Keri Knecht Grosso

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Founder and President of Grosso Music and Fine Arts, Corp

Keri has taught piano for over 25 years. She is a graduate of Plant High School and a 3rd generation Floridian. She has taught both music and drama in the public and private school systems, directing many musicals and dramas for the Lutheran, Episcopal, Catholic and Presbyterian churches and schools. She is passionate about teaching piano and helping others grow their talents in their love of music. Keri, and her husband Tom Grosso have 4 children and currently live in Lutz, FL.

Graduate of Converse College in Spartanburg, SC,

Awards and Honors:

  • The Daniel Music Scholarship
  • Trustee Honor Scholarship while there.
  • Two-time winner of the Concerto Competition
  • Piano soloist with the Spartanburg Symphony Orchestra

Her summers from ’93 to ’97 were spent assisting Charles Wadsworth (Founder of the Lincoln Chamber Music) at Spoleto Festival, USA, and she went on to work with him during the Olympic Chamber Music Concert in Atlanta, GA. She has also worked as the Administrative Director and Cantate Choir Director with the Tampa Bay Children’s Chorus.

She has accompanied the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay and plays and conducts for various churches and organizations.

Christina Jimenez

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Christina holds a Master of Fine Arts in Musical Theater from The Boston Conservatory and a Bachelor of Music in Church Music from Furman University in Greenville, SC. She is originally from Tampa but went to New York City to pursue a musical theater career. Her latest accomplishment was performing Off-Broadway as a supporting actress in the musical Molasses in January. She was also a cruise ship stage performer for AIDA Cruises where she rehearsed in Germany and performed in the Canary Islands, Spain, for 9 months. She is so excited to be back and to teach voice! She specializes in musical theater, pop/rock, jazz, and Christian hymns. She also finds vocal health to be very important and can give tips and tricks in order to keep a healthy singing voice. You can learn more about Christina at www.christinakayjimenez.com

Rob P. Mitchell

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Rob has had a love of music his entire life.  He was born into a family of music. Both of his parents were opera singers. He was frequently obsessed with the piano as a child, not taking lessons until a teenager, but picking out music by ear and making up his own arrangements and versions of music he heard from all kinds of sources.

He started taking private violin lessons at age 9, and decided he wanted to become a composer after seeing the movie “Amadeus” at age 14. He took music theory classes, chorus, orchestra in his public high school, and began taking private composition lessons at age 16, eventually attending the Manhattan School of Music Preparatory Division when he was a senior in high school. There he played in the orchestra, sang in the chorus, took theory and keyboard harmony.  That same year he had a piece performed by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.

Rob has been teaching since 2004. Teaching elementary school music and private violin, piano, composition, and guitar. He taught English for two years in Korea. After returning to the US in 2012 has been teaching music at various independent schools in Pinellas and Hillsborough County. He has Level 1 and 2 Orff certifications, and is currently working on a musical/operetta with a local drama colleague, about a local shop in Tampa that was open in the 1990s.

Rob earned a Master of Music from Florida State University and a Bachelor of Music from the Mannes College of Music.

Sophie Mitchell

Sophie Mitchell has been playing the piano for thirteen years and teaching for five years.  She has a passion for music and the arts and plans to major in Piano Performance at Converse University in the fall.  In addition to winning 3rd place in the Junior Division of the Justine LeBaron Young Artist Competition for piano, she has performed with the Lumina Youth Choirs throughout the country.  Through them, she has sung with the Florida Orchestra several times, performed at Carnegie Hall in 2018 and plans to sing at Carnegie Hall again in 2023.  Sophie loves ballet, classic literature, and obscure British comedy.  Her favorite hobbies include baking, reading, and hanging out with her beagle, Lily.

Katie Merritt

Katie Merritt is a 15 year-old high school student who has been playing piano for 8 years now. 

In the past two years she has been expanding her musical experience.  She joined her church worship band in 2021 and Katie loves to give her talents to the Lord in this way. Recently, under Mrs. Keri Grosso’s guidance, she has had the privilege of learning to share her knowledge with others by teaching piano. She has now been teaching piano for two and a half years. Katie is also the oldest of five kids, and one of her hobbies is dancing with friends and in ballet class!

 

Victoria Merriman

Victoria has been playing the piano for 6 years.  She loves music and working with children. Currently, she is majoring in Economics and International Studies at University of Tampa and plans to work in New York’s Financial District.

Micah Jno Baptiste

Micah Jno.Baptiste grew up under the influence of his musically talented older brother. He began playing guitar at the age of 5 but took a better liking to the drums when he started playing them a year later. In Middle School, Micah attended Orange Grove Middle Magnet School, where he became the only 6th grader to be put in the Jazz Band. He moved back and forth between drums and bass guitar during his time in the band and also began forming his own musical projects with peers outside of the classroom setting. In 2017, he began playing drums in his Indie Rock Band, “Charles Irwin.” For the past 2 years, they’ve been performing in and around Florida and released their debut album in the summer of 2019, followed by their first tour up the east coast. He is also a guitarist and vocalist in the Indie Folk two-piece-band, “Bedside Kites,” which came into existence around the same time as his other band and has released 2 short EPs since then.