
About Faye
Growing up in a household with a love for Broadway musicals, jazz standards, and music in general, Faye began piano lessons at six and later attended the Harand Studio of the Theatre Arts, where she studied acting, dance, and voice. She got to play Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz” and Peter in “Peter Pan,” and that sealed the deal—she went on to pursue academic studies in piano and voice at the Chicago Musical College (Roosevelt University) and San Francisco State University and completed her BA in music at Excelsior College of Albany, New York.
A fascination with Europe led Faye to Italy in 1979, where she embarked on a prolific, decades-long singing career. She performed solo concerts of musical theater, world music, jazz, and Italian songs with prominent Italian and international musicians throughout Italy, Europe, and the States. She co-founded the trio Shir-Am 3, the Gebirtig Trio, and the ensemble Trialogo. She became a sought-after guest soloist for acclaimed groups like the Klezmerata Fiorentina and Orchestra Regionale Toscana in Florence, Italy. She has sung on live radio, in a feature film, and has recorded three CDs. In 1999, Faye stepped into the role of Mary Poppins in the Italian concert version at the Arena del Sole in Bologna. She toured Italy with concerts dedicated to the music of Walt Disney films and American musicals with the Orchestra Regionale Toscana of Florence.
Faye has always passionately pursued her other great musical love: teaching. In Italy, she taught piano, voice, and chorus at the Florence Academy of Music and the Bernstein School of Musical Theater, Bologna. She conducted master classes in voice at the Amici della Musica, Florence, the Coltrane School of Jazz, Rome, and the Niccolo’ Paganini Conservatory of Music, Genoa.
Back in the States since 2003, Faye was on the faculty of the Center for Musical Arts in Lafayette, Colorado, from 2005–2023. She taught voice and piano to all ages, created and directed the adult musical theater class, the Broadway Boomers, and the women’s a cappella group, Bell’a’Cappella. She taught workshops in vocal jazz and co-conducted the LifeSong Chorus, a choral group designed for people with early dementias and their caregivers. In 2016, the school’s sound system was dedicated to her, and in 2019, Faye’s colleagues awarded her the Milo Faculty Inspiration Award as the most inspirational teacher of the year.
Now residing in Florida, Faye is the director of the Kings Point Chorus in Sun City Center, as well as the new women’s a cappella group, Bell’a’Cappella.
About her teaching style and mission, Faye says: “I strive to develop in my students solid and healthy technical skills, a knowledge of music theory, and a wide variety of repertoire. I strive to enable them to transform notes and words into beautiful sounds and stories that can touch us in some way. And I strive to instill in them a love of music in general. In short, I aim for my students to leave me with the skills and desire to keep making music, at whatever level of expertise, and with the enthusiasm to support live music for the rest of their lives.”
