Juilliard Welcomes New Staff

Career Services

Korean-American pianist Jane Cho joined the Career Development and Placement Office this fall. She is a Juilliard graduate herself (B.M.), and is absolutely thrilled to be back at her alma mater, after getting her M.M. degree from the Manhattan School of Music. She is profoundly interested in psychology and helping others build their careers. If you want to know how to get to Carnegie Hall, Jane has the answer: Career Development, Career Development, Career Development!

Communications

After two years as a master’s student at Juilliard, Tiffany Kuo decided to join the other side of the school—the side that pays. She began working as a publicist in the Communications Office in July. Aside from overhearing more gossip than one normally would while having lunch in the cafeteria, Tiffany continues her position as the indentured servant (teaching assistant and department assistant) for L&M and graduate harmony courses. Tiffany would like to wish all the best to all of her former piano minor students.

Matt Schicker left Juilliard’s library for the Communications Office in April to become the program coordinator. Also an actor and bass-baritone, Matt performs in the greater metropolitan New York region in various productions. He is the Brooklyn informant for Communications.

Development

Kimberly Atwood, assistant director of Foundation and Corporate Relations, is a graduate of Fredonia State University of New York. She received her degree in vocal performance and arts administration in 1999. Upon graduation, Kimberly left the comforts of upstate New York to move to New York City, where she found her first job as a development associate at the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Kimberly then wanted a glimpse into the corporate life, and began working on a creative team for Grey Advertising. However, she quickly realized that she belongs in non-profit, especially in the arts, and is very grateful for the opportunity to be part of the Juilliard staff.

Development associate Jennifer Burlenski grew up in Connecticut and graduated from Boston University this past May. During her junior year of college, she spent a semester in Washington, D.C. and interned at the National Endowment for the Arts. This experience sparked her interest in development and fund-raising work for the arts. Before she came to Juilliard, she worked in the development office of a private elementary school in New Haven, Conn.

Educational Outreach

Director Aaron Flagg, a graduate of Juilliard, received his doctorate from the University of Michigan. He has been the director of Jazz Studies at the University of Connecticut, and taught in the Music Advancement Program for nine years. As a trumpet player, he has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Roberta Flack, and the Illinois Jacquet Big Band. He is on the board of directors for the N.Y.C. Arts in Education Roundtable and has spoken at the National Endowment for the Arts on many occasions.

Associate director Ellen Brofman has a bachelor’s degree from Ithaca College and master’s degree from N.Y.U., both in music education. A clarinetist, Ellen has taught instrumental music in public schools and was a fundraiser and administrator for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. She has been in the Educational Outreach Office for three years as program assistant. She and her husband enjoy the theater and their budding musician son, Michael.

Assistant director Iessa Mitchell graduated from Clark Atlanta University, majoring in psychology and minoring in music. She has danced since she was two years old and has performed for Katherine Dunham, Maya Angelou, and at the Apollo theater.

Administrative assistant Joanne Colosi recently graduated from the State University at Buffalo as an English major with a minor in women’s studies. She has worked for the National Organization for Women and the just Buffalo Literary Center. She enjoys both the literary and art world that New York City has to offer.

Evening Division

Administrative assistant Romel Jarin recently graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (1999) with a B.M. in voice. Before that, he studied international relations at San Francisco State University, receiving a B.A. in 1995. During that time, he participated in Model United Nations and the Model Arab League, receiving numerous awards and delegate recognitions from both programs. In the last semester of his senior year he started to sing opera. Upon graduation, he enrolled at the SFCM and performed in its opera productions, opera workshops, and musical theater productions. He has sung with the Jarvis Conservatory Zarzuela Program, Portland Opera Works’ Young Artists Program, the chorus of Opera Festival of New Jersey, and just finished a stint with the Sarasota Opera’s Young Artist Program.

Information Technology

Colleague specialist Patricia Winters-Yue has been working with scholastic software for longer than she cares to mention, and was a conversion specialist and project leader even before working as a “remote employee” for Datatel (the distributor of Colleague, located in Virginia). She and her husband moved to New Jersey a year ago. Trisha worked many years for the University of Mississippi while attending undergraduate and graduate programs there. An Air Force “brat,” Trisha “moved all over” while growing up and has lived in 12 states. She enjoys her three wonderful children, as well as music, opera, reading, and computers.

Jazz

Carolyn Appel, a part-time coordinator in the Jazz Studies Office, is a graduate of Barnard College where she created a major in jazz studies. She has worked at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Center for Jazz Studies at Columbia University, and for the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation. She contributes jazz articles to The Juilliard Journal and produces the Institute for Jazz Studies’ yearlong lecture series, which began in October.

Library

Retrospective conversion assistant/copy cataloger Tom Christie holds degrees from Lehigh University in international relations and SUNY Stony Brook in music; he is currently pursuing a Master of Library Science at Queens College. A tenor, he has sung with the Gilbert and Sullivan Light Opera Co., the Stony Brook Opera program, Huntington Choral Society, Stony Brook Camerata, and Woodbury United Methodist Church Choir. He lives with his wife, Elizabeth, and their cat, Wally, in Lake Ronkonkoma, L.I., and enjoys singing, sailing, and camping.

Technical services assistant Ken Giese majored in philosophy at Temple University and worked as an archives assistant at the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies in Philadelphia. He was an assistant librarian in charge of the rare book conservation project at the New York Law Institute, and was the research librarian at Program Planners, consultants to various municipal labor unions, before joining Juilliard last spring. He is currently enrolled in the Master of Library and Information Science program at Rutgers University.

Circulation assistant Glenn Loflin is a pianist. He received his B.A. in music from Indiana University, and also studied at the Academy of Music in Vienna. He holds a master’s degree in library science, and worked as a librarian at Time, Inc. from 1979 to 1997. Since leaving Time, he has focused on his musical studies.

Previously employed by the music libraries at Lincoln Center and Columbia University, circulation assistant David Shohl received his doctorate in composition from the Manhattan School of Music in 1999. He has received grants from ASCAP, the MacDowell Colony, and Meet the Composer. His recent commissions and performances include the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Kathleen Supové, and North/South Consonance.

Administrative/aquisitions assistant Aleksei Stevens grew up in White Plains, N.Y., and currently resides in Brooklyn. He received his B.A. in music composition in 1999 from Connecticut College, where he studied primarily with Dr. Noel Zahler.

Performance Activities

Bärli Nugent, administrative director of chamber music, is a flutist and longtime faculty member of the Aspen Music School and Festival. She holds B.M. and M.M. degrees from Juilliard, where she studied with Julius Baker, Marcel Moyse, and Harold Bennett. Bärli is now completing doctoral studies at SUNY Stony Brook, where she has studied with Samuel Baron and Carol Wincenc. She has been principal flute of the Concordia Orchestra since its inception in 1984. A founding member of the Aspen Wind Quintet and winner of the 1984 Naumburg Chamber Music Award, Bärli has performed throughout the U.S., Europe, China (where she also taught master classes in Beijing, Guangzhou, Nanning, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong), the former Soviet Union and North Africa. She has presented seminars and master classes all over the world and served as a panelist for Chamber Music America on numerous occasions.

Personnel

Natasha Heflin, a benefits assistant in Personnel, is really a Dixie chicken trying to fly in the Big Apple. She comes to Juilliard from Memphis, Tenn. (although not much of a Southern accent survived from her years at Haverford College in Philadelphia, where she earned a B.A. in sociology). She has worked as an accounting and HR assistant at a health clinic for working poor, a home-based family counselor for troubled youth, an inmate counselor for Pennsylvania Prison Society, and as the manager of a student-run pizzeria. After all this, there is not much that really stresses her out, but she invites you to bring all your benefits questions and problems to her and give it a try.

Personnel assistant Wendy Sanchez is from Astoria, N.Y. She is currently attending Baruch College as an undergrad, majoring in human resources management (with a minor in social psychology). She expects to be graduating this June. Wendy started working at Juilliard in July and is loving it. She is always ready to welcome new staff and faculty members to The Juilliard School.

Production Department

Steve Rosenberg moved to New York a year ago with his wife and three-year-old son to serve as technical director at the Manhattan Theater Club, the same capacity in which he now joins Juilliard. In Buffalo he served as technical director at Studio Arena Theater for over four years; before that, he spent four years in Albany at Capital Repertory Company.

Staff carpenter Eric Thorne, a Minnesota native, has worked as a carpenter for a long time, on everything from home remodeling to set building. He notes that the Juilliard scene shop has the tallest ceilings he’s ever worked under.

Matt Welander received his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College and has been dividing his time between technical theater and wilderness education ever since. For the past three summers, he has led backpacking trips in the Rocky Mountains of New Mexico. He originally came to Juilliard as a production intern.

Staff electrician Jennifer Linn Wilcox, originally from northeast Ohio, has worked as a freelance electrician and lighting designer for various venues in Ohio, Chicago, and New York City. She holds a B.F.A. in design/technology for theater from Wright State University.

Publications

Lisa Yelon joins the Office of Publications as an assistant editor, having last worked as a senior program editor at Stagebill. She is enjoying the entertainment she hears from the practice rooms near her office on the fourth floor.

Recording

Office manager Giselle Asencio lives in the Bronx and is currently a liberal arts major at Manhattan Community College. During her free time, she enjoys ice skating and playing with her dog, Revlon.

Registrar

Administrative assistant Chavela Contreras attended Ohio State University as an English major. While in college, she worked for BalletMet Columbus in their development office and was also the webmaster for the company’s Web site. Traveling through the U.S. and Canada and thinking about where to live after graduation, she decided upon New York… and kept checking Juilliard’s Web site until an appropriate job was posted. In her spare time, Chavela creates Web pages and plays guitar in a couple girl bands.