FACULTY

Andrew Bedrossian started playing the Violin at the age of 6. Influenced by various genres of music, he has studied classically throughout his entire musical journey. He studied with Sophia Sogland from the Moscow Conservatory, who was a student of the great David Oistrakh. He received his B.M. in Music Performance at Rhode Island College in 2011. From age 12 through 18, Andrew was a student at the Longy Conservatory in Cambridge, participating in various orchestras. He has played in both the Boston Civic Symphony and Wellesley Symphony under former BSO assistant concertmaster, Max Hobart. Andrew plays in various groups and ensembles and serves as concertmaster for the South Eastern Massachusetts Festival Chorus, and loves to write music. Andrew is the Orchestra Director at Walpole High School. Andrew joined the Prodigy Program in September of 2014.

Harry Bedrossian has taught music in the public school system as well as teaching piano privately for over 35 years. His teaching expertise and knowledge of music theory are in the idioms of classical, jazz, classic rock, and world music. He can be heard performing and recording throughout the Northeast in various venues with a focus in world and middle-eastern music.

Joe Casano started in the Prodigy Program in 1995. Joe has performed with legendary R & B/Soul arts such as Aretha Franklin, Lou Rawls, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Frankie Valli and The Dells. He performed with famous singers and entertainers such as Tony Bennett, Robert Goulet, Kenny Rogers, Dionne Warwick, Johnny Mathis, Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra Jr. and Bernadette Peters. His playing is heard on movies and radio or TV shows such as the Dick Tracy Movie Soundtrack, Lou Rawls TV Special and the New England Television Emmy Awards. He was a member of the Stan Kenton Orchestra, Artie Shaw Orchestra, Harry James Orchestra, and the Benny Goodman Tribute Orchestra. He has performed in classical styles in the Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber Tour 1990-1992, with the Boston Festival Brass, Boston Brass, the Classic Festival Orchestra, and the Rhode Island Philharmonic. He performed in professional performances of Dreamgirls, La Cage, Evita, Hello Dolly, A Chorus Line, Guys & Dolls, Copacabana, Nutcracker and Miss Saigon. Joe has performed in such famous venues as Radio City Music Hall, Carnegie Hall, Royal Festival Hall in London, Newport Jazz Festival, Boston City Hall Plaza, Hatch Shell in Boston, South Shore Music Circus, Mohegan Sun, and Foxwoods.

Mike Casano graduated from the Berklee College of Music and has performed with The Drifters, trumpeter Randy Brecker, vibraphonist Mike Mainieri, R&B great Ellis Hall, Aubrey Logan, rock singer Chas West, saxophonist George Garzone and actress Uzo Aduba (Orange Is The New Black). Mike was featured in DRUM! Magazine in 2014 and has had articles published in Modern Drummer magazine. Mike and his father Joe Casano formed a jazz big band with his father called Mike & Joe's Big Band and leads his own jazz/fusion group called Mike Casano Fusion. Over the years, Mike has opened for such great artists as Brandi Carlile and Blood, Sweat & Tears. Mike also leads a funk/neo-soul band called Players Only featuring vocalist Mark Love (Rick James). As an educator, Mike has 20 years of experience teaching private and group lessons, as well as percussion ensembles, marching band drumlines, jazz rhythm section clinics and master classes. Mike has taught through the Prodigy Program since 2001.

John Clark started teaching in the Prodigy Program in 1995. Like so many of Westwood’s students, he started his musical journey in grade four on the clarinet. He earned a B.A. in Music History and American History from Connecticut College; a Masters in Music degree from the University of Maryland and a PHD in Musicology from Brandeis University. John is currently a visiting assistant professor at Connecticut College, teaching Music History, Jazz, American Music and Music Theory. John published a biography/listener's guide of blues singer Bessie Smith in 2015, building on academic work he had been doing since his undergraduate days. John is also an active professional musician. As the leader of the Wolverine Jazz Band, he performs regularly at the Sherborn Inn as well as doing numerous local concerts and national Jazz festivals. His band will perform at every home game of the Boston Celtics this season.

A native of Alabama, Melissa received her training from the University of Alabama, where she received a B.A. degree, the New England Conservatory and the St. Louis Conservatory of Music where she received both a Master of Music and Graduate Diploma in vocal performance. She attended the Institute of Vocal Arts in St. Paul, MN studying with founder Elizabeth Mannion. Her primary teachers have been Elizabeth Mannion and David Gordon. Melissa has been featured at Westminster Abbey in London on tour with the St. James Episcopal Church of Los Angeles, CA and on tour with the New England Conservatory Chamber Singers in Taiwan and Japan at the Showa University for Women. She has performed as a soloist with groups including the San Francisco Chamber Singers and the Bach Society of St. Paul (MN), and has been featured as a soloist on public radio broadcasts in Massachusetts, Illinois and Missouri. She was a semi-finalist for the New York Oratorio Competition and has premiered works by Daniel Pinkham and Frank LaRoca. Melissa's love for sacred music has taken her to churches and cathedrals throughout the US including Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Birmingham, AL and St. Paul, MN where she has been featured on concert series, benefits and premieres. Melissa began teaching with the Prodigy Program in 2019.

Doug LaRosa started teaching in the Prodigy Program in 2005. He is a composer and trombonist living in Boston. Doug holds a Master’s of Music from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He has played with and recorded with many different ensembles including the rock bands Kao Dot and State Radio. He is currently a member of Beat Circus.

Melissa Laurencio is a sought-after artist & private instructor with 20 years’ experience as a professional musician. She is versed with student ensembles at Boston Philharmonic, BYSO, NEC, and Rivers. Her students have received merit scholarships for summer festivals at: Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Brevard, Interlochen, New England Music Camp, NEC - SOI, Vancouver, UMass Lowell, Explo at Yale and South Shore Conservatory. One student received the highest honor of being showcased on National Public Radio’s “From the Top” where he performed a solo and a duet with Grammy award clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera. Other successful competitions include: Boston Symphony Concerto Competition, Fidelity Young Artists, International Clarinet Association, Music Teachers National Association, Honors Band of America, NAfME, MMEA All-states/Districts, MICCA solo & ensemble, and Marlborough YPPA festival. Mrs. Laurencio has been awarded a WEF grant to support music performances at Westwood. She holds a MM in Clarinet Performance from Boston University.

Ms. Markard was the Director of the Prodigy Program from July 2020-June 2023 and has been a piano instructor in the Prodigy Program since September 2019. Ms. Markard owns and operates Markard Music, a private music studio in which she offers private piano lessons to students of all ages, levels, and abilities. In addition, she is a part-time member of the administrative staff at the Berklee Institute for Arts Education and Special Needs (BIAESN) and an instructor in the BIAESN’s Saturday Program, where Ms. Markard teaches piano and general music to students with a wide range of exceptionalities. Ms. Markard splits her time between the greater Boston area and Long Island, New York. She was previously on the faculties of the Children’s Museum of the East End, East End Arts School, and Southampton Cultural Center. During the summers, Ms. Markard facilitates a successful summer music camp in partnership with the LongHouse Reserve in East Hampton. Ms. Markard recently completed her Graduate Certificate in Music Education and Autism at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee College of Music, and finished her MMEd with Distinction in May 2023. She was offered a Post-Graduate Fellowship at the Berklee Institute for Arts Education and Special Needs for the 2020-21 school year, and won an Excellence in Music Education award from Berklee in April 2023. Ms. Markard earned a B.A., cum laude, in Music and English Literature from Barnard College and a J.D. from the Cardozo School of Law, where she served as the Senior Managing Editor of the Cardozo Women’s Law Journal. Ms. Markard has been a presenter at the BIAESN’s ABLE Assembly for the last two years and has also taught a graduate-level class in gifted and twice exceptional education at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee College of Music for the last two years. She is currently serving as a Post-Master's Fellow from August 2023 - December 2025.

Ms. Naryshkova began her musical education in Russia, earning her undergraduate and graduate degrees in Music Performance and Education from Novosibirsk State Conservatory. She continued her studies at Boston University with BSO violist Michael Zaretzky where she received a MM in Music Performance. She has worked with conductors Seiji Ozawa, Lorin Maazel, Robert Spano, and Michael Tilson Thomas, and has performed with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, the New Hampshire Symphony, Indian Hill Orchestra, Lyric Opera, Nashua Symphony, Simon Sinfonietta, and the Cape Cod Symphony. Ms. Naryshkova has taught in the Marshfield, Concord-Carlisle, Walpole, and Everett school music programs. She also conducts a string orchestra through the Rhode Island Philharmonic Youth Orchestra program. Ms. Naryshkova joined the Prodigy Program as a violin/viola teacher in 2004.

Maxwell Parker is excited to be joining the Prodigy Program this year. Mr. Parker has been playing woodwinds for over 20 years. He holds a degree in Music Education from UMass Dartmouth. His musical career began in the 3rd grade on alto sax. For most of the last decade, Mr. Parker taught in the Brockton Public School system, specializing in middle school instrumental music. While in Brockton, he created an after school jazz program, co-directed the Brockton All City Middle School Jazz Band, and managed the 2022-2023 SEMMEA Jr. Districts Festival Jazz Band. In addition to public school, he has been teaching private music lessons since 2010. He regularly performs with the Tricounty Symphonic Band, the Our Lady of Light Band, the Cosmopolitan Legion Band of Brockton, the Moonlighters Big Band, the Marion Town Band, and others. He had the pleasure of performing at Boston's Symphony Hall with the Our Lady of Light Band, the first Portuguese Band ever to be invited to perform there. You can often find him playing reeds in pit orchestras with local theater companies including the Massasoit Theater Company, New Bedford Festival Theater, and high schools around the South Shore.

Deana has been a music educator since 2001, teaching everything from beginning band, middle school band and private French horn lessons, to elementary general music, elementary chorus and elementary drama. As a French horn player, she currently performs principal horn with MetWinds, a Greater Boston community band. Deana studied music education at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York earning her Bachelor's Degree in Music Education and French horn Performance and her Master’s Degree in Music Education, also at Ithaca College. Deana has studied horn with Alexander Shuhan, Bill Bernatis, Lowell Shaw and Tim Schwartz. Deana has been teaching in the Westwood Public Schools since 2010.

Johann Soults studied cello performance and biology at Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music. His teachers have included Andor Toth, Jr., George Neikrug and Terry King. Mr. Soults is an active freelancer in the New England area having performed with The Claflin Hill Symphony Orchestra, El Ensemble Porteño, The Utica Symphony Orchestra, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston. Mr. Soults is a founding member of the Longfellow String Trio, and has performed with The Auburn Piano Trio, El Ensemble Porteño and is a member of the Claflin Hill Symphony String Quartet. Mr. Soults has taught at Oberlin Conservatory, the Bedford POMS program, and the Wayland School of Music. His students have earned various distinctions including: 1st place-Fidelity Investment Young Artists Competition at the Boston Pops, winner of the Fall River Symphony Orchestra’s Young Artist Competition, 1st place-New Bedford Symphony Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition, and acceptance in various youth orchestras, summer programs, and participation in the Junior and Senior levels of MMEA’s Eastern and Southeastern District Orchestras.

Hannah Staudinger is an freelance oboist and educator based in Boston, Massachusetts, who performs regularly across the New England area with groups such as the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, Vista Philharmonic, and Longwood Symphony. She previously served as the principal oboist of the Kendall Square Orchestra and Boston Civic Symphony. An active recitalist, Hannah has a depth of performing experience across many genres, including classical, contemporary, and chamber music. Hannah is also an experienced educator who is interested in the cross section of education and repertoire. She has given a number of lectures and recitals based on her research and writing found in her paper “Repertoire within Education: An analysis of oboe repertoire for highschool adjudications.” Hannah currently teaches an active oboe studio of all ages, ranging from middle school to collegiate players. Hannah holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts and Master's in Oboe Performance from Boston University, and Bachelor's degrees in Oboe Performance and Music Education from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. Her major teachers include Mark McEwen and Robert Sheena of the Boston Symphony and Jane Marvine of the Baltimore Symphony.

Percussionist Mike Williams is a frequent performer in the Boston area. Williams has performed and recorded with groups including the Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra, Ludovico Ensemble, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Harvard Group for New Music, Composers in Red Sneakers, Rockport Music Festival, Ludovico Ensemble, New Hampshire Symphony, Springfield Symphony, New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra, and Star Wars in Concert Symphony Orchestra among others. He has recordings on Cantaloupe, BMOP Sound, Albany, and Northwest Classics. In 2005 he was a solo recitalist and guest lecturer at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold, Germany and was awarded a fellowship at the Tanglewood Music Center. In 2006 he attended The Institute and Festival for Contemporary Performance in New York. As an avid performer of contemporary music he is the percussionist and artistic director of Guerilla Opera, a new music ensemble in residence at The Boston Conservatory, and a percussionist with Sound Icon. He holds MM and BM degrees in Percussion Performance from The Boston Conservatory where he won top prizes including the Concerto Competition in 2004. He also completed a year of advanced study at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. His main teachers include Peter Prommel, Sal Rabbio, Pat Hollenbeck, and Nancy Zeltsman. Mr. Williams started with the Prodigy Program September, 2011.

Alicia Winslow joined the Prodigy Program faculty in 2016. She is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, receiving her bachelors in Music Education (2003) and her Master of Arts in Teaching (2004). Currently, she conducts the Westwood Elementary Town-wide Orchestra and serves as the middle school orchestra director here in Westwood. Mrs. Winslow resides in Tiverton, RI and enjoys performing regularly on both violin and viola throughout the southern New England area.