Music Education

Dr. Kristin N. Clark
Assoc. Prof., Chair, Dept. of Performing Arts
Email: Kbclark@adrian.edu
Office: Spencer-112
Office Ext.: 3893

Dr. Kristin Clark, mezzo-soprano, has been lauded for her “technical prowess” and “approachability” (classical.net). She can be heard in the role of Electre on the 2015 GRAMMY nominated recording of Milhaud’s L'Orestie d'Eschyle, for which Opera News described her voice as “slicing the air unassailably.” In 2015, Dr. Clark made her solo debut in Carnegie Hall, singing Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Blue Period Ensemble. She returns to Carnegie Hall in the summer of 2024 to sing Duruflé’s Requiem with Manhattan Concert Productions. Particularly at home on the concert stage, Dr. Clark has appeared as a guest soloist with organizations such as the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, the Toledo Symphony, the Bozeman Symphony, the Oakland Choral Society, the University Musical Society, the Ypsilanti Symphony Orchestra, and the Adrian Symphony. Other notable concert appearances include the world premiere of Susan Botti’s Tagore Madrigals at the American Academy in Rome and a Canadian Tour of Aaron Copland’s In the Beginning. Frequently performed works include Handel’s Messiah, Duruflé’s Requiem, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor and Requiem, and Beethoven’s Mass in C.

Opera audiences have seen Dr. Clark on stage with Michigan Opera Theatre, Arbor Opera Theatre, The Metropolitan Baroque Ensemble, the University of Michigan Opera Theatre, and the Blue Lake Summer Arts Festival. Favorite performances include the role of Dritte Magd in Elektra with Christine Goerke and the title roles in Dido and Aeneas, Hansel and Gretel, and Gluck’s Armide. Dr. Clark's other operatic roles include Vlasta in The Passenger, Jo in Little Women, the Sorceress in Dido and Aeneas, Ruth in Pirates of Penzance. Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro, Mercedes in Carmen, Madama Rose in Il Campanello, and Florence Pike in Albert Herring.

Dr. Clark completed her Doctorate in vocal performance at the University of Michigan, where she also received Master’s degrees in vocal performance and choral conducting and an undergraduate degree in music education. As a graduate student in conducting, she led the University’s Orpheus Singers and Residential College choirs, and she received the honor of conducting in master class with Helmuth Rilling. As a graduate student vocalist, Dr. Clark made solo appearances with every major choral and orchestral ensemble on campus, performed in recital with Martin Katz, and was selected to sing in master classes with Jessye Norman, Ann Baltz, and David Daniels. Dr. Clark also performed as a cover to Jessye Norman in a workshop of Laura Karpman’s Ask Your Mama. As an alum, she has returned to her alma mater to perform works by De Falla and Gubaidulina with the University Symphony Orchestra and Band.

Dr. Clark is currently Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Performing Arts at Adrian College. She has previously held positions teaching voice for the University of Michigan musical theatre program and at Concordia University. In the summer, she has taught on the voice faculty at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, MPulse Vocal Arts Institute and Musical Theatre Workshops, and the Interlochen Adult Choir Camp. Graduates of Dr. Clark’s studio have gone on to perform leading and supporting roles on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and in national tours, to pursue graduate studies in vocal performance, and to teach music in elementary, secondary, and collegiate classrooms.

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Assist. Prof. Phillip A. Clark
Assist. Prof., Director, Choir and Orchestra
Email: pclark@adrian.edu
Office: Spencer-113/103
Office Ext.: 4118

Phillip received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Piano Performance at the University of Toledo. As a pianist, Professor Clark has performed in recitals with soloists from many of America’s top opera companies and symphony orchestras. He has also performed as a guest artist with regional symphonies, including the Adrian Symphony Orchestra. In the spring of 2023, Professor Clark performed at Steinway Hall in New York City, in honor of his achievements as a University of Toledo alumnus. Under Professor Clark’s direction, our choir and orchestra perform multiple concerts each year, including the beloved community holiday tradition of Lessons and Carols. In June of 2024, the College Choir will join with invited choirs from all over the country in performance at Carnegie Hall.

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Pianist Dr. John Etsell collaborates with musical artists from all around the world. He is currently Staff Pianist at Detroit Opera and an adjunct professor at Adrian College. He has been on faculty at the Brancaleoni International Music Festival in Piobbico, Italy, and The Institute for Young Dramatic Voices in Reno, NV. Equally active in the instrumental realm, John is a member of the Lumino Trio (luminomusic.com), which has been described as “just the sort of high-execution, high-ambition ensemble that Detroit’s chamber music world so desperately needs” (Avant Music News).

John holds degrees in Piano Performance from Oberlin Conservatory and the University of Nevada, Reno, and received a D.M.A. in Collaborative Piano at the University of Michigan. He espouses a creative, open-minded, and improvisatory approach to performance informed by scholarship, personal sensibility, and intuition.

Prof. Peter T. Ford
Professor
Email: pford@adrian.edu
Office: Spencer-116
Office Ext.: 4507

As a serious composer, he has published various combinations of chamber music. At the request of music education publisher Conway Publications, he has authored and published a series of three substantive music theory textbooks, Music Fundamentals, Practical Music Theory Part 1, and Practical Music Theory Part 2. He is mentioned multiple times in the acknowledgments for his contributions to Mark Gridley’s ubiquitous Jazz History text Concise Guide to Jazz.

Ford is an internationally-recognized scholar of the music of the late progressive rock keyboardist and composer Keith Emerson. Ford’s work on his saxophone quartet arrangement of Emerson Lake and Palmer’s suite Tarkus is a focus of Woodrow Chenoweth’s 2019 doctoral academic research at the University of Arizona. Ford’s 1994 master’s thesis on Emerson’s compositional style is referenced multiple times in a 2006 dissertation by Giuseppi Lupis at the University of Georgia. In 2019, at the invitation of video producers in British Columbia, Ford was sought out and interviewed on camera regarding structural aspects of the music of Keith Emerson, for a documentary on Emerson’s legacy (still in production).

Ford actively gigs on jazz and rock piano around the Midwest as a freelance musician. He can be found playing keyboards in a variety of musical situations, ranging from jazz clubs to planetarium programs to playing keys for various popular tribute artists. More information can be found at his personal website petefordtheory.com.

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Anna Hart, soprano, is a Nevada native and has earned Bachelor’s degrees in Vocal Performance and Spanish Language from the University of Nevada, Reno, as well as a Master’s degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Michigan. She has performed many leading roles, including Königen der Nacht in Die Zauberflöte, Nella in Gianni Schicchi, and the title role in Puccini’s Suor Angelica. Anna continues to further her dedication to education and vocal science and maintains memberships to the National Association of Teachers of Singing, American Musicological Society, Society for Ethnomusicology, and the Pan American Vocology Association. When she is not providing snacks at Adrian College, she works as the Assistant Director of Voice at the Brancaleoni International Music Festival.

Aaron Keaster has been teaching cello and double bass at Adrian College since 2003. He resides in the Toledo area and has been a member of the Toledo Symphony double bass section since 1996. Keaster received a Master’s Degree in Music Performance from the University of Indiana and a Bachelor of Music Education Degree from Wichita State University.

Keaster has performed with several orchestras in the area, including the Detroit Opera Orchestra, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, the Evansville Philharmonic, the Lakeside Summer Orchestra and the Adrian Symphony Orchestra. While in Wichita, Keaster performed with the Wichita Symphony and the Wichita Jazz Orchestra. He has played for shows of National tours of Broadway musicals, including “Wicked,” “Billy Elliot,” “The Producers,” “Mary Poppins” and “Spamalot”. He was fortunate to have had such incredible experiences as playing with Mickey and Minnie in the Disney All-American College Orchestra and playing with the Royal Odyssey Cruise Line Orchestra while sailing around the Mediterranean Sea.

In addition to having a private studio teaching cello and double bass lessons in the Toledo area for over 25 years, Keaster has held teaching positions at Bowling Green State University, the Interlochen Summer Arts Camp, Toledo School for the Arts and the Perrysburg, OH Public Schools.

Keaster enjoys playing bass with groups that encompass many musical styles and he especially likes playing music with his wife Michelle, a flutist, and his daughter Kaelee, a budding oboist. He also enjoys writing children’s songs and turning them into picture books for kids. You can see some of his projects on the website: aaronkeaster.com.

Dan Kesterke
Director of Bands
Email: dkesterke@adrian.edu
Office: Spencer-114
Office Ext.: 3879

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Flutist Melissa Mashner has been praised for her “sparkly musicianship, sensitivity, and elegance on the stage.” Previously the President of the Southeast Michigan Flute Association, Ms. Mashner serves on faculty at Adrian College and performs with the Ann Arbor Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Jackson Symphony, Flint Symphony, Dearborn Symphony, Michigan Sinfonietta, and Lexington Bach Festival Orchestras. With international performance experience, Ms. Mashner balances performing, collaborating, and chamber work as an active musician currently based in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

A winner of numerous awards, Ms. Mashner has soloed with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Finger Lakes Symphony Orchestra, and Eastman Youth Chamber Soloists, as well as performed in Austria, Canada, and England. In 2024, Melissa was pleased to present the Michigan Consortium Premiere of Alan Theisen’s new flute concerto, L’histoire de la Nouvelle- Orleans, to audiences in Hill Auditorium with the Concordia University Wind Ensemble under the direction of William M. Perrine. Her collaborations with the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra and composers Jack Nesser, Kenneth E. Kreuzer, and Cary Ratcliff have also resulted in world-premiere performances and several commissioned works. An enthusiastic chamber musician, Ms. Mashner is a founding member of the Angelus Duo, a professional flute and harp duo enjoying engagements throughout the Midwest and Northeastern United States, and is passionate about sharing her experience with children through teaching, mentoring, and new music projects.

In 2015, the National Society of Leadership and Success named Ms. Mashner as winner of the National Dream Support Grant to sponsor further musical study in Vienna, Austria as a flautist and a leader in the collegiate music field. Following a series of concerts in England during the summer of 2015, Ms. Mashner returned to the US where she has performed for the National Flute Convention, Southeast Michigan Flute Association, and the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Mashner received her Master of Music in Flute Performance from the University of Michigan and Bachelor of Music from Indiana University. Her principal instructors have been internationally renowned artists Amy Porter, Jasmine Choi, and Thomas Robertello. Ms. Mashner performs on a Straubinger Flute and is a native of Rochester, New York.

Ms. Mashner currently lives in Dexter with her husband, Nathan; together, they enjoy traveling, cooking, and being outdoors. melissamashnerflute.com

Kellie McInchak boasts a distinguished career as a twenty-two-year veteran music educator. Currently in her ninth year at Tecumseh Middle School, she co-teaches 5th-grade beginning woodwinds & percussion, 5th-grade brass, 6th-grade woodwinds & percussion, and 6th-grade band. Additionally, she conducts the 7th & 8th Grade Bands and coaches the THS Shooting Stars Marching Band Color Guard.

Her prior experience includes working at the Western School District, where she taught beginning woodwinds and percussion, 7th Grade Band, 8th Grade Band, and the 8th Grade Jazz Band at Western Middle School. Mrs. McInchak also contributed to the Concert Band, Symphony Band, and Marching Band at Western High School. Under her guidance, her bands consistently earned first-division ratings at district and state festivals.

Mrs. McInchak holds key roles in music education organizations. She serves as the secretary of the Lenawee County Band Directors’ Association (LCBDA) and is the Co-Chair of the LCBDA 6th Grade Honors Band. Additionally, she holds the position of Co-Chair for the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association (MSBOA) District 8 Middle School Honors Band. Her past roles include MSBOA District 8 Elementary Workshop Chair, MSBOA District 8 Vice President of Band & Orchestra Festival, and MSBOA District 8 Vice President of Adjudication. Since 2008, Mrs. McInchak has served as a clarinet and woodwind ensemble adjudicator for MSBOA Solo & Ensemble Festival at both district and state levels. In 2019, she was a finalist for the DTE Energy Foundation Educator of the Year and was inducted into the American School Band Directors’ Association in 2021.

She earned her Masters in Conducting in 2007 from the American Band College at Southern Oregon University and her Bachelors in Music Education from the University of Michigan, where she studied clarinet under Deborah Chodacki. Mrs. McInchak previously held the position of adjunct professor of clarinet at Spring Arbor University and Siena Heights University. Currently, she teaches the woodwind methods class at Adrian College. Mrs. McInchak resides in Adrian with her husband, Joe, also a band director, and their three musically inclined children.

Scott Parnell graduated from The College of Wooster in 1995 with a Bachelor of Arts in Music, Guitar Performance. In 1997, he obtained a Master of Music in Guitar Performance from Bowling Green State University. Scott currently teaches guitar at The University of Findlay, Adrian College, and The Perrysburg Music Center.

Scott teaches all levels of guitar in Rock, Jazz and Classical. He has extensive experience in teaching beginners of all ages. He has played in many musical groups in many different genres, including rock, jazz, blues, soul, classical, reggae, funk and musical theatre. Scott believes in organized teaching with clear goals and a plan to achieve these goals. His teaching philosophy and materials are based on the idea that students need a strong knowledge of the instrument to provide a solid foundation to pursue whatever style of music they desire.

Some of his rock guitar influences are Jimi Hendrix, Alex Lifeson, Ritchie Blackmore, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Tony Iomi, Stevie Ray Vaughn, David Gilmore and Carlos Santana. Some of his jazz influences are Grant Green, Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell, Chris Buzzelli, Gene Parker, Bob Fraser, Miles Davis and Charlie Parker. Some of his Classical guitar influences include Manuel Barrueco, Jason Werkema, Jason Vieaux and Sharon Isbin.

Megan, a versatile freelance musician and dedicated educator, earned her undergraduate degree from Adrian College and her master’s degree from Wayne State University. Her prominent saxophone professors include Professor Shannon Ford and Dr. Matthew Younglove. While at Wayne State, she was the graduate assistant for the Warrior Marching Band and undergraduate music history courses. As a performer, she has performed at events such as the International Saxophone Symposium, Dakota Chamber Music Festival, American Saxophone Academy, and NASA Region 5 Conference. Passionate about contemporary music, she has premiered compositions by composers Joo Won Park and Pete Ford.

In addition to her thriving performance career, Megan is deeply involved in education. She currently holds positions as the Adjunct Professor of Saxophone at Adrian College and Music History at Jackson College, Assistant Director of the Zebra Marching Band at Wayne Memorial High School, Saxophone Specialist at Hartland Consolidated Schools, Instrumental Specialist at Wayne-Westland Schools, and operates a successful private lesson studio in Ann Arbor, MI. Megan's hard work and dedication contributed to the Zebra Marching Band qualifying for the MCBA State Championships for the first time in the history of the school district, showcasing her dynamic presence in both the realms of performance and education.