Our 2026 Instructors

Lee Harvey, Strings and Program Director

Lee Harvey is a violinist and music educator located in Santa Fe, NM. She received her classical training from New England Conservatory, Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, and University of CO College of Music with emphasis in performance. Lee teaches, coaches and conducts students in private lessons, string orchestras and chamber groups. In the summer of 2019, she brought a group of students to South Korea to participate in a “Global Youth Concert”. Lee hopes to ignite the joy of playing an instrument, as she believes that being able to play music together makes the world a better place.

Kayla Johnson, Violin

Kayla is a dedicated music educator and violinist currently teaching middle and high school orchestra programs in Eastern New Mexico. She holds a Bachelor of Music from New Mexico State University and a Master of Music from Missouri State University. Kayla has been an active contributor to the music education scene in New Mexico, where she was born and raised, for the majority of her life. She brings a wide range of teaching experience, including private studio instruction, elementary music education, and secondary orchestra. In addition to her teaching, she enjoys performing with orchestras across New Mexico and parts of Texas, including Roswell Symphony Orchestra and West Texas Symphony.  

John Sumerlin, Violin

Formerly first violinist with the American, Dallas, Cincinnati, Honolulu, and Santa Fe Opera orchestras, he has appeared in recitals and as soloist with orchestra in the US, Canada, Mexico, and Europe. He is currently Professor of Music at Rhode Island College and first violin with the Proteus String Quartet.

Chase Morisson, Cello

Born in Boston, Chase Morrison attended Wellesley College, where she studied theory and composition with Arlene Zallman and Charles Fisk and where she received her B.A. in Music in 1978. A Masters in Music Composition was awarded by Westminster Choir College in 2000. Her formal studies in cello, piano, conducting, and composing took place in and around Boston beginning at the age of four. Other music studies were completed at The New England Conservatory) and Boston University (cello).

At age 22 she was appointed principal cellist of the Tasmanian Symphony (Australia), followed by a co-principal position with the Melbourne Symphony (Australia). After moving to New York City, she founded PANOPTICON, a non-profit music group performing works of women composers. She has toured as a cellist with Barbra Streisand, Joni Mitchell, and Ron Carter.

Ms. Morrison is currently an instructor at the New Mexico School for the Arts, a cellist with the San Juan Symphony, and a guest conductor with the Santa Fe Community Orchestra.

Dana Winograd, Cello

Originally from Los Angeles, cellist Dana Winograd received her Bachelors and Masters degrees in performance from the Juilliard School in New York where she studied with Harvey Shapiro and Channing Robbins, as well as members of the Juilliard String Quartet for chamber music. After graduation, Dana led an active freelance career in New York City, including performances at Carnegie Hall with the American Composer’s Orchestra and the American Symphony, Broadway appearances (both in the pit and on stage) with Phantom of The Opera, Cats, Beauty and the Beast,and Once Upon a Mattress, as well as playing backup for Rod Stewart, Luther Vandross, Lyle Lovett, Manhattan Transfer, and Harry Connick Jr.

Since moving to Santa Fe in 1999, Dana has been a member of the New Mexico Symphony (now New Mexico Philharmonic), Santa Fe Pro Musica, and is principal cellist of the Santa Fe Symphony. She has appeared as soloist with the Santa Fe Symphony, the Chamber Orchestra of Albuquerque, the Plainfield Symphony in NJ and the Julius Grossman Orchestra in NY. 

An active chamber musician Dana plays regularly with Chatter, the Santa Fe Symphony quartet, Taos Chamber Music Group and Serenata of Santa Fe.  She is the orchestra director at St. Michael’s High School, and has worked in the Santa Fe Symphony’s mentoring program, helping young string students in the SFPS.  Dana and her husband Gil live happily with two great dogs, Riley and Lily.

Kara Griffith, Violin

Kara Griffith is a symphony violinist (most recently of The Venice, FL Symphony) and a modified Suzuki-based violin teacher with a degree from Indiana University.  During her 36-year career in Florida she founded  the 100+ student strings program at Edison Park Creative and Expressive Arts Magnet School (a public elementary school), founded Gulf Coast Music (a private music school), and most recently  founded  Davis School of Music (a private music school within the Sidney And Berne Davis Art Center in historic downtown Fort Myers).  She was also the Education and Community Outreach Director at the Southwest Florida Symphony for 3 years, which included overseeing two youth orchestras,  annual  young people’s concerts, and numerous other duties and community outreach programs and communications.  Her strengths are both in private one-on-one teaching ages 5- 18, and in coaching smaller groups of younger students or older, high school level chamber group coachings. Mrs. Griffith also presented numerous successful  summer strings camps over the years.  For fun, she  also loves to thrift, collect, and decorate, and has an online Etsy store called Best Nest Elevated Home. Kara Griffith and her husband, Jim (also a violist),  relocated to Santa Fe from Fort Myers, Florida in the fall of 2024 for him to become the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival’s new Executive Director.

Daniel Lockley, Marimba

Daniel Lockley first started playing Zimbabwean marimba back in 1997 as part of an after-school program through First Unitarian Church. What started as a fun hobby ultimately transformed into a career. By high school, Daniel was touring with several bands, performing in venues across the Southwest. After graduating from Lewis and Clark College in 2010, Daniel began teaching, first in the Portland Public Schools and later at the Moon and Stars Foundation in Boulder, CO, as well as CU Boulder and Regis University. Now back in Santa Fe, Daniel teaches at SFSAS and Desert Montessori.