Faculty

Centrum Faculty

This skilled creative collective could wrap their arms around the globe. Much respect, big hugs.

Photo of Jere Canote

Jere Canote

Past Faculty

Washington

Jere Canote is a teacher, musician, and luthier.  Since the mid  seventies, Jere has honed his skills playing old time country, swing, and novelty songs on guitar, banjo and ukulele. Jere has recorded many projects with his twin brother Greg, including “Uke Snack” (old time tunes and songs), and “Uke Life” (clawhammer and flat picked Uke).…

Photo of Laurie Carney

Laurie Carney

Violin, American String Quartet

A founding member of the American String Quartet, Laurie Carney (violin) holds the distinction of performing quartets longer than any other woman in this elite field. The American String Quartet began concertizing while she was still an undergraduate at Juilliard. Apart from the Quartet, she has per­formed trios with her husband, cellist William Grubb, and pianist Anton Nel; duos with violist Michael Tree; and as an ensemble partner to such artists as Isaac Stern, Pinchas Zukerman, Salvatore Accardo, Cho-Liang Lin, Joshua Bell, Yefim Bronfman, Misha Dichter, Ralph Kirshbaum, Alain Meunier, and Frederica von Stade.…

Photo of Carrie Wells Carter

Carrie Wells Carter

Kentucky

Carrie Wells Carter was born and raised in Red Bush, Kentucky, immersed in traditional Appalachian music and art. Learning fiddle from her father, Jamie Wells, from the age of 7, she also spent a good deal of time in her youth learning from her uncle, Robbie Wells, and brother, Jesse Wells. She currently lives in Whitesburg, Kentucky, with her husband, Matthew, and two daughters.…

Photo of Lucinda Carver

Lucinda Carver

Artistic Director, Port Townsend Chamber Music Festival

Lucinda was appointed Port Townsend Chamber Music Festival Artistic Director in late 2009. Called “a first rate conductor” by the New York Times, she is active as a conductor / pianist and her orchestral appearances have included the National Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, and Los Angeles Philharmonic. Opera conducting credits include the Minnesota Opera, New York City Opera, and the Lyric Opera of Kansas City.…

Photo of Claudia Castro Luna

Claudia Castro Luna

Afternoon Workshop

Claudia Castro Luna is an Academy of American Poets Poet Laureate fellow (2019), WA State Poet Laureate (2018 – 2021) and Seattle’s inaugural Civic Poet (2015-2018). She is the author of Cipota Under the Moon (Tia Chucha Press, 2022); One River, A Thousand Voices (Chin Music Press); the Pushcart nominated Killing Marías (Two Sylvias Press) also shortlisted for WA State 2018 Book Award in poetry, and the chapbook This City (Floating Bridge Press).…

Photo of Conrad Cayman

Conrad Cayman

Ukulele

Conrad Cayman is a Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist who teaches and plays ukulele (tenor, baritone, and U-bass), and also performs on guitar, plectrum banjo, and bass (upright and electric). An artist for Ohana Ukuleles, Conrad has performed at the Los Angeles Ukulele Festival and UkeCon San Diego, and taught and performed at the Reno Ukulele Festival and the Centrum Foundation’s Acoustic Blues Festival in Port Townsend, WA.…

Photo of Dawn Cerny

Dawn Cerny

Dawn Cerny was born in Carpinteria, CA and currently lives in Seattle, WA.  Cerny’s sculptures begin with the notion that “furniture” and “mother” are figures that secure a value (to others) for their potential to hold, display, or be absent-mindedly left with things. Putting form and color to work and entrusting no small part to contingency, these works behave as something like gestural understudies for a play about the day-to-day grinding weariness and joyful slapstick absurdity of human relationship—about trying to Work It Out…or not.…

Photo of Sabrina Chacon-Barajas

Sabrina Chacon-Barajas

Faculty

Sabrina Chacon-Barajas graduated from Seattle Pacific University with a BA in Studio Art and is currently working on her M.Ed at UW Bothell. Her artwork incorporates multi-media art to represent the intersectional identity of being a woman of color from immigrant parents. Sabrina is a teaching artist that cares about representation in the classroom through the power of the arts.…

Photo of Neal Chin

Neal Chin

Award winning artist and Maui, HI native Neal Chin, has been both an ‘ukulele educator and performer over the course of his musical career. His clear and direct enthusiasm for music has come to life in countless workshops, concerts, and private instruction. While his heart is in jazz, Neal has played with many musicians of different genres including Hawaiian, folk, rock, and hip-hop.…

Photo of Daniel Ching

Daniel Ching

Violin, Miró Quartet

Daniel Ching, a founding member of the Miró Quartet, began his violin studies at the age of 3 under tutelage of his father. At age 5, he entered the San Francisco Conservatory Preparatory Division on a full twelve‐year scholarship, where he studied violin with Serban Rusu and Zaven Melikian, and chamber music with Susan Bates. At the age of 10, Daniel was first introduced to string quartets.A graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Daniel studied violin with Kathleen Winkler, Roland and Almita Vamos, and conducting with Robert Spano and Peter Jaffe.…