Randy McIntosh, Music Director
marimba, mbira, drumming

Randy is Kutandara Center's music director. Randy graduated from Colorado State University in 1992 with a bachelor's degree in music, and from the University of Colorado in 1996 with a master's degree in music composition. Randy's love of Zimbabwean music inspired him to write and arrange his own Shona-style compositions. Randy is the Center’s composer and musical visionary.

Randy has taught at the University of Colorado, Metropolitan State University, New Vista High School, and the Colorado School of the Arts. Randy has performed with Jambo Drummers, Ukama, and Chimanimani. He, with his partner Amy Stewart, founded Kutandara Center in 1999. He currently directs and performs with Kutandara and Mhuri and co-directs Shamwari, Tamba!, Vana Vedu and Project Rugare.

Amy Stewart, Program Director
marimba, hosho, singing

Amy is Kutandara Center's program director. Amy began studying African music in 1994 with master instructors both from Zimbabwe and the United States. Amy is adept at many African instruments, but especially loves marimba and hosho (gourd rattles) and plays both with style and grace.

Amy comes from a management background, having coordinated many environmental and educational projects for non-profit organizations and state and county governments. Amy has an amazing ability to organize ideas, people and things and spends much time at the Center doing so. Amy reminds students and instructors alike that music is not only about notes and rhythms, but about relationships among people working together toward a common goal.

Amy has performed with Ukama, Chimanimani, and the Low-Flying Knobs. She, with her partner Randy McIntosh, founded Kutandara Center in 1999. She currently performs with Kutandara and Mhuri and Project Rugare and co-directs Shamwari, Tamba!, Vana Vedu and Project Rugare.

Ashley Crutchfield, Instructor
marimba

Ashley loves playing marimba, hosho, mbira and singing. She has been studying with Randy McIntosh, Kutandara Center Music Director, since his first group marimba class in 2000. She has studied mbira with Sekuru Cosmas Magaya, singing with Ambuya Beauler Dyoko, and additional marimba work with visiting artists such as Paul Mataruse. She was an original member of the Center's student perfromance class Musangano and currently plays with the Center's school performance group Mhuri and serves as a substitute when needed with Kutandara. Teaching is Ashley's way to give back to the community all that has been given to her over the years. When Ashley is not playing music, she enjoys her day job as an acupuncturist and Chinese herbalist.

Jonathan Davis, Instructor
youth drumming and dance

Jonathan Davis is an arts educator who has been living and working in Boulder, Colorado since 2000. Since graduating from the Colorado College with a B.A. in Theater and Dance, Jonathan has worked in a variety of educational settings as a dancer, actor, musician and director. He is the co-founder and former co-director of Express Your Self dance studio, where he taught creative dance for kids of all ages. Jonathan brings a broad range of pedagogy and techniques to his teaching including Waldorf Philosophy, Co-creative Performance and Mythic Storytelling. His mentors include Sage Hamilton, Melissa Michaels, Abdoul Doumbia, Fara Tolno, Catherine Hunziker, and Scott Mast. His primary goal is to enliven the next generation of leaders through embodied creativity and inspired self-expression.

Abdoul Doumbia, Instructor
drumming

Abdoul Doumbia is an exceptional master drummer from Mali, West Africa, who was brought to the US by Brown University in 1991, to participate in their African Dance Program. His formal drumming education began at age six with a sixteen-year apprenticeship to the honorable master drummer, Moriba Keita. For eight years, Abdoul was the lead drummer with the 47-member professional national drum and dance troupe Babemba of Mali. Abdoul now resides in Boulder and teaches djembe and djun-djun drum classes, while also performing all over the country. He is the co-founder, with Karen Marx, of the Mali Assistance Project, founded in 1999 to provide famine relief and water solutions in his home village of Foutaka Zambougou, Mali. With the expansion of Kutandara Center’s studio facilities, Abdoul now offers his popular classes through the Center.

Corey Kirschner, Instructor
marimba

Corey Kirschner comes from an eclectic and diverse musical background, and has performed as a keyboardist in many different bands, with genres spanning rock, jazz, and electronica. He has worked in the capacities of keyboard accompanist, as well as studio recording and live-sound engineer. Corey has come to teach classes at the Kutandara Center through his quest to further understand the subtlety and spiritual depth of the Shona music, and actuate his desire to help create the community integral to this music.

Always striving toward personal excellence and building community, through his continuing involvement in various Kutandara ensembles, gatherings, and fund-raising projects, Corey’s ultimate goal is to bring our global community closer together through the cultural interaction of world music.

Zoë Kline, Instructor
marimba

Zoë began playing marimba in 1998 when she took her first class from Amy Stewart.  Since then she has participated in numerous classes and workshops all over the country. She also performs with Shamwari and has done so since its formation in 1999.  Zoë loves Zimbabwean music and especially enjoys playing and teaching marimba. When not playing marimba (or in school), Zoë spends her time hiking and riding her road bike.

Karen Marx, Instructor
drumming

Karen has been a student of Abdoul Doumbia, master drummer from Mali, West Africa, since 1998 and has performed with him in many venues. She has made six trips to Mali, three of which were to study drumming and African dance. Karen has taught djembe drumming classes since 2000 and plays Zimbabwean-style marimba music with the group Chimanimani. She is the founder and executive director of The Mali Assistance Project, assisting the rural village of Zambougou, Mali, with famine relief and digging wells to provide clean drinking water.

Robyn Morgan, Instructor
marimba

As a career educator and now as a marimba instructor, Robyn Morgan holds the unshakeable belief that everyone can learn to play the marimba regardless of their age or musical background. Her own experiences have shown her that it is impossible to fail when playing this forgiving, sturdy instrument in the company of an instructor and learning partners who never give up on themselves or each other.  She respects the diversity that each student brings to class and value their opinions regarding class content and flow.

As a student, teacher, and performer, she finds that the fun and teamwork involved in playing marimba leads to a community spirit that enriches her life and the lives of those who hear the music.  If you like to laugh and learn and sway to the beat…..then you will not be alone in any class where Robyn is teaching.

Christine vonLersner, Instructor
marimba

Chris is a lifelong music lover who switched from piano to cello in 5th grade, when she discovered her love for ensemble music. During high school, she participated in so many musical groups that she was rehearsing upwards of six hours a day. For her senior solo recital, she decided to surprise her teachers by changing instruments and preparing a three movement concerto for alto recorder and chamber orchestra, which she transcribed from a favorite recording. Chris has a degree in Elementary Education and is a certified and experienced Montessori teacher. In recent years she has been accumulating a vast repertoire of children's songs, taught herself to play the guitar and been leading numerous singing groups at her children's public school in Denver. Chris's addiction to Shona marimba music is fairly new, but she is in the process of building her 6th marimba--part of a set she hopes to use to bring Shona music to Denver.

Mimi Ward, Instructor
African Songs and Games

Holding certifications in elementary education and folk dance and training in Orff-Schulwork, as well as Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in religious studies with an emphasis in Haitian dance, Mimi is a perfect match for teaching our younger students the joy of multi-cultural dance, song and games. Mimi has taught folk dance to adults and kids for over ten years, elementary school in inner city Los Angeles and is the mother of three school-aged children. Because many pre-school and early elementary programs are moving toward less dance and song and more alphabets and numbers, Mimi believes dancing and singing with children is of utmost important as it develops children’s language, emotional, physical and social skills.