enhancing individuals, families
& communities through the arts
& communities through the arts
Meet the Clinicians
Our 2023 Clinicians
Click & Hover over the images for more details on each clinician.
Joann Stevens
Joann Stevens is a graduate of Laramie High School and of the University of Wyoming, where she earned a Bachelor of Music Education Degree in 1989. She is currently serving as director of bands at Rock Springs Jr. High School in Rock Springs, a position she has held for 25 years. Her teaching experience in Wyoming also includes band, choir, and elementary music in Hulett, band and guitar in Mountain View, and beginning band at several elementary schools in Rock Springs. She also taught in Kirtland and Shiprock, New Mexico for two years at the beginning of her career. She enjoys playing her clarinet with the Licorice Sticks, a clarinet quartet, Crocheting, riding her motorcycle, and spending time at her cabin. Mrs. Stevens’ repertoire includes directing honor bands at the University of Wyoming Music Camp, in several different music districts around Wyoming, and on the Musical Ambassadors tour of Europe in 2003. She served two years as the director of the Western Wyoming College Band, 2 two years as director of the Rock Springs Community Orchestra, is currently on the staff of the Wyoming All-State Marching Band. She has also been an adjudicator for several district music festivals in the state. The highlight of Joann’s career thus far was being selected to perform with her junior high band at the Opening Night Concert of the 2007 All-State Music Conference in Rock Springs. Joann became a National Board Certified teacher in 2009. She was a recipient of the Arch Coal Teacher Achievement Award in 2012 and was voted Wyoming’s Music Educator of the Year in 2015. Joann has served as Band Vice President and State Membership Chair for the Wyoming Music Educators Association. She is married to Rudy Stevens and has three adult children: Garrett (and wife Shelby), Blake, and Alicia.
Emily Ezola
An active pianist and educator, Emily Ezola serves as a member of the piano faculty at Utah State University where she is the Director of the USU Youth Conservatory. She teaches a myriad of music courses including Pedagogy Practicum, Keyboard Harmony, Individual Piano Instruction, Intro to Music, USU Connections, among others. She is an active performer with an innovative approach to producing multimedia concerts combining music and fine art. Productions include collaborations with sculptors Ryoichi Suzuki and Myles Howell, and live illustration with Chuck Landvatter. Emily performed the world premiere of Wynn-Anne Rossi’s ‘Source in Three Movements’ with Kevin Olson, a two-piano piece commissioned by USU for the Woman of the Year Celebration. Other premieres include a performance of ‘Vocalise’ composed by Emma Cardon, the Utah Premiere of ‘Velvet’ composed by Linda Catlin Smith for the USU Museum + Music concert series, and 'Concerto for my Family' with Emmy award winning and gold record artist Ranaan Meyer for the 2022 USU Bass Festival. Emily is the Executive Director of the Fry Street Chamber Music Festival. She served on the board of the Chamber Music Society of Logan as the Program Chairman from 2018-2022, and on the collegiate committee of the UMTA state board from 2019-2022. In 2020 she was recognized with the Utah State University Community Engagement Presidential Award. In collaboration with Kevin and Julia Olson, Emily co-created piano activity books for The Perfect Start series published by FJH and was the co-writer for an online piano course with Per Danielsson for Educational Advantage School of Music. Emily has a vibrant teaching studio where she works with college and pre-college piano students. She holds a Piano Performance and Pedagogy master’s degree from Utah State University where she graduated magna cum laude, and has been a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music since 2019. She has presented for various events including the National Conference of Keyboard Pedagogy, UMTA State Conference, and Professor Tony Caramia's Eastman School of Music piano pedagogy course.
James Cavazos
Leroy James Cavazos is a cellist and music educator. He taught orchestral strings in the Houston area for eight years. His orchestras earned multiple awards at festivals and UIL sweepstakes, and many of his students earned the honor of playing with highly competitive regional orchestras. He is incredibly passionate about both music and teaching. James began his studies with the talented Mr. Richard Clark. He later graduated Cum Laude from Sam Houston State University with a degree in Music Education and a specialty in strings. While there, he was in Dr. Daniel Saenz’s cello studio and studied conducting with Dr. Carol Smith. As a performer, James has been fortunate to have the opportunities to play in the Sam Houston State University Orchestra and travel to Puerto Rico for a premier performance, perform with cellist Mike Block, and countless solos and ensemble performances throughout Texas and Wyoming. James has resided with his amazing wife, Victoria, in Evanston, Wyoming since 2020. He enjoys being in Farson Monday through Thursday as the new Agriculture and Industrial Arts Instructor at Farson-Eden School. James is currently a member of the Evanston Civic Orchestra and maintains an active cello practice which he hopes to grow into a strings program in western Wyoming.
Merrilee Webb
Merrilee Webb received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Brigham Young University Provo and was named BYU's "Most Outstanding Musician" in 1983. She taught at Dixie State University (now Utah Tech University) from 2009-2018 where she founded and directed Raging Red, the song and dance performance team, as well as directed the women’s choir and taught group piano and private voice. Miss Webb taught at Brigham Young University Hawaii from 2002-2005, where she served as the director for the men’s and women’s choirs and taught music theory, music education courses, and piano and voice. She taught choral music for twelve years in both junior and senior high schools in Sandy, Kearns, and Bountiful, Utah. While teaching at Bountiful High School, Miss Webb maintained an average of 700 students in her choral program. Merrilee founded and directed “We Also Sing!” a women’s choir of 364 voices and “Because We Sing!” a men’s choir of 250 voices. She has worked as Director and Musical Director in several theaters, including Robert Redford's Sundance Summer and Winter Theatres, Opera West, The Triad Theater, Rodgers Memorial Theatre, Brigham Young University Hawaii and The Playmill Theatre in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Merrilee toured internationally with The Young Americans as an Associate Director from 1994-2008. Miss Webb has been the president of Infinity Business Ventures, Inc. since 1996 and owns a successful recording studio. The studio is also responsible for building orchestral minus tracks for musicals, producing rehearsal CDs for All State choirs across the country and recording live concerts for Music Education associations. Miss Webb owns Reading Keyboard Music, the piano method designed by C. W. Reid. Reading Keyboard Music has released a 16-week course on DVD that has been used worldwide including the USA, Germany, Philippines, Singapore, Uganda, New Zealand, Thailand, and Brazil. In addition to running her businesses, Merrilee teaches private piano and voice students as well as several performances classes for YLA in Mt. Pleasant, Utah.