Alumni News – Collaborative Piano

Andrew Voelker

Congratulations to Andrew Voelker, who received the Doctor of Music in Collaborative Piano at the Jacobs School of Music under the mentorship of Prof. Kevin Murphy and Prof. Anne Epperson in 2024! They also hold a Master of Music in Collaborative Piano from the Cleveland Institute of Music and Bachelors degrees in piano and voice from Northern Illinois University. Andrew has been appointed Vocal Coach and Music Director of the Opera Theatre at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music of the University of Georgia starting in 2025. An avid performer, Andrew brings a huge spirit of innovation and collaboration to the UGA. In April 2023, they made their Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center debuts with tenor Andrew Lunsford.

While serving as Associate Instructor of Collaborative Piano at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, Voelker coached productions of Le nozze di Figaro, La traviata, Little Women, Serse, and L’incoronazione di Poppea. In 2023, they assisted in preparing vocal roles for the premiere production of Shulamit Ran and Charles Kondek’s opera Anne Frank. Andrew also spent three years as the music director for the graduate opera workshop directed by internationally renowned soprano Heidi Grant Murphy.

As a pianist and opera coach at Illinois Wesleyan University, Voelker made their conducting debut in 2017 in Menotti’s The Medium, and directed productions including Amahl and the Night Visitors, and Trial by Jury. In recent summers, Andrew has been a Coach/Accompanist at Opera in the Ozarks where they prepared La bohéme and Carmen, and studio opera outreach tours. A 2018 Opera Coaching Fellow at the Aspen Opera Center, Voelker has directed music for productions with Great Lakes Light Opera, Chicago Summer Opera, and Prairie Fire Theatre. For five years, Andrew was a member of the collaborative piano staff at the renowned Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan.

Congratulations on your accomplishments, Andrew!

Tatiana Lokhina

Congratulations to our first Doctor of Music in Collaborative Piano!

We celebrated the graduation in May 2022 of the first ever Doctor of Music in Collaborative Piano at the Jacobs School of Music! Tatiana Lokhina, now Dr. Lokhina, started her studies in 2016. The photo on the left shows her with Professor Kevin Murphy who hooded her in the graduation ceremony and was her primary mentor in her doctoral studies. She minored in music theory and early keyboard, studying with the renowned Elisabeth Wright. Tania has been teaching Russian diction online for several years. She is truly a “poster child” for our program….. a wonderful pianist, excellent researcher, outstanding collaborator with both singers and instrumentalists, and above all a great colleague.

Dr. Lokhina has been a full time collaborative staff pianist at the Oberlin College and Conservatory since Fall 2021. As a solo pianist, Dr. Lokhina attended Moscow Ippolitov-Ivanov Music Institute and Musikhochschule Hamburg. She earned a master’s degree in collaborative piano from Lynn University in Florida, studying with Lisa Leonard.

She recorded the unpublished works of Beethoven for violin and piano for Naxos, made an album of songs by women composers with soprano Chloe Boelter, and was featured as the harpsichordist in the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra’s DeHaan Virtual Baroque Series. She has appeared at the International Society of Bassists, Summer Opera Tel Aviv, SongFest, and the Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar. Notably, she performed the complete violin sonatas of Johannes Brahms with Jacobs faculty violinist Grigory Kalinovsky.

Tatiana is pictured below with her husband, Tony Weinstein, who is Assistant Professor of Class Piano at Oberlin and her first daughter, Ania.

Julian Garvue

Julian Garvue is a collaborative pianist from Seattle, WA and completed a M.M. and P.D. with Prof. Kevin Murphy. He has performed and recorded in genres ranging from classical to pop, and has performed at jazz clubs on both coasts of the US. Julian is currently a young artist/pianist/coach with the Los Angeles Opera’s Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program.

After graduating from the Eastman School of Music with a Double Bachelor’s degree in Jazz Piano and Music Theory, Julian had a diverse freelancing career in Brooklyn, NY where he worked in such capacities as an accompanist for Columbia University’s Musical Theatre program, choral pianist for Highbridge Voices in the Bronx, choir teacher for the Harmony Program in the Bronx, and ballet pianist for Alden Moves Dance Studio. From 2017 to 2018, he worked as an ArtistYear Americorps Fellow at PS 143Q in Corona, Queens, NY, where he taught music to over 500 elementary school students. Julian is also an accomplished composer.

Lucas Nogara

Following his graduation from IU in 2022, Lucas Nogara (M.M., P.D. ’23) joined the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program at the Los Angeles Opera for the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 seasons. Lucas, who studied with Prof. Kevin Murphy, has been building a major career in operatic and art song performances as a pianist and opera coach. His projects with IU Opera Theater include working in the productions of Parsifal, La Bohème, La Rondine, and The Barber of Seville.

Following his undergraduate studies at the State University of São Paulo in Brazil, Lucas began working in opera studios and playing in song recitals throughout Brazil. In 2018, he was invited to the Tel Aviv Summer Opera Festival, and in 2021, he received a fellowship to collaborate with the Ravinia Steans Institute’s Program for Singers.

In February 2024, Lucas performed a recital program of art songs with international renowned tenor Russell Thomas, who also serves on the voice faculty at Jacobs.

James Maverick

Collaborative alumnus James Maverick (P.D., ’17) has served on the full-time faculty at The University of Texas at Austin’s Butler School of Music since 2021 as a Lecturer in Collaborative Piano. At Butler, James teaches vocal accompanying and coaches singers. He is also a frequent collaborator with Austin Opera for their productions and is also music director for their LatinX Residency workshop. Since 2020, James has also been on the music staff and served as Assistant Chorus Master for Cincinnati Opera.

Brock Tjosvold

Collaborative alumnus Brock Tjosvold (P.D.) is Assistant Professor of Vocal Coaching at the Eastman School of Music. One of our department’s earliest graduates, Brock was a student of Prof. Anne Epperson and Prof. Kevin Murphy. He has performed throughout the United States as both an instrumental and vocal collaborator. Prior to joining Eastman, he served as an Assistant Professor of Vocal Coaching and Accompanying at the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam. New music is a major part of Brock’s career, and he has collaborated with several living composers including Jennifer Hidden, Libby Larsen, John Musto, and Nina Young. He is in demand as an orchestral keyboardist, having performed with the Albany Symphony, New World Symphony, and Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra, as well as the National Repertory Orchestra.

Tjosvold, Brock – Eastman School of Music

Brock began his musical training at age six and received his bachelor’s degree in piano performance from the University of Wyoming. He completed his master’s at the University of Michigan studying with Martin Katz before coming to IU. His doctoral degree is from the Eastman School of Music, where he also minored in sacred music and solo piano.

These Jacobs Collaborative Piano alumni are currently pursuing further studies in major institutions across the country. We wish them all the best in their collaborative journeys!