NEMC Announces Coordinators for New Intensives

New England Music Camp is thrilled to announce the program coordinators for the new two-week intensive programs. Bethany Niedbala will be expanding her role to include coordination of the Prelude String Orchestra Camp, Jo-Ann Sternberg will continue as coordinator of the Chamber Music Intensive, Wayne DuMaine will join NEMC as the coordinator of the Jazz Intensive, and Stephen Agosto will be leading the Musical Theater College Prep Intensive. Each brings extensive years of experience to NEMC and we are looking forward to working with each of them! The Intensives will run from July 26, 2021 to August 9, 2021.

Bethany Niedbala is the Registrar for New England Music Camp, where she facilitates student admissions and creates schedules for faculty and campers and will be Program Coordinator of the new Prelude String Orchestra Camp this upcoming summer. Her other roles at NEMC have included camper, counselor and music librarian for many years. Currently, Bethany is the Elementary Strings Specialist for the Marlborough Public Schools in Massachusetts. Prior to that, she taught middle school and elementary school strings in Norwalk, Connecticut. Bethany earned a bachelor's degree in Music Education from Ithaca College, where she studied with Debra Moree, and received a Master of Music Education from Boston University. Bethany will be celebrating her 20th summer at NEMC in 2021 and her favorite memory is watching shooting stars during the final candlelight ceremony!

Clarinetist Jo-Ann Sternberg leads a diverse musical life in the New York area as a chamber musician, orchestral player, music educator, and interpreter of new music. A member of Borealis Wind Quintet, Sequitur, the Saratoga Chamber Players, Wind Soloists of New York, the Richardson Chamber Players and the Riverside Symphony, she also regularly performs and tours with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the American Composers Orchestra, the American Symphony, Mark Morris Dance, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and Musicians from Marlboro, and can often be heard playing in a number of different Broadway musicals.

Following her undergraduate years in the combined Tufts University/New England Conservatory dual degree program where she was mentored by Peter Hadcock, Ms. Sternberg continued her studies at Yale University with David Shifrin and at The Juilliard School with Charles Neidich.

Currently, Ms. Sternberg serves on the faculty of the Music Performance Program of Princeton University, the Music Advancement Program at the Juilliard School, and maintains an active teaching studio from her New York home. Additionally, she serves as an advisor for New England Conservatory’s Entrepreneurial Musicianship Program and coaches chamber ensembles for the New York Youth Symphony. In the summer months, Ms. Sternberg lives in Maine where she is the founder and artistic director of The Maine Chamber Music Seminar, teaches and performs at the Chamber Music Conference & Composers’ Forum of the East at Bennington College, and participates in numerous performance residences throughout greater New England. Ms. Sternberg resides in Manhattan with her husband and two children.

A native of St. Louis, MO, Wayne J. du Maine has been performing successfully in the New York City area for over thirty years. As a trumpeter, Wayne has performed and recorded with such ensembles as the New York Philharmonic, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and Orchestra of St. Luke’s. He currently holds the principal chair with the Brooklyn Philharmonic and the American Composers Orchestra. Mr. du Maine has also led the Hartford Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic, and Westchester Philharmonic as conductor of educational concerts. As a trumpet soloist, he has performed numerous concerti with the Concordia Orchestra as well as orchestras from Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Jacksonville, Springfield (MA), and Mid Coast (ME).

As a longtime member of the Manhattan Brass, Wayne has presented and created numerous educational outreach programs for K­-12 students in the five boroughs, CT, NJ, and PA. He enjoyed his 20 years as a faculty member of Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program, where he led the trumpet ensemble and was founder, music director, and conductor of the MAP Orchestra. He has also taught at Columbia University, Princeton University, Bar Harbor Brass Week, and the Bowdoin Music Festival. Wayne is currently the Director of Brass at NYU Steinhart and also the Director of Bands at the Elisabeth Morrow School in Englewood, NJ, where he leads the Jazz Ensemble, Concert Bands, Jazz Quintet, Rock Band, and Trumpet Ensemble. He has also been contracted to play many Broadway shows like Titanic, Music Man, Man of La Mancha, and The King and I. He has served as associate conductor for Fiddler on the Roof, the Lincoln Center production of South Pacific, and The Scottsboro Boys.

Stephen Agosto serves as Senior Director of Artistic Engagement at Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, NJ, recipient of the 2016 Regional Theatre Tony Award. He is a member of the artistic team that shepherded such new musicals as The Honeymooners, The Sting (starring Harry Connick Jr.), Unmasked: The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Half Time (directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell). He served as Associate Director for Beauty and the Beast and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (both with dir. Mark Hoebee) and A Christmas Story (dir. Brandon Ivie) on Paper Mill’s main stage.

Additionally, he has directed, choreographed and/or provided musical staging for such shows as The Drowsy Chaperone and The Lucky Stiff (The Blue Hill Troup, NYC); Triangle Logic (Crosshatch Theatre Co.); West Side Story (Westminster); Modotti (Theatre Row Off-Broadway); Cabaret, Assassins, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, and The Wild Party (Fordham University); and Scene and Be Seen (The Neighborhood Playhouse) to name a few. In June 2019, Stephen drafted the Musical Theater Common Prescreen, a universal set of guidelines for college entrance that impacts over 15,000 students annually. Stephen’s long career in arts education includes programming and curriculum consultation for numerous educational institutions including the New York City Department of Education and the Maine Arts Academy. For five years Stephen served as Director of Musical Theatre at Talent Unlimited High School in Manhattan where he and his students were Circle in the Square “Teens on Broadway” honorees, recipients of “Special Honors” from the Gershwin Theatre Awards, and recipients of The Shubert Organization High School Theatre Award (Top Honors). He is currently an adjunct professor of theatre at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University and a frequent master instructor for universities across the country. Prior to directing, Stephen enjoyed a career as an actor, having been seen regionally, on tour, and in New York City in over 40 plays and musicals. He is a graduate of The Neighborhood Playhouse, home of The Meisner Technique.