2026 Faculty Artists
Joshua Zona - Music Director
Throughout the country conductor Joshua Zona is gaining increasing recognition for his inspired performances, commitment to education and dedication to community involvement that are the hallmarks of a successful 21st-Century conductor. As Music Director of the Rapides Symphony Orchestra in Alexandria, Louisiana, Mr. Zona has led the orchestra to new heights of artistic excellence, audience involvement and organizational growth. Joshua Zona is currently in his eighth year as Music Director of the Rapides Symphony in Alexandria, Louisiana. Mr. Zona has also held conducting positions with the Symphony of Southeast Texas, Southeast Texas Youth Symphony and the Muncie (Indiana) Symphony. He is also the founding music director of the Renova Music Festival in western Pennsylvania.
Mr. Zona's conducting engagements abroad including performances with the St. Petersburg (Russia) Academic Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg (Russia) Chamber Orchestra, the Constanta (Romania) Symphony , the Puebla (Mexico) State Symphony, San Remo (Italy) Symphony, and return engagements with the City of Grossetto Symphony in Tuscany, Italy and EurOrchestra in Bari, Italy.
A native of New Castle, Pennsylvania, Mr. Zona started piano study at the age of 7 and made the Horn his principal instrument while in high school. He earned Bachelor's degree from the Ohio State University, continued graduate studies in Horn at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and conducting at Ball State University. Maestro Zona also holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Michigan State University. He is a part-time faculty member at Louisiana State University - Alexandria.
Carol Chung - Violin & Alexander Technique
Lauded for her “heartfelt delicacy” (Raleigh News & Observer) and for performances that “pack an emotional wallop” (CVNC.org), violinist Carol Chung is founding first violinist of the Lyricosa Quartet, Concertmaster of North Carolina Opera, and a certified Alexander Technique teacher. She has also been playing with the North Carolina Symphony, serving as either an acting section or substitute violinist since the fall of 2000. In the summers, she performs with the Colorado Music Festival based in Boulder's Chautauqua Park.
An avid chamber musician and coach, Chung is a chamber music coach for the North Carolina Chamber Music Institute and the Lamar Stringfield Music Camp in Raleigh, NC. She was a founding member of the piano quartet Quercus from 2009-2017, performing across Central North Carolina. She has also appeared on the North Carolina Symphony's Manning Chamber Music Series and the Colorado Music Festival's Chamber Music Series. Previous summers were spent at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival/Yale Summer School of Music, the Sarasota Music Festival and the Kent/Blossom Music Festival, working and performing with members of the Tokyo and Vermeer Quartets, Ani Kavafian, William Preucil, Joseph Silverstein, and members of the Cleveland Orchestra.
As an Alexander Technique (AT) teacher, Chung has conducted workshops for the Chamber Music Intensive at the Center for Musical Arts in Lafayette, Colorado, as well as for students and teachers of the school districts of Durham and Wake County Public Schools in North Carolina. She also maintains a private teaching studio, working with students of varying levels of AT experience, from AT teacher trainees to beginners.
Chung received both her bachelor's and master's degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with David Updegraff and Bernhard Goldschmidt. She received her Alexander Technique teacher training from Robin Gilmore and the guest faculty of Chesapeake Bay Alexander Studies in Greensboro, NC, earning her teaching certification in 2012. She continues to deepen her understanding of the Alexander Technique through post-graduate studies with senior, second-generation teacher Tommy Thompson.
Matt Pickart - Viola
Matt Pickart is a violinist, violist, famiolist, and pedagogue in multiple styles. He is the Artistic Director and creator of Clazz International Music Festival in Arcidosso, Italy. He has the distinct honor and privilege of having performed at both Jazz at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Music Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. He has also been featured in performances at the Cremona Summer Music Festival, Jazzstadt Stuttgart, Gulangyu Concert Hall, Estonian Academy of Music and Theater, and Juilliard’s Paul Hall among others. As a soloist, he has appeared with orchestras in the USA, Canada, Italy, and the Netherlands. Other career highlights include performances with The Who, Barry Manilow on tour; The Vogues, and Josh Groban as concertmaster; and as principal violist for Bernadette Peters, and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
He is currently a touring electric violinist and violist with The Rock Orchestra throughout United States and Canada. As a classical orchestral player, he has performed with premier ensembles, including the Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica “Città di Grosseto”, Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra, Missouri Symphony Orchestra, Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Alabama Symphony Orchestra, and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.
In addition to classical and contemporary music, Pickart has performed, improvised, and recorded in multiple genres including bluegrass, blues, choro, country, flamenco, folk, hip hop, indie rock, jazz, klezmer, mariachi, punk, rock, and tango.
Matt is lucky to count some of the great luminaries of the music world, among his teachers, such as: Sidney Harth (legendary American concertmaster); Yuri Gandelsman (former principal violist of Israel Philharmonic and violist with the Fine Arts Quartet); and Rodney Whitaker (bassist of Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.)
Dr. Pickart served as Assistant Professor of Music, Director of Chamber Music, and taught violin, viola, improvisation, and music entrepreneurship at Webster University in Saint Louis. He has also served on the faculties of Beloit College, University of Missouri-Saint Louis, Jazz St. Louis, Chamber Music Pittsburgh, Okemos Suzuki, the City Music Center of Duquesne University, and the Community Music Schools of Michigan State University and Webster University. In the summers he is a faculty member of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Summer Music Clinic, Renova Music Festival, and Clazz, where he teaches violin and viola and conducts the Clazz Chamber Orchestra.
For further information, please visit www.mattpickart.com
Susan Nelson - Bassoon
Susan Nelson is the Associate Professor of Bassoon and Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Studies at Bowling Green State University (BGSU), Ohio, and enjoys an active career as a performer, teacher, and clinician. Dr. Nelson is an advocate for new music as well as chamber music for the bassoon, and is the Director of the non-profit organization Bassoon Chamber Music Composition Competition (BCMCC). She has also taught bassoon and theory at Stephen F. Austin State University and played with the Stone Fort Wind Quintet in Nacogdoches, Texas. In the summer Dr. Nelson teaches at various camps, including BGSU’s Double Reed Camp and The Renova Festival. She has performed with the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria, Michigan Opera Theatre, Shreveport Symphony Orchestra, Toledo Symphony Orchestra, Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra, Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, Adrian Symphony Orchestra, and Helena Symphony, among others. She has also given solo performances at the International Double Reed Society Conferences in Redlands (CA), Oxford (OH), New York, Appleton (WI), and Tokyo, Japan. Dr. Nelson taught at both Adrian (MI) and Heidelberg (OH) Colleges and was a member of the Heidelberg faculty wind quintet. She also held the position of principal bassoon in the Great Falls Symphony and was a member of the Chinook Winds quintet in Great Falls, Montana. She can be heard on Elements, a CD release from the BCMCC through the MSR Classics label, which features the winning works from the 2012 and 2014 BCMCC competitions. Dr. Nelson is a graduate of the University of Kansas, the University of Oklahoma, and the University of Michigan. Her primary teachers include Jeffrey Lyman, Carl Rath, and Alan Hawkins.
Laura Motchalov - Violin
Canadian violinist Laura Motchalov joined the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra during the 2003-2004 season. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree and Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music and a Master of Music degree from the Cleveland Insitute of Music.
Laura comes from a very musical family. Her father is a violinist, and her brother is a pianist. She began studying the violin at the age of four and by the age of six, was accepted into the Mount Royal College Conservatory of Music program in Calgary. As a teen, she won many awards at the local, provincial and national levels. She won the Provincial Grand Prize award in Alberta in 1997 as well as prizes at the Austrian-Canadian Mozart Competition and the Canadian Music Competitions. In 2001, she won Second Prize at the Corpus Christie International Concerto Competition in Texas.
Throughout the years, she has participated in many summer music festivals such as the Indiana String Academy, Music Academy of the West, Aspen Music Festival, Keshet Eilon, Spoleto USA, National Repertory Orchestra and the Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival. She has studied with William Preucil, Linda Cerone, Zvi Zeitlin, Oleh Krysa, Edmond Agopian, Steven Bryant and Dr. Lise Elson. She has also studied chamber music with members of the Ying Quartet, Cleveland Quartet, and the Cavani Quartet.
Laura is very active as both a chamber musician and soloist. Locally, she often collaborates with other members of the PSO and is also a member of the new music ensemble, IonSound Project. In the past, she was a member of the Atlantica trio in Rochester and toured New York State and New Jersey. She has appeared as a soloist with the Calgary Civic Symphony Orchestra, the National Repertory Orchestra, and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
When not playing the violin, Laura enjoys hiking in the mountains, biking, running, reading and trying new restaurants
Kenneth Long - Clarinet
Clarinetist Kenneth Long is currently associate professor of clarinet and woodwind coordinator at Georgia State University. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, a Master of Music degree from Yale University where he was awarded the prestigious Thomas Daniel Nyfenger Prize for most outstanding woodwind performer, and a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Ohio State University.
He enjoys a multifaceted performing career including orchestral, chamber music and solo engagements. He currently serves as clarinetist/bass clarinetist with the Utah Festival Opera Orchestra and has performed with many of the Southeast's preeminent ensembles including the Atlanta, Sarasota and Charleston Symphony Orchestras. He is a founding member/principal clarinetist of the Atlanta Chamber Winds (heard on Albany Records), principal clarinetist of the contemporary chamber ensemble Bent Frequency, and has been a guest artist on numerous occasions with the Atlanta Chamber Players.
Dr. Long's appearances abroad have included solo and chamber music performances in Germany, Greece, China, Canada and Mexico. Recent conference and symposium highlights include solo performances at the San Francisco Festival of Contemporary Music, National Association of Composers/USA East-Coast Chapter Conference in New York City, Indiana State University Contemporary Music Festival, College Music Society National Conference in Portland, OR, and a solo recital at the Society of Composers, Inc. National Conference in Atlanta. A recognized scholar on the music of Elliott Carter, he presented lecture-recitals on Carter's solo clarinet work Gra at the 2009 International Clarinet Association ClarinetFest® in Porto, Portugal and at the 2009 College Music Society Southern Chapter Conference at the University of Central Florida. Dr. Long has performed several of Carter's works in the presence of the composer-most notably his Clarinet Concerto in New York City under the baton of Charles Neidich.
Prior to his arrival at Georgia State, Dr. Long was an active freelance clarinetist performing with several orchestras in the New York City area including the American, New Haven and Princeton Symphony Orchestras, among others. He has performed professionally at every major concert venue in NYC including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center and Symphony Space. Live chamber performances have been heard on WNYC-New York and WABE-Atlanta. He has served as principal clarinetist with the Breckenridge Music Festival Orchestra and the Ashlawn Highland Opera Orchestra, and was a fellowship recipient at the Aspen, Tanglewood, National Repertory Orchestra and Norfolk Music Festivals. Primary teachers include James Pyne, David Shifrin and Charles Neidich.
Upcoming recording releases include Rites of Passage featuring the solo clarinet music of the late Donald Erb and his protégés Paul Osterfield and Nickitas Demos on the MSR Classics label, and Odysseia featuring premiere recordings of chamber works by George Tsontakis, Christos Samaras, Theodore Antoniou and Demos on the Albany label.
Sheryl Hadeka - Horn
Sheryl Hadeka is currently second horn in the Pittsburgh Opera and the assistant librarian of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. She is also the orchestra librarian and manager for the Music in the Mountains Festival in Durango, CO, where she performs as a horn player as well.
Sheryl has held playing positions in orchestras such as the Buffalo Philharmonic, Omaha Symphony, Tucson Symphony, and Louisiana Philharmonic on top of being a substitute horn for the Pittsburgh Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Dallas Symphony, and others.
As a devoted teacher, Sheryl has taught at SUNY Buffalo State, University of Nebraska Omaha, and Loyola University New Orleans. She has also maintained a private studio of students who have gone on to attend prestigious programs at Indiana University, the Eastman School of Music, Northwestern University, and the New World Symphony.
Sheryl Hadeka grew up in Vermont and started on piano at the age of 5. When asked to pick an instrument for band, she chose the French horn and decided that she wanted to be a professional musician in high school. She attended the Eastman School of Music and received a Bachelor’s of Music degree in Horn Performance and Music Theory and then continued with a Master’s of Music in Horn Performance at Southern Methodist University.
Andrew “Gio” Giordano - Violin
A native of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, Gio began playing the violin at the age of five. In 2022, he joined the Pittsburgh-based, forward-looking Beo String Quartet. As a member of Beo, Gio has taken part in several recording projects including 131, a classical concept album featuring Beethoven’s momentous Opus 131 string quartet. Gio also tours with Beo and gives dozens of performances, masterclasses, and educational concerts for chamber music societies and music festivals across the United States every year. Before joining Beo, he was a founding member and performed with the award-winning Altius Quartet for nine seasons. As a member of Altius, Gio won prizes at chamber music competitions and toured internationally in Europe, Asia, and Australia.
Gio holds a Bachelor of Music in violin performance from Indiana University where he studied with Kathleen Winkler, Federico Agostini, and Koichiro Harada of the Tokyo String Quartet. After graduating from Indiana, he went on to complete his Master of Music degree at Southern Methodist University under the tutelage of the late Emanuel Borok. From 2014 2017, Gio and the Altius Quartet held the position of Fellowship String Quartet-in Residence at University of Colorado Boulder and were mentored by the Takács Quartet.
In addition to performing, Gio is a passionate teacher. He has more than two decades of teaching experience and has taken several graduate-level pedagogy seminars and Suzuki Method teaching courses. Gio and his wife Nathália Kato have a private teaching studio together at their home in Pittsburgh and actively perform as a violin/piano duo under the name “Duo Pragma.” Gio is also highly sought-after as an orchestral musician and is Principal 2nd violin of the Erie Philharmonic where he has also served as Guest Concertmaster.
Recently, he also served as guest Principal 2nd violin for both the Lakeside Chautauqua and Westmoreland Symphony Orchestras. Gio plays on a Gaetano Gadda violin, and a bow made by David Samuels.
Evan Drachman - Cello
Cellist Evan Drachman, Founder and Artistic Director of The Piatigorsky Foundation, has combined musical talent with artistic vision to create a rich and varied career. Mr. Drachman spends much of his time performing recitals, concerti and chamber music in the United States and abroad. As Artistic Director of The Piatigorsky Foundation, he has become one of this country’s most respected authorities on the presentation of live classical music to diverse audiences. The Foundation’s mission is to make live classical music a part of the fabric of everyday life for underserved communities throughout the United States. The organization is named for Mr. Drachman’s grandfather, cellist Gregor Piatigorsky.
Mr. Drachman received his BMA from The Curtis Institute of Music in 1988. His teachers have included Luis Garcia-Renart, Orlando Cole, Laurence Lesser, William Pleeth and Stephen Kates. In 1994, Mr. Drachman performed with the Odessa Philharmonic in Odessa and Kiev. In 1997, at the invitation of Mstislav Rostropovich, Drachman traveled to Russia to perform as soloist with the St. Petersburg Symphony under Maestro Rostropovich.
In 1999, Drachman recorded his first CD, A Frog He Went a Courting, with pianist Richard Dowling. The Baltimore Sun’s Steven Wigler wrote of the recording: “Drachman possesses in abundance two qualities for which his grandfather was revered: the ability to make the cello imitate the human singing voice and, even more important, the ability to tell a story.” Following this success, Drachman and Dowling released two more recordings titled, Infinity in 2004 and Romance and Revelation in 2007. Evan Drachman’s newest CD, Full Circle was recorded with pianist Victor Santiago Asuncion on June 30th and July 1st, 2012 in Mechanics Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts.
This season, Drachman will be performing repertoire including works by Beethoven, Bruch, Saint-Saens, Faure and Ravel. On the travel schedule, both the United States and Mexico will be featured.
Evan Drachman currently lives in Maryland with his wife Joan and their two sons, Eli and Oliver.
Mingyao Zhao - cello
Recognized for her passionate, artistic, and dynamic performances Mingyao Zhao has performed extensively as a soloist and recitalist in China, the United States, Canada, South Korea, and Poland. During the 2022-23 season she performs Lynn Purse’s Watershed as soloist with the Erie Philharmonic as well as Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with the Lakeside Symphony Orchestra. She also makes chamber music appearances with “Stars in the Classics” and City Music Cleveland. In the fall of 2023 she will perform as a featured artist with The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus at Severance Music Center. Ms. Zhao has performed with superstar violinist Vadim Gluzman at the North Shore Chamber Music Festival in Chicago as an Arkady Fomin Young Artist Award recipient and has been winner of numerous prizes including the bronze medal at the IX Carlos Prieto International Cello Competition, winner of the Cleveland Institute of Music concerto competition, recipient of the Aldo Parisot Award, the silver medal at the Texas Young Artist Music Competition, and first prize in the Haydn Competition at CelloFest in Fort Worth. Ms. Zhao is a member of the Canton Symphony Orchestra and frequently performs as acting principal cello. She was formerly principal cello of the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra and has appeared as a substitute with The Cleveland Orchestra and the Akron Symphony among many other orchestras. In addition to a busy performing career Ms. Zhao also teaches cello on the faculties of The College of Wooster and Oberlin Community Music School. Formerly, she has taught at The British School in Beijing, Texas Christian University, and at the Yale University School of Music.
Simon Ertz - Viola
Simon Ertz is principal viola of the Winston Salem Symphony and plays as a regular substitute in both the Charlotte and North Carolina Symphonies. Simon also regularly performs as principal viola with both the North Carolina Chamber Orchestra and North Carolina Opera. He has appeared as soloist with the Winston Salem Symphony and regularly performs on the Greensboro Symphony Chamber Music Series. After graduating from the Royal Northern College of Music Simon worked with orchestras across the UK including the BBC Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the Northern Chamber Orchestra. As a member of the Degas Quartet from 2002 until 2010, Simon has performed in venues across the country including appearing as guest artists at the Aspen Music Festival, the Chicago Chamber Music Society and at the Library of Congress where he performed on the Tuscan Medici Stradivarius.
Since moving to North Carolina, Simon completed a Doctoral of Musical Arts at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro and now teaches at UNC Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University. He plays a viola made by his brother, Neil Ertz.
Leah Forsyth - Oboe
Leah Forsyth serves as the Assistant Professor of Oboe at Northwestern State University, and holds the positions of Principal Oboe with the Rapides Symphony Orchestra in Alexandria, LA, and Second Oboe with the Texarkana Symphony. She performs regularly with the Shreveport Symphony as well as other orchestras throughout Louisiana and Texas. Prior to joining the NSU faculty, she served as an Oboist with the United States Army Field Band in Washington DC.
Professor Forsyth is a founding member of the Three Reeds Duo with husband and saxophonist Paul Forsyth. Three Reeds has performed internationally, and commissioned many new works featured on their two albums, Signals Cross (2016) and Metamorphosis (2019), available on all streaming platforms.
A native of Central Ohio, Ms. Forsyth holds a B.M. from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory and an M.M. from Florida State University where she studied with Dr. Mark Ostoich and Dr.Eric Ohlsson respectively. When not making reeds, Leah can be found gardening and being an animal rescue advocate.
Kathryn Umble - Flute
Kathryn Thomas Umble greatly enjoys connecting with audiences as a performer as well as helping other flutists grow in their musical journey. She is principal flute of the Warren Philharmonic Orchestra and Opera Western Reserve and holds the piccolo position with Youngstown Symphony Orchestra. She has performed with the Erie Philharmonic and as guest principal flute with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, and National Flute Association Gala Orchestra, among others.
Umble has presented recitals in Europe and throughout the United States, including venues such as Alice Tully Hall and Symphony Space, New York City, and the Milhaud Society at the Cleveland Institute of Music with members of the Cleveland Orchestra. She was featured guest artist of the Pittsburgh Flute Club, concerto soloist with Warren Philharmonic Orchestra, guest artist in recital with the Aurista Ensemble in New York City, recitalist in numerous National Flute Association conventions, and winner of the Pittsburgh Concert Society Major Auditions Competition.
Kathryn Umble holds degrees from University of Michigan, Bowling Green State University, and Michigan State University and was awarded the Prix d’excellence for Outstanding Musicianship from the Fontainebleau School of Music, France.
Dr. Umble has served on the faculties of Youngstown State University, Bowling Green State University, and Grove City College. She has given many masterclasses and presentations including Penn State University, Michigan State University, University of Florida, National Flute Association, Ohio Music Education Association, and served as competition judge for the Flute New Music Consortium and National Flute Association, among other organizations and schools. She conducted the Dana Flute Ensemble in full concert at Ohio Music Education Association Conference in Cincinnati and National Flute Association Conventions in Pittsburgh and New York City.