjunct Instructor
Matthew Schroeder is a Milwaukee based WAMI (Wisconsin Area Music Industry) winning guitarist who is equally at home on electric or acoustic guitar. Matt is one of a handful of players to graduate, with honors, from the short lived cooperative program between The Wisconsin Conservatory of Music and The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a performance degree in American Finger-Style guitar
Matt is one of Milwaukee’s prominent guitar educators and teaches guitar at Alverno College, Mount Mary University and has taught at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music since 1992. Matt is also the Artistic Director for Interlochen College of Creative Arts' annual Fingerstyle Guitar Workshop.
Matt is a featured guitar instructor on Hal Leonard's Guitar Instructor website and on the Hal Leonard instructional DVDs Acoustic Guitar Licks Goldmine and Rock Guitar Licks Goldmine.
Adjunct Instructor
Lee Stovall currently is the vocal music director at Rufus King High School in Milwaukee, WI and directs an A Cappella group at Alverno College. Previously, he taught for the South Milwaukee School District and directed the award-winning a cappella groups, Delta V and the Poprockets. A founding member of the University of Wisconsin-Madison A Cappella group, Fundamentally Sound, he has been interested in promoting contemporary A Cappella education since college, and kept busy arranging and coaching groups around the world. Lee’s work has earned ICCA awards and CARAs, and spots on BOCA and BOHSA compilations. He has attended seminars with The Vocal Company and Vocomotion studios, volunteered for SingStrong Chicago and A School to Collegiate levels, and is a board member of A Cappella University. Outside of the contemporary a cappella world, Lee sings with two professional classical ensembles: the Madison Choral Project and Present Music Milwaukee.
Adjunct Instructor of Music Therapy
Mary Stryck, MS, MT-BC retired in 2015 from her position at the Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division where she worked as a clinician on acute inpatient units for the majority of her career. Her last position with Milwaukee County was that of Rehab Services Coordinator, where she coordinated Music and Occupational Therapy Services and Managed a DBT based Day Treatment program. She has been an MT clinical supervisor and Internship Director for both Occupational and Music Therapy Internships.
Mary has taught at Alverno College for the past 22 years with courses including Psychiatric Music Therapy Clinical Course and an Internship Course. She assisted in creating the approved Music Therapy Master’s Degree program.
She is an active member of the American Music Therapy Association, and serves as a delegate to the AMTA assembly. She has served on the Education and Clinical Training Advisory Board and was national chair of the Association Internship Approval Committee. She has also assumed several regional and state positions in service to the profession and has given numerous presentations on various aspects of student training and music therapy in mental health.
In addition to her work as a music therapist, she is a freelance violinist, playing with Festival City Symphony, for musicals, and for weddings, receptions, and church services.
Adjunct Instructor, MAML
Sr. Mary Jane Wagner is a member of the School Sisters of St. Francis, the religious community that sponsors Alverno College. Mary Jane was mentored by Sr. Theophane Hytrek, SSSF, nationally known composer and organist. She has served as music director for her religious congregation, a large suburban parish, a cathedral parish, and a graduate seminary. From 2009-2017 she taught graduate organ and liturgical music during the summer at Saint Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, IN. An active member of the Milwaukee AGO chapter, and a long-time board member of the Archdiocesan Liturgical Musicians Association (NPM-Milwaukee), Mary Jane has been involved in professional development for liturgical musicians for many years.
Adjunct Instructor
Jeremy Zelman is a composer, musician, and educator from Milwaukee Wisconsin. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee in 2014 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music Composition and Technology, Zelman used the following year for professional development. In 2019, he performed extensively and completed mastering and post production work on a number of projects including a compilation album of Milwaukee based hip hop artists. In 2015, Zelman returned to UWM as a teaching assistant enrolled in the Master of Music program studying Music Composition and Theory, as well as studying a great deal of music history and literature, contributing to his teaching philosophy that music theory can be understood as a historic score study in pattern recognition. Zelman currently teaches part time at UWM and at Alverno College in Milwaukee, teaches lessons at the Guitar Center in Brookfield Wisconsin, and continues to play in local bands.
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