Last Chance Music Camp staff are excited to share our love of music with you this summer!
Kevin Cleary has directed the C.R. Anderson Middle School Orchestras (grades six through eight) since 2005. In that time he also taught choir (sixth, seventh, and eighth grade, but only one or two classes a year), wrote and taught the Music and Technology curriculum, and helped develop the MET Live in Schools program within the Helena School District.
In all his work with Helena students, though, it is activities outside of school hours that are most exciting. Mr. Cleary started the Last Chance Orchestra Camp in 2008 to provide summer enrichment for middle school string players, and it has been exciting to watch the camp grow ten fold so it can also work with band and choir musicians from our community.
Mr. Cleary has made Helena his home since 2000, along with his partner in music and in life, Emily. They both enjoy time with their three children, Owen, Áine, and Elliot, in and around Helena and all its natural beauty.
Tyson Reiter is a Montana native and has been teaching at Helena Middle School since 2009. He is currently the director of the 6-8th grade Choir and Orchestra programs at HMS. During his time in Helena he has been a part the Helena Youth Orchestra, MET Live in Schools program, and the Last Chance Music Camp.
Outside of school, Mr. Reiter enjoys recreational activities with his growing family. His wife Samantha, son Sawyer, and their two dogs, Rugar and Rylee, can be found hiking, camping, and boating throughout Helena and Western Montana.
Emily Brand holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Education. Having taken many years to focus on her children, and the care of other important people, she is excited to be back in the music classroom where she can weave together her musical training and her extensive experience as a caregiver to meet the needs of young musicians. She is currently teaching early childhood music education classes and instructing a robust private lesson studio with students ranging from preschool through adult. Emily enjoys finding interesting musical opportunities and growing her musical knowledge by playing complicated music with her saxophone friends, researching music from around the world, singing and strumming along with her husband Kevin, and delighting in the many wonderful musical moments she gets to share with her three children, Owen, Áine, and Elliot. She also loves to hike, swim, cook interesting vegetarian cuisine, and be creative whenever possible.
Shaun Deola
About 50 years ago my father bought a used trumpet and said, “I think this is a good instrument for you to learn to play.” I took some private trumpet lessons, practiced diligently, and enrolled in the 6th grade band.
Fifty years later I’m still playing. Currently I play with the South Hills Brass Quintet, Queen City Swing Band, Butte Big Band and occasionally play solos at various churches in the Helena area. In the past I was the lead trumpet player with the Helena Symphony for 20 years. I have been a member of the pit orchestra for over 30 musicals with both the Grandstreet Theatre and Bigfork Summer Playhouse. When not playing my horn I enjoy hiking, biking, reading and the natural beauty we find ourselves immersed in in Helena, Montana.
Kyara Nelsen recently graduated from Florida State University with her second master’s degree in orchestral conducting. She was the assistant conductor to the University Symphony Orchestra, FSU’s graduate level ensemble, and studied with Dr. Alexander Jiménez. She had the opportunity to conduct works such as Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2, Stravinsky’s Two Suites for Small Orchestra, Cindy McTee’s The Twittering Machine, and Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll. Kyara was also the director of Campus Orchestra, a group for non-music majors at FSU. She spent her first year serving as the assistant conductor for the University Philharmonia, an undergraduate orchestra, with which she performed Verdi’s Overture to I Vespri Siciliani, Fauré’s Pelléas et Mélisande, and rehearsed the premiere of a new work by Matthew Ramage entitled In The Waiting.
A native of Helena, Montana, Kyara earned her bachelor’s degree in violin performance from the University of Montana in 2017. She subsequently finished her first master’s degree in viola performance from the same institution in 2019, during which time she pursued several conducting opportunities and studied independently with Dr. Luis Millán. Kyara founded and served for two years as the director of the University of Montana Chamber Orchestra, a volunteer ensemble of music majors and non-majors. During her tenure, the group performed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1, Mozart’s Symphony No. 40, and Haydn’s Symphonies Nos. 6 and 104. She also served as assistant conductor to the University of Montana Symphony Orchestra and the Missoula Youth Symphony. In October of 2018, she appeared as a guest conductor with the Butte Symphony Orchestra.
As an orchestral musician, Kyara served as concertmaster of the Butte Symphony Orchestra for four seasons from 2015 to 2019, an opportunity to which she is excited to return in 2021. During her time with the University of Montana Symphony Orchestra from 2013 to 2019, she performed several concerts as concertmaster, assistant concertmaster, principal second violin, and principal viola. Her teachers of both violin and viola include Dr. Pamela Ryan of FSU, Dr. Margaret Baldridge of UM, and Mr. John Peskey.
Outside of her musical endeavors, Kyara enjoys pursuing different areas of fitness, health, and wellness, travelling almost anywhere, spending time with her many siblings, drinking coffee, and cuddling with her two cats, Gustav and Alma.
Alex Crisp is a current Senior at the University of Montana Studying to get a BM in Violin Performance and a BA in Classics. Crisp is a member of the Glacier Symphony and Missoula Symphony Orchestras. In addition Crisp plays with the Bitterroot Baroque Orchestra, has performed multiple times with the String Orchestra of the Rockies as a student guest, plus is a member of the Grizzly Marching Band on Trombone. He joined the Ironhorse Youth Orchestra in 8th grade (when it was called HYO) and started attending Last Chance Music Camp that summer. Crisp went to Capital High School, graduating in 2020.
More importantly Crisp has experience as an educator, aside from many experiences teaching and tutoring in high school, and is studying to become a Latin Teacher. He has also teaches and counsels at the UM string and UM Jazz Camps. As well as (most importantly) being a faculty member with Ironhorse and Last Chance Music Camp since 2021.