Catherine Flora Con, School Office Manager
Born in New Orleans and raised in South Carolina, Catherine attended high school at South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities and received a B.M. in piano performance from the University of South 
Carolina, where she studied with Dr. Marina Lomazov. While in college, Catherine founded and ran a small music camp for young children in her neighborhood and taught private piano lessons to students of all ages. She attended the piano program at Chautauqua Music Festival with a Magellan Scholars research grant, where she conducted research on contemporary Latin American music.
She recently received her Ed.M. in the Arts in Education from Harvard University, where she co-founded and ran an editing service, and coached writing.
In addition to music, Catherine loves writing short stories. Her work has appeared in the Lettered Olive Literary Review and Microchondria: 42 Short Stories Collected by Harvard Book Store, and has received numerous awards.
Jim Keenan, School Director/ Double Bass/Electric Bass 
Originally from the Buffalo, NY area, Jim began his musical studies on double bass with the late Nick Molfese of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. Jim was principal double bass and taught string education courses as a graduate assistant at the Ithaca College School of Music, studying with Henry Neubert. After graduation, Jim served with the US Air Force Band of Liberty performing as double bass/electric bass, playing in over 80 annual performances throughout the US with the Ambassadors Big Band, Jazz Combo and Concert Band.
After the Air Force, Jim started a new string education program for the Adams County School District (Colorado) and then went on to work in administration for Berklee College of Music. In 2005, he was recruited by Yamaha Corp of America to start a company-owned school in Boston to serve as the showcase center for the Yamaha Music Education System (YMES) in the US. Jim has led the school from start-up to over 550 students in the first few years. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Meritorious Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal (US Air Force), and the Outstanding Service Award (Berklee College of Music).