Michael Morpurgo Owner / Creative Director
Michael Morpurgo is owner and Creative director of The School of Rock - Princeton.
A long-time friend of Paul Green , Mike jumped at Paul’s offer to open his own School of Rock and test the franchise waters.
A Philadelphia native, he has received a certain amount of success as a professional musician with national recording acts, Dandelion (Columbia), Laguardia (Universal) and Mad Action / The Cobbs(Loog). Michael has also had his music featured on TV programs like "Party of Five," "Beavis & Butt Head," "The Real World," "Smallville," and "ESPN" .
In addition, he has also had music in a few feature films including "Brainscan" (Sony Pictures), and two Abel Farra films, "R-Xmas" and "New Rose Hotel" - writing and recording side by side with Hip-Hop icon, Schooly D. Touring thousands of miles, years of session, and studio work - Mike made an honest living doing what he loves---playing music!
Dante Cimino Music Director-Drum Instructor
Dante is the Music director and drum instructor at the Princeton Branch not to mention a DRUM GOD - he and Mike have played together for over 20 years. Dante has been on Major labels and toured the world with his Band Dandelion and also with Rudy & Blitz (featuring Chad from CKY).
Noelle Hoover Bass / Guitar / Keys/ Vocals
Noelle has been playing bass, piano, and singing for over 20 years. She has performed and recorded with several bands including Hell Block 6, The Boss Hookup, and Pink Slip Daddy. Noelle recently began teaching and enjoys working with the kids immensely. Noelle feels hands on is the best way to get kids playing, preferring a "jump in and do it" approach to instructing.
John Ruszin III
John has been playing guitar for over 25 years. As a student at Musician’s
Institute he studied with Paul Gilbert (Racer-X, Mr. Big), Frank Gambale (Chick
Corea), and Jennifer Batten (Michael Jackson). John was voted the Best Rock
Guitar Player in Philadelphia in 2004 by the Philadelphia Music Conference and
successfully signed and toured with his former band, Carfax Abbey. When he’s not
playing guitar or watching classic horror movies, he’s writing and producing in
his home recording studio for his Collinwood13 project and collaborating with
other local electronic musicians on various projects.
Claude Coleman TEACHER
Claude Coleman Jr. is the engineer/producer singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist for his own group Amandla, but is perhaps best known as the drummer for cult-rock gods Ween. For nearly twenty years of recording and headline-touring internationally, his dynamic playing has served to embellish the mad scope of Ween's musical references as well help to elevate Ween's worldwide status as a renowned live band, performing at large-theatre tours and becoming major-music festival headliners
Coleman'sT.V.performance credits with Ween have included The David Letterman Show; MTV; Conan O?Brien; The Carson Daily Show; a depiction as Ween's white drummer on South Parks Chef Aid Episode; and Coleman in puppet form on Crank Yankers (Comedy Central). In spring 2009 Coleman will appear on the Nickelodeon show The Naked Brothers Band, along with Roots drummer Guestlove. Among film and television music credits include Fox sitcom Grounded for Life, MTV and the Sundance Channel as well as films The Spongebob Square Pants Movie, Dude, Where's My Car?, The X-Files, and U-Turn.
Coleman's album discography stretches back over 20 years highlighting performance, recording and producing collaborations in the NJ/NY area, for over 40 full-record and album. His drumming has received special focus in magazines such as Modern Drummer and Musician> His other list of professions include graphic/web designer, recording studio owner, music columnist, and carpenter/builder. An ex-director of the NYC branch of School of Rock, he currently teaches drums, bass, guitar and voice at the Princeton, NJ branch .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Coleman_Jr.
Mauro Felipe Guitar Instructor
Moe has been a professional musician for nearly 20 years, with over half of that experience taking place in the clubs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. CBGBs, Don Hill's, The Mercury Lounge, The Continental, The Luna Lounge. He has done various studio sessions including soundtrack work for Criterion Films, as well as having music licensed by several television series DVD releases.Moe recorded, charted internationally, and toured as bassist for NYC indie rock band Bela and has played all over the US and Europe with the NYC based psychedelic hard rock bands Atomic Number 76 and Wrecketh, both of which feature his lead guitar work and songwriting and arranging. He studied guitar with noted transcriber, author, and music instructor Michael Wolfsohn Moe has taught sporadically over the years in NYC. He prefers a mixture of playing by ear backed up by a solid base of music theory, However no previous knowledge of theory or guitar is needed in his lessons. He'll take care of that for you.
myspace.com/atomicnumber76music