Jennifer has 4 years of formal education in music and 28 years of applied experience in teaching, performing, choir directing, talent promoting, and musical directing.

Jared Krogmann has been teaching at the Arizona Music Academy since 2010.  Jared has a Bachelors Degree in Music education from St. Ambrose University in Iowa. Jared plays piano, organ, saxophone, trumpet, clarinet, and flute along with studies in other brass and woodwind instruments. Jared teaches all beginner- advanced woodwind and upper brass wind instruments, along with beginning level lower brass. Jared also teaches upper level theory.  Jared marched seven years with Drum and Bugle Corps in the Midwest.

Anna-Lisa Hackett is a sought after coloratura soprano currently based in Phoenix. She received her degree from the prestigious Eastman School of Music in New York and has sung numerous times with the Eastman Opera Theater, Minnesota Opera, The Centro Studi Italiani Opera Festival, and most recently with the Phoenix Opera as the title role of The Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute, as well as Frasquita in Carmen. She has also performed the roles La Fata Azzurra in La Bella Dormente nel Bosco and as Sister Constance in Dialogues des Carmelites of which she was acclaimed by reviewers to have “revealed a luminous voice, and sang with ease and spontaneity.” She has won many competitions and has been a featured soloist with the St Paul Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Nicholas McGegan as well as with the Eastman Collegium and most recently with the Phoenix Symphony in which she was invited to be a guest soloist in The Messiah and their New Years Eve concert.

Ms. Hackett is equally comfortable with musical theater and has played leading roles in many productions including Marian in The Music Man, Laurie in Oklahoma, Margy in State Fair, Rapunzel in Into the Woods, and Mrs. Gardiner in the premier production of Pride and Prejudice.

Ms Hackett has been teaching for 6 years and now works with Arizona Music Academy as of 2010. She Teaches piano and flute and specializes in beginner, intermediate and advanced voice. She enjoys teaching all levels and ages and works to make music a fun and rewarding experience.

Kaarin Safsten has taught voice lessons for 10 years and is in her seventh year teaching collegiate music courses. She currently teaches music courses and voice lessons at Chandler-Gilbert Community College in addition to teaching at Arizona Music Academy and maintaining a private studio in Mesa. Ms. Safsten has sung several operatic roles, including Fiordiligi (Cosi fan tutte), Marie (Wozzeck) and Electra (Idomeneo). She has also sung, recorded, and toured the United States as a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. She is an active member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) and served as secretary in the local Valley of the Sun NATS Chapter for two years (2008-2010). Ms. Safsten holds a Master of Music (Voice) and Performance Diploma in Professional Opera Studies from Indiana University and a Bachelor of Music Performance and Pedagogy (Voice) from Brigham Young University.

Sean Brogan is a recent graduate from the Herberger School of Music at ASU. As a Jazz Performance major, Sean’s education focused heavily on Theory, Performance, Ear Training, Arranging, Composition, and Improvisation. While at ASU Sean had the opportunity to perform in many exceptional ensembles including ASU’s Latin Jazz Band, Concert Jazz Band and various small ensembles. For his Senior recital many original compositions were presented and represented the many musical influences throughout his life. After graduating in May 2010 with honors (Magna Cum
Laude), Sean has pursued his career as a freelance musician. Being well versed in many musical styles has led Sean to work alongside other great artists such as Frank Marocco, Fred Forney, Nick Manson, Margo Reed, Barb Catlin, Lynne Timmes, and many others. Sean currently holds the principal bassist position for the Phoenix Children’s Chorus and is a former member of the Sedona Jazz on the Rocks youth band.

Under the study of Dr. Kimberly Marshall at Arizona State University, Ashley completed her Master of Music Degree in Organ performance.  She was also a member of the ASU Baroque ensemble and studied with Professor Russell Ryan as a collaborative pianist.  A graduate of the Robert Cook Honors College at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Ashley holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education and has worked with elementary and high school ensembles.

Ashley grew up in the small town of Tidioute, Pennsylvania , where she began her music career singing in the children’s choir in her church.  She has loved working with the children and youth of St. Barnabas for the past several years and will enjoy serving as the Interim Organist & Choirmaster at St. Barnabas for 2010-2011.

Adam Ferguson has studied guitar privately and graduated from Mesa Community College with an Associates Degree in Music/Business.  While attending school Adam recorded local artists in studio  and studied music copyright, publishing, and licensing laws.  Adam also studied music theory.

Adam has been playing guitar for eight years and plays in many genres and styles.  Adam teaches private lessons with Arizona Music Academy for electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bass, and ukulele.

When not teaching Adam works at East Valley Music Center assisting customers with their needs and questions about musical instruments, audio equipment, and music accessories.  Adam also helps repair and fix musical instruments at East Valley Music Center.

Shane Walker

He began playing trombone at 11 years old and throughout his Junior High and High School years  received many State awards and performed at various community events. Shane Walker has played and studied drums since he was 5 years old and is proficient on digital drum kits as well as acoustic drums. Shane is currently a professional performing drummer in an Arizona based stage band. Shane teaches beginner, intermediate, and advanced drum lessons at Arizona Music Academy.

Shane also began playing guitar and bass at age 5 and teaches group and private classes for classical guitar method, electric guitar, acoustic guitars, A/e, and bass guitar, electric and acoustic guitar lessons for beginner, intermediate, and advanced guitar and bass lessons for all genres and styles of music.

Charles Watson has taught at Arizona Music Academy since 2003.

Charles Watson has studied guitar privately and is currently attending Mesa Community College as a music major. He has been a professional performing guitarist and recording artist since age 9. In 2006 Charles taught guitar at Center for Educational Excellence and taught guitar and drums at Grand Canyon Preparatory private charter school. He is currently performing in two Arizona based stage bands and is an acclaimed performing Classical Guitarist. Charles Watson has a CD album released with Universal Records Platinum Plus label in Spring 2008.

Charles teaches group and private classes for traditional classical guitar method, electric guitar, acoustic steel and nylon string guitars, A/e, and bass guitar, electric and acoustic, guitar lessons for all genres and styles of music. Charles’ annual music recitals are live-performance concerts featuring bands and other performing groups formed from among Charles’ students along with solo student performances.

Charles teaches beginner, intermediate, and advanced guitar and bass, and drum lessons at Arizona Music Academy.

Tory Edwards was born near Chicago, Illinois and lived there until moving to Phoenix, Arizona at an early age. He is forever a Cubs and Bears fan. Tory is a versatile musician who is a classically trained violinist and is also accomplished on the viola, guitar, bass, mandolin, piano, and drums. Additionally, Tory is noted as an arranger and studio musician.

Tory began playing violin at age seven and soon was adding percussion and bass. He was accepted as a private student of Dr. Max Mandel, studying Suzuki violin. Throughout elementary and high school, he continued to play and won several awards and scholarships. He played both violin and percussion with the Phoenix Youth Symphony for several years before attending Glendale Community and Phoenix Colleges where he studied music theory, piano and violin and earned a music scholarship from Phoenix College.

Tory plays a wide variety of music from jazz to rock to country, has recorded with various artists, and has appeared in concert locally and throughout the United States. He frequently plays in venues in Arizona, California and Nevada. He has performed in Las Vegas and at the House of Blues in Hollywood. Additionally, he has played in concert and recorded with the 80s hard rock band Flotsam and Jetsam and is featured on the CD “My God”. He has also played with various country western groups such as AK Corral, the Danny Griego Band, Surefire and a Rush tribute band. He has worked with Tanya Tucker, and has opened for musicians such as George Straight, Chris Ladoux, and Michael Schenker.

If there is something that Tory loves as much as music, it’s Disneyland. He is a big fan of Walt Disney and Disneyland having been born on July 17th, a day he celebrates with the theme park’s birthday.

Tory has taught violin, guitar and drums at the Arizona Music Academy in Tempe, AZ since 2009.

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Skully has been with Arizona Music Acadmey since 2007 and teaches guitar, bass, drums and ukulele. He is also a guitar technician and is in music sales at East Valley Music Center.

Guillermo Ontiveros was born in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. He graduated from the University of Sonora with Bachelor in Arts degree in Music and Voice. He was selected for the 2007 George Solti Accademia di Bel Canto, and offered three concerts in Memory of Maestro Solti in Castiglione Della Pescaia, Italy. He also participated in the 2007 Tuscia Opera Festival di Rome singing the roles of Nemorino in Elixir of Love and Il Duca di Mantua in Rigoletto, in Viterbo, Italy. He was the tenor soloist in the Mozart Requiem in the 2006 “Festival Cultural Mazatlan” under the baton of Enrique Patron de Rueda. He also was invited to the gala night in the “International Festival Alfonso Ortiz Tirado”, in Alamos, Mexico. His operatic roles include Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, Nemorino in Elixir of Love, Ferrando in Cosí Fan Tutte, Il Duca di Mantua in Rigoletto, Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Tamino in The Magic Flute and Javier Moreno in the Zarzuela Luisa Fernanda.

Guillermo moved to Arizona in 2008 and has been performing as a concert artist and voice teacher with the Phoenix Opera.

Eric Cousineau

Eric began private violin lessons at the age of 5 and joined the Metropolitan Youth Symphony where he played for 5 years. Eric played in his High School orchestra for four years and participated in major musical productions, such as Rogers and Hammerstein’s, ‘The King and I’, and is currently playing with the Chandler Symphony Orchestra.

Eric attends Mesa Community College continuing his studies as a music major.  His passion for playing the violin is shared with his students through his teaching.

Eric Cousineau teaches beginner, intermediate and advanced Violin and Viola at Arizona Music Academy.

Eric has over 22 years of violin performance experience. He has played in ensembles ranging from orchestral, chamber, and solo classical performance to playing shows with various local bands. Eric also has experience providing session work at various recording studios around town. Awarded first place in the 2010 MCCCD Artist of Promise competition, he is currently pursuing his Bachelor’s degree in music education from the Arizona State University Herberger School of Music. Previously a student of Dr. Katherine McLin, Eric is currently studying with Danwen Jiang.

Eric began receiving instruction with Dr. Phyllis Skoldberg, who was a direct student of Ivan Galamian. Eric is skilled in instructing the “Galamian Method” of violin playing while also drawing from the ideas other great pedagogues. Having taught for several years in the east valley, Eric is excited to share his admiration for the sonic possibilities of the instrument and help his students learn to set and achieve their own musical goals.

Darlene Cluff

Darlene has been teaching private voice lessons for the past 10 years and has been playing and accompanying on the piano since she was a youth.  Darlene taught middle school choir for the El Paso Independent School District. She is an AZ certified teacher and currently the music director at Center for Education of Excellence in Tempe, AZ.

Darlene Cluff received her Masters in Opera from the University of Texas and Bachelors in Music Education from University of Texas at El Paso.  She has many years of performing experience singing roles ranging from Susanna in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro to Ottavia in Monteverdi’s Coronazione de Poppea.  She has also had the privilege to be the soprano soloist for El Paso Chamber Singers, Austin Chorale Arts Society, and U.T. Austin Chamber Singers.  She is a featured soloist on the NAXOS recording of American Choral Music with the U.T. Austin Chamber Singers and has made several other recordings with the Chamber Singers for NAXOS and Koch labels. 

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