the faculty

FACULTY

• Brett Abigana, Music Lab Department Head.

       B.M., The Juilliard School; M.M. The Juilliard School; D.M.A Boston

          University. Attended La Schola Cantorum for Harmony,

          Counterpoint. Previous teachers include Richard Cornell, Samuel

          Headrick, Michel Merlet, Narcis Bonet, Philip Lasser, Robert

          Beaser, and Samuel Adler. Former Faculty: New England

          Conservatory, The Community Music Center of Boston, Boston

          University, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, The Juilliard

          School, City University of New York Queensborough College.  

          Current faculty: Boston University, Summer Music at Stanislaus.

          Conducting positions in Boston and New York. Many commisions

          of personal works.

• Katherine M Almquist, Violin, Viola.
  
  B.M., Hartt School of Music; M.M. Yale School of Music. Suzuki Training with Teri and David Einfeldt, Carol Smith, Carrie Reuning-Hummel, Betsy Stuen-Walker.  Former faculty: Hartt School Community Division and Merritt Music (New Canaan, CT) Current faculty: SSN and the Intensive Community Program of GYBSO.  Frequent Suzuki Institute faculty and guest clinician. Active free-lance violist.  Former member of the Hartford Symphony.
  

• Miriam Bolkosky, Cello.
  
  B.M.; University of Michigan School of music, M.M.; Cleveland Institute of Music. Former faculty The Cleveland Institute of Music, The Music Institute of Chicago, Northwestern University, National Music Camp at Interlochen. Member of the Phoenix (Ann Arbor), and Radius (Boston) Chamber Ensembles. Performs locally with Opera Boston, National Lyric Opera, Boston Pops, Pro Arte Orchestra, Pro Musica and Berkshire Opera Company. Suzuki training with Michele Higa George, Marilyn Kessler, Gilda Barston, Jean Dexter, and Tanya Carey. 

• Hee-Young Chae, Piano.
  
  B. M. Magna cum Laude From the Boston Conservatory. M.M. Longy School of Music.  Suzuki Piano Teacher training with Caroline Fraser, Doris Koppelman and Doris Harrel. Teaching and accompanying for Suzuki School of Newton since May 2004.

• Grace Choi, Music Lab.
  Certificate from Ircam/Acanthes in Paris, France. B.A., Seoul National University, Korea; M.A., Peabody Conservatory of John Hopkins University; M.A., Brandeis University. Recepient of various awards in the USA, Germany, France, Italy and Korea. Faculty member at Northeastern University, Brandeis University, University of Colorado, Arvada Center of Arts and Humanities in Colorado, and Concord Academy. CD released on Capstone Records and a score published in SCI Journal of Music Series. Has attended many festivals and conferences within the USA and around the world. Teachers include David Rakowski, Yehudi Wyner, Martin Boykan, Eric Chasalow, Bernard Rands, Augusta Read Thomas, Brian Ferneyhough, Jonathan Harvey, Betsy Jolas, Magnus Lindberg, Philippe Manoury, Wolfgang Rhim, Pascal Dusapin, John Corligliano, Robert Beaser, Michael Gandolfi, David Felder, and Charles Wourinen.
  
  

• Joy Grimes, Violin, Viola.
  M.M., BU (viola); B.M., Ithaca College (violin). Suzuki violin training, books 1-10 with John Kendall, Vera McCoy-Selentic and Carolyn McCall.  Developed a Suzuki studio of 60 students in Corning, NY.  Additional teaching experience at Southern Illinios University  at Edwardsville and Southern Utah University.  Performances in chamber and orchestral settings including the Binghamton (NY) Philharmonic and the St. Louis Philharmonic.  Member of ASTA.

• Nancy Hair, Cello.
  
  B.M., Indiana University and The Hartt School. Graduate studies in pedagogy with Ithaca Talent Education. Teachers include: Janos Starker, Raya Garbousova, Yehuda Hanani, George Neikrug, Timothy Eddy. Has studied Alexander Technique. Has been seen in performances with Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, New Hampshire Symphony, Opera Company of Boston, and the Rhode Island Philharmonic. Former faculty: Longy and Powers Music Schools. Current faculty: The Hartt School, All Newton Music School.

• Lisa Kidekel, Preschool Director

           B.S. Cornell, M.Ed University of Maryland.

           Lisa has over 25 years of observing and guiding young                           children through their preschool years. She has Director II                   certification from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

• Fani Liao, Piano.
  
  B.M., M.M., Manhattan School of Music. Taught privately in her studio following The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music Practical Exams. She has appeared as concerto soloist with the Queensborough Symphony Orchestra, the Manhattan School of Music Symphony, and the Great Neck Symphony. A composer as well as performer, she has received favorable reviews in the New York Times for her arrangement of the Alban Berg Piano sonata for 13 players and she has written commissioned works for the Absolute Ensemble, Formosa Chamber Music Society and the New York University Chinese Glee Club. Fani attended the Suzuki institute in Magog, Quebec where she did her Suzuki Piano training with Mary Craig Powell and the Chicago Suzuki Institute with Doris Koppelman.

• San-yi Lin , String Dept Chair, Violin.
  B.A., B.S., University of California, Irvine; MM, Boston University. Member of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. Suzuki Training with Carol Sykes. Former Violin instructor at Somerville Charter School, IP Piano School and Dana Hall Music School. String Dept. Chair since 2001.

• Yuting Lin, Piano.         

          B.M. Vocal Performance, National Taiwan Normal University

          M.M. Collaborative Piano, New England Conservatory of Music

          Additional studies in music education at NEC. Suzuki                              piano teacher training with Elizabeth Landman and Doris                        Harrel. Certified public school music teacher grades 7-12 in                   Taiwan. Former piano faculty of Centre Music House in                            Framingham and The New School of Music in Cambridge.                        Former choir director at the Boston Taiwanese Christian                       Church. Piano accompanist for Paulette’s Ballet Studio in                       Medfield.  Ms. Lin has also collaborated and performed with                    many different instrumentalists as well as singers in the                     Greater Boston area.

• Michelle Ordorica, Violin, Suzuki Prep, Preschool Assistant

       B.M., cum laude, Boston Conservatory; M.M., Boston

           Conservatory. Private violin teacher. Member of the Newton  

           Symphony and Brockton Symphony Orchestras.  Recently

attended Killington Music Festival in VT.  Suzuki Training at the Hartt School of Music in Hartford, CT, and the Suzuki School of Newton.

• Karen Parsons, Piano.
  
  B.A., Bates College (French), M.B.A. Babson College, OCCS preschool certification. Piano with Catherine Speh of Bay Shore, NY. Suzuki piano withCaroline Fraser, Doris Koppelman, and Francoise Pierredon. Voice training with Frank Wallace and Ellen Hargis. Currently performs with NEC Camerata (formerly with Quadrivium, Northern Harmony, and Boston A Cappella).
  
  

• Ben Peterson, Cello, and Orchestra.
  After graduating as a Presser Scholar in Theory and Composition from Grinnell College, he studied with Yehuda Hanani at the Peabody Institute and with Charles Wendt at the University of Iowa. He is currently working on his doctoral dissertation at Boston University where his principal studies in cello have been with Andres Diaz. He received his Suzuki training from William Preucil while studying at the University of Iowa. He is actively performing as soloist and chamber music recitals as well as conducting.
  
  
  

• Emily Rideout, Viola.
  
  B.M., Summa cum laude, Moravian College; M.M. SUNY Stony Brook; Performance Diploma candidate, Boston University. Master class with Yo-Yo Ma, performances with Dawn Upshaw and Gunther Schuller. Suzuki and traditional teaching experience since 1998. Chamber music and solo recital appearances include the Stony Brook Baroque Orchestra and the Silver Bay Association Resident String Quartet.
  
  

• Jay Rosenberg, Guitar.
  
  B.S. Union College. Additional studies in jazz theory, solfege and choral conducting at Berklee College, Longy School and Harvard University. Classical guitar studies with Frank Wallace and William Buonocore. Suzuki training with Bill Kossler and Frank Longay. Faculty Powers Music School. Former Artistic Director of Northern Harmony. Performs with Voice of the Turtle and, throughout New England schools, with Promised Land.
  
  
  

• Aaron Rosenthal, Music Lab, Piano.
  B.M. (Composition) Summa cum Laude, Boston University.  M.M. (Composition) Rice University.  Composition study with Lukas Foss and John Harbison.  Recognized with several awards including the ASCAP Young Composers Prize (for String Quintet), the University of Delaware New Music Award (Brass Quintet), and the New England Reed Trio Composition Contest (Loco Rococo).  Best known for his choral work Voices of Terezin, a setting of 3 children's poems from the well known Holocaust art and poetry collection I Never Saw Another Butterfly.  This piece, first prize winner of the New England Choral Consortium Composition Contest, has received performances on four continents and is published in versions for women's and mixed chorus. In between accompanying, teaching, and fulfilling commissions, writes and plays with pop/rock band This Blue Heaven.

• Bekka Schellenberg, Violin, Parent Class.
  
  Raised as a Suzuki kid in Northern Virginia. B.A. from the University of Rochester; Suzuki pedagogy with renowned Anastasia Jempelis. Graduate studies at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville: Violin performance (Kent Perry and Lenora Anop) and Suzuki pedagaogy (Carol Smith and Vera McCoy-Sulentic). Teaching experience prior to moving to Boston: Cedar Rapids Symphony School, Iowa; Greater St. Louis Suzuki Association and Southern Illinois University String Development Program. Teaching at Suzuki School of Newton and freelancing in the Boston area since 2000.

• Steven Snitzer, Piano 

B.A. SUNY Albany with Paula Ennis, M.M. New England Conservatory with Jacob Maxin.

Suzuki Teacher Training with Michiko Yurko, Haruko Kataoka, Carol Bigler, and Robery Frayley. Steve plays chamber music and solo repertoire in a variety of settings around Boston. He has performed as part of the Needham Concert Society and at music schools and colleges all over New England. He also has an active private studio at his home in Needham.

• Carol Sykes , Teacher Trainer, Violin
  B.M., M.M., New England Conservatory. Studied one year with Dr. Suzuki in Japan. Pioneered Suzuki programs in Newton, Lincoln/Sudbury and Falmouth Public Schools. Faculty at NEC, Dana Music School, Cape Cod Conservatory. Founder and director of Young People's String Consort and Mass Suzuki Insitute. Active Suzuki consultant and guest clinician.
  
  
  
• Gwendoline Thornblade, Founder
  
  BDS, London University. M.Sc.D., Boston University. Member of Boston Philharmonic and formerly with the Heritage Players. Clinician at workshops throughout USA, Canada and Israel. Suzuki training with John Kendall, Bill Starr, Ronda Cole, Carol Sykes and others. Founder, SSN, Inc. and incorporating member of Suzuki Music Schools, Inc. Former Faculty ANMS, Newton Public Schools and Longy School of Music. Faculty at NEC.

• Asako Yoshida, Flute, Early Beginners Program –Penny Whistle.
  
  B.M. Kunitachi Music College in Tokyo, Japan, and M.M., University of Michigan School of Music where she was elected Pi Kappa Lambda. She is on the faculty of South Shore Conservatory and Wellesley Public Schools. She has Suzuki Flute pedagogy training from the top Suzuki flute teachers in the world, including founder Toshio Takahashi, Pandora Bryce, June Warhoftig and Jerilee Kechley. She has Suzuki pedagogy training in Pennywhistle from Mary Beth Norris. She has been performing as a member of the Willow Flute Ensemble, known as one of the most active flute ensembles in New England.  She has also been a Suzuki parent following the studies of her daughter in Suzuki violin. 

STAFF

• Sachiko Isihara, Executive Director, Piano, Music Lab.

B.M. with honors, New England Conservatory; M.M., Juilliard School. Suzuki training in Matsumoto, Japan with Haruko Kataoka and long-term teacher training in Lyon, France with Colette Daltier. European Suzuki Association certified piano teacher. Member of the Organizing Committee Concert Centenaire in Paris, France featuring 1,000 children from 17 countries. Former faculty Ecole Koenig, in Paris and Third Street Music School in New York. Various solo and chamber music recitals in the USA and France. Clinician for Mass Suzuki Festival; adjudicator for the South Shore Conservatory piano competition.

• Marlene Lerer, Associate Director

B.S. Early Childhood Education. M.Ed. Ohio/Cleveland State. She has worked with Dr. Suzuki in preparing preschool programs using the Suzuki Philosophy. Marlene has designed and operated many Suzuki programs in the United States. Her experience will provide a strong backbone for the school.