Outreach & Education

Mariel Reynolds joined the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra as the ASO Community Catalyst in October 2006. This position with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra comes after several years experience in volunteer management, publicity, recruiting and assessment with Alpha Kappa Psi Professional Business Fraternity and Talent Zoo, Inc.

Mariel, an Atlanta native, studied violin for 12 years with Stefanie Graef, and obtained a B.S. in Business Administration (Marketing) and a B.A. in Communications (Public Relations) from The American University in Washington, D.C. Mariel’s experience also includes two years of public relations, volunteer, and project management with The American Red Cross and the D.C. office of Brodeur World Wide (an international public relations firm).

Aaron P. Dworkin is the Founder and President of the Sphinx Organization, a national arts organization that focuses on youth and minority involvement in classical music. An accomplished electric and acoustic violinist, he received his Bachelors of Music and Masters of Music in Violin Performance from the University of Michigan School of Music, graduating with high honors. A member of the Golden Key, Phi Kappa Phi and Pi Kappa Lamda National Honor Societies, Mr. Dworkin is a recipient of the MLK Spirit Award. He previously attended the Peabody Institute, the Philadelphia New School and the Interlochen Arts Academy, and has studied with Vladimir Graffman, Berl Senofsky, Jascha Brodsky, John Eaken, Renata Knific, Donald Hopkins and Stephen Shipps. Additionally, Mr. Dworkin studied piano with Robert Alexander Böhnke in Tübingen, Germany.

In addition to his academic credits, Mr. Dworkin has produced and recorded two CDs entitled Ebony Rhythm and Bar-Talk. He has also transcribed works for electric strings and developed Electric String 201, a college-level preparatory course in electric string performance. In addition, he has authored a collection of poetry entitled They Said I Wasn't Really Black and produced and directed a movie entitled Deliberation.

Given his extensive artistic background, Mr. Dworkin has been an invited lecturer on the topic of career development in classical music at the University of Michigan's School of Music. He is also an active keynote speaker for arts and community organizations, and has been invited to speak on the topic of diversity in the arts at numerous events, including national conferences for the American Symphony Orchestra League, National Suzuki Association, National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts, and National Association for Negro Musicians. His writings have been featured in various publications, including Andante, an on-line music industry magazine. In addition, Mr. Dworkin has served as a panelist on various arts committees, including the Arts Organization Development Committee of the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, the MetLife Awards for Excellence in Community Engagement, the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies and Arts Presenters. Mr. Dworkin's expertise in the arts field has resulted in board membership with various organizations, including the University Musical Society in Ann Arbor, MI, the Board of Visitors of Walnut Hill School, the Advisory Board of the ASTA 2003 Alternative Strings Awards, the Advisory Board of the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum, and the Board of Directors of ArtServe Michigan. Finally, Mr. Dworkin was recognized by SBC Ameritech as a recipient of their Excellence Awards for his accomplishments in the field of education, by the University of Michigan's African-American Alumni Council as a recipient of the 2002 5 Under 10 Award, and by the Detroit News as one of the 2003 Michiganians of the Year.

Carla Johnson was appointed President and Executive Director of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra in March, 2004. She spearheaded the strategic planning process, which resulted in the adoption of a five-year Strategic Plan in March 2005, and balanced the operating budget for the third consecutive year. Ms. Johnson oversaw the construction of the 2005-2006 season, which added three new series in the new Ferguson Center for the Arts at Christopher Newport University in Newport News; the new series helped push sales to an institutional record of over a million dollars in subscription sales. Having worked for over nine years with the Saint Louis Symphony Community Partnership Program, it is her particular goal to bring community engagement to Hampton Roads, and to that end she has begun a number of initiatives in schools, churches, and other community centers in the area.

Ms. Johnson is currently serving on the Collaborative Data Project Task Force and is an alumna of the Mellon Orchestra Forum.

Ms. Johnson received a B.A. in Honors Political Science and French Language, with an equivalent of a dance minor, from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Her Masters in Arts Administration is from Brooklyn College.

With husband John Hickox and daughter Zoë, Ms. Johnson resides in Norfolk, Virginia; son Ian is off at the University of Virginia. While Carla Johnson is completely devoted to music and organizations which make the music, her passion is gardening because plants either live or die, but they don’t negotiate.

Julie Ayer is Assistant Principal second violinist with the Minnesota Orchestra. She was a member of the Houston Symphony for a brief period before coming to Minneapolis. She is a founding member of the Hill House Chamber Players, based in St. Paul, now in its 20th season.

In 1999 she arranged a three-month exchange with retired Sydney Symphony principal second violinist Gary Andrews. She has organized numerous Twin Cities benefit concerts, most notably Symphony for Survival in 1984, which featured members of the Minnesota and St. Paul Chamber Orchestras and other Twin Cities musicians. Speaker Garrison Keiller, conductor Neville Marriner and pianist Emanuel Ax also participated. Ms Ayer was active in the Minnesota Orchestra Adopt-A-School program for many years. She performed with the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra in the summer of 2000, in numerous Sommerfest chamber concerts, and is a former ICSOM representative.

In June of 2005 she and pianist Edie Orloff presented their second annual concert in San Clemente, California at the Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens.

Her immediate family includes her husband, Carl Nashan, retired violinist of 34 years with the Minnesota Orchestra, stepchildren Erica and Jeffrey Nashan, and five grandchildren, Andrew, Eolyne and Rosie Arnold, Keegan and Cole Nashan.

Aaron P. Dworkin is the Founder and President of the Sphinx Organization, a national arts organization that focuses on youth and minority involvement in classical music. An accomplished electric and acoustic violinist, he received his Bachelors of Music and Masters of Music in Violin Performance from the University of Michigan School of Music, graduating with high honors. A member of the Golden Key, Phi Kappa Phi and Pi Kappa Lamda National Honor Societies, Mr. Dworkin is a recipient of the MLK Spirit Award. He previously attended the Peabody Institute, the Philadelphia New School and the Interlochen Arts Academy, and has studied with Vladimir Graffman, Berl Senofsky, Jascha Brodsky, John Eaken, Renata Knific, Donald Hopkins and Stephen Shipps. Additionally, Mr. Dworkin studied piano with Robert Alexander Böhnke in Tübingen, Germany.

In addition to his academic credits, Mr. Dworkin has produced and recorded two CDs entitled Ebony Rhythm and Bar-Talk. He has also transcribed works for electric strings and developed Electric String 201, a college-level preparatory course in electric string performance. In addition, he has authored a collection of poetry entitled They Said I Wasn't Really Black and produced and directed a movie entitled Deliberation.

Given his extensive artistic background, Mr. Dworkin has been an invited lecturer on the topic of career development in classical music at the University of Michigan's School of Music. He is also an active keynote speaker for arts and community organizations, and has been invited to speak on the topic of diversity in the arts at numerous events, including national conferences for the American Symphony Orchestra League, National Suzuki Association, National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts, and National Association for Negro Musicians. His writings have been featured in various publications, including Andante, an on-line music industry magazine. In addition, Mr. Dworkin has served as a panelist on various arts committees, including the Arts Organization Development Committee of the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, the MetLife Awards for Excellence in Community Engagement, the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies and Arts Presenters. Mr. Dworkin's expertise in the arts field has resulted in board membership with various organizations, including the University Musical Society in Ann Arbor, MI, the Board of Visitors of Walnut Hill School, the Advisory Board of the ASTA 2003 Alternative Strings Awards, the Advisory Board of the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum, and the Board of Directors of ArtServe Michigan. Finally, Mr. Dworkin was recognized by SBC Ameritech as a recipient of their Excellence Awards for his accomplishments in the field of education, by the University of Michigan's African-American Alumni Council as a recipient of the 2002 5 Under 10 Award, and by the Detroit News as one of the 2003 Michiganians of the Year.

Nathan Kahn is a Negotiator for the Symphonic Services Division of the American Federation of Musicians. He has been with the AFM since 1988. In that position, he negotiates, advises and assists in the administration and negotiation of symphony orchestra contracts in the United States, and occasionally in foreign countries. He has negotiated hundreds of collective bargaining agreements on behalf of Locals of the AFM, including 6 comprehensive first-time collective bargaining agreements, and provided varying levels of assistance in the administrations of collective bargaining agreements to over 250 different bargaining units, nationwide and abroad. Nathan gives lectures to students at colleges and conservatories across the US on the subjects of symphony orchestra career preparation, and the role of the American Federations in those future careers. He also administrates the American Federation of Musicians Symphony Audition Complaint Hotline, assisting musicians internationally with difficulties they encounter in symphony orchestra auditions.

Nathan has been a member of the string bass section of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic (formerly the Colorado Springs Symphony) since 1991. Previously he was the Principal Bassist of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, and an active recording musician in Nashville, recording for such artists as Charlie Daniels, Roger Whittaker, Roy Clark, Sandi Patti, Dan Fogelberg, and many other recording, television and film productions. He was a faculty member of Tennessee Technological University and for 15 years at the Sewanee Summer Music Center. Prior to coming to Nashville, he was Principal Bassist with the Tulsa Philharmonic Orchestra, and also served on the faculties of the University of Arkansas, the University of Tulsa, and Oral Roberts University. He has, among others also performed with the Memphis Symphony, Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Chattanooga Symphony and Opera Orchestra, Colorado Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Aspen Festival Orchestra.

Prior to coming to the American Federation of Musicians, he was Founder and is President Emeritus of Regional Orchestra Players’ Association (ROPA).

He has written numerous articles for the International Musician and other national publications on musician and symphony orchestra related issues, and participated in national panels addressing a variety of problems related to these areas.

Nathan is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, with a degree in Music Education.

In his limited spare time Nathan enjoys hiking, cross-country skiing, bicycling, cooking and collecting pop music from foreign countries.

Larry Scripp, Ed.D., is an accomplished researcher, educator, program developer, and administrator. After graduating with a Bachelor of Music from Boston University, Larry Scripp spent his time as a performing musician and entrepreneur, conducting chamber orchestras and contemporary music groups, jazz ensemble, and composing music for dance, film, and musical theater.

Shortly after the birth of his first daughter, Dr. Scripp combined his interests in teaching and research by becoming a faculty member in Undergraduate Theoretical Studies and Solfege at New England Conservatory and a cognitive psychologist of music and researcher at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he studied cognitive psychology, learning technology, and literacy, and where he eventually received his doctorate in Human Development and Psychology in Education. Beginning in 1988, he published articles on the development of music theory programs and skill development from the perspective of professional training in music and as a researcher in the field of arts, literacy, and human development at Harvard Project Zero, where he contributed to numerous publications investigating young children's symbolic development, musical perception, music reading skill development, musical representation, giftedness, and the development of computer-supported curricula in the arts and humanities.

Currently, Dr. Scripp performs two roles at New England Conservatory. As Founding Chair of the Music-in-Education (MIE) Program, he is responsible for the creation and administration of a new concentration in education, a guided internship program, and an electronic portfolio evaluation system for performance majors and composers participating in a wide variety of educational contexts.

As Founding Director of the new Research Center for Learning Through Music at New England Conservatory, Dr. Scripp is responsible for the design and implementation of research-based "Learning Through Music" School Programs in urban public schools, and serves as the executive editor of the NEC’s [i]Journal for Learning Through Music[/i]. In addition, Dr. Scripp now is a founding member and principal investigator for the Music-in-Education National Consortium, a coalition of schools of music and education, arts education organizations, and arts-based school reform organizations that support program development and research focused on the evolving role of music and the arts in American public schools. The MIENC has formed the Learning Laboratory School Network, dedicated to the identification and further development of research-based music in education programs in public school communities.

Over the past three years, Dr. Scripp has teamed up with Ken Freed in Minneapolis to form the Learning Through Music Consulting Group, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing services in the areas of curriculum design, teacher professional development, and documentation and assessment practices for schools dedicated to creating and sustaining authentic, comprehensive and interdisciplinary music programs for the benefit of all children’s cognitive, aesthetic, academic, aesthetic, social, and personal development. Dr. Scripp has published many articles on music’s evolving role in education (see [l=http://www.music-in-education.org]music-in-education.org[/l] ) including his acclaimed essay on the current status of research on music learning and its relation to academic achievement and social development. (An Overview of Music and Learning) appearing in the Critical Links Compendium ([l=http://www.aep-arts.org]aep-arts.org[/l] ).

Kenneth Freed joined the Minnesota Orchestra in 1998 after nearly five years as a member of the Manhattan String Quartet. Since coming to Minneapolis, Freed has been music director of the Kenwood Symphony Orchestra. His interest in children's music education has led him to found a non-profit company, Learning Through Music Consulting Group, which seeks to put music at the center of all children’s education.

Previous to 1998, Freed performed with the New York Philharmonic as a substitute in the viola section. From 1992 through 1994 he was principal violist of the Richmond Symphony. Freed also served as conductor of the Norwalk (Connecticut) Youth Symphony for two years and was assistant conductor of the Greater Richmond Youth Symphony.

Freed holds degrees in literature and music from Yale University. He and his wife, Gwen, have three children: Zachary, Nellie, and Jonah. Freed was recently appointed a Minnesota Orchestra assistant conductor for the 2005-06 season. In the fall of 2006, Freed will be assuming the position of Music Director for the Mankato Symophony, in Mankato, MN.

Frank Babbitt is currently a member of the Lyric Opera Orchestra. Mr. Babbitt received a B.A. in Theatre and Music from Lawrence University and completed a Masters in Violin Performance at S.U.N.Y Stony Brook. He has performed with the Chicago Symphony, the Grant Park Orchestra, Music of the Baroque and many other organizations in Chicago.

As a chamber musician he has appeared as a guest with members of the Vermeer quartet and Orion Ensemble. In 2001 he gave the world premiere performance of Ralph Shapey’s “Night Music II” for violin, viola and tape, a performance the Chicago Tribune called “…a tour de force of dexterity and timing.”
Also trained singer, Mr. Babbitt has been a member of the Chicago Symphony Chorus and recently made his Grand Teton Music Festival debut in a performance of Samuel Barber’s "Dover Beach".

He has served on the faculties of Lawrence University, SUNY Stony Brook and the Merit School of Music.

Eric Bertoluzzi is a native of western Pennsylvania, where he received the Bachelor of Music degree from Duquesne University in 1968. After performing in orchestras in Youngstown OH, Wheeling WV, Johnstown PA, and Huntsville AL, he completed a three-year tour of duty in the US Army. In 1971 he joined the Denver Symphony. In 1990, Eric was appointed to the position of Education Director for the Colorado Symphony, in which he served until 1998. He received the prestigious “Mayor’s Award for Excellence in Arts Education” in 1994.

Eric is the co-founder of Up Close and Musical (UCAM), an ensemble of symphony musicians that has given over 800 performances for more than 300,000 young people and adults throughout the state of Colorado during the past 18 years. The program has expanded its spectrum of activities to include endeavors such as beginning strings instruction, classroom preparation for UCAM performances, chamber music coaching, arts and academics integration projects, and a number of other educational programs.

In his 35th year as a cellist with the Colorado Symphony, Eric is also active in his community on behalf of the arts. He has served as chair of the Englewood Cultural Arts Commission since 1998 and is currently vice-chair of the Englewood Cultural Arts Center Association. He has conducted several concerts with the Up Close and Musical ensemble and the Fort Collins Symphony, and has served as conductor of many collaborative performances involving the David Taylor Dance Theatre and the Museum of Outdoor Arts. This past July, he designed and conducted the Colorado Symphony’s youth concerts during a statewide tour.

Englewood Arts and the Englewood Schools are in the 4th and final year of a federally-funded program (Progressive Education in Arts and Academics for Kids) designed to integrate arts and academics. The same partners have just been awarded $1,000,000 by the US Department of Education for the “New Frontiers of Arts in Education” program, which is to be implemented in the Englewood Schools, as well as in two rural districts. Eric oversees the participation of musicians in these innovative projects.