Faculty
Maia Cook, Director
Cellist Maia Cook performs regularly as a soloist, orchestral, and chamber musician. She began her studies at the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts where she studied with professor emeritus Olive Shaw and Ifan Williams. Summers were spent studying under Pinchas Zukerman, Patinka Kopec, Amanda Forsyth, Hans Jorgen Jensen, and Margaret Munro Tobolowska at the National Arts Center of Canada. She continued her education in cello performance at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah and Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Maia has a passion for teaching music to children both young and old. She has studied string pedagogy and the Suzuki Method extensively with David Evenchick, Pam Devenport, and Wan Tsai Chen. In recent years she has worked to develop a Suzuki cello program at the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts as well as the Scotia Suzuki School of Music. Since moving to Midland she has started her own studio, the West Texas Suzuki Society, while touring all over Canada, the United States, and Mexico as a performer, Suzuki clinician, and university teacher and lecturer. Maia performed as a section cellist in the Midland-Odessa Symphony and Choral for their 2019-2020 season.
Martha Slayden, Co-Director
admin@westtexasconservatory.com
Martha Slayden graduated from John Brown University with her bachelors in Family Human Services and a minor in psychology. She worked in case management as a case worker for not for profit, nonprofit, and the health system as a social worker.
Martha was born in South Korea, adopted, and raised in Joplin, Missouri with her 15 siblings. She grew up in a family that celebrated and encouraged music and the arts from a young age. Martha has 16 years of dance training, passed grades 1-4 Cecchetti exams under the instruction of the late Karen Drouin, and currently under mentorship for teaching certification for Cecchetti syllabus work.
She has lived in Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and California. Now Martha, her husband, and three children reside in Midland, Texas.
Since living in Midland, she utilized her passion to bring people together and serve her community through volunteer committees and fundraising events. Martha now combines her background and experience in social work, fundraising, and event coordination with the mission of The Conservatory.
Alex Reiff, Music School Faculty, Violin
alex.reiff@westtexasconservatory.com
Alex Reiff is a violinist and music educator who grew up in Abilene, Texas. She attended Hardin-Simmons University and received the Bachelor of Arts degree in Music and Business. Alex started her professional career with Abilene ISD at Clack Middle School where she served as the Head Orchestra Director and Fine Arts Chair. As an international performance artist, she has played with groups such as Barrage, Kansas, the Tokens Radio Show (on NPR), The Gettys, and Revolution Strings, touring here in the USA as well as China. Her major work credits include musicals and operas such as Parade (2012), Bonnie and Clyde (2014), Sweeny Todd (2014), Quilters (2016), Cosi fan Tutte (2018), Big Fish (2019) and Oklahoma (2020). She also regularly plays for many local churches. In 2020, Alex and her husband, moved to Midland, Texas where they currently reside with their daughter and their three dogs. Alex believes in the pursuit of excellence, and she has a passion for teaching students, middle-schoolers especially. She believes that everyone has unrealized potential and can benefit from the discipline that the pursuit of excellence in music demands.
Natalie Sledge, Dean of School of Dance, Ballet Instructor
Natalie attended Texas Tech University where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Studies and a minor of Dance with a concentration in ballet. During her time at Tech, Natalie trained in multiple genres of dance including ballet, jazz and modern and supplemented her technique classes with courses in production activities, choreography, dance aesthetics, and Pilates. Natalie attended the American College Dance Festival and performed and showcased choreography at the Texas Tech School of Dance Spring Concert. A native Midlander, Natalie began her dance education at Bingham Dance Center where she trained for 16 years under Joy Swift, Julie Swift, and Diane Vargas. Dance classes occupied much of her free time, where she enjoyed training in tap, ballet, jazz, and pointe and served as a student teacher for many years. Miss Joy was a wonderful instructor, striving to develop each student's abilities and bringing in top notch guest teachers. One visitor of particular significance was the late William Martin Viscount who was brought in to teach classes and choreography for the Nutcracker ballet. Attending adult classes at multiple studios has added to Natalie's professional development, including several classes at Midland Festival Ballet and the Margot Dean School of Dance in Fort Worth. Previously, Natalie taught classes at Absolute Dance of Midland. She enjoys sharing her love of dance with children and hopes to help each child develop a love for the arts. Natalie is grateful to her parents who went above and beyond to ensure that she and her sisters could participate in dance education as long as they desired. Dance has been a source of great joy in Natalie’s life, and she is thrilled to have the opportunity to share that joy with others. Being a wife and a mother and teacher to her four children is her life's greatest accomplishment. She is excited to be a part of the WTC team and looks forward to the future of the WTC School of Dance and its students.
Kristina Daigle, Visual Arts, Teacher
kristina.daigle@westtexasconservatory.com
Kristina Daigle, a native West Texas, graduated from the University of Texas of the Permian Basin in 2014 with a Bachelor’s of Art with an emphasis in Art History. She held an internship at the Museum of the Southwest where she acquired skills and knowledge of museum operations, exhibit set up, and care for museum collections. Born in Fort Stockton, Texas, Kristina has not always called west Texas home, but seems to find her way back. As a child, Kristina’s father served in the United States Army. Her father took an opportunity to take his young family to see the world, and lived in Wiesbaden, Germany. During this time, Kristina was able to learn about the German culture. This began Kristina’s love for cultural experiences and traveling. Kristina graduated high school and began her college career in Orlando, and graduated from University of Texas in the Permian Basin. Kristina and her husband have four children and reside in Odessa where they have lived for nearly 12 years.
Casey Cooper, Music School Faculty, Cello
Casey started Suzuki cello lessons in 2nd grade at Parker Elementary in her hometown of Houston, Texas. During her childhood she participated in many Suzuki Institutes and school-hosted workshops. In middle and high school she had the opportunity to solo with her school orchestras, and made All-State orchestra all four years of high school. After graduating from The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, she continued her studies at the University of Texas with the late Phyllis Young, where she received her BA in Cello Performance.
After moving to New Orleans with her husband, Casey gained her Suzuki Certification and taught for the New Orleans String Project. In 2008, she and her husband moved to Midland and began their family. Shortly thereafter, Casey’s children joined West Texas Suzuki Society under the direction of Maia Cook, and she became a Suzuki mom. In 2018, she began teaching weekly music classes at Midland Classical Academy. Casey’s love for music, talent for teaching, and knowledge as a Suzuki parent has propelled her to join West Texas Conservatory’s School of Music.
Ryan Stephan,
Music School Faculty, Collaborative Pianist
Ryan Stephan is a pianist and educator who was born in Seattle, Washington. He has spent the last 20 years living near Salt Lake City, Utah, where he attended Utah Valley University and received a Bachelor's degree in Business Marketing.
Ryan was classically trained in piano, but has a deep love of many genres and styles of music. While attending school, he performed as a soloist and accompanist throughout the state. He was also the pianist at the famous "Roof Restaurant" in Salt Lake for three years. Shortly after graduating, Ryan helped start and grow a music studio from a small basement to studios all across the state of Utah. He spent the next five years teaching piano full-time to both children and adults.
Ryan has played the piano for 28 years and is a self-proclaimed "piano addict". From Chopin and Debussy, to Ray Charles and Errol Garner, and everything in between, Ryan's infectious passion for music and the art of playing the piano has helped hundreds of children develop a love for the arts.
Ryan and his wife will be moving to Midland at the beginning of September, and are so excited to join the wonderful community of West Texas.