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 co-owner of Studio A and enjoys a multifaceted musical career. Active at many state, regional, national, and international conferences, he has presented 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. Other presentations include appearances in Canada, Belgium, Tennessee, South Carolina, Oregon, and Texas. 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 Dr. Ruby Chou detailing many of the benefits of learning piano in a group setting. This paper, published as part of the Australasian Piano Pedagogy Conference Proceedings, is the result of a ten-week group piano course for older adults aiming to scientifically test the ability for music to impact the brain. 

Joshua is also the director and co-founder of Beerthoven Craft, a program in partnership with the Beerthoven Concert Series that provides group piano lessons in a casual, relaxed environment, along with... beer! This innovative approach to music education allows classes to be set up virtually anywhere--an office, community space, retirement center, or even a brewery. The program has received local and national attention from The Austin American-Statesman, Austin360, and Food & Wine magazine. Joshua has taught seven classes at three different local breweries with plans for expansion to other venues in the near future.

Recently, Josh began composing and producing music and his collaborations with adventure photographer Ryan Deboodt have been featured by National Geographic, the Smithsonian website, and reached over a million people. His passion for multidisciplinary work and its ability to impact society resulted in his most recent film score for Saving Son Tra Now, a documentary aimed at raising awareness for the preservation and protection of the critically endangered red-shanked douc langur. It was recently selected for the Wildlife Conservation Film Festival in New York City in October, 2019.

In addition to his commitment to the traditional Western canon, Joshua also frequently performs and commissions works by living composers. He has premiered and recorded several new works including performances at The Clutch Concert Series, Gamma UT, Music at the Blanton, and the Fast Forward Austin concert series, among others. Works in these concerts ranged from Music for 18 Musicians and Piano Phase by Steve Reich, to a multidisciplinary collaboration with composer Kay He, featuring video, electronic tape, and piano.

Joshua serves on the executive board of the Beerthoven Concert Series, is an active member of MTNA and CMS, and is a former faculty member at Concordia University Texas.

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.

Wisconsin native, Dr. Kaitlin Gustafson, has been a top prize-winner in the Marvin O. Mechelke II Scholarship Competition, Thursday Musical Young Artists Scholarship Competition, and Schubert Club Scholarship Competition. In 2016, Kaitlin was a winner of the MasterWorks Festival Concerto Competition and performed with the Master Works Festival Orchestra and University of Minnesota Symphony Orchestra in Ted Mann Concert Hall. She has also participated in master classes with artists including Joyce Yang, Arthur Greene, Douglas Humphreys, and Steven Mayer.  

Kaitlin received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities where she

studied with Distinguished McKnight Professor, Lydia Artymiw. She completed her master’s

and Doctorate of Musical Arts in Piano Performance at the University of Texas at Austin under the guidance of Anton Nel. 

A passionate educator, Kaitlin has taught as a Teaching Assistant for the University of Texas as well as her own private studio and local music schools in Austin, TX. Kaitlin is also actively involved in the local Austin District Music Teachers National Association and has given presentations at the 2019 MTNA National Conference, 2022 Texas Music Teachers Association Conference, and 2023 MTNA National Conference on topics related to private and classroom instruction. Outside of the classical music sphere, Kaitlin enjoys arranging music for cello and piano with her duo partner and husband, Matthew Gustafson, in genres spanning funk, blues, and pop.