Full-Time Music Faculty

Background

Dr. Rebecca Sorley, MT-BC holds the position of Chair and Professor of Music at the University of Indianapolis where she also is the Coordinator of the Music Business Concentration.  She teaches piano to all levels from Pre-College through Piano Majors as well as Piano Pedagogy.  Dr. Sorley holds degrees in piano from Butler, Indiana and Ball State Universities as well as a Master of Business Administration and Music Therapy Equivalency from the University of Indianapolis.  Recent performances include a lecture-recital entitled “Musical Immigrants” for the College Music Society International Conference in Sydney, Australia and “Women Make Music” with daughter, Allegra, for the Mu Phi Epsilon International Convention in Denver, Colorado.  She has served as a masterclass clinician and performer for the National Collegiate Honors Conferences in New Orleans, Dallas, Kansas City, Denver, San Antonio, and Washington, D.C.

In addition, she has judged numerous piano competitions from the district to international levels.  Sorley served on the International Board of Mu Phi Epsilon as 4th-International Vice-President, Music Advisor from 2017-2023.  She has worked as an orchestral keyboardist with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, and the Evansville Philharmonic. Dr. Sorley also serves as organist at St. John's United Church of Christ in Indianapolis.

Background

Ryan Behan, Associate Professor and Director of Keyboard Studies at the University of Indianapolis, has performed throughout the US, in Europe and China, with radio broadcasts on ORF (Austria), BBC, and NPR. Recent performance highlights include: concerto soloist with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, Franz Liszt’s Années de pèlerinage: Suisse, recital appearances with the Indianapolis Quartet, and with sopranos Sumi Jo at the Mozarteum and Jolana Slavíková at the Salzburg Festival. With a strong profile throughout the Midwest Dr. Behan is Co-Director of the Franz Liszt International Piano Festival and Competition (Columbus, OH), President of the Indianapolis Chapter of the American Liszt Society, has served as keyboardist with the Indianapolis Symphony and ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, is active as a competition adjudicator, and presents master classes, concerts, and guest lectures throughout the US.

Internationally, he recently guest lectured at the Akademisches Gymnasium in Vienna and the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg on US composers and technical and artistic approaches to the music of Franz Liszt.  At the Mozarteum International Summer Academy he has served as Piano Instructor for the Lied classes of baritone Wolfgang Holzmair, and also coached alongside Heinrich Schiff, Grace Bumbry, Hedwig Fassbender, Zakhar Bron, Michael Frischenschlager, and Umberto Clerici. In 2018 recorded an album with mezzo-soprano Katherine Rohrer of songs by Louis Aubert, Claude Debussy, Gustav Mahler, and Robert Schumann on Blue Griffin Recording, and in 2024 will release his solo album of Liszt’s Années de pèlerinage – Première années: Suisse.

At UIndy Dr. Behan teaches Applied Piano, Collaborative Piano, Piano Pedagogy and Literature, Keyboard Skills, and leads the study abroad program “Music, Art, and Creative Culture: Treasures of Northern Italy”. Through a holistic approach to teaching, rooted in establishing a healthy, natural technique with musical interpretation informed by one’s own inner voice, he seeks professional and personal fulfillment for his students by helping them to be who they are and be that well. He holds degrees from Bowling Green State University, the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg, and The Ohio State University, was a student of Jerome Rose, Imre Rohmann, Dr. Caroline Hong, and also studied with Leslie Howard at the International Keyboard Institute in NYC and James Tocco in Cincinnati.

Background

From his first orchestral work, "The Last Days of Calvin and Hobbes," to his recent chamber piece, "Twinkle Toes," the music of John Berners shows a fondness for the irreverent and a fascination with American music from bebop to marching bands.

After earning a BM in trombone and a BA in mathematics at Northwestern University, Berners studied composition privately with C. Curtis-Smith and at the University of Michigan under Evan Chambers, William Albright, Bright Sheng, Michael Daugherty and William Bolcom. There he earned an MM in composition and PhD in composition & music theory.

Berners's works have been performed by the Detroit Symphony, the Virginia Symphony, Kiev Philharmonic, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Boston Symphony Brass, the Ronen Ensemble, Brave New Works, Ensemble SurPlus, Xanthos, and many university ensembles, and at festivals like Tanglewood, June in Buffalo, Music X, Denison University Tutti, and the Missouri New Music Festival.

An enthusiastic teacher, Berners is associate professor at the University of Indianapolis. He has previously served on the faculties of the University of Iowa, American University, the Colburn School for the Arts, California State University at Fullerton, Kalamazoo College, and Interlochen Arts Camp.

Background

Amy Foley is the Director of Music Therapy and Director of Student Support for the Department of Music. Her primary responsibilities at the university include teaching within the music therapy program, supervising music therapy students during their clinical placements, coordinating with sites in the community, and supporting music students in their pursuit of their degrees.

In addition to her work at the University of Indianapolis, Amy is a board-certified music therapist and the owner and director of Heartstring Melodies, LLC, a music therapy business in NW Ohio. The business started in 2014 with a dream to provide music therapy services to individuals living with exceptionalities across NW Ohio. Heartstring Melodies has since grown to a team of music therapists working out of two offices and several community locations to provide music therapy services to a variety of individuals and groups including those living with exceptionalities, hospice, TBI, cancer, PTSD, aging-related diseases, and mental health diagnoses.

Amy’s clinical experience includes working in private and public school districts to provide music therapy to individuals in the special education system where she supervised music therapy interns. She held board positions for the Association of Ohio Music Therapists, and currently serves as the webmaster for the Association for Indiana Music Therapy. Additionally, Amy is a trained mentor for the Great Lakes Region of the American Music Therapy Association, providing mentoring related to business topics. Amy has been elected to the American Music Therapy Association Assembly of Delegates, representing the Great Lakes Region during 2024-2025.

Background

Dr. Brett Leonard began his musical career as a percussionist, playing any and every genre and instrument he could get his hands on.  While in college, Dr. Leonard discovered the joys of the recording studio. Shortly after, he received his bachelor’s from California Lutheran University with a focus in music technology. While attending CLU, he also spent time at the Aspen Music Festival, studying under such luminaries as John Eargle, Stephan Peus, and Ron Streicher. After college, he moved to New York to pursue a Master’s of Music Technology at New York University’s Steinhardt School. Dr. Leonard has also served as lecturer at McGill University, where he recently completed a PhD in Music in the area of Sound Recording, and served the coordinator of music technology and assistant professor of music at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Background

Eileen Mah came to UIndy in 2019 from previous positions at Colorado Mesa University and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She holds a Doctor of Arts degree in Music History and Literature from the University of Northern Colorado, where she received a citation for outstanding dissertation—Chorale Topic from Haydn to Brahms: Chorale in Secular Contexts of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. Dr. Mah’s research and teaching interests overlap: the various ways we can discover meaning in music, on every level and facet of musical experience. Dr. Mah has published her research in the Yale Journal of Music and Religion, Music Research Forum (University of Cincinnati—College Conservatory of Music), and Current Musicology (Columbia University). She has also presented at meetings of the Rocky Mountain Medieval and Renaissance Association, the Western Horn Workshop, and regional and national conferences of the American Musicological Society.  Her current book project investigates orality (oral tradition and transmission) in Western classical music—a music culture so thoroughly centered around notation and literacy that the word “literature” is in the name of Dr. Mah’s degree.

Dr. Mah is also a seasoned chamber and orchestral musician. She was hornist of CMU’s faculty woodwind quintet, Mesa Winds, and held positions with the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Guanajuato (Guanajuato, Mexico), and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Nuevo León (Monterrey, Mexico), in addition to performing extensively with orchestras and chamber ensembles in California, Arizona, and Colorado. She studied natural horn at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya in Barcelona, and earned a Master of Music degree in Horn Performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as well as a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music and Classics (Latin and Greek) from Brown University.

Background

Applauded in London by the Sunday Times for performances of "great panache," pianist Gregory Martin's playing has been called "filled with imagination, fire, and lyricism...a virtuoso performance" and praised for its "mature and subtle understanding, all the while handling formidable technical difficulties with ease and fluency." He has been featured throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan as both a soloist and chamber musician, as well as being a prize-winner in various international competitions. Recent performances have included engagements at Carnegie Recital Hall; collaborations with members of the Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis Symphonies, the New York Philharmonic, and the Dresden Staatskapelle; and the premieres of unpublished compositions by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gerald Finzi. He is an active composer, his works having been called “glorious” and “inspired,” and in 2014 was named co-artistic director of the Ronen Chamber Ensemble (Indianapolis).

He has lectured at the University of Berlin, the Grieg Academy (Norway), and Oxford University, and is Head of Academics at the Cornish-American Song Institute (England). Recent publications are the translation into English of composer Emile Naoumoff’s memoirs, and articles on Vaughan Williams and J.R.R. Tolkien, with forthcoming essays on Grieg, Schumann, and Brahms. He is a 2017 recipient of a Creative Renewal Fellowship from the Arts Council of Indianapolis. Martin studied at Indiana University, the University of Cincinnati, and Worcester College, Oxford, and is Assistant Professor at the University of Indianapolis. 

Background

Peter Nichols is a 2006 graduate of the University of Indianapolis where he majored in Music with a concentration in Technology and Recording, and a minor in Spanish. Peter studied voice with Dr. Kathleen Hacker. In the fall of 2006, Peter took over the position of Technical and Operations Manager of the Ruth Lilly Performance Hall. In 2009 Peter was asked to fill the role of Handbell Director in conjunction with his Performance Hall duties.

In 2013, Peter finished his Master's Degree in Music Technology at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis. Then in 2016, Peter's position at the University of Indianapolis transitioned into a full-time faculty position. In addition to these duties at the University, Peter is also a studio musician at Aireborn Studios Inc, freelance audio engineer, and section leader at Meridian Street United Methodist Church.

Background

Dr. Jon Noworyta, is Associate Professor of Music and Director of Bands, Instrumental Activities, and Educational Outreach, where he administers all aspects of the woodwind, brass, and percussion area, teaches basic and advanced conducting, courses in music education, and conducts the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Pep Band, and opera. A versatile conductor who is equally comfortable with orchestras as well as wind and brass groups, Noworyta is the Director of the Crossroads Brass Band of Indianapolis, IN, Artistic Director of the Queen City Freedom Band, the permanent Guest Conductor of Drum Corps International's INpact Band, and the former Assistant Conductor of the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. Ensembles under his direction have given notable local, state, national, and international performances, the most significant being Carnegie Hall in 2009, the 2010 Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic (rehearsal lab), and the 2012 Music for All National Festival. Noworyta has led groups at legendary venues as Chicago's Symphony Center, the Kennedy Center, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Carnegie Hall.

Noworyta's commitment to high-quality new music led to commissions for various ensembles across the country, some of the most noteable being: John and Jim (Viet Cuong, 2024),  Aspire (Jennifer Higdon, 2022), Miniatures (Giovanni Santos consortium, 2020), The Automatic Earth (Steve Bryant consortium, 2019), Hypnotic Memories (Rossano Galante, 2017), Machiavelli’s Conscience (Michael Markowski consortium, 2017), in the midst (Shawn Okpebholo, 2014), Escapade (Charles Rochester Young consortium, 2013), and Second City Vignettes (Clint Needham, 2005). In April 2017, Noworyta was part of a unique experience with four upcoming female composers; each of whom wrote a concerto to be performed by the Cincinnati Soundbox Orchestra.

Noworyta’s professional affiliations have included the NAFME, CBDNA, WASBE, NABBA, NBA, Pride Bands Alliance, GLSEN, the Conductors Guild, and the Indiana, Illinois, New York (NYSSMA) and Ohio Music Educators Associations. In addition to being an editor for the Indiana Music Educators Association publication inForm, Noworyta is published in The Horizon Leans Forward… stories of courage, strength, and triumph of underrepresented communities in the wind band field by Erik Kar Jun Leung (GIA publications). He has been a member of the Committee for Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion for the North American Brass Band Association, is listed among the Who's Who in America Educator's Edition and is a founding member and on the advisory team for the 32,000+ member “Band Director” Facebook group. He was the 2012-13 Distinguished High School Teacher in Wheaton-Warrenville School District 200 and is a member of the Fine and Performing Arts Wall of Fame at North Tonawanda High School (his alma mater). 

Background

Since 1996, UIndy Director of Jazz Studies Mark O'Connor has been an active performer, composer, and educator in the Midwest music scenes. His current CD, Suspended Reality, has received airplay throughout the U.S. and Europe and has garnered such praise as "O'Connor and colleagues, heard on Suspended Reality are sophisticated soloists and ensemble players. This is only O'Connor's second CD, and he shows great skill as a saxophonist… he is someone to keep an eye on in future." - Michael Steinman, Cadence Magazine, and "O'Connor's tenor is meaty enough to channel the jazz tradition, but modern enough to capture the yearning vulnerabilities of his own time" - Neil Tesser, Chicago Jazz Music Examiner. In addition to performing with his own quintet at such venues as the Chicago Jazz Festival, The Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts, and the Jazz Showcase, O'Connor has shared the stage with Bob Mintzer, Rufus Reid, Arturo Sandoval and many more.

O'Connor has served as guest artist and clinician for the jazz programs at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, University of Northern Iowa, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee as well as many Chicago, St Louis, and Indianapolis area high schools. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Studies from the University of North Texas where he studied with well-known jazz educators Dan Haerle and Fred Hamilton and a Master's degree in Saxophone Performance from Eastern Illinois University where he studied with New Orleans piano luminary Henry Butler and Chicago pianist and producer of Suspended Reality, Mark Maegdlin. O'Connor also holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in Jazz Performance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he studied with Maynard Ferguson alums Chip McNeill and Chip Stephens.

In addition to performing with his own groups at such venues as the Jazz Education Network Annual Conference, the Jazz Kitchen, the Chicago Jazz Festival, and the Jazz Showcase, O'Connor has shared the stage with such artists as Bob Mintzer, Rufus Reid, and Arturo Sandoval. O'Connor has served as a guest artist and clinician for the jazz programs at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, University of Northern Iowa, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee as well as many Chicago, St Louis, and Indianapolis area high schools. 

Background

Native of Japan, Haruka Ostojic received her Bachelor and Master's Degree in Piano Performance from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she additionally obtained her Performer Diploma, under the tutorship of the world-famous Russian pianist and the founding member of Borodin Trio, Prof. Luba Edlina-Dubinsky.

In a decade-long career as a collaborator, Ostojic has worked with teaching studios of distinguished professors of music such as Jaime Laredo, Janos Starker, Andreas Poulimenos, Alex Kerr, and Sylvia McNair, to name a few. She is often invited to collaborate with competitors at Muncie Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, Carmel Symphony Young Artist Competition, and World Piano Competition (Cincinnati, OH). She has also made appearances as a guest performer and an adjudicator in music festivals and competitions in the U.S. and Europe. During summer, Ostojic serves on the artistic and logistics committee for the Carmel Klavier International Piano Competition as well as the accompanist for its concerto division.

Ostojic currently is appointed at the University of Indianapolis Music Department as Faculty Accompanist/Assistant Professor and Director of Pre-College Program.

Background

Meredith Smith is Assistant Professor of Choral Music Education and directs the Treble Chorus at the University of Indianapolis in Indianapolis, Indiana. In the summers, she teaches graduate courses at Capital University’s Kodály Institute in Columbus, Ohio. She is a member of the Indiana Music Educators Association, NafME, Indiana Choral Directors Association, and advises a newly formed Collegiate Chapter of ACDA. She currently serves as the Secondary Choral Advisor on the national board of the Organization of American Kodály Educators.

Before moving to Indianapolis, Meredith spent eighteen years teaching K-12 choral and general music in Northern Virginia and Central Ohio. While in Ohio, Meredith taught for 11 years at Licking Heights High School in Pataskala, Ohio. Here, she was the Director of Vocal Music, served as Academic Chair for the Performing and Visual Arts, taught various levels of music theory, and music directed musical theater productions. Her choirs have performed at Carnegie Hall, the London International Choral Festival, and have worked with directors such as Dr. Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, Dr. Sandra Mathias, Lilla Gábor, Dr. Hilary Apfelstadt, Dr. Katalin Kiss, and John Rutter.

Her treble ensembles served multiple years as a lab choir for the graduate students at the Kodály Institute at Capital University. While in Ohio, she worked with several community choral organizations such as The Columbus Children’s Choir, CCC’s Columbus CIty Schools Honor Choir, Co-Chaired the High School Honor choir for the Ohio Choral Directors Association, and was a member of the Ohio Music Educators Association. Meredith received her PhD of Music Education in 2021 from The Ohio State University. She obtained both her BM in Vocal Music Education and MME with Kodály Choral Emphasis from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. Meredith resides in Indianapolis, Indiana with her husband and two children.

Background

Mitzi Westra received her B.A. degree in music and religion from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Her graduate work was done at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, where she received her master's and doctoral degrees. While in Minneapolis, she spent 4 years performing, touring, and recording with the Dale Warland Singers, and was alto section leader for the DWS Chamber Singers. Since moving to Indianapolis, she has appeared as soloist with Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, New Century String Quartet, and the Grammy Award-winning Pacifica Quartet as well as performing frequently on the University of Indianapolis Faculty Artist Series.

Summers are spent in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she sings with The Santa Fe Desert Chorale. She currently teaches in the vocal department at University of Indianapolis, as well as being the alto section leader at Second Presbyterian Church, recording for Aireborn Studios in Zionsville, and maintaining her own private studio. She is pleased to be married to Frank Felice, composer and professor at Butler University.

Background

Dr. Laurie Williams is Director of Music Education Programs and Director of Orchestras and String  Studies at the University of Indianapolis. Her duties at UIndy include teaching conducting, music  education courses, supervision of pre-student teaching field placements, student teaching supervision,  recruitment, and outreach. As director of the university orchestras, she oversees string studies and  conducts the University Symphony (USO) and chamber orchestras. Under her baton, the UIndy USO  received an invitation in May 2023 to perform at the Kennedy Center, which is slated for February 2025.  

Dr. Williams has had a highly versatile career as a music educator spanning more than 30 years as a  classroom teacher, private teacher, and conductor. Previous collegiate appointments include the  University of Texas at San Antonio, the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Texas Tech University.  Prior to her university service, she worked for fifteen years in K-12 public school settings teaching general music classes, string and full orchestras, middle and high school bands, and elementary choirs  throughout Texas. From 1997-2020, Dr. Williams was Artistic Director and Conductor with the  Lubbock Youth Orchestras (TX), where she worked with all ensembles during her tenure with the  program. Under her direction, the Symphony Orchestra was invited to compete against select orchestras  from around the country at the ASTA 2019 National Orchestra Festival, where her ensemble won the  youth orchestra division. Her commitment to the development of new music for full orchestras led to  the commission of two works that were performed under her direction, one of which, “The Spirit of  West Texas” (William Linthicum-Blackhorse, 2019), was performed in Albuquerque, NM for the  National Orchestra Festival.  

Dr. Williams holds an Interdisciplinary PhD. in Fine Arts from Texas Tech University (2016). She  holds Level III certification in Kodály, having completed her training at the West Texas Kodály  Initiative with Dr. Susan Brumfield, Dr. Jill Trinka, Dr. Rachel Gibson, and Dr. Niké St. Clair. She is a  professional violist and trumpet player, performing with Orchestra Indiana (2021 - present), the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra (1994-2021), and with various orchestras throughout Texas and New  Mexico since 1992. She maintains an active conducting and teaching schedule, serving frequently as a  guest clinician and judge for instrumental groups throughout the country. She has presented  professional development sessions for educators at several state and national conferences including the  American String Teachers Association, Texas Orchestra Director’s Association, and MEA’s in Florida,  Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, and Texas.  

She is also an active researcher in the field of music education, having presented her work at the  NAfME Music Research and Teacher Education Conference, the Society for Music Teacher Education,  and the Symposium on the History of Music Education. Her research interests include best practices for  teaching instrumental music, gender bias in ensemble conducting, and historical foundations of instrumental music education. Currently, Dr. Williams serves on the ASTA Research Editorial Committee and the TexASTA Board.