Meet Our Team
Our tight-knit team designs and delivers musiConnects' education programs, creates our concert season, and carries our mission into all aspects of their musical lives. Our part-time Resident Musicians ("RMs"), Roslindale Community Program faculty, and full-time Executive Director, Nancy Galluzzo, are supported in this work by an eight-member Board of Directors comprised of community leaders and musiConnects parents.
Resident Musicians + RCP Faculty
Biographies (from top left)
David Rubin (Artistic Director // Resident Musician, violin) joined musiConnects in 2016. He currently serves as Artistic Director and Resident Musician, teaches violinists in the Roslindale Community Program & Residency Program, and co-facilitates mC², a peer leadership group for advancing students. David's teaching practice is informed by a two-year fellowship at Community MusicWorks in Providence, RI, pedagogy study at Indiana University's Summer String Academy (Retreat for Violin & Viola Teachers), and trainings in Suzuki Books 1-2 (Christie Felsing, Ed Kreitman) and Kaleidoscopes (Elise Winters). As an orchestral violinist, David works throughout New England with ensembles such as BMOP, Boston Pops Esplanade, Rhode Island Philharmonic, and New Bedford Symphony, and has performed nationally/internationally at the Peninsula, Lucerne, Spoleto, and Banff festivals. David is also an experienced performer on baroque/classical instruments (Providence Baroque, Upper Valley Baroque, Madison Bach Musicians, Baroque Band), and particularly enjoys exploring 19th and early 20th-century music on gut strings with a historically-informed perspective. He has worked directly with numerous composers, presented premiere performances, and contributed to recordings/live broadcasts for BMOP/sound, WBEZ Chicago, and Wisconsin Public Radio. David holds degrees from Lawrence University and Boston Conservatory, and completed additional study at the Banff Centre, Lucerne Festival Academy, and Conservatorium van Amsterdam. David is a 2021-23 recipient of the Massachusetts Cultural Council's META Fellowship.
Elizabeth Cook (Resident Musician, cello) joined musiConnects in 2021, teaching young cellists in the Residency Program and Roslindale Community Program and performing with mC's faculty string quartet. Elizabeth grew up in North Carolina, where she studied cello at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts with cellist Zvi Plesser. She went on to obtain degrees from Mannes College, SUNY Purchase, and The Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, where she studied with renowned cellists such as Marcy Rosen, Brooks Whitehouse, Julia Lichten, and Michal Korman. Elizabeth has had the privilege of participating in masterclasses with artists such as Gary Hoffman, Peter Wiley, Paul Watkins, Zuil Bailley, Eighth Blackbird, The Orion String Quartet, David Finckel and Wu Han. In 2018 Elizabeth was awarded the Gloria Miner Fellowship at the 2018 Sitka International Cello Seminar, and performed as soloist with the Western Piedmont Wind Symphony in the “Music Beyond Borders” concert series which highlighted the stories of refugees. Elizabeth's passion for social change has driven her to serve in many different places all over the world, such as Sounds of Palestine, a music program for refugee youth in Bethlehem; and Children of Cambodia, a sponsorship program for orphans in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Elizabeth has spent a total of six years in Palestine and Israel where she both studied and taught cello to marginalized youth, including those living in refugee camps. In 2021, Elizabeth created and co-organized the first Palestinian Cello Choir, which gathered 30 cellists from all over Palestine to perform together in a concert tour.
Joshua Addison (Associate Director // Resident Musician, violin) joined musiConnects in its inaugural year as second violinist of the Chittick String Quartet, and returned in 2011 as a founding member of the Sumner Quartet (previously musiConnects' ensemble-in-residence). Josh currently serves as Associate Director and Resident Musician, teaching young violinists in the Residency Program & Roslindale Community Program. Josh has been active with musical outreach programs in Chelsea and Lawrence, Massachusetts, and was a recipient of the Massachusetts Cultural Council's META Fellowship in 2015; he previously taught for the BYSO Intensive Community Program's residency at the Haley School in Roslindale. As a performing violinist, Josh has worked with several orchestras throughout New England, and appeared as soloist with the Keene Chamber Orchestra, where he served as concertmaster for five years. Joshua holds a B.A. in History from Boston University and a M.M. in Performance from University of California, Los Angeles. His primary teachers include Movses Pogossian, Guillaume Sutre, Daniel Phillips, and Rohan Gregory.
Maureen Heflinger (Resident Musician, viola) joined musiConnects in 2022, teaching young violists/violinists in the Residency Program & Roslindale Community Program, and performing with mC's faculty string quartet. Maureen is a multifaceted performer and educator who feels equally at home premiering new works, leading an orchestra sectional, and getting in and out of a headstand. Maureen grew up in Fairbanks, Alaska, where she studied piano and violin before finally settling on the viola. Despite living in an igloo and riding polar bears to school, Maureen managed to move to Boston, where she now enjoys a varied freelance career and performs regularly with the New Bedford and Atlantic Symphony Orchestras. An avid chamber musician, Maureen's performances have ranged from three seasons with the Nova Fellows, to premieres of chamber works written in Denali National Park as part of the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival. A recipient of a New England Conservatory Entrepreneurial Grant, her trio, The Nix Ensemble, championed two rare works of Paul Hindemith in Project Heckelmith, which featured Hindemith's Heckelphone Trio, and a reading of his wonderfully absurd play, Violamania. Maureen has been a prizewinner of the Philharmonic Society of Arlington Concerto Competition, and a National Finalist in the MTNA Soloist Competition. Recent performance highlights have included performing Paganini's La Campanella with viola orchestra as a faculty soloist at Idaho Viola Camp, and performing a livestream recital as a member of the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra. Maureen teaches orchestra at Boston Latin School. In her spare time, she practices yoga and studies Brazilian Portuguese. Maureen studied with Marcus Thompson at the New England Conservatory of Music.
Elizabeth Stefan (RCP faculty, viola/violin) teaches young violinists in the Roslindale Community Program, after previously serving as Program Director (2016-20), longtime Resident Musician (2012-20), and founding violist with the Sumner Quartet. In addition to maintaining a private studio of violin and viola students, Elizabeth has taught in schools with Making Music Matters, held faculty positions with Community Music Center of Boston, and received a META Fellowship from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. As a performing violist, Elizabeth is a founding member of Phoenix, an innovative, Boston-based orchestral ensemble. Elizabeth holds a B.M. from the Eastman School of Music, where she completed an Arts Leadership Certificate with a focus on contemporary orchestral issues, and received the Robert L. Oppelt Viola Prize for the class of 2009; and a M.M. from New England Conservatory, where her principal teacher was Dmitri Murrath.
Rachel Panitch (RCP faculty, violin) is a violinist, composer, improviser, and teaching artist. At musiConnects, Rachel teaches violinists of all ages in the Roslindale Community Program. Throughout her career, Rachel has been an artist-in-residence in neighborhoods, in schools, and in Zion and Acadia National Parks. Rachel uses her violin and voice to tell and translate stories, with playing that has been called "fearless," bridging aural and written musical traditions. Rachel performs classical music with the Cardamom Quartet, is a dance fiddler with French Roast, and weaves stories with Thread Ensemble (an improvisatory trio of violins, voices, and vibraphone) and with Grammy award-winner Bill Harley. Rachel's music has been featured on a PBS Utah Bucket List episode, and the National Park Service's 100 Years of Arts in the Parks video series. Rachel specializes in teaching improvisation and fiddling, and works regularly with a number of music education organizations and schools around Massachusetts and Rhode Island in addition to musiConnects. In 2009, Rachel founded Rhode Island Fiddle Project, a free music program teaching traditional fiddle and dance music to students, inspired and incubated by Community MusicWorks in Providence, RI. She was chosen as a Jubilation Fellow, a national award recognizing "individuals with exceptional talent for helping young people feel fully alive through rhythm." Rachel holds a B.A. in Anthropology from Vassar College and a M.M. in Contemporary Improvisation from New England Conservatory.
David Rubin (Artistic Director // Resident Musician, violin) joined musiConnects in 2016. He currently serves as Artistic Director and Resident Musician, teaches violinists in the Roslindale Community Program & Residency Program, and co-facilitates mC², a peer leadership group for advancing students. David's teaching practice is informed by a two-year fellowship at Community MusicWorks in Providence, RI, pedagogy study at Indiana University's Summer String Academy (Retreat for Violin & Viola Teachers), and trainings in Suzuki Books 1-2 (Christie Felsing, Ed Kreitman) and Kaleidoscopes (Elise Winters). As an orchestral violinist, David works throughout New England with ensembles such as BMOP, Boston Pops Esplanade, Rhode Island Philharmonic, and New Bedford Symphony, and has performed nationally/internationally at the Peninsula, Lucerne, Spoleto, and Banff festivals. David is also an experienced performer on baroque/classical instruments (Providence Baroque, Upper Valley Baroque, Madison Bach Musicians, Baroque Band), and particularly enjoys exploring 19th and early 20th-century music on gut strings with a historically-informed perspective. He has worked directly with numerous composers, presented premiere performances, and contributed to recordings/live broadcasts for BMOP/sound, WBEZ Chicago, and Wisconsin Public Radio. David holds degrees from Lawrence University and Boston Conservatory, and completed additional study at the Banff Centre, Lucerne Festival Academy, and Conservatorium van Amsterdam. David is a 2021-23 recipient of the Massachusetts Cultural Council's META Fellowship.
Elizabeth Cook (Resident Musician, cello) joined musiConnects in 2021, teaching young cellists in the Residency Program and Roslindale Community Program and performing with mC's faculty string quartet. Elizabeth grew up in North Carolina, where she studied cello at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts with cellist Zvi Plesser. She went on to obtain degrees from Mannes College, SUNY Purchase, and The Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, where she studied with renowned cellists such as Marcy Rosen, Brooks Whitehouse, Julia Lichten, and Michal Korman. Elizabeth has had the privilege of participating in masterclasses with artists such as Gary Hoffman, Peter Wiley, Paul Watkins, Zuil Bailley, Eighth Blackbird, The Orion String Quartet, David Finckel and Wu Han. In 2018 Elizabeth was awarded the Gloria Miner Fellowship at the 2018 Sitka International Cello Seminar, and performed as soloist with the Western Piedmont Wind Symphony in the “Music Beyond Borders” concert series which highlighted the stories of refugees. Elizabeth's passion for social change has driven her to serve in many different places all over the world, such as Sounds of Palestine, a music program for refugee youth in Bethlehem; and Children of Cambodia, a sponsorship program for orphans in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Elizabeth has spent a total of six years in Palestine and Israel where she both studied and taught cello to marginalized youth, including those living in refugee camps. In 2021, Elizabeth created and co-organized the first Palestinian Cello Choir, which gathered 30 cellists from all over Palestine to perform together in a concert tour.
Joshua Addison (Associate Director // Resident Musician, violin) joined musiConnects in its inaugural year as second violinist of the Chittick String Quartet, and returned in 2011 as a founding member of the Sumner Quartet (previously musiConnects' ensemble-in-residence). Josh currently serves as Associate Director and Resident Musician, teaching young violinists in the Residency Program & Roslindale Community Program. Josh has been active with musical outreach programs in Chelsea and Lawrence, Massachusetts, and was a recipient of the Massachusetts Cultural Council's META Fellowship in 2015; he previously taught for the BYSO Intensive Community Program's residency at the Haley School in Roslindale. As a performing violinist, Josh has worked with several orchestras throughout New England, and appeared as soloist with the Keene Chamber Orchestra, where he served as concertmaster for five years. Joshua holds a B.A. in History from Boston University and a M.M. in Performance from University of California, Los Angeles. His primary teachers include Movses Pogossian, Guillaume Sutre, Daniel Phillips, and Rohan Gregory.
Maureen Heflinger (Resident Musician, viola) joined musiConnects in 2022, teaching young violists/violinists in the Residency Program & Roslindale Community Program, and performing with mC's faculty string quartet. Maureen is a multifaceted performer and educator who feels equally at home premiering new works, leading an orchestra sectional, and getting in and out of a headstand. Maureen grew up in Fairbanks, Alaska, where she studied piano and violin before finally settling on the viola. Despite living in an igloo and riding polar bears to school, Maureen managed to move to Boston, where she now enjoys a varied freelance career and performs regularly with the New Bedford and Atlantic Symphony Orchestras. An avid chamber musician, Maureen's performances have ranged from three seasons with the Nova Fellows, to premieres of chamber works written in Denali National Park as part of the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival. A recipient of a New England Conservatory Entrepreneurial Grant, her trio, The Nix Ensemble, championed two rare works of Paul Hindemith in Project Heckelmith, which featured Hindemith's Heckelphone Trio, and a reading of his wonderfully absurd play, Violamania. Maureen has been a prizewinner of the Philharmonic Society of Arlington Concerto Competition, and a National Finalist in the MTNA Soloist Competition. Recent performance highlights have included performing Paganini's La Campanella with viola orchestra as a faculty soloist at Idaho Viola Camp, and performing a livestream recital as a member of the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra. Maureen teaches orchestra at Boston Latin School. In her spare time, she practices yoga and studies Brazilian Portuguese. Maureen studied with Marcus Thompson at the New England Conservatory of Music.
Elizabeth Stefan (RCP faculty, viola/violin) teaches young violinists in the Roslindale Community Program, after previously serving as Program Director (2016-20), longtime Resident Musician (2012-20), and founding violist with the Sumner Quartet. In addition to maintaining a private studio of violin and viola students, Elizabeth has taught in schools with Making Music Matters, held faculty positions with Community Music Center of Boston, and received a META Fellowship from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. As a performing violist, Elizabeth is a founding member of Phoenix, an innovative, Boston-based orchestral ensemble. Elizabeth holds a B.M. from the Eastman School of Music, where she completed an Arts Leadership Certificate with a focus on contemporary orchestral issues, and received the Robert L. Oppelt Viola Prize for the class of 2009; and a M.M. from New England Conservatory, where her principal teacher was Dmitri Murrath.
Rachel Panitch (RCP faculty, violin) is a violinist, composer, improviser, and teaching artist. At musiConnects, Rachel teaches violinists of all ages in the Roslindale Community Program. Throughout her career, Rachel has been an artist-in-residence in neighborhoods, in schools, and in Zion and Acadia National Parks. Rachel uses her violin and voice to tell and translate stories, with playing that has been called "fearless," bridging aural and written musical traditions. Rachel performs classical music with the Cardamom Quartet, is a dance fiddler with French Roast, and weaves stories with Thread Ensemble (an improvisatory trio of violins, voices, and vibraphone) and with Grammy award-winner Bill Harley. Rachel's music has been featured on a PBS Utah Bucket List episode, and the National Park Service's 100 Years of Arts in the Parks video series. Rachel specializes in teaching improvisation and fiddling, and works regularly with a number of music education organizations and schools around Massachusetts and Rhode Island in addition to musiConnects. In 2009, Rachel founded Rhode Island Fiddle Project, a free music program teaching traditional fiddle and dance music to students, inspired and incubated by Community MusicWorks in Providence, RI. She was chosen as a Jubilation Fellow, a national award recognizing "individuals with exceptional talent for helping young people feel fully alive through rhythm." Rachel holds a B.A. in Anthropology from Vassar College and a M.M. in Contemporary Improvisation from New England Conservatory.
