Independent Music Instruction
RPS INDEPENDENT MUSIC PROGRAM
The Rutgers Preparatory School Music Department is dedicated to giving each student a complete musical experience. To achieve this goal, students are encouraged to take part in the Independent Music Instructor Program, a private music instruction program that matches students with dedicated professionals from the New Brunswick/Somerset/ NYC area.
Private individual music instruction is currently available on the following instruments: piano, violin, viola, cello, and flute.
Tuition for private lessons is $35.00 for 30 minutes, $50.00 for 45 minutes and $60.00 for 60 minutes. If interested, please contact:
Mary K. Szeles, IMI Program Director
Music Department Chair
1345 Easton Avenue
Somerset, NJ 08873
732-545-5600 x389
mszeles@rutgersprep.org
- IMI Instructors-
Lisa Lorraine Johnson ’77 (flute and piccolo) is a graduate of Rutgers Preparatory School having attended K-12. She graduated from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts with a Bachelor of Music in Flute Performance and holds a Masters of Music in Flute Performance from the Manhattan School of Music. Ms. Johnson has been a private flute teacher for thirty years. She is a recipient of the Distinguished Achievement Award from Rutgers Preparatory School. In addition, she was Master Class Assistant to Sir James Galway in Switzerland. She performed a "sold out" debut at Carnegie Recital Hall as the prize winner of Artist International Competition. Ms. Johnson has also been a featured entertainer on the Cunard ships: Queen Elizabeth 2, Queen Mary 2 and others. She has performed on european orchestra tours and Broadway Show tours.
Branislav Svitek (violin, viola) began his musical career in his native Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. He studied violin with Professor Albin Vrtel at the Bratislava State Conservatory of Music (Diploma) and later with Professor Bohdan Warchal at the prestigious Bratislava Academy of Music and Drama where he earned his Bachelor’s degree in music. To the United States he came in 1999 after winning a graduate assisstantship at the Montclair State University, where he successfully completed his Master’s degree with Professor Oscar Ravina of the New York Philharmonic. He graduated with honors in 2001. Mr. Svitek enjoys a versatile career as a chamber musician and teacher. He has extensively performed throughout Europe as well as in the United States and Japan in major venues such as Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Vienna’s Musikverein. Mr. Svitek has won several prizes including first place at the North London Chamber Music Competition. Currently, he is member of the Rosadoni String Quartet and serves on the faculties at the Lesson Center at the Music Shop and the Garden State Music Festival. He also enjoys private teaching.
Michael Szeles ‘00 (violin) graduated magna cum from the Boston Conservatory of Music. He has performed at Harvard University, MIT, Babson College, and Fannuiel Hall in Boston, Massachusetts. He was a member of the Quincy and Marlboro Symphonies. Mr. Szeles has studied with Bonnie Bewick and Ronan Lefkowitz of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Oscar Ravina of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Brennan Sweet of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, David Halen, concertmaster of the St Louis Symphony and chamber music with James Dunham from the Cleveland String Quartet. He has performed in master classes for David Kim, Illya Kaler and Charles Castleman, and Joseph McGauley. Mr. Szeles has studied and performed at the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado as well as the MasterWorks Festival. He is a member of the Montclair Chamber Orchestra, the New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra, Christ Church Chamber Ensemble, Plainfield Symphony, Livingston Symphony and Central Jersey Symphony. He is also a member of the American String Teachers Association and is a registered Suzuki Violin instructor.
Claire Saunders Wilson (violin) graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Music Performance from Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Performing Arts. She is holds a Master of Music in Violin Performance from SUNY Purchase. Her teachers have included Calvin Weirsma, Todd Phillips, Peter Winograd, Matthew Reichert, and Chris Nam. Ms. Wilson performs throughout the area with the Bravura Philharmonic, New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra, and Montclair Chamber Ensemble. She has served as concertmaster of the New Jersey Intergenerational Orchestra and conducted the NJIO's Nouveau Ensemble. She began teaching at RPS in 2004, and has also taught at Westminster Conservatory in Princeton. Claire received a scholarship to the Fontainbleau Chamber Music Festival in France.
Natassia Xsavier Ling (piano) has taught privately since 1981 and at Rutgers Preparatory School since 1990. As a chamber musician, she has performed with the New Jersey Symphony, the Princeton Chamber Symphony and the Spring Lake Theatre Company. Ms. Xsavier Ling distinguished herself as a finalist and recipient of two honorable mention awards at the 1992 and the 1995 International Harpsichord Competition in Bruges, Belgium as well as the top prize at the 1991 Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society International Competition. She was a finalist for the 1993 Fulbright Scholarship, also. Ms. Xsavier Ling’s musical studies include the Louisville Academy of Music, the Preparatory Division of the Manhattan School, the Monserrat School and Rutgers University. She studied with Charlotte Mattex and Samuel Dilworth-Leslie at the Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, where she was awarded a B.M. and M.M. in Music Performance.