Coaches

Gerald Elias

Gerald Elias leads a double life as a world-class musician and critically acclaimed author. Devil’s Trill, the debut novel of his award-winning Daniel Jacobus mystery series that takes place in the dark corners of the classical music world, was a Barnes & Noble Discover: Great New Writers selection. In 2020 he penned The Beethoven Sequence, a chilling psycho-political thriller. Elias’s prize-winning essay, “War and Peace. And Music,” excerpted from his insightful memoir, Symphonies & Scorpions, was the subject of 2019 TEDx presentation. His short stories and essays have appeared in prestigious journals ranging from Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine to The Strad.

A former violinist with the Boston Symphony and associate concertmaster of the Utah Symphony, Elias has performed on five continents and has been the conductor of Salt Lake City’s popular Vivaldi by Candlelight chamber orchestra series since 2004. He maintains a vibrant concert career while continuing to expand his literary horizons.

Ronald Feldman

Twice winner of the American Symphony League’s ASCAP Award for Adventuresome Programming of Contemporary Music, Ronald Feldman has achieved critical acclaim for his work as conductor and cellist. He has appeared as guest conductor with major orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Saint Louis Symphony, and the Quebec Symphony, as well as many regional orchestras including the Pro Arte Symphony, Springfield Symphony, Albany Symphony, and the Amarillo Symphony. In August of 2016 Mr. Feldman recorded three albums of music by Kevin Kaska with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

Mr. Feldman joined the Boston Symphony at the age of 19. He has appeared as cello soloist with many orchestras performing a wide range of concerto repertoire from Dvorak to Ligeti. His many chamber music affiliations have included performances with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, Collage New Music Ensemble, the Boston Conservatory Chamber Players, and the Williams Chamber Players. His performances include collaborations with artists Emmanuel Ax, Garrick Ohlsson, Gil Shaham, and Yo-Yo Ma.

Mr. Feldman currently directs the Berkshire Symphony a regional orchestra in residence at Williams College. He was formerly the conductor and Music Director of the New England Philharmonic and the Worcester Orchestra. He is on the faculties of Williams College, the New England Conservatory of Music, and The Boston Conservatory of Music. 2012 marked the beginning of his tenure as Music Director of the Longwood Symphony Orchestra, the orchestra of Boston’s medical community, from which he recently retired.

In 2001 Mr. Feldman left the Boston Symphony Orchestra to pursue other musical interests. He joined the faculty of Williams College where he is Artist in Residence, Lecturer in Music, Chamber Music coordinator, and Conductor of the award-winning Berkshire Symphony.

Andrew McCann

Andrew McCann is a violinist and Alexander Technique teacher. Andrew was a founding member and principal second violinist of New Millennium Orchestra of Chicago, a member of the festival orchestra at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, and has appeared as a guest artist with eighth blackbird, ensemble dal niente, International Contemporary Ensemble, and Spektral Quartet. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, he was an active theater musician in Chicago, performing in productions with Broadway in Chicago, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Writer’s Theater, the Marriott Theater, Victory Garden’s Theater, and Paramount Theater. He holds a Bachelors of Music in Violin Performance and Bachelors of Arts in History from Oberlin College & Conservatory, as well as a Masters of Music from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His principal violin teachers include Jorja Fleezanis, Sherban Lupu, Gregory Fulkerson, and Lee Snyder. Andrew certified as an Alexander Technique teacher with Joan & Alex Murray at the Urbana Center for the Alexander Technique in 2003. Andrew has taught and presented workshops across the country on the Alexander Technique, specializing in helping musicians play more comfortably and avoid or recover from injury.

Lyndon Moors

Lyndon Moors studied oboe with Ralph Gomberg and John Holmes at Boston University while earning a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education. He earned a Master’s degree in Education from Southern New Hampshire University and taught music in the Mt. Greylock Regional School District in Williamstown for 29 years. Lyndon performs regularly throughout western Massachusetts, southern Vermont, and the Albany, New York area including appearances with the Berkshire Symphony, Manchester Music Festival, Sage City Symphony, Williams Chamber Players, Williamstown Theater Festival, Berkshire Theater Group, Massachusetts Wind Orchestra, Berkshire Lyric, the Battenkill Chorale, and the Bennington County Choral Society. Lyndon was the principal oboe of the Bangor Symphony under Werner Torkanowsky, having begun his career teaching and performing in northern Maine. Lyndon is on the Board of Directors for both the Berkshire Music School and Local 171 of the American Federation of Musicians, and he is a former Music Director of the Eagles Band of Pittsfield. Lyndon is performing with the Barrington Stage Company this summer in productions of “Cabaret” and “A New Brain.”

Kyra Saltman

Cellist Kyra Saltman is an active performer and arts administrator recently relocated to the Berkshires. She has toured the United States extensively as a chamber musician, including concerts at the Round Top Festival Institute, the Sheldon Friends of Chamber Music, and University of Chicago Presents, and has been featured on American Public Media’s Performance Today as a member of the Petar Jankovic Ensemble. An active soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician in the Chicago area prior to the pandemic, she was the onstage solo cellist for Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s 2015 production of East of Eden and also served as the principal cellist of the Chicago Composers Orchestra from 2013-2017. She has appeared as a soloist with the University of Illinois at Chicago Symphony, the Northwest Festival Orchestra, the Erato Chamber Orchestra, and the Renovo Chamber Players. Kyra was the director of the Music Institute of Chicago’s Chamber Music program from 2018 to 2021. Since moving to the Berkshires, Kyra has performed with the Berkshire Symphony as guest principal, Albany Pro Musica, Berkshire Choral International, and is a frequent soloist at St. Paul’s Church in Stockbridge. Currently, she is the Executive Director of the Cambridge-based choral ensemble Musica Sacra and the Operations Manager of the Berkshire Opera Festival.

Norman Thibodeau

Norman Thibodeau lives in Schenectady, New York, and is active as a performer and teacher from Central New York through Western New England. He was assistant principal flutist of the Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado de México and is now a member of the chamber group Musicians of Ma’alwyck and the wind quintet Fünf. He teaches flute at Schenectady Community College, the Berkshire Music School, and privately. He has recorded solo flute works of Anthony Holland for Albany Records, and has had both live and recorded performances broadcast on NPR.

As a composer, he has had works published and recorded by ALRY Publications and by flutist Jan Vinci on Albany Records (a CD very favorably reviewed in American Record Guide). His ensemble compositions have been performed by the orchestra of the University at Albany, the College of St. Rose Wind Ensemble, and the String Ensemble of the Empire State Youth Orchestra. Critical praise cites “dazzling contrapuntal moments” and “crunchy, yet pleasing complexity” (Byron Nilsson in Metroland), and even from his earliest orchestral work, “a remarkable grasp of the medium” (Albany Times-Union).

He combines his flute and composition interests in the medium of “Extended Techniques” for flute, using such sounds as double-stops and an array of mouth percussion. This resulted in invitations to be guest artist of the 2008 Skidmore College Flute Festival, and to teach extended techniques at the Wildacres Flute Retreat (which he continues to do).

Norman was trained at Peabody Conservatory and the University at Albany. He studied composition with Leonard Kastle and Lee Mitchell, as well as counterpoint and orchestration with John Henry Carton. His flute teachers include Irvin Gilman, Robert Dick, Stephen Preston, and Britton Johnson, and he has performed in masterclasses of Trevor Wye, Thomas Nyfenger, and Julius Baker. In recent years, both his playing and teaching are informed by the Feldenkrais Method, of which he is a trained practitioner.