Piano Faculty

Efraín Amaya

American composer and conductor Efraín Amaya was born in Venezuela, where he began his musical training. Continuing his studies in the United States, he earned two bachelor's degrees in composition and piano from Indiana University, and a master's degree in conducting from Rice University.

Mr. Amaya is the Music Director of Pennsylvania Dance Theater as well as the founder and Music Director of The Point Chamber Orchestra, which made its debut performance during the summer of 2006 with a tour of seven concerts in Italy, performing in venues such as the Fenice Theater in Venice, the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi and the Parco della Musica in Rome. His opera La Bisbetica Domata, commissioned and performed by International Opera Theater in August of 2010 in Italy was then invited to participate in the Bergamo International Festival of 2011. Mr. Amaya was a Carnegie Mellon Faculty member from 1993 to the spring of 2009 and until 2010 he was the Music Director and Conductor of the Carnegie Mellon Summer Orchestra and Wind Ensemble during their Pre-college program.   

Mr. Amaya joined the CMS faculty as piano instructor and Director of the newly formed Arcadia Children's Chorus, an outreach program with Christian Network Outreach United Church of Christ in Norristown, PA.

 n Network Outreach

Silvia Atmadja

Silvia holds a Master of Music and a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from West Virginia University where she studied with Dr. James Miltenberger. Silvia is an active soloist, collaborative pianist, accompanist, and teacher. She has given numerous solo and chamber recitals in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, Malaysia, and Indonesia. In 2005, she performed as a soloist with WVU Orchestra as one of the Young Artist competition winners. She was a graduate teaching assistant at West Virginia University for four years. Her responsibilities included teaching group piano classes as well as private piano instructions. Silvia joined the Community Music School piano faculty in 2009 and is currently working on completing her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from West Virginia University.

Sang Mi Chung

A native of Korea, Sang  Mi Chung completed to the Bachelor of Music at Sang Myung University in Seoul. She came to the United States to study at Temple University and graduated from Esther Boyer College of Music with a Master of Music degree in both piano performance and chamber music. While at Temple, her principal instructors were Professors Harvey Wedeen and internationally renowned chamber musician Lambert Orkis. In addition to numerous solo and chamber music performances in Korea and the United States, Ms. Chung has performed with the Brahms Piano Festival sponsored by the German Brahms Society and has performed on several occasions in Hamburg and Heide Germany. She was also invited to perform a solo recital for the Afternoon Music Club Concert. Ms. Chung has taught piano for more than 12 years and is a certified Suzuki instructor having completed Book 1 training with Joan Kryzwicki. She has served as an adjunct faculty member and resident artist at Temple University. She is currently the organist and choir director for several churches in the Greater Philadelphia region.

Rachel Blosser Derstine

Rachel holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Eastern Mennonite University and a Masters of Music Degree in Piano Performance from Ohio University.  She taught piano at Western Baptist College in Salem, Oregon, and has taught in her private studio since 1978.  Rachel is also a licensed Kindermusik instructor and has taught Kindermusik since 1989.  She is a charter member of the CMS faculty since 1991.  She is a member of the music sorority, Pi Kappa Lambda, Music Teachers National Association, American Guild of Piano Teachers, and Kindermusik Teachers Association. 

Matteo Favero

Matteo earned his Bachelor of Music degree from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in 2001, studying with Dr. Linda Perry.  While there, he received the Piano Performance Award and the Ernest A. Karandjeff Music Award.  He completed his Master of Music degree at the Chicago College of Performing Arts in 2003, studying with Dr. Ludmila Lazar.  During his second year of graduate school he taught piano at Maywood Fine Arts, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing high quality arts instruction at a very low cost to children in the Chicago suburbs.  From 2003-2010, he maintained a full private piano studio in Charlottesville, Virginia.  In 2005 he was invited by the Charlottesville Wednesday Music Club to perform the opening recital for their yearly programs, and was invited in 2006 by the music department at Lincoln Land Community College in Springfield, Illinois to perform a recital as part of their annual programming.  He was invited back last year (2011) to serve again as an adjudicator for the annual Hong Kong Schools Music Festival.

Rachel Ferer Hosterman

Rachel earned her Masters of Music in Piano Pedagogy from West Chester University. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Music, cum laude, from Gettysburg College. Ms. Hosterman is also a certified Kindermusik Educator and continues to expand her education by attending various conferences. Rachel has also been published by and presented at the national MTNA conference.

Lois Forbes, Ph.D.

Dr. Lois Forbes graduated from Oberlin College with a B. M. in piano performance and received an Ed.D. degree in Music Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.  Lois has extensive experience in teaching both beginning and advanced students and taught on both the collegiate level and privately before joining the faculty of CMS.  She was active as an accompanist and was part of a two piano team at Wilkes University where she taught piano.  She also taught general music courses at Penn State Hazleton before moving to the Philadelphia area.  

Emilily Kosasih

Emilily received a Bachelor of Music with honors in piano performance from Temple University's Boyer College of Music and was the Jacobs Music Steinway Award recipient in 2006. While studying piano at Temple, Ms. Kosasih accompanied several choirs including the Temple University Women Chorus and Recital Chorus. Through this exposure, she developed an interest in conducting which led her to pursue a Master of Music in Choral Conducting under the tutelage of Alan Harler.  Previously the music director for the Swarthmore Chorale and Ming-de Chorus, Ms. Kosasih is currently the music director of Community Music School’s Cantabile Chorale, a chorus open to high school students and adults. She also teaches piano at Community Music School and is an adjunct conducting instructor at Temple University.

Soh Lee, Ph.D.

Dr. Lee has been a member of the CMS piano faculty since 1998, and has a life-long commitment to teach students of all ages and perform at various concerts. She completed her DMA at Rutgers University. While attending Rutgers University, she performed for the Bridgewater Concert Series of the Mason Gross School of the Arts and Kirkpatrick Chapel Concert Series and was a winner of the South Orange Symphony Artist Competition in New Jersey. Dr. Lee has appeared often for the Afternoon Music Club of Phoenixville and performed as a guest artist at West Chester University in PA. In addition to her teaching duties at CMS, she currently teaches at Montgomery County Community College and Ursinus College, PA.

Milena Urban

Milena graduated with honors from the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw and was awarded a scholarship from the German Academy Exchange Service to continue her studies with Laszlo Simon at the University of the Arts in Berlin where she received the Master of Music degree.  An award winning chamber musician, Urban has performed in numerous concert venues throughout Europe, most recently with the Villa Musica Ensemble based in Mainz, Germany.  Ms. Urban was a member of the Mühlenberg Piano Quartet at Community Music School and the Aurora Piano Quartet, an ensemble of four pianists who performed throughout Germany.  Milena currently teaches over 40 piano students at Community Music School where she also serves as the staff accompanist.