faculty:
Angelika Machnik-Jones - cello, chamber music,
musicianship program, Founder and Director of OCM
Dr. Marat Gabdullin - violin
Royce McLarry - violin, viola
Dr. Shaohong (Betty) Yuan - violin, viola
Angelica Pereira - violin
Dr. Christine Craddock - double bass
Ruirui Ouyang Johnson - piano
Dr. En-chi Anna Ho - piano
Charlotte Dumesnil - piano
Orlando Ramirez - violin, viola - Adult Program
Martyna Sandoval - cello - Adult Program
Angelika Machnik-Jones
Honored for her “excellent musical instincts”, “great emotion, sensitivity, temperament” and “wonderfully committed playing”, Polish cellist Angelika Machnik – Jones has performed extensively as a recitalist, soloist and chamber musician throughout Poland, Germany and United States. As a soloist, she has performed with Delta Symphony Orchestra, Eastern Music Festival Symphony Orchestra, Oklahoma City University Symphony Orchestra, Oklahoma Community Orchestra, University of Oklahoma Civic Orchestra, University of Oklahoma Symphony Orchestra, Fort Smith Symphony and Fort Hays Symphony Orchestra. She has appeared in several music festivals including Lancut International Music Festival, National Orchestral Institute, Eastern Music Festival, Texas Music Festival and Mimir Chamber Music Festival. Mrs. Machnik-Jones performed on OETA - a local Oklahoma PBS television station and recently her performance was featured in the FOX 25 News. She was also featured in Daily Oklahoman, Greensboro News, Jonesboro Sun and the City Wire in Fort Smith.
Angelika won several prizes both in Poland and United States. In Poland, she received the Fourth Prize in Bacewicz International Chamber Music Competition, playing with Pratum Trio. Since moving to United States, she received the First Prize in Delta Symphony Concerto Competition, Third Prize in Gordon Parks Concerto Competition. She was a winner of Eastern Music Festival Concerto Competition and Oklahoma City University Concerto Competition. Angelika also received Second Prize in Crescendo Music Awards and the First Prize in Oklahoma Community Orchestra Concerto Competition. While in Dallas, she was the First Prize winner in Hubbard Solo and Chamber Music Competition.
Mrs. Machnik – Jones has studied with Jadwiga Ewald, Jerzy Wujtewicz, Tomasz Zieba, Andres Diaz, Christopher Adkins and Jonathan Ruck. She has played in masterclasses for Mischa Maisky, Ko Iwasaki, Robert deMaine, Eric Kim,Matt Haimovitz, Tokyo String Quartet, Miro String Quartet and Avalon String Quartet. She holds music degrees from Oklahoma City University and Southern Methodist University.
Mrs. Machnik – Jones currently resides in Oklahoma City with her husband Dustin Jones. She plays with Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Fort Smith Symphony, Lawton Philharmonic and is working on her Doctorate of Musical Arts Degree at the University of Oklahoma. Mrs. Machnik-Jones is also the founder and director of Oklahoma Conservatory of Music, an Oklahoma City based school for classical music instruction. She is a passionate and committed pedagogue. Her students are winners of different local competitions, including the Oklahoma City Orchestra League Keith Competition, Ladies Music Club Competition and Oklahoma Music Teachers Association String Competition. Angelika's students have also received top spots with Oklahoma All State Orchestra and have gone to study music at different universities across the state and the country.
For more information about Angelika Machnik-Jones, visit www.angelikacello.com
Dr. Marat Gabdullin
Marat Gabdullin, native of Russia, began studying violin at the age of five. At age seven he was the soloist in a performance of the Vivaldi Violin Concerto in A minor with the Ufa Chamber Orchestra in Russia. After studying at the Specialized Music Schools of Ufa and Kazan, Dr. Gabdullin graduated with a Bachelor's degree from the Ufa State Academy of Art in 2006 (Russia). In 2007, Dr. Gabdullin moved to the US, where he received a Master's Degree from the Oklahoma City University in 2009. In 2010 Dr. Gabdullin was awarded a Mark Allen Everett Fellowship to pursue a Doctoral degree at the University of Oklahoma from which he graduated in 2015.
Dr. Gabdullin is an Associate Concertmaster for the Oklahoma City Philharmonic and a First violin of the Oklahoma Strings and Mid-American string quartets. His other engagements include Norman Philharmonic and Lawton Philharmonic orchestras. In addition, Dr. Gabdullin has performed for such Broadway musicals/shows as "The Addams Family", "Mannheim Steamroller", "The Phantom of the Opera", "Stevie Wonder's Key of Life Tour", "The Book of Mormon" etc.
Dr. Gabdullin has won prizes at numerous international competitions. In the US, Marat Gabdullin won the ESO Mendelssohn Concerto Competition (2009), OCC Concerto Competition (2009) and OU Concerto Competition (2010). Among the other awards he has garnered is prestigious “Russian Performing Award” (Moscow). Recently Dr. Gabdullin received a Gold Remi Award at the WorldFest International Film & Video Festival for his music video "The Ocean".
As a soloist, Dr. Gabdullin appeared with the Norman Philharmonic, Enid Symphony Orchestra, the Oklahoma City Community Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of the republic of Bashkortostan (Russia), the Ufa Theatre of Opera and Ballet Orchestra (Russia), the Symphonic Orchestra of Volgograd (Russia), the Kazan chamber Orchestra “La Primavera” (Russia), and the Ufa Youth Chamber Orchestra “Evo Moderno” (Russia).
Dr.. Gabdullin has been teaching violin for over 15 years. His teaching experience includes positions at the Ufa Special Music School and the Academy of Art in Russia, and a conductor/music director of the Ufa Youth Chamber Orchestra “Evo Moderno” in 2005 – 2007 (Russia).
In the US, Dr. Gabdullin taught violin for the OU Sooner Strings Program and is currently teaching at the Oklahoma Conservatory of Music.
royce mclarry
Royce McLarry began studying violin at the age of four with his father Lacy McLarry. He made his solo debut with the Oklahoma City Symphony Orchestra at the age of twelve. At age sixteen he was finalist in the International Mozart Festival Competition (Pueblo, Colorado).
McLarry received his Bachelor of Music Degree from Oklahoma City University. As a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he studied viola with the renowned Richard Blum of the Pro Arte String Quartet. While there he served as violist of the Strelow String Quartet, and performed with the Madison Symphony Orchestra. He has also served as Assistant Principal Violist of the Northwood Orchestra in Michigan.
He has served on the faculties of the University of Oklahoma, Brevard Music Center, Oklahoma Baptist University, and Oklahoma Christian University.
Presently McLarry is Principal Violist of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra, the Norman Philharmonic, the Lawton Philharmonic Orchestra, and plays regularly with the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra. As a chamber musician, soloist, and member of the New Lyric Quartet, McLarry performs throughout the region. Recent performances include Music from Greer, Brightmusic Chamber Ensemble of OKC, and as featured soloist in Harold in Italy by Berlioz, with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra.
Dr.Shaohong yuan
Betty Yuan is a Chinese violist, currently performing with Oklahoma City Philharmonic. She is a doctoral candidate at University of Oklahoma, studying with Dr. Mark Neumann, and a member of the Crouse String Quartet. In the summer 2016, together with the Crouse Quartet, she performed concerts in Arezzo, Italy.
Betty has previously performed with the Central Opera Theatre Symphony Orchestra and the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra. She has performed on masterclasses for Tokyo String Quartet, Chiara String Quartet, Avalon String Quartet and Miro String Quartet. Betty holds her Bachelor's Degree in Viola Performance from Remnin University of China, and her Master's Degree in Viola Performance from University of Oklahoma. She is an active performer with many local ensembles. She is a passionate chamber musician and a teacher.
angelica pereira
Bachelors in Music Performance (2012) and Music Education (2017) Oklahoma City University, Masters of Music Performance (2014) Oklahoma City University.
Colombian violinist Angelica Pereira began her musical studies at the age of 4. She traveled to the United States under full scholarship to study at Oklahoma City University in 2008, graduating from both her Bachelors and Masters degrees with honors. Ms. Pereira is the only Hispanic and youngest member of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic since 2009. Additionally, she performs with local symphony orchestras such as the Norman Philharmonic and Lawton Philharmonic, as well as the Oklahoma Virtuosi chamber orchestra. Ms. Pereira is faculty of the after-school music program El Sistema Oklahoma since 2013. She also holds a violin private studio and has recently joined the faculty string quartet at Oklahoma City University. Ms. Pereira has been awarded with various honors such as the Oklahoma NextGen Under 30 (2017), Most Outstanding Music Artist by the Hispanic Arts Council of Oklahoma (2016), Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities, and has been the winner of music competitions such as the Oklahoma Community Orchestra Young Artist Concerto Competition (2012) and the Ladies Music Club of Oklahoma City Competition (2009 and 2010). In the summer of 2010 she took over as concertmaster and was awarded “Outstanding Orchestra Member” at Opera in the Ozarks in Eureka Springs, AR. Ms. Pereira was a member of YOA (Youth Orchestra of the Americas) under the artistic council of Placido Domingo, Gustavo Dudamel, James Ehnes among others. With this orchestra Ms. Pereira performed in Mexico, China (2011-2012) and all countries in Central America, where she was Principal Second Violin (2013), recording a 2015 Grammy winner album with pianist Gabriela Montero.
Martyna Sandoval
Martyna Kolano (born in 1992 in Sanok, Poland) began her music education at the age of 10 in Wanda Kossakowska School of Music in her hometown. In 2011 she started her Bachelor’s degree in the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, Poland, in the cello studio of professor Paweł Głombik and his assistants Adam Krzeszowiec and Natalia Kurzac-Kotula. She continued her education there and graduated in 2016, getting her Master’s degree in cello performance. Interested mostly in orchestra and chamber music, she has participated in many projects such as International Cello Academy, International Festival of Academic Symphony Orchestras, Student Art Festival, Brand New Music Festival, Archetti Chamber Orchestra, Oklahoma Haydn Festival, and Oklahoma Composer’s Orchestra. She had an opportunity to work with many great conductors and cellists such as Jeffrey Grogan (with whom she played as a soloist with OKCU Symphony Orchestra after winning the Wanda L. Bass School of music Concerto Competition in 2017), Alexander Liebreich, Larry Livingston, Jelena Očić, Mats Lidström, Alexander Gebert and Polish Cello Quartet. In May 2018 she graduated with high honors from Oklahoma City University, getting another Master’s degree in cello performance. Currently she is a member of Oklahoma Virtuosi chamber orchestra and Cyan String Quartet. She plays as a section cellist of Fort Smith Symphony and collaborates with an avant-garde band The Allie Lauren Project. She is also a cello instructor at El Sistema Oklahoma and St. Paul’s Fine Arts Academy.
Dr. Christine Craddock
Christine Craddock performs extensively on the double bass as a soloist and ensemble member, and has performed in ensembles and music festivals across the United States. She has also won fellowships to attend the Marrowstone Music Festival in Seattle (2012) and the Texas Music Festival in Houston (2013). Currently she plays with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Norman Philharmonic, Symphony of Northwest Arkansas, and the Midland-Odessa Symphony and Chorale, where she serves as Associate Principal bassist.
Christine has studied double bass with Jeff Bradetich, Diana Gannett, and Anthony Stoops, and holds performance degrees from the University of Michigan and the University of Oklahoma. She has been the double bass instructor with the Sooner Strings Project in Norman since 2011, and in 2012, she held the position of interim double bass faculty at the University of Oklahoma. In 2012, she also coached the OU double bass all-state workshop. Since 2014, she has been assistant faculty member of the Oklahoma Bass Bash.
Ruirui Ouyang Johnson
Ruirui Ouyang Johnson is a native of Tianjin, China. She received her undergraduate degree in piano performance at the Tianjin Conservatory of Music in 2002 under the supervision of Alexey Sokolov and Svetlana Sokolova. For several years thereafter, she taught piano at the Tianjin Conservatory. In 2008, she first came to Oklahoma City for advanced music studies, where she received her MM with honors in Piano Performance at Oklahoma City University in 2011 under the supervision of Dr. Sergio Monteiro. After serving as a piano teacher in and around Macau, China for three years, Ruirui returned to the United States for her doctoral studies. After a year of study with Dr. Kevin Chance at the University of Alabama, she transferred to the University of Oklahoma in the fall of 2015, where she is completing her work towards a D.M.A. in Piano Performance with Dr. Jeongwon Ham and Dr. Edward Gates.
Since returning to the United States in 2014, Ruirui has won six piano competitions: (a) the Donna Turner Smith Memorial Piano Competition at OU in March 2018; (b) the Piano Four Hands Artist Division of the 4th United States Virtuoso Artists International Piano Competition in February 2018; (c) the University of Oklahoma Concerto Competition in December 2015, which led to her performance of Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto, Movement I with the OU Symphony Orchestra on March 31, 2016; (d) the Alabama Music Teachers’ Association Concerto Competition and (e) the University of Alabama Concerto Competition, which competition victories jointly led to her performance of Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto with the University of Alabama Symphony Orchestra in 2014; and (f) the Piano Solo Competition of the Alabama Music Teachers’ Association in April 2015, which led to a piano solo recital sponsored by the AMTA. In 2017, she was selected to be a member of the Brightmusic Chamber Ensemble, Oklahoma City’s residential chamber music group, with which she has already performed both regular season and festival concerts. In July 2017 she was the senior participant in Klavierfestival Lindlar 2017, an annual international piano festival held in Lindlar, Germany, where she gave recitals in Lindlar and Gummersbach, near Cologne, including the capstone appearance at the final concert of the Festival.
Ruirui served as the pianist and assistant conductor of the University of Alabama Opera Theatre, as well as a vocal coach. Her piano teaching in Macau, Tianjin and, Zhuhai, China led to several teaching awards, including the Liszt Memorial Prize for Excellence in Teaching at the Hong Kong International Piano Open Competition. She has served as a vocal and instrumental accompanist in the United States and China; a piano competition judge in China and the United States; and a church pianist and organist at the First Christian Church in Stroud, Oklahoma.
Dr. En-chi Anna Ho
A native of Taichung, Taiwan, En-chi Anna Ho has performed extensively in her home country and in many parts of the United States. Her piano studies began at the age of five as a private student of her uncle, Ching-Dao Ho, and continued with various private teachers in Taichung until 1991.
After a year of academic studies at National Chung-Hsin University, Ms. Ho entered the Piano Performance program at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa in 1992 as a student of Dr. James March, graduating with a Bachelor of Music degree in 1995. Her musical studies continued with Dr. Todd Welbourne in the Master of Music program at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where she majored in Piano Performance and was extremely active as an accompanist in many instrumental studios of the School of Music.
Ms. Ho graduated with her Master’s degree in Madison in December 1997, and returned to Taiwan in 1998 to take a position as orchestral pianist for the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra in Wu-Feng and to concertize as a member of the Formosa Chamber Music Ensemble. In 1999, she returned to the United States to pursue studies in the Doctor of Musical Arts program at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, where she majored in Collaborative Piano Performance as a student of Dr. William Westney. She received her DMA degree in December 2003.
Dr. Ho has collaborated in performance with many accomplished musicians from Canada, Taiwan, Korea, China, Venezuela, Brazil, Italy, Poland and the USA, and has performed in the master classes of such distinguished musicians as Charles Castleman, Paul Kantor, Emmanuel Pahud, Eugene Rousseau, Frank Morelli, Steven Isserlis, Philippe Quint and Gary Shocker. Dr. Ho now resides in Norman, OK, where she collaborates frequently as an accompanist with both students and faculty members of the University of Oklahoma School of Music.
Orlando Ramirez
Orlando Ramirez is a violist who currently performs with the Enid Symphony. He graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma with a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Viola Performance, and an Associate’s degree in Psychology from Oklahoma City Community College. His passion lies in teaching, which has led to him serving formerly as Interim Orchestra Director at Cashion Public Schools, an orchestra assistant at Edmond Public Schools, and a violin/viola instructor at the Central Community Music School (CCMS) at UCO. Mr. Ramirez currently serves as the assistant music director at Covenant Presbyterian Church, and oversees recruitment and development. He is often tasked with conducting the orchestra, choir, and bell choir, and maintains a private teaching studio based at the church.
He is excited to help shape the adult program and is looking forward to working with aspiring musicians of all ages.