Staff Chamber Coaches

Suzanne Prescott

Montana native Suzanne Prescott has performed in orchestras, wind ensembles, and choirs on three continents. As a graduate of the prestigious Cleveland Institute of Music and The Ohio State University, she performed as a freelance bassist with orchestras in Texas, Ohio, the Pacific Northwest and Washington, DC, before coming to South Florida in 2004. A former student of Larry Angel, then principal bass of the Cleveland Orchestra, she is also an accomplished oboist, vocalist, and conductor.

Throughout the country, she has built extensive private studios in double bass, and served as the primary strings teacher in the Idaho Falls School District.

Veselin Bozhilov

 A native of Bulgaria and graduate of Sofia Music Conservatory, Veselin Bozhilov is a winner of seven national and two international trumpet competitions. In 1997, at age of 20, he joined Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra and Sofia Philharmonic Brass Quintet. Between 1998 and 2003, he was invited to play as a guest artist with Bulgarian Festival Orchestra, New Symphony Orchestra, Plovdiv Philharmonic, Skopje Philharmonic, and Sarajevo Philharmonic. In 2003, Bozhilov moved to the United States. In 2007, he completed his master’s degree at Lynn University.

Bozhilov has played with Colorado Brass, Las Vegas Philharmonic, Palm Beach Opera, Palm Beach Symphony, Boca Raton Philharmonic, Florida Grand Opera, Miami Symphony, Symphony of the Americas, and Miami Pops. He often performs with Empire Brass, Canadian Brass, Boston Brass, Dallas Brass, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Philharmonic, New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Atlanta Symphony, San Francisco Opera.

He has taught at Colorado State University, Lynn University, and Dreyfoos School of the arts.  His students have been accepted at such prestigious Summer Festivals at Interlochen, Grand Valley, Tanglewood, Florida State University, and have gone to study at Julliard, Manhattan School of Music, New York University, Boston University, New England Conservatory of Music, Northwestern University, Eastman School of Music, University of Maryland, University of Southern California, Duke University, Vanderbilt University, Cornell University, University of Miami, Florida State University, University of Florida and many more.

Kelsey Lin

Kelsey Lin began her love of music at age six after receiving her first violin. She attended both BAK Middle School of the Arts and A.W. Dreyfoos High School of the Arts. She studied with Carole Simmons, a former member of the Florida Philharmonic with Rebecca Lautar, violin professor at Florida Atlantic University. Kelsey continued her musical education at the Conservatory of Music at Lynn University where she studied with Carol Cole. Kelsey graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s of arts degree in violin performance. 

After college, Kelsey decided to pursue a career in teaching. Her first year as a full-time teacher in Palm Beach County she was selected as one of six finalists for the “Beginning Teacher of the Year Award” as presented by the Palm Beach County School District. She also began teaching with the Youth Orchestra of Palm Beach County. For many years, she ran the El Sistema program at U.B.Kinsey/Palmview Elementary School of the Arts. Her elementary aged Beethoven Orchestra competed in the Music USA Festival in Orlando, FL, and was awarded first prize against middle school students. Because of her dedication to music education throughout Palm Beach County, she was voted in and served for two years as the Florida Orchestra Association’s District Chairperson for District 14 which includes Palm Beach, Martin, and Glades County.  Currently, Kelsey is teaching with Palm Beach Atlantic University Preparatory Department as a violin and viola instructor. She also works with Palm Beach County students with her main schools being Jupiter Middle School of Technology and Oxbridge Academy. Kelsey continues to spread the joy of music through teaching and performing. 

Amy Nickler

Amy Nickler, a first generation American with Cuban heritage, began playing the violin at age six. Six years later she switched to the double bass and has loved it ever since. She would never have never discovered her love of music without the help from the public magnet school programs. In recent years, Amy has participated as a member and fellow in several festivals and orchestras such as the The Cincinnati Symphony, The Chautauqua Symphony, The South Florida Symphony, NuDeco Ensemble, Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, The Orchestra NOW, Oslo Kammerakademi, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and among many others.

Amy received her Bachelor of Music Degree at Lynn Conservatory in 2017 with Professor Timothy Cobb, Principal Bass of the New York Philharmonic. She later received her Master of Music Degree at Yale School of Music in 2019 with Professor Donald Palma, founding member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Amy recently received an Artist Diploma as a Diversity Fellow at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music with Professor Owen Lee, Principal Bass of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

Ricardo Chinchilla

Ricardo Chinchilla, originally from San Jose, Costa Rica began playing trumpet at age 16. He attended the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan and Lynn University Conservatory of Music in Florida. He also attended the Bard Conservatory of Music where he regularly played with the Orchestra NOW in world famous venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and David Geffen Hall. Ricardo recently moved to South Florida where he enjoys playing with the South FL Symphony, loves coffee and dogs.

Alondra Bahls

Alondra Bahls-Mariles began her musical journey here in Palm Beach County where she graduated from A.W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts with the dream of being a band director from a very young age. Currently, she holds a Bachelors of Music Education from the University of Central Florida where she studied under Dr. Nora-Lee Garcia for flute performance. During her studies at UCF she had the privilege to perform in chamber ensembles, hold first chair of the University Philharmonic, perform in all University WInd Bands, and perform in the UCF Knight-Winds; a special chamber ensemble of flutes and saxophones. Since 2017 Ms. Bahls has been a certified k-12 music educator within Palm Beach County, where she has served Lake Worth Community High School as a woodwind specialist and assistant director under the guidance of Dr. Tiffany Cox. Her studies have taken her across the world to experience a variety of cultures from Mexico, Greece, Italy, Guatemala, Morocco, and Spain. She finds it important to inspire students to question the world around them and apply their curiosity to their studies in music.

 Ms. Bahls has a deep passion for sharing her gift of music with others. She strives to inspire each student to find their purpose by challenging themselves to the highest standards while loving what they do. Ms. Bahls specializes in pre-band classes and curriculum that has given her a specific skill set to approach any student at their ability level. She has experience performing on piccolo, flute, alto flute, and bass flute. She also runs a small private studio and teaches beginning piano. In the future she aspires to pursue a master’s degree and create a non-profit organization that serves wind instrumentalists of Palm Beach County.