The People Behind the Scenes
Crystal Payne has been the director of Campo Verde High School Orchestras since Fall 2016. Prior to joining the CVHS Orchestras, Mrs. Payne taught orchestra, guitar and piano at Queen Creek High School and Newell Barney Junior High School. Under her direction, the junior high orchestra program grew from 14 members to 90 members.
As an educator, she has been invited as a guest clinician for honor festivals throughout Arizona and previously served as the chairman for the AMEA All-State Junior High Festival, and currently serves as the chairman for the ABODA Fall Orchestra Festival. In 2022, Mrs. Payne was awarded the Arizona Music Educators Association O.M. Hartsell Excellence in Music Teaching Award. Mrs. Payne’s students and ensembles have consistently received ratings of Excellent, Superior, and Superior with Distinction in various festivals throughout Arizona. In 2018, the CVHS Symphony was invited to perform at the World Strides Festival held at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Most recently, the Campo Verde Orchestra program was recognized by the Arizona Band and Orchestra Directors Association as a 2021-2022 Program of Distinction within Arizona.
Director Crystal Payne
As a violinist, Mrs. Payne studied with Dr. Jonathan Swartz at Arizona State University, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in Music Education. While attending ASU, Mrs. Payne was a member and played both violin and viola in the ASU Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, and Chamber Quartet Program. While she played in the ASU Symphony, she accompanied such artists as Regina Carter, Daniel Bernard Romain and Phillip Glass. While participating in the the ASU Chamber Quartet program, she had the opportunity to work with members from the Juilliard String Quartet and the St. Lawrence String Quartet. Mrs. Payne also holds a Masters Degree in Music Teaching and Learning from ASU. Go Devils!
When she is not playing an instrument or teaching, Mrs. Payne loves spending time with her husband Craig, her three children, and her 2 dogs. She loves everything outdoors, like hiking and camping. She also loves to cook, read, and of course, she’s always game for learning a new song or musical instrument! Mrs. Payne loves teaching at CVHS and truly believes that she teaches some of the best students around town!
Sectional Coaches
Melissa Silva is a passionate cellist and educator in the East Valley. Her love of music began at the early age of 4 with piano. In elementary school, she discovered cello and was fascinated by the dynamic range of its voice. Cello has been a part of her life every day since.
For over ten years, Ms. Silva has run a thriving and successful private studio, East Valley String Institute, based on the Suzuki philosophy and its principles. Her mission is to provide every student with a nurturing and effective music education that develops character by learning with love while challenging her students to strive for their best playing and growth as musicians. Her expertise in cello pedagogy, combined with her understanding of body mechanics, regularly produces excellent students. Many of her students have been studying with her for over ten years. Helping cello families achieve their musical goals is one of the best parts of her job. Students of Ms. Silva’s studio regularly hold top chair positions in their school orchestra as well as local youth symphonies, regionals, and all-state orchestras.
Melissa Silva – Cello
Ms. Silva is an active performer and educator. Symphonies she regularly performs with include Chandler Symphony Orchestra, Scottsdale Philharmonic Orchestra, Scottsdale Symphonic Orchestra, Women’s Orchestra of Arizona, West Valley Symphony, Symphony of the Southwest, and Gilbert Symphony Orchestra where she previously served as their principal cellist. In addition, her cello quartet, the Desert Rose Celli, regularly performs across the valley. Ms. Silva also had the pleasure of performing and teaching with the American Festival Orchestra on their tours to China and Tibet. Her most recent musical project includes performing on a soundtrack for a movie.
When she is not teaching or performing, Ms. Silva is an active member of the Phoenix Alumnae Chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota. In her spare time, she enjoys baking, hiking, and spending time with her husband and their three cats, Panther, Nitro, and Todd.
Daniel Stotz – Bass
Internationally recognized teacher and double-bassist Daniel Stotz was born and raised in Oregon, and now lives in Phoenix. He studied with Gary Karr, Daniel Swaim and Catalin Rotaru, developing equal facility in orchestral and solo performance. Stotz earned his Doctorate of Musical Arts and master’s degrees from Arizona State University, and received an additional performance degree from the University of Oregon.
Since his debut performance with Karr at 17, Stotz has performed extensively with ensembles and festivals including Oregon Mozart Players, the Eugene Symphony, the Corvallis-OSU (Oregon State University) Symphony, Oregon Festival of American Music, The Phoenix Symphony, Yaquina Bay Symphony and the Bolshoi Ballet. He currently serves as principal double bass for Arizona’s West Valley Symphony and Arizona Broadway Theatre while actively teaching and acting as a clinician.
Stotz is also a composer, arranger and author of a revised, critically acclaimed edition of Joseph Prunner’s Progressive Studies for the Double Bass in two volumes, published by MMHC Music Publications. He presented his work on Prunner’s method and exercises at the International Society of Bassists (ISB) 2015 Convention.
Priscilla Benitez is an Arizona native who grew up attending Tempe schools. She received her degree in Music Performance from Arizona State University where she served as concertmaster of the Symphony Orchestra and the Lyric Opera Theater Orchestra. After graduation from ASU, she began working for several orchestras including the Arizona Opera Orchestra, Musica Nova, and the Sun City Symphony (now the West Valley Symphony). While living in Sweden, she also played with the Norrkoping Symphony. Upon her return to Arizona, Priscilla began teaching for the Tempe Elementary School District. She taught 4th and 5th graders for 8 years and then spent 13 years as Director of Orchestras at Connolly Middle School where she consistently had 25-30% of the students in the school participating in her orchestra program. She was a Tempe District Impact Award winner in 2010-2011 for excellence in teaching, and the winner of the Outstanding Mentor Teacher Award in 2017 given by the ASU School of Music for her work with ASU student teachers and interns. Priscilla retired from the Tempe Elementary District in May of 2020, but didn’t stay completely retired for long as she took a part-time position in August of 2021 teaching elementary students in the Mesa Public School District. Also in 2021, Priscilla was appointed the conductor of the Chamber Orchestra of the East Valley youth Symphony, where she works with talented 5th through 12th graders. She continues to perform in many local orchestras, in backup orchestras for national tours, in musical theater pits, and with the Allegro Quartet. She also continues to maintain an active private studio where she has taught hundreds more students over the years.
Priscilla Benitez – Violin
Tricia Dana – Viola
Tricia Dana been a private teacher on viola and violin for over 20 years as well as performing as a freelance violist. She has taught grades 7-12 orchestra part-time at ALA Gilbert North and GPS high schools. She loves teaching high school students as their viola coach. In previous years, she taught elementary strings, and also ran a string quartet called The Sunland Strings. She has performed in multiple ensembles including The Musica Nova Orchestra, Mesa Symphony (which is now called Symphony of Southwest), and was part of the Brevard North Carolina Summer Orchestras. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education/string concentration and Masters of Music in Performance from ASU. Go Devils! She is married with four daughters. When not teaching she loves hiking and being outdoors.