Our People

Mikayla Reine Archambeau teaches and dances ballet with verve and insight earned from a rigorous formation. In her teaching, Mikayla inspires students to push their limits, combining a deep level of experience and technical detail with empathy and love for the art form. Before her young professional experiences dancing Giselle and The Nutcracker with the corps of the Kansas City Ballet, Mikayla learned from dancers such as Alecia Good-Boresow, Paula Weber, and Peter Pawlyshyn over six years at the Kansas City School of Ballet. Over two summers at the Alonzo King LINES Ballet in San Francisco, she studied with Meredith Webster, Carmen Rosenstraten, and Alonzo King. Preceding the latter program, she studied at the Washington School of Ballet with Kee Juan Han and Kristy Windom. Mikayla’s return to the world of dance follows a long hiatus, during which she has honed skills vital to her work as an arts executive. After an abrupt departure from dance following her success in Kansas City, Mikayla graduated summa cum laude from Phillips-Exeter Academy in New Hampshire and Pomona College in Los Angeles. She now leads a mid-sized digital marketing company, First Page Sage, as Chief Operating Officer. When not dancing or working, Mikayla studies classical violin, gardens, and spends time with her husband, a professional violist, their daughter Aurelia, and bluetick coonhound Shasta, who fancies herself a singer.

Hannah Elizabeth has been dancing in the Pioneer Valley since the age of 3 at East Street Ballet and the Academy of Ballet Arts, with Charlotte Doyle, Noble Barker, Katherine Bervera, Barbara Kauff, Irina Vakhromeeva, Carlos Molina, and Donna Bonasera. At UMass, Hannah took advanced ballet classes with Tom Vacanti and Rodger Blum and performed with the 5 College Dance Departments and Alive with Dance. During her junior and senior year at UMass, Hannah taught students of all ages at Amherst Ballet and set choreography from Le Corsaire for upper school students. After graduation, Hannah spent 6 months in Key West Florida in a Hospitality Management Program with Hilton Hotels, where she continued dancing and guest teaching at Coffee Mill Dance Studio. Since returning to Amherst in 2020, Hannah has enjoyed taking and teaching classes while encouraging strength and confidence through dance.

Jenny Sieruta is a dance artist, educator, and mother. She holds a BFA from The University of Massachusetts, where she performed works by Fritha Pengelly, Terese Freedman, Jen Rosenblit, Robert Battle, Trisha Brown and Doug Varone. She has taught and performed throughout Western Mass, Chicago, San Francisco, and New York. Jenny has taught modern, composition, and yoga as a visiting artist at Mount Holyoke College and Keene State College. She has danced professionally with Meghan Frederick, Barbie Diewald, Katie Martin, Kate Martel, and Molly Fletcher-Clark. 

Madeline Poole began dancing at three. She spent ten years dancing at Amherst Ballet and performing in their productions. She was taught ballet, pointe, and modern dance by Catherine Fair, Sueann Townsend, and Molly Stamell. Madeline also attended the Kaatsbaan Ballet Intensive and danced in Picture Book Theatre performances directed by Therese Donohue at The Eric Carle Museum. Starting her sophomore year of high school, Madeline studied at Deerfield Academy and participated in the dance program there, taught by Jennifer Whitcomb, Carrie Towle, and Stephanie Shumway. She was a member of the Advanced Dance Ensemble: she took ballet, jazz, and modern classes, performed at the end of each term, and choreographed two dances every year. Following her graduation from Deerfield Academy, she attended Yale University, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in English with a Concentration in Creative Writing and distinction in her major. She also completed certificates in French and Translation Studies.

Violinist Veronika Schreiber-Kadlubkiewicz graduated with highest honors from the Warsaw Academy of Music in Poland and studied in the USA with Henryk Szeryng and Roman Totenberg. Finalist in the Alberto Curci Competition in Naples, Italy, she received a special award from the Rockefeller Competition for Excellence in American Music in Washington D.C. Soloist with orchestras in Poland, Spain, Italy, and in the USA, she played at the Marlboro Music Festival, Bach Aria Festival, Monadnock Music (USA), Estate di Radicondoli (Italy), Festival Perigord and FestiVal d’Arly (France), Musica Electronica Nova and Warsaw Autumn Festival (Poland). Formerly concertmaster of the Polish Chamber Orchestra, Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, and the New Hampshire Symphony, she played with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and was a founding member of the New England Camerata. Veronika has collaborated with Witold Lutoslawski, Morton Feldman, Samuel Adler, and Louis Spratlan, and recorded compositions written and dedicated to her. She created programs for young audiences, presented in Italy, Poland, and France. She is the director of the Grove Foundation Summer Music Program at the Boys and Girls Club of Northern Westchester, taught violin and chamber music at Smith College, UMass-Amherst and Amherst College, and conducted Violin Masterclasses in France, at Duke University, and at Charleston College. Veronika has been Artistic Director of the Viva Bach Peterborough Festival in New Hampshire since 2022. In 1983, with the generous support of Irene and Rudolf Serkin, Veronika arrived in the USA as a political refugee and became an American citizen. Fluent in Polish, English, French, Italian, and Portuguese, Veronika’s ability to connect with diverse audiences worldwide enriches her musical journey as a violinist. Her voyage is a testament to the power of music in transcending boundaries and fostering connections across cultures.

Ava LaChance is a violin performance major at the Hartt School in West Hartford, CT. She is in the accelerated 5-year Master of Music program with an emphasis in Suzuki pedagogy. She is a member of the Hartt Orchestra as well as the Foot in the Door Ensemble, a contemporary music group at the Hartt School. She is heavily involved in the chamber program at Hartt and has explored the violin and viola in trios and quartets alike. She has attended various festivals including Summer@Eastman, the Promisek Bach Workshops, and Aria International Summer Academy. She has experience teaching private lessons to students of all different backgrounds, ages, and skill levels. Along with this, she runs a general music workshop for young students during the summer at the MacDuffie School. Her teachers have included Scott Slapin, Romina Kostare, and Gary Capozziello. Ava believes in meeting students where they are and fostering a lifelong love of music through an approach that goes beyond the notes. She strives to help each student build confidence in their musicianship while developing a deeper connection to the violin and the music itself.

Aidan Klingsberg is a cellist based in Amherst, Massachusetts. He is earning a Master’s Degree in Cello Performance at UMass Amherst in the Graduate String Quartet program, having completed a Bachelor of Arts in Cello Performance and English Literature from UMass Amherst in Spring 2025. His teaching philosophy includes a rigorous focus on technical fundamentals to prepare students for success in their repertoire and ensemble playing. An experienced private teacher in the valley, Aidan also taught group cello classes for elementary school students at Arlington Public Schools in Fall-Winter 2024 and coached youth chamber music in the summers of 2024 and 2025 at Burnside Music Festival in Arlington, Massachusetts. Aidan has performed with Hampshire Choral Society, Amherst College Symphony Orchestra, Keene Chamber Orchestra, UMass Symphony Orchestra and Opus One ensembles, Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, NEC Youth Symphony, and Northeastern Senior and Junior District orchestras.

Thea Weinbeck is a violinist based out of Amherst, Massachusetts. Currently at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, she is pursuing a Master of Music in Performance, where she is in the Graduate String Quartet Program. An avid chamber musician, Thea has performed with the Zodiac Chamber Music Academy & Festival and the Lawrence Chamber Music Festival. She has given solo performances across the United States and France. Notable performances include a senior recital given at Lawrence University, and a performance on Northwest Focus Live on Classical King 98.1. Thea has performed with the Umass Symphony Orchestra, where she served as concertmaster and principal second violin. Thea received a Bachelor of Music from Lawrence University in 2025, where she studied Violin Performance and completed minors in Art History and String Pedagogy. Her recent teachers include Elizabeth Chang and Wen-Lei Gu. As a teacher, she is passionate about collaboration and helping her students develop a strong sense of musicianship while building a strong foundation for their playing.

Pianist Amy Rose began teaching and performing as a teenager in 1976 while studying with Harry Franklin, renowned former head of the music department at Carnegie Mellon University, who traced his musical genealogy to Hungarian pianist, composer and conductor Franz Liszt.  After graduating from the University of Michigan School of Music with a Bachelor of Music degree in 1980, Amy began to integrate elements of the Taubman Technique into her lesson plans, studying with Joseph Gurt at Eastern Michigan University. She also explored other influential methodologies including Suzuki, Orff-Kodaly, Dalcroze Eurythmics, and the movement-based techniques of Phyllis Weikart. After moving to Amherst in 1984, Amy helped start the Valley Piano Teachers Association and received her Music Ed. certification K – 9 from the University of Massachusetts in 1990. Amy is the founder, manager, pianist and flutist of the band Klezamir, an Amherst-based group delighting audiences with a mix of klezmer music along with classic rock, jazz and contemporary tunes since 1986. She is honored to work with Jim Armenti, Brian Bender, Keith Levreault and Downtown Joe Blumenthal. Amy has also performed and learned with many other musicians, including a classical flute and guitar duo, a Javanese Gamelan, a country western band, a South American band, an Arabic Music Ensemble and several other klezmer bands. She currently plays Klezmer, Classical, Baroque and Brazilian Choro.