Artist Faculty
Margo Easter
Piano, Woodwinds, Choir, Orchestra, Theory, Early Childhood Music
As a classically trained professional musician and educator, Ms. Easter has more than 30 years experience teaching students of all ages and levels from preschool through university level.
Former teachers include Louis Rosenblatt of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Philip McArthur of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra and Stevens Hewitt of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Her formal training includes Syracuse University, West Chester University, the Peabody Conservatory of Music and study abroad at the Cultural Studies Academy International Ferienkurse in Salzburg, Austria.
As well as being the founding member of The Music School, The Language Institute and the Dance Center of The Performing Arts Institute of Virginia, Ms. Easter is also the Executive Artistic Director of the school and a member of the Artist Faculty.
Her students have won awards in national, state and regional competitions as well as substantial and full scholarships for further study at the college/university level. Her students include Emerson Scholars (Interlochen Full Scholarship), NFAA award winners (National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts), top placement in Virginia All-State Orchestras and Bands and Young Artist Competition Winners.
Ms. Easter has also performed extensively as soloist, recitalist, with chamber music ensembles, in opera, ballet and with numerous symphony orchestras.
Additional professional activities have included residencies as Artist Faculty for the Virginia Governors School for the Visual and Performing Arts, The Roanoke Youth Symphony Summer Institute, The Roanoke Symphony Orchestra Artist in Residence Programs as well as invited Guest Artist for the International IDRS and the Audubon Quartet,The Roanoke Symphony Orchestra and The Winston-Salem Symphony Orchestra.
Ms. Easter continues to be in high demand as a teacher for students of all ages and she may be heard on National Public Radio.
She is the granddaughter of former Budapest Opera House singer Elizabeth Gonczi, a native of Budapest,Hungary. Born and raised in northern New York, Ms. Easter has resided in Blacksburg, Virginia since 1981.
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Wallace Easter II
French Horn, Brass, Chamber Music
Wallace Easter joined the faculty of the Music Department at Virginia Tech and the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra in 1981. He is also currently serving as Principal Horn for the Wintergreen Summer Music Festival.
Previously Mr. Easter was a member of the "President's Own" Marine Band in Washington, D.C. and performed extensively at The White House and on National Tours.
He has performed, taught and recorded nationally and internationally and he can be heard frequently on National Public Radio.
Additional professional activities include residencies as Artist Faculty for the Virginia Governor's School for the Visual and Performing Arts,The Skyline Brass Festival,The Roanoke Youth Symphony Summer Institute,The Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp and Master Classes at Interlochen.
Mr. Easter continues to be in high demand as performer and teacher to all ages.
His formal training includes The Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music and The Catholic University.
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Wallace Easter III
Horn, Piano, Theory, Voice
Mr. Easter attended the Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music where he earned a B.M. degree in Music and a B.S. degree in Physics. He is a recent graduate of The New England Conservatory of Music.
He has performed nationally and internationally and with numerous professional ensembles such as the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, the Haffner Sinfionetta, the Wintergreen Festival Orchestra and the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra. He made his Carnegie Hall debut under the direction of Robert Spano of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. He has performed and recorded with with other well-known conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and David Zinman of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and The Aspen Symphony Orchestra.
Mr. Easter has recently joined the music faculty at Radford University and The Performing Arts Institute of Virginia!
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Inessa Borisovna
Piano, Voice, Organ, Choir, Russian
Inessa Borisovna is a successful award-winning professional musician with extensive experience performing, accompanying and teaching students of all ages.
Before joining the Artist Faculty of The Performing Arts Institute of Virginia in 2007, she served as a professional music teacher for The Rostropovich Music School in Baku, Azerbaijan, under the patronage of the world reknowned conductor, pianist and cellist, Mistislav Rostropovich, the late former music director and conductor of the The National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, D.C..
Since arriving in the U.S.A. she has performed as Guest Artist at Virginia Tech, for VANATS and for the Department of Music at Virginia Tech as well as guest organist for area churches.
Ms. Inessa has more than 28 years of teaching experience and holds a Masters Degree in Piano Performance and Education.
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Peter Golladay
Guitar, Guitar Ensemble, Mandolin, Ukulele
Peter Golladay holds a BA in Music from Radford University and a MM from The Peabody Conservatory of Music of the Johns Hopkins University.
He has performed extensively as guitar soloist and with numerous ensembles through out southwest Virginia and the mid-Atlantic region.
Additional professional activities include teaching guitar at Radford University, Hollins College and Roanoke College.
Mr. Golladay was formerly the Director of Guitar Performance and Pedagogy at Radford University.
He continues to be in high demand as performer and teacher of all styles of guitar music.
He is currently an Artist Faculty member of The Music School of The Performing Arts Institute of Virginia.
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Mandy Wong
Piano, Theory, Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese)
Ms. Wong has extensive experience teaching students of all ages and levels of ability.
Her formal training includes the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong from which she holds a Master of Music Degree.
The Music School and The Language Institute welcomes Ms. Wong as the newest addition to our Artist Faculty roster.
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Leslie Morgan
Strings, Piano
Leslie Morgan is a free-lance violinist and pianist with more than 25 years of experience performing and teaching students of all ages.
Ms. Morgan is a versatile musician performing and teaching both violin and piano.
She is a graduate of Radford University and has served as Director for the Radford University Summer Strings Program.
Ms. Morgan joined the Artist Faculty Roster of The Music School of The Performing Arts Institute of Virginia in 2009.
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Claudine Thill Pleimling
German, French
Ms. Pleimling has more than twenty years experiene teaching all ages and all levels, elementary through university.
Before arrriving in the U.S.A. she taught in Germany and Luxembourg where she was born and raised.
Ms. Pleimling is a graduate of the University of Liege in Belgium.
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Arati Kumar
Hindi
Ms. Kumar has extensive experience working with children of all ages.
She has served as a volunteer and teacher for Montgomery County Schools for many years.
Her formal training includes Virginia Tech and the Delhi University in Delhi, India.
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Tatiana Boluarte
Spanish
Ms. Boluarte is a native of Peru with a Ph.D in Horticulture from Virginia Tech where she has worked as a Research Associate for many years.
Presently she is a Research Associate for the Virginia Tech Horticulture Department.
She enjoys teaching Spanish Classes to children and adults!
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