John Holenko

Guitar / Mandolin / Banjo  

Owner of Hungry Monk Music, John holds degrees in Classical Guitar Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music and the University of Southern California. John has taught throughout the Charleston area at public and private schools, Charleston Southern University, and Creative Spark. John has several music books published by Mel Bay Publications. An active performer, John has played with The Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Na Fidleiri, and his group The Hungry Monks.

Loretta Haskell

Piano / Voice

Loretta Haskell has trained hundreds of aspiring singers, including state and regional performance and scholarship winners. Her professional training began at Furman University and continued in Chicago at Northwestern University and in New York City where she performed numerous concerts, operas and recitals. She has maintained a private voice studio in Charleston since 1994 and has been employed by Harbor View Presbyterian Church for the last six years where she is currently serving as Organist and Chancel Choir Director, as well as the Children’s Choir Director. In Charleston she has performed as a soprano soloist with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and the Charleston Chamber Music Society. She has also been a Lowcountry Arts Council Grant Recipient and a solo artist on the Piccolo Spoleto Festival Bishop Gadsden Series and St. Luke’s Chapel Noonday Concerts. In addition to her extensive classical singing training, she has certification from the Institute for Contemporary Commercial Music Vocal Pedagogy at Shenandoah University in Virginia in Somatic Voicework, the LoVetri Method and the Dalcroze Institute under Robert Abramson at the Juilliard School. Ms. Haskell has also served as a music critic for the Charleston Post and Courier.

Ellie Jos

Violin

Ellie Jos began playing violin at the age of 5. Her violin studies began in Charleston, South Carolina where she studied classically in addition to participating in Na Fidleiri, a Celtic fiddle group. She has a Master’s Degree in violin performance from University of Minnesota where she studied with Sally O’Reilly. Her Bachelor's Degree is from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts where she studied under Kevin Lawrence. She performed in many master classes including a chamber music master class with David Finckel, of the Emerson String Quartet. She has been the concertmistress as well as section player for the opera orchestra and symphony orchestra at UNCSA. She is trained in all three books of the Mark O’Connor Method as well as all ten books of the Suzuki Method and loves to teach.

Bob Meehan

Harmonica

Bob Meehan plays and teaches the 10 hole diatonic harmonica, or the “blues harp”. Students from beginner to advanced are welcome. Before moving to the Lowcountry over 20 years ago, Bob taught the Blues Harp class at the New School in NYC.

Over a 50 year career, Bob studied with master harmonica player and composer Howard Levy. Bob has performed on and been involved in the production of 6 CD recordings, now available for free on his YouTube channel, Bob Meehan Harmonica. Bob plays American roots music and Celtic fiddle tunes. Bob proudly endorses Seidel Harmonicas.

Damian Kremer

Cello

Cellist Damian Kremer received degrees from Michigan State, Western Illinois, and Boston Universities.  Damian has performed around the world as a soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician including as Principal Cellist with the Chautauqua Festival Orchestra, the Mozarteum Chamber Orchestra of Boston, and the Lansing Symphony Orchestra, and has also been a member of the New World Symphony, the Metropolitan Orchestra of Lisbon, Portugal, the Honolulu Symphony, and the Savannah Symphony. A cellist in the Charleston Symphony Orchestra since 1997, Mr. Kremer has also been on the faculty of the College of Charleston.

Asako Kremer

Violin

Asako Kremer, violinist, has performed frequently as a solo, chamber, and orchestral musician throughout the United States and Japan. Originally from Tokyo, Japan, she moved to the United States in 1996 to attend the Mannes College of Music in New York and received a Master's degree in violin performance. She moved to Charleston a year later, when she married cellist Damian Kremer, and began playing violin with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. Asako is a certified Suzuki Violin teacher and teaches all ages and all levels.

Elton Machado

Bass

Elton Machado is a bassist passionate about both classical and popular music. Elton holds a Master of Music degree from the University of Southern Mississippi, a specialization diploma in University Teaching from the Adventist University Center of São Paulo, and a Music Education degree from the Faculty of Arts of Paraná in Curitiba, Brazil. As a popular musician, he traveled across Brazil for several years with Novo Tom, a nationally recognized contemporary Christian music group, and accompanied several Brazilian singers such as Ana Caram, Regina Mota, Pedro Valença, and Riane Junqueira.

Mathew Masie

Percussion

Originally from Holbrook, New York, Mathew Masie attended the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston where he studied with Wil Hudgins of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Later he received his Master’s of Music degree from DePaul University in Chicago where he studied with Michael Green, principal percussionist of the Chicago Lyric Opera Orchestra, and Ted Atkatz, former principal percussionist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. When he is not teaching at Hungry Monk Music, Mathew keeps himself busy playing with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, the North Charleston Pops Orchestra, Charleston Stage, and The Hungry Monks.

Sarah Morrison

Piano

Sarah Morrison began playing piano at an early age and studied at North Carolina School of the Arts, in Charleston, and New York. She has taught for twenty-two years, privately and at both public and private school programs in the Lowcountry, as well as at Creative Spark Center for the Arts. Sarah plays for and occasionally directs musical theatre locally, collaborating with organizations including Footlight Players, Flowertown Players, Midtown Theatre, and Sprouts Children’s Theatre. She has also sung with the vocal ensembles Vox Aeterna and King’s Counterpoint and been engaged as a vocalist at several churches in the downtown area, where she lives with her husband and daughter. 

EMMA OSTAPECK

Clarinet

Emma Ostapeck is the Band Director at The Charleston Catholic School and maintains a thriving private clarinet studio. She received her BM in Music Education from Converse University. She actively performs in the Charleston Wind Symphony and recently began her own group, The Dirndl Dames Oktoberfest Band. Emma is a member of the International Clarinet Association and the National Association for Music Educators. She is also the co-founder of “Clarinet Day”, an event held in Charleston, SC to benefit young clarinetists. The success of her students is very important to her, and she strives for them to become well-rounded, competent musicians as well as responsible young adults.

ANDREW EMMETT

Violin / Viola

Andrew hails from Munich, Germany. At age 7 he began playing the violin and then moved with his family to New Mexico where he eventually studied at Eastern New Mexico University and University of New Mexico. Following several years of teaching privately and playing with orchestras in Venezuela, New Mexico and North Carolina as well as touring Europe and the Caribbean he settled in South Carolina where he regularly performs with several orchestras including as Assistant Concertmaster of North Charleston Pops, section violin with Charleston Symphony and others. He also teaches privately and performs chamber music in the Charleston Area.