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 Neeta Helms, President [email]Neeta Helms, the owner of Classical Movements/Blue Heart Tours has travelled to over 60 countries. Neeta is an avid singer, having sung in choirs for years, and started piano lessons at the age of 4 and also plays guitar. Neeta speaks excellent English and Hindi, as well as basic German. Neeta is also well on her way to master Spanish! Born in India, Neeta holds a BA in Economics and an MBA specializing in both Marketing and Finance. Before Classical Movements, Neeta held senior, international sales and marketing positions with the Taj Group of Hotels. Her greatest passion is to spend time with her two boys Remy and Maxim and apart from travel and friends, she loves reading, music, discussing politics, doing puzzles and spending time in her garden. Since 1992 she has built up Classical Movements into one of the premier music touring companies in the world, certainly the most diverse offering services to world class orchestras, choruses, youth orchestras and bands as well as numerous celebrated institutions. |
| Staff working out of Head Office in Alexandria Virginia USA: | |
 | Page La Fountain, Operations Director [email] Page joined the company in 2004. She graduated from New York University with a Masters in International Education, her undergraduate degree was in Marketing from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Page has lived and worked in a variety of foreign countries including Australia, Japan, France and England. Ms. La Fountain speaks French and is learning Spanish. Her professional experience includes working as an educational tour director in Europe, an operations manager planning corporate events in Washington, DC and as meetings coordinator for a California conference centre. Page's goal is to promote international goodwill and understanding through music. |
 | Zhongjie Shi, Operations Manager [email] Born in China, Zhongjie has received a BA degree in English Literature and Art from Jilin University, one of the top Universities in China. Her work in the travel industry in China makes Zhongjie's contribution an excellent resource for Classical Movement's current and future business with one of the most dynamic countries in the world. She has been with the company since 2005. Zhongjie's professional history includes working for one of the top three national travel companies, for 15 years while focusing on cultural exchanges and performing groups for 6 years as a Senior Product Manager for the North American market. Zhongjie's experience brings superior knowledge and expertise of both travel and performing in China. She loves cooking and often creates something new with her lovely daughter to enjoy with family and friends on holidays and the weekends. |
 | Sara Casar, Business Manager [email] Sara had been with Classical Movements since 2006. She specializes in custom tour proposals to North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Asia and Australia. She works closely with groups preparing itineraries, budgets and contracts to meet all of their needs. Sara has extensive experience with creating custom itineraries, budget preparation, and other financial aspects of tours as well as concert options, musical exchanges, cultural outreach, air arrangements, ground transportation, instrument rentals, instrument transportation, hotel accommodations, homestays, meals, sightseeing, travel insurance and other aspects of tour planning. Her interest in travel and music was sparked early on while studying music education at the Hartt School, which provided a natural transition to a career in the concert tour management industry. Sara has traveled extensively throughout the United States, Mexico and South America. Sara plays the Alto Saxophone and many other woodwind instruments. In her free time, Sara enjoys time with her family and friends as well as collecting postcards from all over the world. |
 | Alessandra D'Ovidio, Operations Director [email] Alessandra is an experienced concert producer, costume designer, and marketing consultant and joined us in March 2007. She speaks fluent Spanish, Italian and English. Venezuelan born she has lived in Italy and the United States and has worked as production manager and resident costume designer at GALA Hispanic Theatre. She has served as a curator for ArteAmerica with the Washington Performing Arts Society, as a producer for "Encuentros" in the Smithsonian Institution at the Museum of American History, and has served as a Marketing and Public Relations specialist for the Kennedy Centre AmericArtes festival. Alessandra has been designing costumes in the Washington Metropolitan area and was a 2002 Helen Hayes nominee for her design for La verdad sospechosa and received a prior nomination in 2000 for her work in La dama boba. She holds a bachelors degree in Fashion and Costume Design from the Accademia di Costume e Moda, in Rome, Italy. Alessandra has been involved for several years in many arts projects in the Washington area, specifically within the Latin American community, and is known for her ability to bring people together for the benefit of the arts community. She is an expert on Latin American arts and culture. |
 | Jayci Thomas, Operations Manager [email] Jayci joined us in June 2007 with a Bachelors Degree in Performing Arts, specializing in dance and vocal performance. She has performed in many locations around the United States as well as internationally, travelling to over 20 countries. Jayci has many years experience planning and managing operations for group trips in the United States and abroad. While working at a non-profit organization, Jayci set up trips for groups travelling to over 15 countries. In addition to this experience, Jayci has managed on-site logistics and was a tour guide for groups as large as 120 people, leading groups on historical trips to Washington DC, New York City, Philadelphia, and several other locations around the US. Jayci enjoys travel, photography, spending time with family and friends, and being crafty with yarn and fabric. |
 | Johan van Zyl, Director of International Projects [email] Previously operating from South Africa Johan joined Classical Movements permanently in February 2010 Johan has vast experience planning and implementing tours and safaris in Southern Africa with a back ground that includes planning and operating ophthalmic surgical tours for the SA National Council for the Blind into the remote rural regions of Southern Africa to prevent and cure blindness. He has significant experience in security matters as a result of his years in the South African Security Police Special Task Force. Johan is a specialist in tours planning for choirs and music groups and has arranged collaborations with diverse local groups and planned cultural exchanges of all kinds throughout South Africa. Johan is an experienced tour director and tour planner. He still retains his own safari and destination management company in South Africa, which is our partner company. He has travelled to 22 countries on five continents, speaks fluent English in addition to his native Afrikaans and also speaks Dutch and Sotho and understands and speaks a limited amount of German. Johan loves the outdoors, wildlife, golf and long distance running, watching cricket and enjoying good food and wine. |
 | Yarina Conners, Operations Manager [email] Yarina joined Classical Movements in May of 2010. Born in Moscow, Russia, Yarina received a Bachelors of Music in Piano Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music. Yarina comes to us from The Cleveland Orchestra, having worked with the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and the Cleveland Orchestra Youth and Children's Choruses. She has travelled to the Netherlands and spent three weeks at an international music festival in France. Yarina speaks fluent English and Russian and has planned tours for groups as large as 120 people. She enjoys teaching private piano lessons, listening to all types of music and spending time with family and friends. |
 | Amy Healey, Operations Manager [email] Amy Healey joined Classical Movements in September of 2010. She's an opera singer by training and completed her bachelor's and master's degree studies in Voice Performance at Hartt School of Music and Cincinnati College-Conservatory. During her time at the conservatory, she worked as manager of the orchestra and vocal ensembles of Cincinnati's summer festival, Opera Theatre of Lucca, in Italy. She also holds a MA in European Languages and Literature from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where she later taught French Language and Phonetics. She loves languages, music and travel, and has spent considerable time in France and Italy. Amy comes to us from Honolulu, Hawaii, where in addition to singing, and teaching at the university, she wrote and co-hosted weekly a radio show on Hawaii's National Public Radio station dedicated to classical vocal art song. |
 | Victoria Parker, Executive Assistant [email] Victoria joined Classical Movements in March of 2011. She has studied flute extensively and holds an undergraduate degree from Temple University in Music Education. Though first an instrumentalist, Victoria took a liking to all things choral and began studying voice privately along with choral conducting. Also during her time at Temple University, Victoria studied and was a teaching assistant for the Early Childhood Music Foundation at Temple University and studied with Edwin Gordon at an elementary certification at Michigan State University. After graduating, she became choir administrator and office manager for Singing City, Inc. and completed coursework in an Arts Administration graduate degree from Drexel University, where she studied with many renowned educators in the field. Victoria worked in administration for several summers at the Performing Arts Institute of Wyoming Seminary, an international summer program catering to students from grade school through high school. |
 | Jessica Zaluzec, Operations Coordinator and Press Relations
[email] Jessica joined Classical Movements in April 2011. From covering the 2008 presidential primary for Scripps Howard Newspaper in South Florida to being employed at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Jessica brings a diverse resume to the company. At the Kennedy Center, she worked as a Festival Assistant for "2011 maximum INDIA". She served as an exhibit consultant; in addition, she arranged hotel and plane reservations for over 200 guest artists from India. Previous to this, Jessica interned in the Friends and Donors Department. She co-managed 400 volunteers for the center's open house, orchestrated the Capitol Hill lobbying trip, redesigned and edited their monthly newsletter. She has a Masters of Art degree in Public Communication from American University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism, with a minor in graphic design, from Palm Beach Atlantic University. Jessica enjoys playing the cello, antiquing for vintage cameras, and reading about Eastern European history. She is currently learning German, but she truly believes music is the language of the heart and soul. |
 In Memoriam: It was with deepest regret that we announced the death of Classical Movements co-founder and then Chairman, Jacques Vallerand-Parisi in December 2008.Jacques was born in Paris, France on May 14, 1945, moved to the United States of America in the late 60s and served in the United States Navy during the Vietnam War. He got his Masters in Hotel Administration from L'Ecole de Hoteliere de Lausanne. He then worked with major hotel chains and was General Manager and Vice President of several fine hotels all over the USA. In 1992, Neeta Helms and Jacques co-founded Blue Heart Travel and Classical Movements and it soon grew into a premier music touring company working in 6 continents and counting some of the most prestigious musical institutions as clients. At the time of his death, he was retired from daily work and serving as Chairman at Classical Movements, Inc. Jacques is survived by his two sons, Remy and Maxim. Consultants, Advisors, co-workers and collaborators working from outside of Head Office: Luigi Migliore, Italy Operations Manager, based in Italy Luigi has a long experience as a professional Italian Tour Guide, and is extremely knowledgeable in the culture, traditions, food and wine of Italy. Luigi earned a degree in Political Science from the University of Trieste which gives him a better understanding of the geography, culture, and the politics of the countries that he works in. Having achieved the first level of Sommelier Qualification from the Italian Association of Sommelier, Luigi is well acquainted with the gourmet foods and wines and delights in introducing the lesser known specialties of Italy and Sicily to his clients. Luigi has worked with Classical Movements since 2001. Gail Melick, Consultant Gail joined Classical Movements/Blue Heart Tours soon after retiring from his position as Chief Operating Officer of a bankgroup. He also served in the Vatican Arts Council and the Nixon Economic commission. He serves as an advisor and consultant to the company and also does sales and site visits for the company. Based in and operating out of the Chicago area he holds a Masters in Economics and Banking. He is an expert on fine wines and mushrooms, is a great humanitarian and has travelled to at least 80 countries. Dr. Marilyn Brown, International Travel Consultant Marilyn joined Classical Movements/Blue Heart Tours in our sales department, after retiring from her position as Deputy Superintendent of the entire DC Public School System. A world traveller, Marilyn holds numerous degrees, honours and awards. She serves on the board of many of Washington's most famous institutions. |