Faculty

Vince May was bitten by the bluegrass bug early in life. As a child his family attended bluegrass festivals and he’d later see numerous touring groups at the Spotswood Lounge in his native Ruckersville. Vince served 26 years in the Army and during a stint at Fort Belvoir he’d have the opportunity to see the Seldom Scene at the Birchmere where he became fascinated with Mike Auldridge and the Dobro.

Vince purchased his first Dobro in 1989 and has been playing bluegrass music since then. He has been instrumental in the conduct of both the Doc McCabe (Sedalia, VA) and the Grave’s Mountain (Syria, VA) Festival in recent years. He is also certified as a Wernick Method jam instructor. As a founding member of the Roanoke base “The Guard” band and a member of the Rose River Ramblers he can be found picking most weekends somewhere in Virginia.

Renee Balfour is an award-winning painter and woodworker from central Virginia who has been exhibiting nationally and internationally in group and solo exhibitions for over 30 years. She is co-author of The Virginia Visual Arts Resource Directory and is a past president of McGuffey Art Center. Renee is also owner of Possum’s Store in Criglersville, VA, where she has a studio and hosts exhibitions and musical performances. Ms. Balfour is a gifted teacher and arts advocate. In 2010 she established Art with Heart, and raised funds for the University of Virginia Children’s Hospital through the sale of children’s artwork. She founded Community Art Works, (formerly Art with a Mission Charlottesville) an organization dedicated to the empowerment of children through the arts, working to establish sustainable arts programming for children in Rwanda. In 2013 she traveled to Kigali, Rwanda, to teach art to children in orphanages and youth headed households and spearheaded the exhibition (Gukiza) and sale of their work to support financial, mental and emotional health of vulnerable children.

http://reneebalfour.com

Double Bass and bass guitarist Kevin MacConnell’s impressive career has taken him from playing with orchestras on concert stages to Broadway shows, from numerous recording studios to the sets of television shows, from jazz festivals to great clubs. He has performed with such jazz legends as Mel Torme, Nancy Wilson, Billy Eckstine, Joe Williams and tenor saxophonist Ernie Watts and made national and international television appearances/performances. Highly respected on the jazz scene, Kevin is also a cross genre musician in bluegrass, classical and popular music.

Amilia K Spicer is a talented singer, songwriter, musician and recording artist living in Los Angeles. She has produced songs for numerous Hollywood movies and is a recognized top-level producer of music videos. Amilia has expressed interest in working with the Center in 2024 to conduct a vocalist workshop focusing on backup singers and harmonization.

amiliakspicer.com

Tina Buchanan is a "born here" Virginian who started out playing flute and saxophone in her high school (marching and concert) band, coming to bluegrass music later in life. Now a bluegrass enthusiast, she plays mandolin, upright bass and guitar.

Lisa Kay is a vocalist and mandolin player that has been playing bluegrass professionally across the US and Canada for 25 years. She started out at age 14 in 1989 performing with her family band, Crooked Run and later founded the DC-based band Badly Bent. She spent several years touring and recording with southern Maryland's Flying Blind Bluegrass, and Jay Armsworthy and Eastern Tradition. In 2007, she began fronting her own Lisa Kay Band in the region, and in 2013 she joined the group East of Monroe, an Americana band that showcases original material. Lisa Kay is a 26-year veteran bluegrass radio host and concert MC, and hosted a show for many years on Washington DC-based WAMU's Bluegrass Country, before joining Valerie Smith's host roster on Bell Buckle Radio. She is also the co-founder of the DC Bluegrass Union, an organization that promotes and encourages bluegrass in Washington DC and beyond, including extensive youth outreach.

http://lisakayandreunionbluegrass.com

An exceptionally versatile cellist, Eric Stephenson’s style ranges from classical to jazz to rock and folk. He has performed with numerous orchestras such as the IRIS Orchestra in Memphis, TN and the Colorado Music Festival in Boulder, CO. Eric is also a regular substitute for the Cleveland Orchestra. He earned his Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees with Honors from the Cleveland Institute of Music and was a recipient of the Ellis A. Feiman Award in Cello while a student of Stephen Geber. As a fellow at the Aspen Music Festival, Eric served as Assistant Principal Cello of the Aspen Festival Orchestra from 1999-2004. Composing and recording is a huge part of his life.

Scott Twiford operates Big Bear Productions, a concert production company and recording studio located in Falls Church, VA. Scott is a professional sound engineer and provides agency services for musicians and musical groups.

bearmusic.com

Dr. Mark Fouxman is a world-renowned Russian-born classic pianist, audio and electronics engineer, inventor, and industry leading pro-audio authority. He has performed as a soloist, with orchestra, and in chamber music recitals in some of the greatest halls in Russia, Israel, and Holland, including the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Tel Aviv Museum of Arts, Jerusalem Music Center, and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Concert engagements in the United States have included recitals at Scottsdale Steinway Hall, Chicago Steinway Hall, Arizona State University, University of Utah, Indiana University South Bend; a live broadcast on WFMT radio station in Chicago; and performances at the New York International Piano Festivals, as well as concert tours in Russia and Costa Rica. Critics note that his attention to shaping the melodic line, voicing the music texture, and beauty of sound, link his work to the performing values of the past.

While studying electronics, Dr. Fouxman worked as a studio maintenance tech, which lead to his deep interest in microphones. Based upon his knowledge as a concertizing musician and recording engineer, he founded Samar Audio Design, LLC where he began handcrafting one-of-a-kind microphones. Their superior performance earned critical acclaim for which the company is known.

Sydnee Waggoner is a classically-trained soprano, versatile vocalist, musician, educator, and arts administrator with global experience. She has sung with Miami City Ballet, Walt Disney World, The Theatre Lab DC, Opera Fairbanks, NY Opera Exchange, Orchestra Miami, Magic City Opera, Opera FLOW, Florida Grand’s Opera at Sea, Miami International Piano Festival, St. Patrick’s of Miami Beach and Miami Summer Music Festival, where she made her New World Center debut with the festival as a soloist alongside the MSMF Symphony Orchestra. Other professional European credits include performances with Divadlo J. K. Tyla v Plzni, Virtuosi di Praga and Orchestr Severčeského divadla as an Opernfest Prague 2017 Voice Fellow (Czech Republic).

Sydnee holds a master’s degree from Manhattan School of Music and a bachelor's from Boston University. In 2009, she represented her home state as Miss Alaska in the 2010 Miss America Competition, capturing the overall talent award at the State Level. That same year, she was also recognized as the 2009 Young Alaskan Artist of the Year through the Anchorage Festival of Music. Alongside her performance career, she is a dedicated educator, skilled in teaching voice, piano, music theory, and ESL, particularly passionate about guiding young adult musicians in language, artistry, and interpretation.

Darryl Brenzel is a highly experienced saxophonist and woodwind doubler as well as a composer and arranger. He has performed at some of the world's great jazz festivals, (Newport, Montreaux, Northsea, Nice) and with some of the world's great orchestras (Boston Pops, The National Symphony, Pittsburgh Pops, Detroit Symphony) and big names in rock (Chris Isaak, Beach Boys, The Temptations, Four Tops, The Drifters, Jerry Butler) and big bands (Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, Nelson Riddle Orchestra, US Army Jazz Ambassadors), to name a few. He is a published composer/arranger with more than 150 works for big band to his credit.

Scott Horey is an internationally respected solo percussionist, drummer, teacher, health and wellness advocate, and coordinator of cultural exchange. He currently serves as Instructor of Percussion at the Music School of Delaware while maintaining his work as a solo artist, clinician, and freelance drummer/percussionist. From 2020-2022, he held the position of full professor of percussion at the Universidad de Ciencias y Artes de Chiapas, the top percussion school of Mexico. From 2012-2020, he served as both principal percussionist of the Mankato Symphony Orchestra, and Lecturer of Percussion at the University of Minnesota, Morris while a top-call Minneapolis free-lance percussionist and internationally touring solo artist. Former appointments include Adjunct Professor at Southwest Minnesota State University, Adjunct Professor of Percussion at the University of Minnesota-Morris, and Principal Percussionist of the Mankato Symphony Orchestra. While completing his master’s and doctorate degrees at the University of Minnesota, his teachers included some of the most widely respected names in the field: Fernando Meza, Stuart Marrs, Katarzyna Mycka, and James Dillon. Scott Horey is an endorsing artist for MAPEX drums, VIC FIRTH sticks, SABIAN cymbals, and MAJESTIC percussion.

Mr. Lonegan received a BA in English from Randolph-Macon College in
Ashland, VA in 1976, and an MA in English from the University of Virginia in
1978. In the early 1980s, he became interested in the visual arts and began to paint. For five years, he worked in the studio of jewelry designer Linda van der Linde in Charlottesville, VA, hand painting the delicately sculpted porcelain pieces used in her necklace and earring designs. From 1989 through 1991, Lonergan attended Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA, where he received an MFA in Painting and Printmaking.

In the early 1990s, Mr. Lonergan worked out of a studio in the McGuffey Art
Center in Charlottesville, VA and exhibited his work throughout the state of
Virginia. He began to teach art history and design classes at Germanna
Community College and Piedmont Virginia Community College in 1994. The next
year, Mr. Lonergan became an instructor in studio art and art history, and chair of
the art department at Woodberry Forest School, an all-boys boarding school
near Orange, VA. He retired from full-time teaching there in June of 2019, but he
continued to serve as the director of the Baker Gallery in the school's Walker Fine
Arts Center through May of 2022. He currently lives with his wife Liz in
Charlottesville, VA.

Chris Heslop is a composer and saxophonist living in Wyomissing, PA. He has written several operas, film scores, music for plays, choral works, and jazz orchestra pieces. He has live-streamed hundreds of projects for the American Federation of Musicians, Music Performance Trust Fund, and others. Chris is musical director for Reading Theater Project and performs regularly with Hot Club of Reading, Hesse’s Hot Jazz, and others. He plays saxophone, clarinet, flute, piano, a bit of slide trombone, and an even smaller bit of bagpipes.

Ms. Skafte earned her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA in Fibers and MA in Textile Design from Syracuse University. Navigating the gulf between decorative and fine art, she finds inspiration from Sonia Delaunay and Anni Albers—women who also were decorative artists, who also made significant contributions as fine artists.

Throughout Jane’s career she has worked creatively with product design. Her first professional as a textile designer led her to Lenox China in New Jersey. Since that time, she has developed textile and ceramic products for companies or the Smithsonian, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the Museum of Decorative Arts, housed in the 18th century architectural setting, sold at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello Museum Shop.

As a fine artist, she finds nature her main source of inspiration. Her work is poetic and abstract—rather than a literal depiction of her subject matter, she returns to the beauty of the Virginia landscape to evoke time and change. In 2006, Ms. Skafte turned her artistic focus to teaching, where she has pursued painting, sculpture and illustration with her students. She continues her work as a working artist while benefiting from the classroom interaction. Ms. Skafte has exhibited her work in galleries and other venues. Her current work is returning to abstraction derived from nature using her experience in both botanical illustration and pattern design.

Her artistic inspiration stems from the natural beauty of Virginia and her poetic and abstract approach to art. She has taught at universities and community colleges and exhibits her work throughout Virginia and beyond.

skaftedesign.com

Sallie Eissler supports the Blue Ridge Center as a volunteer Student Counselor at program workshops and other events. She is a licensed RN and Pediatric Nurse Practitioner and a collaborative leader with a special talent for compelling partnerships across multiple stakeholder groups. Over the course of her career, Ms. Eissler has held many key leadership roles at health systems that serve large and diverse populations, and pioneered delivery models that take health care to people where they live in their communities, many of them medically underserved. Her interests in community nursing also encompass patient education and chronic disease management.

Ms. Eissler received her BS in Nursing from the University of Virginia, and her MS in Nursing and Pediatric Nurse Certificate from Catholic University. She recently retired as a Clinical Nurse with Kaiser Permanente Mid-Atlantic Region where she was also the former Director of Community Outreach Operations. Other former leadership roles include Director of Partnership Development and Clinical Division Director of Women and Children’s Services at Sentara Potomac Hospital in Woodbridge, VA, and Executive Director of Home Health Care at Greater Southeast Community Hospital in Washington, DC. In addition, she served as an Instructor at George Mason University and Eastern Kentucky University, a Clinical Nurse in the pediatric clinic and emergency room at the University of Kentucky, and as a Medical Surgical Staff Nurse at the University of Virginia.

Julie Francis supports the Blue Ridge Center as a volunteer Program Assistant at workshops and other events, where she coordinates student activities and provides assistance to the Program Director and faculty. She is a research and planning professional with a passion for event planning and over the past 5 years has served on the Zodiac Committee at the Dali Museum (St. Petersburg, FL), planning events such as the Dali Dozen (exhibitions by emerging artists) and Los Vinos de Dali (annual fundraising event). As a volunteer at the Sunshine Senior Center, a nationally accredited multiservice center in St. Petersburg where seniors gather for support, she organized a community garden that became part of the SNAP program and received grants from the University of South Florida, and taught a cardio drumming class. Ms. Francis was previously an Assistant Producer for Our Town Podcast with host Andy Ockershausen (Washington, DC), and narrated a faith-based book, Tap into the Power of God, by Cheryl Pace and wrote the prayers for it as well. She currently works as a Customer Service Representative with Publix Super Markets in Glen Allen, VA.

Jack Dunlap has made a name for himself playing mandolin in the D.C. area. Formerly of the trio Bud's Collective, Jack has worked alongside past and present members of Mountain Heart, Audie Blaylock and Redline, Dailey and Vincent, Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen, Blue Highway, Chris Jones, and the Night Drivers and Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper, to name a few. Though growing up playing bluegrass music, Jack stretches his instrument into other genres such as jazz, swing, blues, rock, classical, country, Eastern Indian folk music, Celtic, polka, and many others. He worked as the apprentice to VA-based mandolin legend Danny Knicely through the VA Folklife Program. Knicely and Dunlap recorded the album "Chop, Shred & Split - A Mandolin Player's Apprenticeship" together in 2015. The album went on to win Best Bluegrass Album of the Year at the Washington Area Music Awards (WAMMIES).

In January of 2018, he started the Jack Dunlap Band and his longtime musical partner Jacob Bly and drummer extraordinaire Randall Witherspoon. The Jack Dunlap Band released their debut album, The Adventures of Captain J-LAP & Major Jammage, in February of 2019. In 2020, when the shutdowns due to COVID began, Jack seized the opportunity to write and record a solo album featuring only mandolin, bass, and vocals. "The Isolation Sessions" features 5 original tunes, 3 revived Bud's Collective songs, and 2 traditional/folk songs. The album went to number 1 on the Airplay Direct Charts in May of 2020.