SOUND EXPLORATIONS
ABOUT
Terry Wolkowicz
Education Director
David MacKenzie
Music Director
For more than two decades Terry Wolkowicz has been designing innovative integrated arts educational curricula. Her background includes 15 years as a public and private school music educator and a curriculum design for the Learning Through Music initiative. For the past 10 years she has served as the Education Director for the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, where she designs and performs educational programming in over 50 schools across Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Terry has presented at numerous national conferences on concept-based arts integration including the 2017 National Science Teacher’s Association, the 2013, 2017 and 2019 League of American Orchestra’s Conference, the 2016 Association of Zoos and Aquariums National Conference, the 2016 Massachusetts Music Educator’s Association Conference and other local and state STEM (Science,Technology, Engineering and Math) conferences. As an author, she has written articles about the Learning In Concert model and concept-based arts integration published in the Music Educators Journal, the A.Z.A.’s Connect Magazine, Polyphonic.org (Eastman School of Music Paul R. Judy Center for Applied Research) and Musicovation.
In 2013 Terry was named New Bedford Woman of the Year for her contributions to the community, and in 2014 she was chosen as a Myra Kraft Community MVP Award winner by the New England Patriots Foundation. In 2016, the Learning in Concert program received the Excellence in Education Award from the Goldin Foundation and the Massachusetts Secretary's Award for Excellence in Energy and Environmental Education.
Terry received her bachelor’s degree in music education from the New England Conservatory of Music and a master’s degree in education from Harvard University.
David MacKenzie’s career spans more than forty years as a conductor, educator, composer, and arranger. He has guest conducted orchestras across the United States and internationally and his permanent positions have included Music Director of the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra in Massachusetts, Music Director of Mastersingers by the Sea in Massachusetts, and Artistic Director of Rogue Opera in Oregon. In 1994 he was invited by the government of Colombia to become the Music Director of the National Symphonic Band of Colombia, a professional wind ensemble.
In academia, Dr. MacKenzie has led award-winning orchestral programs at the University of Northern Colorado, University of Kentucky, and Georgia State University. As a teacher of conducting, he has directed graduate conducting programs at the University of Northern Colorado and the University of Kentucky. Dr. MacKenzie has presented conducting seminars in the U.S. and abroad, including Keimyung University, South Korea, the National Conservatory of Music in Peru, the National Conservatory of Music of Colómbia, Javeriana University in Bogotá, Colombia, the Colombian Ministry of Culture, the National Association of Bands (ASODIBANDA) in Colombia, and the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra in Colombia.
Throughout his career, Dr. MacKenzie has been guided by a vision of the Music Director as the primary music educator and advocate for music within the community, which has led him to create innovative educational programs for orchestras, band, and opera companies. He has also composed effective educational works for young children, including a series of works for preschool-aged children.
Dr. MacKenzie received a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Tennessee in 1974, a Master of Music, Master of Musical Arts, and Doctor of Musical Arts from Yale University in 1976, 1977, and 1983 respectively. In 2011, he received an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth.
Olivia Coucci
Right Whale, Wrong Letter Illustrator
Emilie Grossman
Artistic Director
Olivia is a native of New Bedford, MA. She studied Animation and Motion media at Lesley University, and received a bachelor's in Computer Animation with a minor in Creative Writing from Ringling College of Art and Design. She furthered her storytelling career as a Story Intern at Blue Sky Studios and most recently as a Story Artist on Inside Out 2 and other unannounced projects at Pixar Animation Studios. She previously collaborated with the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, illustrating their Symphony Tales children's book, A Concert at the Zoo. She looks forward to writing and illustrating more children's books and cartoons. Currently, Olivia is starting an exciting new journey as an Art and STEAM teacher at Our Sister's School in New Bedford.
Emilie Grossman graduated from Ithaca College with a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree in technical theater and received her Masters degree in education from Arcadia University. Emilie has extensive experience working in film, theater and television in her roles as prop master, prop artisan, carpenter and scenic artist.
Emilie has worked over the last ten years creating curriculum content, props, lessons, video tutorials and designing and building interactive elements of the Learning in Concert program.
Justin Wolkowicz
App Developer
Jill Horton Simms
Outreach Director
Justin Wolkowicz is a graduate from Boston College with a degree in computer science and mathematics. He has developed online educational games for the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, including the Compose-it graphic music composition program and a Compose Your Own Bird Flight Pattern Melody program. Justin's online educational games have allowed children of all ages to freely explore music composition while connecting to concepts in astronomy, biology and environmental sustainability.
Jill provides outreach assistance connecting Sound Explorations to New England communities and organizations who would benefit from their unique programs. Simms has long been involved with non-profits both in Naples, FL and New Bedford, MA where she put programs together to benefit disadvantaged youth and the community at large. She has grant writing experience and was chosen as Mass Cultural Council's Leadership Circle Award in 2016 for excellence in individual contributions to community arts and culture. She enjoys making new connections and meeting new people.