Amy Bach, piano and violin

Amy is from Bountiful, Utah, and began to study piano in 1st grade and violin in 4th grade. Her mother, a professional cellist, greatly encouraged her in her musical pursuits and homeschooled her from kindergarten through 12th grade. She completed 10 levels of Federation on piano and 4 levels of Federation on violin—all with superior ratings.

Amy enjoys playing in orchestras and currently plays with the Bob Jones University Symphony Orchestra. She previously played in Utah Youth Symphony for 4 years and in Davis Youth Symphony for 1 year. Amy enjoys playing string and piano trios with her mother and sister for church and other functions. She also enjoys accompanying both soloists and ensembles and has accompanied in church and at college. Amy is currently studying piano pedagogy at Bob Jones University and studies piano with Mr. Tom Grimble and violin with Mr. Achim Gerber. She will graduate in the spring of 2011 and would like to go on to study collaborative piano. Though she is unsure of what God wants her to do she knows that He will reveal His will in His time.

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Julia Byrd, piano

Julia Byrd began receiving piano lessons at the age of 10 and has studied with pianists Kathryn Starnes, Jonathan Beal, and Amy Smith. Julia received a superior rating from the Piano Guild at the age of 15 and began receiving lessons from Dr. John Cheek, piano instructor at Lenoir Rhyne University, at 16. She is currently a senior at Lenoir Rhyne and is pursuing a degree in piano performance under the instruction of Dr. Cheek. In the summer of ’08 Julia received a summer music study scholarship from Lenoir Rhyne, and this scholarship enabled her to spend a week at Orford Academy in Quebec studying under performer Maneli Pirzadeh. In the spring of ’09 Julia had the opportunity to perform Hindemith’s Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 11, No. 4, with violist, Jorge Martinez, a member of the La Catrina Quartet. During the fall semester of ’09 Julia performed as a soloist with the Lenoir-Rhyne University concert band, playing Dohnanyi’s Variations on a Nursery Theme. She learned some of this concerto under the instruction of Duane Ream at Valor Summer Conservatory the previous summer. This will be Julia’s second year studying at Valor, and she is looking forward to another summer of musical and spiritual growth. Julia enjoys composing, arranging and improvising on sacred music as well as performing classical music, and she desires to use her gifts in all of these areas to glorify God. Wherever the Lord leads her in the future, she hopes that she will have the opportunity to use music as a platform from which to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

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Juliet Eby, voice and violin

Juliet grew up in a Christian home and has attended Bob Jones Academy since K5. She started playing piano in third grade and viola in fourth. She was always involved in the school orchestra and choir programs and competed in the annual Solo Competition in voice and participated in the National Guild Auditions in piano.

In her second year of high school she added in violin and guitar playing. She has been taking voice lessons for one year and is studying with Dr. C. Stanley Eby at BJU. She is currently a senior in high school and is unsure about her college plans. Juliet also enjoys chemistry, photography, writing, acting, politics, and sports.

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Ashley King, voice

Ashley was born in a Christian home, and saved at the age of eight years old. Since the age of four she has taken various music lessons in piano, flute, violin, and voice. She graduated from Tri-City Christian School in 2008. For three of her high school years at Tri-City she was privileged to be a member of a small vocal ensemble that traveled and ministered at different churches and schools across the nation. She also competed in school, state, and national competitions in piano and voice.

Ashley is a sophomore from Lee’s Summit, MO. Under the instruction of Dr. David Parker, she is currently pursuing her B.A. in Vocal Performance at Bob Jones University. She is looking into the possibility of continuing her education after obtaining her degree at BJU, and pursuing her master’s in Music Education. The Lord has given her a desire to teach voice and piano in her own studio some day, and possibly teach in a school setting in the future.

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Megan Kingsbury, voice

Megan grew up in Minnesota where she discovered music at a young age. She began formal piano study at the age of 7, flute at 13, handbells at 15, and organ at 16. In addition, she has had a life-long love for singing. Megan’s love for music began to blossom as she became her church’s pianist, played in band, sang in choir, completed a conducting internship, and taught private piano lessons. This love has grown into a passion for vocal performance, collaborative arts, and woodwind ensemble music.

Megan is pursuing a B.M. in voice performance from Bob Jones University where she studies with Jean Greer. Megan plans to continue to pursue excellence in music while serving the Lord in full-time ministry.

Megan came to know Christ as her Savior at the young age of 5. Since then, she has dedicated her life to service for the Lord and has seen Him move and direct in marvelous ways. Megan’s life verse and constant prayer is Ruth 3:11, “And now, my daughter, fear not…for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman.”

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Ruth Rankin, voice

Ruth was blessed to have been raised in a Christian family and came to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ when she was four years old. Since then, she has been learning to love Jesus more and has enjoyed every opportunity she's had to serve him.

Ruth began studying piano at age seven and pursued it for ten years. She started singing in her high school choir in 2005, but did not begin formal voice lessons until three years later, when she studied under Dr. Kevin Suiter at Northland International University. She has just completed her sophomore year as a Voice Pedagogy major at Northland studying under Miss Shellie Beeman. Ruth loves to sing and hopes to continue serving the Lord through the gift of music after graduation. She is also considering pursuing a Masters degree in Voice Performance or Choral Conducting.

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Ethan Simpson, voice

Ethan Simpson was adopted into a Christian home at birth in 1991. At an early age, he was exposed to music through the ministry of Tri-City Baptist Church in Independence, Missouri. Ethan attended Tri-City Christian School and began studying voice with Marcia Buster at age 15. While at Tri-City, he was granted the opportunity to sing in a small ensemble for three years and was able to travel across the nation singing in churches and schools. He was also privileged to compete in both regional and national competitions where the ensemble placed 1st in national competitions for four consecutive years under the direction of Pastor Jim Bishop. In 2009 he placed 3rd in the regional Mid-American Association of Christian Schools competition in Independence, Missouri. Ethan graduated from Tri-City in 2009 and is now pursuing a bachelor’s degree in voice performance at Bob Jones University.

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John Van Steenburgh, piano

John began studying piano and violin at the age of 5. He fell in love with music and went wholeheartedly into everything he did with music. His first music teacher was Mrs. Muriel Murr who taught him much about the piano and life. John participated in the National Guild Auditions for 10 years receiving the rating of Superior each year. In the 9th grade John came in 3rd in the Guild of the Greenville Symphony Piano Competition for high-schoolers.

John is currently a Junior Music Education major at Bob Jones with his emphasis being piano. John studies piano under Dr. Mark Parker. After finishing this degree, John plans to go to graduate school to receive his Master's degree in Instrumental Conducting. This has always been a dream of his with the end goal being to conduct a symphony at the professional level. John also takes voice lessons from Dr. David Parker at Bob Jones University and is involved with the choirs and operas that perform there.

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Jordan Wellin, piano

Jordan is a native of South Bend, Indiana, and began studying piano at the age of 5. After switching teachers several times, he finally started his classical training when he was 14 with Dr. Patricia Collins Jones, a graduate of The Julliard School of Music. Jordan has competed and placed in regional, state-wide, and national competitions, but later realized that God was not calling him into the music field.

In 2009, he enrolled at Bob Jones University with a major in Journalism and Mass Communications. However, Jordan still remains active in the music department, as he keeps busy with accompanying for other students. After graduating, Jordan plans on pursuing a graduate degree in journalism, with hopes of continuing his collaboration with other musicians in accompanying on a professional level.

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