Slater Music Academy
"Quality Music Instruction for the Entire Family"
"Quality Music Instruction for the Entire Family"
| 143 N. Ft. Thomas Ave., Ft. Thomas, KY 41075 Phone: 859-486-1032 |
Piano and Voice Faculty
JESSICA CRAVENS, voice, piano, flute, clarinet and saxophone, has been giving private voice and
piano lessons since 2007. She began playing the piano at age five and the saxophone at age nine.
Along with continuing her piano instruction through college, she also studied voice for 6 years. Ms.
Cravens has completed her Bachelor of Arts in Music Education (Grades K-12), with a major in
voice and minor in piano.
She traveled extensively for four years as a vocalist in a college ladies trio, and toured across the
United States every summer. In 2009, her trio completed a professional recording in Nashville,
Tennessee. She has also been a frequent soloist for the God’s Bible School and College Choir for
five years and has conducted the choir on several occasions.
Miss Cravens has played the baritone and alto saxophone in the God’s Bible School Symphonic
Wind and String Ensemble for six years. During her senior year of college, she was the pianist for a
mixed trio that travelled extensively. At present, she frequently serves as the pianist and worship
leader in the weekly chapel services at God’s Bible School and continues to accompany various
singing groups.
EVELINA KONANIAH, piano, has been teaching for over ten years with students ranging from
children to adults. She has undergraduate and graduate degrees in Piano Performance, and has
studied organ, harpsichord, violin, voice, and conducting. She has participated in competitions,
master classes, recordings, and radio broadcasts. Some of her students have gone to schools such as
Berklee College of Music and Duke University while maintaining active musical lives. Her students
have participated in competitions, festivals, and auditions, with excellent results. She is also on the
piano faculty at the Preparatory Department of University of Cincinnati – College Conservatory of
Music.
JOSHUA S. NEMITH, piano, completed his doctorate in piano performance at the University of
Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in June of 2004. Dr. Nemith has performed throughout the
U.S. and abroad as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral keyboardist; he is also an active
recording artist. Currently, he is the principal keyboardist with the IRIS chamber orchestra in
Germantown, Tennessee, under the direction of conductor Michael Stern.
Dr. Nemith performs regularly at professional venues in and around Cincinnati and has been teaching
at the Academy since 2002. He is an alumnus of the University of Texas at Austin and the Eastman
School of Music and he has held fellowship positions with the New World Symphony and the Aspen
Music Festival. He has held several teaching appointments at UC-CCM, including a graduate seminar
course on 20th-century piano repertoire in 2004. His teachers include James Tocco, Nancy Garrett,
Fernando Laires, and David Burge.
MARY ANN POWERS, voice, taught voice lessons at Robinson Music Inc., UConn's Community
School for the Arts in Storrs, CT, the Performing Arts Center of the Metro West in Framingham,
MA, and Music Maker School in Acton, MA. Students of Ms. Powers have advanced in
Massachusetts's Junior High and Senior High District Honors Choir and All State Choir, and several
students have performed in community theater companies. Ms. Powers performs a diverse variety of
repertoire, from a Modern Music Chamber recital to a Bach Chamber Music recital at the historic
King's Chapel in Boston. She has premiered works by Matthew McConnell, Derek Jacoby, and
Stanley Hoffman at the Lily Pad, Jordan Hall, the Boston Center for the Arts, and has sung with
Schola Nocturna, a group that specializes in Early Music. Ms. Powers has performed Lucy from The
Telephone, La Musica from L'Orfeo, and Josephine from Story of an Hour (premiere). She holds a
MM in Vocal Pedagogy, a MM in Vocal Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music
in Boston, MA, and a BM in Vocal Performance from Ohio University in Athens, OH.
TAMMY ROWLAND, voice, has taught using traditional voice methods since 1999 in the
Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area. She has had experience teaching at the middle school, high school
and collegiate levels. She received her undergraduate degree in music education from Union
University, Jackson, Tennessee, and her Master of Music degree (major in Vocal
Pedagogy/Literature) from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas. She has
performed with the Jackson Theater Guild, Fort Worth Opera Chorus, and Dallas Baptist University.
Tammy has also performed with various church choirs/productions in Tennessee, Texas, Missouri,
and Kentucky. She has recently moved to the Northern Kentucky area. When not singing, Tammy
enjoys scrapbooking/celebrating memories, reading, and spending time with her family.
RICHARD SEIL, Suzuki and traditional method piano, has been teaching privately and at the
collegiate level for over 15 years. A graduate of Baldwin-Wallace College and Indiana University, he
is currently completing his DMA at the University of Cincinnati. Mr. Seil's former teachers include
Menahem Pressler, Karen Shaw, James Tocco, Richard Fields, Eugene Pridonoff, Elizabeth
Pridonoff and Robert Mayerovitch. An active performer throughout the Midwest, Mr. Seil enjoys
both collaborative and solo performances.
Richard began teaching piano at the Baldwin-Wallace College Preparatory Department and as a
student at Indiana University and the University of Cincinnati. He also taught in Michigan and
Kentucky at the collegiate level and Cleveland and Cincinnati as a private teacher. He has judged
competitions in Michigan and Ohio and participated in the World Piano Pedagogy Conference in
1998, 2000 and 2002. Membership in teaching organizations includes the College Music Society,
MTNA, MMTA, OMTA and KMTA. He was listed in Who's Who in America in 2002. Further
musical interests include conducting and violin.
XIAOMING ZHU, piano, has been playing piano since the age of three and half. At the age of 12,
he entered Sichuan Conservatory of Music in China (the biggest music conservatory worldwide) for
his professional piano training. At the age of 18, he entered the piano performance program at the
Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and pursued both Bachelor and Master's degrees.
Mr. Zhu is a gifted and highly accomplished pianist and winner of international and national piano
competitions. Zhu’s achievements in the Missouri Southern International Piano Competition and the
German Ettlingen International Piano Competition are of major significance. Mr. Zhu has participated
in many high-status national competitions and in important music festivals among mainland China,
Hong Kong, Canada, and United States, and he has received numerous national awards as well as
critiques in professional and major media. Mr. Zhu published a CD in Canada in 1998, and his
concert Autumn of the Nation has been broadcast by Sichuan Broadcasting and Television Station to
a province with a population of more than 100,000,000 people and also nationwide in 1999. Zhu
received many encouraging commendations from prestigious art associations after the festival and
publications, notably from the New York Philharmonic and the Ohio Music Teachers National
Association. Zhu’s excellent music qualifications have been well recognized by the Associate
Conductor of the New York Philharmonic, Xian Zhang. Zhang recognized Zhu as "an artist and great
pianist of incredible ability". She described Zhu's performance technique is "superb and impeccable".
Mr. Zhu has been teaching piano 2004. He has many private piano students with abundant teaching
experience from Suzuki to adult. His students have participated in competitions and festivals with
great success.
JESSICA CRAVENS, voice, piano, flute, clarinet and saxophone, has been giving private voice and
piano lessons since 2007. She began playing the piano at age five and the saxophone at age nine.
Along with continuing her piano instruction through college, she also studied voice for 6 years. Ms.
Cravens has completed her Bachelor of Arts in Music Education (Grades K-12), with a major in
voice and minor in piano.
She traveled extensively for four years as a vocalist in a college ladies trio, and toured across the
United States every summer. In 2009, her trio completed a professional recording in Nashville,
Tennessee. She has also been a frequent soloist for the God’s Bible School and College Choir for
five years and has conducted the choir on several occasions.
Miss Cravens has played the baritone and alto saxophone in the God’s Bible School Symphonic
Wind and String Ensemble for six years. During her senior year of college, she was the pianist for a
mixed trio that travelled extensively. At present, she frequently serves as the pianist and worship
leader in the weekly chapel services at God’s Bible School and continues to accompany various
singing groups.
EVELINA KONANIAH, piano, has been teaching for over ten years with students ranging from
children to adults. She has undergraduate and graduate degrees in Piano Performance, and has
studied organ, harpsichord, violin, voice, and conducting. She has participated in competitions,
master classes, recordings, and radio broadcasts. Some of her students have gone to schools such as
Berklee College of Music and Duke University while maintaining active musical lives. Her students
have participated in competitions, festivals, and auditions, with excellent results. She is also on the
piano faculty at the Preparatory Department of University of Cincinnati – College Conservatory of
Music.
JOSHUA S. NEMITH, piano, completed his doctorate in piano performance at the University of
Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in June of 2004. Dr. Nemith has performed throughout the
U.S. and abroad as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral keyboardist; he is also an active
recording artist. Currently, he is the principal keyboardist with the IRIS chamber orchestra in
Germantown, Tennessee, under the direction of conductor Michael Stern.
Dr. Nemith performs regularly at professional venues in and around Cincinnati and has been teaching
at the Academy since 2002. He is an alumnus of the University of Texas at Austin and the Eastman
School of Music and he has held fellowship positions with the New World Symphony and the Aspen
Music Festival. He has held several teaching appointments at UC-CCM, including a graduate seminar
course on 20th-century piano repertoire in 2004. His teachers include James Tocco, Nancy Garrett,
Fernando Laires, and David Burge.
MARY ANN POWERS, voice, taught voice lessons at Robinson Music Inc., UConn's Community
School for the Arts in Storrs, CT, the Performing Arts Center of the Metro West in Framingham,
MA, and Music Maker School in Acton, MA. Students of Ms. Powers have advanced in
Massachusetts's Junior High and Senior High District Honors Choir and All State Choir, and several
students have performed in community theater companies. Ms. Powers performs a diverse variety of
repertoire, from a Modern Music Chamber recital to a Bach Chamber Music recital at the historic
King's Chapel in Boston. She has premiered works by Matthew McConnell, Derek Jacoby, and
Stanley Hoffman at the Lily Pad, Jordan Hall, the Boston Center for the Arts, and has sung with
Schola Nocturna, a group that specializes in Early Music. Ms. Powers has performed Lucy from The
Telephone, La Musica from L'Orfeo, and Josephine from Story of an Hour (premiere). She holds a
MM in Vocal Pedagogy, a MM in Vocal Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music
in Boston, MA, and a BM in Vocal Performance from Ohio University in Athens, OH.
TAMMY ROWLAND, voice, has taught using traditional voice methods since 1999 in the
Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area. She has had experience teaching at the middle school, high school
and collegiate levels. She received her undergraduate degree in music education from Union
University, Jackson, Tennessee, and her Master of Music degree (major in Vocal
Pedagogy/Literature) from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas. She has
performed with the Jackson Theater Guild, Fort Worth Opera Chorus, and Dallas Baptist University.
Tammy has also performed with various church choirs/productions in Tennessee, Texas, Missouri,
and Kentucky. She has recently moved to the Northern Kentucky area. When not singing, Tammy
enjoys scrapbooking/celebrating memories, reading, and spending time with her family.
RICHARD SEIL, Suzuki and traditional method piano, has been teaching privately and at the
collegiate level for over 15 years. A graduate of Baldwin-Wallace College and Indiana University, he
is currently completing his DMA at the University of Cincinnati. Mr. Seil's former teachers include
Menahem Pressler, Karen Shaw, James Tocco, Richard Fields, Eugene Pridonoff, Elizabeth
Pridonoff and Robert Mayerovitch. An active performer throughout the Midwest, Mr. Seil enjoys
both collaborative and solo performances.
Richard began teaching piano at the Baldwin-Wallace College Preparatory Department and as a
student at Indiana University and the University of Cincinnati. He also taught in Michigan and
Kentucky at the collegiate level and Cleveland and Cincinnati as a private teacher. He has judged
competitions in Michigan and Ohio and participated in the World Piano Pedagogy Conference in
1998, 2000 and 2002. Membership in teaching organizations includes the College Music Society,
MTNA, MMTA, OMTA and KMTA. He was listed in Who's Who in America in 2002. Further
musical interests include conducting and violin.
XIAOMING ZHU, piano, has been playing piano since the age of three and half. At the age of 12,
he entered Sichuan Conservatory of Music in China (the biggest music conservatory worldwide) for
his professional piano training. At the age of 18, he entered the piano performance program at the
Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and pursued both Bachelor and Master's degrees.
Mr. Zhu is a gifted and highly accomplished pianist and winner of international and national piano
competitions. Zhu’s achievements in the Missouri Southern International Piano Competition and the
German Ettlingen International Piano Competition are of major significance. Mr. Zhu has participated
in many high-status national competitions and in important music festivals among mainland China,
Hong Kong, Canada, and United States, and he has received numerous national awards as well as
critiques in professional and major media. Mr. Zhu published a CD in Canada in 1998, and his
concert Autumn of the Nation has been broadcast by Sichuan Broadcasting and Television Station to
a province with a population of more than 100,000,000 people and also nationwide in 1999. Zhu
received many encouraging commendations from prestigious art associations after the festival and
publications, notably from the New York Philharmonic and the Ohio Music Teachers National
Association. Zhu’s excellent music qualifications have been well recognized by the Associate
Conductor of the New York Philharmonic, Xian Zhang. Zhang recognized Zhu as "an artist and great
pianist of incredible ability". She described Zhu's performance technique is "superb and impeccable".
Mr. Zhu has been teaching piano 2004. He has many private piano students with abundant teaching
experience from Suzuki to adult. His students have participated in competitions and festivals with
great success.
| 143 N. Ft. Thomas Ave., Ft. Thomas, KY 41075 Phone: 859-486-1032, Fax: 859-908-2607 Email: info@slatermusicacademy.com |
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