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where does FMC take place? what are the classrooms and dorms like? who are our directors, teaching staff and dorm counselors? how is music part of the FMC experience? how is Quakerism part of the FMC experience? what is there to do for fun at FMC? (besides music, of course!)
Friends Music Camp
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Who are our directors, teaching staff, and dorm counselors? "I improved my musical talent through the dedication and consideration of the staff." Our teaching staff comes from many different backgrounds. Some are established professionals, and others are graduate students at some of the most highly regarded music schools in the nation. All are experienced, caring teachers, passionate about making FMC a positive experience for all our campers. Our counselors are often musicians as well. Many are former campers, returning to help share the FMC experience with the next generation. Please browse the list below to read about our dedicated staff. Directors / Band and Brass / Chorus and Musical Theater / Guitar Directors Peg Champney Drea Gallaga Nicholas Hutchinson Mr. Hutchinson is a founding partner of Collaborative Works, a vocal coaching studio and collaborative arts institute in Chicago . He is also co-director of Friends Music Camp, a Quaker-based music camp for middle and high school students. A passionate teacher, Mr. Hutchinson has maintained a private studio for the past decade and has taught at a number of educational institutions in Michigan, including the Steppingstone School for the Potentially Gifted and the Chelsea Center for the Arts. Besides his musical interests, Mr. Hutchinson has a degree in computer science and his study of the Japanese language resulted in his being awarded an Outstanding Student of Japanese Language Study Tour at the Kansai Cultural Center in Osaka , Japan.
Band and Brass Zach Kazarinoff
Chorus and Musical Theater Brendan Cooney Corrie VanAusdal Our voice teacher, Minnita Daniel-Cox, directs the two-week musical theater production.
Guitar Carolyn Stanley
Orchestra and Strings Maria Bessmeltseva, violin Maria Bessmeltseva, Russian-born violinist, began her studies at the age of six. She entered the Special Music School of Rimsky-Korsakov at the St. Petersburg State Conservatory, where she was working with Alla Aranovskaya, the first violinist of the award-winning "St. Petersburg String Quartet". Maria performed in halls of St. Perersburg such as Glinka Philharmonic Chamber Hall and St. Petersburg State Capella, At the age of 16 Maria moved from Russia to study in United States of America. She was invited to study at Oberlin Conservatory of Music with Gregory Fulkerson and Alla Aranovskaya. During her studies she participated in numerous masterclasses and chamber music coachings with many recognizable artists such as Jennifer Koh, Pacifica Quartet, Milan Vitek, Roger Chase, Taras Gabora, Jennifer Koh, and Richard Goode. In May 2005 Maria entered Bowling Green State University with an assistantship to play in the Graduate String Quartet and the 2006-2007 concert season as concertmaster of the BGSU Philharmonia Orchestra. Currently, Maria is working on her DMA in violin performance at the University of Michigan studying with Yehonatan Berick. In 2008 Maria was chosen to represent the University of Michigan in "The Conservatory Project" in Washington DC and performed at the Kennedy Center on Millennium Stage. In the same year, Maria also performed in New York's, Carnegie Hall as an orchestra member of the University of Michigan. Maria also had opportunities to work with Aaron Berofsky, Andrew Jennings and Martin Katz. Another passion in her life is teaching. Since 2006 Maria has maintained her own private violin studio of all ages and all levels. Currently, she is teaching at University of Michigan as a Graduate Student Instructor and at the Hebrew Day School of Ann Arbor. In the past Maria has taught at the Summer String Camp at BGSU.
Lisa Liske-Doorandish, Cello She is a member of the recently-formed New River Ensemble, with longtime colleagues Brendan Cooney (piano, banjo, guitar, vocals, composition) and Martha Hyde (clarinet, saxaphone, vocals, composition). New River Ensemble taps into the musical current of our time, presenting an integration of styles and periods of music performing original compositions and that of others. Lisa's book on cello technique and her book of repertoire for beginner cellists are works in progress. Lisa continues her work with cellists ages 3-adult through her private cello studio, Community Cello Works, with a thoughtful pedagogy based in her years of Suzuki teacher training but including a flexible repertoire and awareness of the revolutionary, diverse approaches to cello playing that are now at liberty world-wide. She frequently serves as a guest artist and teacher at workshops and summer music camps. Her other interests and concerns include the health of the planet; education for wisdom, knowledge, and resourcefulness rather than solely information; and community planning for a post-carbon society. Her husband, Dariush, is a medical student. Their two daughters, Miriam (15) and Eleanore (8) both play the cello and enjoy books, art, and nature. Philip Tietze, Viola Philip Tietze received his Bachelor of Music degree from Indiana University and his Masters degree from the University of Southern California. His primary teachers included Donald McInnes, Georges Janzer, and Jerry Horner. He has performed in many prominent venues throughout the United States, including the Phillips Collection Recital Series in Washington, D.C., in addition to performing solo recitals at the Univervsity of Michigan, the University of Texas at Austin, Baldwin Wallace Conservatory, and the University of Denver Lamont School of Music. He has also performed numerous chamber music recitals at some of the country's leading summer music festivals, including the Grant Teton Music Festival, the Bellingham Festival of Music, the Wintergreen Summer Music Festival, and the Beverly Hills International Music Festival. In addition, he has appeared as a solo recitalist on National Public Radio in Washington, D.C., and on West Virginia Public Radio. Philip Tietze has served as a member of some of this country's leading orchestras, including the Denver Symphony Orchestra, the American Sinfonietta, and the Grand Teton Festival Orchestra, as well as having held the Principal Viola chairs in the Colorado Springs Symphony Orchestra and the Wichita Symphony. He has played under such renowned conductors as Sixten Ehrling, Stanislaw Skrowvechevsky, Neemi Jarvi, Zednek Macal, Yoel Levi, Mark Elder, Phillipe Entremont, Jacov Kreizberg, Jan Pascal Tortellier, and Carlos Kalmer. As a chamber musician, he was the violist of the West Virginia Piano Quartet from 1997-2003. Mr. Tietze has also enjoyed a successful career as a music educator. He has served on the music faculties of Wichita State University and West Virginia University, and during the summers he has taught at the Beverly Hills International Music Festival, the Interharmony International Music Festival, and the Wintergreen Performance Academy. He is currently Assistant Professor of Viola at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.
Percussion Brendan Cooney, listed above as the chorus teacher, is also our percussion teacher.
Piano Nicholas Hutchinson, listed above as one of our directors, is a piano teacher as well. Joseph Kozma-Cruz
Voice Minnita Daniel-Cox It was at BGSU that Ms. Daniel-Cox, for the first time, experienced the thrill of the lyric stage. Two of her recent notable roles include "Leonora" in the world premiere of the opera Witness by Zae Munn, and "Irene" in the world premier of James P. Johnson's The Dreamy Kid, which the Ann Arbor news described as “compelling and beautifully sung." In addition to her stage work, she has participated in numerous competitions, including The American Traditions Competition (4th Place finalist), Hartford Memorial Scholarship Competition (1st Place), the Majorie Conrad Peatee Art Song Competition (1st place -2003, 2nd place - 2001) and the National Association for Teachers of Singing Competition (2nd place- 2002, 1st place 2005). She is also a two time recipient of the Sigurd I. Rislov & Jarmila H. Rislov Scholarship (2004 & 2006) and the University of Michigan Graduate Fund Fellowship (2005). Ms. Daniel-Cox has recently appeared with the Flint, Ann Arbor and South Bend Symphony Orchestras as well as the Defiance and Packard Symphonic Bands. Always broadening her musical horizons, Minnita also spent five years as Minister of Music at First Baptist Church of Dearborn, Michigan. There she was privileged to conduct the Chancel Choir, Joy Singers, Men's Chorus, and Praise Team. She is currently a professor of voice at Western Michigan University and teaches voice within the award-winning music program of Grosse Pointe South High School.
Woodwinds Adam McCord Martha Hyde As a performer Martha has played in venues ranging from Alice Tully Hall to CBGB's to the cathedral of St. John the Devine as well as tours on four continents. She can regularly be seen in the orchestra pits on Broadway and Radio City Music Hall and has performed with such luminaries as Dizzy Gillespie, Carmen McRae, Whoopi Goldberg and Antonio Banderas. She is a member of the Gotham Wind Symphony which has released three CD's and she is also on numerous cast recordings. She has recently completed recording her debut solo CD and looks forward to releasing it soon.
Dorm Counselors Erin Diffenderfer Mattie Johnson Jesse Metzler Jacob Somerson
Nurse Greta Spottswood
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Peg is the founding director of FMC. A life-long friend and for many years an educator in an alternative Friends school, Peg started FMC in 1980 with her friend Jean Putnam. She is a highly honored presence at music camp, where she has influenced many generations of young people with her kindness, strength, and love of music. She lives in Yellow Springs, Ohio.
Drea Gallaga is a co-director of FMC. She graduated from Earlham College, where she majored in music and religion, and she is working on a master's degree in education from the University of Illinois. During the school year, Drea works at the North Shore Country Day School outside of Chicago, where she teaches ninth grade English and is the Director of Community Service and Service Learning. She has spent most of her summers at FMC since she started coming in 1986 as a two-weeker, and in those twenty plus years she has been a camper, run the girls' dorm, taught flute, voice, and chorus, directed the musical theater production, and finally assumed the role of co-director. She feels honored to be working alongside both her former students and her former teachers, many of whom helped shape her own teaching style and philosophy.
Nicholas Hutchinson is a co-director of FMC as well as a piano teacher. He has performed throughout the United States as both collaborator and soloist. He has been a prizewinner in the Kosciuzko Foundation National Chopin Competition and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Mr. Hutchinson was also a finalist in the Oberlin International Piano Competition. His past teachers include Martin Katz, Louis Nagel and Arthur Greene at the University of Michigan and Yong Hi Moon at Michigan State University . 
Zach started working at FMC in 2005 after spending many years there as a camper. He began as a dorm counselor and now directs the Concert Band and teaches lessons in all brass instruments and music theory. He is currently studying French horn with William Scharnberg while working on a graduate degree at the University of North Texas. In 2007 he received his Bachelors from the University of Michigan. His previous teachers include Adam Unsworth, Soren Hermansson and Alex Shuhan. Zach can often be found with a guitar in hand, leading sing-alongs and writing goofy songs inspired by his two nephews Byron and Mackenzie. 
Brendan Cooney directs the all-camp choir, co-directs the jazz ensemble along with Martha Hyde, and teaches percussion and banjo. Brendan majored in Jazz Piano performance at Oberlin College. After running the music program at Friends Select School in Philadelphia for four years, Brendan now directs the jazz program at Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia. In addition to teaching private piano lessons, he plays in several local ensembles as either a pianist or banjoist. Brendan also has a long-standing relationship with FMC, both as a camper and a staff member.
Carolyn Stanley teaches beginning guitar at FMC. She has been singing and playing folk music most of her life. In addition to guitar she plays claw-hammer style banjo and charango (a South American 10 stringed instrument). She performs occasionally with her husband and several friends.
Carolyn and her husband live near Barnesville, Ohio. Throughout the school year she teaches first grade at Barnesville Elementary School. 
Lisa Liske-Doorandish, cellist, lives in the mountains of southwest Virginia, where she is presently preparing an eclectic CD of solo cello music, reflecting her interest in old, new, and world music as well as her love of the voice of the cello. 
A native of Columbus, Ohio, Ms. Daniel-Cox left Columbus to attend Bowling Green State University where she majored in Music Performance. Upon completion of her baccalaureate studies, she attended The University of Michigan where she received her Masters of Music and her Doctorate of Musical Arts. 
Before joining the Wittenberg faculty in the fall of 2009, Adam McCord served as Instructor of Saxophone at Miami University for two years and Associate Instructor of Saxophone at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music for five years. At I.U., he has completed coursework for a Doctor of Music degree in saxophone performance, studying with Otis Murphy. He received a Master of Music degree in saxophone performance (also at Indiana University) in 2004, earning the prestigious Performer's Certificate (I.U.'s highest performance honor) and winning the I.U. Woodwind Concerto Competition (he performed Roger Muczynski's saxophone concerto with the Indiana University Orchestra). Mr. McCord received a Bachelor of Music degree summa cum laude, in saxophone and music education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2002, where his primary teachers were Steven Stusek and Craig Whittaker. While at U.N.C.G., McCord won the yearly concerto competition, performing Roger Boutry's Divertimento. He has won state and regional honors in both the Music Teacher's National Association collegiate chamber music and solo woodwind competitions. 
Martha Hyde has taught at Friends Music Camp for thirteen of the almost thirty years that the camp has existed. She has wide experience teaching all ages, having run band programs in New York City public schools as well as teaching one to one and in small classes in both public and private school settings. She recently co-founded the 
Erin Diffenderfer has been attending FMC since 1999 with the exception of a two year hiatus between being a camper and counselor. She is entering her senior year at Loyola University of Chicago where she majors in elementary and special education and minors in flute performance. She absolutely loves getting to know and care for the campers. She has been inspired by the FMC staff since she was ten years old and is thrilled to be part of such a talented, committed, and creative group. 
Mattie Johnson, a native of Delaware, Ohio, is a girls' dorm counselor. She attended FMC for seven years as a camper, sings, and plays the violin and viola. This fall she will be a first year at Pomona College in Claremont, California. She returns to FMC because of the strong and supportive community. She chose to become a girls' dorm counselor because of her admiration for past and present FMC staff and her desire to pass on the support, caring, and encouragement she received as a camper.
Jesse works on the staff as "official organizer of ultimate frisbee games", and also looks after the boys dorm on the side. As a camper, Jesse did a lot of growing up within the supportive environment FMC offers, and strives to preserve that spirit in camp life today. In real life, Jesse is a senior at Montclair State University in New Jersey, where he is completing a degree in trombone performance. He maintains the top chairs of both the college orchestra and the wind symphony, and performs regularly with numerous other ensembles. He has taught trombone for four years at various summer camps, and hopes to land a professional symphony gig after leaving school. In between notes, he somehow finds time to live in Budapest, repair bicycles, play guitar, make dance videos and read to the basement boys as they go to sleep.
Jacob Somerson is a dorm counselor and assists with woodwind ensembles and private instruction. He plays bassoon and percussion and doubles on most woodwinds. During the year, he studies materials engineering at the University of Cincinnati, where he is a member of the University of Cincinnati Bearcat Bands Color Guard. He also performs with the Bearcat Concert Band and several affiliated small ensembles, including a jazz band and percussion ensembles. Jacob was a camper from 2000-2002. 
Greta Spottswood one of our camp nurses. She was a camper at FMC and happily returned as nurse in 2006. She currently studies medicine at the University of Vermont and public health at Harvard University, and will graduate in May 2011 with a joint MD/MPH degree. Her professional interests include the protective effects of community on the health of individuals with a focus on child and adolescent psychiatry. She is a lifelong Quaker and treasures the opportunity to contribute to FMC with its talented compassionate staff and thriving campers.