Karena Tapsak
Mountain View Music Founder/Owner Karena B. Tapsak holds a Master of Science degree from the University of Southern California in International Public Administration. She has a varied background in public/private/non-profit administration, property management, writing, marketing, special events, and teaching. She has held board positions in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania and in Front Royal, Virginia. Affiliations include St. Anthony Civic Orchestra (Minnesota), Susquehanna Valley Chorale (Pennsylvania), Jubilate Choir (Pennsylvania), and Bloomsburg Preparatory School of Music (Pennsylvania). She has been teaching for more than 15 years, including as an adjunct professor at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. Her greatest passion is for the piano, which she has been teaching exclusively for six years. Karena is a member of the Piano Teachers Guild of the American College of Musicians, the Virginia Music Teachers Association and the National Association for Music Education. Her current endeavors include singing with the Arts Chorale of Winchester and preparing for several performances in 2025.
Robert Philbin
Sarah McCown
Sarah McCown recently performed across the country with the Broadway National Tour of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical. Her love of musicals started in her youth from watching VHS film adaptations with her grandparents. She had no idea they were musicals; she just thought there was a lot of singing in old movies! She spends her summers playing for the Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre.
McCown has a vibrant private lesson studio teaching flute, clarinet, and saxophone in both classical and commercial styles. Lessons are tailored to each student in content, pacing, and workload. Students learn to articulate fundamental concepts, strengthen listening skills, and explore resources. Her students place in their regional and state competitions, apprentice with professional theatre companies, and attend prominent summer music camps. She lectures at Shenandoah Conservatory and Blue Ridge Community and Technical College.
McCown has a Doctor of Music in Woodwind Doubling from Shenandoah Conservatory, a Master of Music as a Woodwind Specialist from Michigan State University, and a Bachelor of Music from Tennessee Technological University.
Her free time is spent playing video games with her husband and taking their little dog on hiking trips.
Cecilia Philbin
Meghan Buckner
Sophia Alvini-Moore
Talbot Jennings
Genevieve Suprenant
Kelly Irwin
Elizabeth McFadden
David Bilowus
David Michael Bilowus holds a Master’s degree in piano performance and Bachelors of Fine Arts degrees in voice and piano from the State University of New York in Buffalo, where he also taught piano. He studied piano and pedagogy with Livingston Gearhart and Carlo Pinto. He has also studied at the Eastman School of Music, the Chautauqua Music Institute, the University of Southern California, and at the University of North Texas. While in California, he studied the Russian technique of piano playing with Surajeet Chatterji.
Mr. Bilowus has performed in many locations around the world including Ukraine, France, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Greece, Mexico, Canada, and many locations in the United States. Bilowus has served on the music faculty at universities where he taught piano, voice, and directed choirs, stage band, and orchestra. He has also served as the music director of churches in Virginia and North Carolina. Additionally, he was selected by the Texas Commission on the Arts to serve as a distinguished artist-in-residence at several schools in Texas, where he taught students how to compose their own music. He was also selected by the Texas Commission on the Arts and the Mid-America Arts Alliance to perform throughout Texas and Mid-America.
David is a prolific composer and arranger, and continues to release numerous recordings that are often featured on his website, davidmichaelbilowus.com.
Eli Thomas
Eli’s musical journey began at the age of six in his hometown of San Diego, California. His ever-growing passion for music took him to the East Coast where he completed both his bachelors and masters degrees in violin performance at Shenandoah Conservatory, studying under renowned violinist Akemi Takayama. His studies have taken him across the country and internationally to countries such as Spain and Argentina. In Jamaica, he studied pedagogy with master teacher Steven Woodham, a pupil of Zakhar Bron, Europe’s leading violin teacher. While in school he served as concertmaster of the conservatory’s orchestra, and participated in numerous chamber music ensembles. He was invited to attend the Castleton Festival, an intensive opera and orchestra program directed by Lorin Maazel, the former conductor of the New York Philharmonic. He performs frequently in local orchestras including the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra and the National String Symphonia, where he has served as Assistant Concertmaster. As a soloist, he has performed numerous recitals in the Mid-Atlantic region. He was a featured soloist with the Charles Washington Symphony Orchestra, performing the virtuosic showpiece Zigeunerweisen. In 2014, he was a prizewinner in the Virginia Music Teachers Association concerto competition, and winner of the Bach-Handel competition at Shenandoah Conservatory.
Although his training is primarily classical, Eli has played in numerous genres ranging from Bluegrass and Celtic to jazz and classic rock. In college, he was a member of the Bluefire Jazz String Quartet, which performed both jazz classics and original material. The quartet had the honor to work with Wynton Marsalis, one of the greatest jazz musicians living today. He was also involved in the Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra’s world premiere of Wynton Marsalis’ Blues Symphony. Eli’s love for folk music comes from his family heritage. His great- grandfather was a fiddler from the island of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and some of his earliest memories are of listening to his father’s recordings of Cape Breton Celtic music. He was honored to join Celtic Woman and the Irish Tenors as a member of the orchestra for their concerts in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. In the classic rock genre, Eli has performed with a popular local band, including a sold out show dedicated to the music of the Beatles.
As a teacher, Eli has worked with students of all ages, from preschoolers to adults. He is the co-founder and director of the Charles Washington Youth Orchestra and the Lighthouse Baptist Church Children’s Choir. His passion lies in the opportunity to affect a student’s life in a positive way. He loves proving that they are capable of far more than they might imagine, teaching them how to learn, and enabling them to see farther down the road of learning. Through music, he shows them to always be curious, helping every student unleash their own creative spark and open the door to discovery. He believes that a teacher has an important responsibility that requires constant dedication, hard work, and self-evaluation to ensure every student gets the very best they deserve.
Eli has clocked up countless hours as a professional violinist, playing everything from a sold out all Beatles show to appearing on stage with Celtic Women, the Irish Tenors and Wynton Marsalis. Under the banner of Nova Strings, Eli collaborates with the area’s premier musicians to perform as a String Quartet, String Trio or String Duo or Solo Violin. All musicians Eli works with are full-time professional classical musicians, mostly all with a master’s degree or higher.
Taking great pride in his work, Eli loves every detail of preparing for a wedding or special event, from hand curating song selections to create the perfect ambiance, to promptly responding to communications and handling all logistical details. Every event is guaranteed by a written contract to ensure your peace of mind. Eli Thomas may also be reached through his personal website, www.novaviolin.com.
