Rebecca Weaver Hamm

Music & Art Director

rweaver@hornellymca.com

Rebecca Weaver Hamm is Director of Music and Arts at the YMCA of Hornell New York, Inc. and teaches voice lessons and voice classes at the YMCA.  She is also Adjunct Instructor of Voice at Alfred University, where she has taught since 2003.  She is completing doctoral studies in the Voice and Literature Program at the Eastman School of Music as a student of Carol Webber; she received the William McIver Memorial Scholarship for excellence in voice teaching.  Ms. Weaver Hamm earned her B. M. summa cum laude in Voice Performance from Wittenberg University and her M. A. in Voice Pedagogy from The Ohio State University. 

Her operatic roles include Olga in The Merry Widow, Mrs. Grose in The Turn of the Screw, La Zelatrice in Suor Angelica, Announcer in Gallantry, the Second Knitter in A Game of Chance, and the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro.  A frequent recitalist, Ms. Weaver Hamm made her international debut in 2005 in Varna, Bulgaria and most recently performed in the Miller Theater at Alfred University, The Memorial Art Gallery of Rochester, and Kilbourn Hall at the Eastman School of Music.  She has sung the Mozart, Faure, and Rutter Requiem masses, the Bach Magnificat, Handel’s Messiah, Dubois’ Seven Last Words of Christ, and the Vivaldi Gloria.  She sang Stephen Melillo’s The Touchstone as winner of Wittenberg University’s Concerto Competition.  She can also be heard on several examples recorded with pianist Kristian Bezuidenhout for Steven Laitz’s 2009 textbook Graduate Review of Tonal Theory: A Recasting of Common-Practice Harmony, Form, and Counterpoint, published by Oxford University Press.

Ms. Weaver Hamm presented workshops on technical aspects of singing and soloistic singing for chorus to the Orpheus Chorale, conducted the Almond Union of Churches Chancel Choir for four years, led Alfred’s Bicentennial Choir, and taught voice for actors at Alfred University’s Summer Theatre Institute.  She has adjudicated voice for Allegany and Steuben County’s NYSSMA festivals and for the Allegany County Music Teachers Association scholarship competition. Ms. Weaver Hamm also conducted the Steuben County Senior High All-County Chorus in 2006 and the Orleans County Junior High All-County Chorus in 2009. 

Music:

Ed Belin:percussion

Dr. Christopher Foster: brass

Stephanie Hunt: flute, music classes

Amanda Snyder: piano, voice

Linda Staiger: voice

Chris van Leeuwen: voice

Meghann Williams: guitar

Art:

Craig Prophet

Elizabeth Blomster

Maria Strinni Gill

Jamie Kull

Meghann Williams

Guitar Instructor

Meghann Williams, a 19 year old resident of Hornell and graduate of Alfred-Almond Central School, is currently a sophomore at SUNY New Paltz studying Music Therapy and Jazz guitar.  She has been playing the guitar for 8 years now, focusing on blues, rock, and jazz, taking many years of lessons with Ken Maracek in Alfred. Meg was the sole guitarist in the A-A jazz band for 4 years, winning the outstanding soloist award for 3 consecutive years at Jazz Fest, and was a member of the New Paltz Guitar Ensemble. Meg was a prominent member in the A-A Symphonic Band; she was awarded the John Philip Sousa Band Leadership Award and the Juanita Whitaker Pulos Award, for her dedication to music and the arts.

Stephanie Hunt

Flute & Music Instructor

Stephanie Hunt, from Greenwood, NY, is a recent graduate of the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam where she received a degree in music education with a concentration in voice.  This May she was awarded the Kilmer Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship, the Catherine A. English Award for “excellence in student teaching” and graduated magna cum laude.  Throughout her life as a singer she has had many experiences on stage including Beauty and the Beast, Carousel, From the Top: A Musical Revue and most recently Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring.  She is very excited about her new position at the new Hornell YMCA and looks forward to the great experiences ahead.

Elizabeth Blomster

Art Instructor

Elizabeth received her BFA from Alfred University in 1998 and her MFA from Rhode Island School of Design in 2004. Elizabeth has been included in group exhibitions in Manhattan at Monya Rowe Gallery, the Lower Eastside Printshop, IPCNY, Dieu Donne Papermill and Sideshow gallery in Brooklyn. The recipient of multiple scholarships and residencies, Elizabeth attended the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris, France during summer 2011. Elizabeth currently teaches at Alfred University, NYSCC and lives in Almond, NY.

Amanda Snyder

Piano & Voice Instructor

Amanda Snyder was born in Hornell, NY in June 1942 and has always lived in the Alfred Station area.  Mrs. Snyder holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from SUNY Fredonia and received her Master’s in Music Education from Alfred University in 1973.  She taught elementary music for 19 years at Alfred-Almond Central School and taught for 2 years at Canaseraga Central School before retirement.  Mrs. Snyder is very active in her community, where she sings in community choral groups, is organist and choir director for the Alfred Station Seventh Day Baptist Church, and performs in recital.  She very much enjoys her family, including three adult children and 12 grandchildren, enjoys being with people, and enjoys reading, sewing and baking.