Meet Our Team
Our tight-knit team designs and delivers musiConnects' education program, creates our concert season, and carries our mission into all aspects of their musical lives. Our part-time Resident Musicians ("RMs"), faculty, and administration are supported in this work by a Board of Directors comprised of community leaders and musiConnects parents.
Artistic Director
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Elizabeth Cook (Artistic Director; Resident Musician, cello) joined musiConnects in 2021, teaching young cellists 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.
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Resident Musicians
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Yeuk Sen Renee Chan (Resident Musician, viola/violin). Music has taken Yeuk Sen Renee Chan from her home in Hong Kong to the vibrant arts scene of Boston. As a violist and educator, she is passionate about using music to connect people and cultures. Renee is pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts in String Performance at Boston University, where she previously earned a Performance Diploma. She holds a Master of Music in Viola Performance from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. A dedicated educator since 2015, Renee teaches students of all ages and levels in violin and viola, using both the Suzuki method and traditional methods. Her students have won competition prizes, served as concertmasters or principal players in youth orchestras and school ensembles, and have successfully auditioned into programs such as the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra. Renee teaches in English, Cantonese, and Mandarin, and is a member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas. In recognition of her commitment to education, she has received multiple Outstanding Teaching Awards. Renee believes that everything begins with the heart. It is her dream to be a positive influence in people’ lives, spreading joy and connection through the love of music.
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Rose Baker (Resident Musician, violin) is a teacher, performer, and arts administrator who is passionate about working with students to discover how music fits meaningfully into their lives. She enjoys working with private students of all ages and has also taught in classrooms with the Opus 118 Harlem School of Music. Rose is passionate about combining pedagogy and performance in the same spaces, which inspired her to co-found and serve as a Teaching Artist at Lines & Spaces, an organization that uses music to create inclusive, enriching community spaces through performances and an after-school program. She also performs regularly in the Seven Hills Chamber Music Festival; has given solo and chamber music recitals in Massachusetts, Virginia, and New York; and has performed in masterclasses for Jennifer Koh, Jessica Bodner, Julia Glenn, and Sandy Yamamoto. In addition to teaching her own students, Rose enjoys supporting young musicians as an arts administrator as the Resident Director of the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival. Rose holds degrees in violin performance from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Manhattan School of Music, where her primary teachers were Elizabeth Chang and Burton Kaplan.
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Brian Urra (Resident Musician, Violin) is an award-winning Chilean violinist, composer, arranger, and dancer of Irish music, with over 25 years of experience as a performer and educator. He specializes in jazz, classical, improvisation, contemporary music, and Irish traditions. Brian has performed with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra at the New England Conservatory, Boston Symphony Hall, and Sanders Theatre. As a composer, Brian has developed his craft through lessons and experiences with award-winning composers and musicians such as Billy Childs. In 2023, Brian Urra worked alongside Eugene Friesen, a four-time Grammy award winner, performing at Carnegie Hall in the world premiere of Amor Aeternus by composer and pianist Helen Breyer. He received the 2023 Ravinia Bridges prize and a week to further their music with Billy Child, Rufus Reid, and Steve Wilson. He finished his master's degree at the Berklee Global Jazz Institute with noteworthy distinction. As an educator, he joined the Boston Music Project working as a Teaching Artist, and also joined the Berklee Global Jazz Institute as an Academic Advisor. He embraces a dynamic approach to pedagogy by integrating composition as a fundamental tool for both performers and emerging musicians.
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Additional Faculty
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Maureen Heflinger (faculty, viola) joined musiConnects in 2022, teaching young violists/violinists 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 enjoys a varied freelance career and performs regularly with the New Bedford and Atlantic Symphony Orchestras. 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.
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