Brooklyn Conservatory of Music

Administration

Director of Administration
MICHAELA MECHLOVITZ

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER
MARTIN PORTER

INSTITUTIONAL GIVING MANAGER
ALICE JONES

FINANCE & SPECIAL PROJECTS MANAGER
MIRANDA KNUTSON

REGISTRAR & OPERATIONS SPECIALIST
DOUGLAS BRADFORD

REGISTRAR & OPERATIONS SPECIALIST
KYLE WILSON

Executive Director

CHAD COOPER

Chad joined the Conservatory’s Board of Trustees in July of 2014 and served as its Treasurer before joining the staff as Executive Director in August of 2016. Prior to joining the Conservatory, Chad was a Managing Director in the Real Estate Investment Banking Group at Deutsche Bank Securities where he worked for over 15 years covering public and private real estate companies, investment managers and private equity platforms.

Earlier in his career, Chad worked for four years at the St. Louis Development Corporation, the economic development agency of the City of St. Louis, Missouri. There, he designed and implemented community and economic development programs targeted towards alleviating poverty in some of the most economically distressed neighborhoods in St. Louis and East St. Louis. During his time in St. Louis, Chad also co-founded a project-based grassroots non-profit organization called Metropolis Saint Louis, which sought to foster greater engagement of young people in city revitalization efforts.

Like many Staff and Board members of the Conservatory, Chad was drawn to the organization by a love of music. It is a thread that connects many joyful and formative experiences in his life, from nervously singing in school plays before his 5th grade classmates; to performing timeless jazz standards in college with the Yale Whiffenpoofs; to the joy he experiences today seeing how music makes his two sons – both piano students at the Conservatory – instantly happy. Chad is a piano student at the Conservatory himself, having started piano lessons when he joined the Staff, and still not sounding very good.

Chad recently was elected to the Board of Trustees of the National Guild of Community Arts Education, a membership-based organization whose mission it is to develop leaders, strengthen organizations, and advocate for community arts education around the country. The Conservatory is one of the 400+ proud members of the Guild, and we wholeheartedly share the Guild’s vision of a nation where arts education is accessible and embraced as essential for human development and healthy communities.

Chad earned his MBA from Stanford and his BA from Yale.

email:chad.cooper@bkcm.org

phone:718-622-3300 ext 213

Director of Administration

MICHAELA MECHLOVITZ

Michal Mechlovitz joined the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music team in 2012. She has worn many hats at BKCM over the years from Gala Coordinator, to Human Resources Manager, to Instrument Explorers Teaching Assistant, and is excited to apply her years of experience and love for BKCM and its mission to her new position as Director of Administration.

Michal is a born and bred Brooklynite. She has always loved her lively home borough for its diversity of culture and counts herself lucky to live in a city where she can hear music from different traditions and practices from around the world on any given night. She’s proud of BKCM’s work to extend opportunities in music education and therapy to the spitfire and tenacious people of her home city regardless of age, level, ability, and limitation. She loves being part of a team that believes music is for everyone.

Michal is a classically trained mezzo soprano, holding a degree in voice performance from the Boston Conservatory. She has a strong affinity for 20th century and contemporary music, particularly the French repertoire and the work that came out the context of the World War period. What she’s always loved most about classical singing is the crossing of master music and poetry at iconoclast historical checkpoints. She loves absorbing languages and the written word, and has collaborated on writing projects with fellow musicians and music projects with performance artists. She has a taste for art with attitude that’s rebellious, provocative, and challenges form and the status quo.

When Michal is not humming through the halls of BKCM, you can find her throwing clay or at the beach.

email:michaela.mechlovitz@bkcm.org

phone:718-622-3300 ext 214

CONTROLLER

SHAMEEZA CHANDARPAL

email:bcm.controller@bkcm.org

phone:718-622-3300 ext 229

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER

MARTIN PORTER

Email:martin.porter@bkcm.org

Phone:(718) 622-3300 ext. 227

INSTITUTIONAL GIVING MANAGER

ALICE JONES

Alice joined BKCM’s development team in 2015. In addition to coordinating institutional giving and curating the chamber series Parlour Room Sessions at the Conservatory, she is an active contemporary classical flutist and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Music at both CUNY Queensborough Community College and SUNY Purchase College. Her research and pedagogical interests focus on the intersection between aesthetics and music cognition: the place where listener, performer, and composer meet.

Mario Davidovsky referred to Alice as “the flute player who could really play” and Fanfare Magazine called her 2017 album “pretty music faultless.” She is committed to premiering new chamber music and performs regularly in conText, Ensemble 365, Fiati Five, and The Curiosity Cabinet, whose multidisciplinary events combine music with narration, art, puppetry, and dance.

Before joining BKCM, Alice was a Writing Fellow at CUNY Borough of Manhattan Community College and taught music for several years at the Aaron Copland School of Music at CUNY Queens College. She has received awards for musicological research and writing, teaching, and performance from SUNY Purchase, CUNY Queens College, the CUNY Graduate Center, and the National Flute Association.

Her favorite thing about music is its richness as a starting point for thinking about everything else in this world—culture, history, sociology, physics, aesthetics, economics, politics—on top of being fun to play and listen to.

Alice graduated from Yale University (BA), SUNY Purchase (MM, AD), and the CUNY Graduate Center (DMA). When she’s not musicking, she’s likely walking her music-loving dog, Marcel (after the flutist, Moyse), or making ice cream.

www.alicehjones.com www.drjonesmusic.me

email:alice.jones@bkcm.org

phone:718-622-3300 ext 226

EVENTS MANAGER

ARYEH KOBRINSKY

email:aryeh.kobrinsky@bkcm.org

phone:718-622-3300 ext 232

FINANCE & SPECIAL PROJECTS MANAGER

MIRANDA KNUTSON

Miranda Knutson joined the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music in the winter of 2014 helping organize BKCM’s Red Hot Winter Gala. She has worn many hats at the Conservatory including co-running the Brooklyn Brass Festival, implementing early childhood programming at Head Start schools, setting up new summer camps, organizing staffing, food, auctions and other day-of logistics for 11 galas and numerous events. She currently works on events, special projects, payroll, budgets and outreach billing. She coordinates with program directors to set billing and payroll rates for over 64 sites for Music Partners and Music Therapy. She tracks each programs schedule, budget, grant allocation, account receivable and payroll changes to reconcile and give updates and analytics to Finance and Development.

Miranda has been part of the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music community since she was 8 years old. Over the years she has taken piano, voice, musical theater, saxophone, flute, and chorus at BKCM. She has performed with the Village Light Opera Group, Vertical Players, and other local opera groups.

Prior to BKCM, Miranda was Program and Development Coordinator for Community Works, where she coordinated community learning arts workshops in public schools as well as wrote grants and ran events for historical/arts exhibitions. Before that, she worked at the Museum of Sex as the Special Events Coordinator, and at the Metropolitan Playhouse as Company Manager.

Along with her love of music, she has pursued other passions. Miranda is a Historical Cloth-making instructor, Stage Combat choreographer, and Licensed New York City tour guide. Miranda received her B.S. in History at MIT, and her Masters in Medieval History at Kings College London. On weekends you can generally find her with her spinning wheel teaching at colonial houses around New York, or leading tours of literary and historic pubs of Greenwich Village and Brooklyn Heights.

email:miranda.knutson@bkcm.org

phone:718-622-3300 ext 223

DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATE

MICHELE YAMAMOTO

email:michele.yamamoto@bkcm.org

phone:718-622-3300 ext 222

OPERATIONS ASSOCIATE

MAX ROBB

email:max.robb@bkcm.org

MARKETING ASSOCIATE

SYDNEY HILL

Sydney is a recent graduate of Ithaca College where she studied Theatre Arts Management (B.S.) and Integrated Marketing Communications (B.S.). Through many internships at various theatres and digital ad firms, Sydney has gained a strong background in marketing for the arts, with a focus in digital.

Sydney’s passion for arts advocacy and arts accessibility derives from experiencing minimal access to creative resources in the rural community where she grew up.

Her musical journey began as a singing cow in a church nativity scene, and has since grown to include cello, piano, and guitar. She hopes the next phase of growth will include becoming Carole King. Currently, her musical endeavors largely exist in the role of “spectator.”

Sydney is on a perpetual journey to find the best artist you haven’t heard of yet. If you beat her to it, email suggestions, or stop by the marketing office!

email:sydney.hill@bkcm.org

phone:718-622-3300 ext 224

HEAD REGISTRAR

FATIMA JIHADA

email:fatima.jihada@bkcm.org

phone:718-622-3300 ext 210

REGISTRAR & OPERATIONS SPECIALIST

DOUGLAS BRADFORD

email:douglas.bradford@bkcm.org

REGISTRAR & OPERATIONS SPECIALIST

KYLE WILSON

Kyle Wilson has been an active member of the creative music community in New York City since 2003. With over a decade of arts administration and performance experience, he continues to strive to make inspiring music, forge new creative collaborations and build community through the arts.

Before joining BKCM, Kyle worked in Student Success Advising and Academic Affairs at his alma mater, The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City, where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. It was here that he developed a passion for student affairs, academic and career advising, curriculum development and social justice issues within higher education.

As a saxophonist, he is involved with an eclectic variety of musical projects, including The Martin Nevin Group, Ben van Gelder’s Medallion, Noah Garabedian’s Big Butter and The Egg Men, The Danny Fischer-Lochhead Large Ensemble, The Slim Tones and SHWILSON. Under the electro-psych alias of SHWILSON, Kyle explores the versatility of Casio keyboards and synthesizers inspired by the sounds of vintage horror movies, library music and video games. He has released two albums with this project and has recorded on many others.

kylewilsonmusic.com

email:kyle.wilson@bkcm.org

Educational Program Directors & Coordinators

Music Partners Administrative Assistant
SARA SCHOENBACK

MUSIC PARTNERS ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR
SHERI GOTTLIEB

MUSIC THERAPY ONSITE COORDINATOR
CHRISTINA STERRETT

Music Therapy Administrative Coordinator
MELISSA HARRIS, MA, MT-BC, LCAT

COMMUNITY MUSIC SCHOOL DIRECTOR
BRIAN DRYE

BROOKLYN CONSERVATORY CHORALE DIRECTOR
NELLY VUKSIC

MUSIC PARTNERS DIRECTOR

DOROTHY SAVITCH

Dorothy Savitch has led the Music Partners program since 1996, developing fully enriched, sequential programs that build upon students’ skills from year to year. Under Dorothy’s guidance, Music Partners has grown from six sites with 700 students to 34 sites with 4,500 participants. Dorothy has expanded the course offerings to meet the needs and interests of our diverse community, including chorus for seniors citizens, West African Drumming, GarageBand Songwriting and programs for toddlers and pre-kindergarten students. Dorothy has been on the BKCM faculty since 1989, and prior to becoming Program Director of Music Partners, she taught music theory, history, classical guitar, chorus and recorder. In 2002, Dorothy Savitch was also named as the first Music Director of the Brooklyn Conservatory Community Orchestra. Since 1997, Ms. Savitch has also been Music Director of Long Island’s Sound Symphony Orchestra. Since her tenure began, both orchestras have grown and expanded into two of the finest community ensembles in the New York metropolitan area. They have received high praise for their vibrant performances and expansive repertoire. Before her transition to the podium, Ms. Savitch studied the classical guitar with Christopher Parkening and Vicente Gomez, and toured throughout the West Coast. She received music degrees from Columbia University and the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. Her conducting teachers include Harold Farberman and Maurice Peress.

email:dorothy.savitch@bkcm.org

phone:718-622-3300 ext 221

Music Partners Administrative Assistant

SARA SCHOENBACK

Name: Sara Schoenbeck

From: originally California but now, Brooklyn

I started teaching at the Conservatory in… 2002

I started teaching at the Conservatory in… 2009

My inspiration: Dance, the ocean, mountains, trees, birds, rays of sun etc. are my inspiration.

Few people know that I… love capybaras

Education: San Francisco Conservatory of Music, California Institute of the Arts

I play and teach: Bassoon

My other artistic/musical endeavors: New Music Ensembles, Chamber improvisation ensembles and orchestras

MUSIC PARTNERS ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR

SHERI GOTTLIEB

Sheri Gottlieb is Associate Director of the Music Partners Program at Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. She serves as mentor and curriculum developer and offers a regular series of Seminar/Workshops through the Conservatory designed for Music Educators and Classroom Teachers. Her teaching career has given her opportunities to work with diverse populations in public and private schools, Head Start programs and Community Music Schools.

Sheri is currently working on a project with the DOE, creating and teaching early childhood music materials for UPK teachers and leaders. She has extensive experience as a clinician, most recently working on “The Ready Readers Program” in conjunction with Chinatown Planning Council. Sheri is Past President of the NYC Chapter AOSA and has served on the board of NYC Arts in Education Roundtable. She is co-author of “Melodic Weavings – A Soprano Recorder Approach for Teachers.” And her article on Music and Urban Education appears in The Orff Echo.

Sheri is a trained hospice volunteer and a founding member of the Threshold Choir NYC. She sings for clients and caregivers by helping to honor, ease and give support through the gift of song.

email:sheri.gottlieb@bkcm.org

MUSIC THERAPY DIRECTOR

TOBY WILLIAMS

MA, MT-BC, LCAT

MUSIC THERAPY DIRECTOR

Toby Willams (M.A, MT-BC, LCAT) is a music therapist and is the Director of Music Therapy at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. Toby received her master’s degree in music therapy from New York University and is a graduate of Dr. Diane Austin’s certificate program in Advanced Training in Vocal Psychotherapy, a music therapy technique focused on dealing with trauma recovery. In 2005, Toby founded the music therapy program at Reach for the Stars Learning Center, a private school for children diagnosed with autism spectrum idisorders. For the past ten years, Toby has offered workshops on how to use the voice and body to promote emotional and physical healing at such institutions as The Kessler Institute, Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center and through partnerships with Friends Health Connection, Citicorp and Carnegie Hall. Previously, Toby developed and ran music therapy programs at New York Presbyterian Hospital on the cardio-thoracic unit and at the Herbert Irving Cancer Center’s Infusion unit. Toby has also conducted educational presentations on jazz singing through Carnegie Hall’s Education Outreach program and has taught early childhood music classes for Music Together of Park Slope, Brooklyn. Toby’s professional experience as a jazz vocalist led her to perform across the country and record two CDs. Her extensive background both as a music therapy clinician, administrator, music instructor and jazz performer has led to speaking engagements, teaching opportunities and panel discussions.

email:toby.williams@bkcm.org

phone:718-622-3300 ext 216

MUSIC THERAPY ONSITE COORDINATOR

CHRISTINA STERRETT

Christina Sterrett holds a Master’s degree in music therapy from New York University, is a Board Certified Music Therapist with the American Music Therapy Association, and is a New York State Licensed Creative Arts Therapist. Christina has been part of the Brooklyn Conservatory’s Music Therapy Department since 2010 and works with clients of all ages to address physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs. She has extensive experience working with children with developmental delays in early childhood settings and has also worked in public and private school settings. Christina is currently the Onsite Clinical Coordinator and Lead Onsite Music Therapist for the Brooklyn Conservatory’s Onsite Music Therapy Program ,and also works at several of the Conservatory’s outreach programs in schools throughout Brooklyn and Manhattan.

email:christina.sterrett@bkcm.org

phone:718-622-3300 ext 212

Music Therapy Administrative Coordinator

MELISSA HARRIS, MA, MT-BC, LCAT

Name: Melissa Harris

I’m from… Lancaster county, PA

I became a music therapist in… 2013

I started practicing music therapy at the Conservatory in… 2011

The populations I’ve worked with include… children, young adults, and seniors with a wide range of developmental, social and emotional needs

The primary population I work with is… children with developmental needs

My other clinical specialties: I am experienced in helping people discover their own abilities and grow those abilities.

My inspiration: My clients inspire me with their joy and determination. My own children inspire me with their boundless creative energy. My colleagues and friends inspire me with their passion and commitment to growth and nurturance. Jack White inspires my own creative music making.

Few people know that I… love backcountry hiking.

Education: Penn State University – B.S. in Music Education
New York University – M.A. in Music Therapy
Teachers College, Columbia University – M.A. in Curriculum and Teaching

I play: Flute, guitar, and piano

My other artistic/musical endeavors: I write my own music and play with friends. I also play chamber music occasionally.

COMMUNITY MUSIC SCHOOL DIRECTOR

BRIAN DRYE

For over a decade, Brian has been a teaching artist for institutions such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center Education and Juilliard. As a teaching artist he has developed community workshops in homeless shelters, prisons, museums and underserved schools where he focuses on composition and improvisation as a tool for opening creativity and building community. Brian has created professional development workshops for music teachers, librarians and school administrators world-wide.

His debut as a leader, Bizingas was hailed as “one of the best introductions to a new band” by The New York Times. As a founding member of the eclectic chamber ensemble “The Four Bags”, his compositions have premiered at Lincoln Center, Symphony Space and BAM Brooklyn.

As a jazz trombonist Brian has performed with Hank Roberts Sextet, Billy Martin’s Wicked Knee, Medeski Martin and Wood, jazz legend Clark Terry, Slavic Soul Party!, Frank London’s Klezmer Brass Allstars, Banda De Los Muertos, The Brooklyn Qwaali Party, Nation Beat, Dweezil Zappa and the Wood Brothers. In 2016 Brian made his theatre debut, performing trombone in the cast of Hadestown at the New York Theatre Workshop. Brian spent his formative years touring the nation with The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, crooner Paul Anka and The Four Tops.

email:brian.drye@bkcm.org

phone:718-622-3300 ext 230

SUZUKI DIRECTOR

JULIANNE CARNEY-CHUNG

Suzuki Program Director Violinist Julianne Carney-Chung has led the BKCM Suzuki Program since 2009. An active and versatile performer, from classical to rock to improvisation, Julianne has studied Suzuki pedagogy extensively, including completing the Teacher Training Program at the preeminent School for Strings, under Allen Lieb and Louise Behrend. Prior to her tenure at BKCM, Julianne was a Thomas J. Watson Fellow and a music fellow at OMI Arts Center. Under Julianne’s leadership, the BKCM Suzuki Program has become a thriving center for excellence and community, nearly doubling in size and offering expanded teen programming, an early childhood component and a five-day summer camp. Julianne is also developing a pedagogy of improvisation for Suzuki students, using sonic storytelling and Soundpainting, an interdisciplinary conducting language of gestures for guiding improvisation.

email:julianne.carney@bkcm.org

phone:718-622-3300 ext 225

SUZUKI ASSISTANT

ALISA BRUZA

email:alisa.bruza@bkcm.org

BROOKLYN CONSERVATORY CHORALE DIRECTOR

NELLY VUKSIC

Name: Nelly Vuksic

From: Argentina, but I have been “in music all my life”

I started teaching music in…1997

I started teaching at the Conservatory in… 2005

My inspiration: Music itself, in my family singing and playing music was a regular activity for all of us and I loved it. In addition, my first piano teacher opened to me a new world of classical music that increased my love and interest in it.

Few people know that I… have been active in different areas of music , as a pianist, music education teacher at all levels and as a singer, (Tangos and French songs with my husband at the piano before focusing in conducting. I think that making music and feeling a real connection with all its elements is one of the most healthy activities in life, physical, mental and emotionally.

Education: Rosario University (Argentina) Profesora Nacional de Musica – Music Education
Ball State University – Master of Arts, Conducting

I play and teach: Chorus and orchestra conducting , piano, voice

My or other artistic/musical endeavors: At the moment I direct the Brooklyn Conservatory Chorale , and teach voice and piano privately. In the past : Director of the Americas Vocal Ensemble, UN Singers, Chamber Chorus of New York, Coros del Tolima (Colombia) others. Guest conducting and collaborations: American Composers Orchestra, American Choral Directors, NY Choral Society, Village Chorale, Carl Orff Association, America Society and many others.

Among some of other music related activities I have done, I can mention conducting workshops on Latin American Music and on Music Education in Queens College, Friends Seminary, Pro-Musica Rosario (Argentina) and Ministerio de Cultura de Huelva (Spain), serving as a grant panelist for the NY Department of Cultural Affairs, Meet the Composer, North South Consonance and Americas Society and I have recorded Music of the Americas for Opus One, New Port Classics, Premier, and 4Tay Records.

email:nelly.vuksic@bkcm.org

Staff Directory

Back to top