Visual Arts Instruction
Catherine Montgomery
Ithaca born artist Catherine Montgomery is a published botanical and scientific illustrator who's works have been published in Biology for Engineers, and has been awarded the Artists Crossroads Grant to create multicultural children's storybook art for public...
David Estes
My friend Ted and I shared a common purpose: “In the end it is about everything. Everything human that can be fit into it - passions and doubts, incapacities and sensualities, concepts and curiosities. Our work is about how little we can know, and how powerful that...
Irina Kassabova
Irina studied Fine Arts at Veliko Tarnovo University in Bulgaria, from where she was originally. Her father was also an artist and a university professor and gave her the first serious lessons in drawing and art. She came to the United States more than twenty years...
Rachel Feirman
Rachel Feirman is a digital and traditional freelance artist located in Upstate NY. She finds inspiration most often from the beauty and vibrancy found in her natural surroundings. Rachel hopes that her twists on the many aspects of our environment help to bring a...
Rose Tirrito
Rose Tirrito is an artist and educator living in central New York. She holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in art education and has spent many years teaching art across various ability levels and stages of development. Her pedagogical approach is informed by...
Maureen Jakubson
Maureen Jakubson is a Mixed Media Artist, Fabric Designer, and Art Cloth Maker. Born in Maine, she moved to Ithaca in 1983 to begin practice as a pediatric therapist and Fiber Artist. In recent years, Jakubson has concentrated on developing graphic impact with Shibori...
Jennifer Gibson
Jennifer Gibson is an artist who works in watercolor, gouache and oils. She studied fine arts at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, PA. Now she illustrates, does studio paintings as well as plein air, and teaches adults in upstate NY. Her work is available to see online...
Ryan Abb
Ryan Abb is a graphic novelist and collagist with a gift for finding humor, simplifying complicated subjects, creative combination, and establishing a rapport with students. His current dream is to capture imaginations with a sci-fi cartoon starring a clumsy kid from Indonesia who gets caught up in a team of aliens.
Rob Licht
Rob’s work delves into the significance of place in our lives; on the influences of the land, where we choose to live and the associations of memory, longing, and spiritual well being to those places. He typically works in welded steel; but also in wood, cement, bronze as well as digital photography and drawing.
Jessica Peery
Jessica Peery brings creativity to every aspect of her life. With a passion for personal growth and exploration through art, this mother of five brings playfulness and patience while teaching students of all ages and abilities. As an undergraduate at Cornell...
Jessica Baron Warner
Jessica Baron Warner received a BFA from SUNY Purchase with a concentration in painting and drawing. Before graduating, she spent a summer studying in Italy, which continues to have an impact on her painting.
Music Instruction Faculty
Ryan Peterson
Ryan Peterson is an award-winning jazz guitarist, band leader, educator, and recent transplant to Ithaca, NY. Since moving to New York, Ryan is quickly becoming an in-demand guitarist and had the pleasure of leading his quartet as the opening act on the main stage at...
Laik Uticone
Meet Laik Uticone, a dynamic and passionate young music instructor who brings a fresh and innovative approach to music education. Born with an innate love for melody and rhythm, Laik has cultivated a deep understanding of various musical genres from a young age. Laik...
Kaitlyn Beasley-Zeitler
Kaitlyn Beasley-Zeitler (she/her) is a Junior Performance student at Ithaca College with nearly 10 years of experience on the bassoon and a special interest in reed making. She has studied and performed a multitude of styles, ranging from early baroque to jazz and...
Caitlin Glastonbury
Caitlin Glastonbury, soprano, is currently based in Ithaca, New York. They earned a Bachelors of Music in Voice Performance from Ithaca College under the tutelage of professor Marc Webster. Caitlin sings with a number of groups in the Ithaca community, including...
Gizelxanath Rodriguez
Gizelxanath Rodriguez is an internationally renowned vocalist, cellist, guitarist and educator. She is fluent in five languages (Spanish, Portuguese, English, French, and Italian). Her musical work spans a range of styles and cultures. Recently relocated to Ithaca...
Dr. Josh Oxford
Visit Dr. Josh Oxford to get your cure for a variety of music maladies! At CSMA, Dr. Oxford teaches classes and private lessons in jazz, music technology, music theory, and beat making. Electronisist, Dr. Josh Oxford, born in 1985, is a composer, arranger, and...
Charlotte Sienkiewicz
Ms. Charlotte is from the greater Washington, D.C. area and is currently in her last semester at Ithaca College studying flute under Dr. Wendy Mehne. She has been playing flute for 14 years and has fallen in love with teaching it throughout her years at IC. Outside of...
Marie Plouffe
Marie Plouffe (she/her) graduated from Ithaca College with a Bachelor's in Music Education in 2023. She has been playing trumpet for 13 years, ranging in styles from orchestral to musical theater. She completed her student teaching at Trumansburg Middle School and...
Ashley Ickes
Ashley (she/her) graduated with a BM in Music Performance, Jazz Studies from Western Michigan University in 2013. She has been performing professionally and teaching private and group lessons for well over twenty years. With experience in many styles including rock,...
Jennifer Lawrence Birnbaum
Jennifer Lawrence Birnbaum is a music teacher, choral director, performer and event coordinator with music education degrees from Ithaca College and Columbia University. In addition to serving on the faculty of the Community School of Music and Arts, she also teaches at Namaste Montessori School and sings with the Cayuga Vocal Ensemble.
Amy Opperman Cash
B.A. Piano, Ithaca College. Attended High School of Music and Art, NYC. Studied with Kendall Taylor in London, England. Over twenty years teaching experience.
David Allen Coester
David Allen Coester has been teaching the guitar to people of all ages and abilities for more than 25 years — formerly at the Crestwood Music Education Center in Westchester County and in his private studio in downtown Ithaca.
Ed Cohn
Ed began his musical journey early, starting on clarinet at age 9. He soon moved on to saxophone, guitar, and piano and gained experience on trombone, French horn, and flute before falling in love with singing and opera.
Hayden Frank
Hayden Frank was born and raised in Ithaca, where he became active in music and theater at a young age. Drawn to the deep grooves of ‘60s and ‘70s R&B/Soul music, he picked up the bass as a teenager and studied under local legend Doug Robinson, until departing for...
William Hurley
William Hurley is an Ithaca-based violinist/violist, teacher, and luthier. Violin – M.M., Violin Performance, Ithaca College. B.A. in Violin Performance, University of South Carolina.
Nolan Miller
Pianist Nolan Miller grew up in Ithaca, and is active in the area as a teacher and performer. He holds a BM in piano performance from Houghton College; an MM from Syracuse University; and a DM from Florida State University, where his major professor was Read...
Christopher Morgan Loy
Composer-pianist Christopher Morgan Loy has a catalog of compositions which includes works for piano, voice, chamber ensembles, chamber orchestra, full orchestra, and chorus. He earned the Doctor of Musical Arts in composition from Cornell University where he studied composition with Pulitzer Prize-winning composers, Karel Husa (1969) and Steven Stucky (2005).
Zaun Marshburn
Zaun Marshburn has been a professional drummer and percussionist since 1993. He has traveled throughout the U.S. and abroad playing in venues large and small such as The Bowery Ballroom in NYC opening for Julianna Hetfield, and The Haunt in Ithaca, as well as in many area schools. He can be heard playing with several groups including Wingnut, Black is Green, and MSZM.
Jan Nigro
Jan Nigro is a co-founder, songwriter for, and performer with Vitamin L, a youth choral group which performs extensively year-round at schools, education conferences, festivals, and camps. He is also the founder and musical director of Mostly Motown and has been an Artist in Residence (Songwriter) for the Empire State Arts Partnership Program in conjunction with the Hangar Theater and the Ithaca City School District.
Karen Melamed Smith
Karen Melamed Smith studied piano and composition at the Music Institute of Chicago while growing up and has taught piano and various music and movement classes in similar community schools in NYC and at CSMA for many years.
Gerald Slevin
Specializing in teaching students how to play and sing simultaneously and employing an easy-going, creative, song-oriented pop/rock approach, Gerald has taught for over 12 years both one-on-one and in groups with students of all ages. To help each student uncover...
Dance Instruction
Ryan Peterson
Ryan Peterson is an award-winning jazz guitarist, band leader, educator, and recent transplant to Ithaca, NY. Since moving to New York, Ryan is quickly becoming an in-demand guitarist and had the pleasure of leading his quartet as the opening act on the main stage at...
Danielle LaGrua
Danielle LaGrua is a dancer, choreographer, and improvisational performer who has studied modern dance at High Tech High School, Rutgers University, Cornell University, and Broadway Dance Center. Danielle performed in Cornell University’s Locally Grown Dance and Mini...
Meredith Conroy
Meredith Conroy is a multi-talented individual with a passion for movement, education, and healing. With a solid educational foundation, she holds both a BS and MS from Ithaca College in physical therapy, demonstrating her commitment to understanding the intricacies...
June Seaney
June Seaney is a professional Middle Eastern Oriental (Belly Dance) and Romani (Gypsy) Dance Instructor, Performer, Choreographer and Historian. June is an instructor and performer of Turkish Oryantal (Belly Dance) and Egyptian Raqs Sharqi as well as Romani Dances...
Elizabeth Livesay
B.A. Theater, Cornell University. Studied dance for 27 years. Has performed and choreographed locally for the Hangar Theater, Kitchen Theatre, Firehouse Theatre, and Cornell Savoyards. 20 years of teaching experience. Currently on the dance faculty at Ithaca College.
Theatre Instruction
Holly Adams
Holly Adams has been a Performer and Teaching Artist for many years, and loves every second of it. As a performer and SAG-AFTRA member, she divides time between film, original pieces with her physical theatre company Kakeru, audiobook narration and other Voice...
Elizabeth Livesay
B.A. Theater, Cornell University. Studied dance for 27 years. Has performed and choreographed locally for the Hangar Theater, Kitchen Theatre, Firehouse Theatre and Cornell Savoyards. 20 years of teaching experience. Currently on the dance faculty at Ithaca College.
Lynn Winters
Lynn Winters has been in the Performing Arts for over 30 years. Originally from the Finger Lakes area, graduated from Mansfield University with an Education Degree in Voice and 2 weeks later moved to New York City. There, she studied Acting at Herbert Berghof Studio...