String Faculty 

CAROL KUSHNER
Director, Violin 

Carol received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music and her Master of Music degree in Performance from the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College of the City University of New York, where she completed its Teacher Certification program and served as an adjunct lecturer. To learn more about our directors, click here.                                                                 ​

​GERI KUSHNER
Director, Violin, Viola

Geri received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College of the City University of New York and a Master of Music degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where she was a teaching assistant. To learn more about our directors, click here.

LAURA GIANNINI

Violin

​2014, Queens College, Artist Diploma, NY
2010-2012, HFK Bremen (Bremen University of the Arts), Artistic Training Postgraduate Studies in Violin, Bremen/Germany
2005, Accademia Chigiana di Siena, Chamber Music Diploma in Duo Violin and Piano, Siena/Italy
2005-2007, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Diploma of Violin Virtuosity and Diploma of Chamber Music, Rome/Italy
2004-2007, Conservatorio di Musica E.R.Duni di Matera, Second Level Degree in Violin, Matera/ Italy
1992-2003, Conservatorio di Musica N.Piccinni di Bari, Pre-College and First Level Degree in Violin, Bari/Italy

AGATA MANKA

Violin

Agata received her Bachelor of Music degree at the Juilliard School, and is also a graduate of the Szymanowski Music Academy in Katowice, Poland. Upon graduation she continued her studies as a scholarship student at the Conservatoire National de Region de Versailles in Fance. After two years of study she was unanimously awarded the Prix de Perfectionnement.

DOROTHY SHORTER
Violin, Viola, Sight Reading

Dorothy received a Bachelor of Arts in Music from SUNY at Geneseo and received a Suzuki Certification from the School for Strings.                                                                                                            ​

Cello Teachers

PALOMA FERRANTE

Cello

Paloma received her Doctorate in Cello Performance at Michigan State University and received her Bachelors and Masters Degrees at the Royal College of Music in London and has her  Suzuki Certification.

AGNES NAGY

Cello

Agnes received a Master of Music Performance and Teaching from the Franz Liszt University of Music in Budapest, Hungary as well as a Graduate Performance Diploma from the Longy School of Music in Jazz Performance Cambridge, Massachusetts.