Axe ’Em, Jacks!
Dr. Jennifer Dalmas
Dr. Jennifer Dalmas joined SFA's School of Music faculty in 2003. Since then, the strings program has grown considerably, developing into an even more vital component of the School of Music.
A graduate of the Virginia School of the Arts, Dalmas holds both master's and doctoral degrees in violin performance from Florida State University, where she studied with professors Karen Clarke, Eliot Chapo and Dr. Gary Kosloski. After earning her Doctor of Music degree, she served as a visiting violin instructor at Florida State University.
While living in Florida, she regularly performed with the Tallahassee, Jacksonville and New World symphonies. Dalmas also has played with several period orchestras, including the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra and the Apollo Ensemble.
She has performed various concerti with orchestras in the United States and Europe, and has given recitals and master classes both in the United States and Central America as part of the Promising Artists of the 21st Century program.
In 2015, she also toured in Asia with a faculty piano trio from SFA, visiting universities in both Hong Kong and Macau to give masterclasses and performances. In July 2015, she served as string faculty for the Interharmony International Music Festival in Arcidosso, Italy, and recently performed for the festival's chamber music series at Carnegie Hall.
In Texas, Dalmas has been an active orchestral musician and is currently the concertmaster for the Longview Symphony. An avid chamber music player, she has been a member of both the Alazan Piano Trio and East Texas Baroque, and performs with her cellist husband Evgeni Raychev in the Hachidori Duo. She is active as an adjudicator and clinician, and has presented at the national American String Teachers Association convention. Dalmas also has recorded for Centaur Records.
Her string students have won numerous awards and competitions, and have enjoyed summer studies at prestigious music festivals such as Brevard, Eastern and Meadowmount.
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Carlos Gaviria
Carlos Gaviria, a native of Cali, Colombia, began his musical education at the Conservatorio Antonio Maria Valencia. While in Cali, Gaviria joined the Orquesta Simfónica del Vallés, where he spent three seasons performing as a bass section member.
Gaviria came to the United States on a scholarship to study at the University of North Texas, where he completed his bachelor's and master's degrees in music. While at UNT, he worked as a teaching assistant to the world-renowned bass teacher Jeff Bradetich.
He's currently a member of Symphony of South East Texas and has performed regularly with many ensembles, including the symphony orchestras of San Angelo, Abilene, Irving, Plano, University of North Texas and University of Houston. He also has been a member of festival orchestras, including the American Institute of Musical Studies orchestra in Graz, Austria, and the Texas Music Festival Orchestra.
As a music theorist, Gaviria's areas of research include the music of Alberto Ginastera. He published a thesis on the use of the guitar chord by Ginastera and gave a lecture on the topic at the Latin American Composers Conference in 2009.
Many of his students have been placed in All-State orchestras and have gone on to be accepted into music programs at major American universities.
Gaviria is a dedicated pedagogue and was active as a bass instructor in the Dallas and Houston areas for several years. He has taught at the Abilene Summer Music Festival and at the Bradetich Annual Summer Bass Camps since 2009, and he has presented master classes at UNT and UT Panamerican.
Additionally, Gaviria has taught music theory and ear training classes at the University of North Texas and the University of Houston. He currently resides in Houston, where he maintains a full private teaching studio. Gaviria joined the faculty of SFA's School of Music in 2012.
Dr. Gregory Grabowski
Dr. Gregory Grabowski earned his bachelor's degree in music education from the University of North Texas, his Master of Music from Southern Methodist University and his Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of North Texas, under primary conducting teachers David Itkin and Paul Phillips.
Grabowski grew up in Edison, New Jersey, where he began his musical studies as a jazz saxophone player and woodwind specialist.
Prior to joining SFA's School of Music faculty, Grabowski served as orchestra director at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. Under his leadership, the Susquehanna University Orchestra increased in size and prestige and was featured in two nationally broadcast public television performances aired in 2017.
He has led several orchestras, including the:
- Longview Symphony Orchestra
- Bakersfield Symphony
- Baltimore Chamber Orchestra
- Richardson Symphony
- Flower Mound Symphony
- Lewisville Lake Symphony
- and Fairbanks Festival Orchestra.
He also has studied conducting under Don Schleicher, Nicolás Pasquet, Markand Thakar, Robert Franz, Paul Vermell, Samuel Jones, Harold Farberman and Leon Botstein.
Upon moving to Texas, Grabowski served as interim director of the Flower Mound Symphony Orchestra. He also was the assistant conductor for the Lewisville Lake Symphony, guest conductor with the Richardson Symphony and the Dallas Asian-American Youth Orchestra, and served as graduate assistant conductor at both the University of North Texas and Southern Methodist University.
Other performance highlights include a benefit performance of the Mozart Requiem, a performance of Shostakovich’s rarely-heard chamber opera, Anti-Formalist Rayok and a gala concert in the newly opened Winspear Opera House in Dallas with the Meadows Symphony Orchestra.
Grabowski has taught and advocated for music education at every level from elementary school to professional. He began his career in the public schools of Frisco, where he was the associate director of winds and percussion at Roach Middle School for three years.
Since beginning his orchestral career, he has conducted youth orchestras, regional honor orchestras and has been a guest clinician at numerous high schools. He also has been an adjudicator for orchestra and band competitions as well as student solo competitions.
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Lawrence Greer
Larry Greer earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in music at SFA with additional guitar study at the University of Texas and has additional study in music therapy from Sam Houston State University. He studied classic guitar with David Kennedy, Bill Krouse, Frank Kimlicko and Ricardo Cobo. He also studied jazz guitar with Garrison Fewell (Berklee), Jack Peterson and played in master classes with Matt Dunn at the University of Texas-San Antonio and the late jazz guitarist Herb Ellis.
In addition to teaching classical and jazz guitar at SFA, Greer teaches guitar and bass at Angelina College and previously taught classical guitar at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, and Eastern New Mexico University in Taos, New Mexico. He has served as an adjudicator and clinician at high school and college jazz festivals around the state, and served as jazz organizer for the Texas Community College Band Directors Association.
He directs, arranges for, and oversees the SFA electric guitar ensemble. This unique ensemble performs repertoire from the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras as well as jazz standards and contemporary rock.
Greer maintains an active freelance performance schedule in the East Texas area and has performed with Eddie Daniels, Carlos Fontana, Dennis Dotson, Bobby Shew, Chris Brubeck, the vocal quartet The Diamonds, The Tom Houston Big Band and the late Darrell Holt big band Just Friends. He has recorded four CDs, two as leader, "Shades of Blue/On the Edge" and "Shades of Blue/Jazz Divas." He also has appeared on "An East Texas Christmas" Volume I and Volume II, recorded and produced by the Mixing Room.
He's a member of Texas Jazz Educators Association, Jazz Education Network, Texas Guitar Directors Association and Austin Classical Guitar Society.
Alba Madrid
Alba Madrid is the director of the Music Preparatory Division in the School of Music and has been teaching at the elementary, middle, high school and college level since 2006.
Before joining the SFA School of Music, she held the position of head orchestra director at Nikki Rowe High School in McAllen, and assistant orchestra director at Economedes High School in Edinburg. She also taught in the Gulfport School District and Houston Independent School District, both as a music teacher and orchestra director. Many of her students have qualified for All-State and All-Region Orchestras.
An active performer, Madrid has performed with many symphony orchestras including the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra, Texarkana Symphony Orchestra and Longview Symphony Orchestra. Prior to moving to Nacogdoches, she performed with many ensembles, including:
- Sinfonia da Camera
- Peoria Symphony Orchestra
- Heartland Festival Orchestra
- Mobile Symphony Orchestra
- Pensacola Symphony Orchestra
- Gulf coast Symphony Orchestra
- and the Valley Symphony Orchestra, where she held the position of principal second violin and performed in the orchestra’s chamber music series.
A native of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, she holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in violin performance from the University of Southern Mississippi, where she studied with professor Stephen Redfield. She also studied with violinist Alexander Brussilovsky at the Rencontres Musicales Internationales des Graves in France, and has continued her studies at the:
- String Project at the University of Michigan
- Dorothy Delay Symposium at the Juilliard School of Music
- and the Retreat for Professional Violinists at the Jacobs School of Music in Indiana.
Madrid's professional affiliations include membership with the American String Teachers Association and Texas Music Educators Association.
Melissa Nabb
A native of Urbana, Illinois, Melissa Nabb earned a bachelor's degree in viola performance, cum laude, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign studying with Rudolf Haken, and a master's degree in viola performance at Northwestern University, studying with renowned pedagogue Roland Vamos.
Nabb is an active performer, playing on both violin and viola in ensembles in East Texas and surrounding areas, including the Shreveport Symphony and Longview Symphony. Prior to moving to Nacogdoches, Nabb performed with ensembles including the International Contemporary Ensemble, Lexington Philharmonic, Sinfonia Da Camera and Evansville Symphony.
She is a certified Suzuki Method instructor and maintains an active teaching career. She has enjoyed large studios in Naperville, Illinois, and Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, and now teaches violin and viola in her home in Nacogdoches.
Dr. Evgeni Raychev
Born in Russe, Bulgaria, Dr. Evgeni Raychev began his studies on the violoncello at the Vesselin Stoyanov School of Music in Russe with Elka Effremova as his teacher. He further continued his music education with professor Zdravko Yordanov at the Bulgarian Music Academy in Sofia, where he received his bachelor's and master's degrees. Upon arriving to the United States in 1997, he attended Florida State University, where he completed his second master's degree and his Doctor of Music with professor Lubomir Georgiev.
Winner of several competitions, Raychev has performed as a soloist with orchestras in the United States, Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Colombia. His chamber and solo music experience includes performances in the United States, Bulgaria, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Costa Rica and Italy.
He played for the Bulgarian National Symphony Orchestra for five years during his undergraduate pursuit and served as a principal cellist of FSU Symphony, Chamber and Opera Orchestras, Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, Southeast Symphony Orchestra, SFA Symphony Orchestra, Texarkana Symphony Orchestra, Longview Symphony Orchestra and East Texas Symphony Orchestra.
For seven years, Raychev played in the Douzet, an ensemble of 12 cellos, alongside the Yodanov, his teacher and ensemble founder. The ensemble was commissioned and premiered several compositions by leading Bulgarian composers.
He joined SFA's School of Music in 2003 and is continuously working on innovative collaborative music projects promoting classical music to high school and college students. He is the founder of Piney Woods Camerata, a student/faculty collaborative conductorless ensemble, Piney Woods Youth Orchestra, and a founding member of the Alazan Piano Trio, an ensemble dedicated to performing compositions by American composers.
In addition to his performance activities, Raychev is a dedicated pedagogue and an ardent advocate of cello ensemble playing who loves workings with musicians of different ages. In fall 2014, he participated in the foundation of the Cello Club, an organization where cello enthusiasts of all ages are prepared online to gather together for a concert at SFA.
Raychev has recorded for Gega New Ltd. and Centaur Records. He currently plays together with his wife, Dr. Jennifer Dalmas, as the Hachidori Duo. In October 2015, the Hachidori Duo was invited to perform Ravel's sonata for violin and cello in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.
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Contact the School of Music
Call: 936.468.4602
Visit: Wright Music Building, Room 150
schoolofmusic@sfasu.edu
Faculty and Staff Directory
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 13043, SFA Station
Nacogdoches, Texas 75962