Instructors |
Hedi Salanki (Musicianship/Solfa) is an Associate Professor of Music at the University of West Florida, where she teaches piano performance, harpsichord performance, keyboard interpretation, ear training (Kodály -method solfege), musical structure and style, and chamber music. A native of Hungary, Ms. Salanki has appeared with the New Jersey Symphony, the New York Chamber Orchestra, I Solisti New York, the Syracuse Symphony, the Pensacola Symphony, and numerous chamber ensembles. She has performed solo recitals in Europe, the United States, Canada and Japan. Among her recordings on the Pantheon, Priceless, Laserlight, and Prince Productions labels are many significant works of Bach, including the Goldberg Variations (nominated for Ovation Magazine¹s Debut Artist of the Year Award), the Concerti, and the complete English Suites. She has also recorded Scarlatti Sonatas, Telemann Overtures, and a French Baroque program. Recent career highlights include a return engagement at the Pennsylvania Academy of Music Summer Festival, performances and master classes at the Liszt Academy in Budapest, master classes at the Beijing Conservatory, and recitals at the University of West Florida. Ms. Salanki earned a Doctorate in Harpsichord Performance from the Juilliard School, as well as degrees and diplomas in piano performance from the Liszt Academy, the Bartok Conservatory, and Rutgers University. From 1994 to 1998 Ms. Salanki served as founding Artistic Director of the Four Seasons Baroque Ensemble, garnering critical acclaim for artistic excellence and innovative programming. Ann Sights Leffard, NBCT (Program Director, Pedagogy, Chorus, Conducting) is currently Coordinator of Elementary and Choral Music in the Santa Rosa County School District, and is also the Music Specialist at Holley-Navarre Primary School in Navarre, Florida. She earned her Kodály Certification at the University of Oklahoma and at the Kodály Institute of Texas (UNT). Her major teachers include Dr. Joy Nelson, Dr. Susan Brumfield and Dr. Jill Trinka. In 2002, she was a recipient of the OAKE Jenö Ádám scholarship. She holds a Masters in Flute Performance from the Florida State University and a BSED in Instrumental Music and Performer's Certificate from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She was Principal Flutist of the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra in 1996-2007 and was a member of PSO for 20 years. In February 2006, HNPS second graders became the first students in the area asked to perform with the Pensacola Opera Artist-in-Residence program - performing Mozart's music in The Three Little Pigs, by John Davies. In the 2006-07 school year, her first and second grade students were chosen to pilot another Pensacola Opera project entitled "From Words to Music", where the students wrote and composed an original opera based on stories in their language arts curriculum. Prior to becoming a Kodály-inpired educator, Mrs. Leffard was band director at Alfred B. Maclay School in Tallahassee for grades 5-12 during the school year 1984-85, and at Ferry Pass Middle School in Pensacola for 12 years. She currently serves on the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra Education Committee, is District VI Chairperson for the Florida Elementary Music Educators' Association, and is Chair of the Florida Flute Association College Young Artist Competition. Her professional affiliations include the Organization of American Kodály Educators, International Kodály Society, Music Educators National Conference, Florida Music Educators Association, Florida Elementary Music Educators Association, and the Florida Flute Association. Mrs. Leffard has been married to PSO bass trombonist Lee Leffard since 1989. Their two daughters have participated in many musical endeavors, including choral and instrumental activities. Sheila Murphy (Special Topic) holds a Bachelor degree in Vocal Performance from Oberlin Conservatory of Music and both a Master and Doctor of Music in Vocal Performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music where she studied with Costanza Cuccaro. Dr. Murphy began her teaching career as an Associate Instructor of voice at Indiana University where she taught for four years. In her final year of studies at Indiana University, she oversaw the elective voice program as Secondary Voice Coordinator, supervising the teaching of 20 associate advisors and the studies of over 200 elective voice students per semester. Dr. Murphy recently made her debut at Nevada Opera as Eurydice in Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld. She also participated in the Pensacola Opera Artist in Residence Program 2006-2007 where she performed the roles of Annina in La Traviata and Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro. While at Pensacola Opera, she also understudied the role of Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro as well as Violetta in La Traviata. In the summer of 2006, Dr. Murphy was an apprentice artist at Lake George Opera where she was engaged to perform the role of Monica in Gian Carlo Menotti's The Medium. She returned to Lake George Opera in the fall as a guest artist in the concert, C'est Magnifique. As a student at Indiana University she performed the roles of Costance in Les Dialogues des Carmélites, Blonda in Abduction from the Seraglio, Adele in Die Fledermaus, Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Despina in Cosí fan tutte, and Una Novizia in Suor Angelica. Equally comfortable in the classics of musical theater, Dr. Murphy also performed the role of Johanna in Sweeney Todd with the Indiana University Department of Theatre and Drama. |
"Music belongs to everyone." ~ Zoltan Kodály |
Pensacola Kodály Institute Level One, Pensacola, Florida, July 21 - August 2, 2008 |
