Mark Hartman

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Ryan Kozak

Mark Hartman, Soloist (Earth Etchings): is Associate Professor of Music and Director of the University-Community Orchestra at Shippensburg University. Dr. Hartman has taught at Central College, Houghton College, Wake Forest University, and the Winston-Salem public schools. He holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Violin Performance and the Master of Music degree in Music Education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he studied violin with Katie Lansdale and Rachel Huang. Earlier studies were with Elaine Richey and Vartan Manoogian at the North Carolina School of the Arts. He has also studied Suzuki Pedagogy with William Starr and has done post-doctoral studies in violin literature and pedagogy with Charles Castleman at the Eastman School of Music, Burton Kaplan of the Manhattan School of Music and baroque performance practice with Stanley Ritchie at Indiana University. He has been Concertmaster of the Southern Tier (New York) and the Oskaloosa (Iowa) Symphonies, Assistant Concertmaster of the Salisbury (North Carolina) Symphony and a member of the Winston-Salem Piedmont Triad and the Greensboro Symphonies. Since 1993 he has been a regular performer at the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival and also currently performs with the Shippensburg Festival Orchestra and the Gettysburg Chamber orchestra.  

Dr. Hartman has served as an adjudicator for competitions in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Iowa. He has a particular interest in performing, teaching, and researching the use of string instruments in jazz. He has presented his work towards creating developmental study materials for string players based on jazz harmonies to American String Teachers Association national conferences in Reno and Kansas City. He has studied jazz pedagogy with Jamey Aebersold and jazz string performance with the Turtle Island String Quartet. He has also performed on mandolin, guitar, and banjo for performances by the Eastern Music Festival Orchestra, the Winston-Salem Piedmont Triad Symphony, and the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival. 

Ryan Kozak began playing violin at the age 4 following his family’s return from Stuttgart, Germany. Just five years later, he was accepted into the York Junior Symphony Orchestra. Since then, he has played in orchestras across the United States, Bulgaria and Hungary. In October of 2010, Ryan made his debut at Zankel Hall at Carnegie. As a conductor, Ryan has covered various genres including opera, musicals, chamber and symphonic works. Beginning with the 2023-24 season, Ryan has been appointed the next Music Director of the Gettysburg Chamber Orchestra. He has had the opportunity to study and participate in workshops in many countries including Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Italy and the United States, which has included masterclasses with conductors from the Israel Philharmonic, Colorado Symphony, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Austrian-Turkmenistan Symphony and the Sophia Philharmonic. Ryan served as the Assistant Conductor of the Gettysburg College Symphony Orchestra for 6 seasons. During the Fall of 2012, he worked with members of Harmonius Blacksmith in preparation for the first ever student-run opera performance at the Sunderman Conservatory in his role as Music Director. His most recent work has included serving as the Conductor for the Concert Strings program with the Frederick Regional Youth Orchestra since 2019. An active violinist and violist, Ryan currently plays with ensembles across the Mid-Atlantic area, as well as having a private studio of students. He is also a member of both Cormorant’s Fancy and Dearest Home as their fiddle player, performing traditional Irish and Appalachian/Civil War era music. Ryan attended the Sunderman Conservatory at Gettysburg College where he received a Bachelor of Music in Performance degree as well as a Minor in Political Science from the Eisenhower Institute. He has also received his Master of Music degree in Conducting at the Lamont School of Music  |