Isabel De La Cerda, President

**Isabel De La Cerda** is a music educator, performer, and arts advocate with 15 years of experience in music education. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music (Vocal Performance) from St. Mary's University, a Level I Orff certification from Southern Methodist University, and is a Licensed Music Rhapsody Teacher.
A dedicated member of Mu Phi Epsilon since 2008, Isabel co-founded the Zeta Nu Chapter at St. Mary's University and served for 14 years as District Director for South Central Texas Districts 1, 2, 3 and 4. She currently serves as President of the Mu Phi Epsilon Foundation and Vice President of the San Antonio Alumni Chapter.
Professionally, Isabel teaches elementary general music, theater, and choir at the School of Science and Technology. She is also an accomplished actress, musical director, and vocal coach in the San Antonio theater community. Passionate about preserving her cultural heritage, she studied mariachi at the University of Texas at San Antonio and performed with Mariachi Los Paisanos. Isabel is committed to inspiring the next generation through excellence in music education, performance, and service.
**President**
president@mpefoundation.org

Wanda Yang Temko, Grants Chair

**Dr. Wanda Yang Temko** is a respected singer, voice teacher, and arts advocate in the Atlanta area. She holds a doctorate in performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana. Other degrees include a Master of Music degree in Voice Performance from Georgia State University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and Liberal Studies from Emory University. Acclaimed for performances on the operatic and concert stages, she has collaborated with some of the most renowned Early Music artists of our time, including Andrew Lawrence-King, Paul Hillier, Nigel North, Paul Elliot, and Stanley Ritchie. Wanda’s interest in contemporary music is equally keen, as evinced by her skilled and nuanced performances of the works of Olivier Messiaen. As a professional chorister, she has performed with conductors such as Robert Shaw, Robert Spano, Donald Runnicles, William Fred Scott, JD Burnett, and Alfred Calabrese. Dr. Yang Temko is a founding member of Skylark Ensemble. Sought after as a recitalist and soloist, she also maintains an active private voice studio and has served on the boards of Kinnara, Friends of Theater at Emory, ATL Symphony Musicians Foundation, Festival Singers of Atlanta, Atlanta Early Music Alliance, and Atlanta Young Singers.
**Grants & Scholarships Coordinator**
grants@mpefoundation.org

Matthew Hoch, Vice President

**Matthew Hoch** is professor of voice at Auburn University. Prior to coming to Auburn in 2012, he spent six years as assistant professor of voice at Shorter College. He has appeared as a soloist with the Oregon Bach Festival, the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, the Vox Consort, Harmonie Universelle, the Hartford, Rome, and Nashua symphony orchestras, the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Chattanooga Bach Choir, Griffin Choral Arts, and the United States Coast Guard Chamber Players. Hoch is the 2016 winner of the Van L. Lawrence Fellowship, awarded jointly by the Voice Foundation and NATS. He is the author, coauthor, editor, or coeditor of eleven books, and his articles have appeared in over a dozen academic and professional journals, including the Journal of Voice, Journal of Singing, Voice and Speech Review, Opera Journal, Choral Journal, The Chorister, The Hymn, College Music Symposium, Classical Singer, American Music Teacher, Kodály Envoy, Journal of the International Alliance for Women in Music, and Journal of the Association of Anglican Musicians. In 2018, he presented performances and master classes in the United Arab Emirates and was awarded the Auburn University College of Liberal Arts Teaching Excellence Award. In addition to his academic life, Hoch serves as choirmaster and minister of music at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Auburn, Alabama. He earned his BM from Ithaca College with a triple major in vocal performance, music education, and music theory; his MM from the Hartt School with a double major in vocal performance and music history; his DMA from the New England Conservatory; and a certificate in vocology from the National Center for Voice and Speech. Hoch was initiated into the Lambda chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon at Ithaca College in 1995, and his fraternity awards include the 1999 Sterling Achievement Award, 2013 ACME recognition, and the 2021 Award of Merit. He is proud to continue serving on the board of the Mu Phi Epsilon Foundation. In 2025, he was named editor in chief of the NATS Journal of Singing.
**Vice President**
vicepresident@mpefoundation.org

Ian Wiese, Website Administrator

A “captivating mix of busy and sparse” according to Boston Musical Intelligencer, Dr. Ian Wiese is a multi-faceted composer based out of Quincy, MA, Associate Professor of Ear Training at Berklee College of Music, Theory and Composition Faculty at New England Conservatory Expanded Education, and the Artistic Director of the Old Stoughton Musical Society, recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the Oldest Continuously Operating Musical Society in the United States. He is also the National Executive Treasurer for National Association of Composers USA (NACUSA). Performers including loadbang, Delgani Quartet, Lyris Quartet, Transient Canvas, Imani Winds, Dinosaur Annex, Kalliope Reed Quintet, Atlantic Brass Quintet, American Modern Ensemble, New England Conservatory Wind Ensemble, Worcester Polytechnic Institute Concert Band, and Sputter Box have played his music. Recently, Wiese was awarded prizes in The American Prize (2026 Finalist for Instrumental Chamber Music and Orchestral Music, 2023 for Wind Ensemble and 2021 for Vocal Chamber Music), Homecoming: Return to Artsakh Competition presented by Music for Unity and NACUSA-LA (2026 First Place, 2024 Second Place), the Area 9 Saxophone Quartet Call for Scores, 2024 Mu Phi Epsilon Original Composition Competition, 2021 NEC Merz Trio Competition, the Nightingale Ensemble Young Composers Commissioning Program, the 2020 Mu Phi Epsilon International Convention Call for Scores and Musicological Research Competition, the 2019 Mu Phi Epsilon Original Composition Competition, the Ball State University Xenharmonic Music Alliance Call for Scores, and the Ithaca College Jack Downey Vocal Composition Prize, among others; he was also a Finalist for the prestigious ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Award. He was also invited to attend the Research on Contemporary Composition Conference at The University of North Georgia – Dahlonega in 2024 and 2025. Some of his music has been heard in unusual venues, including EPCOT Center at The Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, FA, Oslo, Norway, and Moldova. Works of his are published by Radnofsky-Couper Editions and North Star Music Publishing. He studied at New England Conservatory for his DMA in Composition with the late composer John Heiss and Michael Gandolfi. He also holds a MM in Composition from New England Conservatory of Music, studying with Kati Agocs and Michael Gandolfi, and a BM in Composition from Ithaca College, studying with Dana Wilson and Jorge Villavicencio Grossmann.

Board Member
admin@mpefoundation.org

Rebecca Sorley, Treasurer

Dr. Rebecca Sorley, MT-BC holds the position of Chair and Professor of Music at the University of Indianapolis. She teaches piano to all levels from Pre-College through Piano Majors as well as Music Business courses. Dr. Sorley holds degrees in piano from Butler, Indiana and Ball State Universities as well as a Master of Business Administration and Music Therapy Equivalency from the University of Indianapolis. Recently, she performed “Music by Living Colombian Women,” as well as South American premieres of works for baritone and piano for the College Music Society International Competition in Colombia. In 2024, she performed Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the UIndy Symphonic Wind Ensemble as well as the Indianapolis Brass Choir. She performed a lecture-recital entitled “Musical Immigrants” for the College Music Society International Conference in Sydney, Australia and “Women Make Music” with daughter, Allegra, for the Mu Phi Epsilon International Convention in Denver, Colorado. She has served as a masterclass clinician and performer for the National Collegiate Honors Conferences in San Diego, Chicago, New Orleans, Dallas, Kansas City, Denver, San Antonio, and Washington, D.C.. In addition, she has judged numerous piano competitions from the district to international levels. Sorley served on the International Board of Mu Phi Epsilon as 4th-International Vice-President, Music Advisor from 2017-2023. She has worked as an orchestral keyboardist with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, and the Evansville Philharmonic. Dr. Sorley also serves as organist at St. John's United Church of Christ in Indianapolis.

Treasurer
treasurer@mpefoundation.org

Donna Chrzanowski, Philanthropies

**Donna Chrzanowski**, Phi Kappa, has been a member of Mu Phi Epsilon since her initiation in 1984, from Wayne State University, where she received her Bachelors of Music Education. She also holds a Masters in Music Education from Eastern Michigan University and an Ed Specialist Degree in School Administration from Oakland University.

She has held offices in many different capacities of our Fraternity, such as President of Phi Kappa, Secretary and President of the Detroit Alumni Chapter, and District Director of Great Lakes 1 and 3. Donna taught music for 34 years from pre-school through high school, but spent most of her career in Elementary Music where she taught online classes and helped develop a curriculum that is still being used today. Donna performs alto saxophone with the Macomb Community Concert Band. She retired from teaching in 2022 and currently works part time at the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan.
**Philanthropies Coordinator**
philanthropies@mpefoundation.org

Ruth Aguirre, Secretary

**Ruth Aguirre** is an arts education leader, researcher, and musician based in New York City. Her academic background includes doctoral study in education at Teachers College, Columbia University. She holds a Master of Education from Teachers College, Columbia University; a Master of Music from Texas A&M University–Kingsville; a Bachelor of Music from Texas State University; and a Performer’s Certificate in Clarinet from Trinity College, London. Her scholarly interests include Latine faculty and students in higher education, diversity, bilingualism, university music teacher education preparation, and culturally responsive music education. Her publication, “Idea Bank: Building Cross-Linguistic Connections in la Clase de Música,” appeared in Music Educators Journal in 2025.

Aguirre has presented at conferences of the American Educational Research Association, the Texas Bandmasters Association, the Society for Music Teacher Education, and the College Music Society, and has been an invited speaker at Berklee College of Music, Texas State University, and Queens College, CUNY.

She has held music education roles in higher education, including adjunct clarinet professor at San Antonio College, graduate student conductor for the Columbia University Wind Ensemble, clarinet instructor at Teachers College, and visiting professor and conductor of the Symphonic Wind Ensemble at Queens College.

A clarinetist and founding member of Adelante Winds, Aguirre has performed as a soloist and chamber musician internationally in Spain and Switzerland and across the United States. She has dedicated many years to K–12 public school music education in Texas and New York. Ruth is a proud daughter of Mexican immigrants.
**Secretary**
secretary@mpefoundation.org

Ann Geiler, ΜΦΕ President