Sheila DuMont
Sheila DuMont is a native of Williamsport, Pennsylvania now living in Winchester, Virginia while studying for her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Shenandoah Conservatory with internationally known flutist, Jonathan Snowden.
An active performer, she currently serves as principal flutist of the Northern Appalachian Wind Symphony (PA), performs with the award-winning Penn Central Wind Band (PA), and is a founding member of the Great Lakes Wind Symphony (NY). Sheila may be heard as principal flutist on recordings with the Grammy-nominated Mansfield University Wind Ensemble. She has served as principal of the Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, co-principal of the Penn State Philharmonic Orchestra, Penn State Chamber Orchestra, and Penn State Symphonic Wind Ensemble.
In February of 2020, Sheila made her Carnegie Hall debut with the Penn State Symphonic Wind Ensemble as featured piccolo soloist in Percy Grainger’s Lincolnshire Posy. More recently, she performed as featured flute soloist in Shenandoah Conservatory’s April 2021 performance of Samuel Barber’s Capricorn Concerto.
As a teacher, Sheila brings with her 20 years of experience in creating a well-rounded musical education and a holistic, pro-student environment. She is a proponent of community and lifelong music; in her hometown, she founded, organized, and served as musical director (2013-2016) of the Williamsport Flute Choir, a performance ensemble that is still active today. Her students have ranged in age from elementary to adult, and have gone on to win district, state, and regional competitions, successfully audition to university music programs, and most importantly, achieve their own personal musicianship goals.
Sheila holds a bachelor’s degree in flute performance from Mansfield University of Pennsylvania, as well as master’s degrees in both flute performance and musicology from Penn State University. Musicological interests include historical performance practice and introducing compositions by women and other underrepresented composers into the Western Music canon. She is currently a doctoral student in flute performance at Shenandoah Conservatory, studying with Jonathan Snowden, former principal flutist of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. She is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society.
When not playing music, Sheila enjoys spending time with her husband Frank, playing with her chihuahua mix, Marzipan and newly adopted Siamese kitten, Jesk, travelling, thrifting, and beating her own time on The New York Times crossword puzzles.
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,
Larissa Fedoryka
Larissa grew up performing with her family, The Fedoryka Family Ensemble, bringing her to venues such as the Kennedy Center and the Wolf Trap Family Festival. She received her Doctorate of Musical Arts in 2017 from the University of California Santa Barbara. While in California, she freelanced as a cellist, playing with local orchestras, recording as a session cellist and touring with Latin pop icon Marco Antonio Solis and Gloria Trevi. She most recently toured with Celtic-Americana band Scythian, holding down the back-line as cellist and electric bass guitarist. Trained in both the Kodály and Suzuki methods, Larissa also teaches Music Theory and the History of Music at Christendom College in her home town of Front Royal Virginia while establishing her house concert series “Painting with Music”.
Oscar Mason
A native of Melbourne, Australia, Oscar is forging his own path as a 21st century artist.
An avid chamber musician, he is a founding member of the highly acclaimed Maverick Brass Quintet, Prize winners at the Jeju International Brass and Winds Festival Competition 2019 and dual Norfolk Chamber Music Festival Fellows. Oscar has given both solo and collaborative recitals whilst residing in the US, and has also appeared as a guest soloist with the American Baroque Orchestra.
As comfortable in a symphonic setting as any, he performs as a guest artist with the Florida Grand Opera, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, The Royal Melbourne Philharmonic and the Melbourne Baroque Orchestra. Oscar’s variety of performance knows no limit, having shared the stage with Australian music legends John Farnham and Jimmy Barnes. He can also be found performing the Australian National Anthem with Dami Im at the 2016 Melbourne Cup, in front of an audience of 100,000 people.
Oscar holds a Bachelor of Music (Honors) from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music (2016), a Master of Music degree from Yale School of Music (2019) and is currently a DMA Candidate at Shenandoah University.
Therese Ohotnicky
Therese Ohotnicky is a Junior at Christendom College in Front Royal, VA studying Classical and Early Christian Studies and Music. Therese has served as the primary organist at Immaculate Conception Parish in Colorado Springs, CO, assistant organist at the Minor Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Chattanooga, TN, and is currently serving as primary organist at Christ the King Chapel at Christendom College. She has many years of experience with teaching and leading youth through camps, swim and music lessons, and tutoring. She is very excited to begin this opportunity with Mountain View Music sharing her love of music and piano!
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 and the National Association for Music Education.
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,
Nadia Thornton
Nadia Thornton is a former missionary kid from Ukraine who has played piano for over three quarters of her life. While in Ukraine, she studied in the Children’s Music School No. 1 under Natalia Alexandrovna Velikaya, and graduated from there at age 16 with highest honors. Throughout her time at the music school, she performed in many school-wide, city-wide, and region-wide competitions, placing well not just for piano but for music theory and music literature. In college, she continued studying music while majoring in psychology and performed several times a semester. She graduated in 2020 with a bachelors in psychology, which has proven invaluable both in trying to interpret various composers’ music and in helping build rapport with younger students. She has accompanied both pedagogues and students of other musical instruments and feels most at home on a stage. She brings to her teaching extreme conflict resolution and a desire to help music bring peace and healing.
Meghan Buckner
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 and the National Association for Music Education.
Madeline Southall
Shelly Stockton
Shelly Stockton has enjoyed performing and teaching music since 1990. Her background is in piano and voice performance, music composition, and worship music. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education at Emporia University. Mrs. Stockton teaches private piano and voice lessons for all ages and offers recorder classes for children ages 8-14.
