Cont. When Jobie retired from teaching in the year 2000, she asked Myrna Brinkley to take over leadership of the group. We sponsor student recitals several times a year at Ewell Hall at The College of William & Mary, and meet each month during the school year in a different teacher’s home (or online). It was suggested that we do an annual benefit performance starting in 2009 to raise funds for the Williamsburg Music Club Grants-in-Aid program (student scholarships). This has grown into a popular event; we do our best to showcase many kinds of music on several different instruments. Our first benefit raised approximately $1,000 and has steadily increased so that we now see this effort raise more than $2,000 anually.
Charlene studied music at the Chicago Conservatory and American Conservatory in Chicago. She is experienced as a private piano teacher, church organist, choir director and director of music in churches in the Chicago suburban area. She was Executive Director and Orchestra Manager of the Elmhurst Symphony. Currently, she teaches piano from her home studio, in the new virtual setting and is looking forward to once again, sharing with her students in real time.
In March 2020, COVID restrictions and its wake ended Heidi's 19+ year tenure as Organist/Choir Director at Christ Episcopal Church in Smithfield. Since September 2019, Heidi happily shares her professional time as one of the organists at the Williamsburg Community Chapel, and in late Spring 2020, she added Resurrection Lutheran Church in Newport News to her weekend rotation. For 32 years, she was an active synagogue musician, planning and rehearsing weekly Sabbath and High Holy Day services with a vocal quartet and instrumentalists, and creating special music programs. As a Suzuki piano instructor, her teaching extends from the Renaissance School of the Arts (a home-schooling program encompassing fine and performing arts in Suffolk, VA) to maintaining a private and traditional piano studio in Newport News and Williamsburg. She is Artistic Director for Sundays at Four, a performance series based in Smithfield and serves on the Board for Chamber Music Society of Williamsburg. Heidi received her Master’s Degree in Organ Performance and Sacred Music from the University of Michigan, and her undergraduate degree is from ODU.
Organ and Suzuki piano lessons. Phone 757 229-4127
Myrna Brinkley holds a BS degree in Music Education as a piano major/voice minor, and also studied voice on the graduate level at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester NY. Myrna teaches piano and voice privately, coordinates the Williamsburg Area Music Teachers group and the National Federation of Music Clubs Festivals for the Virginia Peninsula, sings with the Williamsburg Women’s Chorus and Choraliers, the Virginia Choral Society, and is parliamentarian for the Peninsula Music Teachers Assn. (part of MTNA) and member of the Williamsburg Music Club. Myrna and her husband (Paul) have one married daughter who lives in Florida.
Stephanie Lupo was raised on Long Island, NY and started vocal lessons at an early age. She received a Bachelor of Music degree and Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, MA. Stephanie has sung multiple operatic roles and in festivals in CO, IA, FL and TX. She also placed 2nd in the NY Metropolitan Competition. Stephanie performed with The Bel Canto Foundation in Italy and took master classes with opera legends Renata Tebaldi and Luciano Pavarotti. Stephanie sang the lead role in Aida in Symphony Hall in Boston and received rave reviews from Richard Dyer of the Boston Globe. She was also featured in a radio broadcast of Verdi’s Nabucco. Currently, Stephanie is teaching voice in Williamsburg to students of all ages, sings with the Williamsburg Women’s Chorus, Williamsburg Acappella Singers and the Virginia Opera.