Debbi Ponella, Director and Founder of Stages Bloomington, is an alumnus of the Hartt School, University of Hartford. Her principal teachers during her Bachelors and Masters studies there were reknown cellists Fritz Magg and David Finkel.

Winner of several concerto competitions, she has soloed with orchestras in the Midwest, and New England. Debbi has performed in a number of diverse ensembles, encompassing many different genres of music. These have included: Air du Cor, Opera Rochester, the Genesee String Quartet, Beamus Bay Pops, Sampler Records, Ltd., the Eastman-Bach Children’s Choir, Rochester Broadway Theatre League, Blackfriar’s Theatre, South Dakota Symphony, Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes, Cheshire Symphony, Sioux City Symphony, Kansas City Repertoire Orchestra and many other chamber and orchestra ensembles across the country.

Debbi has served on the faculties of the Hochstein School of Music and Dance, and the Kanack School of Music in Rochester, New York. In 2004, she collaborated with Anne Wilcox, bringing the well-loved celtic legend, Seal Maiden: A Celtic Musical to the stage, transcribing and orchestrating the largely improvised musical score, as well as musical directing and conducting the premiere performance. She was invited to collaborate on another production of “Seal Maiden” in the fall of 2007 with the Drumcliffe School of Irish Dance. Debbi has taught early childhood music classes in many different venues, having received training in Kindermusik, Musikgarten and Kodály methodology.

She has worked as a musical director for several children’s theaters. Most recently she collaborated with Ruth Boshkoff to create Kids Compose! a community music education project that encourages elementary and middle school children to explore composition. Formerly she conducted the First Voices ensemble and Musical Beginnings classes for the Indiana University Childrens Choir.