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Meet the people who make Groove groovy.
 Lesley Barovick Owner/Director
Class Leader, Music for Aardvarks
Lesley discovered Music for Aardvarks with her son Jesse in 1996. Inspired by the program’s spirit and originality, Lesley launched Music for Aardvarks in Westchester after her family relocated from Brooklyn to the burbs in 2003. The very next year, her classes were named "Best New Kids’ Music Class" by Westchester Magazine. Lesley has a BMA in voice performance from the University of Michigan School of Music and a MFA in arts management from CUNY/Brooklyn College. From 1988 to 2004, Lesley served as Director of Development for several New York City arts organizations including Jazz at Lincoln Center (under Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis), Playwrights Horizons and Celebrate Brooklyn. Lesley and her husband Andrew are the proud parents of two musical kids. Groove was recently named "Best Place to Spend Time with the Kids" by Westchester Magazine. |
 Evan Watson
Class Leader
Vocals, Guitar
Hailing from Crawfordsville, Indiana, Evan is a professional singer, songwriter and guitarist. Evan’s song “The Giving Tree” was recorded by Meat Loaf on his recent release “Hell in a Hand Basket.” Evan played a 47 date national tour as the solo opener for Heart/Def Leppard in the summer of 2010 and recently released his third album, “Midnight Oil"which was self-produced, arranged, performed, mixed, & mastered. Evan is a D’Addario, Cactus Amp Works, and Gibson Guitars artist. evanwatsonmusic.com
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 Gaby Gold Class Leader
Vocalist
Gabrielle "Gaby" Gold grew up in Greenwich Village. She holds a B.A. from Skidmore College and a M.A in Educational Theatre from NYU and is licensed to teach Drama K-12. Gaby is an alumna of BMI’s Tony-Award winning Musical Theatre Writing Workshop (Lyricist). Her lyrics for the original musical, Face to Facebook won ’Best Lyrics’ and ’Best Song’ awards in the 2012 West Village Musical Theatre Festival. Gaby’s original songs, plays and musicals have been performed in schools and on many a NYC stage. She has appeared with The Paper Bag Players, The Little Orchestra Society, on television, off and on Broadway, regionally around the states and in Tokyo, Japan. Gaby is an active voice-over artist -- Keep your ears open for her ’Eight O’Clock Coffee’ radio spot!
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 Colleen Clark Percussion
Colleen began playing drums at the age of nine. She received her Bachelor of Music from Ithaca College in Music Education/Percussion Performance in 2009. Colleen is currently pursuing a Master of Music in Jazz Performance from SUNY Purchase, where she studies with John Riley (Vanguard Jazz Orchestra). She studies privately with Kim Thompson (Beyonce’, Mike Stern). Colleen works for various artists and with her own band, playing drum-set, percussion and singing. |
 Johnny Butler Saxophone
A native of Seattle, Washington, Johnny has been a member of the NYC music community since graduating from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 2006. He recently completed a 6 month tour with Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds. Johnny has received numerous awards and his groups have been featured in publications such as the Boston Globe, Jazziz Magazine, FreeNYC, the Washington City Paper, The Oberlin Review and Earshot Jazz Magazine. Johnny also loves to teach music, and has been a faculty member at the French Woods Festival for the Performing Arts, the Seattle Public Schools Summer Jazz Program, and was a teacher/composer in Residence at the UC Davis Summer Arts Program. |
 Jesse Barovick guitar, bass, vocals
Jesse B’s mom and dad started taking him to David Weinstone’s Music for Aardvarks classes when he was a year old. Jesse is a singer/songwriter and plays guitar, bass, ukulele and drums. Jesse is a member of Tomato’s House of Rock (THOR), a music collective in NYC. Jesse is a rising Junior at The Darrow School. |
 Michael Hart guitar, bass
A graduate of SUNY Purchase’s Studio Composition program, Michael has been an active musician since he was 15 year sold. He is a talented multi-instrumentalist, playing guitar, bass, piano/keyboards/synthesizers, drums and ukulele. Michael’s true passion is composing, especially film scoring. He has scored numerous award-winning short films, most recentlyMock Justice, a webseries. Michael has also tracked vocals and instruments for commercial music that went on to air, shared the stage with jazz greats like Randy Brecker and John Hart (his father), co-wrote, arranged and music directed an original musical (Alice Unraveled) that made it into the New York Musical Theatre Festival, and has been a part of various ensembles and pit orchestras since he was 15. www.michaelhartmusic.com
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 Adam Spiegel Vocals/Keyboard
Adam is a New York-based composer, singer, actor and pianist, among many other things. He completed two years as a composer in the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, where he met lyricist Dan Wolpow and began collaborating on a new science fiction farce musical about clones (working title "Cloned!") He has also collaborated on two original ten-minute musicals, and has written music and lyrics with his brother, David (book & lyrics) for an original musical called Camp Rolling Hills. In addition to writing for musical theatre, Adam has performed in productions at several venues in New York, including Cherry Lane Theatre, Theater for the New City, and the Duplex. He has written and arranged many songs for his own solo act, and for several rock/pop bands. Adam is a graduate of NYU Steinhardt’s program in Music Business. |
 Julie Antoniou As our Studio Manager, Julie makes all things possible. |
 Music for Aardvarks |
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