Private Lesson Faculty

Flute

Lori Chester - lorichester3@gmail.com

Lori Chester has 26 years experience as a private flute and piccolo instructor. She started playing flute at age 10 and piccolo at age 11 in College Station ISD. While in high school she was an American Band Ambassador member that toured Europe during the summer. Lori was awarded a music scholarship to attend the University of North Texas.

She received her BM from UNT in 1992. Then she attended graduate school and received a MA from Texas Woman's University in music therapy in 1995. In 1996, Lori moved back to College Station and received a Texas teaching certificate allowing her to be a band director in Bryan ISD while starting a flute lesson studio.

In 2000, Lori moved to the Austin area to be a high school band director in Dripping Springs ISD and then Austin ISD. Lori has worked in all the surrounding school districts. Her students have placed in the Texas All-State Band, won Outstanding Soloist and medals at Texas State Solo & Ensemble, and regularly earn spots in the region band. Her students have also won the Austin Flute Society Young Artist Competition and earned scholarships and placements in university music programs throughout the United States.

She is a full service flute instructor teaching lessons and master classes making sure each student reaches their individual best and love flute beyond high school. Her students call her Ms. Lori. She lives in Cedar Park with her 3 children.

Oboe

Lisa Link Edwards - lisalinkedwards@gmail.com

Lisa Link Edwards, oboe, holds a Bachelor of Music degree with honors from the University of North Texas and a Master of Music degree from Arizona State University, both in oboe performance. She has studied with Dr. Charles Veazey, Stuart Dunkel, and Martin Schuring.

She has performed with numerous groups in central Texas including the Austin Chamber Music Festival, the Austin Chamber Music Center, the Austin Symphony, Zilker Musical Theater, Lyric Opera San Antonio, the Victoria Symphony, and the Victoria Bach Festival.

Lisa is currently a faculty member of the Austin Chamber Music Center and teaches privately.

Bassoon

Shawn Karson - shawnkarsonbassoon@gmail.com

Shawn Karson currently serves as Contrabassoonist with the Central Texas Philharmonic, Second Bassoonist/Contrabassoonist with the Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra, Second Bassoonist with the Panama City Symphony Orchestra, and Third Bassoonist/Contrabassoonist in the Punta Gorda Symphony Orchestra. He has performed with numerous orchestras around Texas and the Southeast United States such as Austin Symphony Orchestra, Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestra (MS), Savannah Philharmonic Orchestra, Space Coast Symphony Orchestra, Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestra (FL), as well as other projects in the University of Florida, Miami Ballet, National Music Festival, Taneycomo Music Festival, and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp.

In addition to his active performing career, Shawn is an Austin, TX based Private Lessons Instructor and Reed Maker for the Austin, Hutto Leander, Pflugerville, and Round Rock Independent School Districts. He also teaches students from all over the United States and around the world with students in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

A native of Fort Myers, FL, Shawn is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree in Bassoon Performance at The University of Texas at Austin. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Bassoon Performance from the Florida State University College of Music where he has performed alongside his professors and mentors in the Faculty Chamber Recital. His primary teachers include Kristin Wolfe Jensen (UT Austin) and Jeff Keesecker (FSU).

Clarinet/Saxophone

Kevin Vorabout - kevin_vorabout@roundrockisd.org

Kevin Vorabout is a woodwind specialist who currently resides in Austin, Texas, where he maintains a studio of clarinet, flute, and saxophone students. Prior to establishing himself in Austin, Vorabout taught at Central Baptist College, the Wildwood Academy for Music & Arts, and was a counselor at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. Vorabout is a founding member of the American Single Reed Summit, where he now serves as the Secondary Outreach Coordinator.

In addition to teaching, Vorabout is an avid orchestral and chamber musician. Vorabout also filled the tenor saxophone chair of the Empyrean Saxophone Quartet, who advanced to the Division round of the MTNA Chamber Competition. With the Empyrean Saxophone Quartet, Vorabout has been chosen to participate in masterclasses at the North American Saxophone Alliance conferences, and was also an invited clarinet artist at the International Clarinet Association’s ClarinetFest. He has performed with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Conway Symphony Orchestra, and participated in the Interharmony International Music Festival as a clarinetist. As a woodwind doubler, Vorabout has performed with the Indiana University Department of Theatre, Drama, and Contemporary Dance, the Cardinal Stage Theatre, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre and has also been brought on as an IU Cinema Artist.

Vorabout’s primary teachers include Howard Klug, Otis Murphy, Kathryn Lukas, Kelly Johnson, Carolyn Brown, and Jackie Lamar. He completed his Master’s degree in Multiple Woodwind Performance at Indiana University and received his Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the University of Central Arkansas.

Trumpet

Michael Rey - michaelreytrumpet@gmail.com

Michael Rey is a professional trumpet player residing in Austin, Texas. In a city known for its live music, he has carved an impressive path for himself, in not only performance, but instruction, adjudication and studio work as well. A founding member of the acclaimed Austin-based horn trio, The Fresh 2 Def Horns, Michael has busied his performance schedule with groups of many varying genre. From the Grammy award winning Latin piece, Grupo Fantasma, to another Grammy-awarding winning artist, Country singer/song writer Rick Trevino, to say he is a versatile musician is a gross understatement.

Michael has been a long-standing performer at the well-known jazz venue, The Elephant Room, down in the basement on Congress Ave. in downtown Austin; a place where many aspiring Austin transplant musicians hope to one day cut their teeth on the same stage that has been graced by the likes of Wynton Marsallis and Harry Connick, Jr. He is among the elite who have had that opportunity, and he has done so on hundreds of occasions - showcasing his chops as the “high note guy” in various established local jazz ensembles.

In between performances, local and on tour, Michael also has quite the rap sheet as a recording artist, playing both solo and within a horn section. He can be heard on the four records of esteemed Austin group, The Nightowls, many tunes featuring horn lines on which he collaborated creatively as well. Most notably, he has found himself blowing away within the walls of the famed Sun Studio, where Elvis Presley was discovered, in addition to being in the talented hands of Grammy-award winning producer Laurence “Boo” Mitchell at renowned Royal Studios.

For almost 15 years, Michael has been a private trumpet instructor, working with kids from the time they first put a horn to their mouth, to when they’re preparing their college audition material. He has coached several students who have excelled in district, region and state competitions, and many of his mentees have achieved the highest accolades during solo and ensemble performances.

Mr. Rey, as they call him, has helped them hone the skills necessary to enter confidently into their respective universities as aspiring music students. Some of his former students are pursuing their own musical dreams at Stephen F. Austin University (Michael’s alma mater), Oberlin Music Conservatory, Texas State, the University of Texas, and the University of North Texas.

He has had the honor of being an adjudicator and guest artist at jazz festivals on an annual basis. For the past 15 summers, he has paid homage to his Alma Mater by traveling back to Nacogdoches, Texas, to lead trumpet masterclasses, teach private lessons, and perform as a guest artist with the campers.

Horn

Diana McLaughlin - djmhorn@gmail.com

Diana McLaughlin is a horn player and private lesson teacher in Austin, TX. She teaches in Eanes, Leander, and Round Rock ISD’s, and several of her students have been accepted to their respective district and region festivals. She is also a founding faculty member of the Austin Horn Camp and is a member of the Austin Brass Collective horn section.

Prior to moving to Austin, Ms. McLaughlin taught horn and trumpet students in Western Massachusetts and the greater Pittsburgh area. She also designed and piloted a general music curriculum in San José, Costa Rica, which helped preschool and elementary aged students gain fundamental musical skills, and allowed them to transition to private lessons upon completion of the class.

Diana holds a Master of Music and a performance certificate from Carnegie Mellon University, where she studied with William Caballero, Principal Horn of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. She also graduated summa cum laude from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with degrees in horn performance (B.M.) and Spanish (B.A.), where she studied with Joshua Michal and was the 2018 recipient of the Laura Klock Award for excellence in horn performance. She has performed and studied in six countries, including a concert tour in Ireland and at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California.

Low Brass

Mike Dorato - m_dorato@yahoo.com

Michael Dorato holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Performance from the State University of New York at Fredonia, where he studied with Carl Mazzio. After receiving his undergraduate degree, Michael moved to Pittsburgh, where he earned a Master of Music degree in Trombone Performance from Duquesne University, where he studied with James Nova, second trombonist of the GRAMMY Award-winning Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

Michael has performed with such groups as the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Buffalo Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Opera, Canton Symphony, River City Brass Band, Westmoreland Symphony, Johnstown Symphony, and many more. He has played with musicians such as Michael Davis, Yo-Yo Ma, Weird Al Yankovic, and The Who.

On top of having an active performing career, Michael has worked as the staff arranger for multiple brass organizations including the Brass Roots, The Backyard Bones Trombone Quartet, and the Austin Brass Collective. Michael also holds a substantial private teaching studio in the Greater Austin area including schools in the Georgetown, Round Rock, and Leander Independent School Districts. Michael currently resides in Austin, Texas.

Percussion

Scott Jones - scottnjones22@gmail.com

Scott Jones is a percussionist and music educator residing in Round Rock, TX. He holds a Bachelors of Music from the University of North Texas. While at UNT, he performed with the world-renowned Green Brigade Drumline, under the direction of Paul Rennick, and the Percussion Players, directed by the late Christopher Deane. Jones studied with Christopher Deane, Stockton Helbing, and Ed Smith throughout his time at UNT.

Since moving to Round Rock, Jones has taught masterclasses and developed a private lesson studio in Austin and Round Rock ISD and currently performs with the Williamson County Symphony Orchestra.