Jocelyn Sciortino-Shades — Executive Artistic Director
The founder of the Tooele Valley Youth Symphony, Jocelyn Sciortino Shades has loved symphonic literature and working in a symphony since she was in the Granite Youth Symphony in high school. Mrs. Sciortino Shades graduated from Taylorsville High School in 1992 and began studies at Southern Utah University as a music education major. She performed there in the Jazz Band, Marching Band, Concert Choir, Chamber Choir, Opera Company, Orchestra and enjoyed performing also in the Theatre Department. She decided not to decide what was most fun and double majored in instrumental and vocal education, adding another year to her studies. Her free time was spent playing viola with the Orchestra of Southern Utah and teaching piano lessons.
She earned her Masters of Music Education, conducting emphasis at the University of Central Missouri as she was raising and homeschooling five of her eight children. As part of her graduate program and in researching her thesis, she recruited and taught a community orchestra for youth at UCM.
Mrs. S (as her students call her) has taught and shared her love of music with all levels and ages from birth (running a Kindermusik studio) to elderly (conducting choirs). Her current favorite stage is to work with middle school students at Excelsior Academy, introducing them to the world of loving music. She maintains that she does not have a favorite instrument or style of music because it is all full of life and wonder………..however her viola and trombone students know that THEY are extra special.
Zak Anderson — Assistant Director, Percussion Section Coach
Zak Anderson began playing piano at age eight, and became a percussionist at age 12 when he entered junior high. During junior high, he took lessons from Heath Wolf and Glenn Webb. After three years of junior high, he was fortunate enough to attend American Fork High School where he was able to participate as section leader in their state champion marching band and wind symphony under the direction of John Miller, and the award winning percussion ensemble led by Mike Heustis. Between his Junior and Senior years, he served as the section leader and principal percussionist for the Utah Ambassadors of Music for their three week tour of Europe under the direction of Dr. Don Peterson. As a Senior, he was a member of the Utah Allstate Band, also led by Dr. Peterson. He was also invited to join the Utah Premiere Brass under the direction of the late Alan Boyer where he was the principal timpanist and co-section leader. As a Senior, he competed in the Utah Percussion Festival receiving first place for his solos on timpani, snare drum, and multi percussion along with second place on marimba. Following high school, he enrolled as a percussion major at BYU where he studied with Dr. Ron Brough. There he played marimba in the Percussion Ensemble, triple guitar pans in the Steel Drum Band, and timpani in the Symphony Orchestra.
Following a church mission to Tokyo, Japan, Zak immediately returned to the Utah Premiere Brass where he served as section leader until being asked to serve on the board of directors. He completed his music minor in 2012 after playing timpani with the University Orchestra at BYU.
When not playing percussion, Zak can be found trying to support his awesome wife and five loud kids in their activities or working on his never ending list of home improvement projects.
Marilyn Howarth — Strings Specialist
Marilyn Howarth holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Violin Performance from Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, UT. During her time at BYU, she studied with Vesna Gruppman, Igor Gruppman, and Paul Abegg while she played with the BYU Philharmonic Orchestra for 4 yrs under the direction of Kory Katseanes. In 2003, she attended and performed at the National Orchestral Institute at the University of Maryland.
Since graduating, Marilyn has taught both orchestra and violin classes in public and charter schools in addition to teaching private violin lessons for years in between the duties of raising a family. She is a Suzuki registered violin teacher and continually attends their sponsored events and trainings.
Marilyn is married, has four children, and enjoys living in Utah. She has an enduring love of music, violin, and orchestra and is pleased to be a part of the Tooele Valley Youth Symphony program.