Teaching Artists’ Biographies

Currently based in Pittsburgh, Charlie Alves enjoys a versatile career as a freelance musician and music teacher. He is a member of numerous professional symphonies in Pennsylvania, such as the Westmoreland Symphony, Johnstown Symphony and the Altoona Symphony, where he is principal violist. Outside of the orchestral setting, he has performed in concerts with world-renowned singers such as Josh Groban and Il Volo. Charlie has kept modern music alive and well by playing in recordings for musicians such as the folk-rock band The New 76ers and the contemporary composer Scott Slapin. Additionally, he performed Michael Kimber’s Caprice in G at the 2016 ASTA conference, showcasing a virtuosic work by a living composer.

Charlie studied music and international affairs at Florida State University from 2012 to 2016 and got his Master of Music in Viola Performance at Penn State University in 2019. He then went on to study at Carnegie Mellon University for three years as an Advanced Music Studies student. He has attended a number of summer festivals such as National Repertory Orchestra, Sewanee Summer Music Festival, and Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival. When he is not performing, Charlie enjoys teaching private lessons to violinists and violists of all ages in his studio.

Beideth Briceño was born in Caracas, Venezuela. She started her musical studies at the age of 10 at the System of Orchestras in Venezuela EL SISTEMA and at the age of 14, she joined the Simon Bolivar Music Conservatory in Caracas Venezuela. When she was 14, she was admitted by The Caracas Youth Symphonic Orchestra and at the age of 16, by a process of auditions, she won the principal cello position, keeping that chair for 10 years.

She attended different summer courses and Master Classes in Venezuela among them, we can mention: The Latin American Academy of Violoncello, under the tutelage of national professors such as William Molina, Paul Dessen, Francy Vasquez, Valmore Nieves, Horacio Contreras, Cesar Noguera, Roy Garcia, and international professors as Francesco Strano, Viola Hofmaiter, Shorshic.

In 2009, she participated in the United States and Europe tours of the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela under the leadership of Maestro Gustavo Dudamel. She graduated from the Simon Bolivar Music Conservatory in 2011 with Professor Francy Vasquez and during the same year she began to participate in Europe, Asia, and the United States tours of the Caracas Youth Symphony Orchestra. In 2012, she began her studies with German Marcano in Mozarteum Caracas. Later, in 2014, she graduated from the Law School of the Santa Maria University of Caracas and in 2015 she obtained a degree in music with distinction from the Royal College Association

Beideth moved to Bogota Colombia, she work as a teacher and also as an orchestra musician participating in different montages of the Colombian National Symphony Orchestra and serving as the principal cello of the Nueva Filarmonia Orchestra.

In 2019, she moved to Pittsburgh, PA to complete her Artist Diploma with Maestro Adam Liu at Duquesne University, which she completed successfully in December of 2020. Also in 2019, Beideth also joined to Johnstown Symphony Orchestra, Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra, and Altoona Symphony Orchestra. She plays in substitute with Canton Symphony, Youngstown Symphony, Erie Philharmonic, and Wheeling Symphony Orchestra.

In 2021, Beideth started her master's degree in Cello Performance in Duquesne University. In 2022 she was invited to participate in Sunflowers Music Festival in Topeka, Kansas. She successfully completed her M.M Cello Performance in May 2023.

Born in Bogota, Colombia, Sandra Morales Corrales is a candidate for Doctor in Musical Arts at West Virginia University. She holds a bachelor’s degree in violin from Distrital University in Bogota and a master’s degree in Violin Performance from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA.

Before moving to the US, she played with the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia for five years, touring with them in Oman and Peru. She has attended different festivals in Colombia, Germany, Brazil, Chile and Tennessee.

As performer, she has recorded in collaboration with various artists and has been awarded two Latin Grammy, in 2014 for Best Traditional Pop Vocal and for Best Classical Album in 2019.

She is an experienced pedagogue and certified Suzuki teacher. Ms. Morales has been Teaching Fellow for the prestigious Interlochen Arts Camp in 2021 and 2022, where she taught violin and chamber music lessons and performed with the other faculty and as part of the Montani Quartet.

Ms. Morales values the importance of art as an element of social transformation. She holds a certificate from the Global Leaders Program in social entrepreneurship, cultural agency, and teaching artistry. During this program she visited different music programs and festivals, giving recitals and workshops in Washington DC, Quebec, and Chile.

She performs regularly with West Virginia Symphony Orchestra and Wheeling Symphony Orchestra and other orchestras in the area, and she loves playing traditional folk Latin music as the artistic director of the Mariachi Internacional de Pittsburgh. Besides music, she loves cooking and walking around Pittsburgh.

Héctor Marchant began his studies in piano in 1997 at the Corporación Sinfónica de Concepción, in Chile, and later in the Cultural Artistic Center of Concepción under the tutelage of Rebeca Sepúlveda. In 2002, he started his violin studies with maestro Jorge Inzunza Vera at the Centro Cultural de Concepción. In 2007, he continued his violin studies with Alejandra Urrutia at the Conservatory of the Universidad del Bio-Bio, and the following year at the Pontifical University Catholic of Chile (PUC). It is in this institution where he pursued his Bachelor’s degree, studying with Alejandra Urrutia, Frida Ansaldi, and Gonzalo Beltran.

Héctor has participated in numerous masterclasses with renowned teachers international like Álvaro Parra (Chile-Germany), Bryan Lewis (USA), Raúl Orellana (Chile), S. Khoshafian (France), Manfredo Kraemer), Laura Klugherz (USA), the VIKTORIA QUARTET (Germany), Trio Image (Germany), Leon Spierer (Argentina-Germany), Federico Agostini (Italy-USA), Otto Derolez (Belgium), Richard Roberts (Canada), Ole Bohn (Australia), Charles Stegeman (USA), Rachel Stegeman (USA) among others. In one of these opportunities, he was selected to play with Brian Lewis performing the violin quartet of Andreas Makris, within the PUC Visiting Professors program. Furthermore, Héctor has participated in violin and piano competitions (Claudio Arrau International Piano Competition, FOJI National Violin Competition, Kutztown University Music Festival Competition, among others,), and different groups, such as the PUC Chamber Music Competition winners, the “Alúmine” quartet, playing in the “43 Musical Weeks of Frutillar ”in 2011. Also, in 2009, Héctor was a member of the project "Tour in Germany of the Camerata of Young Musicians of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile" playing in scenarios of cities like Berlin and Detmold.

The International Festivals in which Héctor has participated, are the Kutztown University Music Festival in the United States and the Santa Catarina Music Festival in Brazil. It was in these instances where he shared stage with musicians from different parts of the world, many of them with a great international careers such as Clara Takarabe and Per Nyström.

In addition, Héctor is continually invited to play with different orchestras in Chile, namely the Classical Orchestra of the University of Santiago de Chile, the University of Concepción Symphony Orchestra, the Solistico de Santiago, the Antofagasta Symphony Orchestra, and the Chilean Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 2019, Héctor moved to the US to continue his violin studies. In 2021, he obtained his Masters in Music in Performance at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he studied with Professor Charles Stegeman. Currently, he is pursuing his Artist Diploma in this institution, where he is part of the Duquesne Symphony Orchestra and the Duquesne Chamber Orchestra. Additionally, he has been invited to participate in different orchestras from the US, like the Westmoreland Symphony, Butler Symphony, Washington Symphony, Young Artists Debut Orchestra (YADO), Youngstown Symphony, Wheeling Symphony, Canton Symphony and the Pittsburgh Opera, among others.

Abril is a Venezuelan violinist, who grew up musically in "El Sistema" National Network of Youth and Children Orchestras and Choirs of Venezuela. Thanks to this, she had a prolific orchestral experience, starting at the age of seven years old with the Yaracuy Symphony Children’s Orchestra, advancing later to Yaracuy Youth Symphony Orchestra, Yaracuy Youth Selection Symphony Orchestra, and Yaracuy State Symphony Orchestra. Later she won a first violin section position in the Municipal Symphony Orchestra of Caracas.

One of several advantages of growing up musically in “El Sistema” is the culture of passing on your knowledge to younger generations from an early age, giving her the chance to start teaching violin and leading sectionals in pre-infant and youth orchestras when she was 15 years old. Throughout her teaching experience, she has taught to toddlers from 3 years old to adults of 30 years old in different countries such as Venezuela, Peru, Chile, Japan and in the United States of America.

Abril was the first violin of the Aurora String Quartet from 2013-2015, in which along with her colleagues and friends from “El Sistema”, participated in several Latin American Academy of String Quartets Seminars, held by the Latin American String Quartet, and participated in the New England Conservatory Seminar and FESNOJIV, where they had coaching and masterclasses with Donald and Vivian Weilerstein and with the Borromeo String Quartet members.

Blessed with the opportunity to attend and perform at numerous music festivals on a global scale, In 2009, Abril took parts in the International Festival Youth Orchestra in San Diego, US, joined the Yaracuy Youth Symphony Orchestra’s Tour in Bogotá, Colombia (2012), performed at the Winter Festival Campus do Jordao in Brazil (2016), went on the Municipal Symphony Orchestra of Caracas’s International tour with PEACE BOAT, performing in Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Denmark, Latvia, Russia, Finland, Estonia, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland (2017). And finally, in 2022, she performed at the Ohio Light Opera in Wooster, Ohio.

Abril got her Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance in the Universidad Nacional Experimental de las Artes “UNEARTE” in Caracas, Venezuela. Later on, she pursued professional experience in Peru (2017), Chile (2019) and currently in the US (2021- ) where she recently obtained a Master’s Degree in Music Performance from Duquesne University with Professor Charles Stegeman. Throughout these years, she can say that what she is the most grateful for is learning and adapting to different cultures thanks to the music.

For the past three years she has been performing with various symphony orchestras in the States. She is currently a member of the Canton Symphony Orchestra and Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra, and has performed with Wheeling Symphony Orchestra, Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, Washington Symphony, Altoona Symphony Orchestra, and the Butler County Symphony Orchestra.

Sally Santon enjoys a long and successful career as a private string instructor. With over 40 years’ experience, she has had many students who have placed well in PMEA events and some students who have gone on to major in music. Sally has played an important role in facilitating the music education of her daughter Alexandra, a promising young violinist, who performed at Carnegie Hall as the winner of the Golden Classical International Music Competition. Alexandra recently graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Ms. Santon holds an MM in viola from Duquesne University, where she had the privilege of studying with Randolph Kelly, the former principal violist of the Pittsburgh Symphony. Further studies have included violin and viola pedagogy at Carnegie Mellon University with Aaron and Saul Bitran. She has also studied in Oxford, England with Kato Havas. At the Pittsburgh Suzuki Institute Sally received Suzuki teacher training under Sonja Berven Zeithamel. In the summer of 2021 Ms. Santon had the opportunity to attend the Retreat for Violin and Viola Teachers, offered by the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University at Bloomington. Here she observed and interacted with the noted pedagogue, Mimi Zweig, as well as James Przygocki, Rebecca Henry, and Sherry Sinift.

Jazz has always been of interest to her. This led to studies with Erie jazz specialists Basil Ronzitti and Preston Lindey. She has also performed with her own group, The Uptown Jazz Quartet.

During various summers Sally performed at the Allegheny Music Festival and Music at Penn's Woods. The Meadville Council on the Arts also selected her to appear as one of the recitalists in their program, “A Taste of the Arts”. She has served as the principal violist of the Greenville Symphony, the Venango Chamber Orchestra, and the American String Teachers Association Orchestra at their conference at Rowan University. Sally has also performed with the Dana Symphony. Currently she performs in the Legacy Scoring Stage, and collaborates on many projects with the conductor, Todd Maki. These projects include the Contemporary Integrational Orchestra Project and the Kings Orchestra which premiered “Let Earth Receive Her King” with Christian Singer, Lori Reughn Matta.

Music education and a love for teaching have always been her highest priorities. She has been a member of the American String Teachers Association and the Suzuki Association of the Americas, and has taught at Germanie and Pappalardo Music Shoppe, Childrens Christian School, and French Creek Valley Christian School. A cancer survivor, Sally had to undergo chemotherapy for a little over a year. While taking chemotherapy she wrote and published “A Violinist's Theory Workbook,” which assists beginning violinists in note reading and learning key signatures. Ms. Santon helped establish the Primo Strings Program for the Young Artists Debut Orchestra. She currently maintains a large studio in her home and at World of Music in Erie. Sally tries to use her abilities for the benefit of others, often doing recitals as fund raisers for Yolanda Barco Cancer Institute. She also tries to reach out to the low income students to give them encouragement and help them in their musical studies.

Now that the pandemic has subsided, Ms. Santon plans to schedule more recitals as fund raisers. She is particularly interested in doing one for Erie Area Rabbit Society, as her other love is her 2 hares, Wren and Wesley and 2 little bunnies Covey and Fredrika.