Barry Stern conducts the ISO Symphony, and he is also orchestra director of Ft. Hamilton High School in Brooklyn, as well as the Principal Conductor of the All City High School Orchestra. Co-author of the New York City Department of Education's commencement Music Examination, and a lead facilitator for professional development for New York City music teachers, in addition to serving on the committee that created the Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in the Arts.
As a violist, Barry has collaborated and performed with artists such as Quincy Jones, Mark Wood, Tevin Campbell, and Sarah Brightman. Barry is the founding conductor of NYC’s Summer Arts Institute String Studio, meeting at Frank Sinatra High School for the Arts in Astoria. Previously, Mr. Stern was the guest conductor of the NYSSMA Area All State Middle School Festival at Bishop Laughlin High School in Brooklyn, and served on the faculty of the New York State Music Camp and Institute at Hartwick College. Prior to becoming a full time educator, Mr. Stern had been Director of Orchestral Operations at Manhattan School of Music, and Director of the Bronx House School for the Performing Arts. He is a graduate of Lehman College (MAT), and the Manhattan School of Music (BM, MM), where he studied viola with Burton Kaplan and Karen Dreyfus, and conducting with David Gilbert and Jonathan Strasser.
Steven Rochen conducts ISO’s Carnegie Hill Orchestra. He has based his career on teaching children to perform with confidence. He has served for more than two decades on the faculties of Third Street Music School, Trinity School, and Meadowmount School of Music. Performances of his piece for solo violin, A Piece of Pi, (Ovation Press, pub.) have been mentioned in articles published worldwide by Agence France-Presse and other media services.
He studied violin with Sally Thomas and Fredell Lack and studied conducting with Igor Buketoff. In 2008 he was appointed the Paul-Philippe Bolduc Fellow, with research trips to Berlin, Vienna, and Prague. He has enjoyed working with the indie band The Baskervilles on their latest CD and also performs with his band The New Lost Faculty Ramblers.
Matthew Rotjan, Ed.D., is an active music educator committed to cultivating excitement and enthusiasm in music and music education. As a public school music educator, he recently joined the faculty of the Scarsdale Public Schools (NY), where he is on staff teaching orchestra at Scarsdale Middle School. Prior to this position, Matthew taught in the South Orangetown Central School District (NY), where he taught grades 3-8 string lessons and orchestra classes.
Outside of his activities in the public school, Matthew works with young musicians in NYC as a conductor of the InterSchool Orchestras of New York’s Morningside Orchestra, which has led him to conduct in Trinity Church, Symphony Space, and Carnegie Hall. With a strong commitment to community music making, he is the co-founder/conductor of the Rockland Youth Orchestra, a not-for-profit organization in Rockland County (NY).
Matthew has recently written articles, guest conducted, and presented at conferences for the American String Teachers Association, Broome County Music Educators Association, Connecticut Music Educators Association, Nassau County Music Educators Association, National Association for Music Education, New Jersey Music Educators Association, New York State School Music Association, and the Vermont Music Educators Association. He has been invited to present his research, pedagogical practice, and philosophy at colleges and universities throughout the east coast and has twice been named a Quaterfinalist for the Grammy Music Educator Award.
Matthew earned his doctorate from Teachers College, Columbia University, where he served as a music teacher supervisor, applied music instructor, research assistant, and cooperating teacher. His dissertation, “In-between and together with: Exploring the complexity of repertoire selection with orchestra teachers and their students,” examined the complex relationships between student interests and identities, teacher training and philosophy, and repertoire selection practices in public school orchestras. He is actively immersed in connecting theory to practice in music education, string pedagogy, and teacher preparation. Degrees are from Ithaca College (B.M.) in Music Education and Performance (cello) and Teachers College, Columbia University (M.A., Ed.M., Ed.D.) in Music and Music Education.
