OUR TEAM
This page is under construction. Over ten profiles are not yet live. Teacher biographies will be alphabetized upon completion. They are currently in no particular order.
Marie Louise St. Gaudens – Fiatarone
Founder and Director
Teaches jazz and Broadway voice, and jazz and classical piano.
Favorite musician: Oscar Peterson
Bio to come.
Marcus Benjamin “Ben” Barron
Guitar and Front Desk and Administrative Support
Favorite musician: J.S. Bach
Guitarist Marcus Benjamin “Ben” Barron is a Northern California native who began studying piano at age five and guitar at age nine. Raised in a musical family, he began performing publicly with his father and brothers at age ten and worked professionally as a guitarist throughout his teenage years, including a brief tour with the Lennon Sisters. During this time, he also studied with renowned classical guitarist Rey De La Torre, one of the most influential guitar teachers of the twentieth century. In Guitar Review (1994), Ben was recognized alongside Manuel Barrueco as one of De La Torre’s finest students.
Ben holds both a Bachelor of Music degree and a Master’s degree in Classical Guitar Performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. There he studied with David Tanenbaum and Dusan Bogdanovic, and later worked with master guitarist George Sakellariou, a student of Andrés Segovia. Ben has released two solo guitar albums, 20th Century Romantics and Spirit of the Guitar, and continues to perform and teach throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to teaching and performing, he is currently completing The Very Best of Joe Pass, a collection of transcribed solos prepared with guitarist Warren Haskell.
Laurien Jones was born in Spokane, Washington, where she began studying violin at age nine through a public-school music program. After quickly discovering a deep love for the instrument, she continued her studies with private teacher Robert Armstrong, whose mentorship helped shape her early musical development. As a teenager, Laurien devoted herself intensely to practicing and soon began studies with Sister Xavier Mary at Fort Wright College. At age sixteen, she performed with America’s Youth in Concert in appearances at Carnegie Hall, Independence Hall in Washington, D.C., and London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Laurien later spent nine weeks studying with renowned violin pedagogue Dr. Lisa Elson at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. She went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Eastern Washington University and a Master of Music in Education from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Laurien also studied with Daniel Majeske, Concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra, before making the San Francisco Bay Area her home in 1985. She continues to share her lifelong passion for music through teaching and performance. In recent years, she has held posts with the California Symphony orchestra and Lamplighters Musical Theater.
Laurien Jones
Teaches violin, piano, viola, and cello to all ages.
Favorite musician: Jasha Heifetz
Luke Loren Shalz
Teaches voice, piano, flute to focussed children and all adults.
Favorite musician: Ralph Vaughan Williams
Luke Loren Shalz is a versatile vocalist, conductor, organist, pianist, and educator based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He currently serves as Director of Music and Organist at St. Dominic's Catholic Church in Benicia, California, where he oversees a large and active sacred music program spanning multiple choirs and both English and Spanish liturgies.
Luke is also a member of the faculty and music staff of Chesterton Academy of St. Serra, where he teaches languages and music. In addition to his educational work, Luke performs regularly in all kinds of settings throughout the Bay Area as a tenor, conductor, organist, and collaborative musician. He is a founding member of Nebula Consort and the Strange Octet.
Luke studied Political Science and Classical Civilizations at the University of California, Davis. As both a teacher and performer, he is especially interested in the role that beauty, discipline, and artistic excellence play in shaping healthy communities and meaningful human lives. He sees music as one of the greatest ways to know the transcendent, test one’s limits, and overcome divisions.
Toni Silva
Teaches piano and guitar to all.
Favorite musician:
Bio to come.
Pete Skehan
Teaches guitar and bass to all.
Favorite musician:
Bio to come.
Michael “Miguel” Garcia
Teaches flute, saxophone, clarinet, and trumpet.
Favorite musician: Erik Satie
Bio to come.
Robert holds an A.A. in Music from Los Medanos College and a B.A. in Music Performance from Cal State Hayward, where he studied with noted percussionists Jack Van Geem of the San Francisco Symphony and Jerry Neff of the Oakland Symphony. He also studied drum set and jazz drumming for over 30 years with renowned Bay Area teacher Chuck Brown.
A longtime Bay Area educator, Robert has maintained private teaching studios throughout the East Bay since 1980 and previously served on the faculty of Los Medanos College, where he directed the percussion ensemble. He currently performs as Principal Percussionist of the Vallejo Symphony Orchestra and has spent more than 30 years as Principal Percussionist, Personnel Manager, and Stage Manager for the Diablo Symphony Orchestra.
Robert is also a longtime member of Pacific Sticks Percussion Ensemble and regularly performs with orchestras, concert bands, and theater productions throughout the Bay Area, including the Golden Gate Park Band.
Robert “Bob” Hammacker
Teaches all things percussion (drums).
Favorite musician: Chick Correa