VOICE

Group Of Girls Standing While Singing — Cary, NC — Cary School of Music

The study of voice at CSM includes all styles such as opera, musicals, jazz, pop, blues and gospel. Techniques of breathing, matching pitches, production of sound, musicianship, and presentation are all components of vocal lessons. Music is selected according to the abilities and talents of each student. For those who wish to audition for theater, chorus, or other events, preparation for the audition can be a focus of the lessons.

Instructors

Elora Dash

Elora Dash is a local musician, singer, voice instructor, and songwriter who specializes in pop, R&B, and neo-soul genres. In 2020, she received her Bachelors of Science from Appalachian State University in Music Industry Studies, studying under Ms. Mary Gayle Greene as a soprano in the vocal studio.

Elora began her journey in music in her hometown of Chapel Hill with classical piano lessons from age 7. She worked with Dr. Deborah Woodward who taught her classical piano, but also worked with her on contemporary pop music and introduced her to African American spirituals.

Elora learned classical vocal techniques through her time at the Hayes School of Music, and found her passion for soul and R&B music as a member of Boone’s music scene. She has been performing from a very young age in dance and music, has been a part of many bands, and collaborated with notable artists.

Lessons with Elora will contain these important elements to becoming a great singer and performer: pitch accuracy and intonation, expanding range, healthy breathing techniques, understanding feel and rhythm, and instilling confidence as a performer. She works with students of all ages, and has taught students as young as 5 years old. These lessons can be helpful for beginners and young students and for experienced singers looking to strengthen their vocal technique and expand their abilities. Elora’s lessons will focus on music theory for singers as she has found this is a very useful tool for becoming a successful musician and collaborator.

Marianna D'Andrea — Cary, NC — Cary School of Music

Tanya Volkov

Piano and Voice

Tanya Volkov graduated with a B.A. degree in music from the Music College of Novorossiysk. She also obtained a B.M. degree from the Krasnoyarsk Institute of Arts with a focus in choir and pedagogy. While pursuing her degrees, she participated in multiple choirs as a soloist and choirmaster assistant. In 1995, she was a part of the Krasnoyarsk City Choir which participated in the Tampere Choir Festival in Finland, winning first place in the competition.

Tanya’s experience includes teaching piano, vocals, music history, and music theory to students of all ages and skill levels. In 1997 she moved to the United States and started a new career in California. Since then, she has been working for various music companies and became self employed as a private piano and voice teacher. In 2021, Tanya moved from California to North Carolina continuing her career in the beautiful state of North Carolina.

Jon Cheney — Cary, NC — Cary School of Music

Jon Cheney is a private music instructor, composer and performer from Fayetteville, North Carolina. After completing a BA from Campbell University with a double major in music composition and acting, Jon spent the years from 2013-2018 teaching private lessons in piano, guitar, voice, drum set, and mandolin in various studios, including here at the Cary School of Music! In addition to his teaching schedule, Jon has served as guitarist, singer, and composer/arranger for East Coast Entertainment artist Bantum Rooster since 2011. As a composer, Jon has premiered works for choir, solo piano, solo guitar, and string quartet. As of 2020, Jon has completed a Master’s Degree in theory and composition and is excited about expanding his performing opportunities and returning to Cary to bring musical knowledge to students of all ages!

Philip van Lidth de Jeude, voice and piano Instructor - Cary, NC

Philip van Lidth de Jeude has been teaching voice and piano at CSM since July 2013 and has participated in several faculty concerts. An alumnus of the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music, Manhattan School of Music, and the Ryan Opera Center in Chicago, he sang several supporting roles with its parent company, Lyric Opera of Chicago. Winning a Bronze Medal in the 1981 International Competition for Musical Performance in Geneva, Switzerland, he began a free-lance career, singing supporting and leading baritone roles in several theaters in the U.S. In August 1982, Wolf Trap Opera featured him as Ben Hubbard in a revival of Marc Blitzstein’s Regina (based on Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes). Michigan opera Theater featured him as Miecznik in the U.S. premiere of Moniuszko’s The Haunted Castle later that year. Beginning the transition to tenor in 1983, he was included in the Dictionary of International Biography, Volume XIX, in 1984 and in the International Who’s Who in Music, Tenth Edition, in 1985.

He resumed singing as a tenor in 1986 in various concerts in the U.S. before going to Zurich, where he made his European tenor debut as Malcolm in Macbeth with the Zurich Opera. In his first permanent engagement in Würzburg, he sang the title role in the German Premiere of Lorenzo Ferrero’s Salvatore Giuliano. He has sung extensively throughout the German-speaking areas of Europe and in the Netherlands, performing with the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Dusseldorf, Cologne Opera, Bavarian State Theater at Gärtnerplatz, and Nuremberg, among many others. Roles he has sung include Otello, Canio (I Pagliacci), Cavaradossi (Tosca), Radames (Aida) and Don Jose (Carmen). During the summer of 1995 he sang the role of Samson (Samson et Dalila) at the Spanga Opera Festival in the Netherlands to critical acclaim, and he has won special praise as Florestan, Peter Grimes, and the Male Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia.

In addition to portraying Harry McAfee in Bye Bye Birdie, Pierre/The Red Shadow in Desert Song and Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof (in both English and German translation), among other musicals, Mr. van Lidth also made a foray into the world of film acting. He played the Generalissimo in Abel, the Flying Lift Boy by BOS Bros. Film-TV Productions, based on the children’s book by Annie M. G. Schmidt, one of the most successful Dutch films of the past decades, having been shown by both WDR and Kinderkanal in Germany.

Continuing to appear in concert and recital, he has collaborated with pianist Deborah Lee Hollis in lecturing on and performing Schubert’s Winterreise at Duke University with a period fortepiano. Speaking five languages and singing in three others besides, his other interests include composing, arranging music, playwriting, film and theater, and he specializes in ear training and basic keyboard harmony as well as music theory.

Brittany Kefauver Jones - Voice Instructor - Cary, NC

Brittany Kefauver Jones has been teaching both vocal and piano lessons here at Cary School of Music since 2011. In 2017, she began CSM Voices, a show choir class, at the school. Outside of teaching here, she is the music director at Providence Presbyterian Church in McGee’s Crossroads. She has been serving as their music director since 2007. Ms. Jones graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2007 from Campbell University with a BA in both music composition and comprehensive music with a focus in vocal performance. She is very passionate about children and music, and she thinks that music lessons are important for nurturing creativity, confidence, and self discipline, as well as musicianship.

Vitor Roveri has joined the faculty of Cary School of Music as a voice and piano teacher. He is currently a member of the Choral Society of Durham and is serving as choral director of church music in the Raleigh area. Vitor is a graduate of Campinas State University in Brazil (UNICAMP) where he received the Bachelor of Music degree in classical voice (bass). His opera experience at UNICAMP included “La Traviata” (choir), “Gianni Schicchi” (Pinellino), and Die Fledermaus (Frosch). He sang Charpentier’s “Te Deum” and the world premiere of the works “Prece de Abigail”, the opera “Estevao” by Tadeu Taffarello and “ Le Vide” by Danilo Rossetti. Vitor was a member of the Contemporary Choir of Campinas which specialized in performing sacred and secular a cappella music of the twentieth century and which was awarded 2nd place in the “San Juan Canta” Choir Contest in Argentina in the Universal and Classical Music category. In 2019, the group recorded an album with choral pieces from Carlos Alberto Pinto Fonseca, including the

“Afro-Brazilian Mass”.

Vitor’s extensive experience as a singer in numerous and diverse choral groups includes popular Brazilian music (samba, bossa nova), pop, rock, and African music. He has performed most of the symphonic repertoire including Beethoven’s “9th Symphony”, Orff’s “Carmina Burana”, Saint-Saens’ “Oratorio de Noel”, Mozart’s “Coronation Mass”, “Requiem”, and “ Mass in C Minor”, Bach’s “Magnificat in D Major” and ”Cantata BWV 4”, excerpts from Handel’s “Messiah”, Haydn’s “The Creation” and “Nelson Mass”, Brahms’ “A German Requiem”, Bruckner’s ”Te Deum”, and Faure’s “Requiem”.