MEET THE FACULTY

Annaliesa is a passionate performer and educator.  She performs across the United States, Europe, and Asia and with ECCO, Classnotes, Alarm Will Sound, ACJW, Absolute Ensemble and Metropolis Ensemble.  She is the Director of Strings at the Dwight-Englewood School in Englewood, New Jersey where she founded StringJam, a conductor less string orchestra.  Ms. Place received a B.M. from Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University and a M.M. from The Juilliard School.  Her principal teachers have included Vasile Beluska, David Russell, David Updegraff, Victor Danchencko, and Robert Mann.  Annaliesa has also performed and recorded with Peter Gabriel, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, The Roots, Michael Bublé and Paul McCartney, among others and has appeared on Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Today Show, and David Letterman.

Diego has received great acclaim as music director and conductor at the Eastman School of Music. He is guest conductor for the Parnu Symphony Orchestra (Estonia), Flanders Music Festival (Belgium), Bard College Symphony Orchestra and Greece Symphony among others. Diego holds degrees from the Manhattan and Eastman Schools of Music. Currently, Diego is a conductor and cello faculty at the Dwight-Englewood School in Englewood as well as directing the Thurnauer Symphony Orchestra.

Mezzo-soprano Rachel Calloway's upcoming and recent performances include appearances with American Composers Orchestra; John Zorn at the Guggenheim and the Louvre, Third Coast Percussion and Opera Philadelphia. Ms. Calloway created roles in Steven Stucky and Jeremy Denk’s The Classical Style at Carnegie Hall through which she became a finalist for the internationally recognised Warner Music Prize. She holds degrees from The Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music and serves on the faculty of the University of South Carolina.