Meet our Musicians

Lisa Killian - Soprano Sax

Lisa Killian, Soprano Saxophone, is a graduate of the Hartt School with a Masters in Saxophone Performance after attending UCONN for a dual Bachelor’s in Music Education and Saxophone Performance. During her UCONN years, she traveled to Manchester, London, and Amsterdam with the UCONN Saxophone Quartet to study with world renowned saxophonists such as Arno Bornkamp and John Harle.

Lisa is a Connecticut native and current resident of West Hartford. She is currently the band director at Strong Middle School in Durham and has been teaching in the district for the past 6 years.

Mallory Kokus - Alto Sax

Saxophonist Mallory Kokus is an active freelance musician and teacher. She is an instructor of saxophone at the Hartt Community Division. Mallory is also the instructor of saxophone at Manchester Community College and maintains a private home studio of saxophone and clarinet students.

Mallory has extensive experience as a woodwind doubler. She can often be heard playing in musical theater pit orchestras across the state. She is also a tenor saxophonist with Flamingo Big Band and alto saxophonist with Foundry Saxophone Quartet. When she isn’t playing or teaching woodwind instruments, Mallory can be found making music with young children at her First Steps in Music classes! She is currently teaching FSM classes in Hebron, Old Lyme, and East Hampton. This fall she will also begin offering classes at the Hartt Community Division in West Hartford.

Mallory studied at Penn State (BS Music Education with Honors) and The Hartt School (MM Saxophone Performance). Her primary saxophone teachers are David Stambler and Carrie Koffman. Mallory is a native of southeastern Pennsylvania, but now lives in East Hampton, CT with her husband and three children.

Kara Studenski - Tenor Sax

Kara Studenski holds both a Bachelor and a Master of Music Education (research emphasis) from the Hartt School, University of Hartford. She began her professional music career in 2014 as a music educator and performer. Kara has experience teaching music at various public schools in Connecticut, and she taught private woodwind lessons at Middlesex Music Academy for five years. As a performing musician, Kara has been a saxophone player in a reggae band and various saxophone quartets in the Hartford area. In 2022, she started to sub as a saxophonist in the Flamingo Big Band.

Kara is from Long Island and is a current resident of Wethersfield, CT. When her son was born, she made a career pivot to the nonprofit sector and currently works for a service dog organization in fundraising. She has been a member of the Foundry Quartet since its founding in 2018 and truly enjoys playing their varied repertoire with such fantastic performers and people.

Andrew Studenski - Bari Sax

Andrew Studenski is a freelance woodwind player and public school educator in the greater Hartford area. As a saxophonist, Mr. Studenski has appeared with the Hartford, New Haven, and Bridgeport symphonies and has played in many big bands and salsa orquestas throughout New England. He has been heard on flutes, clarinets, and saxophones in over 100 professional theater productions, ranging from community revivals to Broadway tour stops and world premiere originals, such as Goodspeed’s “Cyrano” starring Peter Dinklage.

An alumnus of the Hartt School’s music education department, Mr. Studenski is committed to enriching students’ lives through his teaching. He currently instructs elementary band in Glastonbury, CT and is an adjunct professor of woodwinds at Bay Path University in Longmeadow, MA. He is very pleased to play baritone sax with the Foundry Quartet and relishes the chance to share creative and accessible music with a wide audience.

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