Teaching Artists’ Biographies

Sandra Morales was born in Bogota, Colombia and is a candidate for a Doctorate in Musical Arts at West Virginia University. She holds a bachelor’s degree in violin from Distrital University in Bogota and a master’s degree in Violin Performance from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA.

Before moving to the US, she played with the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia for five years, touring with them in Oman and Peru. She has attended different music festivals in Colombia, Germany, Brazil, Chile and Tennessee.

As a performer, she has recorded in collaboration with various artists and has been awarded two Latin Grammys, in 2014 for Best Traditional Pop Vocal and Best Classical Album in 2019. She is an experienced pedagogue and certified Suzuki teacher. Ms. Morales was a Teaching Fellow for the prestigious Interlochen Arts Camp in 2021 and 2022, where she taught violin and chamber music lessons and performed with the other faculty and as part of the Montani Quartet. Ms. Morales values the importance of art as an element of social transformation. She holds a certificate from the Global Leaders Program in social entrepreneurship, cultural agency, and teaching artistry. She visited different music programs and festivals during this program, giving recitals and workshops in Washington DC, Quebec, and Chile.

Sandra Morales performs regularly with the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Wheeling Symphony Orchestra, Ohio Valley Symphony, and other orchestras in the area. Besides classical music, she loves playing traditional folk music. She serves as Music and Artistic Director of the Mariachi Internacional de Pittsburgh and is the violinist of the Front Porch Band, a New Orleans traditional jazz ensemble. She teaches violin and viola at Brighton Music Center and holds a private violin studio. This summer 2024, Ms. Morales will be teaching for the second time at the Young Artists Debut Orchestra’s Summer Music Academy in Erie, Pennsylvania.

William Garcia is a Venezuelan cello performer. He started his music career in “El Sistema” Venezuela in 1998. In 2004, he received an Outstanding Career in Music Award from Trujillo State, Venezuela. He successfully auditioned to join the cello section of the Regional Mérida State Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Merida State Symphony Orchestra, where he performed from 2007 to 2014. Most recently, he was awarded an Artist Diploma in Cello Performance from Duquesne University, where he studied with Adam Liu.

He began studying voice performance at Universidad de Los Andes in 2011 and that same year he won an audition to join the university’s choir. He participated in productions as a baritone (opera and musical theater).

As a teacher, he has worked in the System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras and Choirs of Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Chile, and several international festivals. As a performer, he has played with world-renowned conductors, including Benjamin Zander, Gustavo Dudamel, Joshua Dos Santos, and Cesar Ivan Lara. He has also performed in several international festivals with musicians from institutions such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic and Gothenburg Symphony.

Currently he is a candidate for the M.M. in Performance at Duquesne University, while he teaches at Brighton Music Center, Young Artists Debut Orchestra, and Kathy’s Music. He also performs with orchestras in the area, such as Butler County Symphony Orchestra, Young Artists Debut Orchestra (YADO), Altoona Symphony Orchestra, Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra, Johnstown Symphony Orchestra, and Wheeling Symphony Orchestra.

In the Summer 2024, William is going to teach in Venezuela in a masterclass for 95 cellists of Trujillo state as a personal social project in collaboration with his hometown through “El Sistema.” He is also going to perform with a Chilean Theater Company in Chile and Brazil in the Belo Horizonte Festival. After the tour of South America, William will teach in the Young Artists Debut Orchestra’s Summer Music Academy.

Hector Marchant began his studies in piano in 1997 at the Corporación Sinfónica de Concepción, in Chile, and later in the Cultural Artistic Center of Concepción under the tutelage of Rebeca Sepúlveda. In 2002 he started his violin studies with maestro Jorge Inzunza Vera at the Centro Cultural de Concepción. In 2007, he continued his violin studies with Alejandra Urrutia at the Conservatory of the Universidad del Bio-Bio, and the following year at the Pontifical University Catholic of Chile (PUC). It is in this institution where he pursued his Bachelor’s degree, studying with Alejandra Urrutia, Frida Ansaldi, and Gonzalo Beltran.

Héctor has participated in numerous masterclasses with renowned teachers like Álvaro Parra (Chile-Germany), Bryan Lewis (USA), Raúl Orellana (Chile), S. Khoshafian (France), Manfredo Kraemer), Laura Klugherz (USA), the VIKTORIA QUARTET (Germany), Trio Image (Germany), Leon Spierer (Argentina- Germany), Federico Agostini (Italy-USA), Otto Derolez (Belgium), Richard Roberts (Canada), Ole Bohn (Australia), Charles Stegeman (USA), Rachel Stegeman (USA) among others. In one of these opportunities, he was selected to play with Brian Lewis performing the violin quartet of Andreas Makris, within the PUC Visiting Professors program. Furthermore, he has participated in violin and piano competitions (Claudio Arrau International Piano Competition, FOJI National Violin Competition, Kutztown University Music Festival Competition, among others), and different groups, such as the PUC Chamber Music Competition winners, the “Alúmine” quartet, playing in the “43 Musical Weeks of Frutillar” in 2011. Also, he was a member of the project “Tour in Germany of the Camerata of Young Musicians of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile” playing in scenarios of cities like Berlin and Detmold in 2009. Within the International Festivals where he has participated, we can name the Kutztown University Music Festival in the United States and the Santa Catarina Music Festival in Brazil. It was in these instances where he shared stage with musicians from different parts of the world, many of them with great international careers such as Clara Takarabe and Per Nyström.

He has a long teaching experience, as a private instructor and teaching artist, taking part in important programs in Pennsylvania, the Hope Academy and Hip-Hop Orchestra in Pittsburgh, City Music Center from Duquesne University, and the Young Artists Debut Orchestra (YADO), in Erie with the music director Frank Collura. Besides this, he is violin instructor and teaching artist at the Violin and Viola Boot Camp, with Rachel and Charles Stegeman and in the Summer Music Academy in Erie, with Maestro Frank Collura, where he is going to take part again this 2024 season.

In addition, he is constantly invited to play with different orchestras in Chile, like the Classical Orchestra of the University of Santiago de Chile, the University of Concepción Symphony Orchestra, the Solistico de Santiago, the Antofagasta Symphony Orchestra, and the Chilean Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 2019 Hector moved to the US to continue his violin studies. He obtained his Master in Music and Artist Diploma in Performance at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he studied with Professors Charles Stegeman and Rachel Stegeman. Currently, he is invited to participate in different orchestras from the US, like the Duquesne University Symphony and Chamber Orchestra, Westmoreland Symphony, Erie Philarmonic, Butler Symphony, Washington Symphony, Young Artists Debut Orchestra, Youngstown Symphony, Wheeling Symphony, Canton Symphony, West Virginia Symphony, Pittsburgh Ballet Theather and Pittsburgh Opera, among others.

Abril Nunez is a Venezuelan violinist, who grew up musically in “El Sistema” National Network of Youth and Children Orchestras and Choirs of Venezuela. Thanks to this, she had a prolific orchestral experience, starting at the age of seven years old with the Yaracuy Symphony Children’s Orchestra, advancing later to Yaracuy Youth Symphony Orchestra, Yaracuy Youth Selection Symphony Orchestra, and Yaracuy State Symphony Orchestra. Later she won a first violin section position in the Municipal Symphony Orchestra of Caracas.

One of several advantages of growing up musically in “El Sistema” is the culture of passing on your knowledge to younger generations from an early age, giving her the chance to start teaching violin and leading sectionals in pre-infant and youth orchestras when she was 15 years old. Throughout her teaching experience, she has taught to toddlers from 3 years old to adults of 30 years old in different countries such as Venezuela, Peru, Chile, Japan and in the United States of America.

Abril was the first violin of the Aurora String Quartet, in which along with her colleagues and friends from “El Sistema”, participated in several Latin American Academy of String Quartets Seminars, held by the Latin American String Quartet, and participated in the New England Conservatory Seminar and FESNOJIV, where they had coaching and masterclasses with Donald and Vivian Weilerstein and with the Borromeo String Quartet members.

Nunez has had the opportunity to attend and perform at numerous music festivals on a global scale, In 2009, Abril took parts in the International Festival Youth Orchestra in San Diego, US, joined the Yaracuy Youth Symphony Orchestra’s Tour in Bogotá, Colombia (2012), performed at the Winter Festival Campus do Jordao in Brazil (2016), went on the Municipal Symphony Orchestra of Caracas’s International tour with PEACE BOAT, performing in Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Denmark, Latvia, Russia, Finland, Estonia, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland (2017). In 2022, she performed at the Ohio Light Opera in Wooster, Ohio.

Abril got her Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance in the Universidad Nacional Experimental de las Artes “UNEARTE” in Caracas, Venezuela. Later on, she pursued professional experience in Peru (2017), Chile (2019) and currently based in the US, she obtained a Master’s Degree in Music Performance from Duquesne University with Professor Charles Stegeman. Throughout these years, she can say that what she is the most grateful for is learning and adapting to different cultures thanks to the music.

For the past three years she has been performing with various symphony orchestras in the States. She is currently a member of the Canton Symphony Orchestra, and Butler County Symphony Orchestra, and has performed with Pittsburgh Opera, Wheeling Symphony Orchestra, Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra, Washington Symphony Orchestra, Altoona Symphony Orchestra, and Young Artist Debut Orchestra. In the summer of 2024, Abril looks forward to contributing as a teaching artist at the Young Artists Debut Orchestra’s Summer Music Academy.

Andrea Medina, a Venezuelan cellist, was part of the well known “El Sistema” which educated many children in classical music in Venezuela. She studied with cellists like Alejandro Sardá, Omaira Naranjo, German Marcano, the Italian cellist Nicolae Sarpe and with American cellists Gary Hoffmann and Adam Liu. She received Masterclass with Gary Hoffmann, Ann Williams, Rachel Stegeman and Charles Stegeman.

She played during ten years in the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra, the oldest Orchestra in Latin America. Traveled extensively Europe and South America and recorded some albums for Naxos and others. She also played chamber music in Colombia for many years with “Cuarteto Mundos.”

Andrea came to United States in 2021 and studied at Duquesne University where she finished last year with an Artist Diploma. She has been playing with Westmoreland, Butler and Washington Symphony Orchestras. Recently, she won a cello position in Youngstown Symphony Orchestra. She is also a cello teacher at Young Artist Debut Orchestra (YADO), and she will be teaching for this prestigious Summer Music Academy during June and July.

In the next months, she will continue teaching at the Young Artists Debut Orchestra and performing concerts around Pittsburgh, as well playing with Youngstown Symphony Orchestra.

Sally Santon enjoys a long and successful career as a private string instructor. With over 40 years’ experience, she has had many students who have placed well in PMEA events and some students who have gone on to major in music. Sally has played an important role in facilitating the music education of her daughter Alexandra, a promising young violinist, who performed at Carnegie Hall as the winner of the Golden Classical International Music Competition. Alexandra recently graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Ms. Santon holds an MM in viola from Duquesne University, where she had the privilege of studying with Randolph Kelly, the former principal violist of the Pittsburgh Symphony. Further studies have included violin and viola pedagogy at Carnegie Mellon University with Aaron and Saul Bitran. She has also studied in Oxford, England with Kato Havas. At the Pittsburgh Suzuki Institute Sally received Suzuki teacher training under Sonja Berven Zeithamel. In the summer of 2021 Ms. Santon had the opportunity to attend the Retreat for Violin and Viola Teachers, offered by the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University at Bloomington. Here she observed and interacted with the noted pedagogue, Mimi Zweig, as well as James Przygocki, Rebecca Henry, and Sherry Sinift.

Jazz has always been of interest to her. This led to studies with Erie jazz specialists Basil Ronzitti and Preston Lindey. She has also performed with her own group, The Uptown Jazz Quartet.

During various summers Sally performed at the Allegheny Music Festival and Music at Penn's Woods. The Meadville Council on the Arts also selected her to appear as one of the recitalists in their program, “A Taste of the Arts”. She has served as the principal violist of the Greenville Symphony, the Venango Chamber Orchestra, and the American String Teachers Association Orchestra at their conference at Rowan University. Sally has also performed with the Dana Symphony. Currently she performs in the Legacy Scoring Stage, and collaborates on many projects with the conductor, Todd Maki. These projects include the Contemporary Integrational Orchestra Project and the Kings Orchestra which premiered “Let Earth Receive Her King” with Christian Singer, Lori Reughn Matta.

Music education and a love for teaching have always been her highest priorities. She has been a member of the American String Teachers Association and the Suzuki Association of the Americas, and has taught at Germanie and Pappalardo Music Shoppe, Childrens Christian School, and French Creek Valley Christian School. A cancer survivor, Sally had to undergo chemotherapy for a little over a year. While taking chemotherapy she wrote and published “A Violinist's Theory Workbook,” which assists beginning violinists in note reading and learning key signatures. Ms. Santon helped establish the Primo Strings Program for the Young Artists Debut Orchestra. She currently maintains a large studio in her home and at World of Music in Erie. Sally tries to use her abilities for the benefit of others, often doing recitals as fund raisers for Yolanda Barco Cancer Institute. She also tries to reach out to the low income students to give them encouragement and help them in their musical studies.

Now that the pandemic has subsided, Ms. Santon plans to schedule more recitals as fund raisers. She is particularly interested in doing one for Erie Area Rabbit Society, as her other love is her 2 hares, Wren and Wesley and 2 little bunnies Covey and Fredrika.