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Kathy Wood, 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 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 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, 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 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.
Faith Farr 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.
Emily Gerard, 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.
Margaret Haviland 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.
Rebecca Hass, Suzuki staff accompanist
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 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.
Kamini LaRusso, Suzuki Violin, comes to us from Denver, CO with a Master of Music degree in Suzuki Pedagogy and Violin Performance. She has been teaching Suzuki violin for four years in Colorado, most recently as the founder of the Suzuki Violin program at the Centennial Academy of Fine Arts in Littleton, CO. Kamini grew up in Madison, WI as a member of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra and has a bachelor's in music from Colby College in Waterville, ME. Her primary teachers include James Maurer, Teri Einfeldt, Mary Jo Carlson and Marjorie Peters. This fall she started the Suzuki program in White Bear Lake, and joins the downtown faculty for groups on Saturdays.
Annette Lee, piano, staff accompanist
Steven Leung 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.
Nancy Larson Maloney 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, Suzuki violin
Cindy Malmin, Suzuki Piano has 15 years of Suzuki Piano teaching experience. She has been teaching most recently at her home studio in Minneapolis. Prior to that, Cindy was the director and a teacher for Lake HarrietMusic Studios and the piano department coordinator and a teacher for The Studio Grand.
Andrea Noteboom, Suzuki violin instructor, has taught at MacPhail for six 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.
Adrianna Rossmiller, B.M. in Performance from the University of Texas (Austin, Texas) and M.M. in Performance and Suzuki Pedagogy from the Hartt School (Hartford, Connecticut).
Jean Seils, 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.
Richard Stanton, 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 departmentHe is currently organist and pianist at Wesley United Methodist Church, Minneapolis.
Jennifer Brooke (J.B.) Taylor holds a bachelor of arts in music performance and accounting from West Virginia Wesleyan College and a master’s degree of music in piano pedagogy and performance from Florida State University. She also earned a master’s of business administration in entrepreneurial management from Florida State.
J.B. has been active as both a piano teacher and professional church musician for 15 years. She has taught private and group lessons to Suzuki and traditional students of all ages in studios and homes in Ohio, West Virginia, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota. Her major teachers have included Donna Kurtz, Dr. Linda Sabak, Leonard Mastrogiacomo, and Dr.Victoria McArthur. She has completed Suzuki teacher training with Fay Adams, Yasuko Joichi, and Doris Koppelman.
As a Suzuki student, J.B. received numerous awards, including the grand prizes in both the Young Keyboard Artist Association’s and the American Music Scholarship Association’s International Piano Competitions. In 2004, J.B. was selected as a Shinichi Suzuki Scholar by the American Suzuki Institute. She has also served as a guest Suzuki clinician at Suzuki institutes and workshops in Ohio, Minnesota, Alaska, and Tennessee. In addition, J.B. has served on the board of the Suzuki Association of Minnesota. J.B. currently is a Suzuki piano faculty member and department assistant at MacPhail. She also is the music director for Epworth United Methodist Church in St. Paul.
Rebecca Thoennes, 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 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 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, 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.
Heather Vander Ley, 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 received her bachelor of arts degree in music from the College of St. Scholastica and her master of music degree from the New England Conservatory. She has been a recorder and flute instructor at MacPhail Center for Music in both the Suzuki and traditional methods for eight years. Her articles have appeared in the American Suzuki Journal, the American Recorder magazine, and the ARTA (American Recorder Teachers Assoc.) newsletter, "ARTAfacts". Mary performs recorder and baroque flute with Trinity Chamber Players and directs the Trinity Episcopal Church (Excelsior) inter-generational orchestra. Her recordings include "Take Me North" with Twin Cities composer, Wynne Ann Rossi and she enjoys historical dance as a hobby.
Brent Weaver, 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.
