INSTRUCTORS
KATHRYN GUENTHER (Owner, Classical Piano, Musical Theatre) - originally from Mt. Holly, New Jersey, graduated from Lebanon Valley College with B.S. in Music Education and B.A. in Music with Piano Performance Concentration. Kathryn was accepted to study music at Anglia Ruskin Polytechnic in Cambridge, England. She studied for 15 years with Mrs. Judith Walter and Dr. Dennis Sweigart. She completed her first master's degree in December 2011 in Special Education from Saint Joseph's University. She has a particular interest in the benefits of music education for students with special needs.
Kathryn has worked as a soloist and accompanist, playing everything from Bach to Broadway. In 2004, she made her orchestral debut performing Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto Op. 102 No. 1. Locally, she has worked as a music director and performer with numerous organizations such as Music Mountain Theatre, Maple Shade Arts Council, The Road Company, and Circle of Friends.
Kathryn has worked for the past 16 years for the Pennsauken School District as Vocal Director for the middle school and now high school program. She has directed numerous productions for the district including The Wedding Singer, Pippin, Little Shop of Horrors, Godspell, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. She regularly attends workshops including the Broadway Teacher's Workshop in NYC to expand her knowledge of past and current theatrical training.
She is currently a MA Theatre candidate with the Guildford School of Acting within the University of Surrey, UK.
DAVID NIKOLAS (Guitar, Beginner Piano) - David has been playing the guitar for 35 years and has been a professional actor, singer, and musician for the past 20 years. He has experience performing with multiple rock bands in the New Jersey/Pennsylvania area, and his original band The Understudies was a favorite on college radio stations in the early 90s. In addition to his work as a musician, David is a professional stage, television, and film actor who has appeared in more than 20 musicals and had the opportunity to play the guitar on stage several times in the role of Captain Von Trapp in The Sound Of Music.
David brings an approach to teaching the guitar that focuses on using the music students enjoy to strengthen technique, help teach basic music theory, and understand song structure while having fun learning favorite songs!
JESSICA KOLODY (Voice, Flute) - Jessica earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Cedarville University in 2011. She has since continued learning through graduate music courses at The University of the Arts and various professional workshops in the field of music education. She is the Director of Vocal Music at Highland Regional High School, where she developed an active co-curricular a cappella program that participates in the International Competition for High School A Cappella. In the summers, she works as a Vocal Coach with the RockNRoll Chorus and an instructor at various youth camps. She also teaches private flute and voice lessons and occasionally performs as a freelance musician.
With experience as an assistant marching band director, vocal director for musical theatre productions, worship band team member, and summer camp instructor, in addition to her primary teaching position at Highland, Jessica has a developed a wide variety of teaching methods for diverse ages, musical genres, and learning styles.
Jessica is passionate about music and youth ministry, and she strives to spread joy to others through kindness and great music. Jessica is deeply grateful for the many music teachers, mentors and colleagues that have (and continue) to shape her into the musician and educator that she is today. She hopes to pass on the same love for music and pursuit of excellence to her students. soli*DEO*gloria
KEVIN DELISA (Voice, Beginner Piano) holds a B.M. in Vocal Music Education from Ithaca College, and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Music Education from Columbia University. He has a love for singing, composition and arranging, beatboxing, and piano. Kevin has performed in acclaimed vocal ensembles such as the Ithaca College Choir where he performed under the decorated Janet Galvan, the Jazz Vocal Ensemble of Ithaca performing in the 2019 ACDA festival, and the esteemed All-Male Identifying A Cappella group Ithacappella performing at Lincoln Center and on the ICCA stage.
In his time directing Ithacappella, Kevin has had the opportunity to arrange upwards of 80 pop vocal arrangements for performance to thousands of students over his college experience, winning Best Male Collegiate Arrangement in 2021. In addition to performing, the ensemble gave vocal workshops and performances to middle and high schools to better develop their students' understanding of performance as a whole.
Kevin has a wealth of knowledge in jazz, pop, musical theater and classical music, and looks forward to learning more through his students and colleagues. His passion for learning and teaching the voice has helped him teach those around him to become stronger and more confident in their own voices, and he hopes to instill this confidence in you!