Private & Small Group Lessons

Bailey Cunningham

Bailey Cunningham is a pianist, theatre director, composer, and EDM producer from Flagstaff, AZ. He graduated from Berklee College of Music in 2016, and has worked at Appel Farm for three years. Check out some of Bailey’s music here.

Private & Small Group Lessons

• Music Composition: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Piano: intermediate, advanced
• Harmony: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Music Theory: beginner, intermediate, advanced

Antonello Di Matteo

Philadelphia-based musician, Antonello is an eclectic classical and world-music freelancer. He has performed with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Princeton Symphony, among other groups in the East Coast area. Besides his substantial accomplishments as a multi-instrumentalist around the globe, Antonello has also lectured across Europe and the US, and currently holds a number of teaching positions in the area, including his role as Clarinet Instructor at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. A true musical innovator, Antonello also holds a patent in Electronic Italian Bagpipes from the Italian Department of Economic Development.

Private & Small Group Lessons

• Clarinet: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Accordion: intermediate, advanced
• Chamber Ensemble: beginner, intermediate, advanced

Dawn Hiatt

Dawn is a performing musician, songwriter & teacher with an M.M. in Music Composition from Rowan University.  She has released three full-length albums that have received regular airplay locally on WXPN and WSTW.  She is co-leader of ‘Midwestern Hymnal’ and has been a featured session vocalist/musician/arranger on many recordings.  As an educator, Hiatt has spent decades refining her craft as a teacher. She spent seven years as a public secondary education teacher and another seven years as Faculty Manager and Training Director of a music program where she led teacher trainings in methods incorporating creativity and play in the acquisition of musical skills.  Dawn currently balances performing, writing and recording, with teaching at Rowan University and as a private music instructor.

Private & Small Group Lessons

• Piano: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Voice: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Songwriting: beginner, intermediate, advanced

Alyssa Joseph

Alyssa Joseph is a singer/songwriter currently living in Nashville, TN. She is an Appel Farm alum, a camper in 2008 and 2009 and a counselor in 2018. She’s very excited to be a part of virtual camp 2020 teaching all levels of Songwriting and Beginner Guitar!  Check out her website at alyssajoseph.com.

Private & Small Group Lessons

• Songwriting: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Guitar: beginner
• Intro to Music Business: beginner, intermediate, advanced

Tom Levy

Tom would have been the brass instructor at Appel Farm, however, since we are unable to have camp this summer, he will be able to offer brass lessons online! He has been a camper at Appel Farm from 2009 to 2011, worked as an intern in 2016 and as a counselor in 2017. His primary instrument is trumpet, however he is also able to play/teach most of the brass family (both classical and jazz). He has also written music not only in classical and jazz settings, but also for dance, musical theatre, and films! After getting his bachelor’s degree in jazz trumpet at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, he is currently obtaining his master’s degree at Queens College for jazz composition. 

Private & Small Group Lessons

• Trumpet: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• French Horn: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Baritone Horn: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Trombone: beginner
• Composition: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Songwriting: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Music Theory: beginner, intermediate, advanced

David Lookwhy

David Lookwhy has been teaching at Appel Farm for the last two years as a string instructor and North Bunk Counselor. He is now a full-time elementary music teacher in Springfield MA, and regularly teaches violin, cello, and viola lessons at the New England Music Academy.

Private & Small Group Lessons

• Violin: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Viola: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Cello: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• String Bass: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• String Ensemble: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Chamber Ensemble: beginner, intermediate, advanced

Rita Mitsel

Oboist Rita Mitsel has performed extensively in Europe and throughout the United States. She is a member of the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players (NY) and Symphony in C (NJ). Ms. Mitsel has appeared as a substitute in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the American Ballet Theater, the American Symphony Orchestra, and in The Phantom of the Opera. As a soloist she performed with Symphony in C, Orion String Quartet, Mannes Orchestra, and on Bargemusic, among others. She has recorded for Naxos and Centaur Records. Ms. Mitsel teaches oboe and chamber music at Queens College (CUNY), and ear training and dictation at Mannes College of Music.

A native of Kiev, Ukraine, she holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Mannes College of Music, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The Juilliard School. Her teachers include Elaine Douvas, Richard Dallessio, Eugene Izotov, Pedro Diaz, and Vadim Boyko.

Private & Small Group Lessons

• Oboe: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Piano: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Wind Chamber Small Group: beginner, intermediate, advanced

Igor Petricevic

Igor is a guitarist and singer based in Manchester, UK. Besides performing internationally, he currently teaches guitar and singing in several schools and colleges around the North – West of England. In addition to this, he has just completed his studies at the prestigious Royal Northern College of Music! This is going to be Igor’s fourth summer teaching at Appel Farm and he is extremely excited to see new faces and welcome back familiar ones to make music virtually!

Private & Small Group Lessons

• Classical Guitar: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Acoustic Guitar: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Electric Guitar: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Electric Bass: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Voice: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Rock Band: beginner, intermediate, advanced

Joshua Urben

Josh is a pianist and composer based in Manchester, UK. He has just finished his studies at the prestigious Royal Northern College of Music in contemporary composition and enjoys teaching in schools, music services, and sixth forms colleges across the Greater Manchester county. As a pianist, he has performed in some of Europe’s most prestigious venues as a chamber and soloist musician, alongside winning national awards in composition, appearing on national radio and having his pieces performed by the UKs top ensembles such as the BBC Singers. At the heart of his teaching, he aspires to spark students’ interest in any genre of music and to open up a magical world of music through the piano and writing music! This will be Josh’s second year as an international visiting artist and he can’t wait to carry on making music as a community!

Private & Small Group Lessons

• Piano: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Music Writing and Composition: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Songwriting: mixed abilities (beginner, intermediate, advanced)
• Irish Whistle: beginner, intermediate

Olivia Siegel

Olivia first joined Appel Farm as a camper in 2013, and continued as a Counselor in Training, Intern, and Camp Staff. Olivia is studying Music Therapy at Temple University. She is flexible in teaching any genre of music!

Private & Small Group Lessons

• Voice: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Songwriting: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Electric Bass: beginner, intermediate
• Guitar: beginner, intermediate
• Piano: beginner, intermediate

Anastasia Seifetdinova

Originally from Kyiv, Ukraine, pianist Anastasia Seifetdinova is a graduate of Musikhochschule in Würzburg, Germany, and The Hartt School. She has won first and special prizes in competitions in Rome, Italy; Puigcerda, Spain; and Monterrey, Mexico. During her studies at Hartt, she recorded Balakirev Concertos with the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra for NAXOS, and in years 2008-2011 performed two solo recitals at Carnegie Hall, as well as two live-broadcast recitals in Chicago, and in other recital halls in the USA and Germany. Centaur Records released two of her solo albums in 2016 and 2018, both recorded at The Hartt School. Besides teaching at Hartt, Anastasia is an accompanist at the New England Conservatory, a mom to two young children, and a piano instructor of her own studio near Boston.

Private & Small Group Lessons

• Piano: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Music Theory: beginner, intermediate
• Music History: beginner, intermediate, advanced

Hunter Swanson

Hunter Swanson plays euphonium and is currently based in Fairfax, Virginia. He served with the 2d Marine Division Band as their principal euphonium and section leader, and during his tour he performed across the country as well as internationally.

Private & Small Group Lessons

• Euphonium: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Trombone: beginner, intermediate
• Tuba: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Trumpet: beginner, intermediate
• Breathing for Wind Instruments: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Basic Brass Technique: beginner, intermediate, advanced

Kristy Whilden

Miss Kristy has been teaching piano for the past 10 years with her personal business Trebled Heart Piano Academy. Her biggest accomplishment was to have 5 of her students be invited to play on one of the most prestigious stages in NYC, Carnegie Hall. Through that competition one of her students won 4th place out of 250 participants. Kristy personally has been playing piano for 30 years. Kristy looks forward to teaching the children or adults of the Appel farm community!

Private & Small Group Lessons

• Piano: beginner, intermediate, advanced

Kamila Jarosińska

Kamila Jarosińska is a professional actress with diplomas from the National Film School in Łódź, Poland (M.A.) and the Israeli Drama School “HaDerech”. She is also a theatre and film instructor with 15 years of teaching experience, scriptwriter and theatre director.  Bringing together these combined skill sets, she is proud to pass on her passion through teaching and mentoring young actors and actresses. For more information please visit Kamila’s website.

Private & Small Group Lessons

• Acting: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Acting for the Camera: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Theater & Film: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Improv: beginner, intermediate, advanced

Alexis Scott

Alexis Scott is a lifelong performer, teacher, and collaborator who primarily works on new plays and indie films in cities across the country. She has her MFA in Acting from University of Texas at Austin and though she has taught at many schools and universities, her favorite place in the world is any camp. Check out her website at alexisleahscott.com

Private Acting Lesson: Are you an aspiring performer that wants to work on memorizing and performing monologues? I will help you choose or write, excavate, and hone your solo performance skills.

Theater Creation a Small Group Lesson: Do you want to turn your own home and backyard into a theater? We will use the styles of Mad Libs and Choose Your Own Adventure stories to write and create a play that you will be able to do with your family and friends in your own home!

Private & Small Group Lessons

• Acting: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Theater Creation: beginner, intermediate, advanced

Rachel Vogel

Rachel Rae (Miller) Vogel is an English and Drama teacher with a BA in Film/TV from the University of Michigan and an MA in Educational Theatre from NYU. She has directed over 60 plays and has worked at Appel Farm as a teaching artist, acting instructor, bunk counselor, theatre department head, program director, and assistant camp director.

Private & Small Group Lessons

• Monologue Creation & Coaching: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Musical Theater Performance: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Playwriting: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Directing: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Public Speaking: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Improv: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Scene Work: beginner, intermediate, advanced

Kristy Whilden

Miss Kristy has been a music educator for the past 10 years. Six years ago she was diagnosed with progressive hearing loss. At that time She went back to school and earned a degree in Deaf Studies and American sign language. With her daughter she then created Hands Up Silent Theatre! At Hands Up Miss Kristy encourages Deaf children to learn more about theatre and encourages the hearing children to learn ASL and interact with deaf peers. Together they create performances for the deaf and hearing to enjoy together! Miss Kristy is also happy to announce that she has been accepted into the Teacher of the Deaf program at St. Joseph’s University!

Private & Small Group Lessons

• American Sign Language: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• ASL & Musical Theatre: beginner, intermediate, advanced

Regan White

Regan White is a dance teacher who specializes in Musical Theatre dance and Jazz. She studied at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy and was recently employed by Royal Caribbean to be in Hairspray on the Symphony of the Seas. She can’t wait to see you in her classes!

Private & Small Group Lessons

• Musical Theater Dance: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Jazz Dance: beginner, intermediate, advanced

Brea Furman

Brea has been teaching board game design, fiber arts, STIR culinary club, and Trendsetters sewing club for Appel Farm over the last year. She was a camper from 2001-2005 and returned to camp in 2019 as a guest artist for two weeks. Brea has a masters degree in education and primarily works in the behavioral health field.

Private & Small Group Lessons

• Fiber Arts: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Cooking: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Little Appels: Creative movement, story telling, process oriented art, and more for ages 3-6

Kristin Ivey

Kristin Ivey has instructed at Appel Farm for a total of 6 summers in Ceramics, Green Corps, Fiber Arts,  Printmaking, and Multimedia art, with one summer as the Head of Visual Arts. She has a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Visual Arts from Brevard College. As a studio artist, her main focus is in painting both murals and smaller acrylic pieces. The emphasis on birds and nature themes in these pieces are reflective of Kristin’s school year work as an interpretive science educator. In pandemic times, she can frequently be found taking care of owls and alligators or enjoying quiet evenings watching the sunset over the beach.

Kristin is offering Painting Lessons in watercolor, acrylic, oil, and mural painting; Fiber Arts Lessons featuring crochet, cross-stitch, quilting, and designing your own pattern; Printmaking; and Handbuilding Ceramics for students with access to a kiln.

Private & Small Group Lessons

• Painting: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Fiber Arts: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Printmaking: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Ceramics: beginner, intermediate, advanced

Zoungy Kligge

Zoungy Kligge is a visual arts instructor with twenty years of teaching experience. He teaches color theory, painting, illustration, and sculpture for adults and children at Appel Farm Arts and Music Campus in Elmer, NJ; and associated community programs like Robin’s Nest, Bridgeton Pathways, and Families To College; and as a visiting artist for the C3 Charter School. He is one of the Goggleworks Center For the Arts instructors in Reading, PA as well.

His work has appeared in Goggleworks annual juried show, Arts In Bloom NJ, on Google Earth, HBO, and in Disney products. He earned his BFA from Rhode Island School of Design.

Private & Small Group Lessons

• Watercolor: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Gouache Painting: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• All About Color: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Drawing & Shading: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Portfolio Review: beginner, intermediate, advanced

Patricia Parks

Patti has lived in Southern New Jersey all of her life.  She has a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts and knowledge in printmaking, drawing, ceramics, mixed media, and a basic knowledge of sculpture.  While she embraces traditional techniques, she loves to experiment with new and innovative techniques that can push the creative process out of the boundaries.  What children create in art is always interesting and amazing to her.

Private & Small Group Lessons

• Drawing: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Printmaking: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Mixed Media: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Ceramics: beginner, intermediate, advanced

Hannah Urben

Hannah is a Marine and Natural History Photography graduate from the prestigious Falmouth University in the Southwest of England. After studying photography for six years, Hannah has travelled to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, and The Galápagos Islands undertaking important photographic projects that can move the needle for public awareness of major humanitarian and environmental issues. Specializing in photojournalism, her main focus is in exploring digital techniques that allow photographers to capture the world around us in creative ways.

Private & Small Group Lessons

• Digital Photography: beginner, intermediate, advanced

Cheyanne Yelle

Cheyanne has spent her whole life being part of the Appel Farm community. However, it wasn’t until 2014 that she was finally able to attend camp, where she was first introduced to photography. Thanks to her experiences at Appel Farm, Cheyanne has gone on to Moore College of Art & Design, where she will graduate with a BFA in Photography & Digital Arts.

Photography Club: The only requirement for this small group lesson is a device (i.e. smart phone, tablet, digital camera, etc.) that has the ability to take digital photos. Each week, I will give the group a photo adventure, and when we reconvene the following week, we can collectively share our photos! This is a space for creative freedom and positive feedback, allowing campers to expand their conceptual understanding of the artistic possibilities that can be done outside of the darkroom. Once everyone has had an opportunity to share their work, I will be conducting a mini lesson about various aspects of photography, from photographers that made history to a range of techniques that have been used. This will allow campers the opportunity to have some further inspiration for their next photoshoot. This is a 60 minute class that will meet 1 time per week.

Private & Small Group Lessons

• Photography Club: beginner, intermediate, advanced

Lisa Franklin

Lisa is a comedian and teacher who, when not writing, is probably shouting about television or cuddling her very sleepy cat. You can check out her webcomic, My Two Lesbian Ants, on Instagram and Twitter. 

Private & Small Group Lessons

• Comic Strip Writing: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Stand-Up Comedy: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Screenwriting: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Sketch Comedy Writers Room: beginner, intermediate, advanced

Chey Makosky

Chey has been doing spoken word since 2014.  She has performed and taught writing and performing in several different settings. Outside of that she writes or helps build other’s fictional pieces on her own time that covers a variety of genres from fantasy to realistic historical fiction. She is excited to help students work with their own ideas and bring their writings to life no matter the format.

Private & Small Group Lessons

• Writing Workshop: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Poetry: beginner, intermediate, advanced

Jame Esposito

Jame (she/her//they/them) is a creative writer and educator with a passion for social justice and prog rock.

Private & Small Group Lessons

• Sci-Fi & Fantasy Writing: beginner, intermediate, advanced
• RPG Writing & Design: beginner, intermediate, advanced