Wayland School of Music


Faculty

 

Sharon Bielik, viola and violin
 Sharon is a graduate of Brandeis University (BM with highest honors) and Boston University (MM). In addition to WSM, she maintains a private violin/viola studio in Brookline as well as teaching both instruments in the Brookline public schools. Sharon is certified as a Suzuki violin/viola teacher, and is also viola coach for the BU All-University orchestra.
Sharon is a member of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, and also plays regularly with the Boston Symphony and Boston Philharmonic. She served for three years as principal viola at the Tanglewood Music Center under the direction of James Levine, Sir Andrew Davis, and Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos.

 

Zarina Irkaeva, cello
Zarina trained in Russia, where she won many prizes and awards. She gained her M.Mus degree at the St. Petersburg, Conservatory, and became assistant principal cello of the St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra. She began teaching at an early age, and later taught at both the St. Petersburg School for Gifted Children, and the St. Petersburg Rehabilitation Program for Abused Children.  She is currently on the cello faculty of Bridgewater State College and Wheaton College, and also teaches cello and piano in the Marshfield public schools after-school program. 

Zarina performs regularly with the Rhode Island Philharmonic and several other New England orchestras. She is an active chamber musician, and has performed at the Greensboro Music festival in Vermont and the Jewish Music Festival in Boston. She also appears frequently as solo recitalist at various local venues.

 

Heather Porter, viola and violin
Heather Porter studied violin at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Eastman School of Music, and viola at the University of Southern California School of Music.   She also studied violin at Meadowmount School, played Principal Viola for Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa as a fellow at Tanglewood, and was a violist in Alexander Schneider's New York String Seminar at Carnegie Hall.  Ms. Porter taught violin at the Stecher and Horowitz School of Music and viola at South Eastern Massachusetts University.  She has been Director of the String Training Ensemble for the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra (GBYSO). 

Professional performing positions have included:  Principal Violist, Savannah Symphony; Violist, “The Lion King” run at the Boston Opera House; Violinist and Principal Violist for “The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber” 2 ½ year U.S. tour; Afro-Cuban jazz violin with La Tipica Antillana in Los Angeles. Locally, she has also played with the Boston Lyric Opera, the Rhode Island Philharmonic, New Haven and Springfield Symphonies, and the Portland Symphony as Assistant Principal Viola.

 

Phillip Rush, viola and violin
Philip is a graduate of U Cal Riverside (BM), the California Institute for the Arts (MFA), Florida State (DMA), where he was a teaching assistant, and Berklee (certification in the Mark O'Connor Violin Method). He is a member of the Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honor Society. In addition to WSM, he teaches at South Shore Conservatory, where he is String Department Chair, and Brookline Music School.

A very versatile musician, Phil has experience in orchestral music, chamber music, Baroque performance practice, improvisational, folk music and rock band settings. He performs regularly with the Rhode Island Philharmonic, Portland Symphony, Cantata Singers, Handel and Haydn Society and Boston Baroque.

 

Johann Soults, cello
Johann studied at the Oberlin School of Music, where he obtained his Bachelor of Music degree, and subsequently did postgraduate cello study with George Neikrug and Terry King.   He is much in demand as a teacher, maintaining studios in Dartmouth, Bedford, and Franklin in addition to his extensive private practice in Boston. He is also a judge for the NE regional district auditions.

He is principal cellist of the Claflin Hill Symphony and former principal cellist of the Utica (NY)Symphony. He is a very active chamber musician and member of Ensemble Porte~no,  with whom he has appeared live on WGBH . His recording credits also include live jazz recordings with artists such as Ida Zecco, Carol O’Shaughnessy, Silvia Greenberg and Jan Peters.

Irving Steinberg, bass
Irving Steinberg is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley (BM) and Boston University (MM). He was twice a fellow at Tanglewood Music Center. Teaching has been part of his life since he was in high school, and he has taught students from elementary to college level. He has been coach of the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Tanglewood Bass Seminar.

Irving performs with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, Handel and Haydn Society Orchestra, Boston Landmarks Orchestra, Boston Classical Orchestra, Boston Modern Orchestra Project and many other local groups, and also as Acting Principal and Assistant Principal bass of the Springfield Symphony.

Penny Wayne-Shapiro, violin
Penny Wayne-Shapiro was born in Worthing, southern England, and did her undergraduate and graduate training at the Royal Academy of Music, London, followed by post-graduate work with Ivan Galamian in New York.  She joined the first violin section of the London Philharmonic at the age of 26, took part in many foreign tours and recordings, and also taught in the LPO educational program.  In 1990 she came to Boston on sabbatical, to study with Yuri Mazurkevich at BU. She decided to stay in the US, and while completing a master's degree and doctoral coursework at BU, she taught string pedagogy in the music education department and was a faculty member at the Community Music Center of Boston.  In 1997 she moved to Wayland and opened Wayland Violin Studio, which in 2007 expanded to become Wayland School of Music. In addition to her teaching work, Penny is concertmaster of the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra, and also homeschools her 11 year old son, a keen young musician.