Faculty and Staff

Laura Greenwald is Music Department Chair and Director of Vocal Studies at Caldwell University where she teaches voice, Women in Music, Music and the Arts and directs the University Chorale and Opera/Music Theatre Workshop. She directed the Caldwell University Concert Series for twenty years, presenting professional concerts and recitals to the community and prepared the University Chorale as the chorus for the Garden State Opera for seven seasons.
As Director of the Caldwell University Chorale, Dr. Greenwald prepares the choir for performances at all major college ceremonies and concerts. Annually they perform at massed choir events in NYC (Kips Bay and Carnegie Hall) Princeton, and Caldwell. In 2011, Dr. Greenwald was honored to receive the Caldwell College Excellence in Teaching Award.
Dr. Greenwald sang with Ember, the Schola Repertory Singers and the select Schola Sing Solo! of Schola Cantorum on Hudson for over 10 years including performances in the chorus with the NY Philharmonic and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. She has performed in concerts and recitals in Ohio, Vermont and the New York Metropolitan area specializing in the music of women composers.

Bio

B.M.E., Baldwin Wallace College
M.M., Westminster Choir College
D.M.A., Manhattan School of Music

Rutgers University–BA Business Administration w/Accounting Concentration and Sociology Minor.

Laura Greenwald is Music Department Chair and Director of Vocal Studies at Caldwell University where she teaches voice, Women in Music, Music and the Arts and directs the University Chorale and Opera/Music Theatre Workshop. She directed the Caldwell University Concert Series for twenty years, presenting professional concerts and recitals to the community and prepared the University Chorale as the chorus for the Garden State Opera for seven seasons.
As Director of the Caldwell University Chorale, Dr. Greenwald prepares the choir for performances at all major college ceremonies and concerts. Annually they perform at massed choir events in NYC (Kips Bay and Carnegie Hall) Princeton, and Caldwell. In 2011, Dr. Greenwald was honored to receive the Caldwell College Excellence in Teaching Award.
Dr. Greenwald sang with Ember, the Schola Repertory Singers and the select Schola Sing Solo! of Schola Cantorum on Hudson for over 10 years including performances in the chorus with the NY Philharmonic and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. She has performed in concerts and recitals in Ohio, Vermont and the New York Metropolitan area specializing in the music of women composers.

Bio

B.M.E., Baldwin Wallace College
M.M., Westminster Choir College
D.M.A., Manhattan School of Music

M.A., William Paterson University
B.A. in Philosophy, Kean University

Rob Middleton is a saxophonist/clarinetist, a prize-winning composer, and an active performer and teacher in the New York area.  He works in a broad range of styles, from jazz and classical to commercial and ethnic music. He has performed around the U.S and abroad with many jazz greats, including Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Phil Woods, Harry Connick Jr., Lionel Hampton, The New York Voices, Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Lovano, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Woody Shaw, Oliver Lake, David Liebman, Randy Brecker, Jane Ira Bloom, Billy Hart, and Jim McNeely.  Rob’s recent recordings, both jazz and classical, include “Portraits and Places” with the Scott Reeves Jazz Orchestra, “Open Crossings”, music of Andy Teirstein, “Eleven” with the Birdland Big Band, “Composers in Collaboration”, new music by New Jersey women composers with Dr. Nan Childress, and “Urban Soundscapes” with NewYorkestra, which he co-leads and writes for.   He is the former music director of the Birdland Big Band and is a long-time member of the BMI/New York Jazz Orchestra, an ensemble dedicated to performing works created by the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop.  Rob is a former participant in that workshop and a winner of its composition prize.  His compositions and arrangements are performed regularly in the New York area and have appeared in a major motion picture, “The Thomas Crown Affair”.

Professor Rebecca Vega is an Associate Professor in the Music Department, and serves as the music recruitment advisor. This is her 20th year at Caldwell where she directs the CU Marching Band, Wind Ensemble, Flute Ensemble and Reed Ensemble. She teaches Conducting, Instrumental Rehearsal Techniques and Music Education courses. She is an active flutist and performs regularly with the UpTown Flutes and the trio Terzetta.

B.M. (Music Education) California State University, Long Beach
M.A. (Flute Performance) Eastern Michigan University

B.M. William Paterson University

M.A.T. Montclair State University

Joe Bergen is a musician, educator, composer, and arts administrator who focuses on creating and developing diverse and equitable music communities. Joe is best known as a founding member, and Co-Artistic Director of Mantra Percussion, Inc., a future-focusing arts organization dedicated to a lasting influence on percussion performance and percussion education. Joe is the Director of Percussion Studies, adjunct music education professor, and marching band instructor at Caldwell University. Joe is also an adjunct music instructor at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ, and the state chapter president of the Percussive Arts Society.

B.A. Montclair State University

M.A. Montclair State University

MICHAEL MAHADEEN is an orchestrator/arranger, conductor, composer, educator, multiple-woodwind instrumentalist, and music engraver in the NY/NJ metropolitan area.  Select Broadway/NYC credits: On the Twentieth Century (Roundabout); The Christmas Spectacular Starring The Radio City Rockettes (Radio City); Show Boat (NY Philharmonic).  Off-Broadway/Regional: Pamela’s First Musical (Two River Theatre); Hadestown (NYTW); Sweeney Todd (Barrow).  Select orchestrations: Jarrod Spector; Kelli Barrett; Eric Petersen; Carolina Philharmonic Orchestra; Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra; Czech Radio Orchestra.  He is known internationally for his scores to video games in the Wing Commander series.  At its launch in 2022, Michael joined the team at Full Circle Artists as a collaborator, actively orchestrating and arranging shows and concerts for their performing artists.

Michael is a graduate of Montclair State University, recipient of the NJ Distinguished Student Teacher Award, and studied at the New York Conducting Studio under Dr. Gary Fagin.  He serves on the music faculty at Caldwell University, Montclair State University, Mendham Township School District, and is the music director for Pascack Valley High School Theatre.  Affiliations: AFM 802, ASCAP, NAfME, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Eagle Scout.  His music is published by Bandworks Publications.

MAX MORDEN

Trumpet, Cornet, Flugelhorn, Piccolo Trumpet, Guitar, Keyboard, Vocal
Max has been heard in a variety of groups from New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and
broadway, to performances with artists such as Dave Brubeck, Wycliffe Gordon, Joe
Locke, Glen Burtnik, Rob Paparozzi, Max Weinberg, Pat Guadagno, John Tropea, The
Weeklings, and Cherish the Ladies.
He can also be found as principal soloist for numerous churches and serves as principal
solo cornet and arranger for Gramercy Brass Orchestra of New York. His work with
GBO of NY can be found on five recordings – American Anthems, Christmas Time Is
Here, Brubeck: Bold & Brassy, and two new Christmas albums to be released in 2022.
In a series of concerts performing the music of Duke Ellington and Count Basie, Max
has had the great fortune of conducting an all-star big band comprised of members of
the Lincoln Center, Duke Ellington, and Count Basie jazz orchestras.
He holds a Bachelor of Music Education from Eastern Michigan University, a Masters in
Jazz/Commercial Music Performance from Manhattan School of Music, and Doctoral
studies in classical performance from Rutgers University.

Eric Olsen has two Master of Music degrees, with High Distinction, from Indiana University, and a Bachelor of Music degree, magna cum laude, from Syracuse University.  He has crafted a distinguished career in both jazz and classical music, as a pianist and composer, harpsichordist, synthesist, organist, conductor, and accompanist.  He has recorded twenty albums to great critical acclaim, with artists Randy Brecker, Ted Nash, George Garzone, Don Braden, Ratzo Harris, Tim Horner, Peter Olsen, Bucky Pizzarelli, Lou Caimano, Jan Carden, Kevin Maynor, and Larry Newcomb, and performed with jazz luminaries Billy Hart and Eliot Zigmund. He has appeared in concert from Carnegie Hall to Birdland, with orchestra in Taiwan, throughout the United States, and overseas in France, Germany, India, the Fiji Islands, and New Zealand.  He is on the faculty at Caldwell University, Montclair State University, and the Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts, and is Music Director at St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church in Linden, NJ.  More information is available at www.olsensoundscape.com.

​After graduating Berklee College of Music in 1987, Joshua Rubin embarked on a career as a performing guitarist and teaching.  He performed with such artists as George Coleman, David Grisman, Claudio Roditi, Grady Tate and Martha Reevesand the Vandellas in venues including Carnegie Hall, The Knitting Factory, Village Gate, Pier 16, Avery Fisher Hall, and Alice Tully Hall.  Josh has recorded a number of CDs as sideman and as featured soloist.  Education is a large part of Josh’s musical life, he currently teaches privately in Montclair and Clifton and is also an adjunct faculty member at Caldwell University .

Dan Yates is a professional theatre performer, director, and producer and has been teaching and directing at Caldwell College since 2004.

Dan toured the country for two years with the National Players and was a member of the Round House Theatre Company in Washington DC. Along with extensive professional, regional and local theatre credits, Dan is the Producing Director of the Yates Musical Theatre for Children which has appeared at such venues as Paper Mill Playhouse, Capital One Bank Theatre at Westbury, North Shore Music Theatre, PNC Arts Center, Oakdale Music Theatre, Cape Playhouse, and many more.

Dan directs for the Garden State Opera Company and holds a Master of Arts Degree in Communication from Seton Hall University