The Community MusicWorks Staff
Lisa Barksdale
Program Coordinator, Daily Orchestra Program/Resident Musician
Lisa, a violinist, is originally from Atlanta, GA and migrated north to Rhode Island via a winding path through Wisconsin, St Louis, and Boston. Lisa earned her Bachelor of Music at University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she studied with Vartan Manoogian. After a year in St Louis, spent studying with violinist John McGrosso, she moved to Boston to study with Lucia Lin and earned a Master of Music at Boston University. In 2012, Lisa joined Community MusicWorks and grew firm roots in Rhode Island, as she became a wife, dog-mom, human-mom, and (amazingly) a winter person! Her role at CMW includes performing, teaching, coordinating the Daily Orchestra Program, supervising CMW’s mentors, and of course leading the occasional round of the Chicken Dance. Lisa can also be found performing with the Providence Baroque Orchestra. She enjoys ever-expanding her horizons and this year has joined the 2024/25 cohort of the Women’s Policy Institute of Women’s Fund RI.
Zan Berry
Resident Musician
Zan, a Providence based cellist and songwriter, is a passionate and creative musician who weaves together diverse musical interests in his work as a performer and educator. With a ceaseless curiosity for exploring new musical contexts for his instrument and collaborating with local artists across disciplines, Zan strives for a more creative, connected, and accessible arts community in Providence. Zan performs as a member of Verdant Vibes, a new music collective that brings together artists and musicians creating new work in a variety of genres, acoustic and electronic. Through his 2020 artist residency at the Music Mansion, founding PVD Cello Fest, and curating the Bach to the Future Marathon, Zan has designed concert experiences in Providence that have showcased the creative work of a variety of artists in the music scene. Zan performs around town as a singer-songwriter and with his experimental looping project, Cello Candy, and he has recently made his theatrical debut as Eamon in Wilbury Theater Group’s production of ONCE. Find more at zanberrycello.com.
Laura Cetilia
Resident Musician
Laura, a Mexican-American cellist, is at home with in-betweenness, straddling multiple worlds as cellist / composer / educator / artist while working within acoustic / electronic / traditional / experimental sound practices. Her compositions have been described as “unorthodox loveliness” (Boston Globe) and hailed as “alternately penetrating and atmospheric” (Sequenza 21). Her works have been performed by Slee Sinfonietta, TAK Ensemble, loadbang, Mivos Quartet, Splinter Reeds, Dog Star Orchestra, a.pe.ri.od.ic, LCollective, and others. The Grove Dictionary of American Music describes her electroacoustic duo Mem1 (established in 2003 with Mark Cetilia, electronics/ modular synth) as a “complex cybernetic entity” that “understands its music as a feedback loop between the past and present.” Laura is a former CMW fellow (2006-2008) continuing to teach and curate concerts until 2018 when she left CMW to attend Wesleyan University. She is currently pursuing her DMA in Music Composition at Cornell University and is also a proud mother of a CMW student who loves to draw.
Minna Choi
Fellowship Program Director / Resident Musician
Minna, violinist, is the Fellowship Program Director at CMW. A graduate of Brown University, Minna has been a resident musician since CMW’s opening season and was a founding member of the Providence String Quartet. She earned a Master of Music in Violin Performance from the Hartt School of Music, where she was a winner of the Miami String Quartet competition. Minna has performed with the Rhode Island Philharmonic and Boston Philharmonic, and with the Borromeo, Turtle Island, and St. Lawrence String Quartets and with violist Kim Kashkashian. Influential teachers include Katie Lansdale, Eric Rosenblith and Lois Finkel. Minna’s interest in education and music began in her undergraduate years, and she is passionate about music performance and education as a vehicle for youth development and community building. She lives in Providence with her husband, Sebastian Ruth, and two children. When not playing or teaching music, Minna enjoys trying out new recipes, practicing yoga, and exploring hikes in the New England area.
Elizabeth Cox
Director of Communications & Administration
Liz grew up in Boston and attended Boston University as a communications major until she quit to play drums and sing in a band. Her ensemble Combustible Edison recorded on the Subpop label, toured worldwide, and scored the film Four Rooms, collaborating with director Quentin Tarantino. Liz later quit showbiz, bought a fixer-upper in Pawtuxet Village and completed a Psychology and Women’s Studies degree at the University of Rhode Island. Liz volunteers for Vintage Pet Rescue, an organization that provides shelter and care for homeless senior, hospice, and special needs dogs. She often claims she will get back to writing short fiction “any day now.”
Destiny Deas
Administrative Assistant
Destiny is a South Providence native who has returned home after studying and experiencing the culture of New York City for five years. She is a multimedia creative with a passion for painting and fashion. Currently studying Business Management, she hopes to incorporate both passions into one and run a successful business someday. She works as an Administrative Assistant at CMW, a place close to her heart, where she previously attended from 2013-2017 and learned to play the violin. Although she is not actively playing violin anymore, Destiny fell in love with the mission and the community at CMW, making it the perfect place to grow and help the organization further achieve its mission. With a unique set of skills and a passion for creativity and innovation, Destiny is poised to make a mark in the world of business and beyond.
Kimberly Fang
Resident Musician
Kimberly, violinist, is a native of Florida and was always curious about what else the world had to offer. Once she got a taste of the transformative power of music as a teen, she was determined to bring that same awe-inspiring experience to the next generation. She graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Music in violin performance and music education and earned a Masters in Violin Performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Before coming to CMW, Kimberly lived in Taipei, teaching English and freelancing as an opportunity to learn more about her heritage and to expand her teaching experiences. She is also active in the New England area, playing with several orchestras and teaching at various other schools. In her spare time, she loves to sing and was part of a collegiate a cappella group, the Northwestern University Treblemakers.
Jesse Holstein
Associate Director / Senior Resident Musician
Jesse Holstein, violinist and violist, has been a Resident Musician at CMW since 2001. He was a founding member of the Providence String Quartet, the original ensemble in residence at CMW. Prior to studying with Marilyn McDonald at Oberlin and James Buswell at New England Conservatory, he worked with Philipp Naegele and Diana Peele in his native Western Mass. Jesse is currently concertmaster of the New Bedford Symphony. He has performed at the Bravo! Festival in Vail, Colorado, the Montana Chamber Music Festival, the Bay Chamber Concerts, the Worcester Chamber Music Society, The South Coast Chamber Music Series, the Rhode Island Chamber Music Concerts, and the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, among others. Jesse has been a Violin Professeur at L’Ecole de Musique, Dessaix Baptiste in Haiti and is currently on the faculty at Brown University. Some of his life forces are mindfulness, running, animals, CMW, and visiting Donegal, Ireland with his amazing partner, violinist Ealaín McMullin.
Becca Kasdan
Resident Musician
Becca, violinist, is equally passionate about teaching, performance, and community engagement. Currently, Becca is a Resident Musician at CMW and a Teaching Associate at Brown University where she teaches applied violin lessons and coaches chamber ensembles. Becca received a DMA at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where she studied with Meg Freivogel of the Jupiter String Quartet and taught applied violin lessons and chamber music. Previously, Becca studied with Violaine Melancon at McGill University and the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. During the summer, Becca is a violin faculty member at Luzerne Music Center and the Easton Chamber Music Festival. She has presented masterclasses at the Paul Rolland String Pedagogy Workshop, ASTA National Conference, Tonebase Violin, Virginia Tech, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and DePauw University. Prior to CMW, Becca was a Core Teaching Artist with Apollo’s Fire- the Cleveland Baroque Orchestra. Becca Kasdan is the recipient of the Johns Hopkins President’s Commendation for Achievement in the Arts and currently serves on the Board for the Volunteer Musicians for the Arts.
Hilary Jansen
Director of Philanthropic Engagement
Hilary has spent over fifteen years in arts administration and education. Prior to joining CMW, she spent ten years at Yamaha Artist Services in New York, where she managed projects and publicity for Yamaha artists, pianos, partners, and venues nationwide. Concurrently, Hilary earned a doctoral degree in Musicology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Her dissertation asks how the fate of a symphony orchestra’s artistic and social relevance hinges on a series of distinct artistic, managerial, structural, and philosophical choices, and looks to how the orchestral institution can actively engage with the experiences of its community in order to create a musical platform for social justice. Hilary lives in Providence with her husband, Ricky, and their two sons, Sai and Ash.
Chloë Kline
Education Director / Resident Musician
Chloë Kline, violist, is CMW’s Education Director. Chloë’s practice focuses on the intersection of creative youth development, equity and inclusion, and the field of classical music. She believes deeply in the importance of inquiry and creative practice for young people as individuals and as community members. She holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in viola performance from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, where she was a student of Martha Katz. Chloë earned a Master’s degree in Arts in Education from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education in 2005, and joined CMW the following year as a member of the Fellowship Program’s pilot class. Chloë is also a faculty member with the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles National Institute.
Willy Kubas
Family Engagement Coordinator
Willy is a vocalist, producer, and music educator. They received a BM in Voice (Contemporary Improvisation) at The New England Conservatory in 2020. They have attended programs at The Banff Center, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. They are currently working on “almond,” crossing their interests into a solo music project.
Walter Muelling
Teaching Artist
Walter, a violist, joined the staff of CMW in the fall of 2021. He holds a BME in both general and instrumental music education from the University of Wisconsin — Oshkosh, a MM in Music Education from Boston University, and is in his fourth year at the University of Rhode Island earning a Ph.D. in Education specializing in Teaching, Learning and Development in PreK-12 Contexts. He has a diverse musical background including multi-genre, non-traditional, and improvisatory styles and has previously taught in Wisconsin and Alaska.
AlexisMarie Nelson
Program Coordinator / Associate Resident Musician
AlexisMarie was born and raised in Providence, Rhode Island. In 2012, she graduated from Community MusicWorks after six years of studying violin and eventually viola with Jesse Holstein. It was during this time that she developed a true love and respect for music and the way it connected the worlds around her. In the years since graduating, Alexis has journeyed to explore both her love of music and early childhood development by studying viola performance with John Sumerlin and Leonard Matczynski at Rhode Island College and the Boston Conservatory of Music at Berklee, respectively, spending two years in AmeriCorps through Ready2Learn Providence, and as a certified teacher’s assistant in Pre-K classes throughout the city. She has most recently spent two years as a CMW Alumni Fellow and as a teaching artist with the Newport String Project. Alexis is looking forward to using her unique perspective as an alumni to connect, create, and dream with the current students at CMW.
Liesl Quigley
Development Associate
Liesl graduated from Oberlin Conservatory in 2022 with a BM in Vocal Performance. During her studies, she became passionate about nonprofits and their capacity to create community through the arts. When she is not in her role as Development Associate, she continues to sing throughout the area and enjoys exploring Providence’s wonderful arts scene.
Kelly Reed
Managing Director
Kelly has 23 years of experience managing non-profit organizations, including A Far Cry Chamber Orchestra, and Emmanuel Church in Boston. In addition to management, Kelly has taught humanities courses, including music history, at Northeastern University and the Art Institute of Boston. She was a member of the Community Advisory Board of WGBH, and currently serves as Board Vice President of Emmanuel Music. Kelly was a 2015 Fellow of Arts Leaders as Cultural Innovators sponsored by the Rhode Island Foundation. As an amateur pianist and organist, Kelly frequently participates in CMW’s annual Bach Marathon.
Bryony Romer
Institutional Relations
Bryony has over 30 years of experience in fundraising, organizational development, strategic planning, and project management. She works both with arts and education organizations deeply rooted in local communities and national performing arts and service organizations. In addition to Community MusicWorks, her clients have included the American Theatre Wing, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Chamber Music America, Dances For A Variable Population, Hook Arts Media, Jacob’s Pillow Dance, Jalopy Theatre and School of Music, Local USA 829/United Scenic Artists, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Twyla Tharp Dance Foundation, and the Writers Guild Initiative.
Sebastian Ruth
Founder & Artistic Director / Resident Musician
Sebastian is a musician, educator, and organizer whose work explores roles for music making in society today. As CMW’s Founder & Artistic Director, Sebastian has worked alongside colleagues to create musical experiences and programs that are always evolving and responding to the needs of young people and the world around us.
As a violinist and violist, Sebastian is a member of the MusicWorks Collective. He was a founder member of the Providence String Quartet at CMW and has had the opportunity to collaborate with the Borromeo, Kronos, Muir, Miro, Orion, and Turtle Island String Quartets, and musicians Emanuel Ax, Jonathan Biss, Kim Kashkashian, Frank Rosenwein, and Johnny Gandelsman.
Among his mentors and inspiring teachers, Sebastian is grateful to have learned from Rolfe Sokol, Eric Rosenblith, Lois Finkel, Maxine Greene, Ted Sizer, and others.
In addition to his work at CMW, Sebastian serves as a Visiting Lecturer at the Yale School of Music, created an online course “Music and Social Action” on the Coursera platform for over 20,000 learners, and was a 2010 MacArthur Fellow. In 2019 Sebastian was honored to participate in the RISD Museum’s show “Raid the Icebox II,” curating exhibits with original musical content. Sebastian’s TedX talk “Music, Community, and Creating Space for Unexpected Possibilities” is available online.
Sebastian is married to violinist Minna Choi and is a father to two awesome children.
Lisa Sailer
Resident Musician
Lisa Sailer, violist, directs all of the ensembles in CMW’s Daily Orchestra Program. As an Alexander Technique teacher and Paul Rolland-certified string teacher, Lisa incorporates body awareness and freedom of movement into her string teaching, and is passionate about helping musicians learn to prevent playing-related pain and injury. She has been a guest Alexander Technique teacher and music Teaching Assistant at the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music in New Hampshire. Her Alexander Technique practice has led her to teach workshops from Alaska to Florida and many places in between, and more recently, to work one-on-one with CMW faculty members. Lisa currently serves on the American String Teachers Association’s Wellness Committee. Before joining CMW, she taught strings in several programs throughout the Boston area and was a Teaching Artist Fellow in the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s META (Music Teachers/Teaching Artists) Fellowship’s first cohort. Lisa earned a Bachelor of Music in violin performance from SUNY Purchase and a Master of Music in viola performance from The Boston Conservatory. When not playing or teaching music, she can be found training her cats to perform elaborate tricks such as using an inhaler, playing the organ, and dancing the hokey pokey.
Erik Talley
Luthier / Events Technical Coordinator
Erik is a violist, strings teacher, and luthier who has been repairing instruments for CMW since the early 2000’s. He has taught instrument repair techniques to CMW fellows and is preparing to expand the program to CMW students. He has been working as a Luthier since 1999 and runs his own shop in the Providence area. In 2022 Erik began working as CMW’s Building Manager, handling maintenance and day-to-day operations of CMW’s Westminster location and now works with event tech set-up. Erik also serves as the Recreation Director for the Woonasquatucket River Watershed council, leading canoe and kayak trips, hikes, and bike rides to increase community engagement with the river.
Adrienne Taylor
Resident Musician
Adrienne, cellist, draws inspiration from collaborations with other artists in music, theater, and dance. Performance collaborations include Trinity Repertory Company, Newport Contemporary Ballet, the Kronos Quartet, the Sphinx Virtuosi and Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble. Adrienne has written, performed and improvised music with dancer/choreographers Danielle Davidson, Heidi Henderson and Shura Baryshnikov. A recipient of the MacColl Johnson Fellowship for composition, Adrienne wrote Lullabies for string quartet, premiered by the MusicWorks Collective in their 2023-24 season. Adrienne’s work as a performer and composer directly inspires her work coaching the CMW Youth Alliance, a youth-led ensemble where young musicians and teachers rehearse and perform intensively together, playing chamber music, improvising, and telling stories through music.
Miguel Vásquez
Resident Musician
Miguel, a cellist, is an active performer and educator in the New England area. Miguel has participated in several music festivals, including the Tanglewood Music Center in 2017 and the Youth Orchestra of the Americas, where he was part of their 2009 – 2013 tours, as well as in their Carnegie Hall concert in 2010. Miguel graduated with a Bachelor of Music in 2014 from Longy School of Music of Bard College and Emerson College in Boston, where he studied with Boston Symphony Orchestra cellist Mihail Jojatu. In 2016, he graduated with a Master’s degree in Cello Performance from the New England Conservatory where he studied with Borromeo Quartet cellist Yeesun Kim.