Faculty Specializations : Department of Music and Dance : UMass Amherst

Brass

Matthew Westgate

Chair and Professor; Director of Wind Studies

Conductor Matthew Westgate “leads with a combination of expressivity and crispness” (San Francisco Chronicle). His performances are praised as “dramatic, incisive, and passionate” (Audiophile Audition) and full of “verve and swagger” (MusicWeb International).

Eric Berlin

Professor, Trumpet (On Leave)

Yamaha Performing Artist Eric Berlin has made the music of our time the focus of his career. As a soloist, he has commissioned, premiered and recorded new works for trumpet from some of today’s most important composers, including Christopher Rouse, George Tsontakis, Stephen Paulus, Joseph Turrin, Anthony Plog, Eric Ewazen, and James Stephenson.

John Bottomley

Senior Lecturer, Tuba & Euphonium

John Bottomley joined the faculty of University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2009, having previously taught at collegiate institutions including: Kent State University, Miami University (Ohio), and Wright State University. John also maintains an active performing career as an orchestral and chamber musician and has performed with such groups as the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony, West Virginia Symphony, Cincinnati Opera and Ballet Orchestras, and the Albany Symphony Orchestra.

Joshua Michal

Associate Professor, Horn

A native of Ohio, Joshua Michal is the Associate Professor of Horn at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, MA. He is a member of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and a faculty member at the Interlochen Summer Arts Camp in Michigan.

Gregory Spiridopoulos

Professor, Trombone; Brass Area Coordinator

Trombonist Greg Spiridopoulos has gained recognition as one of the most sought after trombonists in New England. Since 2001, Mr. Spiridopoulos has been principal trombone of the Albany Symphony Orchestra, which is dedicated to commissioning and recording new American works. He can be heard on the Albany Symphony’s 2014 Grammy winning album, Conjurer, featuring music by John Corigliano, and the 2016 Grammy nominated album, Kabir Padavali, featuring music by Christopher Rouse.

Choral

Stephen A. Paparo

Associate Professor, Music Education, Choral Conductor

Active as a guest conductor, Dr. Paparo has conducted all-state and honor choirs at all levels in Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. His research interests include the application of the Feldenkrais Method® of somatic education to singing instruction in the choral setting, non-traditional choral ensembles, such as contemporary collegiate a cappella, virtual choirs, and circle singing groups, and LGBTQ+ studies in music education.

Lindsay Pope

Director of Choral Studies, Assistant Professor of Music

Lindsay Pope is Director of Choral Studies at UMass Amherst, where she directs the Chamber Choir and teaches conducting. Previously, she directed the programs at Mount Holyoke College and Williams College. She was also Assistant Conductor of the Dallas Symphony Chorus, for which her work was praised as “exemplary and well-prepared” (Texas Classical Review). Pope’s research interests include early music performance practice, the ethics of choral programming, and the intersection of women and gender studies with choral music.

Jazz & African American Music Studies

Jeffrey W. Holmes

Professor, Director of Jazz & African American Music Studies, Composition, Conductor

Holmes plays keyboards with the Paul Winter Consort, leads the Jeff Holmes Big Band featuring his wife, vocalist Dawning Holmes, and plays lead trumpet with the New England Jazz Ensemble. Recent recordings as performer and/or composer/arranger include the Jeff Holmes Quartet release "Of One's Own," the New England Jazz Ensemble’s “Peter and The Wolf“, HGTS’s “…and then they played…” and projects by Paul Winter, colleague Felipe Salles, and Earl MacDonald. He continues to appear as a guest conductor/clinician/adjudicator and performer/composer/arranger.

Felipe Salles

Professor, Jazz Studies, Composition, Conductor, Saxophone

A native of São Paulo, Brazil, Felipe Salles has been an active musician in the US since 1995, where he has worked and recorded with prominent jazz artists, including Randy Brecker, Paquito D’Rivera, David Liebman, Melissa Aldana, Lionel Loueke, Jerry Bergonzi, Chico Pinheiro, Magos Herrera, Sofia Rei, Yosvany Terry, Jovino Santos Neto, Oscar Stagnaro, Luciana Souza, and Bob Moses. He has toured extensively in Europe, North and South America, India and Australia, as a sideman and as a leader of his own group.

Fumi Tomita

Associate Professor, String Bass (Jazz)

Fumi Tomita is a jazz bassist, composer, educator, and author. As a bassist, he was active in the New York jazz scene for over fifteen years. His 2019 recording, The Elephant Vanishes: Jazz Interpretations of the Short Stories of Haruki Murakami, was released to critical acclaim by Origin Arts records and was listed in the top ten records of 2019 by Jazziz. His 2020 release Celebrating Bird: The Music of Charlie Parker was similarly received.

Thomas Giampietro

Senior Lecturer, Jazz Studies, Drum Set

As a drummer, Giampietro was an original member of Grammy-winning saxophonist Jeff Coffin's eclectic jazz group the Mu-tet. Giampietro has played on 31 commercially released recordings, and has recorded or performed with such artists as Tim O'Brien, Casey Driessen, Rod McGaha, Scott Robinson, Lee Konitz, Tom Harrell, The Middle Tennessee Jazz Orchestra, Victor Wooten, Beegie Adair, Ben Monder, Chris Walters, Liz Johnson, Pat Bergeson, The Chris Merz X-tet, Ricky Woodard and Peter Erskine. He has also been active in leading his own group in and around the Nashville area.

Haneef N. Nelson

Adjunct Faculty, Jazz Trumpet

Born in Brooklyn, NY and raised in Uniondale, NY, Haneef N. Nelson has been a lifelong lover of music. His original music and Big Band arrangements have been featured around the world and on the records of the New London Big Band as well as Dr. Emmett Goods album Another Level.

Robert Ferrier

Adjunct Faculty, Jazz Studies, Jazz Guitar

Robert Ferrier holds a BM in Performance from Berklee College of Music and an MM in Jazz Composition/Arranging from UMass Amherst. A freelance guitarist and teacher, Ferrier has performed with Jon Faddis, Randy Brecker, Eddie Bert, John Fedchock, Claudio Roditi, Yusef Lateef and Peter Erskine. His teachers have included John Laporta, William Leavitt, Herb Pomeroy, Bill Pierce and George Garzone.

Woodwinds

Cobus du Toit

Associate Chair; Associate Professor, Flute; Woodwinds Area Coordinator

A strong advocate for the musical arts, Cobus is an avid soloist, chamber musician, and pedagogue who is on the faculty at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. As an international soloist and chamber musician, Cobus has performed with orchestras in Russia, South Africa, and the United States and on concert series in Taiwan, Japan, Germany, and France.

Fredric T. Cohen

Professor, Oboe

An active performer as well as teacher, Professor Cohen recently retired after 32 seasons as principal oboist with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra. He performs regularly with the Avanti Wind Quintet, a faculty chamber music ensemble in residence at the University, and is a recitalist and clinician. He has been the resident conductor and coordinator of orchestral activities at the University and is the conductor of the orchestra and head of the woodwind program at the Greenwood Music Camp.

Romie de Guise-Langlois

Associate Professor, Clarinet

Praised as “extraordinary” and “a formidable clarinetist” by The New York Times, Romie de Guise-Langlois has appeared as soloist and chamber musician on major concert stages throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia.

Rémy Taghavi

Assistant Professor, Bassoon

Rémy Taghavi is a highly sought-after bassoonist based in the Northeast, and has performed, toured and recorded with numerous groups across North America, South America, and Asia. Praised for his “precise fingerwork…and impeccable breath support” (Washington Classical Review), Rémy has held the position of principal bassoon with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra since 2018 and has performed with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Las Vegas Philharmonic, Orchestra New England (ONE), and the Cape and Princeton Symphonies, among others.

Jonathan Hulting-Cohen

Associate Professor, Saxophone

Embracing the breadth of the classical saxophone from vaudeville to the vanguard, United States-based saxophonist Jonathan Hulting-Cohen’s rootedness in the classics and curiosity as a musician empower performances that are “adroit” (ModernJazz.gr), “impressive,” (Schenectady Daily Gazette), and “fun to watch” (Oregon Arts Watch).

Strings

Elizabeth Chang

Professor, Violin, Strings Area Coordinator

Elizabeth Chang, violinist, enjoys a varied career as performer, teacher, and arts administrator. She is currently Professor of Violin at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a faculty member of the Pre-College Division of the Juilliard School, and previously served on the faculties of Rutgers and New York University.

Edward Arron

Associate Professor, Cello

Cellist Edward Arron has garnered recognition worldwide for his elegant musicianship, impassioned performances, and creative programming. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Mr. Arron made his New York recital debut in 2000 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Since that time, he has appeared in recital, as a soloist with major orchestras, and as a chamber musician throughout North America, Europe and Asia.

Hyobi Sim

Lecturer, Viola

Violist Hyobi Sim made her debut at the age of 13 at the Kumho Prodigy Concert in South Korea. Since then, she has won numerous awards, including the Special Prize at the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition, first place at the Music Chunchu Competition, Hanjeon Arts Center Competition, and the Grand Prize at the Korea-US International Music Competition. She has performed worldwide at various venues, including the New York Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, 92nd Street Y, Sydney Opera House, and others as part of tours.

Salvatore Macchia

Professor; Composition, String Bass

Professor Macchia has performed in the European and jazz traditions throughout America and Europe, and has been the contrabass soloist with the Berkshire Choral Festival Orchestra, Dinosaur Annex under Gunther Schuller, Springfield (MA) Symphony Orchestra (where he serves as principal bass), Jazz Composer's Orchestra and at the Boston Festival of Quarter Tone Music. He has premiered nearly 100 compositions featuring the doublebass.

Ensemble Conductors

Conducting

Music History

Erinn E. Knyt

Professor, Music History

Knyt specializes in nineteenth- and twentieth-century music, aesthetics, music history pedagogy, performance practice issues, and Bach reception, and has written extensively about Ferruccio Busoni. Her articles have appeared in numerous journals, including American Music, Eighteenth Century Music, Journal of Musicology, Journal of Music History Pedagogy, Journal of Musicological Research, Journal of the Royal Musical Association, Musicology Australia, Music and Letters, 19th-Century Music, Nineteenth-Century Music Review, and Twentieth Century Music.

Evan A. MacCarthy

Five College Visiting Associate Professor, Music History
Director, ELEMENTS

Evan A. MacCarthy is Five College Visiting Associate Professor of music history in the Department of Music and Dance at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His research focuses on the history of fifteenth-century music and music theory, late medieval chant, German music in the Baroque era, as well as nineteenth-century American music.

Marianna Ritchey

Associate Professor, Music History; Area Coordinator

Marianna Ritchey is Associate Professor of Music History at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She spent much of her young adulthood in Portland, Oregon, playing and touring in various indie rock bands, before going to UCLA for a PhD in Musicology. She has written about Berlioz, comedy, the dies irae, the films of Guy Maddin, music history pedagogy, and operatic representations of Steve Jobs.

Olabode Omojola

Five College Professor, Ethnomusicology

Omojola’s research focuses on African music, with emphasis on West African, Nigerian, and Yorùbá traditions. His work has explored indigenous and modern musical traditions, and addressed themes including: performance practice; creative ethnomusicology; music, identity, and social dynamics; music and politics; diasporic perspectives; and intercultural aesthetics.

Emiliano Ricciardi

Associate Professor, Music History

Emiliano Ricciardi is associate professor of music history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His main research area is the late Italian madrigal, with an emphasis on the settings of Torquato Tasso’s poetry. Ricciardi has published articles and reviews in journals such as Early Music, Journal of Musicology, Cambridge Opera Journal, and Renaissance Quarterly.

Music Theory & Composition

Music Education

Department of Music and Dance

Apply now for the Music major or minor, or the Dance major, and join us in 2025! We offer Conservatory-level training with a caring community supporting you along the way.

273E Bromery Center for the Arts
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