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ASI FACULTY

VIOLIN

Anna Cromwell 

Anna Cromwell is Assistant Professor of Violin and Viola at the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point. She has been on faculty at Eastern Illinois University, Western Kentucky University, Minnesota State University, Bravo! Summer String and Keyboard Institute, and the Tennessee Valley Music Festival. As an avid teacher and lecturer, Dr. Cromwell has given numerous presentations at the Music Teachers National Association Conference, the American String Teachers Association National Conference, and the Illinois, Kentucky, and Indiana Music Educators State Conferences. Cromwell can be heard performing in Duo XXI with cellist Dr. Mira Frisch on the CD, Quest: New Music for Violin and Cello and the CD Metal Cicadas. In addition, Dr. Cromwell is a reviewer for the American String Teacher, and her articles have appeared in the NCASTA online journal and the Illinois ASTA journal The Scroll. Dr. Cromwell earned both her M.M. and D.M.A. under Sally O’Reilly at the University of Minnesota where she was a Dahl Fellowship recipient. She studied at Rice University under Kathleen Winkler, and graduated summa cum laude from Vanderbilt University where she was a student of Christian Teal. She studied violin pedagogy with Sally O’Reilly and completed long-term Suzuki training with Mark Bjork.

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Patricia D’Ercole

Pat D’Ercole is Director Emerita of the Aber Suzuki Center at the UW-Stevens Point where she taught violin to children and Suzuki pedagogy courses.  She completed a master’s degree with an emphasis in Suzuki with Margery Aber and, in 1988, studied in Japan with Dr. Suzuki. She has been a clinician in 22 states in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Canada, Finland, Estonia, Peru, Chile and Taiwan.  Pat has written numerous articles for the American Suzuki Journal, was chair of the Suzuki Association (SAA) Board of Directors and served as a member of the SAA committees to develop the Every Child Can! course and the Suzuki Principles in Action course. She was the founder and first president of the Suzuki Association of Wisconsin and has been on the planning committee for the International Research Symposium on Talent Education since its inception in 1991 and has served as its coordinator since 1995.  Through her leadership, “The American Suzuki Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point: The Suzuki Method in Action,” a collection of videos which chronicles the two weeks of Dr. Suzuki’s teaching at the American Suzuki Institute in Stevens Point in 1976, is now preserved and posted on the web for free viewing by all.  In 2002, she was the recipient of the American Suzuki Institute’s Suzuki Chair Award and in 2008 became a Distinguished Instructional Specialist at UWSP.  In 2020 she was honored by WI-ASTA as the Studio Teacher of the Year. In September 2010, Pat began the Suzuki Strings Mentoring Program, an online long-term practicum to assist and support Suzuki string teachers in their quest to become a better teacher within the environment of their usual employment. Pat currently teaches part-time at the Aber Suzuki Center.  She is active as a teacher trainer at workshops, institutes and the mentoring program.

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Carol Dallinger​

Carol Dallinger is Professor of Music at the University of Evansville where she has been a member of the faculty since 1972. She is instructor of violin and viola, Suzuki pedagogy, chamber music, music theory and is founder of the University of Evansville Suzuki Violin Program. In 1995, Ms. Dallinger received the Outstanding Teacher Award at the University of Evansville. In August 2006, she received the Suzuki Chair Award from American Suzuki Institute at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point and in August, 2008 she was awarded the Oramay Cluthe Eades Distinguished Professorship in Music by the University of Evansville. Ms. Dallinger has lectured at both state and national music conferences and, as a Registered Teacher Trainer with the Suzuki Association of the Americas, frequently serves as clinician for summer institutes throughout the United States. She has also taught in New Zealand and Australia. She is a former member of the National Board of Directors of the Suzuki Association of the Americas and is a past-President of the Indiana String Teachers’ Association. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Performance Degree from Illinois Wesleyan University and a Master of Music in Performance Degree from the University of Illinois-Champaign-Urbana.

Graham Emberton

Graham Emberton is a violinist and teacher dedicated to compassionate talent development. Graham is a Suzuki violin instructor for the Aber Suzuki Center at UW-Stevens Point, and previously held faculty positions at Interlochen Arts Camp, Detroit Youth Volume, and DePaul Community Music Division. A registered violin teacher through the Suzuki Association of the Americas, Graham has taken long-term teacher training with Mark Mutter and additional courses with Dr. Laurie Scott, Rolando Freitag, and Nancy Jackson.

In addition to his love for teaching, Graham is also an avid performing musician. He has been a member of the Lansing Symphony Orchestra and Utah Festival Opera, and also performed with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Britten-Pears Young Artist Program, and National Orchestral Institute. Graham holds degrees in violin performance from Butler University, DePaul University, and the University of Memphis. His violin teachers include Timothy Shiu, Janet Sung, Larry Shapiro, and Paula Elliott.

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Colleen Fitzgerald​

Colleen Fitzgerald is director of the Barcel Suzuki String Academy in Wauwatosa, WI. She is a violin and Suzuki Early Childhood Education instructor. Ms. Fitzgerald earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Violin Performance with Suzuki Pedagogy Emphasis at the University of Evansville and a Masters of Arts in Teaching degree from Cardinal Stritch University. Colleen was awarded the Certificate of Excellence in Studio Teaching from the Civic Music Association (2006) and earned the Certificate of Achievement 1 from the SAA (2017). She has been featured on TV and radio programs and Beyond the Music Lesson podcast discussing the Suzuki Method. Colleen is a clinician at workshops and institutes.

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Roy Meyer

Highly regarded as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player and teacher, Roy’s chamber debut in Carnegie Hall was hailed as “marvelous” by the Epoch Times In addition to his role as concertmaster of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, he is a founding member of the Apollo Music Festival in Houston, Minnesota. Chamber music collaborations include performances with Mike Block and Wu Tong of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, and violinists Tobias Steymans, concertmaster of the Bavarian Radio Symphony, and Robert Hanford, concertmaster of the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Festival appearances include the Round Top Festival and performances with Opera Italiana with musicians of the Metropolitan Opera as part of the Central Park Summer Concerts, among others.

Meyer has appeared as soloist with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, Wartburg Community Symphony Orchestra, and Indiana State University Orchestra. He has served as the concertmaster of Illinois Symphony Orchestra since 2015 and continues to perform with the Sarasota Orchestra and Chicago Philharmonic.

A dedicated educator, Meyer has led master classes at the Apollo Music Festival, the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Virginia Tech, SUNY New Paltz, Indiana State University, and the Aber Suzuki Center at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and served as a member of the faculty at the Illinois Chamber Music Festival in Bloomington, Illinois. In 2018, he served as the visiting professor of violin at Illinois Wesleyan University.

Roy Meyer began violin studies at 4 years old with Kyoko Fuller and earned his Bachelor of Music from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Masters of Music from the University of South Florida in Tampa, and pursued a certificate at New York University. His primary teachers include David Perry, Carolyn Stuart, Gregory Fulkerson, Naoko Tanaka, and Laurie Hamilton.

When not on stage, Roy enjoys following sports, traveling, and hiking.

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Ann Montzka-Smelser

In between receiving her Bachelors of Music Education and Masters in Performance and Pedagogue at Northern Illinois University, Ann studied with Dr. Shinichi Suzuki at the Talent Education Institute in Matsumoto, Japan. In 2003, Ann was the recipient of the Byron Hester Memorial Excellence in Teaching Award. Ann is currently principal 2nd violinist with Camerata Chicago and concertmaster of the Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra. As a Registered Suzuki Teacher Trainer, Ann teaches Suzuki Pedagogy at Wheaton College and Northern Illinois University. She is director of the NIU, CSA Suzuki Strings Program. Ann enjoys working with Suzuki families at Suzuki Institutes and workshops throughout the United States and in 2010 taught at the International String Conference in Singapore and the Latin American Suzuki Festival in Lima, Peru.

Kathy Rollings

Kathy Rollings lives in Columbia, MO where she maintains a full Suzuki studio of violinists and violists. She holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in violin performance, and has registered extensive teacher training with the Suzuki Association of the Americas. Kathy serves on the faculties of the American Suzuki Institute, Sound Encounters, and the Ottawa Suzuki Institute in the summers, and she teaches weekend workshops when she can. A United Methodist Deacon, Kathy is the Associate Pastor at Fairview United Methodist Church, where she serves as Minister of Music, Youth Pastor, and Minister of Christian Formation.

Amanda Schubert studied Suzuki violin with her father, Lacy McLarry; received a B.M. degree in violin performance from Oklahoma City University under Mr. McLarry; received a M.M. degree in violin performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, under Norman Paulu; holds a Teaching Certificate from the Talent Education Research Institute in Matsumoto, Japan, under Shinichi Suzuki; and is a SAA Teacher Trainer. For many years she was a member of the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra and the violin faculty of the Brevard Music Festival in North Carolina. Currently she free lances in the Central Texas area and is director of the Suzuki Academy of Waco.

photoBeth Titterington

Beth Titterington is a Violin Teacher Trainer for the Suzuki Association of the Americas. She has been actively involved in the Suzuki Method since 1972, when she first heard the Japanese Talent Education Tour Group. Margery Aber chose her as one of the ‘honorarium students’ for the American Suzuki Institute the next year, in 1973. Since that time, she has studied with many people in the field including, most importantly, Dr. Suzuki. Ms.Titterington has served on the faculty at the Conservatory of Music / University of Missouri (KC) teaching Suzuki Method pedagogy classes and also directs her own studio, Kansas City Talent Education. She founded the Heart of America Suzuki Association in 1979, which is a regional affiliate of the SAA. An active clinician from 1975 to the present, she has taught and lectured at hundreds of institutes and workshops across the United States, Canada and in England. Ms. Titterington has served on numerous SAA committees over the years, and was elected to the SAA Board of Directors, serving from 2006-2009.

James Van Reeth

James Van Reeth, violinist, is director of the Denison University Suzuki Program in Granville, Ohio. He holds a Bachelors of Music in violin performance from the Aaron Copeland School of Music at Queens College-CUNY and a Masters in Music Education from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point having completed long-term Suzuki training with Patricia D’Ercole. Jim is a faculty member at Suzuki Music Columbus and performs with the Sterling String Quartet and the Newark-Granville Symphony Orchestra. He is co-coordinator of the Suzuki Youth Orchestras of the Americas for the SAA 2012 conference.

Violin/Viola

Rachel Fabulich

Violist, Rachel Fabulich, is a Suzuki student, parent, and teacher.  She is a clinician at institutes and workshops around the country and has served as a viola coordinator for the 2014 and 2016 SAA conferences. She currently runs her own studio in Framingham, MA, and serves on the Faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music.

Mary Moran

Mary Moran is principal viola of the Central Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra. As the CWSO’s Education and Community Engagement Coordinator, she performs in area schools as part of the Meet the Music program introducing elementary-age students to orchestral instruments. Previously, she was a member of the El Paso Symphony Orchestra, Las Cruces Symphony Orchestra, Shreveport Symphony Orchestra, and Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra in addition to other ensembles in Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas. She has also performed with the National Repertory Orchestra, and at the Aspen Music Festival, the Round Top Festival Institute, and the Castleton Festival in Virginia. Additionally, she enjoys an active career as a chamber musician.

Cello

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Tanya Lesinsky Carey​

Tanya Lesinsky Carey has presented masterclasses and concerts in over thirty states and fifteen foreign countries. Her experience includes assistant principal of the Milwaukee Symphony, prize–winning recordings with the Rochester Philharmonic, concerts in Tully and Carnegie Halls, concerto performances, and recordings with the Lydian Trio and the Carey Consort. Education includes BM and MM from Eastman and DMA from the University of Iowa. Illinois ASTA awarded her the 1993 “Outstanding Studio Teacher of the Year Award” and the Suzuki Chair Award from ASI. She is professor emeritus from Western Illinois University, past-President of SAA, and listed in Who’s Who in America, and currently artist-teacher at Roosevelt CCPA and Music Institute of Chicago. Her students are represented on the artist faculty of Illinois and Indiana Universities. Her series of books on cello are on celloplayingiseasy.com

Charlie Rasmussen is a Suzuki cello faculty member and string department co-chair at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music in Milwaukee. He performs historical cello and viola da gamba with the Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble and New Milwaukee Consort. He is the Instrumental Co-Director at Just Bach and is on the board of directors of Early Music Now.

Mr. Rasmussen has recorded Tommaso Giordani’s Cello Duos (Centaur Records, 2020) and 11 Capricci by Joseph Dall’Abaco (Centaur Records, 2018). He has served on faculty at the Madison Early Music Festival and currently teaches viol and consort music at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

As a modern cellist, Mr. Rasmussen has performed with numerous orchestras and chamber ensembles. Mr. Rasmussen holds a Master of Music degree from the University of North Carolina Greensboro and a Bachelor’s degree from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. He completed a Suzuki Pedagogy Certificate at the University of Denver where he studied with Carol Tarr.

Laura Shaw

Laura Shaw is on the cello faculty of the Preucil School of Music in Iowa City, IA, and is a registered Cello Suzuki Teacher Trainer. She completed her long term Suzuki training with Pamela Davenport at the Hartt School of Music. Ms. Shaw earned her DMA from the University of Iowa, studying with Anthony Arnone and Hannah Holman. She has a Masters of Music from the University of Hartford, and a BA from Luther College.

Laura Shaw is Associate Principal of the Quad Cities Symphony Orchestra. She has also performed with Orchestra Iowa, Cedar Falls Symphony and as a member of the Corridor Piano Trio. She has won numerous awards, including the Pelzer Award at the University of Iowa, and the Fort Dodge Concerto Competition.

Ms. Shaw has been teaching for over 20 years and is an alum of the Preucil School of Music. She will be teaching at the American Suzuki Institute in the summer of 2020, and will be doing teacher training and teaching at the Virginia Suzuki Institute.

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Linc Smelser​

Linc Smelser received his bachelor’s degree in cello performance from University of Arizona, and his master’s degree and performer’s certificate in cello performance and pedagogy from Northern Illinois University. He is a long-term member of the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra and an active substitute with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He is on the faculty of Wheaton College Conservatory of Music and Northern Illinois University.  Appointed conductor and music director of the Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra in 2003, Linc is a frequent guest conductor for various Illinois orchestras and was named the 2009 Conductor of the Year (Small Orchestra) by the Illinois Council of Orchestras.

Peter Thomas

Peter Thomas has been a member of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra since his appointment by music director, Edo de Waart in 2008. Mr. Thomas started cello at age five and graduated with performance degrees from the University of Minnesota and the Cleveland Institute of Music. Prior to joining the MSO, Mr. Thomas performed in the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Canton Symphony Orchestra, Columbus Symphony Orchestra, and the New World Symphony. He appeared as a soloist with the New World Symphony on two separate occasions performing Richard Strauss’s ‘Don Quixote’ and Elgar’s Cello Concerto as the 2008 Concerto Competition winner. An active chamber musician and collaborative artist, Mr. Thomas is the cellist of the Arcas Quartet and indie-rock band I’m Not A Pilot. Peter resides on the East Side of Milwaukee and enjoys the life of being a multi-genre performer and music educator.

Piano

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Gail Gebhart

​Gail Gebhart is a private Suzuki piano teacher in Farmington Hills, Michigan.  In addition to maintaining an active studio, she is on the faculty of Wayne State University where she teaches private and class piano.  She received a B.M. With Distinction from the University of Michigan and a M.M. in Piano Performance from Wayne State University. She received Suzuki training from Mary Craig Powell, Yasuko Joichi and Renee Robbins. A coordinator the piano area for the Suzuki Association of the Americas’ Biennial Conference in 2014 and she has taught at the Peaks to Plains Suzuki Institute, Colorado Suzuki Institute, Oregon Suzuki Institute, Calgary Suzuki Institute, and the Chicago Suzuki Institute.  In August 2016, Gail became a piano Teacher Trainer for the Suzuki Association of the Americas.

Ann Marie Novak

Ann Marie Novak has taught piano and served as collaborative pianist at the Aber Suzuki Center for over 25 years, where she maintains a studio of 35 students. She was the founding Director of the Northampton Community Music Center (MA) and has served as President of the Suzuki Association of Wisconsin (SAW). She is a regular clinician at the SAW Retreat and the American Suzuki Institute and has taught masterclasses at workshops in the Midwest and on the East Coast. She has performed as a soloist and as a chamber musician, and she presents lectures at both the American Suzuki Institute and SAA Conferences. Miss Novak manages and writes extensively for the ASC parent education blog, develops other parent education materials, and has been published in the SAA Journal. She serves as WMTA District Chair and was honored as the 2015 Stevens Point Area Music Teachers’ Association Member of the Year. Her students have been featured in Master Classes both locally and nationally, and they regularly receive honors at WMTA District and State Auditions.

Tom Yang

Tom Yang joined the Aber Suzuki Center 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.

Harp

Oregon native Kathy Kienzle joined the Minnesota Orchestra in 1993 as acting principal harp and served as principal harp until September 2020.

Kienzle studied with Marcel Grandjany, Susann McDonald and Susanna Milldonia, and earned a bachelor of music degree from the Juilliard School and a master’s degree from the University of Arizona.

Kienzle teaches at Studio Fidicina and the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Previously she taught at MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis from 1980, and in the Suzuki department there from 1989-2014. In 2014 she became a Suzuki harp teacher trainer.

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Phala Tracy

Phala Tracy teaches Suzuki harp at Studio Fidicina in Minneapolis, MN and she is adjunct faculty at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN.  She teaches harp and music theory at Suzuki institutes across the country and she is a Suzuki Harp Teacher Trainer.  Phala holds degrees in Harp Performance and Music History from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music (BM) and degrees in Harp Performance and Composition from the California Institute for the Arts (MFA).  She has recorded a children’s CD of Critter Songs and is working toward publishing her curriculum of Music Theory in Song and Rhyme and her collection of Songs for Sight Reading.  She is an active arranger, composer, improviser and freelance musician.

Suzuki Early Childhood Education

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Sharon Jones​

Sharon Jones is a violinist and singer. At the age of 11, she had the unique opportunity to work with Dr. Suzuki at an International Society of Music Educators Conference as part of a small group of North American children. Sharon is an SAA registered Teacher Trainer in Suzuki Early Childhood Education (SECE). With Dorothy Jones, she developed the curriculum used worldwide in SECE classes. She is also the singer on the SECE curriculum recording. Sharon has been a presenter, clinician, teacher, and trainer at conferences, institutes, and workshops in Canada, US, Ireland, Japan, and Australia.

Voice

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Mary Hofer

Mary Hofer has been developing a project incorporating voice instruction and the Suzuki philosophy at the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point Aber Suzuki Center for twenty-five years.  The program is modeled after the Finnish Suzuki voice program, directed by Dr. Paivi Kukkamaki.

Mrs. Hofer, a presenter at the 1990, 1994, 2010, and 2012 SAA Conferences, is the first American voice teacher to attain Teacher Trainer Status in America.

Prior to teaching Suzuki voice, Mary taught pre-school through Grade 8 General Music, Junior High Chorus, and private voice lessons for ten years.  A lyric soprano, Hofer has attended seminars led by the eminent vocal pedagogue Oren Brown, and participated in opera workshops at Oglebay Park, West Virginia, and American University, Washington, DC.

Hofer, a long-time student of Professor Emeritus Marjorie Phelps-Kampenga, has coached with Jon Spong, Fred Popper, Richard Crittenten, and Max Walmer.  Hofer holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

Creative U

Born in Iowa City, Iowa, Ching-chu Hu received his degrees at Yale University, the University of Iowa, and the University of Michigan. He is an award-winning composer whose music has been recorded and performed internationally. Honors include the Aaron Copland Fellow at the MacDowell Colony for the Arts and winner of the American Prize for Chamber Music. He is Professor of Music at Denison University, where he has been a faculty member since 2000 and founded the TUTTI New Arts Festival. His four children, Xander, Elisabeth, Nicholas, and Madeline are Suzuki students on violin, piano, and flute.