Faculty/Staff

Artistic Director, Violin/Viola Instructor

Violinist Sarah Off has established herself as an innovative and passionate performer and educator. She regularly performs as a soloist and chamber musician and has performed in Iceland’s Harpa International Music Festival, Manchester Music Festival in Vermont, Music in the Mountains Festival in Colorado and in such venues as Lincoln Center, Meyerson Symphony Center, Boettcher Hall and a tour of Latvia. Sarah appeared as soloist with the Boulder Symphony, the Colorado Symphony Orchestra’s “Up Close and Musical”, the Music in the Mountains Conservatory Chamber Orchestra, and a recent performance Lou Harrison’s Concerto for Violin and Percussion with the Adams State University Percussion Ensemble. An avid chamber musician, Sarah is a founding member of Three Corners Piano Trio. Sarah has had the privilege of working and performing with the Brentano, Juilliard, and Orion String Quartets, through the String Quartet Residency program at ASU as well as collaborations with the Arizona Contemporary Music Ensemble, the American Composer Alliance, and the Fountain Hills Chamber Players. Sarah is also a resident performing artist for the Mt. Blanca Fine Arts Association Concert Series in Colorado. Sarah was the violinist and co-founder of Tandem Duo with percussionist Marilyn Clark Silva from 2011-2018. As composers and advocates of new music, Tandem Duo wrote, commissioned, and premiered newly composed works. In 2016, they hosted the International Kondo Festival which showcased the work of Japanese composer Kohei Kondo. During this time, they premiered several of Kondo’s works with the composer in attendance. In 2017 the Tempe Center for the Arts Theater commissioned Tandem Duo to compose and perform the original score to the play Some Velvet Morning by Neil LaBute. Shortly after, Tandem Duo was named “Resident Artist Group” for TCA. Tandem Duo released their sophomore album Velvet Scraps in 2017 and began collaborations with The Bridge Initiative Theater Group, EPIK Dance Company, and The Torch Theater. In 2018 Tandem released their final album Dear Elizabeth shortly after performing the premier of their score for the play “Dear Elizabeth” in collaboration with the Bridge Initiative Theater. Having grown up in the rural Colorado town of Del Norte, Sarah has a strong passion for finding opportunities for rural areas to experience the musical arts. She is Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the Mt. Blanca Summer Music Conservatory in Colorado and regularly performs in concerts throughout rural areas of the Southwest. In 2017, she completed her Doctoral document on “Arts in Rural Areas- Building Musical Communities in Rural Areas”. Shortly after the completion of her document she was invited to present on this topic at the College Music Society Great Plains, Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountain Conferences, the Arizona Music Educators Association Conference, and the Colorado Music Teachers Association Conference. In 2018, she was invited to present on “Musical Arts in Rural Areas” at the College Music Society National Conference in Vancouver, BC. Sarah is an enthusiastic music educator and is currently the Assistant Professor of Violin and Music Business at University of Northern Colorado. She has performed and taught as a guest artist at Sam Houston State University, Sacramento State University and Southern Oregon University, among others. In the summers of 2012 and 2013 she served as violin instructor and chamber music coach at Conservatory Music in the Mountains in Durango, CO. Sarah received her Doctorate and Masters in Violin Performance at Arizona State University under Danwen Jiang, and her Bachelor of Violin Performance from University of Colorado under Lina Bahn and Judith Ingolfsson.

Get to know Dr. Sarah Off:

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Administrative Director, Pianist

Randy D. Macy holds a B. A. in Music Education from Fort Lewis College, 30+ graduate hours in Music from Baylor University, and a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Colorado at Denver. Randy has taught applied/class piano at Fort Lewis College, Durango, Colorado and Adams State University, Alamosa, Colorado and Introduction to Music Theory and Music Appreciation for Colorado Electronic Community College and CCCOnline. He has served as a professional church musician for over twenty years at Metropolitan Community Church of the Rockies, First Methodist Church in Golden, First Mennonite Church in Denver, Pioneer United Church in Del Norte, and Alamosa Presbyterian Church in Alamosa. He is a collaborative pianist for the Music Department at Adams State University which entails working one-on-one with music students on a weekly basis and accompanying them for student recitals and end-of-semester juries. He has also plays keyboard for the San Luis Valley Symphony whose home is Adams State University. Randy concertizes regularly with former student Sarah Off who is pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts at Arizona State University and with local San Luis Valley and Denver-based musicians. He has been a pianist for Broadway revue groups at Adams State College as well as groups in Del Norte, Brighton, and Denver. As a State of Colorado employee Randy received the Distinguished Employee Performance Award – Governor’s Award for Peak Performance in State Government in 1994. He was Colorado Electronic Community College Classified Employee of the Year in 1997 and CCCOnline Employee of the Year in 2002.

Randy is the Director of the Mt. Blanca Fine Arts Association. MBFAA currently partners with Adams State University on a guest artist series which brings performers to ASU and three rural towns in the San Luis Valley. The series was instituted Fall 2014 with Tenor Adam Klein of the Metropolitan Opera in New York performing Schubert’s Winterreise Song Cycle. And, MBFAA will be sponsoring a summer orchestra camp, the Mt. Blanca Summer Music Conservatory, at Adams State University in June http://mtblancamusicconservatory.com/.

Randy has spent the last few years building a house in the shadow of Mt. Blanca in South Central Colorado. He shares his home with a Schnoodle and a Cockapoo. Also residing on the property are 2 cats, 9 ducks and 47 chickens.

Program Coordinator, Cello Instructor

Cellist Mathieu D’Ordine is a devoted interpreter of a wide variety of music from the last four centuries of the Western canon including music from living composers all the way back to Gabrielli and Monteverdi. Mathieu was a featured soloist with Boulder Symphony in 2012, playing Woven Variations (music from the video game Journey) by the Grammy award winning composer Austin Wintory, and again in 2016 playing the Brahms Double Concerto with Dr. Sarah Off. Mathieu also founded Ideal Opera, a business offering custom orchestral and chamber arrangements of standard operatic repertoire, focusing on fitting opera to a small scale for outreach tours, children’s shows, and new opera companies just finding their feet. Mathieu received his Master of Music degree from CU Boulder in 2011, where he was a long-time student of Judith Glyde and Nicholas Carthy. He has been on the faculty at MBSMC since its second season, and plays in the Three Corners Trio with his fellow faculty members Sami Froncek and Dr. Sarah Off.

Get to know Mathieu D’Ordine:

Piano Instructor, Collaborative Pianist

Sami Froncek has established herself as a performing solo and collaborative pianist and a teacher in the state of Texas. Currently based in Houston, but active in Dallas, Austin, and Waco, she loves mixing concerts of the standard repertory that non-musicians recognize with new and relevant works, from Bach to Rautavaara.

Ms. Froncek has spent the past two years researching and studying in Belgium. As part of her research, she completed a post-graduate diploma at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp. She received a Fellowship from the Belgian American Educational Foundation and was also a finalist for the Fulbright study/research grant. Her research included the study of solo piano music of Flemish Romantic, Impressionistic, and Contemporary composers from Peter Benoit to Wim Hendrickx, as well as the standard repertory, as well as a survey of teaching methods and institutions for pre-college students in Belgium. Ms. Froncek’s recital appearances included Project Sarmila’s Benefit Recital in Hasselt, “Aperitiefconcert” with cellist Margot Joubard in Leuven, at her own “Thanksgiving Day Recital” at the Muziekacademie in Mortsel, and in Antwerp at the Royal Conservatory. Her favorite was the benefit recital for the Nepalese earthquake relief effort for Project Sarmila. She performed elsewhere in Europe, most notably Munich and Berlin.

Ms. Froncek holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Baylor University in piano performance. Her teachers include James Williams, Jane Abbott-Kirk, and Levente Kende. She has played in masterclasses with Richard Goode, Steven Osborne, Till Fellner, Pavlina Dokovska, Dang Thai Son, Craig Nies, and Norman Krieger. In 2010, she was elected to Pi Kappa Lambda, the national music honor society.

Even though she considers multiple places home, Ms. Froncek is from small-town Derby, Kansas where she graduated first in her class from Derby High School, which was, at the time, the largest high school in the state. It was here that she began teaching, beginning with swimming for her club team, academic mentoring, French horn lessons, and piano lessons. She later maintained a small private piano studio throughout her undergraduate and master degrees, and afterwards served as a faculty member of Dallas/Music, in the Park Cities area of Dallas, and the Sugarland School of Music, in Houston, Texas.

Ms. Froncek is passionate about church music, serving as music director and pianist for the First United Methodist Church of West, Texas, and later as accompanist for First Presbyterian Duncanville Church. Her work in West culminated in a musical sermon recital, and the most memorable part of her service at First Presbyterian Duncanville was the “Festival of Hope” Outreach Fundraising Concert, which raised over $50,000 for the Duncanville Outreach Ministry.

Ms. Froncek will be attending the University of Oklahoma in Fall 2016 to begin her DMA in Piano Performance and Pedagogy. She will be presenting recitals throughout Texas and the Midwest to community music schools, as well as Kingwood MTNA. Her career goal is to present recitals in all of the fifty states, and all of the countries of Europe.

Get to know Sami Froncek:

Voice Instructor

Dr. Matthew Valverde is currently Assistant Professor of Voice at Adams State University. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in vocal performance and literature with a minor in vocal pedagogy from the Eastman School of Music (Rochester, NY), from which he also holds a master’s in vocal performance. Dr. Valverde also holds a master’s in choral conducting in addition to bachelor degrees from Texas Christian University (Fort Worth, TX).

An avid concert soloist, Matthew has performed in Texas and New York in performances of Bach’s Magnificat and St. John Passion, Beethoven’s Mass in C, Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s The Creation, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Dvořák’s Stabat Mater, Puccini’s Messa di Gloria, Vaughn Williams’s Serenade to Music, Mozart’s Requiem, Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings and War Requiem, and Verdi’s Requiem. He has been a featured soloist with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Rochester Chamber Orchestra, Rochester Oratorio Society, the Finger Lakes Choral Festival, and the Eastman School’s orchestras. Dr. Valverde was the tenor soloist in the 2015 New York premiere of Vivaldi’s Dixit Dominus, RV 807 with First Inversion Vocal Ensemble.

Matthew made his Carnegie Hall debut in May 2014 with the RPO as Jonathan Banks in Howard Hanson’s Merry Mount. Recent operatic appearences include Gastone in Verdi’s La traviata with Finger Lakes Opera (Geneseo, NY) and the title role in John Musto’s Bastianello with Rochester Lyric Opera. Matthew has appeared with the Eastman Opera Theatre as Sam in Weill’s Street Scene, as Paolino in Cimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto, as Vašek in Smetana’s Bartered Bride, and as Robert in Hindemith’s Hin und züruck. He has performed the role of Don José in Marius Constant’s adaptation of La Tragédie de Carmen with the TCU Opera Studio and was a guest artist as Apollonia in Haydn’s La canterina with the Nazareth College Opera.

Equally comfortable as choral singer and conductor, Matthew has performed with the Internationale Bachakademie’s Festivalensemble Stuttgart (Helmuth Rilling), Vox Humana (David Childs), Voices Chamber Choir (William Weinert), and First Inversion Vocal Ensemble (Lee Wright). Dr. Valverde prepared and conducted TCU choirs in Haydn’s Nelsonmesse and Poulenc’s Gloria and served as festival choral director at the Clear Creek Music Festival in Halfway, Oregon for three summers.

Dr. Valverde has a passion for teaching and vocal pedagogy and was awarded Eastman’s 2013 Teaching Assistant Prize. He has served on the voice faculties of Nazareth College (Rochester, NY), the Eastman Community Music School, the Clear Creek Music Festival, and at Summer@Eastman’s Music Horizons program. Matthew is a member of NATS.

Get to know Dr. Matthew Valverde:

Winds Instructor

Dr. Tracy Kane Doyle serves as Professor of Music at Adams State University where she teaches applied flute, chamber music, and courses in music education. Dr. Doyle has performed throughout the United States, Japan, and Australia as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician. She has been a performer and clinician at numerous festivals and conferences including the National Flute Association, College Music Society, Colorado Flute Association, and the Colorado Music Educators Association Conference. Winner of the 2016 National Flute Association’s Convention Performers Competition, she will perform on the New Published Music Concert at the San Diego Convention in August of 2016.

Dr. Doyle is flutist of the Doyle-Kane Duo with percussionist James Doyle. The duo has been active in commissioning new works for flute and marimba, and is currently working on a project dedicated to new works inspired by the beauty of the San Luis Valley of Colorado. Doyle currently serves as piccoloist with the San Juan Symphony in Durango, Colorado, and has performed with the Music in the Mountains Festival Orchestra, also in Durango.

Leading an engaged and vital collegiate flute studio consisting of students from all over the United States, Dr. Doyle is a dedicated and passionate advocate for music education. She has been a recipient of the Adams State University Presidential Teaching Award and has been awarded Exemplary Teaching Status.

Dr. Doyle is the Director of the Master of Arts in Music Education program at Adams State University, where she works with public school teachers and music professionals from throughout the United States. She has taught public school music at the elementary and secondary levels in Massachusetts, Louisiana, and California. Inspired by the Orff process in the elementary school classroom, she has studied with Orff teachers Doug Goodkin, James Harding, and Sofía López-Ibor at Mills College in Oakland, California.

Previous appointments include flute faculty at American River College in Sacramento, principal flute with the Solano Symphony, Camellia Symphony, California Wind Orchestra, North Bay Opera, and performances with numerous other ensembles, including the United States Air Force Academy Band, Vallejo Symphony, Capitol Jazz Project, and Napa Symphony Orchestra.

Dr. Doyle earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in flute performance from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, and her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in music education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Principal teachers include Katherine Kemler, Christopher Krueger, and Joanne Tanner.

Get to know Dr. Tracy Doyle:

Director of the Little Bear and Ellingwood Programs and Brass Instructor

Colorado based composer and musician, Dylan Fixmer, is a genuine and passionate artist whose works reflect his diverse music career and variety of musical influences. His music is inspired by the beauty of nature and the human spirit. Composing for others is Dylan’s way to seek truth and heal the soul. He draws upon a multitude of musical styles and traditions from Classical to Rock, Jazz to Irish, Balkan to Americana, and beyond.

Classically trained at University of Colorado and Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Dylan infuses his work with numerous musical traditions from Rock, to Jazz, to traditional Irish Folk Music, among countless others. Recent works include commissions and premiers from the Mt. Blanca Fine Arts Association, The Sona Duo, University of Northern Colorado Faculty Recital Series, and the Japanese/American Chamber Music Festival set to take place in 2022. Dylan is currently the Composer in Residence for the Mt. Blanca Fine Arts Association and the North Fork Community Chorus, in addition to a featured composer for the Oh My Ears New Music Festival-2021. As a multi-faceted and imaginative composer, Dylan writes for multifarious contexts from traditional solo and ensemble work, to theater, choir, film, and narrative, including the soundtrack for the recent release of the audio book “Adventures of a Mystic Warrior” by Robert Rocco D’Ordine, original compositions for the Boomtown Theater production of “Lever Action”, and author Craig Child’s multi-media production “Dark Night”. Dylan’s compositions have been featured on KAFM-Grand Junction, Rifle Community Television, KVNF-Paonia, KDNK-Carbondale, and on albums by The Embodying Rhythm Marimba Ensemble, The Scones, Sarah Louise Pipelow, The Mollie Scholars, and many more. Dylan studied composition with Carter Pann at the University of Colorado.

An active and dynamic performing artist, Dylan currently performs with the Embodying Rhythm Marimba Ensemble, “Traditionish”-traditional Irish group, and Hard-Pressed Oldtime Band, in addition to various solo and ensemble performances. He has appeared in performance at such venues as Montrose Pavilion, Boettcher Hall, Blue Sage Theater, Rob Miller’s “Pickin in the Park”, The New Ute Event Center, and Paradise Theater, in addition to countless others. He has recorded numerous albums including Embodying Rhythm Marimba Ensemble’s “Music for Everyday Life”, Traditionish “Traditionish” and Frog and Toad’s “Fables”.

As an educator, Dylan served as Associate Instructor of Music and “First Voices” Choir Director at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. He is currently the K-8 general music, jazz band, and drama instructor at Hotchkiss K-8 School, and is a faculty member at the Mt. Blanca Music Conservatory in Colorado. Public speaking engagements include presentations at the Colorado Music Educators Association Conference, the Indiana Music Educators Conference, the Delta County School District Professional Development Day, and an upcoming guest lecture for the University of Northern Colorado Music Business Department.

Dylan received his Bachelors Degree in Music Education from University of Colorado at Boulder, and his Masters Degree in Music Education from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University.

Voice Instructor

Corliss Taylor Dunn, vocalist, Fort Garland. Broadway Veteran (Bubbling Brown Sugar and Raisin), Toured U.S., Mexico and Canada with the Doc Severnsen Orchestra. Toured Europe in Raisin and PORGY AND BESS. Co-author/composer of “Opening Night” which was nominated for three Off-Broadway awards including best choreography.

Composers in Residence

2020/2021

Dylan Fixmer

Colorado based composer and musician, Dylan Fixmer, is a genuine and passionate artist whose works reflect his diverse music career and variety of musical influences. His music is inspired by the beauty of nature and the human spirit. Composing for others is Dylan’s way to seek truth and heal the soul. He draws upon a multitude of musical styles and traditions from Classical to Rock, Jazz to Irish, Balkan to Americana, and beyond.

Dylan received his Bachelors Degree in Music Education from University of Colorado at Boulder, and his Masters Degree in Music Education from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University.

2019/2020

Mari Esabel Valverde

Award-winning composer and singer Mari Esabel Valverde (she/her) has been commissioned by the American Choral Directors Association, Texas Music Educators Association, Seattle Men’s and Women’s Choruses, and Boston Choral Ensemble among others and has appeared with Dallas Chamber Choir, Vox Humana, and EXIGENCE (Detroit). She was a featured composer at the 2016 Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses Festival, where her “Our Phoenix” was premièred by six collective ensembles from the United States and Canada. Her works are published by earthsongs and Walton Music and self-published.

Fluent in Spanish and French, she actively studies Brazilian Portuguese and Swedish. She has translated numerous vocal works and documents including a phonetic guide of Ravel’s opera L’Enfant et les Sortilèges. Based in North Texas, she taught voice at the high school level for over six years. Her former students have participated in All-State Choirs and State Solo Competition. She currently teaches singing and transgender voice training with TruVoice Lessons.

She holds degrees from St. Olaf College, the European American Musical Alliance in Paris, France, and San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She is a member of the American Choral Directors Association, the American Composers Forum, and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers.

Intern

Nicole Jefferis is an Instrumental Performance Major at the University of Northern Colorado with an emphasis in violin. She also studies viola performance, and is working towards a Music Technology Certificate. A Colorado native, she regularly enjoys hiking and enjoying all that the diverse state has to offer.

Board of Directors

Tyler Brown

Nicole KandeLind

Dick Crabtree

Tracy Doyle

James Doyle

Sarah Off

Randy Macy

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Artistic Director, Violin/Viola Instructor

Administrative Director, Pianist

Program Coordinator, Cello Instructor

Piano Instructor, Collaborative Pianist

Voice Instructor

Winds Instructor

Director of the Little Bear and Ellingwood Programs and Brass Instructor

Voice Instructor

Composers in Residence

2020/2021

2019/2020

Intern

Board of Directors

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