Progressions Director

Stephane Deimer Collopy

Stephane Collopy serves as Administrator and violin instructor for MYSO’s Progressions program. In addition to teaching lessons and classes for MYSO, Mrs. Collopy maintains an active private teaching studio in Milwaukee. She attended Illinois State University and has studied with Sarah Gentry, Drew Lecher and Samantha George. Mrs. Collopy is currently assistant concertmaster of the Racine Symphony and principal 2nd violin for the Fox Valley Symphony; she also performs with the Skylight Opera, the Green Bay Symphony, Madison Symphony, Waukesha Symphony, Bel Canto Chorus and Festival City Symphony.

Progressions Orchestra Director

Mary Pat Michels

Mary Pat Michels is an active free-lance musician and teacher in Southeastern Wisconsin. She earned degrees in Violin and Viola Performance and her Music Education Certification at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. While at UW-Milwaukee, Mrs. Michels was the Orchestra Music Librarian/Project Assistant and the Assistant to the Director of Bands. She also managed the UW-Milwaukee Brass Choir and was the Program Coordinator for the UW-Milwaukee Youth Wind Ensemble.

Mrs. Michels is currently Principal Viola of the Waukesha Symphony Orchestra, where she has been a member for 13 years. An integral part of the Waukesha Symphony Staff, she holds the positions of Music Librarian and Personnel Manager.  She served as Principal Viola of the Racine Symphony Orchestra from January, 2000 through July, 2007. During this time she had the opportunity to solo with the Racine Symphony twice:  in February, 2003, playing (and recording) Britten’s Portrait for Viola & Orchestra and more recently in January, 2006, playing Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with then RSO concertmaster, Paul Lundin. She will again have the opportunity to play the Britten, this time with the Waukesha Symphony in February, 2010.

An active free-lancer, she is often called to play viola and violin for various orchestras and chamber ensembles in Southeastern Wisconsin, including, the Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra, Bel Canto, the Kenosha Symphony Orchestra, the Bach Chamber Choir and Orchestra, the Lutheran a Capella Choir and Orchestra, the Festival City Symphony, and Les Artistes.  As the manager and founder of the Lakeside Strings, Mrs. Michels enjoys the opportunity to perform in various chamber music capacities at special events throughout Wisconsin & Illinois. Active at church as well, Mary Pat is the organist, a member of the choir, and the editor of the weekly church bulletin.

She has taught in the School District of West Allis-West Milwaukee since January, 1997, and is currently teaching at Frank Lloyd Wright Intermediate School, Hoover Elementary and Madison Elementary, as well as serving as the Instrumental Music Liaison for the district.  She was an instructor for three years with the Waukesha Symphony’s Success Through Music Program which provided string instruction to underprivileged minority students in Milwaukee and Waukesha Counties.  She is listed in several Marquis Who’s Who publications including Who’s Who in Education, Who’s Who – American Women, and Who’s Who of Emerging Leaders.

Mary Pat (Subjak) Michels is an MFY/MYSO Alum having played violin and/or viola in all of the orchestras from 1982-1991.  The highlight of which was the trip to Scotland as principal viola of Sr. Symphony and the Aberdeen, Scotland Festival orchestra.  From 1991-2000, Mrs. Michels was on the faculty and staff of the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra where she coached various orchestras and chamber ensembles, and was the clerical/library assistant. In September, 2008, she returned to the MYSO staff as the Orchestra Director for the Progressions Program. 

Progressions Instructors

John Babbitt

John Babbitt graduated in 1985 from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a Master's degree in performance on double bass. He has worked extensively throughout the Midwest as a professional bassist and educator. As a performer he has worked with the Rockford Symphony Orchestra, Oshkosh Symphony Orchestra, Green Bay Symphony Orchestra, Festival City Symphony, Kenosha Symphony,  Waukesha Symphony, Bel Canto Chorus and Orchestra, Skylight Opera, Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra, Florentine Opera and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. He is also active as a jazz performer, having worked with Chuck Hedges, David Hazeltine and Manty Ellis. Mr. Babbitt served as WCM faculty chair of the String Department from 1996 to 1999 and has also served as adjunct faculty at UW-Milwaukee, UW-Stevens Point, Concordia University, Cardinal Stitch University, Carroll University, Alverno College Community Arts Department, the String Academy of Wisconsin and the Oshkosh Summer String Program. Mr. Babbitt has been an instructor with the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music since 1994 in bass, theory and music history.

Ravenna Helson

Ravenna Helson is a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music and Yale University where she recieved a Master's of Music degree, and the Ellen Battell Stoeckel Award for Excellence in Chamber Music. She has performed with the Detroit Symphony, Michigan Opera Theater, New Jersey Symphony, Santa Fe Pro Musica, Chicago Baroque Ensemble, Her Majesty’s Clerks and Comic Intermezzo. In Milwaukee she has played with the Milwaukee Symphony, Skylight Opera Orchestra, Ensemble Musical Offering, Bel Canto Chorus, Waukesha Symphony and is currently principal cello of the Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra. Theater work includes the Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s TWELFTH NIGHT and ANNA KARENINA. As a faculty member of the Wisconsin Conservatory, Alverno College, and Carroll University, she has taught cello and chamber music and performed concerts and educational workshops with the Carroll String Trio. As a student she was invited to participate in the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico with Alexander Schneider’s NY String Orchestra, and additionally has been a fellow at the Oberlin Baroque Institute, the International Baroque Institute at Longy, and the Bach Aria Festival in New York. Studies in Baroque cello/viola da gamba have been with Anner Bylsma, Phoebe Carrai, Catharina Meints and Enid Sutherland.

Robert T. Murphy

Robert Murphy began violin studies with Eric Chu and Piotr Swic. He received his BM in performance at the Dana School of Music in Youngstown, Ohio, and his MM in violin pedagogy at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Mr. Murphy studied violin with Myron Kartman, Bernard Zink and John Wilcox, and chamber music with Stefan Kartman. He studied orchestral conducting with Margery Deutsch and string pedagogy with Darcey Drexler, Robert Gillespie and Bob Phillips. He has played in materclasses for Jamie Laredo, Dorothy Delay, William Preucil, the Cleveland Duo and Robert Hanford. Mr. Murphy has performed in the Youngstown Symphony, Ashtabula Symphony, West Virginia Symphony, Richmond Symphony, the Warren Chamber Orchestra and others. He has also performed with such artists as Hootie and the Blowfish and Crystal Gayle. Mr. Murphy has attended a number of festivals including the Gateways Music Festival, Spoleto Music Festival USA, the Brevard Music Festival, Eastern Music Festival, the Mid-America Chamber Music Institute and the Milwaukee Chamber Music Festival. He is currently the 7th grade orchestra director at Whitefish Bay Middle School and teaches privately in Glendale.

Jenny Kozoroz

A Milwaukee native and MYSO alum, Mrs. Kozoroz began her studies at the age of 4. She completed her high school studies at the well-known Interlochen Arts Academy and her Bachelor of Music degree in viola performance at the Ohio State University. She then went on to receive her Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School where she studied with Karen Tuttle.

Mrs. Kozoroz was previously Assistant Principal violist with the Virginia Symphony and violist and founding member of the Ambrosia String Trio which performed frequently throughout Virginia, North Carolina and abroad. As a soloist, Mrs. Kozoroz has performed Alan Shulman’s Theme and Variations for Viola and Orchestra with the Virginia Symphony and with the University of Montana Symphony Orchestra. She also recently performed Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with the Sewanee Music Festival Orchestra.

Mrs. Kozoroz has performed on the Feldman Chamber series, with the Columbus Symphony, ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, New World Symphony, Norfolk Chamber Consort, Virginia Chamber Players, Venus Chamber Players, Chamberworks and Manhattan Virtuosi. She has participated in music festivals such as; The Breckenridge Music Festival, The National Orchestral Institute, The Aspen Music Festival, The National Repertory Orchestra, Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan and The Interlochen Arts Camp. Mrs. Kozoroz is a seven time scholarship winner of the American Symphony Orchestra League and grant recipient from the International Congress of Symphony and Orchestra Musicians. She was also an ASTA scholarship recipient and has been honored as an Outstanding Young Woman of America. Mrs. Kozoroz continues to be a strong advocate and advisor for the Sphinx Organization (Music Scholarship Assistance Fund) which aids in the mentoring and financial support of minority student musicians in America.

An enthusiastic educator, Mrs. Kozoroz has been on the viola faculty at Old Dominion University, Denison University, Christopher Newport University, The Brevard Music Center, The Sewanee Music Festival, The New England Music Camp and the Chamber Music Connection as an instructor, chamber music coach, advisor, and lecturer. She has been guest clinician at Lawrence Conservatory, the Ohio State University and the University of Montana. Mrs. Kozoroz has also taught at the Harlem School for the Arts where she was a member of the active West Side String Quartet which performed as a mentoring ensemble for inner city children. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking with her husband, Michael and new baby, Isabella, writing and singing and has even been seen on a few music videos as well!