Faculty || Mary Beth Woodruff
Adelle Rodkey, Oboe & Piano
As teacher and performer, Adelle Rodkey’s aspiration is to enable her students and audience to experience the delight of music. Adelle helps bring music alive for her students, providing piano and oboe instruction in the Santa Barbara area since 2008. Besides her private teaching, she has been oboe faculty at Westmont College and UC Santa Barbara. She holds a Master’s in Music in Oboe Performance from UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music, where she is currently pursuing her doctorate.
Adelle brings a creative flair to her teaching, employing innovative pedagogical approaches. Energized by new teaching ideas, she has designed a unique hands-on curriculum to explore the core concepts of musical notation and to develop reading fluency. She has taught group classes on the physics of music, on music history, and on musical friendships (relationships between composers). She seeks out opportunities for cross-disciplinary connections, embracing an expanded view of music education.
In her performances, she captivates her audiences with her fresh and expressive interpretations. Adelle has designed and performed multiple full-length recitals, and enjoys discovering and programming pieces by unfamiliar composers. Performance highlights include being a concerto soloist with the UCLA Symphony and with the ensemble “Roanoque Baroque.” She has won awards from the Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation and was a finalist in the Concerto Competition at the Fresno Summer Music Festival.
Her education reflects the dual emphasis in teaching and performing. She received a degree in Music Pedagogy from Wheaton Conservatory of Music, IL, where she studied under Carl Sonik. During the summer months, she participates in the Suzuki Association’s teacher training courses, which provides ongoing refinement to her piano teaching. On oboe, she is currently pursuing her Doctorate of Musical Arts in Oboe Performance at UCLA under Dr. Jonathan Davis.
Alvise’s comprehensive musical training includes degrees from Italy’s St. Cecilia Conservatoire (in violin), R. Franci Conservatoire, P. Mascagni Conservatoire, the Chigiana Academy, and the International Piano Academy of Imola. He continued his studies in the UK with Martino Tirimo at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of London before relocating to the United States. He holds a Performer Diploma from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, where he studied with Roberto Plano, and is currently a DMA candidate (ABD, graduating in 2025) and a prestigious Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of California, Santa Barbara, under the tutelage of Paul Berkowitz. Since September 2024, he has served as the Principal Collaborative Pianist for the Sing! project at the Music Academy of the West.