Dee Martz, Director, Viola
Dee Martz, professor of viola at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point also serves as Director of the American Suzuki Institute, the oldest and largest Suzuki summer school in North America. Mrs. Martz’s studies as a merit scholarship student with David Dawson at Indiana University led to her membership in the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, la Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional del Peru, the Indiana String Quartet, the J.S. Bach Chamber Orchestra and her current position as principle violist in the Central Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra.
An active member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas, Dee was elected to the Board of Directors in 2001 and currently serves as its secretary. She has served as Chair of the Institute Committee, Viola Coordinator for the 1996 Teachers Conference as well as the upcoming 2004 conference, as a member of the Latin American committee and as a member of the Teacher Development Challenge Team that formulated the new teacher trainer application and evaluation process.
A frequent performer and clinician Dee Martz has presented at many SAA Conferences as well as in 25 states, the territory of Puerto Rico, several provinces of Canada, Chile, Peru and Australia. Mrs. Martz has the privilege of performing on the 1773 Cosio Guadagnini viola which is on loan from the Copernicus Cultural Foundation.
David Becker, Violin/Viola
David Becker, violist, received a Bachelor Degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and a Master of Music from the Juilliard School. Mr. Becker has been principal violist with the Victoria and Saskatoon Symphony Orchestras in Canada and has performed with numerous other orchestras including the Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra and the New Jersey and Milwaukee Symphonies. He currently plays with the Central Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Becker has taught at the Victoria Conservatory of Music, the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, the String Academy of Wisconsin at UW – Milwaukee and the Brevard Music Center. He has been on the violin faculty of the American Suzuki Talent Education Center (ASTEC) at UW–Stevens Point since 1994 and is also an active accompanist in the ASTEC program.
Patricia D'Ercole, Violin
Patricia D'Ercole is currently a faculty member at the American Suzuki Talent Education Center at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point where she teaches violin to children and Suzuki pedagogy courses to graduate and undergraduate students.
Pat has taught at many institutes throughout the U.S., in Canada, Finland, Peru and Chile. She was one of two teachers to present an introductory lecture on the Suzuki Method to string teachers in Estonia and later to do teacher training there.
She holds an M.M.Ed with emphasis in Suzuki Talent Education from UWSP where she studied with Margery Aber. In 1988, she was awarded a three week grant to study in Japan with Dr. Suzuki. She is also a sanctioned SAA Teacher Trainer.
Prior to Stevens Point, Pat was the founder and director of the Flambeauland Suzuki Talent Education Program, Ladysmith, Wisconsin and also taught instrumental music for two years in the Maywood, Illinois public schools.
Pat has authored many articles for the American Suzuki Journal, served on the the Suzuki Association of the Americas (SAA) Board of Directors and as its chair. She is also the founder and first president of the Suzuki Association of Wisconsin.
Kyoko Fuller, Violin
Kyoko Fuller was born and raised in Japan. She studied with Dr. Suzuki as a young student and as a teacher trainee for many years. After Kyoko received her Suzuki teacher certificate from the Talent Education Institute in Matsumoto, Japan, she continued studying with Dr. Suzuki and taught until she came to the United States. Kyoko taught and studied with William Starr at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville TN. She was a member and a soloist of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. Kyoko directed the Suzuki program at Methodist College and served as concertmaster of Fayetteville Symphony, Fayetteville NC. In 1984, Kyoko, her husband and four children moved to Stevens Point.
Mary Hofer, Voice
Mary Hofer, voice instructor at the American Suzuki Talent Education Center, Stevens Point, has been developing a project incorporating voice instruction and the Suzuki philosophy for seventeen years. The program is modeled after the Finnish Suzuki voice program directed by originator Dr. Paiivi Kukkamaki.
Prior to teaching Suzuki voice, Hofer taught pre-school through Grade 8 General Music, Junior High Chorus, and private voice lessons for ten years.
Hofer is the first American voice teacher to fulfill the voice requirements for the European Suzuki Association Suzuki Singing Book 1 through Book 3.
Hofer, a lyric soprano, has attended several seminars led by the eminent vocal pedagogue Oren Brown, and has participated in opera workshops at Oglebay Park, West Virginia, and American University, Washington, DC. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
Dr. Lawrence Leviton, Associate Professor, Cello
Lawrence Leviton, Artist/Teacher of Cello, also holds the position of Suzuki Specialist at the American Suzuki Talent Education Center. He received his Doctorate in cello performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Minnesota and his Master's degree in performance from Northwestern University. He also holds a degree in psychology from the University of Illinois.
Originally from Chicago, Dr. Leviton has been active as a clinician and performer throughout the country. He has been a frequent performer on Wisconsin Public Radio. He has appeared with the orchestras of the Aspen Music Festival, the Joffrey Ballet, and served as co-principal cello in the Chicago Chamber Orchestra.
Dr. Leviton is one of the Regional Directors for the Wisconsin Cello Society. His affiliations include the American String Teachers Association and the American Suzuki Association. He is the student chapter advisor for the UWSP student ASTA chapter which now boasts 20 members. He was nominated for membership in Pi Kappa Lambda, the national music honorary society, at both the University of Minnesota and Northwestern University.
Dr. Leviton's students have won numerous awards both in Wisconsin and nationally. His students have won concerto competitions and performed with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra, the Fox Valley Youth Symphony, and the Green Bay Youth Symphony. His students are consistently chosen for state honors orchestras and have served as section leaders in these ensembles. Former students of Dr. Leviton's have gone on to study cello performance in undergraduate and graduate programs at the University of Michigan, the University of Minnesota, the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Rice University, Eastman School of Music and the Juilliard school among others.
In recent years, Dr. Leviton has spoken throughout the country on the subject of film music. He has presented papers and participated in conferences in Dallas, Albuquerque, Los Angeles and Madison. He has received several grants to further his study of film music and wrote his Dissertation on the Cello Concerto of noted film composer, Erich Wolfgang Korngold. He has been teaching the course, Music in Film at UWSP for the past ten years. It is one of the first courses of its kind in Wisconsin.
Ann Marie Novak, Piano
Ann Marie Novak earned a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology at Oberlin College-Conservatory of Music. She holds a Master of Music from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She began her Suzuki training with Martha Stacy at Oberlin. She has pursued further studies with Haruko Kataoka, Valery Lloyd-Watts, Carole Bigler and Jasuko Joichi. Ms. Novak taught Suzuki Piano for nearly 10 years in Ohio and Massachusetts. While residing on the East Coast, she was the founding director of the Northampton Community Music Center and the Suzuki Department Coordinator at the Community Music School of Springfield. Ms. Novak moved to Stevens Point, Wisconsin in 1992, where she is on the faculty of the American Suzuki Talent Education Center at UWSP. She maintains a studio of over 40 students and accompanies string students in the ASTEC program. Ms. Novak also teaches at workshops around the country and at the American Suzuki Institute at Stevens Point.
Thomas Yang, Piano
Thomas Yang joined the ASTEC faculty in 1999. Born in New Jersey, he did his undergraduate work at Bucknell University where he received a Bachelor of Music degree in Music History. Following his studies at Bucknell, he went on to earn a Master of Music in piano performance at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and later to do work towards a piano performance doctorate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Tom’s varied experience has included teaching in a private studio in Marshfield, at the Wausau Conservatory of Music and at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. For the twelve years immediately prior to joining ASTEC, Tom worked as a computer programmer for the Marshfield Clinic in Marshfield, Wisconsin.
