Efremova has performed extensively across Asia, Europe, and the United States. Her career includes appearances as soloist, chamber musician, and concerto soloist with orchestras in the US and Former USSR. A passionate advocate for new music, she has premiered works by American and international composers across the globe.

Equally committed to teaching, Efremova has guided generations of pianists to success in competitions, festivals, and university programs. Her students have performed at venues like the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and the Ukrainian National Academy of Music in Kyiv, as well as participated in international festivals in Italy, New York, and Texas, winning prizes at state, national, and international competitions. Many have gone on to earn scholarships and placements at leading institutions such as the Peabody Conservatory, University of Texas, and Texas Christian University. Recently, Efremova was honored with the Steinway Top Teacher Award for her outstanding mentorship.

In addition to her faculty position at the Peabody Preparatory, Efremova is a longtime member of the piano faculty at Levine Music in Washington, D.C., where she teaches private lessons, directs chamber ensembles, and leads performance classes.

Ostrosky holds a PhD in Piano Pedagogy from the University of Oklahoma where her dissertation explored piano instructors’ preparation, confidence, and success in teaching students with neurodevelopmental disabilities. Her scholarly contributions on this topic and others have been published by the MTNA E-Journal, the Frances Clark Center, and featured at international, national, and regional conferences, including the College Music Society, Music Teachers National Association conference, and the National Conference for Keyboard Pedagogy. She is a sought-after clinician and presenter on strategies for teaching exceptional learners, Dalcroze Eurhythmics, and creative approaches in the applied studio. Her influential teachers include pedagogy studies with Jane Magrath, Barbara Fast, Jeremy Dittus, and Monica Dale, and piano with Eva Mengelkoch and Igor Lipinski. 

A passionate advocate for somatic and embodied learning, Ostrosky integrates Dalcroze Eurhythmics into both traditional and group piano instruction. She is currently completing the Dalcroze Professional Certificate at the Dalcroze School of Music and Movement and has led movement-based pedagogy workshops at institutions across the U.S., including Oklahoma City University, Maranatha Baptist University, Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District, and the Suzuki Music Institute of Dallas.

As a performer, Ostrosky maintains an active profile as a collaborative pianist, composer, and interdisciplinary artist. Her recent projects include Windswept, an original work for piano, electronics, and dance (premiered at Ocean State Ballet, 2025); Tendrils: A Ballet in 8 Poems, an original work for piano, dance, and visual art (premiered at the University of Oklahoma’s Young Choreographer Showcase, 2022); and Modernist Adventures in Music and Dance, a collaborative concert highlighting 20th-century composers and choreographers featured at the International Conference for Dalcroze Studies (2021). Her performance experience also spans classical chamber music, historical keyboard instruments, and more than a decade as a synthesizer player and arranger in Baltimore’s indie rock scene.

Her honors include winning the inaugural Reynaldo Reyes Foundation Piano Scholarship, the NCKP Pedagogy Poster Prize, the Provost’s Certificate of Distinction in Teaching, and numerous competitive awards in piano and pedagogy.

She has sung roles such as Anna Maurrant in Kurt Weill’s Street Scene, Susannah in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, The Countess in Mozart’s Le Nozza di Figaro, and Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte. She has a deep love of Art Song and Lieder, performing such works as Wagner’s Wesendonklieder, Strauss’s 4 Lieder, Op.27, Schumann’s Frauen-Liebe unt Leben, Jake Heggie’s song cycle Statuesque, and chansons by composers such a Francis Poulenc, Franz Liszt, and Reynaldo Hahn. Her deep love of collaboration and understanding of expression translate into her teaching style, often encouraging students to make informed artistic choices and engage deeper in both learning and performance.

Mountcastle has extensive experience as a church musician having served as the soprano section leader and soloist at the St. Louis Cathedral Choir in New Orleans’s Historic French Quarter. She currently sings at multiple churches in Baltimore and surrounding areas.

She spent years in both private and public classrooms teaching music literacy, artistic expression, and choral singing as well as general music education. She is a Kodály Certified music educator with a license to teach K-12 Vocal Music. While maintaining a private voice studio, she is pleased to be bringing a student first approach to her studio at Peabody aiming to encourage both vocal and artistic growth as well as building strong musicianship and deeper understanding and learning about different styles and genres of music.

Driscoll previously served as a Teaching Assistant at the Interlochen Arts Camp, and as a cello coach with the American Youth Philharmonic Orchestras’ (AYPO) junior and intermediate divisions. For three years, she was the conductor of the Loudoun Symphony Youth Orchestra’s Symphonic Orchestra, a foundational full orchestra ensemble for late elementary through junior high musicians. 

Driscoll frequently adjudicates events throughout the region, including Northern Virginia Music Teachers Association recitals and VBODA District Orchestra Assessments. She is also a cello clinician for Loudoun County Public Schools.

Driscoll holds the Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education and Cello Performance, and Master of Music degrees in Orchestral Conducting and Cello Performance from West Virginia University, where she studied the cello with William Skidmore and Erin Ellis. Driscoll was recognized as a university Outstanding Senior and received the School of Music Outstanding Graduate award. She is an active performer, adjudicator, and teaching artist throughout the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

Equipped with an impressive body of original compositions on albums like “Vonnegut” and “Cold Coffee”, Ballantine also displays a great reverence for the jazz tradition through the inclusion of standards like ‘My One and Only Love’, ‘East of the Sun’ and an entire double album dedicated to the music of Thelonious Monk released September 2021.  “In the vein of fellow guitarists like John Scofield, Bill Frisell and Julian Lage, Ballantine reconciles his educational background in jazz with the stylistic background of his instrument. He approaches the gratifying tonal and harmonic language of rock/roots with the groove, ambition and improvisational focus of a jazz musician.” (Jazziz Magazine)

After graduating from the Jacobs School of Music under the direction of David Baker, Ballantine relocated to Indianapolis and quickly developed a name for himself with a string of high energy performances at clubs like the Jazz Kitchen and Chatterbox Jazz Club. After releasing two solo albums Ballantine was able to attain global recognition with his award winning third album “Life is Brief: The Music of Bob Dylan” which All About Jazz named in their top ten jazz albums of the year. “From the opening bars of “The Times They Are a-Changin'” it is clear that something special is happening.” (All About Jazz)

Although primarily a front man for his own projects with tours and frequent appearances throughout the US and Canada at venues and festivals such as the Indianapolis Jazz Festival, The Winnipeg International Jazz Festival and The Elkhart Jazz Festival, Ballantine also has an extensive list of side man credits having performed with names like Nicole Henry, Walter Smith III, Emmett Cohen, Dave King, John Raymond, Russell Hall, Frank Glover, Steve Alee, and Rahsaan Barber helping to further solidify him as a creative force and  put him in the highest of ranks as a performer.

“Befitting a guitarist from America’s heartland, Charlie Ballantine mixes jazz, folk-rock, surf/instro, blues, pop, and country into a simmering pot of guitar sound and style.” – Vintage Guitar Magazine

Chen was granted numerous honors and scholarships including the Peabody Scholarship, Berman Scholarship, GA and TA scholarships from UMCP. In Competitions, Chen won the Ulrich Competition of UMD for Graduate Voice Division in 1997, and the Taiwan Music Competition for Adult Voice Division in 1993. She garnered second prize from Taiwan Teacher’s Singing Competition in 1993, and Taiwanese French Song Competition in 1995. Chen was also a finalist from Asian International Vocal Competition in 1996 held in Malaysia.

As an active performer, Chen performs regularly with the Howard Community College Concert series. She is also often invited to perform in celebrations and concerts for local Taiwanese Societies. She performed regularly with Friday Morning Music Club Concert Series. She was elected to perform as a soloist twice with the FMMC Choral and Orchestra. Her recent solo recitals include Music at Paint Branch concert series in 2013 in Silver Spring, Maryland, a solo recital “Come Hear Me Sing” in her home town: I-Lan, Taiwan in July, 2016, HCC Faculty Concert “When East Meets West” in 2018, HCC Faculty Concert “Musical Potpourri” in March, 2023, and That’s Amore in November 2024.

Currently she is the voice coordinator and a master adjunct faculty at Howard Community College. She is the music director for the musical production Ride the Cyclone at HCC in Fall 2024. The courses she teaches at HCC include Music of East Asia, Class Voice, Music Appreciation, and Ear Training & Musicianship. Besides HCC, she also gives solo and group voice lessons at Peabody Preparatory of Johns Hopkins University. She maintains a music studio teaching piano and voice in Ellicott City, Maryland. Chen is a member of the National Guild of Piano Teachers, National Association of Teachers of Singing, and Music Teachers National Association. 

Currently, Jackson-Foyle serves as an inspiring educator within the Baltimore City Public Schools, where she teaches Vocal Music and conducts the Middle School Chorus. Her dynamic approach to vocal instruction emphasizes not only the development of healthy vocal techniques but also fosters confidence and creativity in her students as they embark on their musical journeys. Jackson-Foyle is enthusiastic about sharing her passion for music with the students at Peabody, where she aims to ignite a lifelong love for the art form.

In his final year of high school, Cyrus was able to tour multiple European countries with Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Jazz Orchestra in 2018, its inaugural year. He was later named a 2019 National YoungArts Foundation Finalist in Jazz/Trumpet.

Cyrus has been mentored by and studied with some of the world’s greatest jazz musicians, such as Nicholas Payton, Sean Jones, Roy Hargrove, and Wynton Marsalis.