Selected Student Bios

• Christina Lee

  Music Therapy Student Christina Lee is a Gospel recording artist, Pianist and Music Director. Her journey began at the age of 4 with piano lessons which eventually led to her being accepted at the Pre-College at Manhattan School of Music and later, the Music Conservatory at Purchase College where she received her BA.

  Before her acceptance to NYU, Christina has had the opportunity to perform at numerous venues throughout the United States. Some of her performances were at venues such as the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn with Pastor and Singer Donnie McClurkin, Richmond Christian Center in Virginia with the Women of Praise Tour and at the NAACP ‘Essence of Women’ concert at Bethel AME. She has also worked as the Music Director to New Destiny Fellowship and Shin Kwang Church of NY.

  As a Music Therapy student, her primary instruments are Voice and Piano and she has started her fieldwork at Heartsong in White Plains working with young children with special needs. Before this, her clinical experiences/studies include working with Professor Seung-A Kim (Molloy College) at the Agape Music Therapy program at Arumdaun Church in Long Island and at Margaret Tietz Nursing Home.

  Currently, Christina works as the Music Instructor at The Children’s Aid Society (Drew Hamilton site) as well as the Worship Arts Coordinator for Metro Hope Church located in Harlem’s famous National Black Theater. 
• Julian Silva

  Julian Silva is a percussionist, composer, arranger, director and founder of La Excelencia, a New York-based Latin salsa band. 

  Born in Cali, Colombia, raised in Louisiana, and now based in New York, he is interested in music therapy as a dynamic outlet for both verbal and non-verbal expression, which he found instrumental to assimilating into a new country, culture and social environment.  
  

  Julian has spent the past 9 years working in cancer research in the Department of Oncological Sciences at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.  Most recently, his research has focused on the psychosocial effects of cancer diagnosis and treatment, and the effectiveness of a cognitive behavioral therapy intervention for bone marrow and stem cell transplant survivors suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.    
  

  Julian holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology from Louisiana State University.  He is a first-year graduate student at NYU Steinhardt in the Music Therapy program.  He believes in the power of music as an effective platform for dialogue, and is dedicated to utilizing music as a catalyst for social change and expression.  
  

  www.laexcelencia.net
• Orly Bendavid

  Orly Bendavid is a guitarist, vocalist, performer, and songwriter in her first year of the NYU Music Therapy program. Orly’s fascination with human behavior, culture, and social interaction began in her undergraduate as a student of Cultural Anthropology. Orly’s interest was carried over to her songwriting and in 2008, Orly recorded an album called “The Human Haiku” with the band Every Good Boy. 

  Prior to enrolling to NYU’s Music Therapy program, Orly worked as a Production Coordinator in the New York area.  She was searching for a way to integrate her passion for music, social and cultural science, and healing.  After hearing about Music Therapy through a friend who had just started a program obtaining his certification, Orly began to investigate NYU’s Music Therapy Program, and now believes that she has found her calling.

  Presently, Orly Bendavid is doing her fieldwork at The Nordoff-Robbins Center for Music Therapy with Jacqueline Birnbaum, and is extremely excited and inspired to be working with the center.  

  In addition to obtaining a Masters Degree in music therapy Orly is now fronting the all female New York City band called “The Mona Dahls”, who perform around the City.  Orly is a recipient of the Albert Nerken Scholarship.

  www.everygoodboymusic.com

• Katie Down

  Katie Down is a professional composer, performer, and theatrical sound designer and holds a Master's Degree from the New England Conservatory of Music in Composition. Her first exposure to music therapy was when she worked for an NGO during the war in Bosnia creating fundraising concerts and events.  During this time, she met people from UNICEF and War Child who told her about the Pavorotti Music Centre in Mostar where music therapy was offered to children and young adults. Several years later, she was invited to visit the Centre and was deeply moved the work that was being done particularly in the realm of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Years later, when she moved to New York, Katie was encouraged again to look into music therapy by a filmmaker who was making a documentary about her CD project Aliens Took My Mom! (available on Mulatta Records) with young children in Brooklyn doing free improvisation. Now, Katie is happily interning at the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function at Beth Abraham Family of Health Services where she works with patients recovering from stroke and other neurological and psychological issues She is very thankful for and inspired by NYU Steinhardt's Music Therapy program!

  As a theatre artist, Katie is fortunate to regularly travel internationally working as a performer and trainer in voice work, music improvisation and clown. She has worked extensively in the Balkans and South Africa including the Topsy Center, an orphanage outside of Johannesburg, and Media Artes, in Macedonia dedicated to the arts as a medium for social change.  Time spent in these different countries has been hugely influential in her desire to create outreach programs internationally for music therapists to work in post and current conflict areas.  Katie is a founder of the infamous ukulele group, The Ukuladies! where she is seen/heard singing and playing many different types of small instruments including banjolele, tenor uke, toy piano, glockenspiel, and flute (her primary instrument). She also sings traditional Balkan and Sephardic songs with different groups in NYC and co-leads two ensembles that focus on improvised music and sound art - Lyrebyrd and NewBornTrio respectively, where she plays unusual percussion instruments including the steel cello and glass harp. Katie is a recent grant recipient from Trust for Mutual Understanding, The Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation and Meet the Composer and will be traveling to Kosovo this summer. For more information -
  http://www.myspace.com/katiedown ,
  http://www.myspace.com/theukuladies
  

• Aly Panichi

  Aly Panichi is a vocalist, songwriter in her first year of the NYU Steinhardt Music Therapy program. She holds a BA in Ethnomusicology from the University of Washington, where she graduated with honors. Aly's focus work at the UW was the study of indigenous music healers in traditional, neo-traditional, modern and diaspora contexts.

  Aly has performed at venues and festivals across the United States, and abroad. She has also done voiceover work for cartoons and appeared many times on terrestrial and satellite radio as a performer as well as public speaker and panelist. Aly was a featured solo artist for the Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concert Series in NYC and has performed numerous times at the United Nations. She has performed live with legendary artists Babatunde Olatunji & Odetta, amongst others.

  Before enrolling at NYU, Aly managed LIFEbeat's Hearts and Voices program in New York City, an ongoing concert and entertainment series providing the healing gift of live music to NYC's HIV+ population; producing over 250 shows annually and providing quality music at no cost for thousands of New Yorkers. It was through this work that Aly was exposed to the field of Music Therapy, and recognized that she had found her calling.
  www.myspace.com/alysunpanichi

• Yasmine Iliya

  Music therapy student Yasmine Iliya, Steinhardt MM '09, grew up on Long Island to parents of Lebanese, Palestinian, and Greek origin, and was constantly influenced by a diverse array of cultures and musical styles. She is a critically acclaimed flutist and vocalist, performing and recording regularly with her own jazz ensemble and as a member of the Manhattan Choral Ensemble.  She received her BS in biological psychology from Tufts University in 2004, while performing with the university's select jazz, choral, and wind ensembles. Before returning to graduate school to study music therapy, she worked in clinical cancer and Alzheimer's disease research.

  Yasmine focuses on using the voice and flute in music therapy, though she also plays guitar, piano, and hand percussion. During her coursework at NYU Steinhardt, Yasmine has had clinical experience as a music therapist working with young children with developmental delays and Autistic Spectrum Disorders. She also worked for over a year with homeless mentally ill men at Bellevue Men's Shelter and with adults with neurological disorders at the International Center for the Disabled, using music and vocal improvisation to foster social connections, expression, and self-esteem in her clients.

  She is a 2009 recipient of the prestigious NYU President's Service Award. While at NYU, she co-organized the first collaborative "Creative Arts Therapy Day", an experiential workshop for graduate students in the music therapy, drama therapy, and art therapy departments. After graduation, Yasmine plans on working with adult psychiatric patients at a hospital in Brooklyn.