John Paul Velez, a pianist and vocalist, received his Bachelor of Music degree in music education from Westminster Choir College of Rider University in 2004, where he studies classical piano with Jose Ramos-Santana and Ena Barton, choral conducting with James Jordan and music education studies with Lynnel Jenkins, Frank Abrahams, and Patrick Schmidt. He received the A. Cox Fellowship and L. Hood Fenn Scholarships in piano.
During summer course work, John Paul has studied choral conducting techniques with James Jordan, Charles Bruffy, Weston Noble, Bruce Chamberlain, Sabine Horstmann and Constantina Tsolainou and Janet Galvan. John completed 2 levels of Kodaly certification at Westminster with Susan Brumfield, Carol J. Brown, and Katalin Kiss.
Since 2005, John has been on the board for the Central New Jersey Chapter of the American Orff Schulwerk Association, where he served as president from 2009-2010, and is also an active member of the American Choral Directors Association. He also received a Master of arts degree in music education from Teachers College Columbia University in 2008.
Jazz studies have been with Princeton native, Laurie Altman at Westminster Conservatory. John now serves as the coordinator of the improvisation program for the Young Artist Program of the Westminster Conservatory. He also maintains a private piano studio.
Since 2005 John has been teaching at the Littlebrook School in Princeton, NJ teaching general music classes to grades kindergarten through fifth and conducting two choirs.
John Velez and Trio Velez are available for bookings in Princeton and surrounding areas. For more infomration, please email triovelez@gmail.com.
Photos by Megan Hofreiter.