INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC FACULTY
amanda gates
Conductor, musician, teacher and administrator Amanda Gates joined the The Governor’s School for the Arts as Chair of the Instrumental Music department in 2020, where she directs the GSA Symphony Orchestra, develops and implements the pre-conservatory curriculum, and supervises 85 Instrumental Music students and 34 faculty members. As Music Director of the GSA Symphony Orchestra, she has conducted multiple full symphonic programs and operas. She conducted the Virginia Symphony Orchestra with the GSA Symphony Orchestra in 2024 and 2025.
She joined Virginia Symphony in 1996, and served as Assistant Concertmaster from 2002-2022. She also serves as the Music Director of the Orchestra of the Eastern Shore, based in Machipongo, Virginia. Since 2001, she has spent her summers as a first violinist in the Chautauqua Symphony, where she also acts as Orchestra Personnel Manager. She also served as Executive Director of the Bay Youth Orchestras of Virginia from 2013-2017.
A native of Reston, Virginia, she studied violin performance with acclaimed Hungarian violinist Robert Gerle. She has soloed with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Catholic University Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Eastern Shore, and the Chautauqua Symphony Chamber Players.
She has a BM in Violin Performance, a MMEd with a concentration in Orchestral Conducting, and is currently enrolled as a doctoral student at NYU's Ed. D. in Leadership & Innovation program.
A versatile musician, Ms. Gates is proficient on many instruments and many styles. She was commissioned to compose, arrange and direct string arrangements for the punk band emberghost's album, "Not Long for this Earth," released in 2012. She also composed original music for Royal Family’s off-Broadway production of “Anne of Green Gables,” performed with original choreography by Lorna Ventura.
She has also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the VSO and the Bay Youth Orchestras of Virginia, and as lead negotiator on contracts for both the Virginia and Chautauqua Symphonies.
Ms. Gates performs on a violin by P.G. Rogeri, and a six-string fretted electric violin, "Viper" model, by Mark Wood. She enjoys listening to music of all genres, studying languages, reading, running, hiking, cooking, and spending time with family.
Dr. Stephen Coxe
Stephen Coxe, stephen.coxe@gsarts.net received degrees from Swarthmore College and Yale University, where his principal teachers in music composition were Martin Bresnick, Jacob Druckman, Ezra Laderman, and Gerald Levinson. He has received several awards, among them an Aaron Copland Award, ASCAP Award, Belgian-American Educational Foundation Fellowship, Composers Guild Award, Friends and Enemies of New Music Prize, and Meet the Composer grants. Currently he resides in Norfolk, Virginia, where teaches music theory and composition at Old Dominion University, and serves as Artistic Director at The Governor's School for the Arts. In the summer months he is a resident composer and faculty member at the Yellow Barn Music School and Festival in Vermont. Stephen has also taught at Yale, Peabody, Mannes (extension), and Loyola College in Maryland. He is Artistic Co-Director, with Nansi Carroll, of the Jubilus Festival.
Joe bussey
For 20 years Joe Bussey has been an active part of the northeast jazz scene as a sought after bass player and teacher. He graduated with honors from Rutgers, Mason Gross School of the Arts in 2001 with a degree in Jazz Performance, studying with Mike Richmond. Joe began gigging immediately as his sound on the bass, compelling rhythmic feel and respect for the jazz tradition made him a sought after sideman. Before graduation from Rutgers, he was picked up by the Tommy Dorsey Band led by trombone legend Buddy Morrow. Soon after Joe became a familiar figure in the late night Manhattan jam session scene playing as a sideman in house bands under leaders Julius Tolintino, Jeb Patton, Wayne Escofory and Randy Napoleon. With 20 years of gigging experience in New York, Joe has been fortunate to have a long list of sideman credits with some of the finest jazz musicians anywhere, including Ralph Bowen, Bruce Williams, Ron Affif, Saul Rubin, Lezlie Harrison, Champian Fulton, Lauren Henderson, Brian Newman, Sachal Vasandani, and many others. Joe taught ensembles at the New School, working with Andrew Cyrille and Joanne Brackeen and taught at the Jazz House Kids jazz education program in Montclair NJ.
Justin Kauflin
Justin Kauflin is a “jazz pianist who favors a clarity of touch and ideas...his writing is balanced tempering post-bop intricacies with the assurances of the gospel church” -New York Times. After losing his sight age 11, Kauflin gravitated towards playing jazz piano, despite having a background in classical violin & piano. He received top honors at jazz festivals across the U.S. and performing jazz professionally by age 14, most notably with the Jae Sinnett Trio. In 2008, he graduated summa cum laude from William Paterson University, NJ where he was taken under the tutelage of the legendary trumpeter, Clark Terry (winner of the 2010 Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement in Jazz) and performed in his ensemble. He continued to garner numerous awards such as the VSA International Young Soloist Award, selected as a semifinalist in the 2012 Thelonious Monk International Piano Competition, and voted “Jazz Artist of the Year” in VEER Magazine. Kauflin is featured in, as well as composed the film score for, the Oscar short-listed documentary, "Keep On Keepin' On.” Justin Kauflin is signed for management by impresario and music icon, Quincy Jones and is a Yamaha Artist.
INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC DEPARTMENT FACULTY
GSA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Amanda Gates
GSA OPERA ORCHESTRA
Amanda Gates
Dr. Stephen Coxe
GSA CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
Dr. Stephen Coxe
GSA JAZZ ENSEMBLE/JAZZ COMBOS
Joe Bussey
Justin Kauflin
GSA BIG BAND
Doug Miller
Jason Arce
VIOLIN
Vahn Armstrong
Kirsty Barnett Green
Allegra Tortolano Havens
Elizabeth Coulter Vonderheide
Jonathan Richards
VIOLA
Anastasia Migliozzi
CELLO
Leslie Frittelli
BASS
Christopher White
Will McPeters
FLUTE
Joanne White
OBOE/ENGLISH HORN
George Corbett
CLARINET
Margaret Abrecht
BASSOON
Dr. Christy Havens
SAXOPHONE
Jason Arce
James Nesbit
HORN
Helen Wargelin
TROMBONE AND TUBA
David Kidd
Rodney Martell
TRUMPET
Roy Muth
GUITAR
Eldon Sully
CLASSICAL GUITAR
Thomas Clippinger
PIANO
Dr. Stephen Coxe
Rebecca Willett
Jeanette Winsor
Olena Morozova
HARP
Alexis Colner
PERCUSSION
Michael Laubach
THEORY / AURAL SKILLS / KEYBOARD SKILLS
Dr. Stephen Coxe
Jason Gregory
Michael Kaiser
Roy Muth
Jonathan Richards
Chris White
COMPOSITION
Dr. Stephen Coxe
Jason Gregory
Michael Kaiser
CONDUCTING
Amanda Gates
MUSIC LITERATURE/HISTORY
Dr. Stephen Coxe
Michael Kaiser
Allegra Havens
AUDIO ENGINEERING
Roy Muth
PILATES FOR INSTRUMENTALISTS
Everlea Bryant
CHAMBER MUSIC
Margaret Albrecht
Vahn Armstrong
Alexis Colner
George Corbett
Dr. Stephen Coxe
Amanda Gates
Allegra Tortolano Havens
Jonathan Richards
Joanne White