Faculty

We are very proud of our outstanding faculty of professional performers/instructors. Not only do each of our music instructors hold Master’s degrees
(or have exceptional performance experience), they all have extensive teaching credentials and impressive professional credits!

Interested in how The Ridgewood Conservatory can bring music into your life?

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Bill Moring

Bassist Bill Moring is a versatile musician whose scope includes gigging with the big bands of legends Count Basie and Woody Herman, jammin’ jazz/funk and beyond with the Dave Stryker/Steve Slagle quartet, or stretching harmonic and rhythmic boundaries with John Hart and Chris Potter to performing in the classical vein as a freelancer or orchestra member.

During his early years as a musician in Indiana, Bill played bass in cellist Hank Roberts’ group, was a member of the Indianapolis Philharmonic, worked with John Von Ohlen’s big band, and played with Dizzy Gillespie, Slide Hampton, and Cal Collins. After moving to NY, he worked with drummer Mel Lewis, toured with Woody Herman’s Thundering Herd and the Count Basie Orchestra, and gigged with the Village Vanguard Orchestra and the Toshiko Akiyoshi/Lew Tabakin Jazz Orchestra. He has performed with such renowned singers as Joe Williams, Mel Tormé and Susannah McCorkle, and with jazz legends Frank Foster, AI Cohn, Clark Terry, Mickey Roker, Tommy Flanagan, Junior Cook, Roland Hanna and Ray Barretto. He has also performed and/or recorded with many contemporary artists including John Abercrombie, Gary Bartz, Manolo Badrena, Larry Coryell, Vic Juris, Dave Kikoski, Billy Hart, John Hart, Eddie Henderson, Joe Locke, Mulgrew Miller, Chris Potter, Dom Salvador, Dave Stryker, and James Williams.

Bill attended Indiana State University while also playing bass in cellist Hank Roberts’ group. He has studied harmony and piano studies with Michael Moore, classical bass repertoire and technique with Homer Mensch (Julliard, NY Philharmonic), Gregory Dugan (Indianapolis Symphony), and Stuart Arfman (Principal, Indpls. Symphony), jazz bass and sound reinforcement studies with Rufus Reid, jazz and classical bass with George Mraz.

An advocate of music education, Bill has hosted an assortment of student clinics at various high school and college jazz festivals in the US and abroad and is currently on the faculty at Montclair State University, Sarah Lawrence College, and NJPAC’s Jazz for Teens. In addition to his private students, he has worked with students individually and in various sized groups at North Texas State, Rutgers, The New School, Jersey City State, Long Island University, and SUNY Purchase, among many others.

(Hear Bill Moring perform, with The Ridgewood Conservatory’s Jazz Faculty Trio, ‘Stella by Starlight’ by Victor Young: https://youtu.be/YTw2BVFArFY.)

Catherine Yang

Violinist Catherine Yang was born into a musical family – her father was a principal cellist of the Korea Broadcasting Symphony (KBS) and a professor in music, and her mother was a KBS violinist. Catherine began her violin studies in Korea at age of six. At eight years old, she won the Music World Magazine competition series’ Gold prize, the Korean Daily Newspaper’s Gold prize and the Yoo-kyoung competition in Seoul Korea, and was a Grand prize winner competing with all instrument/age group of Gold prize winners. Catherine entered Juilliard Pre-College in New York City at age nine, studying violin under the world-renowned pedagogue Dorothy De-Lay. While in school, she gave recitals at Paul Hall at Lincoln Center, performed as a soloist with Inter-School Orchestra of NY at Alice Tully Hall, and performed as a scholarship recipient at the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado and at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall at age 12.

Catherine went on to study violin at the Manhattan School of Music under Peter Winograd of the America String Quartet. During her college years, she performed at the Caramoor Center, the Rosen Theater, the Kennedy Center in Washington DC as a member of Chamber Sinfonia, Isaac Stern Hall at Carnegie Hall, and as associate concertmaster for The Cathedral of St. John the Divine in collaboration with the Oratorio Society of New York.

As a professional chamber musician and soloist, Catherine has given solo concerts at Carnegie Weill Hall and at Merkin Concert Hall, and performs with professional ensembles at such prestigious venues as Alice Tully Hall and Avery Fischer Hall at Lincoln Center, Issac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, NJ PAC, Central Park’s Naumburg Bandshell, and Bargemusic in NYC. She currently serves as concertmaster of both Verismo Opera of New Jersey and New York Festival Orchestra, and assistant concertmaster of the Symphony of Westchester.

Catherine has a certificate from Juilliard Pre-College Division, and both Bachelor and Masters of Music performance degrees from Manhattan School of Music. As an instructor, her students have earned recognition at Little Mozart, Crescendo, American Protege Competition and National Artists Competition. She teaches at the Green Meadows Waldorf School and at the Rockland Conservatory of Music.

(Hear Catherine Yang perform ‘Partita No.3 in E Major Preludio’ by Johann Sebastian Bach: https://youtu.be/GmjIso39acQ.)

BILL ASH

Bill Ash is a highly respected brass musician, band leader, composer/arranger, teacher and music journalist with over 45 years of impressive credits ranging from big band, musical theater and classical performances to smaller jazz groups, pop, rock, polka and Klezmer bands.

Bill has performed at numerous NY area venues including Lincoln Center, NJPAC, Giants Stadium, Izod Arena, the Iridium, Fat Tuesday’s and Trumpets, as well as in Las Vegas and up and down the East coast. His classical appearances include the NJ Pops and North Jersey Symphony Orchestras, Garden State and Rockland County Concert Bands. In addition, Bill has performed with groups of every size and description, including 18-time Grammy winner Jimmy Sturr, the Temptations, the Happenings, Marlene VerPlanck, and Bobby Rydell. In 2003, he was selected as one of NJ’s top jazz musicians by the Newark Star Ledger. He has recorded with the Jazz Composer’s Workshop Orchestra (which recorded his composition Stealing Fire), Kennsington Brass (which recorded several of Bill’s arrangements), Michael Treni, Linda Torchia, the Acme Brass Co., the James L. Dean Big Band, Dick Wells with the Big Band Swing Machine, the Bensen-Scott Big Band, the Infernos, Doug Ferony, Bibi Farber, the Planet Jazz Big Band and Jimmy Sturr, among others. His arrangements and compositions are regularly performed by a number of bands.

In addition to his extensive work as a sideman, Bill’s career has often seen him leading bands. He began leading 15-piece big bands as a student: Sentimental Journey in high school, then the Princeton Swing Band, which he led while at college and continued to run for a decade after graduation. In more recent years Bill has led slightly smaller groups: Touch of Brass and, currently, the 7-piece brass-plus-rhythm Brass Pack. He also has written about music for Gannett Newspapers, for whom he interviewed such trumpet greats as Doc Severinsen, Maynard Ferguson, Wynton Marsalis and Arturo Sandoval.

Bill holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University. Besides performing on brass instruments ranging from piccolo trumpet to tuba, Bill has taught private lessons to students of all ages and levels at the Wharton Music Center in Berkeley Heights and at the Link School in Newark. We are so delighted that Bill has graciously consented to teach Trombone, Baritone, Euphonium, Tuba and Trumpet to our students here at The Ridgewood Conservatory!

John Allen Watts

In addition to his formidable skills as a pianist, John Allen Watts is an accomplished music director, composer, and educator with an extensive background in mentoring students across diverse age groups. His musical journey has taken him from Chopin to Cole Porter and from The Beatles to A.C. Jobim. John believes that every opportunity to play and create music is a gift.

As a pianist, John has performed Brazilian jazz with multiple artists in venues throughout the northeast, and has performed in the US and abroad. He has produced, performed, and arranged new music audio recordings across a broad range of musical genres, and has composed original songs for artists such as Martina DaSilva and others. The many artistic highlights of John’s career include writing “Letters Home” with Jordyn Coats, which was selected by A Little New Music as part of their series of best new musical theatre songs; producing and performing two full-length albums by Brazilian Artist, Débora Watts, including the award-winning album Um Samba Ao Contrario; and performing and directing the music of Komitas and G.I.Gurdjieff/Thomas DeHartmann at Komitas Hall in Armenia. He composed, arranged, performed, and produced the CD John Allen Watts, Love Ballads, and composed the score for the documentary ‘Freaks: Uncensored!’ (Best Documentary 1999, Videoscope), which was singled out for its “lively and eclectic score” by The New York Times.

John is renowned for an ‘everybody wins’ approach to teaching and collaboration. As a piano teacher, he has worked with students of all ages, utilizing an innovative approach to teaching including the use of Dalcroze techniques and methods, developing both classical piano technique and improvisation skills. He has taught music theory, and solfeggio using Curwen hand signs. John has also been the vocal director, musical director and composer for numerous school musical productions in the NY metropolitan area.

John holds a Master of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre Writing from the NYU Tisch School for the Arts and a Bachelor of Arts in Music Theory and Composition from Brown University. He has completed graduate level courses in Dalcroze Eurythmics at the Diller-Quaile School of Music in NY, and piano, music theory, ear training, and composition studies at the Manhattan School of Music (Pre-College Division).

Sung Ho Yang

Native Korean pianist Dr. Sung Ho Yang has appeared in concert halls around the world, including solo recitals in Italy, Spain, Slovakia, Japan, South Korea, and the United States.

Winner of many prestigious competitions and scholarships, Sung Ho won the Grand Prize at The Segye Times Piano Competition in Seoul, Korea in 2002. He later won the Second Prize at the International Competition of Piano Performance Florestano Rossomandi in Foggia, Italy, and Third Prize at the Johann Nepomuk Hummel International Piano Competition in Bratislava, Slovakia. Sung Ho left Seoul National University to move to Boston after receiving New England Conservatory Merit Awards and Scholarships to study with Wha Kyung Byun and occasionally with Russell Sherman, Artist-In-Residence.

Sung Ho’s most recent concert performances include the Guest Artist Recital Series at JCC on the Palisades, Tenafly, the Distinguished Artist Concert at Merkin Hall at the Kaufman Music Center, the DeMenna Center for Classical Music in New York, and BridgMusik Festival at Union Arts Center, Sparkill. He has performed as a concerto soloist with Slovenská filharmónia, the Classical Notes Philharmonic, BridgeMusik Festival Faculty Artists Chamber Ensemble, Arco Youth Orchestra, the University of Wisconsin-Madison Symphony Orchestra, and Seoul National University Symphony Orchestra. His wide range of repertoire includes chamber ensemble for brass, woodwind, and string. In the BridgeMusik festival, he participated in chamber ensembles with Tanya Witek, Krystof Witek, Madeleine Golz, Marji Danilow, Frederick Zlotkin, Désirée Elsevier, Vincent Lionti, Danny Mui, and Halley Gilbert. In addition, he works as a collaborative pianist with diverse artists such as conductor David Jeong, soprano Julie JungHwa Park, Sodam Jeon; cellist Karen Poleshuck, violinist Yong Tae Kim, and flutist Katharine Sun Cho. He has published diverse duo ensemble recordings since 2015 with Dr. Cho, and collaborates with Jerry Bryant and Gilles Bernard in Jersey City.

Sung Ho Yang graduated with Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees, and a Graduate Diploma in Piano Performance, from the New England Conservatory of Music, and received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He worked at the Thurnauer School of Music as a collaborative pianist before joining the faculty at New Jersey City University. Over the years, he has taught piano, music fundamentals and theory to young beginners and teens, pre-college and college students.

Michael Anderson

Michael Anderson is an award-winning tenor with a broad range of performance credits nationwide and extensive teaching experience.

Michael most recently made his debut with the Metropolitan Opera Extra Chorus in New York City, and recently performed with Geneva Light Opera in 2022. He was part of the Young Artist programs for Nashville Opera in 2019-2020 and both Des Moines Metro Opera and Palm Beach Opera in 2018-2019. He also appeared in 2018 as an Artist in Residence with Dayton Opera and the Dayton Philharmonic, as well as in other outreach concerts and recitals.

As a Studio Artist at Opera Saratoga in 2017, Michael sang Bardolfo in Falstaff, garnering recognition from Opera News as “the best” of the opera’s “comic trio” and as “vocally disciplined.” While at Opera Saratoga, Michael was thrilled to perform Gus Polock and Professor Trixie in The Cradle Will Rock under the baton of John Mauceri. The commercial recording of this performance was released by Bridge Records in July, 2018. His other work in 2017 and 2018 includes performances with the Westchester Oratorio Society, the New York Sessions Symphony, and the Manhattan School of Music Symphonic Chorus and Orchestra.

Michael has participated in Young Artist Programs at Central City Opera in 2016 and at Wolf Trap Opera in 2014-15. He also participated in Opera on the Avalon, in the CoOPERAtive Program, and in The Institute for Young Dramatic Voices. In addition, Michael has appeared in full productions of Macbeth, Lucia di Lammermoor, Carmen, Le nozze di Figaro, La Bohème, L’enfant et les sortilèges, The Ballad of Baby Doe, and Tosca. His scenes work includes pieces from Eugene Onegin, Carmen, Volpone, The Rake’s Progress, Little Women, Les Pêcheurs de Perles, The Crucible, Dialogues des armelites, Idomeneo, and Street Scene.

Honored with the Christopher Kiryluk Memorial Award by Central City Opera, Michael was a finalist in the Opera Index Competition in 2017. He was also a finalist in the New Jersey State Opera Alfredo Silipigni Vocal Competition and in Manhattan School of Music’s Alan M. and Joan Taub Ades Vocal Competition. Michael attended Manhattan School of Music, where he received his Bachelors of Music degree in 2014 and his Masters of Music degree in 2016.

In addition to his extensive performance career, Michael has been successfully teaching voice to students from school-age through adult. Combining his love of acting with vocal performance, Michael will be teaching our students of all ages and levels how to sing all styles of music, as well as how to act for the musical stage here at The Ridgewood Conservatory.

STEPHANIE DULLI

Stephanie Stearns Dulli is an award-winning actor, writer, producer and director, dedicated to sharing her love of theater with students of all ages and levels.

As a professional actor, Stephanie broke into the LA theater scene by being cast as Sheila Franklin in the Thirtieth Anniversary Production of HAIR. Other award-winning roles followed, including Amanda in Marked Tree (LA Theater Guild Best Actress). Bunbury (LA Weekly Award Best New Play, Ovation Nomination Best Production, Valley Theater Awards Best Ensemble) Katie in And Neither Have I Wings to Fly (Stage Scene LA Best Actress in a Lead Role, Ovation Nomination Best Show) Notably, her role as a producer has carved a distinct niche, illuminated by the accolades of Los Angeles Times Critics Choice and Production of the Year LA Weekly Award for Ouroboros. Other career highlights include originating many roles such as Juliet, Cecily, Irina, and Blanche in the world premiere of Tom Jacobson’s BUNBURY; A Serious Play For Trivial People, and taking over the role of Miss Julie in the world premiere of Miss Julie Freedom Summer. In addition to her work on contemporary plays, Stephanie has performed Shakespearean roles in numerous festivals and productions, including the Burbank and Las Vegas Shakespeare Festivals and Shakespeare on the Lake. A few favorite parts include Rosalind in As You Like It, Helena in Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Agrippa in Antony and Cleopatra. Her love of Shakespeare strangely landed Stephanie her next big break: into the world of sketch comedy. Along with her sketch comedy troupe “Lester McFwap,” she performed on grand stages, including the ABC Big Stinkin’ Comedy Fest, Chicago Comedy Festival, and San Francisco Comedy Festival. Lester McFwap served as the house comedy troupe for The World Famous Comedy Store.
Despite countless roles on stage, Stephanie might be best recognized from her many national TV commercials, including national spots for Southwest Airlines, Snapple, Pizza Hut, Honda, TGIFridays, and many more. As a voice-over artist, Stephanie has lent her talents to the Walt Disney Read-Along Series, where she narrated timeless tales from Cinderella to High School Musical and projects with National Geographic and Narada Radio. The Mindstream Media comedy serial The Reasonably Amazing Adventures of Flash Gordon, in which she plays several characters, is streamed by audiences worldwide. Expanding theatrical work to non-actors, Stephanie directed the celebrated national reading series “Listen to Your Mother,” raising over $100,000 for women’s charities.

As an educator, Stephanie has worked to instill the joy of acting in children as young as age five, teaching not only the basic skills needed to perform, but also the love of theater. She has taught in numerous acting programs, and taught classes in early childhood theater using active listening and movement games, early acting skills for elementary school age children, beginning scene study, advanced scene study, and audition skills classes, as well as Shakespeare programs in both the Los Angeles and Clark County CA k-12 public school systems.
As a private accent, acting and public speaking coach, she has worked with students as young as four and as old as 80. More recently, she has audition-coached and taught scene study to high school and college age students.

Stephanie completed the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts’ Professional program graduating with their highly-regarded Professional Actors Certificate. While at the Academy, she received the esteemed Mark Taper Forum Scholarship and the coveted Voice and Speech Award for her work with accents and dialects, a practice she continues today. She has also studied acting technique with James Kirkwood (a student of Lee Strasburg), scene study with Lloyd Bridges, and received additional training from Suanne Spoke, Linda Brennan and Jenifer Parker.

We are beyond delighted that Stephanie has joined our Acting faculty here at The Ridgewood Conservatory, helping students prepare for auditions, teaching private acting classes, and creating unique acting, sketch comedy and improvisation workshops for students of all ages and levels.

STEPHEN INNOCENZI

We are so honored to welcome actor, director, choreographer and educator, Stephen Innocenzi, to our Acting faculty at The Ridgewood Conservatory – School for the Performing Arts.

As an actor, Stephen has performed in a wide range of theatrical productions, in films and on television. He appeared on the New York stage as Don Juan in Alexander Pushkin’s Little Tragedies and as Laius in David Sard’s modern reworking of Oedipus, The Ballad of Eddie and Jo. He also played a younger Yogi Berra in Robin Rice Lichtig’s Déjà vu All Over Again for New Jersey Rep. Other New York City stage credits include the title role in Anton Chekhov’s Ivanov, The Dauphin in George Bernard Shaw’s St. Joan, Major Arnold in Ronald Harwood’s Taking Sides, Vinnie in Ralph Pape’s Warm and Tender Love, Dr. Kroll in Henrik Ibsen’s Rosmersholm, and Adolf in August Strindberg’s Creditors. He has played leading roles in productions of El Grande de Coca Cola, Promises Promises, Company, Godspell, Dames at Sea, 1776, The Apple Tree and Tuscaloosa’s Calling Me, But I’m Not Going. On television, he has co-starred on Succession, Law and Order and 100 Centre Street. In addition to his many credits as an actor, Stephen choreographed the Jim Thorpe musical, Warrior, for the Tennessee Performing Arts Center and directed an award-winning production of Marie Jones’ A Night in November for The Actors’ Bridge in Nashville.
Stephen has shared his expertise throughout the years by coaching acting to students of all levels and teaching classes and workshops. He has taught classes in Broadway Musical Theater, Song as Monologue, Stage Presence for the Dancer and Triple Threat, both at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and locally. As a theater teacher at Bergen Arts and Science H.S., he designed curricula and taught Intro to Theater, Advance Acting, Theater Dance, Musical Theater, Master Production and Performance and The History of Television classes, and directed numerous productions, earning him the BASCS High School’s “Teacher of the Year” award for 2021-2022.

Stephen majored in Theater at Rutgers University, where he performed in seventeen productions, and has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Creative Writing from The New School. He was a member of Michael Moriarty’s private acting class for seven years and has been authorized by Mr. Moriarty to teach his acting method. We are so honored to announce that Stephen has agreed to teach acting, both privately and in select workshops, here at The Ridgewood Conservatory.

Claudette Peterson

Over the course of her illustrious career, soprano Claudette Peterson has sung over 35 leading roles with major opera companies in the U.S. including The Lyric Opera of Chicago, The San Francisco Opera, Opera Company of Boston, Washington Opera, and the MUNI in St. Louis, and internationally with the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Opera du Nice and the Canadian Opera among other well-known venues.

Claudette has performed 15 leading roles during her tenure of nine years as a leading soprano with New York City Opera. She has appeared on PBS’s Gala of Stars singing “Glitter and Be Gay” with James Levine conducting the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and on Live from Lincoln Center, where she starred as Lisette in Puccini’s La Rondine. A versatile artist featured on the roster of Columbia Artists Management, Inc., Claudette collaborated with her husband, bass-baritone David Kline, in a duo recital From Opera to Broadway, which was the most popular program on the CAMI Community Concerts Series for three years in a row, eventually totaling 105 performances across the U.S. and Canada.

With over 30 years of teaching private voice lessons in a wide range of genres from Opera to Musical Theater and Pop, Claudette has sent over 100 of her students to more than 20 of the top music schools in the country including Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music, Indiana University, University of Michigan, New England Conservatory, NYU, Carnegie Mellon and Cincinnati CCM. In addition, a number of her students have played leading roles on Broadway in Pippin, Hairspray, Wicked, and many national tours including Book of Mormon, Contact, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and Hairspray among others, while many are singing leading roles with opera companies both in the U.S. and abroad. She has coached her high-school students in popular music, many of whom are known for their a capella groups, several in their top group “voices’ which recently ranked #1. Two of her young female students were soloists with Voices, both of whom recently appeared and sang in the film Marry Me with Jennifer Lopez.

Claudette Peterson is a graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the Merola Opera Program. She is the Founder and Artistic Director of OperaFest, LLC., and has produced 13 Opera Festivals, performing in Tolentino Italy, on Martha’s Vineyard and here in Ridgewood, NJ. OperaFest has also produced nine Recital Concerts at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall.

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Faculty

Interested in how The Ridgewood Conservatory can bring music into your life?

To get News about our monthly updates and offers!

The Ridgewood Conservatory Has Closed

Although we have closed The Ridgewood Conservatory after 26 years, our dear friend and colleague Felicia Ruffman, Director of the Yamaha Music Conservatory, has graciously agreed to offer the same high quality music, voice and acting education with our incredible TRC teachers!

The Yamaha Music Conservatory is housed in a gorgeous facility nearby at 18-00 Fair Lawn Ave, Fair Lawn, NJ 07410 - right off Route 208. Yamaha has served Bergen County for over 45 years and has a stellar reputation for excellence.

Click here to get a head start on enrolling for Fall lessons by filling out your New Student Information Form.

Faculty

Interested in how The Ridgewood Conservatory can bring music into your life?

To get News about our monthly updates and offers!

Susan Heerema

SALLY SHUMWAY

BILL ASH

Kathleen Ditmer

Jay Shanman

ROGER WIDICUS

Kory Grossman

Scott W. Simpson

Sergio Garcia-Marruz

Richie Ranno

Catherine Campbell

Eric Clark

Linda Decker

Erga Halilaj

Hyanghyun Lee

RON LEVY

Claire Ovadia

Bob Rodriguez

Pamela Vera

John Allen Watts

Sung Ho Yang

Michael Anderson

AL BAZAZ

STEPHANIE DULLI

Justyna Giermola

STEPHEN INNOCENZI

Claudette Peterson

Anna Maria Ferrone

The Ridgewood Conservatory Has Closed

Although we have closed The Ridgewood Conservatory after 26 years, our dear friend and colleague Felicia Ruffman, Director of the Yamaha Music Conservatory, has graciously agreed to offer the same high quality music, voice and acting education with our incredible TRC teachers!

The Yamaha Music Conservatory is housed in a gorgeous facility nearby at 18-00 Fair Lawn Ave, Fair Lawn, NJ 07410 - right off Route 208. Yamaha has served Bergen County for over 45 years and has a stellar reputation for excellence.

Click here to get a head start on enrolling for Fall lessons by filling out your New Student Information Form.