Music Faculty

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Applied Music Instructors

Faculty Biographies

(Click on the faculty name below to visit their CCRI Faculty Website.)

Dr. Joseph J. Amante y Zapata holds a B.A. in Church Music from Point Loma Nazarene University, an M.M. in Choral Conducting from New England Conservatory of Music, and a D.M.A. in Choral Music from the University of Southern California. He has studied with Morton Lauridsen, Rodney Eichenberger, John Moriarty, Joseph Flummerfelt, James H. Vail, and Daniel Pinkham. He has also done orchestral work with Hans Beer, Pascal Verrot and the late Leonard Bernstein at Seranak (Tanglewood Music Center) on scholarship.

In Spring 2024, he received a Faculty Innovation Fund Award and produced "Zarzuelas, Canciones y Mariachi: A celebration of Hispanic and Latin Music" performance. He is the recipient of a scholarship from the Herb Alpert Foundation, an Administrative Fellow of Harvard University and received a grant from the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies.  While in college, he sang in choirs under Robert Shaw, Zubin Mehta, Rafael Kubelick, Alfred Schnittke, Riccardo Muti (see), and played percussion under John Cage.

Currently, Dr. Amante is Chair of the Performing Arts Department and Director of Choral Activities at Community College of Rhode Island. His choirs have performed Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Handel’s Messiah, Fauré’s Requiem, Duruflé’s Requiem, Mozart’s c-minor Mass and Solemn Vespers, Corigliano’s Fern Hill, Rutter’s Magnificat, Britten's Ceremony of Carols and Ellington’s Sacred Concerts. Future plans include teaching his new course, Latin American & Caribbean Music, the first at a RI state college. Amante’s hobbies include viola, guitarron, vintage cars/tractors/stereos, and being a Trekker like our new professor colleague (see below).

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Dr. Bailey Paugh is an Assistant Professor of Music at the Community College of Rhode Island where she teaches trumpet and other brass instruments, music theory, and music appreciation. She has performed as a substitute musician with various orchestras including the Syracuse Orchestra, the Chautauqua Symphony, and the Eugene Symphony, but her true passion is contemporary music. She is a founding member something something trumpet, a group dedicated to bringing new music to new audiences.

A Licensed Body Mapping Educator since 2019, Dr. Paugh works with musicians to connect movement and sound to improve technique, give freer and more embodied performances, and prevent injury. She has given Body Mapping workshops, clinics, and masterclasses across the U.S. and presented her work on Body Mapping for trumpet players as part of the Association for Body Mapping Education’s webinar series.

Dr. Paugh holds a B.M in trumpet performance from the Eastman School of Music, an M.M. in trumpet performance from Portland State University, and a D.M.A. in trumpet performance from the Eastman School of Music. Her teachers include James Thompson and Dave Bamonte.

Originally from South Dakota, Dr. Paugh is happy to call New England home with her husband Pete. When not musicking, she can be found enjoying a good cup of coffee, an episode of Star Trek, or a walk with her dog.

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Dr. Audrey Kaiser, Professor of Piano, has toured the United States for over 25 years performing, arranging, and recording with a show act called the Two of Hearts. Active in the theatre world as director, musical director, pianist, and arranger, Dr. Kaiser has also performed extensively as both a solo and collaborative concert pianist, including numerous concerts with David Kim, concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra. She has also performed in concert with Alice Ripley, Tony Award winning singer and actress.

Dr. Kaiser earned the B.M. in piano performance from Rhode Island College, the M.A. in piano performance from Marshall University in West Virginia, and the D.M.A. in piano performance from the University of Kentucky. Her academic honors embrace membership in Who's Who Among Students in Colleges and Universities, Who's Who in America, Who's Who Among American Women and two years on the National Dean's List. In addition, she completed both the Master's and Doctoral degrees with 4.0 averages.

Dr. Kaiser joined the music department at the Community College of Rhode Island in 2004 where she teaches music theory, class piano, applied piano and music appreciation. From 2004 to 2009 she also served as the resident musical director of the Granite Theatre in Westerly, RI, where she conceived, directed, and performed in four original musical revues entitled Our Hearts on Broadway, Lullaby of Broadway I, Lullaby of Broadway II, and Lullaby of Broadway III. She is also the originator and director of the summer Cabaret Theatre event at CCRI called Hello BROADWAY!, which began in 2009 and features both students and professional casts performing together.

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Dr. Steve Lajoie is Professor of Music and Director of Jazz Studies at Community College of Rhode Island. He directs the Jazz Ensembles and teaches improvisation, arranging, jazz history, music theory, piano, and composition. Dr. Lajoie was a guest lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2008, and was guest conductor of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Jazz Ensembles during their 1996 tour of St. Petersburg, Russia. His students have transferred to numerous jazz programs, including William Patterson University, the New England Conservatory of Music, Berklee College of Music, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and the University of South Florida. From 1993-2005, eleven of his jazz-studies students were selected by audition to participate in the International Association of Jazz Educators Community College All-Star Big Band.

Dr. Lajoie is the author of Gil Evans and Miles Davis: Historic Collaborations, 1957-1962. Published by Advance Music of Rottenburg, Germany, it contains transcriptions and analyses of four of Evans’ and Davis’ collaborations for large jazz ensemble, and is the only text about these important works.

Dr. Lajoie holds a B.M. in Music Education with Percussion concentration from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, an M.M. in Jazz Piano Performance from the University of Miami, Florida, and a Ph.D. in Jazz Composition from New York University. He also attended the University of Southern California. He has studied with Jim McNeely, Vince Maggio, Ron Miller, Jeff Holmes, Peter Tanner, Nigel Coxe, Michael Pavone, the late Richard Govoni, and the late Wesley DeLacy.

Dr. Lajoie’s compositions and transcriptions have been performed by the Smithsonian Institute Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, the Chicago Jazz Ensemble, and jazz ensembles at James Madison University, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, the University of Wyoming, the University of California at Santa Barbara, the University of Rochester, and Moorpark College.

Originally from Massachusetts, Dr. Lajoie is married to flutist and teacher Marcia Lajoie. Together, they have three children. Dr. Lajoie also enjoys coaching youth baseball, as well as studying Catholic Social Teaching, the early Church Fathers, and Catholic apologists.

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Krista Wilhelmsen, ABD, Assistant Professor of Music, teaches Music Theory I, Sight Singing/Ear Training I, Music Foundations, Introduction to Music, Voice Class, Opera Workshop, and applied voice. She has taught a diverse student population with schools ranging from the HBCU environment to the community college network. Her unique skill set has helped her garner the ability to successfully direct fully staged productions, scene-workshop productions, as well as large-scale concerts.

Hailed by the Charlotte Observer for “her beautiful soprano,” she “gave chills” to famed soprano, Heidi Grant-Murphy. In 2010, she premiered Tatiana in Micheal Ching’s workshop production, Midsummer Night’s Dream- opera a cappella at Opera America. JSOM Performances: Lady Billows, Albert Herring; Donna Anna, Don Giovanni; Countess, Le Nozze di Figaro; and Zweite Dame, Die Zauberflöte. Praised for cross-over abilities, she performed Patsy, Girl Crazy-Utah Opera Festival and Musical Theatre, Antonia, Man of La Mancha-Natchez Opera Festival, and Johanna, Sweeney Todd-Augusta Opera. Under the direction of Carol Vaness, she performed Zemfira in Rachmaninov’s Aleko and the title role of Suor Angelica. A supporter of arts education, she has sung over 100 performances of various children’s operas with Opera Carolina, Opera for the Young, and Augusta Opera. Other performance credits: Nedda, Pagliacci; Mimi, La Boheme; and Anna, Talk to me like the Rain (world premiere).

A native of Chicago's south suburbs, she completed a Bachelor of Music from Millikin University, a Master of Music in Opera Theater from University of South Carolina, as well as a performance diploma and doctoral coursework from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. Musical awards and scholarships include: Metropolitan Opera Competition District Winner, Long Leaf Opera Competition Award, Heafner-Williams Vocal Competition Award, and Bev-Sellers Women-in-Music Award. Teachers include: Jane Dutton, Gwyn Richards, Timothy Noble, John Fowler, Dr. Tina Stallard, and Dr. Donald Gray.

Ms. Wilhelmsen has editorial assistance credits in Harvard Law Bulletin and Harvard Law Today, is a licensed Zumba instructor, and is CPR certified.

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