Music School Faculty and Staff
About Our Faculty and Staff
The Lighthouse teaching staff is comprised of highly accomplished professionals whose academic credits include degrees from America's most respected conservatories and university schools of music, including The Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music and the Boston Conservatory of Music, among others. Former students include the accomplished musician, Jose Feliciano.
Performing and enjoying music are life-enhancing activities with profound connections to intellectual development and spiritual well-being for people of all ages. Through high-quality instruction, varied performance opportunities and state-of-the-art technological support, The Filomen M. D'Agostino Greenberg Music School can help you develop your musical talents to the fullest.
Leslie Jones, Executive Director of the Music School, holds a DMA from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and an MM from the University of North Texas. She has served on the faculties of Ithaca College and Montana State University. A frequent clinician, she is acclaimed nationally for her workshop, "Jazz and the Classical Pianist." At the Lighthouse, she has been instrumental in developing an assistive music technology center, and expanding community outreach and the visibility of the Music School. |
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Svetlana Avezbakiyeva (Comprehensive Music Program for Young People, Braille music, piano) received her Bachelor's degree in music education from The City University of New York, Queens College. She is also a graduate of our Music School. |
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Philip Bowditch (guitar, lute, bass, banjo) is a versatile performer and teacher. Experienced in studio, film and club work, he offers students the opportunity to explore commercial music options in addition to studying classical guitar. |
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Anthony Falaro, Assistant Director (guitar, music technology) received his BM and MM degrees in composition from the Boston Conservatory of Music. He studied guitar privately with Vincent Berdice of The Hartt School of the University of Hartford and composition at Berklee College of Music. |
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Gerald Gewiss (wind instruments) holds a BS from The Juilliard School, has pursued graduate studies at the City University of New York and professional studies at The Embouchure Clinic. His teachers have included William Vacchiano, Murray Karpilovsky and Carmine Caruso. |
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Alejandra Lagos (Comprehensive Music Program for Young People, piano) holds a BM in piano performance from The Boston Conservatory and a MA in Music Education from New York University. She has studied with pianists Jonathan Bass and Seymour Bernstein. She has performed as soloist and chamber musician in Boston, New York and Mexico City. |
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Katharine Flanders Mukherji (flute, recorder, piano) holds a BA from Harvard University. Among her teachers are Samuel Baron, James Pappoutsakis, Tom Nyfenger and Franz Bruggen, with whom she studied Baroque performance practice. She studied chamber music performance with Leon Kirchner. As a fellowship recipient, she studied flute in Paris with Michel Debost and musical analysis with Nadia Boulanger. She has recorded on the Mode and CRI labels. She is principal flutist in the Riverside Orchestra. |
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Dalia Sakas (piano, chorus, Coordinator of the Comprehensive Music Program for Young People) received her BM from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, MM from the Manhattan School of Music and DMA from the University of South Carolina. She is also an adjunct professor at William Paterson University in New Jersey. |
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John Sanfilippo (assistive music technology) holds a BA in music education from Adelphi University. He has performed with the Lighthouse Singers, The Lance Hayward Singers, and in several solo and joint Kramer concerts. |
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Charlotte Surkin (voice) is a professional Voice Teacher and Vocologist. She has successfully completed Vocology Internships at the Grabscheid Voice Center at Mt. Sinai Hospital and the Vox Humana Laboratory at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital, both in New York where she continues to collaborate with otolaryngologists and speech pathologists in the remediation of voice disorders (such as nodules, polyps and muscle tension dysphonia). In addition to chairing the voice department at the Lighthouse Music School, she is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ and a voice instructor at New York University's CAP21 musical theater department. She is also the 2nd alto soloist at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan. Ms. Surkin has a Bachelor of Music Education from Temple University, an MA in Music from NYU; a Certificate in Opera from the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria and an apprenticeship from the Santa Fe Opera Company. Go to www.charlottesurkin.com for further information. |
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Marc Wagnon (percussion, jazz, music technology, Comprehensive Music Program for Young People) has toured the United States, Europe, and Japan as a percussionist and vibraphonist. He can be heard on over 20 recordings, which reflect his interest in varied contemporary forms. For more information, visit www.buckyballmusic.com |
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| Administrative Assistants: Maria Rios, Aoife Stack |