Faculty

The Lake Oswego Music Academy faculty draws from a diversity of backgrounds and areas of specialty.

Elisa Boynton

Joan Harrington

Collin Heade

Anna Kazakova

Gina M. Pruitt

Dr. Anne D. Young      

Garner Pruitt

Doug Webster

Liz Byrd

Elisa Boynton, MM

violin, viola, guitar, Finnish harp, Suzuki violin, chamber music
Master of Music in violin performance/Helsinki University, Finland
Certificate in violin performance, Sibelius Academy, Finland
Instructor at Lewis and Clark College

Elisa Määttänen-Boynton, originally from Finland, received her degree in violin performance and pedagogy at the Sibelius Academy, Helsinki. She studied violin at Sibelius Academy under professor Tuomas Haapanen and Nachum Erlich. She went on to receive a Master’s degree in Musicology at Helsinki University, specializing in new music. In Finland she attended numerous summer music workshops with internationally known teachers. She taught the violin in music schools and music institutes in Finland. She conducted the Helsinki Women’s Orchestra and enjoyed the rich cultural life of the capitol area.

Ms. Määttänen-Boynton has resided in the United States since 1990. She had a private violin studio in Palo Alto, and taught at the Gorin School of Music in Los Altos. She is currently teaching at Lewis & Clark College, in the Marylhurst University Suzuki violin program, and the Oregon Music Academy in addition to her private violin studio in Portland area.

Ms. Määttänen-Boynton has added the Suzuki method to her teaching curriculum through studies at Marylhurst University and Suzuki teacher training summer camps. At the moment she is involved with music therapy studies and developing a further understanding of the mind and body relationship, which is of importance also in the violin performance area.

She plays violin in “Music Box” Trio that offers music in various styles for various occasions. She also plays Finnish table harp (Kantele) in the Portland based “Livakat” folk music group, which performs nationwide at Finn Fest events. As a new music enthusiast, she has recently joined “Friends of Rain," the new music faculty ensemble at Lewis & Clark College.

Anna Kazakova

voice
 Anna Kazakova, soprano, studied with Helen Obraztsova at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory and after receiving her MA was accepted as soloist at the Moscow State Philharmonic Society.  Later she worked as a soloist at the Bolshoi Theater and the Moscow Stanislavski Academic Musical Theatre. Ms. Kazakva frequently performs in concerts with chamber vocal music of Russian, Italian, and French composers as well as with concert music of contemporary authors.
In 1997 and 2000 she performed Requiem by Artemov with the Russian National Orchestra at the Moscow State Conservatory.  In 2001 she performed Strauss's music with the Austrian Strauss Orchestra in Spain.  She is a new faculty member of Lake Oswego Music Academy and is preparing for her first American CD of Russian Art Songs.

Yoko Miyama, DMA

Doctor of Musical Arts in piano performance and music theory/University of Oregon
Master of Music-University of Illinois/Urbana-Champaign
Instructor at Clackamas Community College
founding member of LOMA; teaching status: inactive at present

Gina M. Pruitt

piano, jazz piano and improvisation
Master of Music in piano performance/University of Texas at Austin
Doctoral studies at University of Southern California
Aspen Music Festival
Piano faculty at Reed College-current

Gina Pruitt has performed in a wide variety of settings as both a classical and jazz pianist. She made her debut with the Boise Symphony at age 12.  She received her early training from her father and studied piano performance at the University of Southern California, the University of Texas at Austin and the Aspen Music Festival.  Her primary  teachers were John Perry, Nancy Garrett, Gregory Allen and she has coached with William Doppman and David Birge.  She was winner of the Idaho Arts and Humanities Trust Fund Award and was semi-finalist in the Ima Hogg Young Artist Audition.  She has taught for the past twenty years on the music faculties of Boise State University and Colorado Christian University respectively.  She is also active as a clinician, adjudicator, composer and has written 39 collections and improvisation methods for piano. In 1999 she was commissioned to write a Duke Ellington medley for the Lafayette Chorale. Recent concerts and clinics include University of Wyoming, University of Oregon, Metro State College of Denver, the Gene Harris Jazz Festival,  and the Colorado State Music Teachers Convention.  Recent CD release ‘Bopspace’ in collaboration with her husband Garner on trumpet has received national airplay.

Anne D. Young, DM

piano, voice, opera, choral conducting, vocal coaching
Doctor of Music in choral conducting/University of Indiana
Founder of West Coast Lyric Works;  Artistic Director/Bear Valley Music Festival


Dr. Anne Young hails from the great American Mid-West. She received her Doctor of Music Degree from Indiana University School of Music, Bloomington. An accomplished pianist and collaborative musician she has performed with numerous artists and currently plays regular concerts througout the northwest with Anna Kazakova and other instrumentalists.  Her piano/viola duo, Nocturno has performed on numerous concert series throughout the Portland area.
Ms. Young founded a chamber opera company, West Coast Lyric Works, which produced a wide range of works including Monteverdi's Poppea, Mozart's Cosi fan Tutte, and a A Game of Chance by Seymour Barab. Her resume also includes engagements as orchestra manager for the Illinois Symphony; chorus master of the Illinois Symphony Chorus; Artistic Director for the Bear Valley Music Festival (located in the California Sierras). She won an NEA grant for collaborations with painter Deloss McGraw and poet W.D. Snodgrass in compositions for multi-media programs entitled “This is the house the poet built,” “The Wounded Angel” and “Life is Probably Round.”  She has taught privately and at the college level and considers teaching and performing to be mutually necessary to her creative life in music.

Collin Heade

cello, conducting, chamber music
Bachelor of Arts in Performance/Portland State University


Collin G. Heade, a native Oregonian, is principal cellist for the Oregon Chamber Players Quartet as well as the Willamette Falls Symphony.  He has performed concerti with both of these groups, the Beaverton Chamber Symphony and the Cannon Beach Chorus. Besides playing cello, Collin became conductor of the North Oregon Coast Symphony when it was formed in January of 2005.  A member of the American String Teachers Association and the Oregon Cello Society, Collin provides private instruction in Astoria and in his private studio in Southeast Portland.  He is cellist in residence at Holy Family Catholic Parish and works with pianist Marlise Strobe on various projects.
His most honest critics are his wife of 34 years, Camaretta and his daughter Julie, a senior at Gonzaga University.  Please visit his website at portlandcello.com.

Joan Harrington

recorder, flute, guitar, and fiddle

Joan Harrington is a native Oregonian who has enjoyed music since childhood.  She started teaching guitar to her teachers when in high school while developing her skills in woodwinds and eventually winning several trophies on saxophone and flute.  Her work at Clackamas Community College and Mt. Hood Community College include band, fiddle(Folk and Bluegrass) and work with music software.  She is a founding member of "Maggie's Parlour", an Irish folk band that performs in the Portland metro area.  In this group she performs on vocals, recorders, backup fiddle, guitar, electric bass and flute.  She teaches general music classes at Alliance Charter Academy and Artichoke music.  She has given the gift of music to many in the community as a teacher, performer and mentor.

Garner Pruitt

trumpet and flugelhorn
Garner Pruitt has performed on Tropical Cruise Lines and with numerous artists such as Lou Rawls, Jim Nabors, The Temptations, Frankee Vallee, The Four Seasons Mannheim Steamroller, Carol Channing, The Nelson Riddle Orchestra, The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and the Boise Philharmonic.  He performed at the North Sea and Montreaux Jazz Festivals in Europe with the California State University Long Beach State Jazz Band.  He is currently a member of the successful Portland group 'The Midnight Serenaders' who just released their second CD.