Music Instructors

Georgia Bonney
Director, Piano
A concert pianist, Ms Georgia has always had a yearning to share the joy and creative freedom that music offers to others through her performances, lectures, early childhood music classes, and private coaching.
After graduating Magna Cum Laude from U.C.L.A., Georgia earned two graduate degrees from the University of Southern California (Piano Performance and Collaborative Piano). She was chosen as a Fulbright Scholar to continue her studies in Vienna, Austria, where she performed, studied, and completed research articles for various professional music journals. While studying in Vienna, she and her husband, Philip, who plays French horn, had the opportunity to perform together throughout Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, the Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia. Upon return to the states, Georgia served as an adjunct professor at St. Martin’s College and California State University.
Georgia assisted in developing the Early Childhood program as part of the Yamaha Music Corporation’s Research and Development Team in Irvine, California. Since then, she has had children of her own to teach, and has continued to teach others privately and through children’s ministries at church. Her dream has always been to create a creative arts school for children, and she is living her dream!

Esther Bonney
Piano, Violin
Esther Bonney has studied music since the age of 4, when she started piano. Soon thereafter, she began playing the violin with Sabine Eubanks of NCAC. Esther now studies with Dr. Teri Lazar of American University. Esther performs as a soloist, chamber musician, and Concertmaster in the Charles County Youth Orchestra. She has performed at dozens of public concerts and competed in state and national competitions, taking first place in Charles County Youth Orchestra’s 2021 Concerto Competition. Esther was also invited to solo with the Charles County Youth Orchestra at their 2022 Winter Concert. In April 2022, Esther's quartet was selected to perform at the finals of the Misbin Chamber Competition in Washington D.C. Esther has been featured in numerous newspapers across Maryland and has made an appearance a number of times on Charles County Arts Alliance's Friday Night Concert Series and CCYO's Secret Garden Concert Series. In addition to teaching and playing music, Esther enjoys reading, caring for her five goats, solving Rubik’s Cubes, swimming, and building websites, including those of NCAC and The Thinking Kid.

Christopher Alberts
Instrument Ensembles
Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Christopher Alberts graduated from the Detroit High School for the Fine and Performing Arts and then moved to Washington D.C., to attend Howard University, where he completed his studies in music and secondary education. He is a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America, Inc., a brotherhood of music students and alumni. Mr. Alberts began teaching in DCPS. in 2004 and The School Without Walls in 2008. He currently teaches Orchestra, Jazz Band, Stage Band, Guitar Ensemble, Music Theory/General Music and AP Music Theory.
Since Mr. Alberts’ arrival at the School Without Walls it has become a staple of the Washington DC area and in high demand even for a student group. They have performed at venues and events throughout the city ranging from DC Metro Police sponsored Beat the Streets programs to events for the Washington Teachers Union, George Washington University, as well as the office of the Mayor. Mr Alberts student groups have also been invited to perform at the John F. Kennedy Center where they have been featured on the Millenium Stage numerous times. Mr Alberts has a passion for giving his students opportunities to showcase their talent and hard work. Many of his students have traveled to compete in festivals around the country where they have received numerous awards. His students have traveled the world performing, including tours of China, and Brazil where they had an opportunity to learn and engage in cultural exchange with their peers. Mr Alberts has recently been invited to participate in WorldStrides Heritage Festival of Gold, an elite Performance series that offers the most outstanding band, orchestra and choral groups from around the country.

Miriam Bonney
Piano
Ms. Miriam has studied and performed piano for the past ten years. She is pursuing Business and Design at Southern Virginia University. She has studied voice formally and is an experienced accompanist. Miriam has been teaching piano since 2016, and now teaches virtually from Virginia. She always looks forward to seeing her students' cats at the end of their lessons. Her hobbies include weight lifting, in-line skating/rollerblading, and reading.

Laura Ellison
Violin, Viola
Laura earned both her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in violin performance from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where she studied with Robert Gerle. She also studied abroad with Denes Zsigmondy at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria.
She has performed in orchestras throughout the Washington D.C. metropolitan area including Annapolis Symphony, Alexandria Symphony, Maryland Symphony, National Chamber (Philharmonic) Orchestra, National Gallery of Art Orchestra, Salisbury Symphony Orchestra (as concertmaster), and the Mid-Atlantic Symphony (as assistant concertmaster). She performed in Carnegie Hall with the Annapolis Chamber Symphony. She has been a member of the International Orchestra in San Diego, CA and the Tijuana Orchestra in Mexico. As a member of the Catholic University Symphony, she twice met Pope John Paul II during performances at the Vatican in Rome.
Laura is also an educator and has taught at the University level as well as in public and private schools. She has held positions with Salisbury University as an instructor of violin/viola, chamber music, and string pedagogy. She taught for the Alexandria City Schools as the orchestra director for TC Williams High School, Minnie Howard School, George Washington Middle School, and Alexandria All-City and Sinfonia orchestras. Her orchestras consistently received superior ratings at the county and state festivals. She has also taught for the Prince Georges County Schools and held positions with Kenmore Middle School, Benjamin Tasker Middle School, Robert Goddard Middle School, and Greenbelt Middle School.

Ellen Blumhardt
Early Childhood Movement
Ellen Blumhardt is delighted to be sharing music with young children at the Neighborhood Creative Arts Center. She holds an undergraduate degree in music education from the University of Maryland Baltimore County, where she studied clarinet and bass clarinet and was a recipient of the Linehan Artist Scholarship. After starting an elementary general music position in Charles County Public Schools, she completed her Master’s of Music in Music Education from Michigan State University. She completed her Level 1 certificate in Gordon’s Early Childhood Music Learning Theory as well as Level 1 in Elementary General Music Learning Theory. Ellen loves being a member of the La Plata community, where she lives with her husband, Andrew, and now stays at home with her three young children, Francis, Mary, and Thomas.

Philip Bonney
French Horn, Trumpet, Euphonium, Trombone, Baritone, Guitar
Mr. Philip has performed with his horn throughout the world, as a soloist, orchestral player and recording artist. He was trained by the great masters of horn while earning his Bachelors of Music at Indiana University, his Masters of Music at the University of Southern California, and his advanced studies at the Conservatory of Music in Vienna, Austria. He has concertized throughout Austria, China, Great Britain, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Serbia and Croatia and performed with numerous large ensembles including the Utah Symphony, the Tacoma Symphony, and the Vienna Hochschule Orchestra. Philip’s soundtrack recordings include “Cool Runnings” and “The Nightmare before Christmas”.

Rebecca Yoder
Oboe, English Horn, Clarinet, and Trumpet
Miss Rebecca Yoder specializes in woodwinds, particularly double reed instruments, oboe and English horn. Growing up in a musical family, she started her music career as a flautist at a young age. She developed a love and admiration for the oboe soon after and began to study it and continued into her undergrad. She received a BSE in Music Education at "The Tell School of Music," Millersville University in Lancaster Pennsylvania. Miss Yoder was awarded scholarships for her exceptional teaching skills, giving her the opportunity to teach instrumental lessons at inner city schools in the community. She has taught privately and within the public schools of Pennsylvania and Maryland. She is currently teaching Orchestra within the Charles County Public Schools. Miss Yoder is also passionate about photography and has studied art and music abroad in Florence, Italy. She also enjoys traveling, writing, reading, cooking, being outdoors, and arranging music.

Dr. Krisztina Dér
Flute, Voice, Piano
Hailed by the Washington Post as a musician with “…a clean, full-bodied tone and fleet fingers,” Dr. Krisztina Dér is a member of the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra and Lecturer of Music at Guilford College in North Carolina. First-prize winner of the 2017 RAFA Artist and the 2009 FSW Competitions, she has performed and studied internationally, earning her doctoral degree in flute performance from the University of North Carolina Greensboro with academic concentrations in music theory and history. Her growing flute/light project, featuring concerts that integrate music and light, has been invited to the 2018 National Flute Association Convention, 2018 Light City Baltimore, the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and Liberty University.
Krisztina is also a pianist with years of classical training, often accompanying her students in community performances. As a pedagogue and ensemble director, she believes strongly in nurturing her students’ curiosity to excite them about learning.

Abigail Bonney
Piano
Abigail has performed and studied music for eight years, enjoying every minute of it! She has taught children a variety of subjects in a variety of venues, from Pre-K piano to environmental issues, at NCAC and through community programs, reaching children of all personalities and ages. She particularly enjoys the music of Rachmaninoff, Smetana, and Tschaikovsky. Her music lessons are a unique combination of keyboard time, movement, listening activities, and theory games, customized to fit each child's learning style. Abigail also enjoys cooking, reading, running, and caring for her many animals at home.

Sabine Eubanks
Violin
Ms Sabine has been involved in the arts from an early age. Beginning at age six she studied ballet through the Royal Academy of Dance in Europe, as well as contemporary dance, Jazz, ballroom and Tango Argentino. She studied violin at first with a private teacher and then moved on to the Peabody Preparatory School. She was a member of the Chesapeake Youth Symphony Orchestra for four years and began giving private lessons at the age of fifteen. As a young adult, Sabine taught orchestra and violin at the Village School in Charlottesville, Virginia, where she also was a member of the Blue Ridge Chamber Orchestra, and appeared as a guest soloist with local community orchestras. While living in Berlin, Germany she continued teaching violin and expanded her musical abilities in choral conducting, voice training and music theory and notation.
Sabine holds both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Germanic Studies from the University of Maryland, College Park.
