Fellowship Recipients
Meet our past and present Fellows
Ava Paul
2024 - 2025
A current Fellow, Ava is pursuing a double major in politics and vocal performance at Oberlin College and Conservatory. Ava has been a soloist with the Cleveland Chamber Choir and the Oberlin Baroque Orchestra. With the Oberlin College Choir and Orchestra, Ava has performed multiple times at Carnegie Hall, including for the United Nations General Assembly.
Ben Low
2024 - 2025
A current Fellow, Ben is pursuing a degree in music education at The College of Wooster. Ben is President of the Ohio Collegiate Music Education Association State Board, an Invitee of the 2024 GIA/Walton Publications Composer Academy, and a member of the Wooster Chorus and Scot Symphonic Band.
Ethan Yoder
2023 - 2024
2024 - 2025
A current Fellow,
Ethan is studying toward a B.M. in
music composition at The
College of Wooster. Ethan was the winner of the 2024 College of Wooster Scot Symphonic Band Composition Competition. His piece "Is Anybody Out There?" was premiered in November 2024. He is a member of the Wooster Chorus.
Katie Kitchen
2023 - 2024
2024 - 2025
A current Fellow, Katie is studying toward her B.M. in voice performance at Cleveland State University. Katie regularly performs as a soloist and professional choral singer in the Cleveland area.
AJ Gauger
2023 - 2024
AJ holds a B.M. in voice performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music. Stage credits include Soeur Mathilde in Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites and First Sprite in Massenet’s Cendrillon, both at CIM.
In the summer of 2023 they attended the Si Parla, Si Canta program in Arona, Italy, and in the summer of 2022 they attended the Miami Frost School of Music program
in Salzburg, Austria.
John-Joseph Haney
2022 - 2023
2023 - 2024
John holds a bachelor's degree from Mannes College of Music, and his M.M. from the Cleveland Institute of Music. He made his European and role debut as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni at the Estates Theatre in Prague. During his time as a Fellow, John was selected to perform the
role of Postiglione in The Cleveland Orchestra's staged production of Puccini's La Fanciulla del West.
Melissa Martinez
2021 - 2022
Melissa earned her B.M. in vocal performance from the University of Miami Frost School of Music, and her M.M. in voice from the Cleveland Institute of Music. She was the winner of the Mirabell Competition while participating in the Patti and Allan Herbert Salzburg Program in 2019. Currently, she teaches voice lessons in addition to her performance career.
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Read more about Melissa:
Seth Hobi
2021 - 2022
2022 - 2023
A former member of The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus and praised for his "mature voice" (clevelandclassical.com), Seth is a member of Apollo's Fire and regularly performs as a soloist and professional choral singer around the country.
Seth holds a B.M. in vocal performance from Cleveland State University and is currently pursuing a M.S.M. in voice at the University of Notre Dame, where he is also a graduate assistant.
Daveon Bolden
2019 - 2020
Daveon has continued to pursue his passion for opera after graduating from CIM. In 2022, he competed in The Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition in the Washington District.
Daveon holds a M.M. in voice and opera from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and a B.M. from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Ashlyn S. H. Gelman
2019 - 2020
Ashlyn earned her B.M. in voice performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and her M.M. in voice from the Cleveland Institute of Music. She has since relocated to southern Virginia and has been a core member of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra Chorus and the Virginia Opera Chorus since 2021. In 2024 she was one of six featured ensemble members chosen to perform Sweeney Todd with renowned soloists Rod Gilfry and Donna Lynne Champlin in the title roles with the Virginia Arts Festival.
Xiaoge Zhang
2019 - 2020
A soprano and pianist, Xiaoge holds a B.M. in voice performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music. She is currently working toward a D.M.A. in vocal performance at Eastman School of Music, where she also earned a M.M. in vocal performance.
Xiaoge has received 1st Prize in the Classical Singer International Vocal Competition in Beijing, Outstanding Award in Boston, and 1st Prize in the Ohio NATS Competition.
Madelaine Matej (MacQueen)
2019 - 2020
Madelaine holds a B.M. in vocal performance from University of the Pacific, and a Ph.D in musicology from Case Western Reserve University.
She continues to sing professionally in the Cleveland area.
Read more about Madelaine:
Andrea Bliscik
2018 - 2019
Andrea holds a
B.M. in music therapy from
Cleveland State University.
In 2022, she wrote six of thirteen songs on the CD "Welcome Spring", featuring the students of Southview Preschool Center in Anderson, IN, where she is currently a
music therapist.
Steven Stavnicky
2017 - 2018
Stephen received his B.M. in trumpet performance from Kent State University. A bass-baritone and trumpet player, he was named the first-place winner of the brass division of the 2022 Tuesday Musical scholarship competition, and was then named the third-place winner of the voice division of the same competition in 2023. Stephen is currently pursuing a double M.M. degree in trumpet and voice at Indiana University - Jacobs School of Music.
Preston Masters
2016 - 2017
Preston received a M.M. degree in composition from Cleveland State University, and a B.M. of music performance in voice/opera from The Florida State University. He has sung with Cleveland Chamber Choir and the Tallahassee Community Chorus.
Corey Hill
2015 - 2016
2016 - 2017
2017 - 2018
Our first Fellowship recipient, Corey, sang with us for three seasons. He received a B.M. in music education from Cleveland State University, and M.M. in music education from
Kent State University.
After school, Corey taught elementary music for six years
