Mr. William Hollin has been the Music Director and conductor for the PVYO Philharmonia for 25 years, 1992 – 2004 and 2010 – present. Now the retiring Lead Instrumental Music Teacher at The Barbara Ingram School for the Arts in Hagerstown, Mr. Hollin lead BISFA’s instrumental music department of seven full and part-time faculty since the school’s inception in 2009, Mr. Hollin’s ensembles consistently earned superior ratings at district and state adjudications, as did his orchestras in Montana, where he directed the school orchestras for the Missoula County Public Schools 2004-2009. Originally from Montgomery County, Mr. Hollin was Director of Instrumental Music at Quince Orchard High School in Gaithersburg where he was named Quince Orchard’s “Teacher of the Year” in 2002, and again in 2004.
While at Quince Orchard, the school’s Orchestra, Band, and Jazz Band also earned superior ratings each year at district, state, and national adjudications. The marching band was USSBA Class A Maryland State Champion twice.
Mr. Hollin earned his BS from Towson University and attended Illinois State University on an NSE Scholarship. He received his Master’s degree from The University of Oklahoma where he was a Graduate Assistant of Bands assisting with the Marching Band, directing the Concert Band, and leading the Sooner Showmen through the 1983 NCAA tournament. His graduate thesis “The Wilhelmian Marches: The Military Band Music of Richard Strauss” was later cited with recordings by “The Heritage of the March Society.”
Mr. Hollin’s wife Robin teaches STEM for The Frederick County Public Schools. His older son Michael completed his Master’s Degree in French horn performance and his younger son Josh, a PVYO graduate, has a commercial music degree from Florida Atlantic University and is free-lancing as a singer-songwriter and creates social media for Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation.
Dr. Brandon Carbonari joined the staff of the Potomac Valley Youth Orchestra in 2021. He has been an orchestra director for Washington County Public Schools since 2022 and is the Adjunct Low Brass Professor at Frederick Community College. He is an active performer on trombone, euphonium, and tuba. Dr. Carbonari has a music education degree from Mansfield University of Pennsylvania, and graduate degrees in Trombone Performance from Carnegie Mellon University and West Virginia University.
Mr. Dahlin is in his seventeenth season directing the PVYO Symphony, returning to the Symphony after directing the PVYO Concert Band for several seasons. Robert Dahlin is the instrumental music teacher at Hallie Wells Middle School in Clarksburg MD. During his tenure with Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), Mr. Dahlin has conducted award-winning string orchestras, concert bands, and jazz ensembles. Mr. Dahlin’s students consistently earn superior ratings at local, state, and regional music festivals. His students consistently earn first place and best overall ensemble awards for each of his performing groups at Music in the Parks Festivals. In the MCPS system, Mr. Dahlin has also taught at Hoover Middle School, Westland Middle School, and Ridgeview Middle School. Mr. Dahlin has had the honor of conducting the MCPS County Honors Band many times during his career with MCPS.
Mr. Dahlin was awarded the Marion Greenblatt Excellence in Education Award in 2006 and Montgomery County Teacher of the Year in 2006-2007. Mr. Dahlin was also a finalist in the Gazette’s 2010-2011 My Favorite Middle School Teacher competition. Mr. Dahlin earned his Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from James Madison University and is a local graduate of Sherwood High School in Sandy Spring, Maryland. Both of his parents are retired MCPS music teachers.
Ms. Michelle Roberts is a lifelong Montgomery County resident and graduate of MCPS. She received a bachelor’s degree in music education (instrumental music) and a bachelor’s degree in music performance (bass trombone) from the University of Maryland, graduating Magna Cum Laude. She taught at Montgomery Blair High School for sixteen years and now teaches at Cabin John Middle School. She earned joint certification from Berkleemusic and Propellerhead Software as a Specialist in “Music Creation Using Reason” software.
In 2013 Ms. Roberts received the Maryland Music Educators Association Outstanding Music Teacher Award for Instrumental Music. She directed the Montgomery County Public Schools Junior Honors Jazz Band in 2015 and 2016, and she has conducted the Montgomery County Public Schools Junior Honors Orchestra since 2017. A member of NAfME and MMEA, she served on the Maryland Orchestra Directors Association’s Board of Directors, was Chair of the MMEA Young Composers Project committee, has presented and participated on panels at MMEA conferences, and presented at the MCPS New Educator Orientation. Her MBHS Chamber Orchestra performed at the NAfME Eastern Division Conference in Pittsburgh, PA in April 2019 after being selected from more than 170 entries. February 2019 marked the fourth appearance of Ms. Roberts’ MBHS Chamber Orchestra in the past seven years at Maryland Music Educators Association conferences. In previous performances, the Chamber Orchestra served as a demonstration group for a major music publisher and an American composer and performed works written by two Montgomery Blair students recognized by the MMEA Young Composers Project. With Ms. Roberts as its Tri-M Music Honor Society advisor, MBHS received the third place award for Chapter of the Year in 2013-2014. She has served as a mentor teacher for college interns, and she is also a frequent adjudicator.
After graduating in the top five percent of her Seneca Valley High School class, Mrs. Lee went on to obtain a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and her certification in instrumental music education from the Catholic University of America, studying piano with Walter Pate and violin and viola with Jody Gatwood. Presently, Mrs. Lee is a string and band director at Beverly Farms ES, Luxmanor ES, and Candlewood ES. She has also been the string director for Cedar Grove, Clarksburg, Damascus, Rockwell, and Little Bennett Elementary Schools and string and band director at Clearspring ES, Olney ES, and Rock Creek Valley ES. In addition to teaching elementary school, she has served as the John T. Baker Middle School orchestra director for many years. During her years at Baker, Sylvia helped triple the size of Baker’s orchestra program and led her orchestras to superior ratings at district-level orchestra festivals nearly every year, superior to excellent ratings at state-level orchestra festivals, and first-place trophies both times Baker participated in the Music in the Parks festivals. Mrs. Lee co-directs the summer orchestra sight-reading camp at Landon School in Bethesda, where the string camp enrollment has quadrupled over the past twenty summers. In addition, nearly every year since she started teaching in MCPS, she has co-conducted the South County 6th Grade String Orchestra. She has also co-conducted other MCPS honors string orchestras at both the junior level and 6th-grade level.
Mrs. Lee has also adjudicated various orchestral events throughout Maryland and Virginia, including the Fairfax and Anne Arundel County Solo and Ensemble Festivals, the Columbia Orchestra Young Soloist Competition, and the Maryland All-State Senior Orchestra auditions. Her four children, playing clarinet, violin, flute, and cello from oldest to youngest, have all been involved in PVYO and have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. If Mrs. Lee had the opportunity to do it all over again, she would, in a heartbeat, still choose music education for youth.
CONTACT: slee@pvyo.org
Talya Schenk, violist, is an active performer in the Washington, DC region. She earned a Doctor of Musical Arts from The Catholic University of America, a Master of Music from The Hartt School, and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Her teachers include Kimberly Sparr, Maria Lambros, Rita Porfiris, and Karin Brown. She maintains a busy private studio of viola and violin students in Rockville, Maryland. Dr. Schenk often takes her teaching into the community through coaching local youth orchestras, as well as teaching in Strathmore’s outreach string orchestra programs. She especially enjoys working with the PVYO Concert Orchestra. She is a Lecturer at Frostburg State University, teaching violin and viola. When she is not making or teaching music, she is spending time with her dog Luna.
