Teachers
Ms. Dana Ballard
Mill Creek High School
Dana Ballard is Director of Orchestras at Mill Creek High School in Gwinnett County. As a high school student, she studied with Janos Starker. Ms. Ballard holds cello performance degrees from the University of Louisville and Louisiana State University, where she studied with Thaddeus Brys. She has played for some of the world’s great cellists, including Lynn Harrell, Bernard Greenhouse and Yo-Yo Ma. Ms. Ballard also completed coursework for the Ph.D. in Music Education with a minor in Special Education at Louisiana State University.
As a cellist, Ms. Ballard performed in regional symphonies and in Europe. She is active as a clinician and adjudicator for the GMEA and for county and regional honors orchestras. She has also won numerous teaching awards, including Gwinnett County’s Teacher of the Year.
Dr. Justin Dougherty
C String Music Studio
The dynamic cellist Justin Dougherty has spent 10 years performing more 200 solo and chamber music concerts and recitals across the United States and around the world. He holds performance degrees from the Pennsylvania State University, University of Georgia, and The Boston Conservatory where he was the assistant to his mentor, the renowned cellist Rhonda Rider. He has collaborated with, among others, cellists Yo-Yo Ma and Joel Krosnick, pianist Judith Gordon, and violinists William Pu and Joseph Silverstein, and has premiered more than thirty new compositions by many of today’s most accomplished composers.
A prominent cello teacher in Atlanta, GA, nearly 40 of his students have been selected for the Georgia All State Orchestras since 2015, with 5 winning first chair. His students have played in and won principal cello seats in the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra, Emory Youth Symphony, Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, Georgia Youth Symphony Orchestras, and Beethoven Chamber Orchestra. More information at www.justin-dougherty.com.
Mr. Jake Hood
Collins Hill High School
Jake Hood is a Director of Orchestras at Collins Hill High School in Gwinnett County, GA. Mr. Hood received his Bachelor of Music Education degree in 2016 from the University of Georgia, where he studied cello with David Starkweather.
During his time at UGA, he played with the University Symphony and performed dozens of concerts and recitals as a soloist and chamber musician, including more than 50 premiere performances in UGA's Dancz Center for New Music. He sang as a member of three different choral organizations at UGA and taught for four years in UGA's after-school String Project in Athens, GA.
Mr. Hood has taught private cello lessons since 2010. He is enjoying his second year of teaching at Collins Hill High School along with his private cello studio.
Mr. Hood believes garlic bread should be a food group, adores/requires cold-brew coffee, and loves attempting long walks on the beach with his twelve pound cat, Lord Tubbington.