The St. Thomas Community Music Academy welcomes people of all ages, levels, and abilities who are interested in private study of an instrument or voice to join us for our inaugural season. From Monday through Friday, a small but accomplished roster of teachers offers lessons in piano, organ, and voice on the St. Thomas Church campus. Music has long been part of the church’s tradition, and at St. Thomas Church, we are proud to be a center for musical excellence.
Our Team
More faculty members will be announced soon. Lesson rates are set by the individual teachers and are available upon request.
PAUL MEIER
DIRECTOR & ORGAN FACULTY
Paul Meier is Director of Music and Organist at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Medina, Washington. His performance highlights include multiple appearances as a guest organist with the Los Angeles Master Chorale at Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Kansas City Symphony at Helzberg Hall, and the Pacific Symphony at Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. He received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree and a Master of Music degree, both with honors, from the University of Southern California, where he studied with Cherry Rhodes, and a Bachelor of Music degree from Rice University, where he studied with Clyde Holloway, with additional studies at the Norddeutschen Orgelakademie with Harald Vogel. Prior to his appointment at St. Thomas, Dr. Meier was Director of Music at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kansas City and Adjunct Faculty at the University of Central Missouri where he taught graduate and undergraduate organ students. He also previously served as Assistant Director of Music at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, Associate Organist at St. James’ Episcopal Church, Los Angeles, Organist at Bel Air Presbyterian Church, Los Angeles, and Organist at Christ the King Lutheran Church, Houston.
suZANNE ANDERSON
Administrator & Piano Faculty
A versatile and multi-faceted musician, Suzanne Anderson has worked as a professional singer, pianist, conductor and teacher across the United States. Originally trained as a pianist, she was the recipient of the Arthur Judson and Alfred E.B. Merron piano scholarships, and accompanied the Cantus Choir of the Westminster Conservatory at the White House. In addition to maintaining a private piano studio, she has also been a member of the piano faculty at the Lydia Lovan Community School of Music at William Jewell College and the Westminster Conservatory. Her students have earned honors at MTNA events and gone on to study at the college level. As a singer, Suzanne has sung with many professional ensembles including the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Voices of Ascension, the Choir of Trinity Wall Street, Bach Collegium San Diego and the Millennium Consort and under numerous conductors including Gustavo Dudamel, Kurt Masur, Herbert Blomstedt and Helmut Rilling. A recent transplant to Seattle, Suzanne holds degrees from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.
Rose Beattie
VOCAL FACULTY
Mezzo-soprano, Dr. Rose Beattie shares her musicality as an accomplished performer and vocal instructor specializing in varied styles taught to all ages. For twenty years she has maintained an active performance career including long standing roster positions held with the Los Angeles Opera, the Los Angeles Master Chorale and the Los Angeles Philharmonic singing under such notable conductors as Gustavo Dudamel, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Grant Gershon, and James Conlon. Dr. Beattie recently gave solo performances for Missoula Symphony’s Verdi Requiem and North West Symphony’s Dvorak's Stabat Mater. She earned her Bachelor of Music degree from USC’s Thornton School of Music and her MM and DMA from UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music where she received six Teaching Fellowships. Faculty positions include UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music, St. Thomas Church Music Academy, Colburn School, Pasadena City College, American Music and Dramatic Academy, and for the National Children's Chorus. Choral Director positions include Bellevue Christian School’s Junior High and High School Choirs and Three Points Elementary Choirs. Fun Fact: Dr. Beattie sang with the session choir contracted for Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of Skywalker.
Mezzo-soprano, Dr. Rose Beattie shares her musicality as an accomplished performer and vocal instructor specializing in varied styles taught to all ages. For twenty years she has maintained an active performance career including long standing roster positions held with the Los Angeles Opera, the Los Angeles Master Chorale and the Los Angeles Philharmonic singing under such notable conductors as Gustavo Dudamel, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Grant Gershon, and James Conlon. Dr. Beattie recently gave solo performances for Missoula Symphony’s Verdi Requiem and North West Symphony’s Dvorak's Stabat Mater. She earned her Bachelor of Music degree from USC’s Thornton School of Music and her MM and DMA from UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music where she received six Teaching Fellowships. Faculty positions include UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music, St. Thomas Church Music Academy, Colburn School, Pasadena City College, American Music and Dramatic Academy, and for the National Children's Chorus. Choral Director positions include Bellevue Christian School’s Junior High and High School Choirs and Three Points Elementary Choirs. Fun Fact: Dr. Beattie sang with the session choir contracted for Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of Skywalker.
Sungwoo Steven Kim
FLUTE FACULTY
Korean American flutist Sungwoo Steven Kim, a graduate of the Juilliard School and the New England Conservatory, has performed extensively across the United States, Europe, and Korea. As a Konzertexamen fellow at Berlin’s Hanns Eisler Hochschule für Musik, he was appointed Acting Principal Flutist of the Nürnberg Staatsphilharmonie (2011–12) and later served as Assistant Principal Flutist with the Staatsoper. In the U.S., Kim has performed in numerous Broadway productions, including The Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, Mary Poppins, and Aladdin, and made his Carnegie Hall solo debut with the Interschool Orchestra of New York. Other solo appearances include performances with the New York Handel Festival Orchestra, Livingston Symphony, William Paterson University Symphony, and Haffner Sinfonietta in Boston. He is a First Prize Winner of the New York Flute Club Young Artist Competition, recipient of the Bohuslav Martinů Prize at the Prague Spring International Competition, and Third Prize Winner at the NFA Young Artist Competition. A dedicated teacher, Kim has served on the faculties of Tufts University, Stonehill College, and the Manhattan School of Music Pre-College, and as a certified Suzuki Flute Instructor, he studied pedagogy with Toshio Takahashi, founder of the Suzuki Flute School.
Susan PaynE O'Brien
VOCAL FACULTY
Susan Payne O'Brien brings the spirit of improvisation and ease into her teaching studio. Working within a holistic framework, Susan gives students more access to their unique strengths as a singer across multiple genres of song. Whether you are an opera singer, singer-songwriter, broadway enthusiast, or a true beginner Susan will work to find the repertoire and exercises to unlock your vocal potential. Susan brings over twenty years’ experience of working with singers at various music schools and University Voice Programs including: DePaul University, North Park University, Chicago College Of the Performing Arts, The Santa Fe Opera, UNVI, Chicago Opera Theater and The Latin School of Chicago. Since moving to Seattle, she has worked with young vocalists in the teen studio of The Seattle Opera as well as with students of St. Thomas School of Medina.
charles robert stephens
VOCAL FACULTY
Charles has enjoyed a long career spanning a wide variety of roles and styles in opera and concert music. In his 20 years in New York City, he sang leading roles with the New York City Opera and was reported by the New York Times to be " a baritone of smooth distinction." He also appeared frequently in Carnegie Hall with the Opera Orchestra of New York in a variety of roles and was active in regional opera throughout the US. On the international stage, he sang opera roles in Montevideo Uruguay, Taiwan, Santo Domingo, and Mexico City. Now based in Seattle, Charles has sung with the Seattle Symphony, Northwest Sinfonietta, Tacoma and Spokane Symphony, Spokane Opera, Portland Chamber Orchestra and many other orchestras and opera companies in the Pacific Northwest.  Career highlights include the role of Tiresias in the Boston Early Music Festival's lavish production of Steffani's Niobe, Queen of Thebes. With the New York City National Company, he sang the role of Germont in La Traviata in forty-three performances across the US. Among his ten appearances with the Seattle Symphony include Beethoven’s 9th, Messiah and "Opera Festival." He premiered and recorded the role of Rudyard Kipling in John Muehleisen's world premiere cantata entitled But Who Shall Return to Us Our Children? A Kipling Passion. The 2022-23 season included performances of the Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony and Messiah (Spokane Symphony), Judge Turpin in Sweeny Todd (Helena Symphony), Bach B Minor Mass(St. Paul Music Guild, Salem , OR) , Mozart Requiem , Bellingham Symphony, Mozart C minor Mass, Seattle Pro Musica, Haydn The Seasons( Harmonia Seattle ), Verdi Requiem ( Symphony Tacoma) and a Paris debut in Bach’s St. John Passion( Les Fetes Galantes). Charles has sung as section leader/soloist in Boston at Old South Church and King’s Chapel, New York City at St. Ignatius Loyola and Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church and in Seattle at Plymouth Church and since 2016 at St. Thomas Medina. He has taught voice at Portland State, University of Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran University.
FLUTE FACULTY
VOCAL FACULTY
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Contact Us
musicacademy@stthomasmedina.org | (425) 454-9541 ext. 111