Meet Our Faculty...
Violin and Viola
Gail Acosta
Gail Acosta , violin, viola, a native of Indiana, began her musical studies at the age of 8. Coming from a family of violinists, she was awarded scholarships to Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, University of Illinois String Festival, Miami University in Ohio, Bay View Chamber Music Festival, University of North Carolina-Greensboro and the University of Southern California. A B.M. was awarded from UNC-Greensboro where she studied with Dr. Marla Mutschler and performed with the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Acosta was also awarded the Tom J. Stone Award for performance excellence and was winner of the University Concerto Competition. The University of Southern California granted her teaching assistantship to study with Eudice Shapiro and perform with the USC Graduate String Quartet coached by Gabor Rejto. At USC she received an M.M. summa cum laude and was given the String Chamber Music Ensemble Award. As an active performer, Ms. Acosta has performed with the Santa Barbara Symphony, The Orchestra of Santa Fe, New Mexico, Mozart Camerata, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Green Umbrella Series, the Ernest Bloch Music Festival, Oregon, the Ojai Music Festival, California, Burbank Philharmonic Orchestra, Gold Coast Chamber Music Festival, California, Ensemble Green, and La Folia Chamber Ensemble.
An avid teacher and supporter of music education for young students, Gail has taught across the United States for the Suzuki Association of the Americas at many major string workshops and universities. She makes her home with her husband, Jerry, a classical guitarist and their 15 year old son, Michael, a violinist in Valley Village, California.
Susan Baer
Susan Baer is a free-lance violinist and teacher based in Lubbock, Texas. Presently, she performs with several regional symphonies and chamber ensembles. For over twenty years she has had a local studio where she has taught many of Lubbock's finest young string players. She is co-founder of Suzuki Talent Education of the Lubbock Region (STELR) and is active as a Suzuki clinician and SAA teacher trainer. Dr. Baer holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Montana, a Master of Music degree in violin performance from the University of Washington, and a Ph.D. in Fine Arts from Texas Tech University. She is married to Don Turner, retired professor of music at Texas Tech University.
Barbara Barber
Based in Estes Park, Colorado, violinist and violist Barbara Barber is internationally known as a recording artist, pedagogue, publisher, consultant, adjudicator, editor, and author. She has concertized and been a presenter at conferences, institutes and workshops across the United States, and in Canada, Mexico, El Salvador, Brazil, Peru, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Italy, Ireland, Finland, Sweden, and Bermuda. Barber has appeared as soloist with orchestras in the United States, Mexico, and Brazil. She received her B.M. and M.M. degrees in violin performance at Texas Tech University and has taught violin and violin pedagogy at Texas Tech University, Texas Christian University, and the University of Colorado in Boulder. Active in the American String Teachers Association and the Suzuki Association of the Americas, Barber has been recognized for her many articles, presentations and roles on advisory and editorial boards. She was chair of the Violin Committee for the revision of the 2003 ASTA String Syllabus and is a Registered Violin Teacher Trainer and past board member of the SAA. Her books and CDs—Solos For Young Violinists, Solos For Young Violists, Scales For Advanced Violinists, Scales for Advanced Violists, Twinkle Variations Festival Arrangement and Fingerboard Geography series—are published by Preludio Music Inc., distributed exclusively by Alfred Publishing Company and are sold worldwide. She has also released a CD with Brian Lewis and Michael McLean entitled Care To Tango? (Oak Cliff Publishing) and has performed with the Fort Worth Symphony, Dallas Chamber Orchestra, Boulder Philharmonic, Sinfonia of Colorado and Longmont Symphony. From 1999 to 2007, Barber served as Artist Teacher in Violin at Boulder Arts Academy; she currently maintains a private studio in Estes Park and Longmont..
Jennifer Burton
Jennifer Burton has been teaching Suzuki violin lessons for 27 years and currently has a private Suzuki studio in Dallas. Prior to her ten years in Dallas, she had been employed for 18 years at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point where she had received her Master of Music Education Degree with Margery Aber.
Jenny has been a violin clinician at over 100 workshops and institutes across the United States. She served 3-year term on the national board of the Suzuki Association of the Americas (SAA) from 1996-1999. She served as the Chair of the SAA Regional and Local Associations Committee from 1992-1995 and is currently the President of the North Texas Suzuki Association (NTSA). Jenny was the Co-Director of the TCU Suzuki Institute Fort Worth from 1999-2000.
Jenny was awarded the Outstanding Violin Teacher Award at the Colorado Suzuki Institute in June, 2001.She is currently working on a book for Suzuki students, teachers and families called Sharpen Your Tools .
Ms. Burton enjoys walking, bird watching, gardening, softball, cats, SCRABBLE, and paper-making.Margaret Carpenter
Margaret Carpenter is co-director of Santa Fe Talent Education, a Suzuki violin and viola program. She enjoys teaching Pre-Twinklers, adults, young runny-nosed Seitz-performers and cranky teenagers.
Prior to moving to Santa Fe in 2003, she was co-director of Omaha Talent Education. Ms. Carpenter was a member of the Omaha Symphony Orchestra for eleven years, and was an adjunct faculty member at Creighton University. A former faculty member at Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, NC, Ms. Carpenter is a graduate of Oberlin Conservatory where she studied with Marilyn McDonald and Stephen Clapp. She was a Whitaker Fellow with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and did graduate work at DePaul University, where she studied with Joseph Genualdi.
A native of Lincoln, Nebraska and a former Suzuki student, Margaret started violin lessons with Marilyn O'Boyle at age four.
Her favorite student quote: after asking a student how often he rosined his bow, he responded, "Mostly never."
Since moving to New Mexico Margaret has climbed Santa Fe Baldy, Wheeler Peak and completed two half-marathons.Stanley Chepaitis
Stanley Chepaitis is a recognized artist whose accomplishments span those of a jazz performer and educator, conductor, composer, as well as success in classical music as violinist, concertmaster, and teacher. He has performed both jazz and classical repertoire on concert stages in Europe and America and collaborated with David Diamond, John Blake, and Diane Monroe. In 1979, Stanley met Joe Venuti and, after playing for the jazz legend, Stanley was invited to perform with his idol for the remaining two weeks Venuti's concert tour.
Stanley's recent appearances in Washington State, Idaho, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and New Mexico blend his talents as performer, educator, and conductor, as do the repeat engagements he receives annually from numerous Suzuki Institutes throughout the country. In February '05, he presented a workshop at the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) National Conference in Reno, Nevada, teaching how to integrate alternative string techniques into high school music curriculums. Additionally, he has been nominated for the planning board of the 2006 ASTA Alternative Styles for Teachers Forum.
He studied jazz composition and improvisation with John Blake, Bill Dobbins, and Rayburn Wright, with further improvisation study under saxophonist John Vitali and pianist Tony Caramia, and spent a year studying under Floyd Williams, drummer for Duke Ellington. Continuing to create artistic opportunities, Stanley is a founding member of three jazz groups including a jazz string quartet with three members of the Pittsburgh Symphony, a progressive string trio of guitar, violin, and cello modeled on the String Trio of New York's, and a weekly "laboratory" for alternative string exploration.
Stanley's international performances include engagements at the Academy of Music in Zagreb, Croatia, the Academy of Music in Lubriana, Slovenia, and a special jazz program for an audience of German music teachers at the Hoeschulle in Hanover, Germany. In the states, he has presented concerts at the Eastman School's Kilbourne Hall, Carnegie Mellon University, and the Krannert Center, in Champagne, Illinois. He has premiered his own music at the Pleshakov Music Center in Hudson, NY, the University of Wisconsin, and Bucknell University. In the Pittsburgh area, near his home, he is often heard with Eric Susoeff and Dave Pellow.
Stanley has taught on the faculties of Central Michigan University, Allegheny College, Hendricks College and Indiana University of Pennsylvania where he is currently Chair of the String Department. He attended Hart College of Music and received the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree as well as the coveted Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music. He studied violin with John Celentano and Raphael Bronstein.
Esther Fellows
Esther Fellows is a performer as well as teacher of violin, viola, and piano. She is a section First Violinist with the Signature Symphony (Tulsa, OK) and the Bartlesville Symphony Orchestra (OK). Esther received her BMEd from the University of Colorado, where her teachers included Abraham Chavez and Oswald Lehnert (violin), and Guy Duckworth and Storm Bull (piano).
Highlights from her extensive musical credentials include being nationally certified by Music Teachers National Association on violin, viola, and piano (certification through recital, lesson videotapes, examination, and Pedagogy Notebook.), registered in Suzuki training in 8 books and Sonata Seminar by the Suzuki Association of the Americas (SAA), advanced violin training at the Starling-Delay Symposium, at The Juilliard School, Parliamentarian and Past-President of Tulsa Accredited Music Teachers Association, as well as Chair of Scholarship Auditions, performing member of Hyechka Club of Tulsa, Tulsa Accredited Music Teachers Association, Oklahoma Music Teachers Association, Music Teachers National Association, American String Teachers Association, American Viola Society and the American Federation of Musicians. She is published in American Music Teacher and the American String Teachers Association. Esther is also listed in Marquis' Who's Who of American Women, Who's Who of American Education, Who's Who in America, and Who's Who in the World.
Julia Hardie
Julia Hardie is the founder and director of the Central Texas String Academy, a Suzuki program in Waco, Texas. Dr. Hardie is an SAA Teacher Trainer. Her studies include a DMA in Viola Performance and pedagogy from the University of Iowa under William Preucil, and Suzuki training with Louise Behrend, Doris Preucil, Marilyn O'Boyle and others. Julia has served on the faculties of New Mexico State University and Baylor University, and as conductor of the Waco Symphony Youth Orchestra. Currently, in addition to her violin and viola studio teaching, she plays viola in the Waco Symphony and the Waco Lyric Opera. She has presented sessions at national conferences and taught at Suzuki Institutes throughout the country.
Rick Lohmann
Before arriving in Santa Fe in 2003 to co-found Santa Fe Talent Education and devote his career to the Suzuki philosophy, Richard Lohmann had a long and varied career as a concertmaster, soloist and chamber musician. For fifteen years he was concertmaster of the Omaha Symphony Orchestra and was involved in every aspect of that city’s musical life, both as performer and pedagogue. Mr. Lohmann first came to New Mexico in the 1970's as a student at the Taos School of Music, where he did three summers of study with the New Hungarian Quartet. He spent one season as a Resident Artist at the Banff Centre Advanced Studies in Music Winter Program, where he was the recipient of a Leighton scholarship. While at Banff, Mr. Lohmann performed with pianist Anton Kuerti and violist Bruno Pasquier, worked with composer Mauricio Kagel, and studied with Camilla Wicks, Lorand Fenyves and Thomas Brandis, among many others. Mr. Lohmann has been resident or guest artist with many music festivals, including the Telluride Chamber Music Festival, Music in the Mountains at Rocky Ridge, the Colorado Music Festival in Boulder, the Des Moines Metro Opera, Peninsula Festival, Spoleto USA, and the Festival Dei Due Mondi. For five years he was the Principal Second Violinist of the Cabrillo Music Festival, where he was featured several times on the chamber music series and recorded with the orchestra. He was most recently a member of the faculty at the the Eastern Music Festival, where he was Assistant Principal Second Violinist with the Eastern Philharmonic Orchestra and a member of the Eastern Chamber Players. Mr. Lohmann was also a member of the Florida Philharmonic and served as Principal Second Violinist with the Madison Symphony Orchestra. He currently plays with Santa Fe Pro Musica and recently completed the cycle of Beethoven piano/violin sonatas with Kiyoshi Tamagawa. His SAA teacher trainers include Marilyn O’Boyle, Joanne Bath, Pat D’Ercole, Nancy Lokken, Liz Arbus and Susan Baer.
Kristi Manno
Kristi Manno, co-founder of the Bluebonnet Suzuki Studio in Round Rock, grew up in Austin, Texas, and studied violin with Laurie Scott and Bill Dick. She quickly developed an interest in violin pedagogy, studying the life of Dr. Suzuki and auditing several units of Suzuki training during high school.
She holds degrees from the University of Houston, where she double-majored in Music and History and the University of Hartford, where she earned a Master of Music in Violin Performance with an Emphasis in Suzuki Pedagogy as a student of Katie Lansdale. She has registered teacher training through Book 8, and her trainers have included Ronda Cole, Linda Fiore, Marilyn O’Boyle, and Ed Sprunger.
Before returning to the Austin area, Kristi built studios in Houston, Bermuda (as a faculty member of the Bermuda Conservatory of Music), and West Hartford, CT. She has taught at institutes and workshops around Texas, and was a presenter at the American String Teachers’ Association National Conference in Dallas in 2004. In addition to her teaching, Kristi is looking forward to the experience of becoming a Suzuki mom as her daughter, Samantha, prepares to embark on her own musical journey.
Maureen O'Boyle
A graduate of the University of New Mexico and Yale University, Maureen O'Boyle has also studied the Suzuki Method in Japan with Shinichi Suzuki. She is currently instructor of violin at the University of Tulsa as well as Concertmaster of the Tulsa Opera Orchestra.
Since 1993, Ms. O'Boyle has been Associate Concertmaster of the Tulsa Philharmonic. She has performed as a recitalist and with orchestras throughout the United States as well as in Europe, Japan, and South America. She has also held positions with the Omaha Symphony, New Mexico Symphony, New Haven Symphony, and the Grand Teton Music Festival. Before coming to Tulsa, Ms. O'Boyle was the Instructor of Violin at Missouri Southern State College in Joplin.Louise Rossi
Louise Rossi is a violin and viola Suzuki instructor in Dallas, where she has a private studio. She is in her 19th season as a conductor with the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra and is the Director of the lower division for the Dallas Symphony¹s Young Strings Program. Ms. Rossi is a graduate of Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio (1979) and she received her Master of Music Degree from Southern Methodist University in Dallas (1988). Ms. Rossi taught String Techniques at SMU for 10 years. She was a String Specialist in the Arlington ISD and in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD. Ms. Rossi currently serves on the board for the Texas Division of the American String Teachers Association.
Laurie Scott
Laurie Scott is Assistant Professor of Music and Human Learning at The University of Texas at Austin. Additionally, she serves as the director of The University of Texas String Project. Previous to this appointment, Dr. Scott served as professor of violin and viola and director of music education studies at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. Dr. Scott was co-director of the Armadillo Suzuki Organization, the Austin Metropolitan Suzuki School, and the Texas Suzuki Tour Group. She holds a master's degree in applied violin from the University of Nebraska, and a bachelor's degree in music education from the State University of New York at Fredonia. She received her Ph.D. in Music Education from the University of Texas. Before moving to Texas in 1981, Dr. Scott taught in rural string programs in Nebraska and performed with the Omaha and Lincoln Symphonies and the Nebraska Chamber Orchestra. After arriving in Texas, Dr. Scott became actively involved in string education. As a music educator in Texas, Dr. Scott has served as an officer of the Texas chapter of the American String Teacher's Association, taught for eight years for the Austin ISD at Lamar Middle School and McCallum High School, was co-conductor of the Austin Youth Symphony, and served as Region XVIII College Division Chair for the Texas Music Educators Association. Professor Scott was co-editor of the public school column in the American Suzuki Journal and was named chairman of the Suzuki in Schools division of the 1998 International Teacher's Conference. She has been a member of the Austin Symphony, Austin Lyric Opera and Ballet Austin Orchestras. In 1990 Dr. Scott was named Woman of the Year in the Arts for the City of Austin. Most recently she received both The University of Texas School of Fine Arts Teaching Excellence Award and the School of Music Teaching Award. She is a guest clinician and conductor at state and national conventions speaking on string pedagogy, public school music education, and character development through the arts. Her articles have appeared in The American String Teacher, The American Suzuki Journal, and The Journal of Research in Music Education. In May of 2006, the Suzuki Association of the Americas designated Dr. Scott as a teacher trainer for Suzuki in Schools.
She is the co-author of Mastery For Strings: A Longitudinal Sequence of Instruction for School Orchestras, Studio Lessons, and College Methods Courses, Mastery for Strings: Navigating the Fingerboard , The Modern Violin Method and The Modern Viola Method. (For more information, visit masteryforstrings.com). These books specifically address the teaching of technique in studio and heterogeneous string class settings.
Gloria Velasco
Gloria Velasco has been the directing the Albuquerque Youth Symphony Junior Strings Orchestra since its inception in 1997. She first began teaching orchestra in the Albuquerque Public Schools in 1974. After a few years of teaching she left the district only to return ten years later to be once again active in public school teaching, private Suzuki teaching, and professional playing.
She began her professional playing career with the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra and presently performs with the Santa Fe Symphony. Ms. Velasco, fluent in Spanish, teaches in a primarily Hispanic public school and is also a coordinator and certified Suzuki teacher with the University of New Mexico String Pedagogy Program. The mother of two daughters who both performed in all of the groups including the Albuquerque Youth Symphony, Ms. Velasco has a long and dedicated history with young New Mexico string players.
Tim Washecka
Tim Washecka, violinist and violist, is co-founded the Bluebonnet Suzuki Studio in Round Rock, Texas. He was an original member of the Texas Suzuki Tour Group, directed by Laurie Scott and Bill Dick, performing throughout Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, as well as for the Suzuki Conference in Chicago and in Carnegie Hall.
Tim attended Oberlin College and holds a B.M. in violin performance from the University of Houston and a M.M. in viola performance, and was a member of the Houston Grand Opera’s viola section from 2000-2002. Tim took long-term teacher training at the University of Hartford, where he was also on the faculty of the Hartt School of Music’s Community Division.
In 2005, Tim and his wife returned to Texas to start a Suzuki studio and be closer to family, and have since built a studio of 40+ students. In his free time, Tim enjoys traveling, playing golf, building stained glass and playing with his daughter.
Cello
Tanya Carey
Tanya Lesinsky Carey, cellist, has presented master classes and concerts in over thirty states and fifteen countries. Her orchestral experiences include the post of assistant principal of the Milwaukee Symphony and prize winning recordings with the Rochester Philharmonic. As a recitalist and chamber musician, she has presented concerts in Tully and Carnegie Halls, performed concertos with orchestra, and recorded two records with the Lydian Trio including a commissioned Trio by Pulitzer Prize winning composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, the Trio by Heitor Villa-Lobos, and Faure and Dvorak Piano Quartets.
She holds a BM and MM from Eastman and a DMA from the University of Iowa. The topic of her essay is A Study of Suzuki Cello Practices as Used by Selected American Cello Teachers. She has served on the ASTA National Board, ASTA National Solo Contest Commission, and the ASTA Syllabus Revision Committee and most recently as the chair of the ASTA Committee on Studio Instruction for the 2002 Studio Teachers Forum. In the SAA she has served as President in 1990-1992, on the Board of Directors, chaired the Teacher Training Task Force which established guidelines for Teacher Training, was editor of the Cello Column, was chairman of the Cello Committee creating the Suzuki Cello School, International Cello Committee Advisor, and represented the SAA on the ISA Board and the MENC Task Force on String Education.
She has earned the Faculty Excellence, Faculty Merit, and Outstanding Teacher Awards from Western Illinois University, and the Suzuki Chair Award from the American Suzuki Institute. She was named the “Outstanding Studio Teacher of the Year” for 1992 by the ASTA-Illinois Unit. Her students have won prizes in major contests in the United States including Aspen Festival, St. Louis Symphony, Chicago Symphony, and MTNA. She has served on the collegiate staff of University of Illinois, Wheaton College, Knox College, and Michigan State Universities. Currently she is Artist Teacher at DePaul University CMS, and Roosevelt University CCPA In Chicago, is professor emeritus from Western Illinois University, and maintains a busy workshop and performance schedule. She has a major commitment to cello teacher training in South America where her materials have been translated into Spanish.
She plays a Joseph filias Andreas Guarnarius cello made in 1704.Trina Carey Hodgson
Trina Carey Hodgson studied at the Eastman School of Music with Robert Sylvester, and received her Bachelor of Music degree at University of Illinois, studying with Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi. She received her Master of Arts degree at UC Santa Barbara, studying with Ronald Leonard. Other teachers include Tanya Carey, Alan Harris, Karl Fruh, Paul Katz and Irene Sharp.
Mrs. Hodgson’s musical career has taken her around the U.S. and Europe. She was principal cellist with the Graz Opera Orchestra and toured with them throughout Austria and Italy. She was a member of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra in Norway. While with them, she toured all over Scandinavia and northern Europe. She is a charter member of the Haydn String Quartet and the Amore Chamber Players as well as the professional cello quartet, Quatracelli! She has performed with John Tesh and Joel Grey. She was the cellist in a play starring Rene Auberjonois and Ed Asner that played in San Fransisco and Los Angeles. Her love of Irish music even took her to play in a Celtic Band.
In 1998, Mrs. Hodgson was invited to represent the American Suzuki Teachers at a special performance at the opening of the Winter Olympics in Nagoya, Japan. Currently, Mrs. Hodgson plays in the Pasadena (CA) Symphony. For sixteen years, she was the director of her Pasadena based cello program, A-Cello-Rondo before she relocated to Chicago. Mrs. Hodgson has been invited to teach at institutes and workshops around the world, including Korea, Europe, Scandinavia, Canada and the United States.
Mrs. Hodgson has recorded with the Bergen Philharmonic, the Norwegian Radio and the Pasadena Symphony. Movie credits include “True Identity” and “Steal Big, Steal Little.”
She has served on the boards of ASTA, the Los Angeles Violoncello Society and the Suzuki Music Association of California and is past president of the Los Angeles Branch. She was the Cello Coordinator of the Suzuki Association of the Americas national conference.
She lives in Glen Ellyn, IL with her husband and their two children.
Avi Friedlander
Avi Friedlander holds a Bachelors and Masters of Music degree from the University of Michigan and a Professional Studies Diploma from The Cleveland Institute of Music. He completed his Suzuki training as a long term apprentice to Tanya Carey and has also studied the methods with Pam Devenport. A former member of The New World Symphony, he is an active substitute member of The Detroit Symphony and Alabama Symphony. A former Professor of Cello at Andrews University and guest educator at Georgia State University, Mr. Friedlander is currently the assistant principal cellist of the Atlanta Opera Orchestra. His former teachers include Anthony Elliott, Stephen Geber, Richard Aaron, Tanya Carey and Hans Jensen.
Guitar
Andrea Cannon
Andrea Cannon is an alumnus of Berklee College of Music where she majored in Guitar Performance with an emphasis in jazz. Post-Collegiate training includes over 200 hours of Suzuki Method pedagogy and classical guitar studies with Robert Guthrie of Southern Methodist University. She directs the program at Guitar Arts Studio in Houston, Texas which includes lessons, theory and ensemble for guitarists as well as Suzuki-based Pre-Natal and Early Childhood Music Courses. Andrea is a Registered Suzuki Guitar Teacher Trainer and has given master classes in the US, Canada & Latin America. She is a frequent contributor to the American Suzuki Journal and is certified in Guitar through Music Teacher’s National Association.
Enrichment
Margaret Armstrong, Fiddling
Margaret Armstrong has enjoyed teaching guitar, violin and piano to children and adults at her home in Santa Fe for over 20 years. In addition to learning to play the classics, her primary focus on piano is ragtime and on violin it is mariachi and fiddling. She has been a violinist with Mariachi Azteca for 15 years, a professional 7-member group in Santa Fe. For many years she has joined the "ContraBand," a loosely formed group of musicians who play reels, jigs, waltzes, etc., for contradancers. She also founded "Trio de los Bailes", playing violin with an accordionist and guitarist. They perform lively music that was played at northern New Mexico village dances for 200 years. Although she has developed a love of performing and teaching, she is most pleased to have a chunk of several hours just to practice any one of the three instruments!
Marnie Bethel, Storytime
Marnie Bethel is a teacher of French and English at Albuquerque Academy and the mother of two Suzuki violin students, Adam and Zan. She began studying violin herself as an adult, with her children, and enjoys learning and playing music with them. She holds degrees from Trinity University, the University of Texas at Austin, and the Sorbonne in Paris, France. She is also a painter and textile artist.
Laura Dickinson, International Folkdancing
Laura Dickinson has maintained a violin and viola studio in Albuquerque since 1991. She graduated from the University of New Mexico in Mathematics and Viola Pedagogy, and earned Masters degrees from Indiana University, Bloomington, in Applied Viola and Computer Science. She studied Suzuki method with Susan Kempter. She has performed with a number of orchestras, including the New Mexico Symphony orchestra, the Santa Fe Symphony and the Roswell Symphony. Another enduring interest for her has been folk dance, which she was exposed to as a child when her parents would go dancing. She was the director of the Village Dancers folk dance troupe in Albuquerque from 1992 to 2006 and continues to enjoy recreational folk dancing.
Holly Deuel Gilster, Orff
Holly Deuel Gilster has been teaching early childhood music in New Mexico for the past 27 years. She trained under John M. Batchellor and Mildred Greeson, and has been an Orff instructor at UNM's Childcare Center, UNM Music Prep School, and the Childrens' Workshop for the Albuquerque Academy Summer Session with Carol Brackeen. She is the director of the FUNtastic Music Camp, a summer Orff Camp, run through the New Mexico Orff Chapter. Ms. Gilster is a recipient of the coveted John M. Batchellor Award for Excellence in Elementary Music Education.
Holly has been training other future music teachers for the University's Music Department since the 1980's.First, for Dr. Ellen McCullough-Brabson, and now for Dr. Regina Carlow. Ms.Gilster has been a three time presenter for the New Mexico Allstate Music Educator Conference. She recently had an article and a book review published by the ORFF ECHO, the national scholarly magazine for the American Orff-Schulwerk Association (AOSA).
Currently, Holly Deuel Gilster is an Elementary Music Specialist for A.P.S., and teaches 2 1/2 to 4 year-old children music on Saturday morning for the UNM Prep School. She is the mother of 4 children who all play guitar and a wind instrument.Seth Goodman, Drawing from Music
Seth Goodman is an elementary art teacher for APS. He has taught art workshops for the Museum of Albuquerque, the Junior League of Albuquerque, and Explora Science Museum. He is a professional wedding and portrait photographer, and his artwork has been exhibited regionally and nationally. He received his bachelor’s in photography and digital art from the University of Colorado.
Anne Karlstrom, Ready to Read(no photo available)
Anne Karlstrom maintains a violin studio in Albuquerque and teaches Suzuki repertoire classes with the Rio Grande Suzuki Association, as well as being a Coordinator with the University of New Mexico Lab School, where she teaches Suzuki repertoire, music-reading, and supervises intern teachers. She has a B.M. in violin performance from Northern Arizona University, and completed Suzuki long-term teacher training with Louise Scott at N.A.U., and again with Susan Kempter at U.N.M. She is an active member of the New Mexico chapter of the American String Teachers Association. Anne has been a violinist with Santa Fe Symphony since 1993, and also plays with Southwest Opera in Albuquerque.
Bridgit Lujan, Flamenco Dance
Bridgit “Brigida” Luján, began attending Spanish dance classes at age 2. As her love and commitment to dance continued she began studying classical ballet, jazz and tap dance as well as the piano, violin and viola. A well versed musician and dancer by age twelve, she left her classical dance training with the discovery of flamenco. After studying and performing with a number of well known flamenco artists in the United States including Eva Enciñias, Maria Benitez, Jose Molina, Omayra Amaya, Pablo Rodarte and Antonio Hidalgo; she continued her studies in Spain with flamenco masters such as Merche Esmeralda, Inmaculada Aguilar, Rafael Campallo and Pilar Ogalla. She began working with a variety of emerging artists in Jerez, Spain which led to the incorporation of Dulce Flamenco Internacional, an international touring company which Brigida directed for 5 years touring to over 50 cities in the United States. Brigida has performed and collaborated with famed artists from Spain, dancers Pol Vaquero and Carlos Carbonell and singer Manuel Soto.
Brigida has taught at the National Conservatory of Flamenco in Albuquerque, Institute for Spanish Arts in Santa Fe, University of New Mexico and the National Hispanic Cultural Center. She was on the dance faculty at the Santa Fe Community College for 5 years teaching flamenco and jazz dance. She formed the first after school “flamenco club” in New Mexico at Cibola High School.
Brigida has choreographed dance for the Lorca Trilogy, “Blood Wedding,” “The House of Bernarda Alba,” “Yerma” and Nilo Cruz’s “Lorca in a Green Dress.” She also has created over 15 choreographies for Dulce Flamenco Internacional.
From the University of New Mexico Brigida holds a BBA in Business (1998), an MBA in International Business (2000) and an MA in Theatre & Dance (2004).
As a writer Brigida was the first “contributing dance editor” for albuquerqueARTS magazine and has a published essay/chapter on New Mexican & Mexican dance in the university text book, “The Living Dance.” Additionally she translated Anne Green Gilbert’s creative dance manual, “Creative Dance for all ages” into Spanish. Since 2002, she has given annual flamenco history lectures at Ghost Ranch.
Brigida is now performing as a solo artist and continues to give lectures and dance workshops throughout the U.S.
Jamie O'Hara, Magic and ShowmanshipJamie O'Hara the Magic Guy lives in Las Cruces, New Mexico with his amazing wife Felicia and brilliant children Jessie, Hannah and Nico. He is one of the most popular entertainers in the Southwest. Jamie is a perennial favorite at several New Mexico and Texas Fairs:
As a full time"Magic Guy" for the last 14 years, Jamie has presented more than 4000 performances throughout the Southwest and across the United States. Jamie uses magic to teach and motivate kids at public and private schools to be there best and stay drug free. Check out www.motivatekids.com for more info. He also teaches magic to children and adults. Jamie won First Place in the Magic Strolling Olympics on '96 held in Norfolk, Virginia at the International Brotherhood of Magicians (IBM) Annual Convention. IBM is the worlds largest magic organization with a membership in excess of 15,000 worldwide. Jamie has served as head judge for the IBM convention contests since 1995. These magic contests are some of the most highly regarded in the world of magic.
Jamie is a busy amateur musician playing the guitar and mandolin in music ministry for nearly 20 years and writing many songs for worship. Finally Jamie presents motivational programs for business groups, educational institutions, and health care professionals. For more information, check out his personal website, www.themagicguy.com .
Accompanists
Liela Norris
Leila Norris has been a professional musician for many years, having been an Applied Music (piano & voice) major with graduate and master class experience. She has taught piano and voice, held posts as music director and organist at several churches, accompanied recitals, juries and musical competitions for many high school and college students and most recently, retired after 10 years as staff organist in an Albuquerque church. She is owner of a music publishing company, plays in an auditioned handbell performance group, and accompanies many string and woodwind students and professionals.
Kiyoshi Tamagawa
Kiyoshi Tamagawa, Professor of Music at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, has performed throughout the United States, and in Canada, China, England, India, Mexico and Taiwan. His nine-year collaboration with the distinguished violinist Eugene Fodor resulted in over thirty recitals, and a CD of violin and piano music, “Witches’ Brew.” Their performances included concerts at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Mumbai, India and the Festival Internacional Cervantino in Guanajuato, Mexico. Dr. Tamagawa has appeared at Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Hall and Bargemusic in New York City, Wigmore Hall in London, where he was called an “excellent” pianist, and in a solo recital on the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts in Chicago. Among artists with whom he has collaborated are members of the Shanghai String Quartet, violinist Mark Peskanov, cellist André Emelianoff, and vocalists Julianne Baird, Serena Benedetti and Weston Hurt. Recently he has performed with New York Philharmonic members Evangeline Benedetti, cellist, and Stanley Drucker, clarinetist, on the Philharmonic Ensembles series at Merkin Hall in New York City, completed a tour of China and Taiwan with Southwestern faculty cellist Hai Zheng, and performed with violinist Ayako Yonetani at Central Florida University in Orlando. Upcoming performances include the Preziosa Variations for Two Pianos and Orchestra by Mendelssohn/Moscheles with the Cape Ann, MA Symphony and recitals with Dr. Yonetani in Japan.
Directors, Staff and Other Support
Marilyn O'Boyle
Marilyn O'Boyle has been involved with the Suzuki Movement since 1972 when she started a Suzuki violin program in Lincoln, Nebraska. She has also started programs in Lima, Peru, where she lived from 1982 - 1984, and in Santiago, Chile, where she lived from 1986 - 1989. She has also conducted long-term teacher training courses through the University of Nebraska, where she was an Associate Professor of Music from 1980 - 1986. She has also trained teachers in Lima, Peru, Santiago, Chile and other Latin American cities. While in Nebraska she directed the Eastern Nebraska Summer Suzuki Institute, has directed six summer Institutes in Latin America and continues her involvement with these programs every year. She has attended four International Suzuki conferences and numerous Suzuki Teachers Conferences in the United States. She teaches at many Suzuki Institutes every summer and is presently the Director of the New Mexico Suzuki Institute. After directing the Suzuki Program at the MacPhail Center for the Arts in Minneapolis, Minnesota for six years, Marilyn returned to her home town, Albuquerque, New Mexico where she now teaches at her home studio. She is currently serving a three year term on the SAA Board of Directors, and she is a registered SAA Teacher Trainer. Marilyn is the mother of five and grandmother of eight!
Jane Soyka
Jane Soyka has been a Suzuki violin teacher in Albuquerque since 1985. She received her Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of New Mexico, and has been a long-standing member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas, having registered extensive long-term training with the S.A.A. in the Suzuki violin volumes and supplemental literature. Located in the Far Northeast Heights of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Jane maintains a full-time private violin studio.
For the past three years Jane has published My Students' Melodies, a perennial composition project with her students. Students write melodies to which she sets to piano accompanment. Each year they premiere their pieces by performing them in an Honors Recital.
Jane has worn many hats in the New Mexico string teaching community. She has been editor of the newsletter and webmaster for the New Mexico Chapter of American String Teachers Association, as well as a professional photographer, computer and graphics design specialist, building several websites, including this site. She was Santa Fe Suzuki Institute's official photographer until 2006, when she stepped in to co-direct the Santa Fe Suzuki Institute with her good friend and colleague, Marilyn O'Boyle. During the academic school year she helps direct and teaches for Monday evening Suzuki group lessons at the Rio Grande Suzuki Association in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Karles Saucedo-McQuade, Teen Dorm Chaperone & Staff Support
This is Karles McQuade’s sixth year as Program Assistant and Teen Dorm Counselor for NMSI. Karles holds undergraduate degrees in physics, violin performance and Suzuki pedagogy, and has studied with Pam Parfitt, Veronique Marcel, Dan Brandt, Carmelo de los Santos, David Felberg and Susan Kempter. In the music business he has served in capacities of performer, section coach, director, box office manager, teacher, board member, librarian and chaperone for many local organizations including Canticum Novum, Santa Fe Pro Musica, Santa Fe Youth Symphony, Serenata of Santa Fe, Zia Singers, Hummingbird Music Camp, San Juan Symphony, New Mexico Suzuki Institute (of course!), UNM Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestra and Choir of St. Francis. Currently, Karles maintains a tiny but determined violin studio. Hilariously, he has both synaesthesia and tinnitis. He likes black widows, running, photography, raw beef, baroque violin and arguments.
Juliet Wood, Teen Dorm ChaperoneBioRobyn Avalon, Alexander Specialist
Robyn Avalon is the Director of the Alexander Alliance Southwest , an Alexander teacher training program based in Santa Fe, NM and Alexander Alliance Italia , an Alexander course based in Florence, Italy. She is also on the faculty of Alliance schools in Germany, Japan, and Philadelphia. Having playfully studied Alexander's principles for over 25 years, she has had the opportunity to work with professional performing artists, Olympic athletes and equestrians, artisans and fine artists, martial artists, scientists and engineers, and medical professionals worldwide. She offers introductory and post-graduate workshops throughout the US, Europe and Japan, as well as maintaining a private practice in Santa Fe. When not teaching, she directs and choreographs for theater and performs with her NM-based tap dance company, Soled Out!
Sarah Eastwood (Eastbrook Studio), Official Photographer
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