BAM Staff
Artistic Director,
Brookhaven Art and Music
Phil Gelfer
Mr. Gelfer received his undergraduate music training at Denison University and Conservatory in Granville, Ohio. He completed his Master’s Degree at S.U.N.Y. at Stony Brook and has taught strings for over forty years on Long Island. Mr. Gelfer is a retired director of orchestras in the Three Village Central School District.
A sought-after guest conductor and clinician in the tri-state area, Mr. Gelfer has conducted area All-State Orchestras in Oneonta, N.Y., Orange County, N.Y., Clifton Park, N.Y., New Jersey and Maryland, as well as regional All-County Festivals throughout the East Coast. Mr. Gelfer’s orchestras have received A+ and gold with distinction ratings at N.Y.S.S.M.A. Majors and at various invitational festivals throughout the Northeast.
Mr. Gelfer is the founder and former director of the community-based arts center, Brookhaven Youth Orchestra and Arts Academy, that served hundreds of students and adults on Eastern Long Island and performed at Carnegie Hall with Maestro Skitch Henderson and the New York Pops Orchestra.
Mr. Gelfer also enjoys a busy performance career. He is first violinist and founder of the Ascot Affair String Quartet. He enjoys playing traditional Irish and Bluegrass music with various groups in the New York area. He has played fiddle, mandolin, and guitar with the country rock group Six Gun on Long Island. With Six Gun, he has toured Finland and the Soviet Union with the Wild West Rodeo Show. Mr. Gelfer can be heard on many recordings, performing with Six Gun as well as many local and national recording artists. He has also produced recording sessions for many artists in the Tri-State area.
Mr. Gelfer’s most recent project is the creation and development of the Brookhaven Art and Music Philharmonic and Symphony Orchestras where he works with talented students from all parts of Long Island. This program services students of all ages, disciplines and abilities that includes performance ensembles, group instrumental and vocal lessons as well as student internships.
Associate Conductor,
Brookhaven Art and Music
Gabriella Forgit
Gabriella Forgit received her undergraduate degree at The State University of New York at Fredonia, where she studied music education on violin. She later completed her Master’s Degree in Teaching Artistry at Bowling Green State University. Ms. Forgit is currently a middle school orchestra teacher in the William Floyd School District, where she had previously taught elementary orchestra. At her middle school, Ms. Forgit proudly conducts a 7th/8th grade orchestra and a chamber orchestra. She has been a chairperson for the Suffolk County Music Educator’s Assocation (SCMEA) as well as spent time on the executive board for the Long Island String Festival Association (LISFA).
Ms. Forgit is very passionate about building community within the orchestras she works with. She grew up wanting to become an orchestra teacher, hoping to foster a fun, engaging, and family-like environment amongst her students. Her students would describe her as excitable, compassionate, and goofy (even when she means business)! It is her desire for orchestra to be a place where every musician feels welcomed, supported, and successful.
Outside of teaching orchestra, Ms. Forgit enjoys playing several instruments in addition to her violin. She performs in both a professional string quartet where she plays viola, as well as an all-female funk band where she plays bass guitar. Ms. Forgit enjoys going to concerts to see the many bands and artists she loves, collecting vinyl records, and curating playlists of her favorite music. As well as her musical interests, Ms. Forgit practices Brazilian Jiu Jitsu; she enjoys rollerblading, bike riding, playing volleyball, and spending time with her dog, family, and friends. She is incredibly excited to be a part of the BAM family!
Associate Conductor,
Brookhaven Art and Music
Amy Mason Sckipp, Ed.D.
Dr. Sckipp studied Music Education at the University of South Carolina. She performed with the USC Symphony and Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Donald Portnoy, graduated with honors in 1997 and was awarded the prestigious Peabody Award for Education.
In 1998, Dr. Sckipp moved to Long Island earned her Master’s Degree in Liberal Arts at SUNY Stony Brook. She continued at Teachers College, Columbia University receiving a Master’s and a Doctor of Education Degree in Music Education. Her doctoral research described the perceptions of string orchestra teachers who do not claim orchestral string instruments as their primary instruments of performance. Dr. Sckipp’s research has been cited in numerous academic publications. She hopes her findings will benefit the public school string orchestra programs in America. More recently, Dr. Sckipp has presented at American String Teacher Association collegiate workshops, “Resume Planning and Interview Preparedness” and “Conducting School Orchestras” offering college students valuable strategies, tools and resources for their future job searches and placements.
Currently, Dr. Sckipp is the Coordinator of Music in the William Floyd School District in Mastic Beach, NY. Her orchestras have received many "Superior" and “First Place” ratings in regional competitions. Dr. Sckipp is an active member of ASTA, NAfME, NYSSMA, LISFA, and SCMEA and served on the executive board of SCMEA as the Orchestra Librarian for more than ten years.
Dr. Sckipp is also a freelance violinist and violist, an honored clinician with the Performing Arts Consultants and has served as a guest conductor, adjudicator, and clinician for festivals throughout the state of New York, New Jersey, and South Carolina.
Highlights of Dr. Sckipp’s career include being honored as a "Distinguished Teacher," for the William Floyd School District and participating as one of only 2 Americans and one of only 2 females in the international Conductors Institute 2017 held in China. She was honored to return to her native state of South Carolina as the All-State Orchestra conductor in 2019.
Our Instructors
-
Summer Music Orchestra
James Hein received his undergraduate degree in Music Education from the University of Maryland and is currently working towards a Master’s in Liberal Arts from Stony Brook University.
Mr. Hein is currently the orchestra director at Arrowhead elementary school as well as the 10th grade orchestra at Ward Melville High School. Throughout his career, Mr. Hein has taught beginning band, orchestra, chorus and general music.
-
Summer Music Orchestra
Matthew Gelfer grew up on Long Island's South Shore with one foot planted firmly in the classical world and the other in the world of fiddling and alternative styles. As a student at the Berklee College of Music, he was coached by some of the preeminent non-traditional string players of the profession, including Darol Anger (Turtle Island String Quartet), Jean Luc Ponty, and Mark O'Connor.
Mr. Gelfer currently teaches Junior High School strings in the Huntington School District. Previously, he taught Elementary School orchestra in the Middle Country School District where he started a 5th Grade Fiddle Club and a ukulele program.
Mr. Gelfer has been an All-County Chairperson, a NYSSMA adjudicator and guest conductor of the HMEA High School Orchestra. He is a founding member and violinist for the New Inlet Chamber Orchestra, and he can often be seen performing bluegrass and folk music as fiddler, mandolinist and guitarist for the Brooklyn based band The New Students.
-
Summer Music Band And Instrumental Jazz
Brendan Meier is currently director of bands at Paul J Gelinas JHS in the Three Village Central School District. He conducts the 7th, 8th, and 9th grade bands at Gelinas, as well as the jazz band and the wind ensemble. He is also a co-director of the Gelinas Theatre Company, the advisor for the Tri-M Jr. Music Honor Society, and assistant director for the Ward Melville Patriots Marching Band. Brendan is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist that maintains a private studio based out of his home in Islip Terrace where he teaches students of all levels and he is a proud member of the Roisin Dubh Irish Pipe Band from East Islip. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education with a concentration in special music education and a performance certificate on Clarinet from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam and a Master of Music degree in Music Education with a concentration on multiple woodwind performance and pedagogy from Hofstra University.
Interested in working with Brookhaven Art and Music? Contact us today!