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 Adam Carney founded the Capital City Guitar Camp after moving to Austin in 2009 from his hometown of Springfield, Missouri. He began studying music at the age of 11 with private instructors, and continued on to become a performer, arranger, recording artist, and a guitar instructor.  Adam has taught music and been a featured performer in a variety of music camps across the nation, including cities such as Austin, Branson, St. Louis, and at the Alaska City Folk Arts Camp in Anchorage.  He has released 4 albums, and his music has been used in movies, television shows, documentaries and video games.  Adam teaches guitar with the Childbloom Guitar Program in Austin and Round Rock. 

 Chris grew up in San Antonio and attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. He has been a Childbloom Instructor since 2006. Mr. Stone is conversant with both classical and pop traditions and keeps abreast of current musical trends.  He has taught music/guitar at Mid-America Guitar Camp in St Louis and at at  NYOS charter School. He teaches in Central Austin, Round Rock and in Bee Cave at the Austin Tennis Academy College Prep School. Chris is also an experienced audio engineer. He was the editor and engineer for the critically acclaimed ”Gypsy Teens” CD and is the studio engineer of choice for  Austin Creative Alliance’s ”Young Performing Artist Program” recordings.

 Slobodan Vujisic began his guitar studies at the exclusive Josip Slavenski School of Music in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. In 1975, at the age of 19, he won the Yugoslav National Guitar Competition. After attending The University of Belgrade Law School for four years, he continued his musical studies and received his performance degree from the state conservatory Orazio Vecchi in Modena, Italy.  He is also the Director of Austin Troubadors, an early music ensemble.  Before moving to Austin in 1994, he was a full time Professor of guitar at the state music school Slavenski in Belgrade.
 

 Katie Kerwin holds a bachelor degree in music performance from the Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford. She has taught and performed in Austin for 25 years. She is also a trained Suzuki violin teacher.  Katie began as a Childbloom guitar instructor in 1990 and after a hiatus, returned to Childbloom guitar instruction after raising her two daughters.  She teaches at the Austin Central studio and in her home in South Austin. While not performing and teaching, Ms. Kerwin enjoys bicycling and tending to her pets.

 Kevin Taylor is founder of the Childbloom Guitar Program.  He has taught guitar for over 40 years, including 17 years in conservatory and university settings. He has written over 350 articles about raising the musical child and has brought music into the lives of hundreds of families in Austin and Round Rock where he teaches. He has been called, ”the guitar guru of the pre-adolescent set,”  by the press and been featured in the ”Great Teacher” series of Guitar Teacher magazine. He has instructed nine guitarists who have appeared on the national NPR radio show, ”From The Top.” He is Director and composer for Austin Bella Corda Guitar Ensemble and is Artistic Director of ”The Young Performing Artist Program.”  He has also authored a high-school curriculum to teach music though guitar ensemble, which is now being used in schools in Texas and Oregon. He and his wife live in Austin, Tx.

We have numerous guest musicians and teachers join us every day of camp for unique learning experiences and amazing concerts and lessons.  These guest musicians are different every day of camp, and include master players in all types of instruments including lute, sitar, steel drum, flute, cello, harp, brass and woodwinds, piano, accordion, and on and on!  We get them involved in all sorts of neat things like teaching music and songs, and giving personal instruction, but they also give a full concert at the end of the day to all campers and family/friends who would like to join!

 St. Charles County Director Chris Peleshenko has been with the Childbloom company since 2003. He has one multiple teacher of the year, director of the year, and motivator of the year awards. His passion for helping kids succeed is what drives his teaching style. In 2005 he developed an "Intro to Blues and Rock" Course that has been taught in a number of different programs across the country. This year he will be tailoring it for the Capital City Guitar Camp! 

Alyssa Catlin began playing classical guitar at age eight, after telling her mother at four years old that she was going to be a musician for the rest of her life. She grew up in Idaho under the instruction of teachers from the national Childbloom Guitar Program. Beginning at age sixteen, Alyssa was featured on the NPR show, "From the Top", placed first at the American String Teacher's Association Competition, had master classes with some of the greats of the guitar world (including Sting and Grammy winner Jason Vieaux), and was a top prize winner in several other national competitions.

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In 2005, Alyssa moved to Missouri to attend Webster University, studying under John McClellan. She became an instructor in the St. Louis Childbloom Guitar Program in 2006, where she continues to love teaching children how to play classical guitar, and also leads the St. Louis Guitar Academy's youth guitar ensemble, Viva Musica. In 2009, she was selected as Instructor of the Year for the national Childbloom Guitar Program. She now teaches for the St. Charles Childbloom Program as well.

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Alyssa is blessed to live with her supportive (and fellow musician) husband, Chris, their daughters, Harmony and Ada Zane, and extended family in the St. Louis area, where she has continued to perform throughout the midwest. Her first solo classical guitar album, Alegria, was released at the end of 2015. In 2017, she performed the Concerto de Aranjuez with the St. Louis Civic Orchestra. She has branched out to play on acoustic guitar and mandolin with other various musicians and groups, including Cambia, with Roger Netherton, and the all-female old-time string band, The Rambling Rosies.