Faculty Bios

Dr. Joyce Alesandrini, bassoonist and pianist, is a Professor of Music, and currently Department Chair and Coordinator of Music Theory at Muskingum University, where she also teaches bassoon, oboe, and piano.  Additionally, Dr. Alesandrini coordinates Gender Studies.  She is a frequent guest conductor, organist, and pianist at area churches and has performed with the Southeastern Ohio Symphony Orchestra, Muskingum Valley Symphonic Winds, and the Zanesville Memorial Concert Band.  Dr. Alesandrini received Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Wyoming, a Master of Music in Bassoon Performance from Northwestern University, and a Ph.D. in Arts Education from The Ohio State University.  She was formerly on the faculty at the University of Wyoming and Western Wyoming College where she founded and conducted the Western Wyoming Community Orchestra.  For her efforts in bringing the arts to that community, she was awarded the Young Career Woman of the Year by the Business and Professional Women chapter.  Additionally, she was visiting adjunct professor at Oklahoma State University.  She is a member of Music Educators National Conference, Delta Omicron, Phi Kappa Phi, American Association of University Professors, and American Association of University Women.  Dr. Alesandrini was recently elected the founding president of Muskingum Universit's chapter of Phi Kappa Phi.

Dr. Harsha Abeyaratne, pianist and Associate Professor of Music at Muskingum University, has performed in numerous cities in the United States including Manhattan, Chicago, Jacksonville (Florida), Charleston (West Virginia), Portland (Oregon), and Columbus (Ohio).  Abeyaratne has given concerts with internationally renowned artists Rebecca Rischin and Randy Sabien, amongst others.  He has also appeared on national television and presented piano recitals in his native country, Sri Lanka.  In May of 2010, he had the honor of performing Rachmaninoff's First Piano Concerto with the National Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka in Colombo, Sri Lanka.  Critics have referred to his playing as "poetic" (Sunday Lieder) and "mature and expressive" (The Jeffersonian).  Widely sought as a pedagogue, he has been asked to adjudicate competitions such as the OMTA/Graves piano competition, Tuscarawas Ribbon Festival, and the Buckeye Piano Auditions.  His awards and grants include a sponsoring of a solo recital in Sri Lanka by the United States Embassy in Colombo and the 2010 Ball State University Music Department Alumni Achievement Citation Award.  His recent solo concerts include all-Chopin recitals (2010) at Jacksonville University and Marshall University and an all-Liszt concert (2011) at The Ohio State University.  In May of 2012, he is scheduled to perform Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue wih the Muskingum Valley Symphonic Winds.

Abeyaratne received both his Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees from Lewis and Clark College and his Master of Music as well as his Doctor of Arts in Music degrees from Ball State University.  He has previously taught at Manchester College and Marshall University.  His former piano teachers include Mary Billimoria, Ann Schaffert Miller, and Robert Palmer.  He has had additional piano studies with Peter Tackas at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.  

Robert Jones is Coordinator of Choral Activities and conducts the Concert Choir, Chamber Singers, Choral Society, and Alumni Choir, in addition to teaching applied voice.

Professor Jones received the Bachelor of Science in Music Education degree from Muskingum College, and the Master of Science in Voice degree from the Julliard School of Music, where he was leading tenor of its opera department.

He has performed with such prestigious choral organizations as New York City's Camerata Singers, Music Aeterna, Musica Sacra, Amor Artis, the National Chorale, and was, for sixteen years, soloist at the Fort Washington Collegiate Church in New York City.He has appeared with the opera companies of Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Dayton, Kansas City, Toledo, and Miami, to name only a few, and has been a featured soloist with the New York Philharmonic and Boston Symphony orchestras. Further credits include several public televison opera productions and other television appearances.  Recently, Jack Beeson's operas, "The Sweet Bye and Bye" and "Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines", in which Professor Jones stars, have been released on compact disc.

He is a frequent adjudicator, clinician, guest conductor, and guest soloist, and is a member of the American Choral DirectorsAssociation, the Ohio Choral Directors Association, the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Actors Equity, the American Guild of Musical Artists, Music Educators National Conference, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, national men's music fraternity.  Professor Jones is also a member of the Katherine B. Geis Scholarship committee.

Dr. Laura E. Schumann is the Music Director and Conductor of the Southeastern Ohio Symphony Orchestra (SEOSO) and Associate Professor of Music at Muskingum University.  She is a 2001 recipient of an ASCAP Adventurous Programming Award, and a YMCA/YWCA Women of Achievement Award, a 2004 International Musician of the Year, and is listed in Who's Who of American Women, in America, and in the World.  She received the first 2004 Cambridge (OH) Heritage Award for Leadership in the community and theWilliam Rainey Harper Award for Outstanding Scholarship from Muskingum College in 2005.  She was a semi-finalist in the 2003 Third International Jordania conducting competition in Kharkov, Ukraine.  She has collaborated withinternationally acclaimed artists Angela Cheng, Benny Kim, Joaquin Achucarro, Hakan Rosengren, Gilbert Mata, Sergiu Schwartz, Randy Sabien and the Cavani Quartet among others.  Ms. Schumann has also been Music Director for teh ECODT Nutcracker Ballet, has guest conducted the Newark-Granville (OH) Symphony, Columbus (OH) Symphony (2008) and has worked with Columbus, Spokane, and Bakersfield Symphonies.  Schumann was a featured violin soloist for the Miss Ohio pageant telecast on the Ohio News Network (ONN) in June 2007.  An orchestral arranger and composer, Schumann's Shostakovich in Blue (2006) for strings is published by Alliance Publications, Wisconsin, as will be an arrangement of Devin Went Down to Georgia for violin, vocal, and full orchestra.

Dr. Schumann received her D.M.A. in orchestral conducting from Texas Tech University, her Master's degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder.  Previously, Dr. Schumann was director of orchestral activities at Western State College in Colorado and Murray State University in Kentucky,Assistant Conductor at Texas Tech University, and she has held positions at Wake Forest, Salem College, and Winstom Salem University.  As a conductor, Dr. Schumann has held positions and guest conducted in Colorado, including Colorado All-State, Ohio Region Honors Orchestra, as well as in Missouri, Pennsylvania, Texas, Minnesota, Tennessee, West Virginia, California, Washington, and she has toured several European countries.  She has conducted several high school and middle school orchestra festivals.  Dr. Schumann has performed as both soloist and chamber musician in various locations across the United States and in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Canada, Hungary, Austria, and the Czech Republic.  Ms. Schumann has performed in the prestigious Colorado Music Festival, North Carolina, West Virginia, Key West, Wheeling, Charlotte, Memphis, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, and Lubbock Symphonies among others.   She was performed as a soloist with the Winston-Salem and Jackson symphonies, and as a member of the Young Artists String Quartet (CA), and the Wexford Piano Quartet (CO).

Dr. Schumann is noted for her unique and original family/children's programs, incorporating differing musical styles,educationalcomponents, exciting visual and interactive concerts, and an out-of-the-box contemporary yet sophisticated approach to programming and audience development.  For more information about Dr. Schumann, please visit www.maestraschumann.com.

David A. Turrill is Director of Bands and Assistant Professor of Music at Muskingum University, where he conducts the Muskingum University Wind Ensemble, Muskingum Valley Symphonic Winds, the "Muskie" Marching Band, and teaches applied trumpet, conducting, and courses in music education.  In addition to his teaching duties, Dr. Turrill is co-principal trumpet of the Southeastern Ohio Symphony Orchestra, and performs with the Muskingum Valley Brass, the faculty brass quintet at Muskingum.  During the summer, he serves on the faculty of the New England Music Camp in Sidney, Maine. 

Originally from Marietta, Ohio, Dr. Turrill earned the Bachelor of Music Education degree as well as Master of Music degrees in Conducting and Trumpet Performance from Ohio University.  He earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Trumpet Performance, with a cognate in conducting, from Michigan State University.  While at Michigan State, Dr. Turrill received a Dissertation Completion Fellowship and a "Special College Research Abroad Money" (SCRAM) Award for international research relating to his doctoral document "The Coexistence of Baroque and Classical Traits in the Trumpet Writing of Giovanni Battista Martini."  Dr. Turrill also performed as a soloist in Aaron Copland's Quiet City with the Michigan State Chamber Orchestra on their Austrian tour, and in Vivaldi's Concerto for Two Trumpets with the Michigan State Philharmonic Orchestra. 

Prior to his appointment at Muskingum, Dr. Turrill was on the faculty at Spring Arbor University (MI) and performed regularly with the orchestras of Lansing, Grand Rapids, West Michigan, Battle Creek, Saginaw Bay, Jackson, and Livonia.  He was also a member of Capitol Brass, a professional brass quartet, and freelanced as a trumpet soloist in various churches in the mid-Michigan area.

Dr. Turrill currently maintains an active schedule as a guest conductor, clinician, and freelance trumpet performer, and also performs with the Heisey Wind Ensemble in Newark, Ohio.  In the fall of 2011, he performed the Haydn trumpet concerto with the Southeastern Ohio Symphony Orchestra and Herbert L. Clarke's Carnival of Venice with the Muskingum Valley Symphonic Winds.  He was also awarded a 2011 Muskingum University Faculty Development Grant for European travel to pursue additional research on the music of Giovanni Martini.

Dr. Turrill has twelve years of public school teaching experience as an elementary, middle school, and high school band director.  Bands under his direction consistently received superior ratings at local and state adjudicated events.  Dr. Turrill is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda music honor society, the College Band Directors National Association, the National Association for Music Education, the Ohio Music Education Association, International Trumpet Guild, the Ohio Private College Instrumental Conductors Association, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.