About Us

Gwen Beckman received her Bachelor of Music in piano performance from Ithaca College, where she studied with Phiroze Mehta. She also holds certification in all levels of Suzuki piano instruction. In addition to teaching private piano in her Elmira studio, she is the Director of Liturgy at United Baptist Church and the band instructor at Holy Family Elementary. She keeps a busy accompanying schedule and performs locally with 3-D (flute, oboe, and piano trio) and the Crystal City Flute Choir. Gwen also serves on the board of Thursday Morning Musicales.

Margaret Matthews received her Bachelor of Music in Education and Applied Music from Ashland University, OH, where she studied with Calvin Y. Rogers, and her Master of Music in Education from Ithaca College (with Debra Moree). She has performed with numerous regional orchestras, and is currently a member of the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes (OSFL) and soprano section leader for the Grace Episcopal Church choir. She teaches elementary orchestra at five schools in Horseheads and teaches lessons privately and as an adjunct professor at Elmira College.

Eric Johnson studied cello privately with Einar Holme at Ithaca College and continued his studies at SUNY Buffalo. He received a Masters in Performance and a Ph.D. in Applied Acoustics from the University of Salford in England where he was principal cello in both the University and City of Salford orchestras. For four years he was principal cellist of the Winchester Symphony Orchestra in England. His Ph.D. thesis was entitled "A Mathematical Model of the Violin", in which he explored the properties that are necessary to build a truly great instrument.

Dr. Johnson now performs with the OSFL and is a physicist at Surescan Corp. in Binghamton, developing a multi-energy, computed tomography x-ray scanner.