Dr. Sue Barber

Sue Barber has served as Professor of Bassoon at James Madison University since 2000 and has been a member of the Artist-Faculty at the Brevard Music Center since 2004. An accomplished orchestral musician, she has performed with many of the leading artists of her generation in distinguished venues, including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center. 

Dr. Barber’s orchestral career has included positions with the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, Natchez Opera, Acadiana Symphony Orchestra, Hartford Symphony Orchestra, Connecticut Opera, and Sarasota Opera. Internationally, she served as Assistant Principal Bassoon of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia in Spain. She has also appeared as a regular substitute musician with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Rhode Island Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Florida West Coast Symphony Orchestra, and Santa Fe Chamber Orchestra. Additional festival appearances include the National Repertory Orchestra and the Banff and Sarasota Chamber Music Festivals. 

An active freelance bassoonist, Dr. Barber currently performs with CityMusic Cleveland Chamber Orchestra, the Brevard Music Center Orchestra, and the North Charleston Pops! Orchestra. Her regional engagements have included performances with Opera on the James, the Richmond Symphony, the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, and Opera Roanoke.  

As a soloist, chamber musician, and educator, Dr. Barber has performed and presented master classes throughout the United States, Europe, Brazil, and China. She has also served as a Visiting Professor at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, where she taught applied bassoon and presented master classes. Her appearances have included performances and presentations at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, International Double Reed Society Conferences, Virginia Music Educators Association Annual Conferences, the Midwest Clinic, the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition and Bassoon Symposium, National Flute Association conventions, and the International Alliance for Women in Music’s Annual Concert of Chamber Music by Women at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. She has appeared numerous times as a soloist and chamber musician at the Brevard Music Festival. 

Dr. Barber earned a Bachelor of Music in Bassoon Performance from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam, a Master of Music from The Juilliard School, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Louisiana State University. 

Dr. Lori Piitz

D.M., M.M. (Indiana University); BMus, (University of Ottawa, Canada); A.R.C.T., (Royal Conservatory of Music, University of Toronto), Certificate in Injury Preventive Piano Technique (Salem College). Piano professors with whom Dr. Piitz has studied include Menahem Pressler, Leonard Hokanson, Barbara Lister-Sink, Jean-Paul Sevilla, and Helgi Fatovic.

Pianist, Lori Piitz, has lived, performed and taught in both North America and Europe. Prior to moving to Virginia, Ms. Piitz lived in Germany for 9 years where she participated in recitals for the Wagner Society and the New Music Association of Germany, as well as at the International Flute Congress in Frankfurt. A frequent soloist with the Neusäss Chamber Orchestra, she also presented a cycle of Beethoven works for cello and piano, with Professor Helga Winold, in Munich and Augsburg. Ms. Piitz has been a guest at the Festival of the Sound in Canada, the Schleswig-Holstein and Villa Musica Festivals in Germany, and at the Mozart Bicentennial Series in Avery Fisher Hall, New York. She and her duet partner, Gabriel Dobner, have performed in Canada, Europe and the United States, including the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. In 2006 they returned to Germany to present recitals commemorating the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth.

Ms. Piitz holds a Bachelors degree in piano performance from the University of Ottawa where she was awarded the prestigious 'Isobel Firestone' performance scholarship. She received two full scholarships to the Banff Center of Fine Arts where she worked with Martin Isepp and Marek Jablonski. Ms. Piitz has been heard on both the French and English networks of CBC Radio, both as a soloist and chamber musician. She has been a winner in the Canadian Music Competitions (CMC) and was a finalist in CBC television's “Virtuoses en Herbe” Competition.

Since joining the piano faculty of James Madison University in 2002, Ms. Piitz has participated in the Contemporary Music Festival at JMU, the Bach Festival at EMU, the Richmond Chamber Music Festival and the Staunton Music Festival. Previous teaching engagements include the University of Ottawa, Indiana University, Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg and the Augsburg/Nürnberg Hochschule für Musik.

Emily Brebach

Emily Brebach joined the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) as English horn and Oboe in the fall of 2012.

Ms. Brebach, a Philadelphia native, has performed with several orchestras throughout the United States, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Kansas City Symphony, and the Houston Symphony.  Prior to joining the ASO, Ms. Brebach held the position of English horn and oboe with the Sarasota Orchestra.

Ms. Brebach holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory and Rice University's Shepherd School of Music and studied with Louis Rosenblatt, James Caldwell, Robert Atherholt, and Robert Walters.

She is a founding member of The Merian Ensemble, a quintet of Atlanta Symphony women musicians whose mission is to perform and commission works by women composers.  Both with the Merian Ensemble and as a soloist, Ms. Brebach has been featured multiple times on the NPR program Performance Today.  The Merian Ensemble's debut album, The Book of Spells, was released to critical acclaim in August 2024.

She is an Artist Affiliate Instructor of Oboe at Emory University, a faculty member of the Atlanta Symphony's Talent Development Program and maintains an active private studio in her home. Ms. Brebach has also given masterclasses and reed making seminars at schools such as the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Florida State University, the North Carolina School for the Arts, the University of Georgia, and Columbus State University.

She spends her summers in residence at the Brevard Music Center in Brevard, NC, as English horn and oboe as well as artist faculty, and as English horn at the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson Hole, WY.

Dr. Beth Chandler Cahill

Beth Chandler Cahill, Professor of Flute, enjoys an active career as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral player, and teacher. Praised for her musical versatility and colorful sound, Dr. Cahill has performed and presented at festivals throughout the United States and abroad, including engagements at National Flute Association Conventions, Mid-Atlantic Flute Conventions, the Midwest Clinic, and Música no Museu Festival Internacionale de Flauta, Oboé e Fagote in Rio de Janeiro, as well as universities nationwide.

As a soloist, she has performed at major venues throughout the world, including solo recitals at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., and the Portuguese Embassy in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She has won numerous awards and honors, including the top prize of the Flute Talk Competition, for which she was featured on the cover and in an interview in Flute Talk Magazine. Dr. Chandler has been a semifinalist in the Concert Artists Guild International Competition in New York City, National Flute Association (NFA) Piccolo Artist Competition, and the NFA Young Artist Competition, in addition to being a prizewinner in the NFA Masterclass Performers and Orchestral Audition Competitions. She has performed at the NFA Conventions in Orlando, Minneapolis, Washington, D.C., Las Vegas, Charlotte, New York City, Kansas City, Albuquerque, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Phoenix, Orlando, Boston, and Los Angeles. She has also been a featured performer at the Florida Flute Fair, Texas Flute Festival, and the Staunton Music Festival. She was the winner of the Myrna Brown Artist Competition and a recipient of the Mary Louise Remy Endowed P.E.O. Scholar Award. As a Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Chandler studied with Trevor Wye in Kent, England, as one of six students selected internationally. Other solo performances have included concerto appearances with the Dallas Chamber Orchestra, and closer to home, the James Madison University Symphony Orchestra, JMU Jazz Ensemble, and JMU Wind Symphony.

Prior to her faculty position at JMU, Dr. Cahill served on the faculty of the University of Florida, as a teaching assistant at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, and held teaching positions at the New England Conservatory Extension Division and the Boston Music Education Collaborative. Dr. Chandler maintained active private studios in Cincinnati, Boston, Waco, and Austin, Texas, in addition to presenting masterclasses and workshops throughout the United States. Her current and former students have enjoyed successes in regional, national, and international competitions, prestigious masterclasses and fellowships, as well as highly competitive summer programs, and have been accepted to top graduate programs. Many former students have attained college faculty and military band positions, jobs in public and private music education around the country, as well as internships and employment at arts centers and symphony orchestras nationwide. Dr. Chandler was honored to receive the 2016-17 JMU College of Visual and Performing Arts Distinguished Teaching Award.

She is a member of the Bluestone Winds, the faculty woodwind quintet in-residence at James Madison University. The ensemble performs both on and off campus, presents clinics in public and private educational settings, and has been featured at The Midwest Clinic in Chicago, the

Virginia Music Educators’ Association Conference, and in concert at the Kennedy Center. She frequently performs in various other chamber and large ensembles, including the Valley Wind Ensemble, as well as with regional orchestras.

She served as President of the National Flute Association from 2012 to 2014, having also served previously two years as Vice President. In addition to serving as a past member of the National Flute Association’s Board of Directors, she has also served as chair of the Commercial Members Committee, Nominating Committee, as a member of the Strategic Planning, Endowment, and Finance Committees, and as a judge for several of the NFA's annual competitions. She is the advisor for the JMU Flute Club and is also an active member of the Flute Society of Washington, for which she has served as Program Chair for the Mid-Atlantic Flute Convention.

A native Texan, Dr. Cahill received a Bachelor of Music magna cum laude from Baylor University as a student of Helen Ann Shanley, a Master of Music with Academic Honors from New England Conservatory, where she studied with Paula Robison, and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Flute Performance at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, with a cognate area in Arts Administration. Her other principal teachers include Jack Wellbaum (piccolo) and Trevor Wye.

She recently released TIME PLACE SPIRIT on the MSR Classics label, an album of music for flute and piano, with pianist Paulo Steinberg, which is widely available online and on CD. The stylistically broad program includes poignant works by Amirov, Chaminade, Karg-Elert, and Frazelle.

Beth Chandler Cahill joined the JMU School of Music faculty in 2001. She lives in the Harrisonburg, Virginia, community with her husband and twin teenage sons.

Please see bethchandler.com.

Dr. Šarūnas Jankauskas

Clarinetist Šarūnas Jankauskas enjoys a rewarding performance and teaching career. Most of his professional activities take place at James Madison University in Virginia, where he guides an enthusiastic group of aspiring young musicians, teachers and entrepreneurs. Jankauskas joined the faculty in 2016 and is dedicated to exploring new ways of addressing playing techniques, expanding teaching literature and maintaining a highly positive learning environment. He is a recipient of the 2023 Madison Vision Teaching Award, a campus-wide recognition that is solely decided by the students.

His performance engagements have taken him through Europe, Canada, Brazil and various regions of the United States. Jankauskas appeared as a concerto soloist with Boulder Chamber Orchestra, Round Rock Symphony, numerous collegiate ensembles and collaborated with accomplished artists, including St. Petersburg and Jasper String Quartets, pianists Domenico Codispoti and Johan Botes. He participated at International Conservatory Week Festival (St. Petersburg, Russia), Musicalis Daunia (Italy), SoundSpace at Blanton, Chamber Music at the Barn, KNOB Festival of New Music, Electroacoustic Barn Dance, International Clarinet Association’s ClarinetFests®, College Music Society’s National Conference and various composer/new music symposiums. He also has been a fellow in prestigious summer programs: Sarasota Music Festival, New Music Workshop of Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Round Top Festival-Institute and Texas Music Festival. His recent commissioning project focused on works for clarinet in various duo-partnership roles. After numerous premieres, it culminated in a digital and CD album Duos, released by Soundset Recordings in 2020. As a developing composer, Jankauskas has premiered a couple of his own works.

Dr. Jankauskas previously taught at Texas Lutheran and Wichita State Universities, in addition to serving as principal clarinetist of the Wichita Symphony Orchestra. He studied at the Academy of Music and Theatre in his native Lithuania, and, after moving to the U.S., received degrees from Grand Valley State University, Rice University and The University of Texas at Austin.

Visit Dr. Jankauskas’ YouTube playlist.

Ian Zook

Ian Zook is an active orchestral and solo performer and has appeared in concerts throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. He joined the faculty of James Madison University in 2009 and performs frequently with the Madison Brass and Montpelier Winds, both faculty ensembles in-residence at James Madison University. As soloist he has performed with numerous ensembles including the JMU Brass Band at the Kennedy Center, the JMU Wind Symphony, Percussion Ensemble, Chorale and KOR, the Charlottesville & University Symphony Orchestra, the Virginia Baroque Consort, and the Chamber Orchestra of Charlottesville.

Mr. Zook's orchestral experience is extensive and has included positions with the Princeton and Haddonfield Symphony Orchestras, and frequent performances as a substitute musician with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Pennsylvania Ballet and the Harrisburg, Richmond, Roanoke, Delaware, and Vermont Symphonies. He has performed under many of the world's premiere conductors including Valery Gergiev, Charles Dutoit, Neemi Järvi, Michael Tilson Thomas, Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, Osmo Vänskä, David Zinman, Leonard Slatkin, Zubin Mehta, and James Conlon.

He has also presented numerous solo performances and lectures at universities, including Penn State, University of Michigan, Central Michigan University, Western Michigan University, UNC-Greensboro, Western Carolina University, Virginia Commonwealth University, and UNC – Chapel Hill, as well as the annual South East and North East Horn Workshops and International Horn Symposium.

Mr. Zook holds degrees from the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill and the University of Michigan and attended the Verbier and Pacific Music Festivals, the National Orchestral Institute, Sarasota Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, and the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria.