Meet Our Committed Staff

Donna Blanchard
Executive Director

Alaina Calloway Bolton
Music Education Director

Lisa Scarlett
Theatre Arts Director

Matt Mariner
Creative Dramatics Manager 

Dana Wilson
Marketing Director

Kathy Vandenengel
Business Director

Liz Colognesi
Events Coordinator and Fundraising Assistant

Jan Barlow
Early Childhood Outreach Director

Julie Davis
Finance Director

Meet Our Talented Faculty

(Miss) Jan Barlow


Primary Instrument: Voice
Secondary Instrument: Ukulele and Piano
Education: Alumni of Berklee College of Music, Certified in all Musikgarten curriculums
My favorite musical place to be is in a room full of pre-schoolers and toddlers.

Becky Lightcap

Primary Instrument: Early childhood
Secondary Instrument: Piano and Voice
Education: Bachelor of Music in Voice, Indiana University
Favorite Piece/Show/Place you’ve Performed: Sanders Theatre on Harvard University’s campus

Matthew Mariner 

Primary Discipline: Theatre
Education: B.A. Theatre & Media Studies/Psychology, Assumption College
Favorite Show: Les Miserables

Susan Upham

Primary Instrument: Voice
Secondary Instrument/Discipline Piano and Theater
Education: BS Vocal Performance-William Jewell College, MM Vocal Performance- Boston University
Favorite Piece/Place You’ve Performed: Carmen with the Kentucky Opera

 

Mr. Kim Webster

Primary Instrument: Guitar
Secondary Instrument: Bass
Education: Associates degree, Mt. Wauchusett C.C.
Favorite piece of music: Fool on the Hill, Beatles
Performance places: Hanover Theatre

Kathryn Haddad

Primary Instrument: Violin
Education: B.M.E. in Music Education from The University of New Hampshire. Suzuki Certified Violin Instructor in Books 1 & 2.
Favorite Piece I’ve performed: “Romance, Op. 23” by Amy Beach
Favorite Place I’ve performed: The House of Blues Boston

Pete DePasquale


Primary Instrument: Guitar
Secondary Instrument: Bass, Ukulele, Music Theory
Education: BM Berklee College of Music
Favorite Place you’ve Performed: Berklee Performance Center

Paul Surapine


Primary Instrument: Clarinet
Secondary Instrument: Saxophone
Education:  Bachelor of Music in Clarinet Performance The Hartt School 1981.   Studies with Kalmen Opperman 1978-1993
Favorite Place you’ve Performed: Claflin Hill Symphony!!

Alaina Calloway Bolton


Primary Instrument: Voice
Secondary Instrument: Piano
Education: New England Conservatory, BM, vocal performance; Longy School of Music of Bard College, MM, vocal performance
Favorite Piece You’ve Performed: The Neruda Songs

Katia Khannanova


Primary Instrument: Piano
Education: BA piano education/Performance
Favorite composers: F. Chopin, I. S. Bach, A. Scriabin
Favorite place have performed: Congregational Church of Grafton

Mario Portev


Primary Instrument: Cello
Secondary Instrument: Piano, violin
Education: Masters in Music Art and Performances, Bulgaria State Conservatory
Favorite place you’ve Performed:  Carnegie Hall, Symphony Hall Boston

Tahnee Fallis Baril

Primary Instrument: Voice
Secondary Instrument: Piano
Education:  BS Music Education, MM Music Performance/Choral Conducting
Favorite Show/Place you’ve Performed: Eric Whitacre concert Carnegie Hall

Michael Galvin

Primary Instrument: Violin
Secondary Instrument: Viola
Education: Music University of North Texas; M. Music University of Denver
Favorite piece/place I performed- La Boheme at Crested Butte, CO

Amy Carroll

Primary Instrument: Flute
Secondary Instrument: Piccolo
Education: Bachelor of Fine Arts in Flute Performance from Boston University
Favorite place I performed- Carnegie Hall

Kayla Cardin

Primary instrument: Flute
Secondary instrument: Voice, Piano, Early Childhood
Education: B.A. in Music, B.S. in Music Education, M.A in Curriculum and Instruction
Favorite Flute Piece: Sonatina by Eldin Burton
Favorite Song: Falling in Love with Love from The Boys from Syracuse

Lisa Scarlett

Primary Discipline: Theatre
Education: Tufts University B.A., Elms College M.A.T.
Favorite Show: Any musical theatre production – it’s what I love! Hard to choose one but if I had to – The Sound of Music.

Shannon May

Primary instrument- Early childhood, Flute
Secondary- Keyboard, Theater
Education- Montessori Certified from New England Montessori Training Center Gordon University/ Musikgarten certified
Place performed: Newport Playhouse/Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Corbin Calloway Bolton

Primary – Piano
Education BM Oberlin Conservatory
MM & GD New England Conservatory
Favorite: Performing Six Pianos for Steve Reich at Jordan Hall in Boston

Russell Jewell

Primary Instrument: Trombone
Secondary Instrument: Trumpet
Education:  Graduate, Berklee College of Music
Favorite Show/Place you’ve Performed: My years on the road with Mighty Sam McClain

 

Stephanie Sarkisian

Primary Instrument: Voice, Piano
Education: Anna Maria College, Lesley College
Favorite Show You’ve Performed: So many – it’s hard to choose one!

Alex Calabrese

Primary Instrument: Guitar/Voice
Secondary Instrument: Voice/Guitar
Education: BA in Classics
Favorite Piece You’ve Performed or Venue Where You’ve Performed: The Barbary (Philadelphia), Rockwood Music Hall (NYC), ONCE Ballroom (Somerville), Great Scott (Boston), The Middle East (Cambridge), Lizard Lounge (Cambridge)

John Calabrese

Primary Instrument: drum set/percussion
Secondary Instrument: guitar
Education: Lehman College of the City University of NY – M.A. Music Education; Hunter College of the City University of NY – B.S. Music Theory & Composition
Favorite Piece/Venue: ‘Bemsha Swing’ by Thelonious Monk and ‘So What’ by Miles Davis performed at a Pre-K class in Brooklyn, NY with the students singing lyrics along with our 5 piece Jazz group.

Alisa Cassola

Primary Instrument:  Voice
Secondary Instrument: Piano

Education:  Bachelor of Music, Boston University; Masters of Music, New England Conservatory
Favorite Piece/Place You’ve Performed:
My favorite piece that I ever performed was the Verdi Requiem.
My favorite Operas that I have ever performed in was The Rake’s Progress and Elixir of Love.
My favorite place to have performed in was The Boston Opera House.