What is Studio A?

Dr. Scott Donald is founder and co-owner of Studio A.  Previous positions include Administrative Director of the New School for Music Study in Kingston, NJ, piano faculty at The University of Texas at San Antonio and The College of New Jersey in Ewing, NJ.

A native of South Carolina, he earned his BM in Piano Performance at Furman University in Greenville, SC.  He completed his MM in Applied Piano and DMA in Music Education/Piano Pedagogy from UT-Austin. In 2010, Dr. Donald made his Carnegie Hall debut at the Weill Recital Hall in New York City. 

Dr. Donald is the immediate Past-President of the Austin District Music Teachers Association.  He currently serves on the Editorial board for the Piano Pedagogy Forum, a peer-reviewed research publication.  Dr. Donald is a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music and was the ADMTA nominee for TMTA Teacher of the Year in 2015-2016, the 2016-2017 ADMTA Teacher of the Year and a 2017 and 2018 Steinway & Sons Top Teacher. He has published articles in the Music Teachers National Association’s e-journal, American Music Teacher, Piano Pedagogy Forum, Keyboard Companion, Clavier Companion, and Texas Music Education Research.  Dr. Donald’s research in piano pedagogy has been featured at international and national conferences.

He serves on the summer faculty at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan.  In 2016, he joined the faculty of American Voices and has traveled to Beirut, Lebanon to teach piano and coach chamber music in their Youth Excellence on Stage (YES) Academy.  YES Academy is a model for multicultural artistic collaboration with countries in Asia and the Middle East.  

Dr. Joshua Straub is currently a resident of Austin, TX where he enjoys a multifaceted musical career as an educator, performer, composer, entrepreneur and arts advocate. Josh is a passionate educator and is co-owner of Studio A where he teaches piano, composition, theory, music production and arranging to over 40 students of all ages and ability levels. His students have been top winners of multiple competitions at the local and state level, both in composition and piano. His goal as an educator is to produce lifelong music makers and he works hard to cultivate a love for music through sound fundamentals, encouragement while pushing each student to realize their potential–each student has a unique voice and path in music which takes time to nurture and evolve and hard work to achieve. He also serves as a Lecturer for the College of Fine Arts in MAMA program at The University of Texas at Austin.

A graduate with a DMA in Piano Performance from the Butler School of Music, he has presented at numerous local, state, national and international conferences including appearances at the MTNA National Conferences in San Antonio, TX and Orlando, FL, the College Music Society's International Conference in Sweden and Finland, the ISME Regional Conference in Hong Kong, and the Australasian Piano Pedagogy Conference in Australia. As an extension of his interest in the potential impact of music education, he co-wrote a paper with cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Kirsten Smayda and music educator/pianist Dr. Ruby Chou detailing many of the benefits of learning piano in a group setting. This paper is the result of a ten-week group piano class for older adults aiming to scientifically test the ability for music to impact the brain.

As a composer and producer, his collaborations with adventure photographer Ryan Deboodt have been featured by National Geographic, the Smithsonian and his score for Saving Son Tra Now was selected for the Wildlife Conservation Film Festival in New York City. Joshua also frequently performs works by living composers and recently started a collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Ryan Delahoussaye, who is most well known as a co-founding member of the band Blue October, with whom he is working on a substantial arranging project. Their duo has performed in Austin, Chicago and Houston with many performances on the horizon. 

Dr. Carla McElhaney is an artist innovator, pianist, coach, and educator. Her mission is to foster an unshakeable sense of wholeness, connection, and aliveness—both within individuals and among communities—through the soul-affirming power of the arts. An award-winning pianist, her playing has been recognized by the Austin Critics’ Table, praised by the Austin-American Statesman as exhibiting “infectious enthusiasm”, commended by the Austin Chronicle as delivering “an exciting mix of focus and passion,” and described in the Chronicle’s 2019 “A Guide to Classical Music” as “absorbing and exhilarating.” She can be heard on several recordings, including Conspirare’s Grammy-nominated album, The Hope of Loving.

As the co-founder and artistic director of the Austin-based collective Revel, she has presented over a hundred themed “revels” since their 2009 debut, performing for enthusiastic audiences at diverse venues such as Fuel Coffee House in Llano, Blue Rock Artist Ranch and Recording Studio in Wimberley, the Armstrong/Connelly Studio at Ballet Austin, New Mexico Tech in Socorro, the Teatro Nacional de Costa Rica in San Jose, the Krotona School in Ojai, 4th Tap Brewing Co-Op, Albuquerque’s Chatter, the Blanco Performing Arts Series, the Mid-Texas Symphony, and more, inviting listeners everywhere to dispense with the standard protocol of the day, rebel against the straight-laced austerity of the modern concert hall, and “come as you are, clap when you feel like it, and revel in the music like no one is watching.”

Dr. McElhaney earned degrees from Eastman School of Music (B.M.) and The University of Texas at Austin (M.M, D.M.A). A faculty member at Texas Lutheran University since 2009, she has also served on the piano faculties of The University of Texas at Austin and the Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music in Berea, Ohio.

Katherine is a pianist and percussionist from Austin, Texas, who is dedicated to inspiring a lifelong love of music in her students. She began her musical journey on the piano and later studied percussion at Juilliard Pre-college in New York City, where she performed with the Manhattan School of Music Graduate Opera and at venues such as Carnegie Hall. In addition to her classical background, Katherine has performed in a variety of ensembles spanning genres from tango to rock. She currently studies piano with Dr. Shane Anderson and is completing coursework toward a BA in music.

BENJAMIN DIA graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music, major in piano, at the University of the Philippines College of Music. He performed at the Philippine premiere of Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time. He also performed at the 1997 Asian Composers’ League Festival in Manila, performing with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra Chamber Players world premieres of new chamber music by Asian composers and was a regular guest musician of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra for more than ten years. 

As soloist and collaborative artist, he has performed in the United States and Europe, performing in concert halls and festivals such as the Oslo Concert Hall, the United Nation’s Day concerts at the Palau de la Generalitat in Barcelona, the 2000 Autumn Music Festival in Marostica, Italy, and the Aberdeen Youth Festival in Scotland. He was a faculty member of the Asian Institute for Liturgy and Music, Asia’s foremost training center for church music and liturgy. 

Benjamin made his conducting debut in 2005, leading Mozart’s Entführung aus dem Serail and Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice at the University of the Philippines College of Music. He had been involved in the musical preparation of numerous opera productions in the Philippines as coach and chorus master. He finished his master’s degree at the Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, New Jersey.

He made his US conducting debut at the NY premiere of De Leon’s Noli Me Tangere in 2013, performing it the following year at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Currently based in Austin, TX, Benjamin finds himself a frequent collaborator of groups such as Inversion Ensemble, the ZACH Theater Pre-Professional Company, and Panoramic Voices.