Faculty
Dwight Fitch Jr., Fine Arts Director and Jazz Studies
Dwight was born and raised in New Orleans. Musical studies began at age nine as a classical pianist. His training continued in both the classical and jazz genres with a Master of Music Degree in Jazz Studies from the University of New Orleans. Dwight serves as the Fine Arts Director for Crescent City Christian School, it's School of Fine Arts and worship leader for the Celebration Church Metairie/New Orleans campus while working also as an active professional pianist, vocalist, composer, songwriter and educator throughout the greater New Orleans area. Dwight can be heard on his releases: “For Those Who Believe” and "Healer You Are" at dwightfitchjr.com
Dr. Moises Bonella Cunha, Director and String Faculty
Increasingly recognized as a versatile and passionate performer, Brazilian-born violinist Moises Bonella Cunha has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Brazil, Italy, Russia, and United States. As winner of several competitions, Moises has been featured as a soloist with major Brazilian symphonic and chamber orchestras, including Bahia Symphony Orchestra, Porto Alegre Symphony Orchestra, and Theatro Sao Pedro Chamber Orchestra. He has also appeared as a soloist with ARCO Chamber Orchestra, University of Georgia Symphony Orchestra, Camerata Florianópolis, Santa Maria Symphony Orchestra, SESI FUNDARTE Chamber Orchestra, Caxias do Sul Symphony Orchestra, and Unicamp Symphony Orchestra, receiving excellent reviews. Moises has also performed on Brazilian television such as TV Educativa and TV Senado as a soloist of the Projeto SESI Catedrais. At the invitation of renowned pianist Arnaldo Cohen, Moises Cunha performed a solo recital for a full audience at the prestigious Sala São Paulo in Brazil.
As an orchestra player, Moises has worked with notable conductors such as Leonard Slatkin, Xian Zhang, Constantine Kitsopoulos, Cliff Colnot, and Carlos Miguel Prieto. He has served as the Concertmaster of the Indiana University Symphony Orchestra during the Indiana University Summer Music Festival, and also performed with the Indiana University Early Music and New Music Ensembles. Since 2018, Moises has served as Concertmaster and Artist-in-Residence of the Northern Neck Orchestra. He also performs regularly with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra in New Orleans.
Moises is passionate about educational outreach, and has given numerous masterclasses in the United States and Brazil. He has given masterclasses at FUNDARTE and Pelotas Federal University, and frequently presents masterclasses, and coaches chamber music and orchestra sectionals to the Orquestra Jovem Recanto Maestro in his native Brazil. Moises is currently on the faculty of the Greater New Orleans Youth Orchestra and the Young Artist Academy, coaching chamber music and also mentoring and working with the youth orchestra in rehearsals and sectionals. He has also been a guest artist at Loyola University New Orleans, working closely with undergraduate and graduate students with orchestra repertoire.
Moises Cunha studied chamber music with Ik-Hwan Bae, Federico Agostini, Alan de Veritch, Jorja Fleezanis, James Campbell, Emile Naoumoff, and members of the Pacifica Quartet. He also performed in masterclass for Erich Rosenblith, Nam Yun Kim, Alexander Sitkovetsky, Arnaud Sussmann, Patinka Kopec, among others.
Moises Cunha holds a B.M. and a M.M. from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music where he was a recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship, Conrado Wessel Foundation Scholarship, The Scott C. and Kathrin Schutz Latin American Scholarship, and the Artistic Excellence Award. Moises Bonella Cunha completed the D.M.A. at University of Georgia in the spring of 2018. His primary mentors include Mauricio Fuks, Kevork Mardirossian, and Levon Ambartsumian.
Elizabeth Crute Cunha, Director and String Faculty
Violinist Elizabeth Almond Crute Cunha enjoys an active career as a chamber musician, orchestra player, and music educator. As the winner of the Augusta Symphony’s Concerto Competition, she performed Haydn’s Violin Concerto in G Major with the Augusta Symphony. Elizabeth was a member of ARCO Chamber Orchestra and was involved in multiple performances and recordings of classical and contemporary music with the ensemble. She toured with ARCO in Italy, which included performing at the 2011 UNESCO Conference in Venice at Teatro La Fenice. In 2018 she was featured as a soloist with the Tidewater Intergenerational Orchestra and she also performed with the Molto Chamber Ensemble for the First Lady of the Republic of Haiti in New Orleans. As an orchestral musician, Elizabeth has performed with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Rapides Symphony Orchestra, Northern Neck Orchestra, Hendersonville Symphony Orchestra, Brevard Philharmonic, Augusta Symphony, Asheville Jazz Orchestra, North Georgia Chamber Orchestra, and Hendersonville Symphony Chamber Orchestra. In 2021, Elizabeth performed with Bell’Anima Productions in Recanto Maestro, Brazil. She has performed with popular artists including the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Sarah Brightman, and appeared in Showtime’s On Becoming a God in Central Florida. Elizabeth currently performs regularly for the Fever Events Candlelight Concerts series throughout New Orleans.
A passionate music educator, Elizabeth is the Co-Director of the Crescent City String Academy, where she teaches private lessons, group classes, and chamber music, and is the founder and artistic director of the Crescent City String Camp & Festival. An advocate of Suzuki pedagogy, she has completed Suzuki teacher training and also places a special emphasis in her students’ curriculum for music from world cultures and under-represented composers at all levels of string music education, in addition to classical and traditional repertoire. It is her aim to instill a life-long love of music and intellectual curiosity in her students through developing a strong technical foundation while focusing on music as artistic expression. She has worked with the Greater New Orleans Youth Orchestra, the Louisiana Academy of Performing Arts, and as the Children’s Program Director and a chamber music coach with the Philadelphia International Music Festival. In addition to graduating from the Hugh Hodgson School of Music at the University of Georgia, Elizabeth also earned her BS in environmental engineering at UGA.