BYCP Faculty

Natalie Bateman is a music student at Western Washington University pursuing a degree in Music Education. She has nearly ten years of experience private teaching and coaching. She loves chamber music and is excited to get to be a part of BYCP.

Victor Costanzi is co-founder and formerly Artistic Director of the critically acclaimed Vetta Chamber Series. His professional engagements span many genres including soloist, concertmaster, new music, early music and chamber music. A native of St. Paul Minnesota, Mr. Costanzi lived in Vancouver, BC from 1979 to 2005 and has recorded for the CBC, Vox, Skylark, Centre Disc and Miracle Records labels. In March of 2005 he re-located to New York following an invitation to perform as Concertmaster on Broadway.

Luke Gavin is currently studying music education at Western Washington University and has a passion for chamber music. In addition to playing standard rep with his quartet he also enjoys playing new works by student composers. Besides school he works as a coach for the North Sound Youth Symphony and maintains a small studio teaching piano and viola.

Mehrdad Gholami is the Assistant Professor of Flute at Western Washington University and coordinator of the woodwinds area.  He received presidential award and Iran’s National Elites Foundation scholarship to continue his training at the University of Tehran, where he studied with Dr. Azin Movahed. A sought-after pedagogue, Mehrdad has offered masterclasses and workshops on various topics from beginner pedagogy to contemporary techniques across the United States. On high demand as a teacher, Mehrdad’s students have won national awards in addition to students having qualified for the exclusive TMEA all-state band every year. Mehrdad will be performing on the keynote speaker event of the NafMe NW Chapter in Spokane, 2025.

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Rebekah Hood-Sava has over twenty-five years of experience teaching strings privately at the middle school, high school, and community college level, and eleven years of teaching orchestra in the classroom. She received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from The Hartt School in Connecticut and a Graduate Performance Diploma from the Longy School of Music in Massachusetts. She has performed as an orchestral and chamber musician throughout Connecticut, Massachusetts, California, and now Washington State. In northern California, she founded the Veridian Symphony and String Quartet, which she artistically directed and performed in for ten years. Rebekah has also released two albums of original compositions of layered cello, which are available on Bandcamp or any streaming services.

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Lenelle Morse has recently moved to the Bellingham area after teaching private students and group classes at Peabody Preparatory. She studied violin performance at Indiana University, then served as the Associate Concertmaster of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. Before moving to Baltimore, she was director of the strings program at Canterbury School, Fort Wayne. In the summers, Morse continues to play with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, and she looks forward to teaching and playing in Bellingham.

Dr. James Ray is music director of the North Sound Youth Symphony, and serves on the music faculty at Western Washington University. He has taught and mentored award-winning student musicians at all levels, and is delighted to continue his work with BYCP musicians.

Heather Ray is an active performer and teacher throughout the Northwest. She held the position of concertmaster of the Port Angeles Symphony and Chamber Orchestra from 2012-2019. Prior to this, Heather was the violin instructor at Corban University in Salem, Oregon. Heather received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in violin performance from Central Washington University.

Samantha Sinai is a passionate musician and pedagogue in the Bellingham area. She loves coaching and also previously directed BYCP. Samantha brings her background as a performer and also music therapist to create meaningful educational experiences for her students.

In addition to teaching piano and keyboard theory at Western Washington University, pianist Dr. Judith Widrig maintains a small private piano studio of enthusiastic pianists and chamber musicians.