Staff
Lorraine Jones
Lorraine Jones is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Atlantic Youth Orchestra Program, as well as the conductor of the Atlantic Youth Orchestra. Born in Toledo, Ohio, she is a graduate of the College of Musical Arts at Bowling Green State University (Ohio). Her primary teachers for flute have been Judith Bentley and William Hebert, and she studied conducting with Emil Raab (Bowling Green and Brevard).
Ms Jones was the Education Director and flutist with the former Savannah Symphony Orchestra for 20 years and is currently the principal flutist with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Jones has a large private lesson studio filled with the top flute students in the region.
Prior to joining the Savannah Symphony, Ms. Jones was a member of the Orquesta Filharmonica de la Ciudad de Mexico and toured extensively in Mexico, Europe, and Japan. She also performed with the Camerata Pan America Woodwind Quintet and the Orquesta Sinfonico de Mineria. Additionally, she has performed with numerous orchestras such as the Florida Orchestra, as well as Jacksonville, Alabama, Charleston, Augusta, Greenville, and Toledo Symphonies.
Kerri Peterson Sellman
Kerri Peterson Sellman, Director of the Serenade and Lyric Strings Ensembles, is from Algonquin, Illinois and has very fond memories of playing in the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and Civic Orchestra of Chicago while growing up. Mrs. Sellman has been the Director of various String Ensembles in our AYO program since our beginning in the fall of 2004. Kerri moved to Savannah in 1994 to play with the Savannah Symphony Orchestra and later performed with the Hilton Head Symphony for many years. She is currently still performing in the area and is teaching violin classes at Windsor Forest Elementary School.
Kerri did her undergraduate study at the Eastman School of Music and Western Illinois University and received her Masters of Music degree from Northwestern University. Her violin teachers include George Perlman, Almita and Roland Vamos, and Blair Milton. Prior to joining the Savannah Symphony, she was a member of the Tulsa Philharmonic and has also performed with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Des Moines Metro Opera, National Repertory Orchestra, Charleston Symphony Orchestra, and the Memphis Symphony Orchestra.
Kerri studied Suzuki Pedagogy in college, completed her Suzuki Teacher Training in summer workshops, and is one of the most notable registered Suzuki teachers in the area.
Emily Calhoun
Emily Calhoun is a co-founder of the Atlantic Youth Orchestra Program, and the former Director of Orchestras at Savannah Arts Academy in Savannah. Mrs. Calhoun’s orchestras consistently received Superior ratings at LGPE, and she is an approved adjudicator in the GMEA Orchestra division. Her experience includes reestablishing the string orchestra program in the Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools, teaching chorus and general music at St. Andrews, and working with students aged Pre-K 3 to grade 12.
Emily graduated from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance in 1983. She has taught in the Clarke County Public Schools, the Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools, and at St. Andrew’s on the Marsh, an Independent School located in Savannah. In addition to teaching in schools, Emily continued performing as an orchestral cellist in the Savannah Symphony, the Macon Symphony, and most recently, the Hilton Head Orchestra. She also maintains a private cello studio.
Emily enjoys attending workshops and webinars that connect her with others who share her love of music and spreading the joy that music-making brings. She continues to expand her horizons for the sake of her students, participating in Strings Without Boundaries and Little Kids Rock programs.
