Liza Austria is a modern dancer and jazz/Brazilian vocalist performing regularly in New York City. As a child she studied piano and sang in the professional children’s choir at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Liza holds a bachelor’s degree in “Dance, Community and Social Change” from the Gallatin School at New York University. Since 2009 Liza has served as director of UpBeat NYC.
Richard Miller worked as a public school music teacher in New York City from 2009-2013. In 2007, he began working with NYC public school students as a teaching artist for Music and the Brain where he discovered the transformative role music can play in children's lives. Richard holds a degree in Jazz Performance from William Paterson University and is an active jazz saxophonist in NYC. He currently studies composition with Paul Caputo and his music has been performed at venues around the city including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. In the Spring of 2009, Richard founded UpBeat NYC with his wife, Liza Austria, where he is working to develop UpBeat NYC into a robust, El Sistema inspired nucleo serving the Mott Haven neighborhood of the South Bronx.
John Austria is a jazz pianist who has been performing and teaching professionally in New York City for over ten years. He performs regularly with the Sonny Simmons Quintet, Michael Marcus Quintet, and Makane Kouyate's West African/Jazz fusion ensemble "Denbaya.” John is a long time student of Dizzy Gillespie’s pianist Mike Longo and received his Bachelor's degree in music from The City College of New York with a focus in music theory.
Lessie Vonner is a trumpeter and entertainer based in the NYC Metropolitan area. Having developed a skillset and admiration for many different types of music, Lessie currently performs in music scenes around the world with some of music’s biggest names, including Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Lizzo, Jon Batiste, Ari Lennox, the Fugees, Jennifer Hudson, the Broadway Sinfonietta, and many more. Lessie has received Grammy recognition for her participation on Beyoncé's award-winning music film “Homecoming”, as well as for her work on the CARTERS’ award-winning “Everything Is Love” album. She is also a regular on the scene, having made multiple television performances – such as BET Black Girls Rock, the Today Show, Good Morning America, the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, and the UrbanOne Honors.
New York-based Venezuelan violist RAMÓN CARRERO-MARTÍNEZ is a Gold Medal
and Grand Prize winner of the 2022 Fischoff Competition, a semi-finalist at Sphinx
Competition 2023, and a semi-finalist for the 14th Banff International String Quartet
Competition as a member of the Terra String Quartet, a young and vibrant ensemble
based in NewYork City. He has won other competitions in the US, Italy, and
Venezuela has toured the US with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, performed as a
guest violist with the American String Quartet, and made his US soloist debut with
the New York Classical Players for the World Premiere of James Ra Triple Viola
Concerto.
As an educator, he is a faculty artist at the San Antonio Classical Music Institute
(CMI) summer education program since 2016. In the fall of 2017, he joined the
violin/viola and string faculty at the Bronx-based music program UpBeat NYC, in
2019 he joined Orchestrating Dreams as a viola and string faculty in Inwood-NYC,
and in 2022 he joined the faculty of the Youth Orchestra of St. Luke’s (YOSL) in
NYC.
Mr. Carrero-Martínez was a member of the celebrated Venezuelan National System
of Youth Orchestras “El Sistema” and previously studied economics in Venezuela.
He holds a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Music degree from the Manhattan
School of Music where he studied with American String Quartet violist Daniel
Avshalomov.
Born in Tucson, AZ and raised in Hermosillo, Mexico, Julian Pardo is a Percussionist, Composer and Producer based out of Brooklyn, NY.
Julian attended Berklee College of Music and has performed with a wide array of musicians from Ralph Peterson jr., Jason Palmer, Donald Harrison jr. to Toto la Momposina and Alexander Acha among others. He currently is based out of Brooklyn, NY where he works as a music educator and freelance musician. As an Army Reservist SGT Pardo currently serves as the band leader for the New York detachment of the 78th Army Band.
Laura Hutton is a NYC based teacher and performer. You can catch her on the latest season of “Mozart in the Jungle“ playing in the fictional New York Symphony. Outside of fake tv orchestras, Laura has performed at Disney Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, David Geffen Hall, and all over the NY Metropolitan area in various orchestras and chamber groups.
As a teacher, Laura has over 10 years of studio teaching, film coaching, group, and school-based program experience. Growing up in the mountains of Appalachia, she loves playing and teaching traditional folk and bluegrass music along with the Suzuki method.
Laura holds a master’s degree in violin performance from the Aaron Copland School of Music. She also has done studies in musicology at the University of Oxford, and continuing education at Carnegie Hall.