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Our Instructors


Chris Braun
brass
Chris Braun is a Southwest Ohio performer and educator. Chris currently serves as the Adjunct Trumpet Instructor at Sinclair College, Adjunct Music Instructor and Charger Music Society Band Director at Edison State Community College, and trumpet teacher at Spring Valley Academy, That Music Place, and Beavercreek Schools. As a performer Chris plays trumpet with the Mason Symphony Orchestra, the Kettering Praise Orchestra, Innovation Quintet, Mad River Brass, the Greater Dayton Brass Ensemble, Ryan Roth and The Comeback Special and is regularly called upon for freelance work.

​ Chris earned his Master of Music in Trumpet Performance degree from Wright State University and his Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Studies from The Ohio State University. He has studied trumpet with Pharez Whitted, Daniel Zehringer, Jim Stokes, William Campbell and Bill Adam. While at Wright State, Chris served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant who taught Jazz Improvisation, assisted and performed with the WSU Jazz Band, Chamber Orchestra, the University Symphony Orchestra and performed with the WSU Faculty Brass Quintet.

During his career Chris has had the opportunity to perform with many artists including Vince DiMartino, John Harner, Mike Speck, James Swearingen, the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic Concert Band, Sinclair Community Wind Symphony, Generations Big Band and The Dayton Jazz Orchestra. Some career highlights include performing on Premier Cruise Lines, performing at the 2015 “Exploring Brass in Greece” Conference, leading the Sinclair Trumpet Ensemble at the 2017 & 2018 Ohio International Trumpet Guild Conferences, performing at One Hundred Nights of Taps in 2018 and for the Dayton Strong Greater Dayton Disaster Relief Fund Benefit Concert in 2019.

Chris spent nine years as a church music director where he led the choir and orchestra, developed and led children’s music classes, and oversaw all media activities. Additionally, he has been a guest clinician at a number of institutions, maintains an active teaching schedule and is a regular contributor in the International Trumpet Guild Journal and a performing member of the Dayton Music Club.


Evan Fiehrer
guitar, ukulele
Evan Fiehrer is a guitarist currently located in Dayton, Ohio. He graduated in 2013
with a Bachelor of Music in Guitar Performance from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati and in 2015 from the Peabody Institute of the
Johns Hopkins University with a Master of Music, also in Guitar Performance. An
accomplished classical guitarist, Evan has played solo and ensemble concerts
throughout the Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana areas, and along the East Coast. Evan is a professor of guitar at Indiana University East in Richmond, IN, and teaches
privately at McCutcheon Music in Centerville and Star City Music in Miamisburg. He
also plays guitar in the five-piece funk band The Johnson Treatment.

Isabelle Ford
piano
Isabelle Ford is a rising Junior at Wright State, where she is majoring vocal performance, while studying piano and organ. A former student of instructor John Wright, Isabelle was a 2021 winner of Discover Classical’s Young Talent Search.

Dr. Samee Griffith
piano, Musikgarten
Dr. Samee Griffith received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, her Master of Music degree in piano performance and collaborative piano from Bowling Green State University, and her Bachelor of Music in piano performance from Wright State University, where she graduated summa cum laude. An experienced instructor, Samee has taught piano for more than fifteen years, including at the Penn-Griffin School for the Arts in High Point, North Carolina. Her students regularly place in the top tier of competitors in state level piano competitions and festivals.

Her honors include: the Mary Elizabeth King Brown Teaching Excellence Award (2012), First Place in the Undergraduate Division at the Marjorie Peatee Art Song Competition (2004), and the MTNA Star Award (2002).


Audrey Henry
flute
Audrey Henry is pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree in flute performance at Wright State University, where she recently won the Concerto/Aria Competition, and performed with the the University Orchestra as a featured soloist.

Mackenzie Kennon
voice
Mackenzie Kennon began performing in choir, band and musical theater as a child. She went on to attend Wright State University where she received her Bachelor’s degree in Music Education-Voice in 2018. While in school, she performed in various opera performances, Women’s Chorale, and University Chorus. Mackenzie was a soloist in the school’s performances of Mendelssohn’s Elijah as well as Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzes. Additionally, she spent 5 years in the university’s top choral ensemble, Collegiate Chorale, where she had the opportunity to perform Vivaldi’s Gloria at Carnegie Hall in New York City, Britten’s War Requiem under direction of Keith Lockhart, conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra and toured throughout Italy performing in Rome, Vatican City, Florence, and Venice. Since graduating, Mackenzie has taught General Music in grades 2-5, and 6th grade choir for Monroe Local Schools. She has previously taught voice and beginning flute at the Dayton Kroc Center and conducted the chapel choir at Emmanuel’s Lutheran Church in Germantown, Ohio from 2016 to 2021. Mackenzie currently enjoys performing as a member of Dayton’s chamber choir, Musica and frequently sings with local church worship teams. She lives in Miamisburg with her husband Larry and cat, Zildjian.

Aaron Mood
piano
Aaron Mood received his Master of Music degree in piano performance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and his Bachelor of the Arts degree in music from Allegheny College, where he graduated magna cum laude. He is the recipient of the Edith Mead Osbourne Memorial Prize for distinguished pianism, the Frederick Marantz Memorial Prize in recognition of marked talent with the piano, and the Mary Elizabeth King Brown Teaching Excellence Award.

In addition to being a Master Teacher of Piano at Star City Music Studios, Aaron holds the positions of Weekend Host on Discover Classical FM 88.1/89.9/89.1 and Organist at Grace Lutheran Church in West Carrollton. Previous positions include Staff Accompanist at Winston-Salem State University, Adjunct Instructor of Theory and Music Appreciation at Guilford Technical Community College, and Associate Master Teacher at the Music Academy of North Carolina. He has participated in master classes with Anna Maria Trenchi de Botazzi and Jon Nakamatsu.

Aaron lives in West Carrollton with his wife, Samee Griffith Mood, daughters, Evelyn and Raegan, and sons, Nathaniel and Karl.


John Wright
piano
John Wright is the Organist and Choirmaster for St. Mary of the Assumption parish in Springboro, Ohio. He is an award-winning piano performer and instructor with over 25 years of experience teaching piano, brass, and voice. He received his Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from Wright State University, where he graduated with honors. In addition to being an accomplished pianist, John teaches and has performed in civic and professional ensembles on trumpet, French horn, euphonium, and tuba. Johncurrently serves on the Music Committee for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, and is the music consultant for the Cast Your Nets archdiocesan vocations program.