Music, Theatre and Art Instructors

April Seals was born in Dallas, TX, and grew up in Plano, TX. April began her undergraduate studies at Collin College in guitar performance under the guidance of Dr. Fernand Vera. April transferred to Oklahoma City University after being awarded the M. Petree Music Memorial Scholarship in 2015, where she earned her BM with an emphasis on guitar performance in 2017.

While at OCU, April studied under Dr. Lynn McGrath, Dr. Stephen Lochbaum, and Matthew Denman. She then went on to serve as the Graduate Teaching Assistant to Dr. Stephen Mattingly at the University of Louisville, where she received her Master’s of Music in the spring 2020.

April has received recognition from multiple festivals and competitions including first prize at the Brownsville Guitar Festival in 2016 and prize winner and honors from the Guitar Foundation of America Symposium, Mountain View Competition, Collin College Competition, Young Artist’s Showcase at Collin College, and the Hill County International Ensemble Contest. Currently, April is pursuing her Doctorate at the University of North Texas.

Bette is a graduate of University of Texas Austin, with a degree in Music Education, Voice Principal. She also holds a Master of Arts Degree in Choral Conduction from University of Texas San Antonio. Bette has 35 years of experience in private vocal instruction, music teaching, and choir directing in Texas Public Schools from Pre-Kindergarten through High School ages.

With regard to private instruction in voice, Bette has taught private lessons to all levels and ages. In her private lessons, her teaching develops the student in areas such as vocal technique, solfege, sightsinging, audition preparation, stage presentation, commercial gig prep, musical theatre, etc. Bette’s goal is to develop the student’s vocal abilities with a balanced approach. She takes the student’s interests into consideration while also introducing them to repertoire styles that will broaden their capabilities. Bette desires for her students to be well rounded musicians, ready for any opportunity that may come their way. Over the years, her former students have gone on to become music teachers themselves and one recently went on to explore a New York Broadway role.

With regard to her school teaching she has prepared students for regional choir, all state choir, and solo competitions, musical theatre roles, etc.

Bette also has an extensive dance background that includes being an officer in the Kilgore College Rangerettes. She has directed, produced, and choreographed music programs and musical theatre shows for schools and churches in the Houston and San Antonio areas. She has served as choir director for churches in both cities as well.

During her career she has directed or co-directed productions such as: Calamity Jane, Guys and Dolls, Oklahoma!, Brigadoon, Carnival, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Annie, Company, Mame, and Amahland the Night Visitors. Her choirs have won University Interscholastic League awards and she has had numerous students in region choirs and All-State choirs.

After retiring, Bette began to write children’s musicals with a friend from her UT Austin days. One of those shows Circus Train was performed at Artsview Children’s Theatre in Longview, Texas.

Bette and her husband Luke reside in the Argyle area where she continues to work in the music industry. Bette and Luke have a son, Matthew, who lives in Dallas.

Originally from Washington D.C., Ethan Ditthardt is currently living in the Dallas Fort Worth area where he teaches privately, is a freelancer, and plays in a notable pop-rock group, The Polarity. Prior to studying jazz, Ethan was an accomplished and promising prospect in the classical guitar community. He studied with Professor Robert Guthrie at Southern Methodist University while in high school and has received numerous accolades and awards including the grand prize in the Beatty Music Scholarship Competition in Washington D.C. While studying under Davy Mooney at The University of North Texas, Ethan was a member of the seven time Grammy nominated One O’clock lab band under the direction of Alan Baylock, where he’s had the opportunity to play with jazz greats such as Carmen Bradford (Count Basie), Kirk Whalum, Melissa Aldana, and Kenny Werner (with Johannes Weidemuller and Ari Hoenig).

A “gifted performer with formidable technical skill” (Theatre Jones Journal), American pianist Jacob Nydegger’s “smooth, elegant power brings memories of that great pianist [Van Cliburn]” (Fanfare Magazine). Nydegger’s debut album with Toccata Classics record label received widespread acclaim and was placed on the Classical New Releases: Spotify Picks Playlist in 2018. In addition to commercial recording success, Nydegger has been a top prizewinner in multiple competitions including the 2019 Weatherford International Piano Competition, the 2018 Kuleshov International Piano Competition, the 2018 Scionti Piano Scholarship Competition, the 17th annual Petroff Piano Competition, and the ‘Art of Piano’ and ‘Artist of the Year’ categories of the 2018 International Great Composers Competition. In 2017 he performed the Grieg Piano Concerto with the Colorado College Festival Orchestra, and in 2019 he performed and presented in Malaysia as Lecturer-in-Residence of International Music House Kuching and guest artist at University Malaysia Sarawak. Nydegger is currently staff pianist at Texas Woman’s University and has established himself as a highly sought after chamber musician, having performed with David Ying of the Grammy-award winning Ying Quartet and having worked with internationally renowned vocal coaches Margaret Singer, Alan Smith, Darryl Cooper (San Francisco Conservatory), and Margo Garrett (Juilliard). Jacob is studying with Joseph Banowetz at the University of North Texas and also has worked with pianists Roy Howat, William Wolfram, and Van Cliburn gold-medalist Jon Nakamatsu. Upcoming engagements include a second recording with the Toccata Classics record label, featuring the piano music of eminent Dutch composer, Leo Samama.

Justin Labosco is a multi-instrumentalist and actor who started his creative journey at 10 years old. Starting on drums Justin played in marching and jazz band through his school (Liberty Christian) and played live shows in multiple rock bands as a drummer. At 16 Justin joined the band at Fellowship Church and played with them until his mid 20’s. During this time Justin also learned to play guitar, piano, bass and sing. Justin than began to pursue a music career as a lead singer/ songwriter of a pop rock band which he continues to tour with and release albums. To date Justin has played hundreds of live shows, has been featured on 10 albums and has written and recorded hundreds of songs.

On top of his music career Justin also has a degree in Acting Performance from KD College and has been a professional actor on the stage and in front of the camera since 2010. Doing everything from lead roles in musicals at Dallas Theatre Center to feature films to national commercials.

Ms. Lara Ruzevic is an international concert pianist and pedagogue. Her career has taken her to Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, Austria, Slovakia and the US.

Active as a chamber musician and a collaborative artist, Ms. Ruzevic has been on faculty of numerous music festivals, such as: The Upbeat Summer Music Festival, Croatian String Teachers Association Music Festival, Texas Cello Academy, UNT Summer String Institute, etc. She collaborated with such artist as Dora Schwarzberg, David Grigorian, Gustavo Tavares, Eleonore Schoenfeld.

Ms. Ruzevic holds her degree in Piano Performance from University of Zagreb Academy of Music, and Master of Arts Piano Performance degree from California State University Fresno. She was mentored by many distinguished pianists such as Leon Bates, Jean-Philippe Collard, Rudolf Kehrer, Arbo Valdma, Elena Richter, Pavica Gvozdic, Melita Lorkovic, Dorde Stanetti, Andreas Werz.

During 29 years of teaching, Ms. Ruzevic has taught in Music schools in Europe and US, teaching students of different ages and levels. She has found that each student has his/her unique strengths and weaknesses, requiring a unique approach for each individual. Most students need, more than anything, to be taught how to play their instrument in a natural, relaxed and balanced way. Further, one of the most important goals in teaching is to challenge students to understand not only the creative process of playing/practicing their instruments, but also the art of communication through musical expression. Realizing that music is a language, is the key to the artistic growth.

In order to achieve this goal, students need to learn the foundation of the piano artistry, and how to practice in an effective and a productive way. Recognized as a dedicated and a successful teacher, Ms. Ruzevic has judged numerous events for the Denton Music Teacher Association, and has given workshops in Piano Performance at the Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.

Presently, Ms. Ruzevic resides in Denton, TX with her husband Nikola Ruzevic and their three children. She maintains an active private studio, is accompanist at St. Mark Catholic Church, teaches at New Song School of the Arts, accompanies for Denton ISD students and ensembles, and frequently performs with UNT music faculty and students.

Monika is from Estonia and she started playing recorder and piano at the age of 7. Her mother inspired her to play music, because she loved to listen to classical music and play piano herself.

Monika is a professional and experienced pianist, harpist, and woodwind instrumentalist. She was awarded first price twice in The National Competition for young wind players in Estonia and the special award for the most creative young artist in Estonia.

She has performed at the Boston, Utrecht, Valencia and Barcelona Early Music festivals with the consort The Royal Wind Music and toured with various chamber music groups all over the Europe and Asia. She has performed on TV in Europe and Asia. She has also played in the Dutch National Opera and the Estonian National Theatre.

She holds a Bachelor and Master degree with teaching certificate from The Royal Conservatory of The Hague in Early Music and is currently working on her postgraduate degree in harp with Dr. Jaymee Haefner at UNT with the related field in music education.

Monika has a passion for Italian 16-17’th century repertoire and French 18th century music. She also admires the composers like, Debussy, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky and Chopin.

She practices approximately 5 hours per day. She begins with exercises to warm up, progresses to sight-reading new repertoire and then working on memorizing pieces, technique and musical lines.

Monika would like to be remembered as a caring, kind and inspiring person who is passionate about music.

As a cellist, Nic Buck has been teaching and performing in the Denton area since 2013. In high school, he studied the cello with Prudence McDaniel at Blinn College, then continued on with Eugene Osadchy at the University of North Texas, from which he received his Bachelor’s in Performance in 2018. There, he helped premiere new works by composers such as Grant Carrington, Cade Leinbach, and Alex Buehler, and was a member of the Ginastera String Quartet, which won first prize in the 2018 UNT Chamber Music Competition.

He teaches at the New Song School of the Arts in Lantana, TX and at public schools in the north Texas area. His teaching style is straightforward and emphasizes kinesthetic awareness and slow practice, taking the student through one element of playing at a time until it is mastered.

In her hometown of Indianapolis, the performing arts had always been a fundamental part of Rebekah’s life. Her mother was a piano teacher, so Rebekah began studying piano at a young age but switched her focus to flute when she was 11 years old. Rebekah earned her Masters degree in flute at the University of North Texas, under the direction of Dr. Mary Karen Clardy. In 2019 she graduated from North Park University of Chicago with a Bachelors of Music Performance, summa cum laude, where she studied with Dr. Ellen Huntington.

During her academic career, she has been a part of many large and chamber ensembles. At UNT she performed with the Wind Symphony and Baroque Orchestra, several chamber groups, and was the sole-flutist in the opera’s production of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice (2021). She had the opportunity to solo with both of North Park’s choirs, perform Chaminade’s Concertino with the concert band (2019), and the Stamitz Concerto with the orchestra (2016). During her junior year (2018), she was featured on the orchestra’s performance of the cantata Ich habe genug by J.S. Bach, playing the traverso, or the one-keyed Baroque flute. Rebekah has placed first in North Park’s annual Chamber Ensembles Competition with “Duo Lumina” (2017) and in the Performance Awards (2018). Also in 2018, she was honored as a Presser Scholar.

Rebekah has a passion for teaching young students in an exciting and encouraging manner, while providing a strong foundation of technique and music theory. She currently teaches flute lessons for Gainesville ISD, private piano lessons, and is excited to be a part of NSSOTA’s team!

When Rebekah is not teaching or practicing, she takes portrait photography, plays with her two puppies and spends time with her husband. Soli deo Gloria!

Ruusamari grew up in Finland and began playing the piano at the age of four with her mother and continued at a formal school of music a year later. Her entire family has a love for and a very close connection to music. Her great, great grandfather on her mother´s side was the great composer Jean Sibelius and she has a lineage of folk musicians from her fathers side. In Ruusamari’s mother´s family basically everybody plays an instrument. On her father´s side there are fiddle and guitar players. Ruusamari plays the piano, fortepiano, harpshichord, and organ. The piano is her first instrument, the big love of her life. She later chose other keyboard instruments of which the fortepiano she has the closest relationship.

Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Schuberts, Schumann, Sibelius, and Tschaikovsky are the composers that Ruusamari most admires. Of the great performers she loves Emil Gilels, Pinhas Zukerman, Gil Shaham and Yefim Bronfman to mention a few. Her mentors Vladimir Viardo, Christoph Hammer, and Elvia Puccinelli have been the greatest influence. Beyond classical musicians she loves Led Zeppelin, Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Freddie Mercury, Elvis, Frank Sinatra, and Bill Evans. The first tunes that really awoke her love to music were Mozart’s Andante and pieces by J.S. Bach.

Ruusamari has received two second-place prizes in the Bradshaw and Buono piano competition in NY, NY and the Petroff piano competition in San Antonio, TX. She regularly tours with fellow musicians. She played 40 concerts with Finnish cellist, Jussi Makkonen all aroung the US in 2015. The engagements for the summer 2016 include concerts in Germany, Italy and Finland. Ruusamari has performed and interviewed on radio and television in the US and Finland. She received a NOVA scholarship from the UNT College of Music and Finlandia Foundation Scholarship as a highest ranking applicant.

Ruusamari has artist certificates from the Prague Concervatory, Czech Republic and the Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest, Hungary. Her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music in piano performance is from UNT, class of Vladimir Viardo. She is currently working on her DMA in Collaborative piano performance at UNT with Elvia Puccinelli and Steven Harlos. She also has related field fortepiano studies with Christoph Hammer and Paul Leenhouts. Ruusamari has participated in master classes with Dmitry Bashkirov, Yefim Bronfman, Matti Raekallio, Natalya Antonova, and others.

Ruusamari practices from 2-4 hours every day. She uses warm ups, scales and finger exercises as a part of a daily practice routine. She regularly adds new repertoire and technically challenging spots that require extra time, repetition and new creative way of practice. She has been teaching music since she was 20 years old.

Ruusamari wants to be remembered as an honest, sensitive and passionate musician and a happy and friendly human being. The quote from Goethe – “Music starts where the words end” sums up her passion in regard to her work as a musician and teacher. Her great, great grandfather, Jean Sibelius’ words inspire her to be the best she can be – “Music is for me like a beautiful mosaic which God has put together. He takes all the pieces in his hand, throws them into the world, and we have to recreate the picture from the pieces.”