Chris Burchard. – his face is hurting from smiling so much Born in Pittsburgh, PA, Chris Burchard spent time in California but his formative years were spent in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He began playing piano at six years old and received his first guitar in the 4th grade. Early in high school, he played […]
Rob DiStasi Born to a large Italian family in Belleville, New Jersey, Rob started learning the accordion at five years old. Later he took piano lessons but they were overtaken by a larger interest in baseball. While in Belleville High School Rob’s music interest was renewed and he became part of the chorale group and […]
Collette Campbell – she bet on herself and is here to stay Collette Campbell and her two younger sisters Lauren and Katherine are from Rockville Center, Long Island, New York. Her mother Sue and father Joe, encouraged her to sing classical and opera and when she was in middle school, Collette began taking formal voice […]
Nancy 3. Hoffman – In these shoes? Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio to a musically inclined family, taking piano lessons at an early age. She started at Brown University in 1968 then moved to the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor. After graduating from college in 1975 with a degree in architecture and a […]
David Feder – Music was always his first love David Feder was born in Niagara Falls, New York. His father was in the military, and they lived in a few places but spent most of the time in Buffalo area. To David, Buffalo was a great place to grow up. It was a center for […]
Ellen Welters Sanchez “…. music was who she was” “Miss Ellen”, as many of her piano students called her, was born on Smith Lane (now Appelrouth Lane) in 1902. She was so tiny and frail her mothered feared for her survival. Her father, Frank Welters, was the band leader of the Welters Coronet Band, a […]
James Slater his heart is in Nashville but his soul is in Key West Born in Durham, North Carolina while his father Vic Slater worked at Duke University. He was a psychiatrist from Michigan with a passion for the mandolin and sailing the ocean. He met James mother Alicia in Galveston, Texas while at the […]
Tim Mayer “Music really lives here” Tim Mayer was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, grew up near Portland, Oregon, and finished high school in San Luis Obispo, California. He learned music in elementary school and joined the school band. Mayer originally played the clarinet but at age 10, he switched to the saxophone. He […]
Nick Norman “We love what we do” While growing up in Columbia, South Carolina, Nick Norman attended a Southern Baptist Church summer camp and later, when older, became a camp counselor. Along with good friend Lee Brice, Nick started playing music and was immediately hooked. In 2004, Nick was attracted to the musical energy of […]
Harry Schroeder – “Doctor Cabbie” Harry Schroeder was born in New York City. At the age 7, he took piano lessons and did his best to ignore them. Schroeder heard Louis Armstrong for the first time when he was fourteen years old. He discovered music again. He started playing trumpet in the high school band […]
