
SUMMER MUSIC INSTITUTE
Percussion, Jazz, Music Industry, Guitar Ensemble and Orchestra
Summer Music Institute
The College of the Arts Educational Outreach and the School of Music at Georgia State University are proud to announce the fourth annual Summer Music Institute, a week-long music camp for percussion, jazz, music industry/audio, and orchestral students interested in growing as musicians. Students who join the Summer Music Institute will engage with Georgia State faculty and students, and gain ensemble and musicianship skills, all while experiencing Georgia State’s thriving downtown environment.
June 16-20, 2025
Summer Music Institute
Learn from prominent Institute Faculty in a
one-week intensive
full of rehearsals, special topic sessions, and world-class instruction.
THE SUMMER MUSIC INSTITUTE
Join us in June for the Summer Music Institute!
June 16-20, 2025
We're excited to introduce the first year of the Georgia State University Summer Music Institute – Percussion Ensemble Track! The program focuses on percussion ensemble skills. Students will study great repertoire, work with our fantastic directors as a full ensemble twice per day, participate in intensive sectional rehearsals twice per day and attend special topic seminars. In these sessions, students will learn about leadership, music theory/conducting, and musicianship, as well as attend a faculty recital. Georgia State University’s School of Music has specially designed this program to educate and inspire young minds through exposure to the rich depth of percussion music. Along the way, students will learn to work creatively as a team, gain self-esteem and problem-solving skills and develop a greater respect for unfamiliar arts.

Percussion Ensemble Track Faculty

Lauded as having “consummate virtuosity” by The New York Times, Stuart Gerber has performed extensively throughout the US, Europe, Australia, and Mexico as a soloist an chamber musician. He is associate professor of percussion at Georgia State University in Atlanta.
As an active performer of new works, Dr. Gerber has been involved in a number of world-premiere performances. He gave the world premiere of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s last solo percussion work Himmels-Tür in Italy, and his percussion trio Mittwoch-Formel at the annual Stockhausen-Courses in Kürten, Germany. He has also given the US and Australian premieres of Stockhausen’s duo version ofNasenflügeltanz for percussion and synthesizer, and the US premiere of his solo percussion work Komet. Dr. Gerber has been the faculty percussionist for the Stockhausen-Courses since 2005 and has recorded a number of pieces for the Stockhausen Complete Edition released by the Stockhausen-Verlag.
In addition to his work with Stockhausen, Stuart Gerber has worked with many other notable composers, such as Kaija Saariaho, Steve Reich, Tristan Murail, Frederic Rzewski, George Crumb, Tania Lèon, Michael Colgrass, Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon and John Luther Adams.
Recent performances include: The White Light Festival at Lincoln Center; Now Festival in Tallinn, Estonia; Chihuahua International Music Festival in Mexico; Gulbenkian Center in Lisbon, Portugal; South Bank Centre in London; Ultraschall Festival in Berlin, Germany; Melbourne Recital Centre, Australia; Spoleto Festival in Charleston; as well as a performance with Stewart Copeland (the legendary drummer for The Police) at the Savannah Music Festival. Dr. Gerber has extensive recording experience and can be heard on Bridge Records, Capstone Records, Telarc, Code Blue Records, Mode Records, Wesleyan University Press, Albany Records and Vienna Modern Masters.
As pedagogue Dr. Gerber has recently presented a lecture-recital at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) as well as papers at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic and Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities in Honolulu. He has given numerous masterclasses at conservatories and universities around the US and abroad. Recent masterclasses include: Eastman School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, Arizona State University, University of Texas-Austin, University of Florida, University of South Florida, University of Montreal, Southbank Centre (London), and the Sydney Conservatory and the Victoria College of Arts in Australia.
Dr. Gerber is a founding member of the Atlanta-based new music group Bent Frequency, performs internationally as one half of the piano-percussion duo Ensemble Sirius, and is regularly heard as extra percussionist with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
Stuart Gerber received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Oberlin College Conservatory where he studied with Michael Rosen and a Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). His teachers at CCM were Allen Otte, Russell Burge, and James Culley of the Percussion Group Cincinnati. He has also done advanced studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover, Germany, with professor Andreas Boettger.

Dr. Kellen King is currently an Artist Affiliate at Georgia State University and Reinhardt University. Prior to his appointment at GSU and RU, he was Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Percussion Studies at Western Oregon University. Kellen has been published in Percussive Notes and has presented at OMEAin 2021 and 2022 in addition to performing at PASIC, TMEA, and MMC. He is currently a member of the Percussive Arts Society Music Technology Committee and has previously served as the Oregon PAS Chapter Secretary, winning the PAS Outstanding Chapter Award during his service. Kellen is an avid educator, researcher, and well-versed performer in classical and contemporary percussion, having spent most of career focusing on solo, chamber, and electroacoustic music. As an educator, Kellen has previously instructed at Western Oregon University, Mercer University, The University of Texas at Austin, Ithaca College, and Cornell University.
Kellen has taught and arranged music at an array of music organizations across the United States; teaching elite competitive marching band and collegiate level performance and academic courses, in addition to being a featured guest artist and clinician at institutions across the country. During his education, he hasstudied with Dr. Thomas Burritt, Gordon Stout, Judy Moonert, Tony Edwards, Conrad Alexander, and Greg Evans.
Kellen earned his degrees from Western Michigan University (B.M. Music Education and Music Performance), Ithaca College (M.M. Percussion Performance), and The University of Texas at Austin (D.M.A. Percussion Performance).
Kellen is an artist and clinician for Innovative Percussion, Black Swamp Percussion, Zildjian Cymbals, and Remo Inc.
Sample Schedule
Monday-Thursday
Check in
Full Rehearsal
Sectionals
Lunch
Special Topics
Students will have a different session each day. Session Topics include Leadership, Faculty Recital, Theory/Conducting, and Musicianship.
Sectional Rehearsal
Full Rehearsal
Dismissal
Friday
Check in
Full Rehearsal
Camp Social
Lunch
Concert Warm-Up
Final Concert
The final concert takes place in Georgia State University’s Florence Kopleff Recital Hall. The concert is free and open to the public. All participants are welcome to bring family and friends!
June 16-20, 2025
The Georgia State University Summer Music Institute - Jazz Track, formerly the Summer Jazz Workshop, has earned a reputation for offering an outstanding program over the last 13 years. The summer program focuses on jazz combos coached by one of our renowned faculty members. This year's faculty includes camp director Gordon Vernick, and based on the number of student combos, may include jazz instructors Kevin Bales, Robert Boone, Dave Frackenpohl, Joe Grandsen, Randy Hoexter, John Sandfort, and Tim Aucoin.
Summer Music Institute instructors are educators and performers dedicated to providing an intensive learning experience for musicians from middle school through high school. Classes in jazz improvisation, jazz theory, combo performance and master class sessions allow students the opportunity to grow and develop to their fullest potential.
The Jazz Track develops the next generation of Jazz artists and preserves the great American art form. Students involved in the workshop are matched in a combo with other players of the same ability level. As the week progresses, students not only learn musicianship, but will gain the by-products of dedication to a craft - self-esteem, leadership, teamwork, problem-solving skills, good citizenship, and respect for culture. Participants will enjoy five full days of small combo instruction, improvisation classes, instrumental master classes, guest clinicians and a final concert performance.

Jazz Faculty

Dr. Gordon Vernick is a Professor of Music and Coordinator of Jazz Studies at Georgia State University. He holds a Bachelor of Music from Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY; a Master of Music from the University of Miami, and a Doctor of Arts from the University of Northern Colorado, Greeley.
As a professional trumpet player, he has performed in all musical mediums from symphony orchestra to jazz quartet and has free-lanced all over the world. He is currently active as a clinician, an adjudicator, and as a freelance trumpet player.
As a jazz educator he is the past president of the Georgia Association of Jazz Educators and past chair of the International Association of Jazz Educators Curriculum Committee. He is currently the Director of the Rialto Youth Jazz Orchestra and the musical director of the Rialto Jazz for Kids middle school jazz outreach program.
He is director of the GSU Faculty Jazztet which performs regularly in Atlanta and has appeared at the Atlanta Jazz Festival, the High Museum Jazz Series, the International Association for Jazz Education Conference and many other venues. He has performed with such world-renown jazz artists as Kenny Werner, Clare Fischer, John Hart, Kevin Hays, Conrad Herwig, Marc Copland, Randy Brecker, Paul McCandless, and others. As a clinician/teacher he has served residencies and performed at the Conservatory of San Juan, P.R., the Taipei American School in Taiwan, the Singapore American School, the Bangkok International School, Columbia College Chicago, The Conservatory of Bordeaux, the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and the Royal Northern Conservatory of Manchester, U.K.
His podcasts, Jazz Insights, have been featured on a number of websites including the New York Times and have been downloaded over 12 million times since May 2009 His CD, The Strangest Thing, was released on Jbird Records in May 2008 and his latest CD, Destination, was released in May 2012. He is a Van Laar trumpet clinician.
Sample Schedule
Monday-Thursday
Check in
Improv/Theory Class
Combo Rehearsal
Lunch
Masterclass
Combo Rehearsal
Students Dismissed for Pickup
Live Jam Session: Bird And Brew
Thursday Night Only: Students will participate in a live jam session at the Bird & Brew.
Friday
Check in
Improv/Theory Class
Combo Rehearsal
Lunch
Final Concert
June 16-20, 2025
The Georgia State University Summer Music Institute - Music Industry Track, is in its third year with the Summer Music Institute. The summer program focuses on the music industry and recording technology of today's music. The instruction will focus on writing, recording and business models in the the music industry.
Summer Music Institute instructors are educators and performers dedicated to providing an intensive learning experience for musicians from middle school through high school. Participants will take part in sessions on:
Studio Recording: Hands-on recording session with Georgia State student engineers in the Georgia State School of Music recording studio.
Labs: Training to use DAW systems for producing and recording original music.
Music Business: Time with industry professionals in the Music Business as students discuss career paths and learn the fundamentals of the business.
Special Topics: Each day will feature a different topic or guest artist providing insight into the music industry and music business.

Music Industry Faculty

A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Al Thrash has over 20 years of experience working in the music and entertainment business. He started his career as a college marketing representative with BMG Distribution. Upon graduating, he landed a full-time position in Atlanta, and later Nashville, TN, handling sales and marketing duties for some of BMG’s biggest artists including Outkast, Britney Spears, Whitney Houston, Dave Matthews Band, and Usher. After 7 years with the company, he left to pursue his own dreams of entrepreneurship, and partnered with a college friend to launch a music consulting company, Own Music LLC. They were successful in creating events and securing endorsements for music artists with brands such as Coca Cola, Adidas, T Mobile, Essence Music Festival and Miller Coors.
In 2008, Mr. Thrash joined Thirty Tigers, one of the premiere music distribution companies in the industry, and is currently employed as a Project Manager. Thirty Tigers has helped to foster success stories for a number of artists including Carlos Santana, Lupe Fiasco, Aaron Watson, Jason Isbell and CeCe Winans. In 2011, he developed curriculum and began teaching music business courses at Morehouse College, and later taught similar courses at Spelman College, and Agnes Scott College in Atlanta. Mr. Thrash holds an MBA from Clark Atlanta University, and a B.A. in Business Administration from Morehouse College.

Ben Yonas is a Grammy and Latin Grammy-nominated music producer/engineer and artist manager. His credits include a diverse range of artists such as Mos Def, Estelle, TV On The Radio, Ledisi, Mickey Hart, Sammy Hagar, and Rubén Blades. He currently manages a roster of artists, including Grammy winner Rizo, Grammy-nominated violinist Jeremy Kittel, Grammy-nominated hip hop duo Los Rakas, and the Latin Grammy-nominated band Making Movies. Past management clients include Grateful Dead drummer, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Mickey Hart and Oakland Hip Hop duo Zion I.
Over the past twenty years, Yonas has developed his production company, Yonas Media. The independent production company is dedicated to supporting artists and their recordings. Yonas Media’s goal is to be a cooperative launching pad for musicians who have an original approach to creating and performing music.
Yonas recently moved to Atlanta from Memphis, where he was an Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Memphis for six years and led Memphis’ High Water Records and Music River Publishing Company. While in Memphis, he built and operated his recording studio, The Stove, which was the home of several award-winning albums. The albums included Grammy-nominated Southern Avenue’s Keep On album and Latin Grammy-nominated No Te Calles, a collaboration between Rubén Blades and Making Movies. The Band Camino, a group formed in one of his classes, recorded their debut EP at the Stove, which reached over 100 million streams and helped them secure a major label record deal. Yonas served on the Board of the Memphis Music Hall of Fame and the Memphis Rock n’ Soul Museum.
Shortly after moving to Atlanta, Professor Yonas co-created and produced the music documentary Ameri’kana with the band Making Movies. Ameri’kana encourages listeners to experience the rich DNA within the American music story celebrating its true diversity through live streams, podcasts, and television and radio broadcasts. The first pilot episode, which featured Los Lobos, Cedric Burnside, Terence Simien, Making Movies, and Flor De Toloache, aired on PBS in 2021. Ameri’kana received an NEA grant to continue the production of six additional episodes, which will also air on PBS.
Yonas holds a Bachelor of Science in economics and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in jazz piano from the University of Michigan, and an MBA from the University of Memphis.
Sample Schedule
Check in
Block I
Studio Recording Session: Hands-on recording session with Georgia State student engineers in the Georgia State School of Music recording studio.
Block II
Lab Session: Training to use DAW systems for producing and recording original music.
Lunch
Block III
Music Business Session: Time with industry professionals in the Music Business as students discuss career paths and learn the fundamentals of the business.
Special Topics: Guest Lectures
Dismissal
June 16-20, 2025
We're excited to introduce the first year of the Georgia State University Summer Music Institute – Guitar Track! The program focuses on guitar performance skills. Students will study great repertoire, work with our fantastic teachers, participate in rehearsals and attend special topic seminars. In these sessions, students will learn about leadership, music theory/conducting, and musicianship, as well as attend a faculty recital. Georgia State University’s School of Music has specially designed this program to educate and inspire young minds through exposure to guitar music. Along the way, students will learn to work creatively as a team, gain self-esteem and problem-solving skills and develop a greater respect for unfamiliar arts.

June 16-20, 2025
The Georgia State University Summer Music Institute – Orchestral Track will kick off its fourth year in 2025. The program focuses on orchestral ensemble skills. Students will study great repertoire, work with our fantastic director as a full ensemble twice per day, participate in intensive sectional rehearsals twice per day and attend special topic seminars. In these sessions, students will learn about leadership, music theory/conducting, and musicianship, as well as attend a faculty recital. Georgia State University’s School of Music has specially designed this program to educate and inspire young minds through exposure to the rich depth of orchestral music. Along the way, students will learn to work creatively as a team, gain self-esteem and problem-solving skills and develop a greater respect for unfamiliar arts.

Orchestra Faculty

Tamara comes to Georgia State University with an impressive background working with professional, collegiate and youth orchestras. Professionally, she has conducted the Paris Mozart Orchestra, Boston Pops, Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, Amarillo Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Mankato Symphony. She was recently appointed the new Artistic Director & Conductor of the Georgia Philharmonic. Dworetz has also worked with world-class orchestras and conductors in Europe as Assistant Conductor – Orchestre de Paris with Klaus Mäkelä, Gürzenich Orchestre Cologne with François-Xavier Roth and the BBC Concert Orchestra with her late mentor, Bramwell Tovey. As an opera conductor, she has led the Dallas Opera Orchestra and served as Assistant Conductor for Indianapolis, Atlanta and Butler Center Operas.
Dr. Dworetz’s musical beginnings took place in the Atlanta public school system. After graduating from North Springs HS in Fulton County, Dr. Dworetz was Assistant Band Director at Alpharetta High School before serving as Director of Orchestras at Lakeside High School in Atlanta where she increased enrollment by 50% over 3 years. In addition to her public school teaching, she has guest-conducted the TMEA (Texas) All-State Philharmonic Orchestra, All-Northwest Honors Orchestra (students from 6 states), and will lead the 2024 Colorado All-State Symphony Orchestra and Georgia 11-12 All-State String Orchestra. She has also worked extensively with the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra, Austin Youth Orchestra and Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra. Last summer she served as an Assistant Conductor with the Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra 2 (NYO2) which performed at Carnegie Hall and their first-ever tour (Dominican Republic); this summer she will return as a Resident Conductor, helping prepare both the NYO and NYO2 orchestras, and traveling with Marin Alsop and NYO on their South American tour. At the National Conference of the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) she will serve as guest conductor for the National Teachers’ Orchestra in their partnership with the New Canon Project.
Dr. Dworetz was recently selected as 1 of 14 candidates from a worldwide pool in the 2022 La Maestra Conducting Competition and Academy for Women Conductors in Paris, France. She was the only US-born conductor selected for the competition and earned a spot as one of 6 semi-finalists. ‘Maestra’, a documentary directed by Maggie Contreras, features 5 conductors from the competition, including Tamara, and was premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and highlighted on CBS National News as well as international film festivals.
Prior to her appointment at Georgia State, Dr. Dworetz served as the Music Director of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (NY) Orchestra and Concert Choir. She has led guest conducting residencies at the University of Texas at Austin, Boston University, SUNY Fredonia School of Music & Longy Conservatory at Bard College.
Dr. Dworetz holds degrees from Indiana University, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Georgia and Boston University.

Tania Maxwell Clements attained a BA in Music Performance (Viola) and a Certificate of Post-Graduate Studies (Viola Performance) from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where she studied viola with James Durrant. During her studies at the RCS she won the prestigious Watson Forbes Prize for Viola Playing and the Viola Challenge Prize. Her studies continued in Switzerland at the International Menuhin Music Academy (IMMA) for two consecutive years, working intensively with Alberto Lysy and Johannes Eskar. During this time she performed regularly with violinist Yehudi Menuhin and artists such as Igor Oistrakh and Donald McInnes. She was principal viola and soloist with the Camerata Lysy and performed as soloist at the Menuhin Festival, Gstaad and at festivals in France, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Wales.
Upon leaving the IMMA, Tania was invited to become a founding member of the Seville Symphony Orchestra (ROSS) in Spain and from there was invited to join the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in Manchester, England as Associate Principal Viola. Whilst working with the BBC, Tania also held the principal viola position with the Northern Symphony Orchestra and was invited to perform as guest principal with the Halle Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. During this time, she was also a founding member of the Wralle flute, viola and harp Trio and the Puligny String Quartet.
Over the years she has performed with many other orchestras including the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Scottish Orchestra (formerly the SNO), the BP Scottish Ensemble, the Scottish Opera Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the East of England Orchestra and the Royal Festival Orchestra. She has played at some of the world’s most prestigious venues including Covent Garden and the Royal Albert Hall in London, the Philharmonie in Berlin, Boston’s Symphony Hall, New York’s Lincoln Center, La Scala Milan in Italy, the Musikverein in Vienna and Prague’s Dvorak Hall. After moving to Atlanta in 1998, she performed with the Atlanta Symphony, Charleston Symphony, Columbus Symphony, Savannah Philharmonic and Macon Symphony orchestras, the Atlanta Chamber Players, the Kopec String Quartet, Musica da Camera, the Lyra String Quartet, and the Vega Quartet.
Tania has a prolific recording career and appears on over one hundred CD’s (and hundreds more recordings) covering orchestral, solo and chamber repertoire. She is a strong supporter of new music for the viola and has personally commissioned many new works for her instrument.
She also has a very active career playing and recording with many rock bands and other artists, such as The Who, Bruce Springsteen, The Eagles, Natalie Cole, Common, and many Broadway artists.
Tania Maxwell Clements is also a master teacher. Before her distinguished career teaching at GSU, she taught orchestral techniques at Chethams School of Music (a Yehudi Menuhin School) and the Royal Northern College of Music in England and has also taught at the Junior Department of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Sample Schedule
Monday-Thursday
Check in
Full Rehearsal
Sectionals
Special Topics
Students will have a different session each day. Session Topics include Leadership, Faculty Recital, Theory/Conducting, and Musicianship.
Lunch
Sectional Rehearsal
Full Rehearsal
Dismissal
Friday
Check in
Full Rehearsal
Sectional Rehearsal/Masterclass
Lunch
Concert Warm-Up
Final Concert
The final concert takes place in Georgia State University’s Florence Kopleff Recital Hall. The concert is free and open to the public. All participants are welcome to bring family and friends!
June 16-20, 2025
Registration Information
Registration is open to any middle or high school student with at least two years of previous musical experience in orchestra or choir. No audition is required.
REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!
Tuition
Tuition for the week is $450.00
Tuition includes lunch each day in one of our fantastic Panther Dining Halls. Lunch is served as an all you can eat buffet with options for dietary needs such as vegans, vegetarians, gluten-free and others. Each day, the entree choices include classic staples such as pizza, hamburgers, and hot dogs as well as rotating entree themes such as Italian, Asian, Mexican and more.
Each participant will receive a camp t-shirt at no extra cost.

