Music Directors

Meet the Directors

CCYO Director, Dr. Osman Kivrak

Osman Kivrak received his Bachelor of Music degree from Gazi University in Turkey and studied at the Guildhall School of Music in London before coming to the United States to continue his studies. He received a Master of Music and Doctorate of Music degree from the Catholic University of America. He won the National Scholarship Competition in Turkey, the Baltimore Chamber Music Awards, the Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Awards, the Culver (California) Chamber Music Competition, and three different Maryland National Parks and Planning Commission Awards.

Dr. Kivrak has performed at the Spoleto Festival in the USA and Italy and has toured Europe several times as a chamber music player. His compositions have been performed in Washington, D.C., at the Kennedy Center, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Library of Congress, and throughout the United States and Turkey. He orchestrated and conducted the theme music for National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation program. He is currently Principal Viola of the Virginia Chamber Orchestra.

Formerly a professor at the Izmir State Conservatory in Turkey, Dr. Kivrak currently teaches viola and chamber music at American University, where he is a Musician in Residence and received two teaching awards in 2019.

Dr. Kivrak performs with the Sunrise Quartet and the National Gallery of Art String Quartet. Recently, the Quartet performed to great acclaim at the Musica Sacra festival in Ecuador. The quartet has performed with noted pianists Menahem Pressler and Miceal O’Rourke and with guitarist Roland Dyens. It has also recorded for the Living Music, Arizona University Recordings, Amcam, and AmeriMusic labels. A collection of Christmas music, which they edited, has been published under the imprint of G. Schirmer, Inc. West Virginia Public Television and Chinese National Television have also featured the Sunrise Quartet in a one-hour TV show “A Musical Bridge to China”. Performances by the Quartet have been broadcast on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today”, “What Makes it Great” and “Front Row Washington”.

For more information, email Dr. Kivrak at Kivrak@yahoo.com

Encore Strings Director, Dr. Teri Lazar

Teri Lazar, violinist, has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in the United States, Europe and the Middle East. Dr. Lazar performs with the Sunrise Quartet and the National Gallery of Art String Quartet. The Quartet performed to great acclaim at the Musica Sacra festival in Ecuador and has performed with noted pianists Menahem Pressler, Miceal O’Rourke, and with guitarist Roland Dyens.

The Quartet has recorded for the Living Music, Arizona University Recordings, Amcam and AmeriMusic labels. A collection of Christmas music, which they edited, has been published under the imprint of G. Schirmer, Inc. West Virginia Public Television and Chinese National Television have also featured the Sunrise Quartet in a one-hour TV show, “A Musical Bridge to China” broadcast. Performances by the Quartet have been broadcast for National Public Radio’s “Performance Today”, “What Makes it Great” and “Front Row Washington”.

In addition to her work with the Quartet, Dr. Lazar has recorded solo violin and chamber music for the Albany, Klavier, North/South Recordings, Plucked String, and Centaur labels and has been heard on National Public Radio’s Performance Today program.

She received a Bachelor of Music, summa cum laude, from the Catholic University of America. She continued her studies at Catholic University with Robert Gerle and received a Master of Music and a Doctorate of Music degree in violin performance. Dr. Lazar is currently on the faculty of the American University, where she teaches violin and chamber music and is a Musician in Residence. She also serves as the Concertmaster of the Virginia Chamber Orchestra.
She has performed at the Spoleto festival in the USA and Italy and toured Europe twice with the New York group Amor Artis.

For more information, email Dr. Lazar at Kivrak@yahoo.com

Encore Band Director, Takako Mato

Takako Mato received her Bachelor of Music from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music and her Master's in Music from Temple University, both in Clarinet Performance. She also earned a Master's in Teaching from St. Mary's College of Maryland. She maintains a private studio in addition to her teaching duties in Charles County Public Schools and the College of Southern Maryland.

For more information, please contact: takakomato@gmail.com

Prelude Strings Director, Gabrielle Stanback Satterthwaite

Gabrielle Stanback Satterthwaite, received her MM violin performance major at Towson University (TU) in 2024 and has been playing violin since age five. Having performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the Music Center at Strathmore, she has won multiple performing arts awards, including the Music Performance Trust Fund (2023 & 2022), Black Violin Foundation’s Music Innovation Award (2020), and Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Performing Arts Award (2019). A few of the highlights of her career include a feature appearance on CBS Good Morning, a feature article on the TU webpage entitled "CBS highlights TU's Gabrielle Stanback among boundary-breaking Black classical musicians," and the first blog post of the “Silver Linings” blog series of the College of Fine Arts and Communications (COFAC) authored by her and entitled "Just A Little Faith."

During her five-year tenure with the Towson University Symphony Orchestra, she was both concertmaster and orchestra manager. She has served as the 2022-2023 Graduate Teaching Assistant for the Department of Music History and Culture and the music department representative on (COFAC) Advisory Council. A featured student on Towson University’s Music Department promotional video, Gabrielle is also the subject of a documentary on Amazon Prime Video entitled “First Chair” by producer Jovan Brooks. In addition to directing Prelude Strings, Gabrielle regularly adjudicates Maryland All-State and Howard County Solo and Ensemble Festival, and she maintains a private violin studio in Fort Washington. For more information, please contact: g8notes@gmail.com

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