Explore and Extend After-School Program

Dr. Andrew Nishikawa doesn’t just teach and play music—he composes it. With a catalog that includes an eclectic variety of orchestral, chamber, solo, vocal, and electronic music, Dr. Nishikawa’s music has been performed throughout the United States and abroad.

Some of his most notable commissioned composition work includes projects with the Texas Music Teachers Association; a piece for the Music Teachers National Association (where he received the 2017 Commissioned Composer of the Year award); a book of piano designed to inspire imagination in music for children; an orchestral overture for the Memorial Hermann Heart & Vascular Institute’s grand opening; and a string orchestra piece for the Hemenway Strings at the Boston String Academy.

He holds a doctorate degree from Rice University, a master’s degree from The Boston Conservatory, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of St. Thomas. He has also taught various courses at Rice University, the University of St. Thomas, and The Art Institute of Houston.

In the same way he discovered a love for music at an early age, Dr. Nishikawa will be imparting some of his knowledge of and love for music into our St. Francis musicians.

Sarah Bouse graduated magna cum laude from Belmont University in 2013, after which she moved to Houston, Texas to attend Rice University. Sarah completed a Master of Music in Vocal Coaching degree at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in May 2016, where Thomas Jaber was her mentor. Sarah was privileged to represent Rice University and make her Kennedy Center debut in the Conservatory Project concert in Washington, D.C. in February 2016. She joined the adjunct faculty of Houston Community College in January 2017, where she continues to teach as an adjunct faculty member. Sarah maintains a private piano student of about 40 students in the greater Houston area and virtually. She is continuing her own journey with higher education as a doctoral student at Teachers College of Columbia University, where she began working toward her EdD in College Teaching in Summer 2020. 

Aside from teaching, Sarah loves spending time in the kitchen, petting her three beautiful cats, and traveling! Sarah speaks Italian and has worked in Italy every summer from 2014-2019.

Versatile vocalist Callie Denbigh has captivated audiences across the United States and Europe. Her master of music in vocal performance from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City and bachelor of music in vocal performance from Southern Methodist University set the literal stage for her successful career.

A Da Camera Young Artist Program participant, Ms. Denbigh was a 2014–15 Opera Works Artist at English National Opera in London and intern with Houston Grand Opera’s education and outreach department. Among her long list of accomplishments, she has performed in world-renowned productions with OPERA DANUBE in London, the Amalfi Coast Music & Arts Festival in Italy, and the American Institute of Musical Studies in Austria.

Luckily, Ms. Denbigh has brought her passion for music education to the St. Francis School of Music, and our students are blessed to learn from one of the best.

Every once in a while you are fortunate enough to come across an expert in his craft that just so happens to share an equal love for teaching. We found this in Carnegie-Mellon alum and accomplished guitarist, Marc Garvin. Mr. Garvin runs a successful private music studio, teaches two guitar ensembles, previously instructed with Bellaire High School’s Summer Guitar Conservatory program, and has been a frequent faculty member at the “Classical Minds” International Guitar Festival & Competition.

As a performer, Mr. Garvin has performed regularly with Houston’s classical music triad: the Houston Symphony, Houston Grand Opera, and Houston Ballet. He has also accompanied Italian soprano Cecilia Bartoli; singer/songwriter Hayley Westenra of New Zealand; and legendary Italian tenor, the late Luciano Pavarotti. He also made waves—airwaves that is— co-hosting Pulling Strings, which was “a weekly show for music lovers with an ear for instruments that are picked, plucked, and strummed.”

Mr. Garvin will continue to share his love of music, and undeniable talent, with some of Houston’s youngest musicians in his work with the St. Francis School of Music.

Before joining the faculty of the Michael P. Hammond Preparatory Program at Rice University, Sylvia Ouellette had maintained a large private studio for 15 years as well as taught at both Archbishop Prendergast High School in Philadelphia and Holton-Arms School in Washington, D.C.

Ms. Ouellette’s accomplished career has taken her many places, including soloist performances at the Ferrara Estate in Italy and the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C.; performances with the Houston Grand Opera and Houston Ballet; and teaching positions with AFA (formerly “American Festival for the Arts”) in the Summer Conservatory Program and at the Center for Hearing and Speech.

A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, she has since been certified in Suzuki Volume 1 and Volume 2 Instruction and by the Merit School of Music’s Alegre Strings Program in Chicago.