Meet The Company

HANNAH BUREAU

Founder & Executive Director

  • Hannah Bureau is a Chicago violinist and educator. She holds a degree in Violin Performance from the Boston Conservatory.

    As an active performer, Hannah can be heard around Chicago performing free improvisation, Jewish, and contemporary classical music. In 2014 she served as a member of the Apple Hill Fellowship Quartet and their Playing for Peace initiative.

    She has twice been a resident at Hewnoaks Artist Colony (2014, 2016) and in 2019 was an Artist in Residence at the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra as part of Focus Group LLC. In 2022, she performed the experimental opera "WASTED LIGHT" with Focus Group LLC at Steppenwolf Theater.

    Hannah has been teaching early childhood music and group/private string instruction since 2011. She strives to establish a community-centric classroom where students feel empowered and take ownership over their sound and ideas. She believes every teaching environment is an opportunity for compassionate and happy learning.

  • Hannah Bureau is a Chicago violinist and educator. She holds a degree in Violin Performance from the Boston Conservatory.

    As an active performer, Hannah can be heard around Chicago performing free improvisation, Jewish, and contemporary classical music. In 2014 she served as a member of the Apple Hill Fellowship Quartet and their Playing for Peace initiative.

    She has twice been a resident at Hewnoaks Artist Colony (2014, 2016) and in 2019 was an Artist in Residence at the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra as part of Focus Group LLC. In 2022, she performed the experimental opera "WASTED LIGHT" with Focus Group LLC at Steppenwolf Theater.

    Hannah has been teaching early childhood music and group/private string instruction since 2011. She strives to establish a community-centric classroom where students feel empowered and take ownership over their sound and ideas. She believes every teaching environment is an opportunity for compassionate and happy learning.

  • Violin, piano, early childhood music

ETHAN T. PARCELL

  • Ethan T. Parcell is a composer, artist and educator based in Chicago. His work explores ideas of smallness, hospitality, and union, and is realized primarily though composition and drawing. His compositions have been performed throughout the US and Canada by various soloists, ensembles, and youth organizations.

    A passionate educator and advocate for young people, Parcell has been a teaching artist with Sistema Ravinia, The Olive Tree Arts Network's Poetry Pals, New Music School, and many other Chicago institutions. He is the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra's first ever composer-in-residence, where he has developed a large body of experimental music for young musicians.

    He is an active performer in experimental music and theatre, and is the founder of both the opera ensemble Focus Group LLC and the comedic ragtime group The Duck Brain Anniversary Band. Parcell appears on dozens of recordings as a percussionist, clarinetist, guitarist and singer, both as a collaborator and leader.

    His handwriting, iterative drawings, and opera libretti have been exhibited in group shows in the US, Malta, and Mexico, and published in three literary magazines. Parcell is a two-time resident of Hewnoaks Artist Colony, and recipient of support from Pivot Arts and 3Arts Chicago.

  • BM Composition - The Boston Conservatory

  • Composition, voice, percussion, piano, guitar/bass, clarinets, saxophones, production

Lead Instructor & Artistic Director

EMMA TAYLOR

Lead Instructor

  • Emma Taylor is a multifaceted musician, educator, and arts professional based in Chicago. Emma is a graduate of Millikin University (BM Music Business and Commercial Music) and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (MM, DMA). During her time at UIUC, Emma studied under the direction of Larry Gray and served as the Jazz Bassteaching assistant, teaching private lessons and running Jazz Band III, as well as the Classical Bass TA. For three years, Emma taught at Millikin University’s School of Music and School of Theatre and Dance. She has also taught at Purdue University, Wheaton College, and Richland Community College.

    Emma is an acclaimed bassist and bandleader, having received several awards such as the 2017 DownBeat Outstanding Performance and the 2020 Jazz Achievement Award. She is a sidewoman in the Central Illinois jazz scene and has played with notable musicians such as Carl Allen, Brian Lynch, Derrick Gardner, Jim Pugh, Troy Roberts, Frank Catalano, Joel Spencer, Tito Carrillo, Larry Gray, and Jim Snidero.

    Aside from playing in the US, Emma has also toured and taught masterclasses in Argentina, Chile, and Cuba, as well as in Mexico withWave Trio, a modern jazz group, which features two-time Grammy winning artist Adrian Terrazas-Gonzalez (The Mars Volta, T.R.A.M., Transient) on woodwinds. Most recently, Emma traveled to Brazil with Millikin University students for a week-long residency at University de Federal in Uberlandia.

  • Millikin University (BM Music Business and Commercial Music) and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (MM, DMA).

  • Bass, piano, dance

JOIN OUR TEAM

We’re always looking for talented instructors to join our team. Send an email to info@ballad.company with your resume and a bit about yourself and we’ll reach out if we think there’s a good fit!