Voice Teachers
KAREN CANTOR Voice • Acting
Karen studied at Bucknell University and has been serving as Director of Elefante Music’s Performing Arts program for many years. She is the creative force overseeing the many performing arts classes at Elefante. She is the Camp Director of Elefante’s popular Musical Theater Camp. Karen is a proud member of Actor’s Equity Association. Past credits include playing Venus in the revival of Kurt Weill’s One Touch of Venus at the Goodspeed Opera House, Louisa in The Fantasticks with the Miami Opera, and touring as Susan in The Desert Song. Additionally, she played the title role in Naughty Marietta in NYC, Josephine in HMS Pinafore, The Mistress in Evita with Carolee Carmello, Anna in Tintypes, Maria in The Sound of Music, and Starting Here, Starting Now in the Cayman Islands. Karen directed and/or served as the musical director for musicals at NJ venues such as the Light Opera of New Jersey, South Mountain TheatreWorks, and Summit Playhouse. As director and musical director of Elefante’s musicals, she helmed productions of Annie, Honk, Willy Wonka, The Wizard of Oz, Once Upon a Mattress, and more. Karen is particularly proud of the success of her students, many of whom have been cast on Broadway, National Tours, television, film, music video, top New York cabaret venues, professional regional theaters, local community theaters, and their school plays and musicals.
SUZANNE DELONAS Voice • Piano • Flute • Clarinet • Saxophone
Suzanned studied at Kean University. She is an area general music teacher for grades K-6 and instrumental teacher for middle and high school. She has experience and expertise working with special needs students. She teaches flute, clarinet, piano, and voice at Elefante Music.
VIDEO: Suzanne Delonas intro
EDDIE GUTTMAN Voice • Piano
Eddie studied at Binghamton University and New York University, where he earned his Master’s in Composition. He has over 25 years of teaching experience, including at the New School/The Actors’ Studio and NYU. He studied with world renowned pianist Walter Ponce. Past performances include appearances at the Papermill Playhouse, Off Broadway, and CBGB’s. He served for 10+ years as the pianist for the Meet The Artist Series at Lincoln Center. Eddie composed “Equilibrium”, written for and performed by then NYC Ballet principal dancer Peter Boal. Eddie received the honor of being named “Favorite Piano Accompanist” by the readers of the national publication Back Stage. He gave tutelage to Mary Illes (Phantom of the Opera, Music Man), Ta’Rea Campbell (Aida, Hamilton), Eric Scott Kincaid (Newsies, Cats), Adrienne Moore (Orange is the New Black), Doug Plaut (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), Kathy Brier (Hairspray), Bashira Cresswell (Lion King) and Joel Robertson (Les Miserables).
DIANE SMITH KIRSH Voice • Piano
Diane has been a professional singer with over 25 years experience in the music business. She has sung radio and television commercials (jingles) for top brands such as Diet Coke, My Little Pony, Chevrolet: including singing a solo for a Clio Award winning Max Factor Ad. As a recording session singer for records she has recorded with Michael Bolton, Marc Cohn, Patty Austin and Bebe and CeCe Winans. Diane has also shown her talents as a producer of the “Broadway Kids” and “Broadway Kids Sing Christmas” albums featuring Kathy Lee Gifford. She has performed in Off Broadway musicals and is a member of SAG-AFTRA and AEA. Diane teaches Vocal Technique and Performance Coaching Privately and at Elefante Music School. She continues to perform at festivals and fundraisers with her band “Kings Road” and is lead singer in her Church Praise Band.
ÆDAN McEVOY Voice • Piano • Harp • Guitar • Ukulele
Ædan has been playing piano since they were five years old. By age 12, they were performing their original piano works which led to them studying music theory and composition many years later. They graduated with their B.Mus in Theory/Composition from the John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University, and participated in the New York Youth Symphony Composition Program for two years. Ædan is a commissioned composer receiving grants from National Endowment for the Arts as well as local grant programs in New Jersey and New York. They are a songwriter, keyboardist, harpist, singer, educator, and transcriber and have studied and worked with renown artists such as Katie Andrews (Wicked, the musical), Merynda Adams (Baroque Orchestra of New Jersey), David Fulmer (Columbia University), and Dr. Kyle Blaha (The Juilliard School).
Ædan’s approach to music education has always been about catering each and every lesson and project to the student’s individual interests and needs. With a foundation in music theory and world music history, Ædan teaches their students to explore different genres, compositional techniques, and creating curiosity through the keyboard as well as many other instrumental studies. Ædan teaches keyboard, harp, guitar, ukulele, voice, music theory, and composition.
EMA MITROVIC
Award winning and critically acclaimed operatic mezzo-soprano/vocalist, Ema Mitrović, is described: “out of the ensemble, I found Ema Mitrovic…to be the standout” (Opera Manhattan, Suor Angelica ’12) and “Her rich mezzo is pure pleasure..” (Hudson Opera Theatre, Lucia di Lammermoor ’18). Ms. Mitrović performs as an ambassador of music across different genres, having performed 19 operatic roles and counting, including the title Carmen, Suzuki (Madama Butterfly), Maddalena (Rigoletto), Prince Charming (Cendrillon), and Mother (Amahl & the Night Visitors), a number of solo recitals, oratorio performances (Alto Soloist Händel’s Messiah), and has enjoyed being a cross-over jazz singer, performing along New York City’s finest musicians, Tim Horner, Joe Locke, Ted Rosenthal, and Jim Ridl, to name a few. She’s been on stage at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and New York City’s renowned jazz venues Birdland, The Kitano, and Smalls. She often performs programs that include both classical and standard jazz repertoire, connecting to a broader audience, and currently collaborates with pianist David Budway, with a humorous flair.
Ms. Mitrović has been teaching for 8+ years and maintains a private studio of roughly 40 voice and piano students from ages 7 to 75, serving on faculty at The Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts and Elefante Music. Ema is equally passionate about performing and teaching. She holds a BM in Voice Performance from New Jersey City University ’11 and continues her vocal studies with master teacher, Braeden Harris. She is currently the cantor at Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit in Verona, NJ.
JAMIE BAER PETERSON
Jamie was educated at the Eastman School of Music and began her opera career as an apprentice with the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Her career as an opera singer led her to perform throughout the United States, Canada and France singing leading roles with L’Opera de Nice, Santa Fe Opera, New York City Opera and Minnesota Opera, Opera Omaha, Sacramento Opera and many more. She has also sung as a soloist with the Symphonies of Dallas, Atlanta, Hartford, Omaha, Princeton and Westfield; and in two national broadcasts with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Jamie has taught at Monmouth University, SUNY-Fredonia, the Utah Conservatory, the Wharton Institute of Performing Arts in NJ and is currently on the Musical Theater Performance faculty at the University of Utah. She is the mother of three and lives in Salt Lake City with her husband. Jamie will be teaching voice lessons virtually at Elefante Music.
STEFANIE SANTORO Voice • Piano • Flute
Stefanie studied at the John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University. She studies flute with Judith Mendenhall, principal flautist of the American Ballet Theater. At Elefante Music, she teaches flute, piano and voice to over 30 students ranging from kindergarten to adult. She performed at Carnegie Hall with the Montclair State University orchestra and flute ensemble. She played in chamber ensembles and in the pit orchestra for Montclair State University’s productions of Sweeny Todd, A Chorus Line, Carousel, and Poulenc’s opera Dialogue of the Carmelites. As a vocalist she was part of University Singers, and the Montclair State University chorale. She performed Mozart’s Requiem and Mahler’s third symphony with University Singers and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. Stefanie is a founding member of Les Non Triolets, a trio featuring flute, double bass, and piano that performs a variety of music from classical to jazz. She was part of the baroque chamber music ensemble Millennial Musicale Concert Series and the New York and New Jersey Flute Club. In addition to private instructions on flute, piano, and voice, Stefanie created and directs Flute Ensemble, a flute camp to promote good technique and repertoire in a group setting. She also leads group classes Intro to Music and Music & Emotions, which aim to introduce music to children.
VIDEO: Stefanie Santoro Introduction
Upright bass, also called string bass or double bass, is a member of the orchestra family. Just as often, however, it appears in jazz, bluegrass, folk, and other genres. With a large hollow body and 4 thick strings, the tones produced by the upright bass are low and rich. The instrument is capable of long, expressive tones when played with a bow; and short, percussive tones when plucked with the strings. String bass is a dynamic and impressive instrument to play!
The oboe is a woodwind and a member of the double-reed family. It is played by blowing air through the reed, attached at the top of the instrument. The reed consists of two very thin pieces of cane, pressed together with a small opening to allow air to pass through. The sound can be high in pitch, but it has a variety of colorful tones, from bright and piercing to low and mysterious.
