ADK Studios

PIANO

Abigail Demirgian is thrilled to be the director of ADK Studios. In 2000, she formed her own private piano studio where she continues to teach students of all ages.

In addition to her private studio, Abigail is involved in many musical endeavors. She is known for her solo work as well her collaboration with other artists, including opera, chamber music, juries and competitions.  Among her many experiences, Abigail has accompanied rehearsals for La Traviata in Urbania, Italy, Broadway shows such as Cabaret, and members of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra. In 2009, Abi accompanied rehearsals for Northern Illinois University's opera production of Hansel and Gretel. Abigail is currently the chamber accompanist for the Young Naperville Singers, directed by Angie Johnson. She accompanies various other local schools, studios and soloists for their seasonal concerts.

Abigail is a member of the MTNA, ISMTA, and the Downers Grove Music Club. She holds a Bachelor in Music from DePaul University and  a Masters Degree in Music from Northern Illinois University. She is the Music Director at Downers Grove Community Church, where she leads the Praise Team and Choir.

 

CELLO

Charlotte Williams Muir, born in 1976, is an accomplished soloist and chamber musician. She has placed in several competitions, including grand prize in the Grace Vamos Competition, second prize in the Corpus Christi Competition, winner in the National Society of Arts and Letters competition, and winner in the Concord Chamber Orchestra Competition. In addition to this, she received the prestigious Performer's Certificate “in recognition of outstanding musical performance in cello” at Indiana University.

Ms. Muir has soloed with the Basel Symphony Orchestra, the Lawrence Symphony Orchestra, the Milwaukee Civic Symphony, and the Concord Chamber Orchestra. In addition to solo appearances, she has given recitals throughout the United States, Portugal, Switzerland, and France, and has collaborated with Miriam Fried, Christina Dahl, and members of the Emerson String Quartet. Her summer experiences have included Encore School for Strings, Aspen Music Festival, Taos Music Festival, and Davos Music Festival. She has also served on the faculty of Illinois Wesleyan Cello and Chamber Camp, as well as Elm City ChamberFest.

Ms. Muir recently completed her doctorate in cello performance at Stony Brook University, where she studied with Colin Carr. Previously, she studied for two years in Switzerland with Thomas Demenga at Der Musik Akademie der Stadt Basel. She completed her Masters Degree with Janos Starker at Indiana University. Other teachers have included Janet Anthony at Lawrence University, Harry Sturm, John Sharp, and Nel Novak.

 

VIOLIN/VIOLA

Kristen Wiersum has a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from the Cincinnati-Conservatory of Music and Master of Music in Violin Performance from Miami University.

Kristen has fifteen years of teaching experience including teaching at the Cincinnati-Conservatory of Music, serving as String Department Chairman and Starling Faculty-Preparatory Division as well as Instructor of Violin at College of Mt. St. Joseph.

Mrs. Wiersum was a finalist of the Coleman and Carmel Chamber Music Competitions and semi-finalist of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. She is a recipient of the Emil Heerman Award as a Miami University Concerto Competition winner. Her previous teachers include: Dorothy Delay, Naoko Tanaka, Mihaela Ashkenazi, Almida Vamos, Won-Bin Yim, and Peter Oundjian-former 1st Violinist of the Tokyo String Quartet. Kristen’s Playing experience includes: Chicago Civic  Orchestra,85-87; Assistant Concertmaster, Luxembourg Festival Orchestra; Concertmaster, Kentucky Symphony Orchestra; Assistant Concertmaster Middletown Symphony; New World Symphony, Miami FL.;Assistant Principal Second, Dayton Philharmonic; Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra; regular substitute with the Cincinnati and Columbus Symphonies; New Philharmonic; Illinois Philharmonic; Northwest Indiana Symphony; and Lira Ensemble of Chicago.

 

GUITAR

Jim Perona- Classical/Acoustic/Electric guitarist  has been performing for 11 years in all kinds of venues including concert halls, rock clubs, libraries, private events, coffee shops, and hospitals.  He has also pursued a strong commitment to teaching since 2002.  In May 2010, he earned his Master's Degree in Classical Guitar Performance at the New England Conservatory of Music under world-renowned guitarist Eliot Fisk.  Now back in the Chicago-land area, Jim looks forward to an active career with the guitar that includes composing, performing, and teaching.

 

TRUMPET

Mark Running is our applied trumpet and beginning through intermediate level trombone teacher. Mark has been teaching music and trumpet for more than two decades in the public schools as well as privately. In addition to being a high school band director, Mark plays free lance trumpet in various community symphony orchestras, pit orchestras for musicals, and churches for weddings. He is also a reader (grader) for the College Boards' Advanced Placement Music.

At the age of seventeen, Mark debuted as a trumpet soloist with the National Youth Symphony at Carnegie Hall in New York and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.

  

VOCAL

 

 

JoEllyn Caulfield, Soprano, received her Bachelor’s of Music in Vocal Performance with a Minor in Spanish from Northern Illinois University in 2002 and her Masters of Music in Vocal Performance from Michigan State in 2004.

She has performed concerts in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs as well as in Michigan.  JoEllyn was cast in Dido and Aeneas (Spirit/First Witch) and Four Saints in Three Acts (St. Settlement) in DeKalb, La Boheme (chorus) in East Lansing, Michigan, and Pagliacci (chorus) with the Intimate Opera in Chicago.  She has been a guest soloist for numerous weddings, funerals, and other religious services.

JoEllyn has been teaching private vocal lessons since 2000.  She was on staff at the Northern Illinois University Community Music School of the Arts in DeKalb, IL and the Michigan State University Community Music School in East Lansing, Michigan.  From 2003-2004, JoEllyn was a Teaching Assistant at Michigan State University, where she taught Class Voice for Non-Music Majors and Private Voice Lessons to college students.  She was the Vocal Coach for the a cappella group, the Spartan Dischords, while completing her Masters at MSU.  JoEllyn currently teaches lessons at Brookdale Music in Naperville as well as at her home studio on the south side of Naperville.

JoEllyn’s students have achieved numerous successes with their music, including but not limited to; placing at Granquist Competition in Geneva, IL, receiving full-ride scholarships to Summer Vocal Camps, being accepted into music colleges, being accepted into Interlochen Arts Academy, performing as leads or chorus in school, community, or professional music productions, being chosen to sing solos at school or church, and performing in JoEllyn’s Studio Voice Recitals.

 

Mike Thoms is a graduate of Northern Illinois University where he received his BM in Music Education, December 2002.  He went on to complete his graduate studies at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, receiving his MM in Vocal Performance in December 2005.  Michael has studied with Chicago baritone Robert Sims at NIU and also under Richard Stilwell and Michael Best while at CCPA.  Currently he is a student of Dr. Ronald Combs in Chicago.

Michael has sung and covered numerous opera roles; highlights include Vicar Gedge in Britten’s Albert Herring.  In Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, he performed the role of Junius.  He has also sung the part of Saint Ignatius in Thomson’s Four Saints in Three Acts, Pooh Bah in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado, and the title role in Mozart’s The Impresario.  Michael also has sung with area opera companies including the Millennium Chamber Players and Chicago Opera Theater in the Chicago premier of Adams’ Nixon in China.

Michael has been a voice instructor at Beautiful Music since spring of 2003.  He also teaches private voice at Wheaton Warrenville South High School and Crystal Lake South High School.   In addition to his teaching and solo singing career, Michael is a member of the St. Charles Singers, an internationally acclaimed chamber ensemble based out of St. Charles, IL.