Adam Cirillo
General Manager, Bass Guitar Teacher, Drum Teacher, Guitar Teacher, Keyboard + Piano Teacher
Adam is our General Manager and he makes School of Rock Ridgefield a fun and safe place to rock. He started with School of Rock while attending Sacred Heart University, where he earned his BA in Business, with a minor in Music. Adam has acted as a key member of multiple School of Rock locations, through teaching and management roles in Fairfield, New Canaan, and now Ridgefield, CT. Born and raised in Connecticut, Adam has been performing for over 16 years and has been teaching lessons on drums, bass, guitar, and keys for over a decade.
Mike Conklin
Bass Guitar Teacher, Drum Teacher, Guitar Teacher, Keyboard + Piano Teacher
Mike started his musical journey playing guitar as a teenager. His path began when he bought a secondhand guitar from one of his guitarist friends and started taking lessons. Mike's early guitar heroes are Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, and EVH, but his biggest influences were his brother Marc and friends Craig and Drew who were all just as passionate about music. He formed his first band at the age of 19 with his brother and friends.
Recently, Mike has played guitar and sung vocals in the acoustic band This n’ That at local pubs in the New Haven area. Additionally, he plays guitar and sings in the band Absofunkinlutely, formerly known as Father Time. Mike’s musical curiosity has led him to also learn to play piano, ukulele, and banjo. He has worked at the School of Rock Fairfield, New Canaan, and Greenwich locations for over 12 years, and most recently joined the Ridgefield location in October 2019. Mike teaches lessons on bass, drums, guitar, and keys.
Darian Cunning
Bass Guitar Teacher, Drum Teacher, Guitar Teacher, Keyboard + Piano Teacher, Vocal Teacher
Darian teaches bass, guitar, drums, vocals, and keys. He’s a singer-songwriter, guitar phenom, and frequent special guest amongst many elites in the Northeast. He is kind-hearted, soft-spoken, and a traveling soul. Darian has worked with Stephen Kellogg, David Bottrill (Tool, Peter Gabriel), Kristin Hoffmann, David Gamson (Me'shell N'Degeocello), and Dispatch. The singer-songwriter has made his ears bigger and built an audience of colleagues and fans. His influences are far-reaching and his genres include nuevo blues, rock, jazz, folk, trance, improv, and more. Darian started with School of Rock Ridgefield in September 2017.
Jen Durkin
Keyboard + Piano Teacher, Vocal Teacher
Jen is one of our school’s main vocal teachers. She attended Berklee College of Music before making her debut as founder and lead singer of Deep Banana Blackout 25 years ago. In the years that followed she went on to tour nationally with legendary Parliament Funkadelic founder and keyboardist Bernie Worrell. Jen and her band, The Bomb Squad, performed at the 2003 American Music Awards after winning the Nationwide Best Unsigned Band competition beating out 1200 bands from all over the USA. Not long after that Jen was asked to join a supergroup with the Grateful Dead drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann in the Rhythm Devils. In recent years Jen has been involved in projects with some of the world's best musicians including members of The Meters, Living Colour, and Fishbone. Jen has always been surrounded by incredible musicians and in 2015 she released her 5th self-produced CD with her new band, The Business. Jen began her teaching career in 2001. Jen started with School of Ridgefield in January 2020 and teaches vocals.
Ethan Fiske
Bass Guitar Teacher, Drum Teacher, Guitar Teacher, Keyboard + Piano Teacher, Vocal Teacher
Ethan Fiske is a pop musician hailing from Middlebury, Connecticut. He is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, and utilizes an innovative, hands-on approach to creating immersive music. His take on modern pop reflects a fusion of contemporary and vintage aesthetics, making for a nostalgic, yet refreshing sound. Some influential genres include Motown-soul and ’70s/‘80s pop, while some influential artists include Bruno Mars, The Weeknd, and Michael Jackson. Ethan's passion for music is sourced from the ambition to create a fun, welcoming environment where people can celebrate together. With a mission of spreading love through his music, Ethan creates a style that people can bond to and sets forth an evocative, empathetic message. Ethan is mainly a vocalist and offers lessons on vocals, keys, drums, guitar, and bass. He started with School of Rock Ridgefield in February 2023.
Mike Gaboardi
Bass Guitar Teacher, Guitar Teacher, Keyboard + Piano Teacher
Mike is a Western Connecticut-based guitarist and music educator. He has been playing and performing music for his entire life and graduated from Western Connecticut State University in 2021 with a BS in Music Education. During his time there, he studied jazz guitar with Chris Morrison. He currently teaches private guitar, bass, piano lessons, and student ensembles privately and at lesson studios around the Western Connecticut area. Mike’s guitar playing is inspired by many different styles of music including jazz, jazz fusion, folk, classic rock, and funk. He has a passion for improvised music of all types and brings the philosophy of improvisation to all lessons and performances. Mike started with School of Rock Ridgefield in September 2021 and offers lessons on bass, guitar, and keys.
Grayson Hugh
Keyboard + Piano Teacher, Vocal Teacher
Grayson Hugh is an internationally-acclaimed, Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter whose 1988 debut release, Blind To Reason, on RCA went Gold and garnered several international radio hits. After touring the U.S. and overseas for several years, his second record, Road To Freedom, was called one of 1992's Top 10 albums by Billboard Magazine. His songs have been featured in Oscar-winning films "Thelma and Louise” and “Fried Green Tomatoes.” In the ’90s and through 2003, Grayson taught songwriting at Berklee College of Music. He is a recipient of two New England Foundation for the Arts Meet The Composer Grants for his modern dance scores and he continues to release albums and perform all over the world. In 2008, Grayson married his former backup singer, Polly Messer, and moved from Cape Cod back to his home state of Connecticut. He joined the staff of The School of Rock Ridgefield as a keyboard and voice teacher in the Fall of 2021.
Clio Janis
Vocal Teacher, Keyboard + Piano Teacher, Guitar Teacher, Bass Guitar Teacher
Clio Janis is a multi-instrumentalist musician, musical director, and music educator based out of Naugatuck, CT. Clio attended Western Connecticut State University and took coursework in music education, audio engineering, and music theory. Clio can often be found in the pit of various musical theatre organizations in the Connecticut and New York Area on guitar or keyboard.
Clio’s enthusiasm for feeding into students’ interests and incorporating them into lessons provides a safe environment for both musical and personal exploration. Clio enjoys genres such as musical theatre, vaporwave, and indie rock and her musical inspirations include David Bowie, Brian Eno, and the Beatles. Clio joined the School of Rock Ridgefield team in September 2023 and teaches vocals, keyboard, guitar, and bass.
Becky Kessler
Bass Guitar Teacher, Guitar Teacher, Keyboard + Piano Teacher, Vocal Teacher
Becky is a songwriter, singer, and guitarist for the band Violent Mae, and moved to Connecticut from North Carolina to live and work on a friend’s organic farm. Becky came from a musical family and discovered her passion for songwriting through the guitar. This artistic pursuit led her to study and appreciate music as a science, eventually finding another passion for teaching music. As a seasoned private music instructor for over a decade, she returned to school, finishing her music degree with a minor in Psychology at Western Connecticut State University where she received the JUMY foundation and the Mary & Rudy Behrens music scholarships.
Becky won best singer-songwriter in the first annual CT music awards and with her bandmate/producer, Floyd Kellogg, has since received praise from Paste, Mother Jones, Sub Pop, and NPR. Violent Mae recorded and produced two LPs and their music is featured on multiple TV series including Hulu's Shrill, CW's Nancy Drew, and Canada's Wynonna Earp. Violent Mae songs are licensed in a Monster drink ad featuring Olympic skier, Sarah Hoefflin, and select pro snowboard/ski videos, including films by Teton Gravity, an extreme sports media company. Violent Mae has toured and performed at CMJ, NXNE, Mustang Music Festival, Daytrotter, and Converse Rubber Tracks. Becky has been teaching primarily vocals and guitar as well as bass and keys since August 2019 with School of Rock Ridgefield.
Tyger MacNeal
Drum Teacher
Tyger is and has been an in-demand studio and touring drummer for the past three decades. As a result, he has worked with some of the most established names in the music business such as the Four Tops, Fifth Dimension, and Rosemary Clooney, to name a few. Tyger also toured and recorded with the funk group, The Average White Band, and was a mainstay with Grammy Award-winning guitar legend Jose Feliciano for 25 years. During that time he was also one of the first call drummers on the Broadway hit Mamma Mia! as well as maintaining a busy freelance and teaching schedule. Tyger has been teaching drums with School of Rock Ridgefield since August 2020.
Jackson Pryor-Bennett
Bass Guitar Teacher, Guitar Teacher, Keyboard + Piano Teacher, Vocal Teacher
Jackson is a bassist, guitarist, pianist, vocalist, and more. He has experience across many genres of music, including but not limited to rock, jazz, funk, blues, metal, folk, classical, R&B, punk, pop, salsa, bluegrass, choral music, and even video game soundtracks, film scores, experimental music, and a lot more. While being primarily, or entirely, self-taught on most instruments, Jackson holds a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies from Western Connecticut State University where he honed his skills further, rigorously practicing upright and electric bass and jazz voice. Jackson is a musical artist, teacher, and performer who writes, produces, arranges, records, and releases original music (and content) to help uplift and inspire others and help other musicians reach their goals as he strives toward his own. You can find Jackson’s music on most streaming platforms. Jackson has been teaching bass, guitar, keys, and vocals with School of Rock Ridgefield since March 2018.
Rick Quintanal
Drum Teacher
Rick majored in music at the University of California at San Jose, studying drums with Maestro Eugene Graves, as well as Anthony Cirone, who was the principal percussionist with the San Francisco Symphony, and Chuck Brown, a leading San Francisco Bay area teacher whose students included Terry Bozzio and David Garibaldi. He was an assistant teacher in Chuck Brown's studio for five years.
Rick performed and toured with The Don Ellis Orchestra, George Duke, Kenny Rankin, and Jorge Santanas' Malo, and has worked in both the Los Angeles and San Francisco recording scene with various artists, and is currently performing in Connecticut with Crystal Cymbalogy, Otis and the Hurricanes, and Terra Coda. Rick has been teaching for over 40 years and started with School of Rock Ridgefield teaching drums in January 2019.
Robin Rockwell
Studio Coordinator
Robin holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from Western Connecticut State University with a concentration in clarinet and a secondary in bassoon. She has performed in various pit orchestras in the area including the WCSU Theatre and Opera Departments, Torrington High School, Newbury Musical Theatre Company, NewArts, and Musicals at Richter for shows such as Mozart’s The Magic Flute, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Newsies, Roald Dahl’s Matilda, Beauty & the Beast, Mary Poppins, West Side Story, and Oklahoma.
Robin started her career in arts administration as Orchestra Contractor and Assistant to the Music Director at NewArts. She held the position of Clarinet & Saxophone instructor and Administrative Assistant at Music Learning Center in Danbury for the 2021-2022 school year and has been a Control Board Operator at WMNR Fine Arts Radio since September 2020. Robin joined the School of Rock Ridgefield team in November 2022 as Studio Coordinator.
Aidhan Roque
Bass Guitar Teacher, Guitar Teacher
Aidhan is a guitar player currently based in the CT area where he teaches, gigs, and produces music. He studied at Western Connecticut State University, earning a Bachelor of Music in Music and Audio Production with a focus in jazz guitar. Aidhan is skilled in a variety of musical genres, including rock, blues, soul, funk, pop, and jazz to list a few. He is trained and able to teach different guitar and bass techniques, as well as music theory and jazz theory. Aidhan joined School of Rock Ridgefield in June 2022 and offers lessons on guitar and bass.