What are private lessons?

Private lessons provide your student the opportunity to have individual attention on their instrument. This individual attention will allow your student to grow rapidly as a player and musician. The benefits of private lessons include supplemental one-on-one focused instruction to help students reach their full potential on their instrument; additional attention to students' individualized goals; and a competitive edge in orchestra placement, All-Region, and Solo & Ensemble each year. Private lessons improve a student's technique and allow them to learn increasingly complex music that top-level orchestras play. Students aspiring to join the Virtuosi or Philharmonic groups should seriously consider taking private lessons as the rigor of the music demands specialized attention. 

Katie Farrelly
Violin
A native of Dallas TX, Ms. Farrelly grew up playing in the Texas All Region and All State Orchestras and was Concertmaster of the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra during her high school years. After graduating from the University of North Texas with a Masters degree in Music Performance she joined the Dallas Opera Orchestra and spent over twenty years as the Assistant Concertmaster of that group.

This is her fifth year of teaching at Centennial High School and her students are flourishing. As a mother of a teenage daughter, Ms. Farrelly particularly enjoys working with this age group and witnessing the arc of growth and change that happens during the high school years. Ms. Farrelly specializes in audition preparation and encourages all her students to expand their musical skills and achieve to their greatest potential. 

Sarah Figueroa
Violin
Sarah Figueroa is a professional violinist who both performs and teaches private lessons throughout the North Texas area. She first began her violin studies in her 4th grade orchestra in Atlanta, Georgia and has avidly remained a violinist of orchestral ensembles every year since.
 
Ms. Figueroa is passionate about orchestral playing and currently holds a violin position in both the Midland-Odessa Symphony and Chorale and the Abilene Philharmonic Orchestra. She additionally enjoys performing with the East Texas Symphony among several other local orchestras as a substitute musician. Occasionally she has exciting opportunities to perform on various popular artists’ visiting tours such as Michael Bublé, Josh Groban, and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Ms. Figueroa also has professional international experience as a musician, performing on a 2-week orchestral tour across 13 cities throughout China in 2015, and in 2019, she taught and performed throughout the Balkans (Serbia, Bosnia H., Croatia) and Peru.
 
Ms. Figueroa holds a Master of Music degree in Violin Performance from the University of North Texas of the studio of Dr. Felix Olschofka and a Bachelors of Music from the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University under the direction of Prof. Sergiu Schwartz.
 
As an instructor, Ms. Figueroa is dedicated in providing an encouraging support system to both motivate and inspire students to learn to create music to the best of their abilities. She believes music lessons instill in students crucial life skills such as self-discipline, courage, and in the orchestral environment specifically, a strong sense of community with fellow peers.

Ethan Rouse
Viola
Ethan Rouse holds a Master of Performance from the Royal College of Music, London, where he studied viola with Jonathan Barritt. He also earned a Bachelor of Music, Summa Cum Laude, and a Master of Music from the University of North Texas, where he studied with Susan Dubois and Daphne Gerling. An active performer, he has performed most recently with the RCM Symphony and Chamber orchestras, and as principal viola of the RCM Philharmonic, Opera, Conductors’, and Baroque Orchestras. Notable chamber music performances have taken place at the Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace and at the British ambassador’s residence in Washington D.C.

An advocate of historical performance, he performs frequently as a baroque violist, having studied with Cynthia Roberts. Highlights include chamber music across London, a solo appearance with the UNT Baroque Orchestra, and a concert tour of Germany and Austria with the Fantasmi Baroque Ensemble.

With over a decade of private teaching experience, he was previously a teaching fellow at UNT, and resumes his duties as a coach for the Youth Symphony Orchestra of his native Wichita Falls in the Fall of 2019. At present, he is a member of the American Viola Society’s Youth Advisory Council.

Christopher Phillpott
Cello
Deemed an “exquisite” soloist and “fastidious continuo cellist” by The Dallas Morning News, Christopher Phillpott performs regularly on cello, baroque cello, and viola da gamba while maintaining a thriving studio in North Texas.  He has performed with such ensembles as Lumedia Musicworks, Dallas Bach Society, Denton Bach Players, Orchestra of New Spain, Austin Baroque Orchestra, Tallahassee Bach Parley, the Early Music America Young Performer’s Festival Ensemble (Boston, MA), and for special events with the New England chapter of the Viola da Gamba Society of America.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in cello performance and a master’s degree in musicology from Texas Christian University, as well as an Early Music Certificate from the Florida State University.  During his graduate studies at TCU and FSU, Mr. Phillpott researched and presented extensively on the emerging French cello repertoire of the early 18th century, having earned the Michael Winesanker Musicology Grant which allowed him to travel to and consult the collections of the Bibliothèque nationale de France. 

Other scholarly topics of interest include Frank Zappa, literary themes in the music of Schumann and Schubert, and the music of the Counter-Reformation, on which he has presented for the Society for American Music and national and regional conferences for the American Musicological Society.

Troy Tippawang
Bass
Troy Tippawang is a recipient of a Bachelor's and Master's in Double Bass performance from the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Troy has taught privately for 8 years, and has had students participate in Texas All-Region and All-State orchestras. He has studied with Tom Lederer of the Dallas Symphony for the majority of his career, and teaches the Simandl method (with a heavy emphasis on technique). He has played in masterclasses, local symphonies, and enjoys collaborations with artists of all disciplines.