Alyssa Bell has a passion for music performance and education and is devoted to sharing multi-genre music. Recently Alyssa co-founded Soundwave Academy, a music academy focusing on holistic music learning including ear training, chamber music, keyboard skills, and more.

Alyssa has been teaching private violin and viola since 2009. She is currently the Adjunct Professor of High Strings at William Jewell College. In 2013 she received her Bachelor's Degree in Music Education from the University of Missouri Kansas City, and in May of 2016 received her Master of Music in Viola Performance from the Peabody Conservatory where she studied with Victoria Chiang. While in Baltimore she worked with various organizations such as the Baltimore Symphony, OrchKids, Occasional Symphony, and Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra. In 2016 she attended the internationally acclaimed Aspen Music Festival for orchestral studies. Throughout her schooling, she attended various chamber music and masterclass workshops including Heartland Music Academy and Orford Centre d’ Arts.

Alyssa currently resides in Kansas City where she has worked with several area organizations including the Kansas City Symphony, Symphony of Northwest Arkansas, Harmony Project KC, and is a member of Rewound String Trio. She regularly performs with touring artists such as Trans Siberian Orchestra, Michael Buble, Lindsey Stirling, Josh Groban, and Rod Stewart. Additionally, she has enjoyed the opportunity to record with several local and international recording artists such as The Freedom Affair, and The Project H. In recent years, Alyssa has been developing her writing and arranging. She has been a featured string writer for the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra, as well as on various recording projects.

To learn more about Alyssa you can visit her website at alyssabellmusic.com

Bridget O’Leary’s work as a pianist has encompassed solo and ensemble work in many genres, including rock, pop, classical crossover, and traditional classical. Hailing from Raleigh, North Carolina, she maintains a strong presence there as well as in her native Kansas City. Recent performance highlights include a solo recital at Kansas City’s Charlotte House Series, recitals with cellist Kirsten Jermé at Carol Woods and White Memorial Presbyterian in Raleigh, featured performance at the American Single Reed Summit with Xiphias Trio, and festival shows with her crossover quartet Fourscore.

From 2015-2017 Bridget was a member of the pop orchestra My Brothers and Sisters and performed with the group at the 2015 South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas and at major festivals and venues in the Midwest. Bridget has previously served as program coordinator of Classical Revolution KC, an organization of young musicians bringing classical music to unconventional spaces including restaurants and record stores. In 2016 she founded KC Young Musicians Roundtable, an outreach series that helps young musicians develop their professional careers and provides a support network for freelance musicians. In 2017 she formed Fourscore, a classical crossover quartet bringing energetic arrangements of contemporary songs to the piano quartet ensemble. They have released an album and numerous singles, available on all major streaming platforms. In 2018, she became a founding member of Xiphias Trio with Erik Hassell, violin, and Larkin Sanders, clarinet, specializing in contemporary works for the ensemble.

Bridget also remains an active soloist of both traditional and contemporary solo piano music. Her most recent solo project centers around how certain North American composers lived the questions and feelings of purpose and belonging through music. Her exploration of home and cultural legacy has led to an interest in musicians and composers who dealt with ambiguity and plurality in their life, both culturally and artistically. An album, pending release date, is in progress.

Bridget began studying piano when she was seven, and at age fourteen she gave her first public solo recital. At sixteen, she made her orchestral debut performing Saint-Saëns’ Second Piano Concerto with the Belleville Philharmonic Orchestra. She earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Missouri – Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance. While there, she was consistently named a winner in competitions including the Missouri Music Teachers Association and National Federation of Music Teachers, and was a winner of the 2012 UMKC concerto/aria competition. She has participated in master classes with Vladimir Feltsman, Jon Nakamatsu, and Stanislav Ioudenitch, among others. Her primary teachers include Jennifer Lim-Judd, Jane Solose, Robin Rysavy, and Scott McBride Smith. Bridget is a passionate educator and keeps a busy teaching schedule, working out of her studio in Raleigh and pioneering the virtual lesson format through online video lessons.

Throughout her career, Bridget’s proudest moments have been the ability to communicate, share, and connect with people who do not consider themselves avid classical music listeners (or even listeners at all).

To learn more about Bridget you can visit her website at pianoleary.com