Expert musical instructors and skilled performers
Faculty
The teachers at The Mozartina Conservatory are carefully selected - they hold degrees from fine schools like The Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music, and/or have Broadway credits. Here is our current roster:
Helen Ringeisen, Founder
Piano
Helen Ringeisen holds Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Music Education degrees from the University of Colorado. She had seven additional years of advanced piano study with Dr Edwin Hughes (an assistant to Leschetizky) and Alton Jones (Juilliard School of Music). Her radio performances include WNYC Young American Artist and Keyboard Masters in NY and she was a district winner of the Music Teacher’s National Association.
Helen is the founder and director of The Mozartina Conservatory, the first music and dance school in Tarrytown, where she has been teaching piano since 1976.
She is also a founding board member of the nonprofit Friends of the Mozartina and, together with her husband Berthold, was responsible for the rescue of The Tarrytown Music Hall from demolition in 1980. Helen and Berthold riskily placed their home up as collateral so that the Music Hall could be purchased and renovated and together with other arts enthusiasts, operated the theater on a volunteer basis for 23 years. If the theater had failed, they would have lost everything they owned and this almost came to pass several times. Today, Music Hall, operated by a professional staff, is a nationally recognized venue, offering the best in music, theater, dance, film and education to 100,000 people across the tri-state area.
Ashley Brown
Voice
Broadway: originated Mary in Mary Poppins (Outer Critics, Drama League and Desk nominations), Beauty & The Beast (Belle). Elf (Emily Hobbs). National Tours: Mary Poppins (Garland Award), Sound of Music (Mother Abbess) and On The Record. Chicago Lyric: Oklahoma (Laurey) and Showboat (Magnolia). Encores!: The Golden Apple (Mrs. Juniper/Madame Calypso). The Muny: Sound of Music (Maria) and Cinderella (Marie/Fairy Godmother).
Brian Pareschi
Trumpet
Trumpeter, composer and arranger Brian Pareschi, originally from Rochester, NY, is one of the most in-demand trumpeters on Broadway and in jazz and commercial music, and is currently playing in the orchestra for Broadway’s MJ The Musical.
Brian can be heard on recordings, film, television soundtracks and commercials, in Broadway shows, and at festivals worldwide. He has performed and recorded with such artists as Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand, Bobby Caldwell, Bruce Springsteen, Chaka Khan, James Ingram, Jon Hendricks, Kurt Elling, Michel Legrand, Nancy Wilson, Patti Austin, Paul Anka, Phil Collins, Rufus Wainwright, Seth MacFarlane, Wynton Marsalis, and with the New York City Ballet. He has worked in the orchestras of Bob Mintzer, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Louis Bellson, Quincy Jones, Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, and in the Tony Awards Orchestra.
He received a M.M. from Manhattan School of Music. A teacher for over 20 years, he is presently on the faculty at Long Island University CW Post and leads clinics all over the country related to trumpet and performance.
Glenn Rhian
Drums / Percussion
Glenn Rhian holds a B.A. from The San Francisco Conservatory of Music and a M.M. from The Juilliard School and teaches all styles of drumming including funk, jazz, Latin, reggae and rock. He has performed with Clay Aiken, Aretha Franklin and Al Martino, and has played on Broadway in such shows as The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Gypsy, Guys and Dolls, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and A Christmas Carol (at the Paramount Theatre at Madison Square Garden). He can be heard on the original cast recordings for each of these musicals, including Guys and Dolls which won a Grammy Award. His film recordings include The Hunchback of Notre Dame and In and Out.
Haile Morris
Cello
Halie Morris is well-versed in a variety of musical styles, received a B.M. in Violincello Performance and B.A. in Hispanic Studies from Oberlin College & Conservatory and a M.M. in Violincello Performance from Northwestern University. In recent years, she has performed in various venues, ranging from Joe’s Pub, BAM, and Third Street Music School to the crypts of Greenwood Cemetery. A chamber music enthusiast, she was previously a member of the Bar Hop String Quartet. She has performed with numerous ensembles, including PROTESTRA, the String Orchestra of Brooklyn, Orchestra of the Bronx, North Carolina Opera, New Music Raleigh and Wet Ink Ensemble.
Hunter Somogie
Guitar
Guitarist-Singer-Composer Hunter Somogie earned his Master of Music degree in Guitar Performance from the Manhattan School of Music and graduated Summa Cum Laude from SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music with an undergraduate degree in Guitar Performance. Hunter is a prolific performer in the greater New York City area, both as soloist and with his band, Once Ibex. The debut album, Live From Madison’s Quail Garden, premiered in the summer of 2021 with an award from The USA Songwriting Competition. Hunter enjoys performing and teaching in a range of musical styles that span rock, singer-songwriter, jazz, and classical genres, and has studied guitar with masters Adam Holzman, David Starobin, David Leisner, Kevin Gallagher, George Muscatello, Crispin Catricala, and Doug Rubio.
Jill Geddes
Ukelele
Jill Geddes has an extensive music background. Upon graduating from high school, she was cast in the role of Peron’s Mistress in Harold Prince’s National Tour of Evita. From there, she went on to star in Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into The Woods as Cinderella and then played the lead role of Fantine in the National Tour of Les Miserables and many other shows. She studied Music at Indiana University School of Music and Boston University and teaches an early childhood program called Music Together.
She began studying the ukulele several years ago when her guitar was being fixed and she has never stopped playing it. She loves the versatility of the instrument and the joy it brings to her life and those she teaches. “Ukuleles are like potato chips – you can’t have just one!” She owns several ukuleles and will supply one to anyone who would just like to try before they buy.
Jill works at Strawtown Elementary School in West Nyack. She continues to perform and sing, but her favorite thing to do is teach the ukulele to children and adults.
Joyce Balint
Violin, Mandolin
Joyce Balint holds a B.M. from Manhattan School of Music and is the mandolin soloist with the Metropolitan Opera and New York Philharmonic Orchestras. She has performed as a violinist and mandolinist with many musical organizations including The Paris Opera, Boston Symphony, New York City Opera, Caramoor Festival Orchestra, the Amore Opera, Dallas Opera and the American Symphony. She studied with Alfred Krips and Einar Hansen (former members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra), Joseph Szegeti and Janos Starker (master classes), Roman Tottenberg (orchestra technique) and Robert Bloom (chamber music ensemble technique). “Joyce Balint shines in string recital” was the headline of The New York Times review of her Carnegie Hall Recital Hall debut.
Kurt Coble
Violin
Kurt Coble performed on Broadway for twenty five years as a solo violinist for Phantom of the Opera. His credits also include stage violinist for Sunset Boulevard on Broadway, Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular; Concertmaster: Palm Beach Opera, Harrisburg Symphony, Philadelphia Virtuosi; many Carnegie Hall & Lincoln Center performances. Commercial recordings with Barbara Streisand, Buster Rhymes, Stevie Wonder; film score recordings for Lionsgate, ESPN, HBO; stage performances with Itzak Pearlman, Luciano Pavarotti, Johnny Mathis, Björk; dozens of solo recitals, many with BSO pianist Vytas Baksys. Kurt has received grants from WestchesterArts, PNC Bank, National Endowment for the Arts, United States Embassy, and the Dodge Foundation. He has composed music for the theater and concert halls, his “Pennsylvania Barn Dance” was recorded by Arnold Steinhardt and “Prayer for Peace” for string orchestra was included in the 2019 Broadway Carols for the Cure. He has been published in the Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems. Since 2000 he has been developing his robotic orchestra “The P.A.M. Band” which has been featured on the Discovery Channel, NPR’s “This American Life”, and New York Times.
Lauryn Ciardullo
Voice
Lauryn Ciardullo is an original cast member of Disney’s hit Broadway show Aladdin where she performed 127 shows as Princess Jasmine and 851 shows in the ensemble before Broadway shut down in 2020. She performed with Aladdin on the 2014 Tony Awards, The View, Good Morning America, Tamron Hall and the Disney Sing-Along on ABC. Before making her Broadway debut, Lauryn toured the United States with notable Broadway productions including West Side Story, A Chorus Line, The Addams Family, The Wizard of Oz, The Wedding Singer and The Little Mermaid. She can be seen on the current season of Law & Order (season 24, episode 10) as Officer Fields as well as Gossip Girl and The Good Wife. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from SUNY Purchase College and a Master of Arts in Teaching from Purdue University.
Mia Theodoratus
Harp
Mia Theodoratus is a curious and adventurous creator of sound using harps, lyres and electronics. She has degrees from UT, Austin and CALARTS. In addition to the Music Hall Academy and Mozartina Conservatory, she teaches at the Irish Arts Center and Sarah Lawrence College. After moving to NYC, Mia went electric and played legendary venues like CBGB’s, Coney Island High, Jackie 60, Mothers and the Cooler. Her improvising skills coupled with her classical chops led her to play with the Citizen’s Band at Art Basil, Gelatin (music for Bunter Abend-Golden Gate), duo with Adam Dugas (Dueling Harps performed at Disney Hall, Abron Arts Center, NYC) and LifeBall in Vienna. Performance Highlights include Patty’s day concert for President Barak Obama, National Shakespeare’s Oedipus Athens, Greece, Whitney Biennial, Butch Morris’s Skyscrapers. Compositions- Flight of the Conchords and Rubicon on AMC, lyre on TedEd on Sapho. Her newest adventures are Harps in the Age of Enlightment (single action and digital harp salon concerts) and Greek lyre.
Nate Goldsmith
Double Bass / Guitar
Nate Goldsmith received his Master of Double Bass Performance and Bachelor of Double Bass Performance with Composition Concentration from The University of North Carolina School of the Arts. He performed for several years as a member of the Fayetteville Symphony and Western Piedmont Symphony before relocating to New York in 2019. In addition to instrumental technique and performance, Nate is especially enthusiastic about covering topics in improvisation and composition with his students and encourages them to explore a wide range of styles and genres. He believes in helping each student discover a love of music and creativity that will sustain them on the road to becoming a skilled musician.
Talia Dicker
Cello
Talia Dicker is a dynamic and versatile cellist with a particular enthusiasm for orchestral and chamber music. She currently resides in New York City, where she is an active performer and teacher throughout the northeast corridor. Past engagements include positions in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Civic Orchestra’s MusiCorps program for comprehensive outreach and music education, the Youth Orchestra of the Americas, and the Colorado College Summer Music Festival Orchestra. Talia received her Bachelor of Music with Honors from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she studied with Brandon Vamos of the Pacifica Quartet. She went on to earn a Master of Music in Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Steven Doane and Rosemary Elliott.
As a teacher, Talia enjoys working with all ages and levels to help students hone technique and musical expression. Talia has consistently helped students meet specific playing goals, whether preparing for school auditions, college auditions, NYSSMA, recitals, or any other performances. Talia encourages a continuing enjoyment and involvement with music in many forms; she’s committed to the idea that learning to play a musical instrument can positively impact and inform all aspects of an individual’s life.
