Board of Trustees – NTO

Helen S. Paxton is director of communications for Rutgers University – Newark, home to 12,000 students in two undergraduate colleges as well as graduate and professional schools in arts and sciences, business, law, public administration, nursing and criminal justice. Paxton directs external marketing and strategic communications and is the primary spokesperson for Rutgers University – Newark. Her many projects at Rutgers University include her work as producer of the award-winning documentary film, The Once and Future Newark, which has been broadcast on New Jersey Network and WNET Thirteen public television.

Paxton has had an extensive career in communications and marketing in higher education and the non-profit arts sector. A graduate of Oberlin College (B.A.) and Columbia University (M.A.), her work in the classical music industry culminated in her position as director of marketing and communications for the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.

Paxton’s volunteer work includes service as lead class agent for Oberlin College Annual Fund, board member and past president of The Association for Women in Communications’ New Jersey Chapter and The Newark Museum Business and Community Council; and as a longtime board member of Music For All Seasons.

She is the author of Music’s Connecticut Yankee: An Introduction to the Music of Charles Ives (Atheneum), and co-author, with Arthur Paxton, of Making Music (Atheneum-Macmillan).

Stephen Rodner’s practice includes transactional matters in all areas of the entertainment field involving theatre, film, television, home video, Internet and e-commerce. He has an extensive intellectual property practice, including the prosecution of trademark applications in the United States and throughout the world and representation of clients in connection with all trademark related matters. He also advises clients on issues of copyrights and copyright related matters.
Steve’s work in the area of Entertainment, Media and Communications includes counseling clients and providing advice with respect to all aspects of motion picture, television production and live theatre legal matters, as well as all matters relating to music licensing for motion pictures, television and live theatre. Steve also negotiates and drafts:

• Celebrity endorsement and sponsorship deals and merchandising, commercial tie in and licensing agreements
• Contracts for producers, creative personnel, composers, lyricists, playwrights, directors, designers and performers for live theatre productions
• Motion picture distribution agreements
• Motion picture, television and live theatre option/purchase agreements
• Motion picture, television and stage talent agreements
• Negative pick up deals
• Pilot and series television deals for writers, producers and talent
• Subsidiary rights, motion picture rights, stock and amateur productions, foreign productions and tours with respect to live theatre productions

Steve also provides counsel to clients on issues relating to:

• Errors and omissions
• Exploitation of entertainment properties across multiple platforms and media
• Financial matters, including preparation and review of offering papers and investment agreements for live theatre productions
• Union and guilds

Steve’s work in the Intellectual Property field includes:

• Advising on the proper use of trademark rights and trade names throughout the world
• Negotiating, providing advice and drafting relating to transactional matters involving copyrights and trademarks, including licensing agreements, distribution agreements and confidentiality agreements
• Providing advice in all aspects of copyright registration and protection
• Trademark selection, procurement and all aspects of trademark registration and trademark clearance

Steve is AV Peer Review Rated, Martindale Hubbell’s highest peer recognition for ethical standards and legal ability.

Brian Dallow, composer, studied at the Royal College of Music, the Royal Academy of Music, the London School of Economics, Brandeis University, and Rutgers University.  He holds degrees in performance, composition and theory, and musicology. Brian taught music theory and composition at Rutgers University in New Jersey and at Temple University in Philadelphia.  He is the co-author of “Elemental Music Craft.,” a music theory textbook published by Rutgers University Press and his compositions include chamber music, incidental music for theatre and film, as well as musical scores for four musicals. Brian is the President and Executive Director of Music For All Seasons, Inc.®, an organization created to bring the therapeutic power of live music to underserved audiences, which he and his wife, Artistic Director Rena Fruchter, founded in 1991.  Brian was instrumental in launching an innovative new MFAS program, Voices of Valor®, which uses the writing of lyrics and music to address issues of trauma and stress in veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Voices of Valor, has received major grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Johnson & Johnson, the Blanche & Irving Laurie Foundation, and PNC Bank. He was a founding co-chair of the Alliance for Arts and Health New Jersey, and serves on the Research Committee of the Global Alliance for Arts and Health. In addition to Music For All Seasons, Brian is the co-founder of two orchestras, the New York Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra and the Philharmonic Orchestra of New Jersey (now The Discovery Orchestra).  In April of 1997 he was awarded a Certificate for “Outstanding and Invaluable Service to the Community” by the United States Congress.

After caring for family, doing community volunteer work, and earning an undergraduate degree in psychology, Katherine Sabatino discovered the field of Horticultural Therapy (HT) twenty years ago through the Rutgers Master Gardeners Program in Union County, New Jersey. While she pursued HT activities as a volunteer, Katherine received a Certificate in Horticultural Therapy from the New York Botanical Garden, registered with the American Horticultural Therapy Association, and has been employed for fourteen years as a Horticultural Therapist at Bergen Regional Medical Center’s HT Greenhouse Program in Paramus, NJ, where she works with residents to improve their quality of life through their work with plants.  She uses recorded music as a part of her therapy program.  Residents have been known to break out in song. Katherine is a long-time member of the MFAS Board of Trustees.

Acclaimed worldwide for his technique and musicianship, British cellist Steven Isserlis enjoys a distinguished career as a soloist, chamber musician and educator.

Highlights of recent seasons have included concerto performances with the Berlin Philharmonic and Alan Gilbert, the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Washington National Symphony with Iván Fischer, the Philharmonia Orchestra with Vladimir Ashkenazy, and a European tour with the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées and Philippe Herreweghe; an all-Haydn play-direct project with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra; recitals at London’s Wigmore Hall with Thomas Adès and Olli Mustonen; chamber music concerts at the Salzburg Festival, Carnegie Hall, BBC Proms and Aldeburgh Festival with collaborators including Joshua Bell, Thomas Adès, Jörg Widmann, Emily Beynon, Anthony Marwood and Denes Várjon; recitals in Washington, San Francisco, Vancouver and Milan; an Australian recital tour with Denes Várjon; and a series of concerts specially devised for the 2010 Cheltenham Festival to celebrate the 200^th anniversary of Schumann’s birth.

2010/11 includes appearances with The Cleveland Orchestra and Ton Koopman, NHK Symphony and Tadaaki Otaka, the Philharmonia Orchestra and András Schiff, Vienna Symphony and Thomas Dausgaard, Swedish Radio Symphony and Daniel Harding, Washington National Symphony and Vladimir Ashkenazy, and Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic and Philippe Herreweghe; the world premiere of the surviving fragment of Vaughan Williams’s Cello Concerto in a completion by David Matthews at the BBC Proms; an Italian recital tour with Olli Mustonen; recitals in London and Warsaw with Stephen Hough; a UK tour playing the Brahms Double Concerto with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields and Joshua Bell; and chamber music concerts in Amsterdam, Budapest and Frankfurt. In addition he will be Artist in Residence at the Wigmore Hall and will take part in a number of concerts throughout the season as chamber musician and recitalist, as well as leading a series of educational events.

Steven Isserlis takes a strong interest in authentic performance and has played with many of the foremost period instrument orchestras including the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment with Simon Rattle, and Philharmonia Baroque with Nicholas McGegan. In 2010/11 he will tour with the Academy of Ancient Music and Richard Egarr. He is also a keen exponent of contemporary music, and has worked with many composers on new commissions since giving the world premiere of John Tavener’s The Protecting Veil at the BBC Proms in 1989. In 2006 he gave the world première of Wolfgang Rihm’s Cello Concerto at the Salzburg Festival, and at the 2009 Aldeburgh Festival he premiered Thomas Adès’s new work for cello and piano, Lieux retrouvés, together with the composer.

Writing and playing for children is another major interest. Steven Isserlis’s books for children about the lives of the great composers – Why Beethoven Threw the Stew and its sequel, Why Handel Waggled his Wig – are published by Faber and Faber, and both books have been translated into many languages. He has recorded a CD for BIS with Stephen Hough entitled Children’s Cello, and with composer Anne Dudley he has written three musical stories for children which are published by Universal Edition. As an educator, Steven Isserlis gives frequent masterclasses all around the world, and for the past thirteen years he has been Artistic Director of the International Musicians’ Seminar at Prussia Cove in Cornwall.

With an award-winning discography, Steven Isserlis’s recordings reflect his diverse interests in repertoire. His recording of the complete Solo Cello Suites by Bach for Hyperion met with the highest critical acclaim, and was Gramophone magazine’s Instrumental Disc of the Year and Critic’s Choice at the Classical Brits. Other recent releases include an all-Schumann disc for Hyperion with Denes Várjon, and a recording of works for cello and chamber orchestra entitled reVisions, for BIS.

The recipient of many honours, Steven Isserlis was awarded a CBE in 1998 in recognition of his services to music, and in 2000 he received the Schumann Prize of the City of Zwickau.  He is a recipient of the Piatigorsky Award in the US and the Royal Philharmonic Society Award in the UK, while the London Magazine Time Out named him Classical Artist of the Year in 2002.  Deeply committed to the work of Music For All Seasons, Mr. Isserlis assumed the Presidency of the Advisory Board in 2002.

Steven Isserlis plays the Marquis de Corberon (Nelsova) Stradivarius of 1726, kindly loaned to him by the Royal Academy of Music.

Michael Corbett is a retail banking Senior Vice President at PNC Bank with responsibility as the Regional Manager for the Brunswick region in New Jersey. In this role, Corbett is responsible for leading household and account growth, and overseeing retail banking teams that staff 18 PNC Branch locations in the area.

Prior to assuming his current responsibilities, Corbett held a variety of positions within PNC. He joined the bank as a branch manager, which led to roles as a sales integration manager, product manager and eventually leader of a team of Business Banking relationship managers. Before joining PNC, Corbett was a top producing loan officer and branch manager at Wachovia.

As a manager and sales professional, Corbett has received numerous awards.  During his tenure as a branch manager, he was selected as a member of PNC Bank’s Circle of Excellence. This recognition is awarded to the top producing branch managers across the bank. Corbett also received several awards as a Business Banking Sales Manager. In that role, Corbett received the PNC Achievement Award based on the sales production of his team.  Corbett’s leadership also led positioned this team as the Central New Jersey territory leader in business lending, treasury management and total revenue in 2010 and 2011. In addition to his achievements for sales performance, Corbett recently earned the Gallup Great Workplace Award that recognizes high achievement in building and sustaining a successful group.

Corbett is a lifelong resident of New Jersey and has two sons.  His interests include soccer, running and martial arts.  He is a graduate of Kean University where he received his B.A. in Political Science and earned an MBA while working at PNC.

Nicholas Young serves full-time as a Mass Communications Public Affairs Specialist, United States Army. He brings years of experience in media creation, media relations and music industry connections to the Music For All Seasons Board of Trustees. In addition to his military service, Nick also has a burgeoning career in the recording industry with his band Epoch Failure, that is signed to North Star Media in Detroit, Michigan. He has had his band’s music used in commercials, television shows, movies, sports broadcasts, and for online promotional spots with notable uses by ESPN, NFL Network, Swisse Australia, ZipCar, MTV, VH1, Oxygen, NASCAR, NBC. His band has just released a Jon Bon Jovi approved remake of “Living On A Prayer” that has been a large catalyst to their already successful career. Music For All Seasons and Voices of Valor is an organization built on principles that he holds near his heart, he believes in the power of music and the therapeutic effects for all who listen and create it.

Currently a resident of Lakeland, Florida and the CEO of HallMarketQuest, Gwen provides research and consulting services, focus group facilitation, brand development and product concept testing for Fortune 500 companies worldwide.  She previously served as a Senior Associate with John Hall and Company, Vice President of Marketing for Constellation Bancorp, and Vice President of Marketing for Chase Manhattan Bank.  A graduate of Fordham University, Gwen served as the Chairman of Music For All Seasons from 1996 until 2001.

Carol Marder is a founding member of the Board of Trustees of Music For All Seasons.  A native of Allentown, New York, Carol studied music at Syracuse University.  A pianist and music educator, Carol is a resident of Pennington, New Jersey. Devoted to the mission of MFAS, Carol has been an active member of the Benefit Event Committee since 1994.

Laura Blaine is a Human Resource Specialist with 20 years of public service experience. Laura’s professional experiences include strategic program management, training/employee development, resource and budget forecasting, organizational development, and recruitment. Laura uses her positive attitude and tireless energy to encourage others to be the best that they can be.