Meet the Credo Faculty

The Credo Faculty come to Credo from many of the leading music schools and orchestras across the country. Together they create the (often life-changing!) Credo  experience.

Following is a complete listing of the Credo Faculty by program.

Faculty Biographies

Principal Trombonist with the Houston Symphony, Allen Barnhill joined the orchestra in 1977 and has been featured as a soloist on numerous occasions.   Winner of the Swiss Prize at the 1979 Geneva International Solo Competition, he has made numerous solo appearances with orchestras, bands, in solo recitals and as a chamber musician.  As an ensemble collaborator, he has appeared in concert, and on numerous recordings, with The Houston Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Chicago’s Music of the Baroque Ensemble and the Houston Symphony Chamber Players.

Mr. Barnhill is in demand as a teacher of the trombone and has given master classes throughout the United States and abroad.  Currently Associate Professor of Trombone at the Shepherd School of Music, he has also held faculty positions at The University of Texas, The University of Houston, Sam Houston State University and St. Thomas University.

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Bonita Boyd is one of today’s most exciting concert flutists.  She began her career at age 21 as principal flutist of the Rochester Philharmonic, serving until 1984, when she resigned to devote herself to her growing solo career.  Her extensive concert tours have since taken her across North and South America, Europe, the Far East, and Australia.  She has premiered and recorded numerous works, including works of Adler, Benson, Rosza, Sierra, Augusta Reed Thomas, Rands, Bernstein, Sessler, Liptak, and Beaser.  Boyd was appointed to the Eastman School of Music faculty in 1977 where she has been awarded the Eisenhart Award for Excellence in Teaching.   She is a member of the artist faculty of the Aspen and Aria Music Festivals and is co-principal flutist of the Aspen Festival Orchestra.  She has also served as performer and/or artist faculty at various other festivals including Marlboro, Bowdoin, Grand Teton, Chauatauqua, Johannesen, Eastern, Masterworks, Filarmonica de las Americas, Seoul International Flute Academy, and Hamamatsu Seminar.  She has been president of the National Flute Association, a 5000-member international organization of flutists from around the globe. 

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Karen Burgman, pianist of the CREDO TRIO, has performed throughout the US, Canada and Europe in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Jordan Hall, Toronto Center for the Performing Arts, and the National Gallery of Art. A winner of numerous prizes in collaborative playing and chamber music, Karen will be performing in the upcoming year through Pennsylvania Performing Arts On Tour with award-winning cellist Jesus Morales. A graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory with a degree in piano performance, Karen is also certified in Dalcroze Eurhythmics. She currently has two solo CDs on the label "Lifespring Music, LLC," serves as artistic director of Sola Gratia Musicians Choirs, and maintains a private teaching studio at the Hilltown Creative Arts Academy which she helped to found in 2007.

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Mark Butin was the Credo Music Residential Director from 2003-2009. He received his B.M. and his M.M. from Northwestern University where he studied with Peter Slowik.  He has been a member of both the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and the New World Symphony, and served as the Principal Violist of the Honolulu Symphony until its bankruptcy  in 2010.  He is currently the violist of the Galliard String Quartet Additionally employed as a Commercial Aviation Manager and pilot, Mark takes to the air whenever possible.

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Pianist Alvin Chow has performed throughout North America and in Asia as orchestral soloist and recitalist. He has been a prize winner in numerous competitions, including the University of Maryland International Piano Competition and the New York Piano Teachers Congress International Piano Competition. His appearances as soloist with orchestra include the National Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Pan-Asia Symphony in Hong Kong and the Mozarteum Orchestra in Salzburg Mr. Chow received the prestigious Victor Herbert Prize in Piano from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Sascha Gorodnitzki, and held the Joseph Battista Memorial Scholarship at Indiana University as a student of Menahem Pressler. He is currently Chair of the Piano Department and the Ruth Strickland Gardner Professor of Music at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

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Stephen Clapp is a winner of the Josef Gingold Prize of the Cleveland Society for Strings and the Walter W. Naumberg First Chamber Music Award as a member of the Beaux-Arts String Quartet. He has performed in solo and chamber music concerts in much of the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, Central and South America, and in the Aspen, Casals and Spoleto Festivals, including performing chamber music with such artists as Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Jacqueline DePre and Yo-Yo Ma. He was a founding member of the Blair String Quartet and The Oberlin Trio. Having served as Dean at The Juilliard School 1994-2007, Dr. Clapp is now Dean Emeritus, and has been a faculty member at Juilliard since 1987 teaching violin and chamber music.

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Michael Davis, concertmaster of the Louisville Orchestra, has been hailed by critics as "the essence of musicality" and continue to praise him for his "virtuosity" and "exquisite" playing. Mr. Davis has given concerts in such significant American venues as Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center, and has concertized in both Europe and Asia. He has performed at Grand Teton Music Festival, Spoleto Festival and the Gerhart Chamber Music Festival (where he is Artistic Director). Davis also serves on the violin faculties at Campbellsville University and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

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Peter Dominguez grew up in Milwaukee playing with his father, pianist and singer Frank DeMiles.  His teachers  include  Roger Ruggeri,  Richard Davis, Robert Gladstone, and Lucas Drew. Mr. Dominguez began his teaching career at Michigan State University, and is currently Professor of Jazz Studies and Double Bass at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music.   He has served as Principal Bass with the Lansing Symphony Orchestra and the American Sinfonietta.  Having pursued for 38 years double bass performance practice in a variety of musical styles and appeared in venues through out the Americas and Europe, Peter continues to perform, record, and tour with an impressive array of Classical, Jazz, and Latin artists. More information can be found at peterdominguezmusic.com

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Bryan Dumm, cellist, has been a member of the Cleveland Orchestra since 1986. Prior to this appointment he was Principal Cellist of the Alabama Symphony and a member of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. In addition to orchestral work, Mr.Dumm has performed in chamber music concerts across America and in Europe and Asia. He has been a member of the Brioso and Amici String Quartets, the Cleveland Octet and the Myriad Ensemble. He is a founding member of the Samaris Piano Trio whose debut CD Café Music can be heard on the Newport Classics label. Mr. Dumm is currently on the cello faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music and Cleveland State University.

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Lawrence Dutton Noted as a "poetic violist" by the New Yorker, violist Lawrence Dutton has earned distinction as a recitalist, soloist with orchestra, chamber musician, recording artist and teacher of viola and chamber music. As violist of the world renowned Emerson String Quartet, Mr. Dutton performs over 100 concerts each season and has won six Grammy Awards. Mr. Dutton has collaborated with many of the world's great performing artists, including Isaac Stern, Mstislav Rostropovich, Oscar Shumsky, Walter Trampler, Menahem Pressler, Lynn Harrell, Yefim Bronfman, Joseph Kalichstein, Misha Dichter, Jan DeGaetani and Edgar Meyer. In addition, he has performed as guest artist with numerous chamber music ensembles such as the Juilliard and Guarneri quartets, and with the Beaux Arts and the Kalichstein, Laredo, Robinson trios.

As a soloist, Mr. Dutton has appeared with many American and European orchestras including those of Germany, Belgium, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Colorado, and Virginia. He has also appeared as guest artist at the music festivals of Aspen, Santa Fe, Ravinia and Chamber Music Northwest, and has collaborated with the late Isaac Stern in the International Chamber Music Encounters at both Carnegie Hall and in Jerusalem. Mr. Dutton is currently a Professor of Chamber Music at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and the Manhattan School of Music and resides in Bronxville, New York with his wife, violinist Elizabeth Lim-Dutton and their sons Luke Thomas and Jesse Lee.

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Joanne Erwin, Professor of Music Education at Oberlin Conservatory, earned her Bachelor’s (magna cum laude) and Master’s degree in Music Education at University of Illinois. After teaching strings in public schools in Illinois and Texas she went on to earn her Ph.D. in String Pedagogy at University of North Texas. As a cellist she played in the Fort Worth Symphony and currently in Oberlin College Community Strings, conducted youth orchestras in Texas and currently with the Northern Ohio Youth Orchestra. She presents at conferences and conducts festival orchestras around the world. She is a co-author for New Directions for Strings, Prelude to Music Education and written other articles for American String Teacher and Teaching Music. 

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John Fitchuk is an active violist in the Chicago area and has taught all levels and areas of music in Illinois for thirty-six years. For twenty-two years, he was Director of Orchestras at both Wheaton North and Wheaton Warrenville High Schools. Mr. Fitchuk has served as Organizational Chair of the All-State Honors Orchestra and President of the Chicago American String Teachers Association (ASTA) and he has been the Director of the Fox Valley and West Suburban Youth Symphonies. In 1996 he received the Distinguished Service Award from the Illinois Music Educators Association. Mr. Fitchuk has been a member of the Chicago Civic Orchestra, Hinsdale Chamber Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Chorus, and the Dubuque Symphony and also serves on the music staff of Christ Church of Oakbrook.

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Charles Geyer is in great demand as a recitalist and presents masterclasses regularly in this country as well as Japan, Italy, Spain, and Canada.  He performs as soloist with Chicago’s Music of the Baroque ensemble and as Co-Principal Trumpet in the summers with the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra in Jackson, Wyoming, and serves as Professor of Trumpet at Northwestern University.  Previous professional orchestral appointments include the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Principal Trumpet with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Principal Trumpet of Houston Symphony, and Principal Trumpet of Grant Park Symphony.  He was Trumpet Professor at the Eastman School of Music and member of the Eastman Brass from 1980-1998. A founding member of the Chicago Brass Quintet, Mr. Geyer also organized and performed in concerts with the Chicago Symphony Brass Ensemble.  Mr. Geyer has recorded with the Eastman Brass, Music of the Baroque, Chicago Symphony and Houston Symphony Orchestras, Contemporary Chamber Players of Chicago.

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Alan Harrell has been a member of The Cleveland Orchestra since 1995. Alan has won numerous competitions and awards including the 1994 Cleveland Institute of Music Cello Prize, MTNA National Scholarship and the Phi Kappa Phi National Fellowship and has played concerti with a number of orchestras. He has been a member of the Virginia Symphony, Sir Georg Solti's Carnegie Hall Project, and the National Repertory Orchestra. Mr. Harrell has given lessons and master classes at a number of colleges nationwide. He is on the faculty of Cleveland State University.

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James Howsmon, pianist, is Professor of Instrumental Accompanying at Oberlin College, where he oversees the instrumental collaborative activities of the school's piano majors. He has played in over one thousand recitals in North America, Europe, and Japan, and has performed with principal players of every major American orchestra. In recent seasons he has played in Japan, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, D.C. (at the Kennedy Center), Philadelphia, Dallas, Montreal, and Minneapolis. He has given guest master classes in accompanying and chamber music at, among others, the Juilliard School, the Cleveland Institute of Music, Arizona State University, the University of Colorado, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Alabama. He is married to violist Louise Zeitlin. They live in Oberlin with their two teenaged children, both avid musicians.

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Dr. Lee Joiner serves as Professor of Violin and Chair of the String Department at Wheaton College Conservatory of Music, Wheaton, Illinois. An active chamber musician, Joiner has been a member of the Blair, a quartet-in-residence at Vanderbilt University, a regular organizer and participant in the Faculty Chamber Series at Wheaton College, and a guest artist with the Rembrandt Chamber Players and the Orion Chamber Ensemble. Other performing opportunities in the Chicago area have included Ars Viva, Fulcrum Point and the Lyric Opera, and Chicago Jazz Orchestra. His musical studies include degrees from Juilliard and Eastman, with additional studies taking place at the Banff Centre for the Arts, Aspen Music School, and Yale University Summer School.

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Dr. Kangwon Kim current concertmaster of Madison Bach Musicians, is a versatile violinist with repertoire ranging from baroque to 21st century using both baroque and modern violins. She has given solo and chamber recitals throughout the U.S. and in Korea, Canada, Puerto Rico, Switzerland, and Norway, and she was featured in the Rising Young Artist Series at the Seoul Arts Center.  She has performed with the Smithsonian Chamber Players and Concerto Soloists Chamber Orchestra and has collaborated with world-renowned musicians including Menahem Pressler and Laurence Lesser. Ms. Kim earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  She holds degrees from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, and Temple University.   She taught at Biola University as Assistant Professor from 2006-2008 and has also taught at Ripon College in WI and the University of Pennsylvania. Ms. Kim lives in Middleton, WI with her husband and two sons and keeps an active performing and teaching schedule.

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Lisa-Beth Lambert joined the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2001 following six seasons with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C.  An active chamber musician, she has appeared at the Marlboro Music Festival, the Kingston Music Festival, and at the White House.  She has performed with the Brandenburg Ensemble, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, and the Twentieth Century Consort, as well as on the series of the Chamber Music Society of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Art Museum, and the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater.  As soloist she has appeared with numerous orchestras including the National Symphony Orchestra and the New World Chamber Orchestra of Mexico City.   In addition to teaching privately, Ms. Lambert created and directed the Intensive Study Program at the MasterWorks Festival in Winona Lake, Indiana.  During the past few seasons she has presented the Mozart sonata cycle with pianist Lambert Orkis at several east coast venues.

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Elizabeth Ann Larson violinist of the Credo Trio, has played solo concerts throughout the U.S., Japan, England, Switzerland, Canada, Taiwan, South Korea, Estonia and India.  She has performed at Symphony Hall, Boston with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Weill Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Victoria Hall, Geneva and has been featured on National Public Radio. The Boston Globe has praised her playing as having "great charm and refinement... and capable of breathtaking virtuosity."  Elizabeth has been a Resident Artist at many international festivals. She is on the faculty of Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, the Credo  and Masterworks Festivals and founded the Geneva Conservatory of Music, in New York City. Elizabeth is currently Assistant Professor of Violin at Biola University. 

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Marilyn McDonald has toured world-wide as a member of the Castle Trio, the Smithson String Quartet, the Oberlin Barooque Ensemble and Ensemble Pierrot, a group specializing in contemporary music. She currently is a member of the Axelrod Quartet, performing on the Smithonian's Stradivarius instruments. Ms. McDonald has appeared as recitalist and soloist with orchestras throughout the United States. She is concertmaster of the Peninsula Music Festival Orchestra, the Smithsonian Chamber Players and Boston Baroque. Summer festivals include the Baroque Performance Institute, Colorado College Festival, Fairbanks (AK) and Bowdoin Festivals. She has held visiting professorships at Indiana University and the Eastman School of Music and is Artist-in-Residence at Boston University. Ms. McDonald is Professor of Violin at Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

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Matthew Michelic has concertized throughout the United States and internationally as a member of the Kenwood, Da Vinci and Delos Quartets and has recorded on the Orion and CRI labels. In chamber music recitals, he has collaborated with such artists as Jeffrey Solow, Jose-Luis Garcia, Robert McDonald, the Fine Arts Quartet and the Amelia Trio. As an orchestral player, he has performed frequently with the Milwaukee Symphony and the Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra. He performs regularly with the Lawrence Chamber Players, and has recently toured Vietnam and China with that ensemble. Highlights of the 2010-11 season include a performance for Pope Benedict XVI in Rome, a chamber music recital in Lisbon, Portugal with members of the Capela Quartet, and the world premiere of Reflections from Yad Yashem with Lawrence University's Cantala ensemble. Currently, Mr. Michelic is Associate Professor of Music at Lawrence University Conservatory of Music in Appleton, Wisconsin.

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Steuart Pincombe received a B.M in modern cello performance and a M.M. in viola da gamba and baroque cello performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Steuart has collaborated in chamber concerts with leading American modern and baroque performers and has appeared in solo and chamber music performances throughout the U.S. and Europe. In addition to performing, he has presented master classes at such institutions as Biola University, Gordon College, University of California Domingez Hills, and Missouri State University (MSU); and guest lectures at MSU, Oral Roberts University, and the Oberlin Conservatory. He has recorded the complete Bach suites for solo cello and has recorded contemporary music for Oberlin's Aural Capacity label and the Centaur label. Steuart was recently awarded a Carlo Antonio Testore cello (1720) on loan from the Jumpstart Jr. Foundation.  He is currently a baroque cellist in Apollo's Fire and modern cellist of the Credo Trio.

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Jeffrey Rathbun joined The Cleveland Orchestra as assistant principal oboe in 1990. From 2001 to 2003, he served as principal oboe. Prior to joining the Orchestra, he served in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (1988 to 1990), San Francisco Symphony (1986 to 1988), Oakland Symphony (1984 to 1986), and Honolulu Symphony (1983 to 1984).  Mr. Rathbun received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2003 and from the University of North Texas in 2004. Mr. Rathbun is a faculty member of the Cleveland Institute of Music, Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory of Music, and Kent/Blossom Music. He also teaches masterclasses throughout the United States. He won first prize in the 1988 Lucarelli International Competition for Solo Oboe Players, held at Carnegie Hall. The Cleveland Orchestra has performed three of Mr. Rathbun’s compositions: Daredevil, Three Psalms of Jerusalem, and Motions for Cellos,the last of which was commissioned by The Cleveland Orchestra. 

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René Schiffer, native of the Dukedom of Brabant, began studying cello with his father, György, and completed his studies in Amsterdam, (County of Holland), with Anner Bijlsma.  Schiffer has performed with internationally renowned historical performance ensembles like La Petite Bande, Tafelmusik, and Apollo's Fire, and with Gustav Leonhardt and Sigiswald Kuijken. He has performed in early music festivals in Boston, Utrecht, Paris, Budapest, Tallinn and Grandchamp.  He has been a soloist with the Toledo Symphony and Akron Symphony and has served on the faculty of Case Western Reserve University and Oberlin Conservatory.

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Stephen B. Shipps is Professor of Violin at The University of Michigan.  He studied with Josef Gingold at Indiana University, with Ivan Galamian and Sally Thomas at the Meadowmount School and with Franco Gulli at the Academia Chigiana in Siena, Italy. He is a former member of the Meadowmount and the Amadeus Trios and has appeared as soloist with the symphony orchestras of Indianapolis, Dallas, Omaha, Seattle and Ann Arbor. He has been a member of the Cleveland Orchestra, Associate Concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony and Concertmaster of the Dallas Opera, Concertmaster and Associate Conductor of the Omaha Symphony and the Nebraska Sinfonia, and guest Concertmaster for the Seattle and Toledo symphony orchestras. Mr. Shipps has recorded for American Gramophone, Bay Cities, NPR, RIAS Berlin, and Hessiche Rundfunk of Frankfurt, Melodia/Russian Disc and Moscow Radio. His work on the Mannheim Steamroller Christmas Albums has yielded a dozen gold and two platinum records. He has adjudicated major national and international competitions for three decades and serves on the Board of Directors of the Sphinx Competition. He serves as the official on-air announcer of the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis as well as serving on their International Advisory Panel. 2012 marks his first season as Artistic Director of the Cambridge International String Academy at Trinity College, U.K. 

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 Peter Slowik, profiled by theStrad magazine as "a man of limitless enthusiasm and purpose"  is one of the world's leading artist-teachers of viola. An active chamber musician, Mr. Slowik has performed with cellists Anner Bylsma and Leonard Rose, the Mirecourt Trio, the Saint Petersburg Quartet, the Vermeer Quartet, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, and members of the Cleveland, Chester, Orford and Smithson Quartets. He has been a featured performer at six International Viola Congresses, and recent Master Class trips have taken him to Australia, New Zealand, Czech Republic, and China. Orchestral experiences include the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and service as Principal Viola of the American Sinfonietta and the Wichita Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Slowik has served on the faculty of Northwestern University, the Cleveland Institute of Music and Eastman School of Music.  Mr. Slowik has been named to the highest teaching award honors of Northwestern University and Oberlin Conservatory.  He has served as President of the American Viola Society and currently is Professor of Viola and String Division Director at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music.  His students perform in such major American orchestras as the Chicago Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, and National Symphony, and in university appointments throughout the country. 

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Dr. Kathryn Schmidt Steely is Associate Professor of Viola at Baylor University where she received the Outstanding Professor Award in 2007. A frequent recitalist and avid chamber musician, she has performed across the country including appearances at two Viola Congresses, the National Flute Convention, the Mostly Music series of the University of Chicago, and the Armonico Chamber series of the Austin Chamber Ensemble. She has performed with the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, Florida's Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, the Fort Worth Symphony, and the Dallas Chamber Orchestra. Dr. Steely is in frequent demand as an adjudicator and has presented master classes at the national ASTA convention in 2004-2009. She served five years as Editor of the Journal of the American Viola Society and two terms as a member of the AVS national executive board.

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Michael Wilder is currently Dean of the Conservatory of Music, Arts, and Communication at Wheaton College.   A clarinetist, he performs with Camerata Chicago and in a variety of chamber music settings.  He previously served as a member of the Wichita Symphony Orchestra, the Wichita Ballet Orchestra.  He has been a member of the staff of the MasterWorks Festivals in the United States and in England. Wilder currently chairs the Board of Directors for the Christian Performing Artists’ Fellowship and serves the National Association of Schools of Music in a variety of capacities.  He and his wife, Joyce Anne (a flutist) are the parents of 11 children, with many of them in the midst of music performance and study activities.  

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Anne Martindale Williams has enjoyed a successful career as Principal Cellist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra since 1979. She frequently has been featured as soloist with that orchestra and also has collaborated with such artists as Yehudi Menuhin, Andre Previn, Lynn Harrell and Pinchas Zukerman in chamber music performances. Mrs. Williams teaches at Carnegie-Mellon University and has given master classes at many institutions across the country, including SUNY at Stonybrook, Manhattan School of Music, the National Orchestra Institute, the Aspen Music Festival and the New World Symphony.

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Founded in Chicago in 1997, Fry Street Quartet established itself as a significant chamber group in the United States. " In 2002, FSQ became the quartet-in-residence at Utah State University and the Caine Foundation. Cultivating authentic and creative artistic voices alongside collaborative skills through chamber music is central to the quartet's teaching.

Hailed as "a triumph of ensemble playing" (New York Times), Fry Street Quartet has perfected a "blend of technical precision and scorching spontaneity" (Strad). Since securing the Millennium Grand Prize at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, Fry Street Quartet has reached audiences from Carnegie Hall to Sarajevo and Jerusalem, exploring the medium of the string quartet and its life-affirming potential with "profound understanding, …depth of expression, and stunning technical astuteness" (Deseret Morning News).

To learn more, visit frystreetquartet.com/

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“Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is admirable — if there is anything excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things.”

Philippians 4:8