Matthew Dubbs
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Matthew Dubbs has been an Instrumental Music teacher in the Howard County Public School System for the past 20 years, joining Buleigh Manor Middle School as Director of Bands at Burleigh Manor in 2015. He has also held teaching positions as Director of Bands at Long Reach High School, Director of Bands at Reservoir High School, and Instrumental Music Director at Worthington Elementary School. He was the original Band Director at both those schools, opening Long Reach in 1996 and Reservoir in 2002. In 1996, Mr. Dubbs graduated with honors from West Virginia University. The Howard County Public School System hired him upon graduation from WVU.
Mr. Dubbs was honored in 1997 as a finalist for the Sally Mae First Year Teacher of the Year Award and in 2004 as a finalist for Howard County Music Teacher of the Year. During the past 19 years, his groups have been known for achieving the highest standards while consistently receiving superior ratings. His groups have traveled from Toronto, Canada to Orlando, Florida, to Chicago, Illinois, earning numerous first place and Grand Overall Champion Awards. His marching band competed regularly in Tournament of Band Competitions and the United States Scholastic Band Association (USSBA) and has earned several awards within these circuits. Mr. Dubbs has been awarded the Fiesta-Val Award of Distinction for notable contribution to musical excellence 7 different times over his teaching career. In addition to all of the responsibilities in running his outstanding programs, Mr. Dubbs has worked with MBDA and MODA by hosting the Junior/Senior Band and Orchestra All-State Auditions for 13 years and in the fall of 1997 hosted the MMEA Fall In-Service Conference. In 2000, Mr. Dubbs was elected President-Elect to the Maryland Band Directors Association where he served 2 years in that position before becoming President in 2002. |
Sari O'Bryan
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Sari O’Bryan is an educator, conductor and violinist originally from Helena, Montana. Mrs. O’Bryan graduated from the College of Music at Loyola University, New Orleans, earning a Bachelor of Music. She also holds a Masters of Music Education from Boston University.
Mrs. O’Bryan is the Director of Orchestras at Centennial Lane Elementary School and Burleigh Manor Middle School in Howard County. As a string specialist for Baltimore County, Mrs. O’Bryan taught at Sudbrook Magnet Middle School where her string orchestras received consistent superior ratings at county and state festivals. She was also the co-director of the Baltimore County Summer String Camp. Mrs. O’Bryan has been an adjudicator for violin, viola, cello, and bass for the Baltimore County Junior and Senior All-Honors Orchestras as well as for the Maryland Junior All-State Orchestra and Senior All-State Orchestras. She has also served as an adjudicator for multiple Maryland county Solo and Ensemble festivals. Mrs. O’Bryan began her teaching career as an Artist in Residence in the state of South Carolina at the Charleston County School for the Arts in Charleston, SC where she taught middle school strings. She also served as a clinician for the South Carolina Regional Orchestra, as a violin adjudicator for the South Carolina Junior All-State Orchestra and as the cello section coach for the Charleston Youth Symphony Orchestra. Mrs. O’Bryan has also been an elementary general music teacher in Miami, FL working primarily with ESOL and ED children. Mrs. O’Bryan is a classically trained violinist studying primarily with Valerie Poulette. She is also a proficient violist and cellist under the tutelage of Suzanne Lefevre and Allen Nisbet. She is married to another Howard County Orchestra Director, Mr. Colin O’Bryan of Reservoir High School, and the mother of two beautiful children, Eamonn and Fiona. |
Rebecca Elpus
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The 2017-2018 school year marks Rebecca Elpus’ sixteenth year of teaching, her seventh year as a Howard County music educator, and her first year of teaching at Burleigh Manor Middle School. Prior to coming to Burleigh Manor Middle School, Mrs. Elpus taught for six years in middle schools (Timberlane Middle School in Hopewell, NJ) and nine years in high schools (Lyons Township High School in LaGrange, Illinois and Oakland Mills High School in Columbia, MD) in addition to directing a training ensemble for the professional children's choir, The Princeton Girlchoir, based out of Princeton, NJ. During her tenure with the Princeton Girlchoir, Elpus appeared with the Girlchoir Semi-Tones at the Eastern Division ACDA Conference in Hartford, CT.
Elpus is a proud alumna of The College of New Jersey where she received her Bachelor of Music Education degree and Northwestern University where she received her Master of Music Degree. She has served as the guest conductor for the Howard County Middle School Sixth Grade Honors Chorus, the coordinator of the Howard County High School GT Choir and as the High School Vocal Music representative on the Howard County Music Leadership Team. She currently serves as the coordinator of the Howard County Middle School GT Choir and is a member of the National Association for Music Education, the Maryland Music Educators Association, and the American Choral Directors Association. |
Patrick McSwain
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Biographical notes coming soon.
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Kate Bateman
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Kate Bateman is a flutist and teacher originally from Columbia, Maryland, and a proud product of Howard County’s music programs. She graduated magna cum laude from Northwestern University with her Bachelor’s degree in 2012, and she earned her Master’s degree with merit from the Royal Academy of Music in London in 2014.
As a professional musician, Ms. Bateman has appeared at many festivals and competitions. She played with the National Repertory Orchestra in Colorado in 2015, and the Verbier Festival Orchestra in 2016. She has worked with distinguished conductors such as Charles Dutoit, Michael Tilson Thomas, Paavo Jarvi, Ivan Fisher, and Trevor Pinnock. She was named prize winner of multiple competitions, including the British Flute Society’s Young Artist Competition, the Mid Atlantic Flute Society’s Young Artist Competition, and the Royal Academy’s annual flute and piccolo competitions. This is Ms. Bateman’s first teaching position in Howard County. Previously to her work in the United States, Ms. Bateman taught music theory and aural skills for two years at Chetham’s School of Music, a selective private music school in Manchester, England. She also coaches woodwind sectionals for the Howard County GT High School Orchestra and teaches privately in the area. |
