FACULTY
.jpg)
CHRIS ELDRIDGE
Guitarist Chris Eldridge is a founding member of Punch Brothers, the influential acoustic band that has released seven critically acclaimed albums and won a Grammy for Best Folk Album in 2018. Raised in a musical family—his father Ben was a founding member of The Seldom Scene—Eldridge studied at Oberlin Conservatory and with guitarist Tony Rice before joining the Seldom Scene and co-founding The Infamous Stringdusters, which won three IBMA awards in 2007 including Album of the Year. His duo with Julian Lage earned a Grammy nomination in 2017, and he helped form Mighty Poplar in 2023, whose debut received a Grammy nomination for Best Bluegrass Album. He also performs in a duo with singer-songwriter Kristin Andreassen. Eldridge has collaborated with Paul Simon, Fiona Apple, T-Bone Burnett, Marcus Mumford, and Del McCoury, served as house guitarist on Live From Here with Chris Thile (2016–2020), and was named Americana Music Association Instrumentalist of the Year in 2019.
JORGE ROEDER
Originally from Lima, Peru, bassist Jorge Roeder has become renowned as one of the most versatile and expressive bass players in jazz today. Combining a symphonic imagination with the intimate lyricism of a folk musician, the aggressive energy of a raw rocker with the buoyant rhythmic sensibilities of his Afro-Peruvian roots, Roeder conveys a wide spectrum of influences within a resolute foundation. In his hands, says the Ottawa Citizen, “the music feels like it’s dancing from the ground up.”
Roeder has enjoyed long-standing partnerships with Julian Lage, Sofia Rei, Shai Maestro and Ryan Keberle, and shared stages with such innovators as Gary Burton, Nels Cline and John Zorn. He’s been recognized with a number of awards, including the 2007 International Society of Bassists Jazz Competition and semi-finalist status in the 2009 Thelonious Monk Bass Competition, as well as a Grammy nomination for the Julian Lage Group’s debut album.
MARGARET GLASPY
Margaret Glaspy is a New York songwriter, guitarist, and producer. Alongside several EP’s, she has released three full length albums with ATO records, toured the world over, and shared the stage with the likes of Spoon, Wilco, Sara Bareilles, and Norah Jones, to name a few. Carrying a rare gift for rendering the most nuanced aspects of the human experience with equal parts primal emotionality and bracing intelligence, she sites influences including Tom Waits, SonicYouth, Vivienne Westwood, and Aretha Franklin. Of her most recent full length record “Echo The Diamond,” Paste Magazine called it “a revelation of intimacy and confidence,”and Rolling Stone called her “one of the more relatable songwriters in recent years.”
TIM MILLER
Tim Miller is an American guitarist and composer. He is known for his distinctive sound, melodic compositions and unique approach to improvisation. His recordings include Synergy, Changes, Trio Vol. 1, Trio Vol. 2, and Trio Vol. 3. He will be releasing a new album in 2026. Tim plays an influential role at Berklee College of Music where he mentors new generations of musicians with his creative concepts and musical approaches.
RUDY ROYSTON
Born in Fort Worth, Texas, and raised in Denver, Colorado, Rudy Royston has been a professional teacher, drummer and percussionist for almost twenty years. He studied classical percussion at University of Denver where he earned undergraduate degrees in Music and English, and accomplished teacher certification credentials from Metropolitan State College of Denver. Rudy grew up playing drums in church, and found his voice under the auspices of Colorado’s celebrated trumpeter Ron Miles, whom Royston deems his greatest influence, and with whom Rudy has played since 1991. He has taught, recorded and performed all styles of music from Jazz to marching percussion. Since moving to Piscataway, New Jersey in 2006, Royston has completed a Masters in Music degree from Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and performed with many of today’s finest Jazz musicians. Javon Jackson, Bill Frisell, Les McCann, David Gilmore, Ben Allison, Jason Moran, JD Allen, Sean Jones, Jeremy Pelt, Greg Osby, Jennifer Holiday, Ravi Coltrane, Ralph Bowen, Bruce Barth, George Colligan, Don Byron, Stanley Cowell, Tom Harrell, John Ellis, Jenny Scheinmenn and The Mingus Big Band, to name a few. A lover of all genres of music, Rudy continues to pursue music and expand his music horizons.
JAMEE CULBERTSON
Jamee Culbertson is an Alexander Technique teacher-trainer and Senior instructor of the Universal Tao System. She has over 35 years of experience helping people move, breathe and perform with greater ease. Her artistic journey began in the world of theatre at the Neighborhood Playhouse in NYC where she cultivated a love for the expressive arts. That passion drew her to study music at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. As a graduate of Berklee College of Music herself Jamee now blends mindful awareness, body mechanics and energy principles to support fluid coordination, effortless sound and confident stage presence. Jamee offers classes worldwide in person and online where she teaches how balance, breath and awareness can open natural harmony in the body. “It is a great joy of mine to see and hear musicians rediscover freedom in their movements and creative expression.”
TOM CRANDALL
Tom Crandall, co-founder of NYC’s TR Crandall Guitars, is a master luthier who treats the guitar as a musical extension of the player rather than just a mechanical tool. With over 30 years of experience restoring vintage and historically significant instruments, he focuses on the precise balance of geometry, tension, and seasonal maintenance to ensure every instrument functions at its best. Inspired by working with many of the world's top musicians, he seeks to merge technical craft with the musical expression of the artists, enabling guitarists to better express themselves with their instruments.