Faculty

Our award winning faculty is eager to help our attendees grow as cellists and as musicians.

2026 Faculty

Hans Jørgen Jensen

Hans Jørgen Jensen is professor of cello at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University. From 1979 to 1987 he was professor of cello at the Moore’s School of Music at the University of Houston. During the summer, he is a faculty member at The Meadowmount School of Music and The Young Artist Program at the National Arts Center in Ottawa Canada under the direction of Pinchas Zukerman. He has been a guest professor at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California, The Oberlin College Conservatory, The Eastman School of Music, The Academy of Music in Sydney, The Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen, the Tokyo College of Music and the Musashino Academy of Music in Japan, the Festival de Musica de Santa Catarina in Brazil, The Jerusalem Music Center, and the PyeongChang International festival and School in Korea.

Mr. Jensen has performed as a soloist in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Japan including solo appearances with the Danish Radio Orchestra, the Basel Symphony Orchestra, the Copenhagen Symphony, and the Irish Radio Orchestra under the baton of conductors such as: Simon Rattle, Mistislav Rostropovich and Carlo Zecchi. He has given numerous workshops and master classes across the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, Brazil, Korea, Australia, and Israel.

His former students have been and are members of major orchestras including The New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, the Kansas City Symphony, the Colorado Symphony, the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Portugal, the Graz Philharmonic in Austria and the Montreal Symphony. Mr. Jensen’s former students are currently the principal cellists in the Toronto Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, the Kansas City Symphony, the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Symphony Nova Scotia. His former students hold teaching positions at Northwestern University, the University of California at Berkeley, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the San Francisco Conservatory, the Cincinnati College Conservatory, the Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen, the Desautels Faculty of Music at the university of Manitoba and numerous other music schools.

Hans Jørgen Jensen’s students have been first prize winners in competitions such as the 2017 Klein Competition, the 2017 Sphinx Competition, the Casado International Competition in Japan, the Johansen International Competition, the MTNA National Competition, the ASTA National Competition, the Stulberg International Competition, the Chicago Symphony Young Performers Competition, the WAMSO Young Artist Competition, and numerous other competitions. His students have also been prizewinners in the 2017 Queen Elisabeth Inaugural Cello Competition, the Naumburg International Competition, the Lutoslawski Cello Competition, and the Klein Competition.

Mr. Jensen was awarded the prestigious 2010 Artist Teacher Award from the American String Teachers Association (ASTA), as well as the Copenhagen Music Critics Prize, the Jacob Gades Prize, the Danish Ministry of Cultural Affairs Grant for Musicians, the Northwestern Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence award, and the U.S. Presidential Scholar Teacher Recognition Award by the U.S. Department of Education. He was named the outstanding studio teacher of the year by Illinois ASTA. He was also the winner of the Artist International Competition that resulted in three New York Recitals. E.C. Shirmer, Boston, published his transcription of the Galamian Scale System for Cello Volume I and II and Shar Products Company published his cello method book, Fun in Thumb Position. A new pedagogy book “CelloMind” was published in November 2017 by OvationPress.

Jensen studied at the royal Academy of Music in Denmark with Asger Lund Christiansen at the Juilliard School with Leonard Rose and Channing Robbins and pursued  private studies with Pierre Fournier, also appearing in his master classes.

Melissa Kraut

Dr. Melissa Kraut is recognized as one of the leading pedagogues of her generation. Having developed and trained some of the outstanding young musicians of today, Dr. Kraut has demonstrated a unique ability to teach all ages and stages of dedicated students, helping them reach their highest potential both at and away from the cello. Dr. Kraut comes most recently from the Cleveland Institute of Music where she taught for 19 years and served as co-chair of the cello program.

With degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, the University of Iowa and Northwestern University, Dr. Kraut has had the opportunity to study with the great pedagogues Alan Harris and Hans-Jorgen Jensen as well as summer study/master classes with cellists such as Aldo Parisot, Frank Miller, Yo-Yo Ma, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi and David Soyer. As a student, she participated in the Aspen Music Festival, Banff Center for the Arts, and the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in Europe.

Dr. Kraut has led a diverse career on stage, with solo and chamber performances throughout the United States, Europe, China, and Cuba. She has appeared most recently at festivals such as El Paso Pro Musica, Northwest Bach Festival, Sitka Music Festival, Eureka Chamber Music and as a performer at many summer festivals.

In the summer of 2014, Dr. Kraut and Zuill Bailey launched the Sitka International Cello Seminar in Sitka, AK bringing 10 outstanding cellists to Alaska each summer to study with them.  Dr. Kraut remained the Education Director there until she left to join the leadership team of Ascent Music in Hudson, OH. Other former festival positions include Heifetz International Music Festival, Meadowmount School for Music, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Madeline Island Chamber Music, Aria International Music Academy, Lev Aronson Cello Festival, and Dr. Kraut’s self-designed/directed summer program, The Complete Cellist.

Dr. Kraut’s students have achieved great success, with top prizes in International, National and Regional competitions. Students of Dr. Kraut have won the Gold Medal and Audience Award at the Gaspar Cassado Competition in Hachioji, Japan, Gold Medal at the Carlos Prieto Competition, Semi-Finalists at the Sphinx Competition, Grand Prize in the Music Teachers National Association Competition, First Prize in the American String Teacher’s Association, Grand Prize in the Walgreen’s Competition, Grand Prize in the Fischoff Competition, as well as awards at the Banff Chamber Music Competition, Melbourne Chamber Music Competition, Hudson Valley Competition, Klein Competition and more.

Dr. Kraut’s former students make up members of orchestras such as Indianapolis Symphony, Principal of South Carolina Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, US Army Strings, Knoxville Symphony as well as orchestras in Europe and China.  Other former students hold positions in notable quartets, artistic leadership positions, and as teachers at all levels..

Nick Curry

Dr. Nick Curry is the Associate Professor of Cello and the Assistant Director of the School of Music at the University of North Florida where he also serves as the Director of Music Scholarships. In early 2015, he joined fellow Jacksonville musicians Aurica Duca and Clinton Dewing as founders of the Lawson Ensemble. The Lawson Ensemble collaborated with the San Marco Chamber Music Society and recorded works of Amy Beach and Bill Douglas for Albany Records in 2018, and went on concert tours of England and Germany. Nick received his BM, cum laude, from Vanderbilt and then served as Hans Jørgen Jensen’s teaching assistant for five years at Northwestern University, earning both his Master and Doctor of Music degrees. He also was the teaching assistant to Professor Jensen at the Meadowmount School of Music for four summers. Nick has performed in Austria, England, France, Italy, Slovenia, Spain, South Africa, Taiwan, Germany and Turkey, and throughout the United States. In April of 2006, he was a soloist on National Public Radio (USA) Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion on the King Amati (ca. 1538) cello. Dr. Curry is on the faculty at the Aria International Summer Music Academy and was previously visiting faculty at the Meadowmount School of Music for two summers. He is a sought after clinician and adjudicator and has presented at national, regional and state conferences. His research has been published in the ASTA journal many times. At UNF, he was named the Gerson Yessin professor and was awarded an Eisen Experiential Grant. In 2016, he founded the annual Jacksonville Cello Workshop, an educational workshop for cellists of all ages and levels. In 2018, the UNF President honored him with a Presidential Faculty Leader Award.

Dr. Sarah Kim

Sarah Kim, D.M.A. leads a vibrant and diverse career as a cellist, professor, and arts leader.  Named the 2016 Ohio String Teachers Association Studio Teacher of the Year and recipient of a Cincinnati Arts Association Overture Educator Award, she currently serves on the full-time cello professor at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Previous teaching appointments include the string faculty of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music where she served as the graduate pedagogy cognate coordinator and instructor of cello.

As a solo artist and chamber musician, Dr. Kim has performed throughout North America, Europe, and South America. She has been broadcast on WGN Chicago, Vermont Public Radio, and WGUC Cincinnati.  As Artist-Faculty, she has appeared at numerous festivals including the Festival de Music de Santa Caterina in Jaragua, Brazil, Aronson Cello Festival at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, Aria International Summer Academy,  Brancaleoni International Music Festival, and Interlochen. 

Chamber collaborations have included performances with members of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, and L.A. Philharmonic as well as members of the Juilliard, Catalyst, Dali and Cavani Quartets. Dr. Kim is a champion of new music by women composers.  Recent performance highlights include premiering works for solo cello by Victoria Bond in Brazil and Germany. 

A sought after clinician, Dr. Kim has been featured in masterclasses at the American String Teacher’s Association National Conference as well as numerous cello festivals and workshops at universities.  In 2023-24 she was invited to present masterclasses at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, the Instituto Superior de Arte del Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the Abracello festival and Universidade Estadual de Campinas in São Paulo, and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She also was invited to give presentations on topics of practice efficiency and mindfulness for organizations including the New World Symphony, Cleveland Institute of Music, Boston Conservatory, and  the Mikiel Anton Vassali College in Valletta, Malta.

Dr. Kim  has adjudicated national competitions such as the National Schadt String Competition and the Music Teacher’s National Association National Finals. She regularly presents at conferences such as the American String Teachers Association and has directed and developed pre-college programs at the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati, the University of Cincinnati, Roosevelt University, and Northern Kentucky University. 

Dr. Kim’s students have earned national recognition as prize winners in the YoungArts Foundation, Fischoff, Music Teacher’s National Association, and Sphinx competitions. They have performed as soloists with the Cincinnati Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic, Madision Chamber Orchestra, and Hilton Head Symphony.

A native of Minneapolis, MN, Dr. Kim received her B.M. at the Eastman School of Music, her M.M. at Northwestern University, and D.M.A. at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Her primary studies have been with Peter Howard, Steven Doane, and Hans Jørgen Jensen.

The co-founder of Ascent Music, Dr. Kim promotes the advancement of music education and community outreach through the direction of internationally attended chamber music and cello festivals.

Avi Friedlander

A photo of Avi Friedlander posing with his cello outside.

Well known as a rising cello pedagogue, Avi Friedlander teaches a variety of methods from classical to jazz and rock. Mr. Friedlander is the director of the Barston Suzuki Center at the Music Institute of Chicago, a Suzuki teacher trainer, teaches Suzuki Pedagogy faculty at Roosevelt University/Music Institute of Chicago and teaches string pedagogy at the University of North Florida and Northwestern University. He holds Masters and Bachelors degrees in cello performance from The University of Michigan, and pursued his professional studies degree from The Cleveland Institute of Music. Previous positions held include Assistant Principal Cellist of the Atlanta Opera, Fellow of The New World Symphony and Professor of Cello at Emory University in Atlanta. His primary teachers have included Anthony Elliott, Stephen Geber, Irene Sharp, Tanya Carey and David Premo and he has also worked with Richard Aaron, Hans Jensen, Janos Starker and Bernard Greenhouse. Mr. Friedlander has studied improvisation methods with Eugene Friesen from the Berkley College, Stephan Braun from Berlin and Tim Kliphuis from Amsterdam. In addition to his own compositions, Mr. Friedlander writes his own arrangements for solo cello of rock tunes from Jimi Hendrix to Pearl Jam and is the author of his method books, “Chopping Around” and “Pizzing Around”, which  introduce alternative styles to cellist. In his free time, he loves to read, play hockey and spend time with his family.  On top of his cello teaching career, Mr. Friedlander is an USA Hockey certified coach.

Ji-Hee Kim

Cellist Ji-Hee Kim attained her degrees from the Juilliard School, and Northwestern University, studying with Min Ja Hyun, Channing Robins, and Hans Jorgen Jensen. Ms. Kim has appeared as a soloist in Vienna, Prague, and Seoul. She has taught at Northwestern University, the Seoul National University, Dan Kook University, Okemo Summer Music Festival. In her teaching, she brings her value in bolstering the importance of technical basics, and aims to instill musical skills that can ultimately be life skills beyond music, such as attention to detail, perseverance, and dedication.

Mary Beth Bryant

Mary Beth Bryant is a certified Suzuki Method cello instructor in books 1-10 and beyond. The Suzuki Method embraces daily practice to ensure progress, parental involvement to encourage the student, and listening to train the student’s aural imagination. In addition to Mary Beth’s Suzuki Method training, she has also studied with internationally acclaimed cello pedagogue Irene Sharp in San Francisco. As students learn that commitment to practice is the key to success, they develop feelings of so much joy and confidence in their cello playing. Their daily discipline results in many opportunities like full music scholarships, placing in All-State Orchestra and winning first place in concerto competitions. Seeing them beam with confidence after working so hard is one of the greatest joys for Mary Beth as a teacher.

Grace Bahng Gavin

Grace Bhang Photo

Grace Bahng Gavin was a scholarship student of Leonard Rose and Channing Robbins at the Juilliard School where she received her B.M. and M.M. degrees. She was a member of the Blair String Quartet and Associate Professor at Vanderbilt University from 1984-1999. Widely acclaimed in concert performances across the country, she has appeared in recital at the Library of Congress, Kennedy Center, 92nd St. Y in New York, Alice Tully Hall and on National Public Radio and Television. She has been in residence at the Aspen, Marlboro, Sunflower, Sewanee, Buzzard’s Bay and the Crested Butte Chamber Music Festivals, the El Paso Pro Musica International Chamber Music Festival, the Sedona Chamber Music Festival, the Highlands/Cashiers Chamber Music Festival, the Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival and the St. Barths Music Festival.

Ms. Bahng has performed with a wide array of musicians, including: Edgar Meyer, Robert McDuffie, Donald McInnes, Joseph Silverstein, Bela Fleck, Nigel Kennedy, Mark O’Connor, Vince Gill, Trisha Yearwood, Martina McBride and has played on numerous movie soundtracks. Grace lives in Orlando, Florida, where she lives with her husband, Kip, and enjoys competitive tennis and cooking.

Franklin Sandoval

A portrait photo of Franklin Sandoval and his cello. He is smiling and wearing a maroon, pink, and white, densley floral long-sleeve button-up shirt. He has a beard and short brown hair.

As an emerging Suzuki registered Salvadoran-American cellist and educator, Franklin Sandoval is currently a Suzuki Cello instructor at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory Preparatory Department and the Cincinnati Music Village as a Suzuki Cello Instructor. 

As an active cellist and performer, Franklin has performed at several festivals and organizations such as the New World Symphony, The Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, The Jacksonville Cello Workshop, the Meadowmount School of Music multiple summers, and currently serves as a Teaching Fellow at the prestigious Interlochen Arts Camp during the summers.

As an advocate for new music from Latin America, Sandoval’s research includes the history of concert, folkloric, and popular music from countries in the region, specifically El Salvador. He has so far premiered and recorded compositions by Latin American composers and continues to extend his research on music, including string pedagogy, immigration, history, and inclusion. 

Franklin is currently earning his Doctorate of Musical Arts at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music as an Albert C. Yates Fellow in the studio of Alan Rafferty. In 2023, Franklin earned a masters degree in Music Performance from Miami University, studying with Dr. Sarah Kim. In 2021, he earned a bachelor’s degree in Music Performance at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida, under the tutelage of Dr. Nick Curry.

Grace Raper

A portrait photo of Grace Raper holding her cello. She is smiling and wearing a light blue paisley patterned dress and has her hair back with pearl earrings and hair ringlets near her ears.

Grace Raper is a cellist and private strings teacher based out of Chicago, Illinois. Studying under Dr. Nick Curry, she graduated from the University of North Florida in December 2024 with a Bachelor’s degree in both Music Education and Cello Performance. She is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Cello Performance at DePaul University, where she studies with Dr. Melissa Kraut. Grace holds teaching certification in Suzuki Cello Books 1-8 through training from Mr. Avi Friedlander, director of the Barston Suzuki Center at the Music Institute of Chicago, where she now works as one of their Suzuki Cello Instructors.

Outside of her studies at UNF, she’s received training from leading cello pedagogues throughout the United States at Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, Ascent International Cello Festival, and Ascent International Chamber Music Festival.

Grace has been the co-assistant director of the Jacksonville Cello Workshop since Fall of 2022. For the past three years, they’ve hosted over 80 cello students from Jacksonville and beyond as well as cello teachers from leading conservatories across the U.S. She also served as a board member for Beaches Fine Arts Series, a non-profit organization that provides free concerts and educational outreach to the Jacksonville area. 

Along with being a private strings teacher, Grace is a performing musician playing for weddings, church services, concerts, and other various events. In 2022 and 2023, she performed with the Lawson Ensemble as they played concerts in the Jacksonville area. She was the principal cellist of the UNF orchestra from Fall 2021 to Spring 2024. Grace received an honorable mention at the UNF 2025 Concerto Competition.

Megan Herrman

A portrait photo of Megan Herrman. She is smiling and wearing a black blaizer and white shirt. Her long auborn hair is down.

Megan Herrman is a cellist and cello teacher based out of Jacksonville, Florida. She earned her Master’s degree in Cello Performance from the University of North Florida in 2026, where she studied under Dr. Nick Curry. She previously graduated from UNF in 2024 with dual Bachelor’s degrees in Music Education and Cello Performance. Megan also holds teaching certification in Cello Units 1–10 from the Suzuki Association of the Americas. In addition to her academic work, Megan has received specialized training from renowned cello pedagogues at the Ascent International Cello & Chamber Music Festival and The Complete Cellist. Beyond her studies, Megan is deeply involved in the musical community at UNF and beyond. Since 2022, she has served as co-assistant director of the Jacksonville Cello Workshop and as a student board member of the Beaches Fine Arts Series. In 2024, she became assistant to the Lawson Ensemble and a graduate assistant to Dr. Curry. Her dedication and artistry have been recognized with several honors. She was awarded the prestigious Presser Undergraduate Scholarship in 2023, and in 2022, she won the UNF Orchestra Concerto Competition, performing Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No. 1 with the university orchestra. Megan also brings her passion for music into the classroom, having taught beginning strings at Chets Creek Elementary School from 2021 to 2024, and continues to teach privately through her own cello studio. Her performance experience includes a range of notable opportunities, most memorably her appearances at Walt Disney World for the 2022 Disney Christmas Day Parade and the 2023 Magical Holiday Celebration, both broadcast on ABC and Disney+.

Beyond her studies, Megan is deeply involved in the musical community at UNF and beyond. Since 2022, she has served as co-assistant director of the Jacksonville Cello Workshop and as a student board member of the Beaches Fine Arts Series. In 2024, she became assistant to the Lawson Ensemble and a graduate assistant to Dr. Curry.

Her dedication and artistry have been recognized with several honors. She was awarded the prestigious Presser Undergraduate Scholarship in 2023, and in 2022, she won the UNF Orchestra Concerto Competition, performing Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No. 1 with the university orchestra. Megan also brings her passion for music into the classroom, having taught beginning strings at Chets Creek Elementary School from 2021 to 2024, and continues to teach privately through her own cello studio.

Her performance experience includes a range of notable opportunities, most memorably her appearances at Walt Disney World for the 2022 Disney Christmas Day Parade and the 2023 Magical Holiday Celebration, both broadcast on ABC and Disney+.

Galvin Cello Quartet (special classes and performance)

Praised as a quartet whose “cellists are brilliant instrumentalists and thoughtful musicians individually, but their renditions as a group are glorious,” (Arnold Steinhardt, Guarneri String Quartet) the Galvin Cello Quartet burst onto the scene after capturing the Silver Medal at the 2021 Fischoff Competition. Riding on the momentum of their Fischoff success, Galvin went on to win the 2022 Victor Elmaleh Competition and joined the Concert Artists Guild roster. With members from Brazil, South Korea, and the United States, the Quartet takes its name from the Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, where three of its members – Sydney Lee, Haddon Kay, and Luiz Fernando Venturelli – met as students in the studio of acclaimed pedagogue Hans Jørgen Jensen. In June of 2024, the Quartet welcomed James Baik, another former student of Jensen, as their newest member.

With their untamable desire to create, change, and ultimately bring joy through music, the Galvin Cello Quartet is incredibly excited to make the undeniable case that the cello quartet belongs at the center of the expressive lexicon for chamber music alongside other traditional forms. The group’s vibrant international spirit reflects its artistic mission to bring together new works from diverse cultural backgrounds and dazzle audiences with the cello’s limitless capabilities. Each a true virtuoso with a distinct voice, the members of the Galvin Cello Quartet are able to authentically occupy a wide array of styles, colors and moods, as well as shifting roles within given arrangements. Recent highlights include performances and educational residencies at Rockport Music Festival, Bravo! Vail, Ravinia, Ascent International Cello Festival, Merkin Hall, and a reappearance at Newport Classical.

The Galvin Cello Quartet is currently represented by Epstein Fox Performances and Dinin Arts.

Sydney Lee captured First Prize at the 2022 Washington International Competition and Second Prize at the Classic Strings International Competition in Dubai, as well as First Prize at the 10th Antonio Janigro International Cello Competition. She has performed in venues such as the Kennedy Center Palladium Center for the Performing Arts, Pittsburgh Symphony’s Heinz Hall, and Verizon Hall.

Haddon Kay first debuted with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago as a finalist for the Chicago Symphony Young Artist Competition. Most recently, he captured Third Prize at the George Enescu International Competition and First Prize at the Luminarts and American Opera Society competitions.

Luiz Fernando Venturelli made his solo debut at the São Paulo Hall at the age of 9 and has since been featured as a soloist with numerous orchestras, including the São Paulo State Symphony, the Goiás Philharmonic, and the Bahia Symphony. He has recently been a prizewinner in the Sphinx Competition, the Samuel and Elinor Thaviu String Competition, and the New York International Artists Association.

James Baik is a First Prize winner of the 2023 Susan Wadsworth Young Concert Artists International Auditions and recipient of the Paul A. Fish Memorial Prize and the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Prize. He is a YCA Jacobs Fellow and has played chamber music at the Ravinia and Bridgehampton Festivals. He studies at the Colburn School under Clive Greensmith.