We have very special people who teach and work at the Andover Community Music School. Our faculty and staff are committed to our mission of bringing music to the community and providing a solid foudation of music training that our students can use to achieve any level of music performance.
Arkady Beletsky - Instructor of Cello April Foley – Instructor of Voice Tad Hitchcock – Instructor of Guitar Charles Leinbach - Executive Director - Instructor of Keyboards, Violin, Composition and Music Technology Valerie Walton - Instructor of Flute
Arkady Beletsky was born in Kiev, Ukraine, and began playing cello at an early age. After his family moved to Moscow, he went on to study the instrument with some of the best Soviet masters. Upon completing his Master's of Music at the Gnesin Institute of Music in Moscow Mr. Beletsky started to perform solo and with chamber groups all around the Former Soviet Union. In 1983, he founded the Renaissance Chamber Ensemble, which quickly rose to prominence as one of the most prolific and well-regarded chamber groups in pre-Perestroika USSR. Under Mr. Beletsky's leadership, Renaissance headlined over one thousand concerts in the most prestigious venues throughout the far reaches of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union.
In 1989 Mr. Beletsky emigrated to US with his family. Since then, he has performed solo, chamber, and orchestral work at Jordan Hall, Sanders Theater, Mechanics Hall, has participated in numerous music festivals, and has made a live appearance in WGBH's "Morning Pro Musica." He now dedicates most of his time to teaching cello and chamber music privately, and as a faculty member of Andover Community Music School and Indian Hill Arts Music Center in Littleton, MA.
April is an accomplished singer and has performed professionally in the New England area for the past 30 years. She holds a B.A. in Music from Tufts University, with a concentration in voice, music theory, and ethnomusicology. April studied at The New England Conservatory (voice, diction, opera, ear-training), Berklee School of Music (jazz studies), Longy School of Music (eurhythmics, early music, and the Alexander Technique), and The Hartt School of Music (voice and music theory). She has sung with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, the Bronx Opera, and performed at Sanders Theatre and Symphony Hall in Boston. April is active in community musical theatre, playing numerous leading roles, and was honored by EMACT with a nomination for Best Actress in her portrayal of Eva Peron in EVITA. Also a music production professional, April served as General Manager for Century Recording Audio/Digital Images Group - a leading music production facility in Boston; founded the ‘jingle’ company MusicMaxx, and does voiceover and narration work for radio and television. April is also on the faculty of Meritor Academy, teaching music and drama. She is the director of ShowkidZ, a children’s musical theatre summer workshop, and sings with the band, The Jazz Disciples. April has been teaching voice privately for ten years.
Tad is a long-time guitar instructor and performer in our local area. He is a graduate of Berklee College of Music with studies in Composition and Applied Music programs. Tad is also trained in Suzuki Instruction and certified in Orff instruction. He also teaches on the faculty at Winchester Community Music School, teaching guitar, ukulele, bass guitar, early childhood classes, and coaching ensembles. In the past he has held teaching positions at Tenacre Country Day School, University of Massachusetts at Lowell, the New England Conservatory Extension Division and the Stoneridge Children’s Montessori School. Tad has toured with the Artie Shaw Orchestra, and given performances with Ruby Braff, Billy Novick, Scott Hamilton, Dave Mckenna, Herb Pomeroy and Harvey Diamond.
Charles brings a unique mixture of music performance, business management and education experience to ACMS. Charles is a graduate of Bates College, where he studied organ with Marion Anderson and composition with Bill Matthews and received a BS. Charles studied composition with Charles Dodge at the City University of New York Conservatory at Brooklyn College where he earned an MA. Charles has spent much of his professional life in the business world, managing service organizations. He has served as a management consultant with Monitor Company, and managed service organizations at C-bridge Internet Solutions and Hewlett Packard. Charles is an active composer and church musician. He has served as organist and choir director in the Episcopal and UCC churches. He currently serves as Director of Youth Choirs at South Church in Andover and Music Director for the South Church Players. Charles has served as a Board Member for the Professional Center for Child Development in Andover (http://www.theprofessionalcenter.org/) and is currently the Vice President of the Service Club of Andover (http://www.serviceclubofandover.org) and a board member of Classical Voice of New England (http://www.cvneweng.org).
David is a professor at Berklee College of Music, teaching percussion, ear training, music composition and music education. He has been an active performer and teacher for over 40 years. Davis has a B.M. from Berklee College of Music and an M.Ed., Cambridge College. He is author of The Reading Drummer from Berklee Press. He has conducted numerous percussion clinics, including presenting at the Texas Music Educators Conference, Ludwig International Percussion Symposium, PAS, and throughout Europe and Japan, and receiving the Teaching Excellence Award at Berklee. Dave has been inducted into the Drum Corp Hall of Fame. He is a clinician for Zildjian, Grover Percussion and the Yamaha Corporation of America. On the performance side Dave has performed with the Drifters and Freddy Cannon, has been a staff writer for Columbia Pictures, has numerous television, recording, and theater credits and is published by Kendor, Belwin Mills, C.L. Barnhouse, and Columbia Pictures Publications. Dave is also the drummer for “Sixties Invasion”, a 60’s cover band that performs frequently in Northeast Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire.
Valerie Walton has been performing in the New England area for over 30 years as a freelance flute, sax and clarinet player. She has enjoyed playing in dance bands of other cultures, including Brazil, Venezuela, Haiti, traveling to Venezuela, Columbia, the French Caribbean, and Paris. She has been a band leader, providing jazz, classical and popular music for functions and concerts for her entire career. In addition to co-producing one CD under her own name, “Exactly Like You”, she has appeared on over a dozen recordings of local artists. She has been a private woodwind instructor for over 25 years in various after-school music programs and at the Winchester Community Music School. She taught music history and music theory at Bristol Community College, jazz ensembles at the John Payne Musi Center and general music at private and public schools. She presented a workshop at the IAJE conference on young woman in jazz education. One of her passions is saxophone quartet and she co-led the Atlantic Sax Quartet which performed at concerts and school presentations. She currently leads a student sax quartet in Winchester. She has enjoyed playing with a wide variety of big bands as well such as The Brandeis Jazz Big Band with Ricky Ford, the New England Conservatory and Boston Conservatory big bands. She received a Bachelor of Music in Flute Performance at Berklee College of Music, and a Master of Music in Jazz Sax Performance at the New England Conservatory. Instructors include Matt Marvuglio, Joe Viola, Joe Allard, Ken Radnofsky, Billy Pierce, Charlie Banacos, Jimmy Guiffre, Jerry Bergonzi, and John McNeil. She has completed Levels I and II of Orff Schulwerk.
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