Joyful Noise Faculty

Dr. Gina Mashburn Caldwell, of Marshall, is a graduate of the North Carolina School for the Arts (BM), Boston University (MM), and Catholic University of America (DMA). Before returning to North Carolina and founding Joyful Noise, Caldwell was professor of violin and viola at Shepherd University (WV) and Atlantic Union College (MA) and director of the String Department for the Arts Education for Children Group (Maui). Caldwell has performed solo and chamber recitals as well as taught master classes across the United States and Costa Rica. She has taught students of all ages for 20 years, has performed with numerous orchestras across North Carolina, and is currently a member of the Asheville Symphony.

Brad Curtioff is an experienced pianist and teacher, favoring classical, blues, jazz, rock, and bluegrass music. While his collegiate career concentrated on the classical repertoire, Mr. Curtioff has since found his way onstage performing styles ranging from Dave Brubeck to Lynyrd Skynyrd. As a classical pianist, he has performed throughout the eastern United States both as a solo artist and chamber musician. In addition to a private studio, he teaches at A Joyful Noise Community Music School, and accompanies at Mars Hill College.

Cary Fridley has been performing and teaching music in Western North Carolina for over 10 years. This year she released her second solo CD, Down South, which highlights the music of the Southern Appalachian Mountains through ballads, fiddle tunes, and modern country songs. Since 1995, Cary has been teaching private lessons in guitar, singing, flute, bass, and clawhammer banjo. She has worked as the guitar teacher for the Haywood County children's JAM program, and started similar programs in Swannanoa and Black Mountain. She currently performs with her country band in and around Western North Carolina. She also provides historical programs for 4th graders through the Mountain Heritage Center in Cullowhee, NC. Cary has a BA in Music Performance from University of Richmond and a Masters of Music Education from UNC-Greensboro. Please visit www.caryfridley.net for contact information.

Heidi Kulas grew up dancing with three generations of her family in Greenville, Michigan. As a young teenager, she was already competing, performing, touring and teaching clogging, Irish and many other traditional forms of percussive dance. She received a Michigan Dance Heritage Fellowship and then moved to Maryland to be the youngest principal dancer with the international touring company, Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble, where she directed their Junior Company, arts-in-education programs and community classes. Heidi has performed as a guest dancer with many artists including Nickel Creek, Lunasa, The Duhks, Uncle Earl, Eileen Ivers and Tim O’Brien. She holds a BA in Theatre Arts from Mars Hill College, where she also served as the 15 time National Champion Bailey Mountain Cloggers captain for two years. She is a member of the All American Clogging team and currently directs, choreographs and performs with Sole Impact Dance Company and is the owner of Sole Impact Studios in Woodfin. She is glad to be a part of Joyful Noise as a percussive dance instructor.
www.soleimpactstudios.com

Justin Mabry is currently is pursuing his undergraduate degrees in Music Education and Percussion Performance from Mars Hill College. Justin participates in the college's marching band, percussion ensemble, marimba band, jazz band, and wind symphony. He teaches private lessons and is a percussion instructor/ clinician for several schools in North Carolina and Virginia. He is currently on staff with the Multiperc Percussion camp as an instructor and clinician and is Percussion Caption Head of Carolina Gold Drum Bugle Corps.
Justin has participated in Drum Corps International as a member of the Teal Sound Drum and Bugle Corps in 2004 (Gold Medallist Percussion) and Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corps in 2005 and 2006. He participated in WGI Indoor Percussion as a member of Odyssey Percussion Theater in 2008.

Rebecca Morris considers acting to be both an outlet to express our freest most creative selves and a craft that requires discipline and a constant willingness to learn more. A co-founder of local troupe, The Redundant Theatre Company Theatre, she has also worked professionally with the Immediate Theatre Project and North Carolina Stage Company among others. Rebecca has also acted in a wide variety of local, independent movies. She has a BA in Theatre Arts, has studied with Elizabeth D'Onofrio and Timothy Carhart and is thrilled to have the opportunity to teach with Joyful Noise.

Kara Poorbaugh is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music (BM-viola performance and music education), where she studied with John Graham, Louis Bergonzi, and the Ying Quartet. She serves as Principal Violist of the Asheville Symphony and also performs regularly with the Greenville, Spartanburg, and Hendersonville Symphonies. As violist of the Opal String Quartet, Kara has performed chamber recitals across our region and has helped develop the school outreach programs of the Asheville Symphony Guild and Asheville Chamber Music Society. Kara has been featured as a soloist with the Blue Ridge Orchestra, Raleigh Symphony, Triangle Youth Philharmonic, and Duke University String School Orchestra and participated in summer festivals at Interlochen, Musicorda, and Brevard Music Center. Kara's website is here.

Cynthia Roop enjoys a career that draws on her background both in teaching and in performance as chamber musician, soloist and orchestral player. She currently serves as the adjunct Instructor of Flute at Mars Hill College and as a member of the Mosaic Flute and Percussion Duo with her husband, Brian Tinkel. She also serves as the Children's Ministry Coordinator of the Weaverville United Methodist Church and teaches flute for the Joyful Noise Community Music and Arts Center. Her past chamber music and large group experiences have included the Enid Symphony, New Century Ensemble, the Arioso Trio, the Milhaud Ensemble, the Trillium Trio, and has performed solo recitals in Germany, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, North Carolina and Kentucky. Ms. Roop is the Co-Artistic Director of the Brio Concert Series and currently resides in Weaverville with her husband and beautiful new baby girl, Lydia. Contact Cynthia.

Matthew Smith is a Virginia native who was raised in a musical family. He has performed and recorded on pedal steel, guitar and dobro with a wide variety of artists including Shannon Whitworth, Cary Fridley, Pierce Edens, Jar-E, Seth Kauffman, Tyler Ramsey and many others.  Matthew holds a B.A. in jazz and classical guitar from Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C. He is also a staff instructor with the JAM (Junior Appalachian Musicians) program in Black Mountain and teaches a number of styles on guitar, pedal steel and dobro.

Lynda Sondles has been involved in some form of artistic exploration for as long as she can remember. She colored, drew, scribbled and loved finger paints and playdough. From crayons to paint to pastels to fiber and fabric, Lynda’s artistic life has been an exploration of color and pattern and form. Pastel drawings provide the inspiration for a colorful basket or a quilt or a knitted shawl. The world outside with its vibrant colors and hues of flowers and trees, mountains and rivers and sky and clouds provides endless inspiration for creative work. God gave Lynda the ability to see and to draw and paint and weave colors together into forms that please Him and provide beauty, inspiration and comfort to others. Sharing this gift with her students is the greatest pleasure of her life.

Adam Tanner teaches and performs Traditional American music on the fiddle, mandolin and guitar. He began his musical life enrolled in Suzuki violin lessons at the age of ten. As a teenager, he fell in love with Bluegrass music and taught himself to play the mandolin and guitar by obsessively listening to and studying recordings of early country musicians and attending various Traditional music events in his native Northern California. As an adult, Tanner spent several years playing Rock music professionally but eventually returned to his interest in American roots music. After relocating to the Pacific Northwest in the mid 1990s, Adam devoted most of his time to studying Old Time fiddling and Country Blues guitar and voice. He pursued his passion for teaching by leading fiddle and mandolin workshops at The Dusty Strings School of Music in Seattle, Wa. It was not long before Tanner had established a strong private music instruction program taught from his home. For the last six years, Western North Carolina has been Adam’s home. He has been on the staff of the Junior Appalachian Music Program in Mitchell County (2007) and Old Time Week at The Swannanoa Gathering (2006). He continues to teach privately from his home in Weaverville, NC. For more information about Adam, please go to www.adamtannermusic.com

Simone Vigilante began her musical studies on piano at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY at age five. Although she took fifteen years of private piano lessons she fell in love with vocal performance. She graduated from North Carolina School of the Arts (BM in vocal performance), Indiana University (MM in vocal performance), and started her doctorate while at Indiana University. Simone considers herself a performer of various vocal genres including: musical theater, spirituals, opera, American Art Song, Italian Art Song, German Lied, and French Mélodie. Since 2000, she has been teaching private voice and piano students throughout Western NC. In June 2007 she joined NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing). This organization gives seminars to teachers of singing and offers various résumé building opportunities for students including: summer programs, competitions and scholarships. Simone has appeared in operatic performances with companies and festivals such as the Asheville Lyric Opera, Indiana University Opera Theater, and the EPCASO program in Italy performing principal roles in Don Giovanni, Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Fledermaus, Cavalleria Rusticana, Die Zauberflöte, and I Pagliacci to name a few. Along with her operatic roles she has been a member of Asheville Lyric Opera's Outreach Program performing concerts throughout Western NC. Ms. Vigilante performed at the 92nd Street Y in NYC for the world premier of Stephen Paulus' opera Hester Prynne at Death. In addition to her involvement as an operatic performer she has also performed as a concert artist with The Brevard Chamber Orchestra. Simone has traveled abroad to perform in Seville, Spain as a soloist at the American Pavilion for EXPO '92 and Paris, France for the Bicentennial Celebration. Please visit my website.

Natalya Weinstein is an accomplished multi-genre fiddler and violinist who trained for fifteen years as a classical violinist before switching her focus to bluegrass, country, swing, and old-time fiddling. She performs with a number of local and regional bands including Red June, the Kari Sickenberger Band, and Polecat Creek, as well as teaches students of all ages. While she focuses on fiddle repertoire with her students, Natalya teaches from a classical perspective. After students gain a level of comfort on the instrument, she encourages them to study whatever fiddle style they’re most interested in.  Please see her website for more information.