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Suzuki Staff

Kathy Wood (violin), Director of Suzuki Talent Education at MacPhail Center for Music, is both an accomplished musician and music educator. After completing her bachelor of music education with distinction degree at the University of Nebraska, Wood continued her studies at the University of West Virginia, receiving a master of arts in violin performance. A Suzuki association of the Americas, certified teacher trainer, Wood has studied Suzuki pedagogy with John Kendall, Joan Reuning, Ronda Cole, Louise Behrend and Shinichi Suzuki. She has taught music in the Denver Public Schools, at Salem College, the New England Suzuki Institute, the Suzuki Talent Education Society, Lawrence University and currently teaches at the University of Minnesota and MacPhail Center for Music. As a freelance musician and performer, Wood has played violin with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra, and the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra.

Andrew Bast (Chamber Orchestra conductor) is the current chair of instrumental music and director of orchestras at Bloomington Kennedy High School, where he has taught for the last four years. Prior to Kennedy, he was an assistant orchestra director at Hopkins High School. Andrew performs regularly with the Minnesota Symphonic Winds on trumpet and the pop group Kubla Khan (in which he is a principal songwriter) on electric bass. A graduate of St. Olaf College, he received his bachelor’s degree in music education, studying conducting with Steven Amundson and Dr. Timothy Mahr.

Katherine (Katie) Bast (violin) began her violin studies through her elementary school Suzuki program. As a junior in high school, she launched her teaching career with the Gulf Coast Young Musicians in Ft. Myers, Florida. Ms. Bast received her Bachelor of Music degree in Violin Performance from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas studying with Ronald Neal. After graduation, Ms. Bast returned to her native Wisconsin, maintaining a private teaching studio and playing with Milwaukee’s Skylight Opera Theater and the Waukesha Symphony. In 2001, she received her Master’s Degree in Violin Performance and Suzuki Pedagogy from the University of Minnesota studying with Mark Bjork. Before beginning her current position as Suzuki violin instructor at MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis, Ms. Bast taught in various Twin Cities locations including the University of Minnesota as Graduate Teaching Assistant in violin. In addition to her long-term teacher training, Ms. Bast has continued her studies at The American Suzuki Institute in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. She performs regularly throughout the Twin Cities as a free-lance violinist and with Arco Strings.

Beatrice Blanc (violin), joined the Suzuki faculty at MacPhail Center for Music in 1996. Raised a Suzuki kid in Iowa City, she studied first with Sonja Zeithamel for 5 years and then with Doris Preucil for 9. She attended summer institutes at Stevens Point, WI (10 years), Bloomington, IN (1 year), and Interlochen MI, (3 years). Blanc’s Suzuki pedagogy training is from the American Suzuki Institute, the Preucil School of Music, and the University of Minnesota. Her BM is from the University of Iowa where her primary teacher was Allen Ohmes, her MM is from the University of Minnesota where she studied with Mark Bjork.
Additional activities at MacPhail have included chamber music coaching, supplemental program coordination, adjudication, performing, council and committee work, and Suzuki note-reading class. Additional professional activities in the wider community have included board membership with the Suzuki Association of Minnesota in two separate positions and terms, conferences and leadership retreats, and workshops.

Nancy Daley (piano) has taught Suzuki piano at MacPhail Center for the Arts since 1987. Prior to this she was an instructor and accompanist for the Suzuki program at Musical Offerings in Minnetonka. Nancy graduate from Bemidji State University and has had extensive Suzuki pedagogy training, her principal trainer being Nancy Pederson. She’s been a clinician at the American Suzuki Institute in Stevens Point, WI, the Minnesota Suzuki Festival, St. Joseph’s School of Music in St. Paul and private studios in the Twin Cities area. She currently enjoys performing in the Harper/Daley piano duo.

Alison Fahy (violin), Suzuki Department Violin Instructor, began her violin career at the age of two and a half as a Suzuki Violin Student in Ireland.   As the daughter of a Suzuki Violin teacher, she spent most of her childhood attending workshops, festivals and masterclasses.  Her teenage years were spent playing in numerous orchestras and competing and performing around Ireland.  She received her Bachelor of Music degree from the National University of Ireland and a Masters Degree in Violin Performance from the Cork School of Music, Ireland.  Alison began her teaching career during her undergraduate degree.  She began her Suzuki teacher training with Trudy Byron-Fahy in 2003.  In 2004 she came to the University of Minnesota to pursue a Masters degree in Violin Performance and Suzuki Pedagogy, where her teacher trainers were Kathy Wood and Mark Bjork.  Alison is currently in her last year of studies for a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Minnesota where she studies with Mark Bjork.

Faith Farr (cello) teaches cello at MacPhail Center for Music and at her home studio. Her students range from young Suzuki beginners to high school students planning a career in music, and many of her former students are themselves successful teachers across the country. Faith has been a guest cello clinician at programs across Minnesota and at the American Suzuki Institute in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. She has done pedagogy presentations for many local teacher groups and for the national SAA (Suzuki Association of the Americas) convention in 2002 and the national ASTA (American String Teachers Association) convention in 2003 and 2006. Faith is a board member of MNSOTA (the Minnesota String and Orchestra Teachers Association) and has served as editor of its magazine, String Notes, since 1996. She has served on the board of the Suzuki Association of Minnesota (SAM). In 1996, Faith was honored by MN ASTA with their Master Teacher Award. In 2006 Mel Bay published The American Fiddle Method for Cello and The American Fiddle Method for Viola by Brian Wicklund and Faith Farr. As companions to Wicklund’s popular American Fiddle Method, the cello and viola books are designed to be used by soloists and in mixed instrument ensembles and fiddle jams. Faith’s self-published books include Foundations for Music Reading, a string-based introduction to music theory. Her pedagogy articles have been published in the American Suzuki Journal and in String Notes. Faith is a founding member of the Minnesota Sinfonia, a part-time professional orchestra that specializes in school and community programs. Her education includes degrees from the Royal Conservatory of Toronto and the University of Minnesota, and additional study in Suzuki pedagogy and Dalcroze pedagogy.

Andrea French (cello), Cello Instructor, received her Masters degree from the University of Northern Colorado and her Bachelors degree from Bowling Green State University, both in cello performance. She has studied with Alan Smith, James Fittz, and Richard Slavich. She received her long-term Suzuki training in cello with Carol Tarr and violin with James Maurer at the University of Denver and has taught Suzuki group cello and violin classes with Longmont Suzuki Strings and Denver Talent Education. She has been a judge for Solo and Ensemble Contest of Northern Colorado, and chamber music coach for CelloFest at D.U. She has been an active recitalist and teacher in the music community of Colorado for the past ten years, and has played with the Fort Collins, Greeley, and Cheyenne Symphonies. Ms. French has performed in master classes with David Ying, Janos Starker, and Yo-Yo Ma. She is also a studio musician at the Blasting Room in Fort Collins, Colorado, and has played with over twenty bands such as Rise Against, Drive By, Coles Whalen, and Strange Condition. She has recorded for Wind Up Records, Warner Bros., and Universal.

Emily Gerard (harp), harp instructor, began harp lessons at a young age with harpist Janell Lemire, who was actively involved in the Suzuki Harp program. At age sixteen she played in Tacoma, WA for the Sixth World Harp Congress at a concert featuring thirty young Suzuki harpists from the United States. In 1999, Emily was given a performing arts scholarship at Augsburg College in Minneapolis and began her first year studying with Kathy Kienzle, principal harpist of the Minnesota Orchestra (and harp instructor at MacPhail). She was a two-time soloist in the annual Augsburg Concerto and Aria recital. In 2002, she was awarded the Hognander Scholarship, a full tuition scholarship awarded to a music performance major at Augsburg College. In the spring of 2003, Emily received her Bachelor of Music degree and a minor in communication.

In the fall of 2003 Emily began her master's program on a full tuition graduate music scholarship at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA studying under Miss Gretchen Van Hoesen, principal harpist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. At Carnegie Mellon Emily played in many ensembles, chamber groups, and the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic Orchestra. She also had the opportunity to play harp with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Emily graduated in May, 2005 from Carnegie Mellon University with a Master of Music in harp performance degree.

Mark Gitch, Suzuki Department Orchestra Coordinator, Mark is in his fourth year as the Director of Orchestras at Wayzata High School following sixteen years of experience in the Owatonna Public Schools.  Additional conducting experience includes the Owatonna Community Orchestra (1997-2004), the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra (rehearsal cover and Summer Pops 2005-2007), the Midwest String and Chamber Music Workshop and the Southeast Minnesota Youth Orchestras.   As a violinist, Mr. Gitch currently performs with the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra and the Wayzata and Owatonna String Quartets.

Mark has served in numerous musical and educational leadership positions at the local, regional and state level.   In recognition of his contributions, he was the recipient of the 2004 Minnesota String and Orchestra Teacher's Association’s Master Teacher - School Orchestra award and the 2002 Owatonna Community Arts Award.  He is a graduate of Mounds View High School, a former MacPhail student under the tutelage of Mary Horozaniecki, and holds degrees in music education from St. Olaf College (B.A. ’88) and the University of St. Thomas (M.A. ’02).

Rebecca Hass, Suzuki staff accompanist, holds a Bachelor of Music degree with a concentration in art history and anthropology from Ithaca College, where she was awarded Music Teachers National Association’s StAR award for piano teaching in 2005.  She has been a freelance accompanist and piano teacher for several years, in Minneapolis and at Ithaca, in a variety of capacities.  At Ithaca, she studied classical piano with Phiroze Mehta and Rich Shuster; collaborative piano with Charis Dimaras; and jazz piano and improvisation with Steve Brown and John White. She is studying currently with Jill Dawe at Augsburg College, with plans to attend grad school for collaborative piano next fall. Rebecca’s interests extend to many types of music - she is somewhat obsessed with Brazilian music, plays in the local samba percussion group Batucada do Norte [drum group of the North], and is very interested in ethnomusicology. She also performs with cellist/composer Aaron Kerr, and singer/guitarist/songwriter Andy Juhl, and most recently has been involved in the formation of a new cooperative record label called Sun Machine, based in Northeast Minneapolis.

Margaret Haviland  (violin/viola) is an instructor of viola, and violin, and coaches chamber music at MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis, MN, teaching in both the Suzuki and traditional methods. She earned her bachelor of music degree from the University of Iowa and her master of music at Arizona State University, viola study with William Preucil, David Holland, and William Magers. As a performer, Margaret Haviland has played with the Mexico State Symphony Orchestra, Joffrey Ballet, Spoleto Festival and the Arizona Opera Company. She is presently a freelance violist in the Twin Cities area, and has served as a guest viola workshop clinician at “Viola Days” in Eau Claire, WI, at the University of Northern Iowa’s Suzuki Strings/Prep Program, and with the Suzuki program in Northfield, MN. Margaret Haviland received her Suzuki teacher training with Doris and William Preucil and has taught at the University of Northern Iowa, and in private studios in Iowa City, IA and Tempe, AZ. Her collegiate teaching experience includes Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN.

Alan Johnston, Suzuki and traditional guitar instructor at MacPhail, is best known as the founder of the Minneapolis Guitar Quartet with which he performed for 16 years. During his tenure with the Minneapolis Guitar Quartet, he has toured throughout the U.S. in recital and with orchestras as well as made appearances on St. Paul Sunday and NPR’s Performance Today. The Minneapolis Guitar Quartet’s two CDs on the Albany Label received critical acclaim in the U.S. and abroad. The Quartet commissioned and premiered dozens of new works from 1987 to 2002. Alan received a bachelor of arts degree at Macalester College, and a masters of music degree from the University of Minnesota. His principal teachers were: José Tomás, Eli Kassner and Jeffrey Van.

Kathy Kienzle (harp) was named principal harpist of the Minnesota Orchestra after winning an international audition in April, 1994. She served as acting principal harp with the Orchestra for the 1993-94 season. Previous to that season Kathy appeared frequently as harpist and soloist and recorded with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.

The top American and third prize winner at the Sixth International Harp Competition in Jerusalem, Israel in 1976, she was also awarded the top prize in the 1975 American Harp Society National Competition, the Ruth Lorraine Close Fellowship from the University of Oregon and two Juilliard School scholarships.

Kathy Kienzle performed the world premiere of Lowell Liebermann’s Concerto for Flute and Harp with James Galway and the Minnesota Orchestra in November, 1995. In October, 2000, she premiered a new harp concerto by Einojuhani Rautavaara and the Minnesota Orchestra. She repeated that performance in Tampere, Finland in April 2001. In July 2003 she performed the Mozart Flute and Harp Concerto with the Minnesota Orchestra.
In addition to solo recitals throughout the United States, Canada and Europe, Kathy Kienzle has been featured soloist with many of the country’s finest orchestras, and she has appeared with a variety of chamber ensembles. She is often chosen to premiere new works and many of her solo and ensemble performances are broadcast over Nation Public Radio and American Public Radio. She also performs regularly with the renowned DALE WARLAND SINGERS with whom she has recorded eight albums. In 1990, 1996 and 1999 she was a guest performer at the World Harp Congresses in Paris, France, Tacoma, Washington and Prague, Czech Republic. In 1991 she was a recipient of a Fellowship grant from the Minnesota State Arts board. She currently is Chair of the New Music Committee of the World Harp Congress.

Kathy Kienzle has been a soloist and faculty member of the Eastern Music Festival, Greensboro, North Carolina, guest artist with the Oregon Bach Festival, Eugene, Oregon and was principal harpist of the Peninsula Music Festival, Door County, Wisconsin. She has been on the faculty of the University of Kansas, Lawrence, and is currently on the faculties of the University of Minnesota, MacPhail Center for Music and Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A graduate of Juilliard with a Bachelor of Music, she also holds a Master of Music from the University of Arizona. Her teachers include such well known harpists as Mildred Dilling, Susann McDonald and Marcel Grandjany.

Annette Lee (piano), Suzuki Department Accompanist, Piano Instructor, began teaching and accompanying in the Suzuki Department at MacPhail in 1995.  She received her B.Mus degree from Wheaton Conservatory of Music and was a fellowship student at the University of Michigan earning her M.Mus degree, both in Piano Performance.  Her Suzuki training has been completed with Doris Koppelman and Yasuko Joichi.  She has just returned from a 4 year sabbatical in Europe. She and her family resided in Switzerland while her husband was the Marketing Manager for Europe and the Middle East for General Mills Europe.  During this time, she continued teaching Suzuki lessons and freelanced as an accompanist.  Annette is a former faculty member at DePaul University, the Music Institute of Chicago, and Suzuki Institutes at Stevens Point, WI, Snowmass, CO, and Blue Lake, MI.  She is also a frequent clinician in the Midwest for Suzuki workshops.

Kelly Lehr (violin), received a Bachelor’s degree in violin performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and has been an active freelance musician in the Cincinnati, Dayton and Washington CD areas. She has performed with many orchestras, including the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Dayton Opera Orchestra, the Richmond (IN) Symphony Orchestra, the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra and the Arlington and McLean Orchestras in the Washington DC area.   Kelly teaches violin and viola within the Suzuki Talent Education Department and also to the traditional student population.

Steven Leung (violin) began his musical studies on the violin at age eight where he quickly showed promise. Throughout secondary school, he was the Concertmaster of the Minnesota Youth Symphony and his school orchestras as well as a frequent soloist. He received his Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from Oberlin College Conservatory in 1994 and a Master of Music in Violin Performance from Rice University. Among the many ensembles he has played with include, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, New World Symphony, Bill T. Jones Dance Company and the Minnesota Orchestra. He has performed throughout the country as well as overseas in Europe and Asia and with such artists as YoYo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Gil Shaham, Christoph Eschenbach and Michael Tilson Thomas.

Steven has been on the faculty of MacPhail Center for Music for the past 6 years teaching traditional and Suzuki Violin and is the conductor for the Suzuki Camerata Orchestra. Steven received his conducting training at The Conductor's Workshop of America, where he's been a participant the past two years. He owes his high level of orchestral experience from some of the world's best conductors and orchestras. Steven is pleased to be able to share his knowledge and depth of music to the next generation of great musicians.

Christy Libbus (cello), recently moved to the Twin Cities with her husband and immediately began teaching in MacPhail's Suzuki Department. For the previous seven years, she was an active performer, chamber musician, and teacher in the Cleveland area, performing in the orchestras of Akron, Canton, and Youngstown, as well as the Cleveland Chamber Orchestra. She is also a clinician at the International Music Festival in Cleveland, OH. She received her Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance from Baylor University and her Master of Music from Florida State University. Christy also spent two years studying with Alan Harris at the Cleveland Institute of Music. She has studied cello pedagogy with Tanya Carey, Rick Mooney, and Carol Tarr.

Heather MacLaughlin (piano), is one of the Twin Cities’ leading chamber music pianists, appearing regularly with members of both the Minnesota Orchestra and The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. She has collaborated with, among others, Pinchas Zukerman, Cynthia Phelps (principal violist for the New York Philharmonic), and baritone David Malis. MacLaughlin has been heard on both Minnesota and National Public Radio as soloist and chamber musician. In 1998, MacLaughlin and her husband, classical guitarist Alan Johnston, represented Minnesota on the Millennium concert series at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. As a member of the Shank-MacLaughlin Duo with violinist Leslie Shank, MacLaughlin was the recipient of a 1996 grant from the General Mills, Dayton Hudson and Jerome Foundations for travel to Hungary to study and perform the Bartók Sonatas for violin and piano. In 1997, the Shank-MacLaughlin Duo was a winner of the McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians. Their CD of the Bartók sonatas for violin and piano was released in 1999 on the Centaur label. MacLaughlin completed a doctor of musical arts degree at the University of Minnesota in piano accompanying/coaching, as a student of Margo Garrett. She received bachelor and master of music degrees from Indiana University, where she studied with Enrica Cavallo-Gulli. A Suzuki piano instructor since 1985, MacLaughlin has taught at Suzuki institutes and workshops in Wisconsin, Michigan, Colorado, Minnesota, and Lima, Peru. She is currently on the faculties of both North Hennepin Community College in Brooklyn Park, MN and MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis.

Nancy Larson Maloney (flute) teaches flute at the MacPhail Center for Music and the Minnesota Valley School of Music. A native of Minneapolis, she graduated from St. Olaf College, earned a masters in flute performance at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and then studied in Paris on a Fulbright Grant. She has held several university teaching posts, and while teaching flute at Stetson University in Florida, she became interested in teaching young children thru the Suzuki method when her own children began Suzuki lessons. Currently she is a member of the Aulos Trio and the International Flute Orchestra, which toured Eastern Europe in May of 2004.

Joy Moeller (violin), received her B.A. in Elementary Education from Ottawa University, where, as a violin student of Alice Joy Lewis, she also trained in Suzuki Pedagogy.  Other teacher preparation has included short-term Suzuki teacher training at Ottawa University and University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and graduate studies in Child Development and Literacy Education at the University of Minnesota. A MacPhail faculty member since 1985, she currently divides her teaching focus among the Suzuki and Early Childhood Music departments and is on MacPhail's roster of "Community Partnerships" teaching artists. She has a special interest in collaborations that bring music educators together with Literacy and ELL initiatives in the schools and the community.

Cindy Malmin (piano), has been teaching Suzuki Method Piano since 1986 and has been on the Suzuki Piano faculty at MacPhail Center for Music since 2001.  Prior to that, she was the director and a teacher for Lake Harriet Music Studios and the piano department coordinator and a teacher for The Studio Grand.  Cindy is the founder and Director of the MacPhail Center for Music Suzuki Institute for Piano, Guitar & Flute.  She attended the University of Wisconsin River Falls, where she studied with Lillian Tan.  Cindy’s Suzuki training has been with various teacher trainers from around the country, with a special interest in technique and the mind/body relationship as a result of her study with Marilyn Taggart.  Cindy is an American College of Musicians Certified Music Teacher, and serves as the Chairperson for the National Guild of Piano Teachers audition center at MacPhail.

Andrea Noteboom (violin), Suzuki violin instructor, has taught at MacPhail for 8 years. She studied with Mark Bjork, Nancy Pederson, Gary Sipes, Charles Gray, David Russel and Michele George. Andrea has a bachelor of music degree in violin performance and a bachelor of arts degree in psychology from St. Olaf College. She earned her master of music degree in violin performance and Suzuki pedagogy from the Cleveland Institute of Music. She participated in the Aspen Music Festival, Bravo, and Madeline Island Music Camp. In addition to teaching, Andrea is an active chamber and orchestral performer with the Minnesota Opera and ARCO Strings. She has recorded a CD with the St. Olaf College Choir. In 2006 Andrea was a guest Suzuki clinician at the Suzuki workshop in Ontario, California.

Conor O'Brien, is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Minnesota, where he studies under Prof. Sally O’Reilly. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Royal Irish Academy of Music as well as a Master’s degree from the University of Minnesota.
Conor performs regularly as a soloist and chamber musician, in addition to his freelance orchestral work with the South Dakota Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Minnesota Opera, and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Prior to moving to the United States in 2004, Conor maintained a vibrant freelance career in his hometown of Dublin, Ireland, where he was a regular performer with the Irish Film Orchestra, the Orchestra of Saint Cecilia, and the RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland.

Jean Seils (guitar), born and raised in the Twin Cities area, started studying classical guitar at age 10. She received her bachelor of music degree from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in 1997, where she studied with long time instructor Joesph Hagedorn. In 1998 she became certified in Suzuki instruction at the Intermountain Suzuki Institute in Park City, Utah. She continued studying the Suzuki method under Alan Johnston and has taught Suzuki and traditional guitar lessons at MacPhail since 1998. Jean has also performed in classical guitar master classes with David Leisner, Eduardo Fernandez, Sergio and Odair Assad, Scott Tenant and Ricardo Iznaola.

Diana Sherry (piano), Suzuki Piano Instructor, graduated from the University of Iowa with a Master’s Degree in organ performance and is currently working on another Master’s Degree in piano performance at Minnesota State University. She did her Suzuki teacher training at University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point. Diana was recently accepted into the DMA program in organ performance at University of Wisconsin, Madison. Diana has been teaching Suzuki piano for the past twenty-five years. Suzuki schools included the Preucil School of Music in Iowa City, IA and the Sing et Stadt Musik-Schule in Sulzbach-Rosenberg, Germany. In addition, Diana taught public school music in the Chicago suburbs as well as in Dubuque, IA. She taught piano and accompanied the college choirs at the University of Dubuque, as well as the choirs at Loras College, Triton College, Clarke College, and MSU choirs, Mankato, MN. Favorite performance experiences include playing harpsichord in the LaFosse Baroque Ensemble and piano in the Dubuque Symphony. She has also been the assistant director of music for twenty-two musicals at the Grand Opera House. Diana has been a Lutheran church organist for thirty years and a pianist since the age of three. Diana moved to Minneapolis in June ’09 and began teaching the MacPhail Suzuki Program at that time.

Susan Sophocleus, Suzuki Department Accompanist, has been a Suzuki parent at MacPhail for several years. She received a BFA in Piano Performance from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. Since moving to Minneapolis, she studied with Lydia Artymiw and Kathy Faricy. Susan also received a Masters Certificate in Kodaly training through the U. of St. Thomas, and applies this experience to her work as a choral teacher at City of Lakes Waldorf School. She taught piano in her home studio for many years, and has accompanied many young performers in a variety of settings. With an MBA in Marketing from Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, Susan's career has alternated between business and music over the years.

Richard Stanton (piano), B.M. in piano performance, Butler University, M.M. and D.M.A. in piano performance, the Cleveland Institute of Music. Further study with pianists Claude Frank, Tong Il Hon and James Dick.
His Suzuki trainers include Nancy Pederson and Doris Koppelman.  Formerly a piano faculty member at Concordia College, Moorhead, he was a member of the Concordia Piano Trio and appeared frequently as a solo recitalist and accompanist. He has appeared as soloist with many orchestras, including the Indianapolis Symphony, the Fargo Moorhead Orchestra, the Cleveland Institute Orchestra, and the Roundtop Texas Festival Orchestra.
For many years he was a traditional piano teacher in his private studio and at the Cleveland Institute of Music preparatory department.  He is currently organist and pianist at Wesley United Methodist Church, Minneapolis.

Rebecca Thoennes (piano), Suzuki piano, Suzuki staff accompanist, B.A. Piano Performance, University of Minnesota, Morris. M.M. Piano Accompanying and Chamber Music, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ. Suzuki Piano Training with Diana Galindo and Doris Koppelman.

Sara Thompson (bass) received her bachelor of music and master of music degrees from The Juilliard School of Music. She continued her studies in the doctoral of musical arts program at SUNY at Stony Brook. While at Stony Brook she became interested in early music performance and performed in NYC with Concert Royal and the St. Thomas Cathedral Boys Choir. She is currently on the faculty at MacPhail Center for Music and freelances in the Twin Cities on modern and Baroque bass. Her performances have included Lyra, Minnetonka Chorale, Philomusica, and the Minneapolis Pops.

Phala Tracy (harp) has been performing on the harp since she was four years old. A Suzuki trained harpist, she grew up studying with Mary Kay Waddington in Denver, CO. She moved to Ohio for college and studied with Alice Chalifoux and Yolanda Kondonassis at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where she majored in harp performance and music history. After graduating, she moved to California and continued her education at the California Institute of the Arts, where she studied harp performance with Susan Allen and Composition with James Tenney, combining her love of playing music with her love of writing music in the Performer/Composer program. She holds a bachelor of music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory; and a master of fine arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts. She currently lives in Minneapolis where she teaches harp at the MacPhail Center for Music and Gustavus Adolphus College.

Linda Trygstad (viola and violin), Suzuki viola and violin graduated from Indiana University with a Bachelor of Music in Viola and History. While there she studied viola with David Dawson and chamber music with William Primrose. Linda received her master’s degree from the University of Minnesota, studying viola with Korey Konkol and Suzuki pedagogy with Mark Bjork. Linda has had further viola studies with Clyn Barrus and Roland Vamos.

Beth Turco (piano), Suzuki Piano instructor, has over 25 years of Suzuki teaching experience. She began her teaching career at MacPhail Center and was Assistant Director of the Suzuki Program for five years. For the past 11 years she has established a successful home studio, teaching students of varying levels, from beginner through high school. She will teach part-time in the MacPhail Suzuki program while maintaining her home studio. Ms. Turco received a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from Oberlin Conservatory and a Master of Music degree in piano performance from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, MA where she held a fellowship in accompanying. She has extensive Suzuki training, studying with teachers such as Martha Stacy, Jeanne Luedke and Nancy Pederson. Ms. Turco is an active member of SAA, SAM, MMTF and MMTA. She is president of the SPTG (Suzuki Piano Teachers Guild of the Twin Cities) and piano liaison for SAM. She has presented workshops, lectures and master classes and continues to accompany in the Twin Cities area. Each summer, she teaches composer studies and master classes for the MacPhail Suzuki Institute.

Heather Vander Ley (piano), has a B.A. from Carleton College and a M.A. from the University of Minnesota. She completed her Suzuki Pedagogy training at the University of Minnesota. In addition to teaching in the MacPhail Suzuki program she teaches at Metro Music Studios in Roseville, at Ramsey International School of Fine Arts in Minneapolis and in her home studio. She is also a freelance violinist in the Twin Cities area and assistant principle in the Civic Orchestra of Minneapolis.

Mary Halverson Waldo (recorder and flute) received a Master of Music (Performance of Early Music) from New England Conservatory, and a Bachelor of Arts from the College of Saint Scholastica. As a freelancer on the recorder and baroque flute, Ms. Waldo has performed with the Bach Society of Minnesota, Consortium Carissimi, the Fayerwhether Friends, the Saint Scholastica Orchestra for Early Music, and the Musicians at Trinity Episcopal Church, Excelsior. A Suzuki teacher of recorder and flute, registered with the Suzuki association of the Americas (SAA), Ms. Waldo is also an SAA- registered recorder Teacher Trainer. She is an annual faculty member at the Whitewater Early Music Festival, and also at Suzuki festivals throughout the USA, Canada and in South America.  A board member of the American Recorder Society (ARS), Ms. Waldo is also Education editor of the of the American Recorder magazine.

Sandy Waterman (piano), Suzuki piano, received her B.S. in music education at the University of Minnesota with certification to teach K-12 vocal/general music in Minnesota. She is a composer of children’s musicals and writes and directs a children’s show annually at Unity Church-Unitarian in St. Paul, since 1990. Ms. Waterman also designs and teaches classes for music and theater students at the White Bear Lake summer program. She directs for Stepping Stone Theatre and Brooklyn United Methodist Church.

Brent Weaver (guitar), began taking guitar lessons at age 12. After completing a bachelor of arts degree in music from California State University, Sacramento in 1980, he moved to Nevada City, California where he worked as a guitar and elementary school music teacher. In 1996, Brent finished his master of music education degree from Holy Names College in Oakland, California. Soon after, he moved to Minnesota and began teaching at MacPhail Center for Music. Brent has studied guitar with Jose Rey de la Torre, John Majors, Alan Johnston and Chris Kachain. He teaches private guitar lessons and Early Childhood Arts classes through the MacPhail community partnership program.

Brian Woods is the part-time Suzuki Department Administrative Assistant. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Music and a Master’s degree in Piano Performance, both from Kent State University, has completed one year of a Master’s degree in Opera Directing from Indiana University, and this has began Suzuki Piano Teacher Training. He served as the manager for the Bakken Trio for several years, and worked for the Minnesota Orchestra as Associate Personnel Manager. He also serves as the Office Manager for Music in the Park Series in St. Paul. In his spare time, Brian enjoys biking, cooking, traveling and reading.