Clinicians
The 14th biennial SAA Conference will “feature our own” distinguished SAA members, friends, and former Suzuki students who are now young artist-teacher professionals as our special clinicians for the instrument master classes. True to the theme of the Conference, the format of these master classes will include both team teaching and solo instruction. The young artist clinicians will also be involved in side-by-side chamber music coachings and perform a selection on the Young Artist Recital. Read further about the impressive list being showcased for 2010!
Trio: The Claremont Trio
Bass: Paul Sharpe, Nicole Castleberry
Violin: Thomas Wermuth, Allegra Wermuth, Scott Conklin
Viola: William Preucil Sr., Matthew Dane
Recorder: Patrick O’Malley
Flute: Bart Feller, Sara Traficante
Cello: Gilda Barston, Amy Barston
Piano: Doris Koppelman, Hikari Nakamura
Harp: Elinor Niemisto, Angela Dastrup Willis
Guitar: William Kossler, Adam Kossler,
SYOA Conductors: Marilyn Kesler, Winifred Crock
Special Guests: Bad Boyz of Bass Quartet
Trio
Widely regarded as the premier piano trio of its generation, the Claremont Trio is sought after for its thrillingly virtuosic and richly communicative performances. First winners of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson International Trio Award and the only piano trio ever to win the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, the Claremonts are consistently lauded for their “aesthetic maturity, interpretive depth, and exuberance” (Palm Beach Daily News).
Equally passionate about the standard repertoire and the music of our time, the Claremonts celebrated the release of two CDs in 2009 spanning music from Beethoven to Mason Bates. American Trios on Tria Records is the first disc to present both of Leon Kirchner’s piano trios and was recorded in honor his 90th birthday year. The disc also features Paul Schoenfield’s “Café Music,” Ellen Zwilich’s “Trio,” and Mason Bates’ “String Band” (written for the Claremont Trio in 2002). The group’s other recent release, on Ongaku Records, is a collaborative project with clarinetist Jonathan Cohler, including works by Beethoven, Brahms, and Dohnanyi. The recording garnered a glowing review in Fanfare magazine and received a Critic’s CHOICE award from BBC magazine, which cited the “splendidly enjoyable” disc’s “real intensity through eloquent phrasing and responsive teamwork.”
The Claremonts return to Boston’s prestigious Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum for a series of three performances during the 2009-10 season. The season also includes engagements at the University of Wisconsin, Houghton College, and Elmira College and the Chamber Music Societies of Dallas, Bethlehem (PA), and Logan (UT), along with the Concert Associations of Merrick (NY) and South Windsor (CT). The Trio makes its debut at West Palm Beach’s Society of the Four Arts and performs as ensemble-in-residence at California’s Laguna Beach Live. They continue to maintain a strong New York presence, adding Queens College’s LeFrak Concert Hall to a list of New York venues that includes Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, and Miller Theatre as well as the downtown venues of New York Public Theatre’s Joe’s Pub and Le Poisson Rouge.
Believing that education on all levels is essential to the future of classical music, the Claremont Trio is extensively involved in teaching the next generation of musicians and music lovers. Sought after for their effectiveness in the classroom as well as on the concert stage, the Trio regularly conducts educational outreach activities and master classes, most recently at the Peabody Conservatory’s Preparatory Division, where they conducted a mini-residency, and at the University of Washington, where they led a series of master classes. Other recent master classes have been at Eastman School of Music, Duke University, Boston Conservatory, Purchase College at SUNY, Middlebury College, the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh, Longy School of Music, Kansas State University, and Gettysburg College’s Sunderman Conservatory.
Twin sisters Emily Bruskin (violin) and Julia Bruskin (cello) formed the Trio with Donna Kwong (piano) in 1999 at The Juilliard School. The Claremonts are based in New York City near their namesake: Claremont Avenue.
For more information about the Claremont Trio and to read their blog, please visit www.claremonttrio.com
Bass
Paul Sharpe is the newly appointed Artist-Teacher of Double Bass at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and is active internationally as an orchestral and chamber musician and as a soloist. In the past several years he has performed in recital and presented master classes at Brazil’s International Double Bass Encounter, France’s Bass2008, the World Bass Festival in Poland, many national and regional double bass symposiums, the Cleveland Institute, the University of Iowa, the University of Michigan, University of North Texas, and Interlochen Arts Academy. He has performed as soloist with the Orquestra de Camara Theatro Sao Pedro (Porto Allegre, Brazil), Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival Orchestra, Lubbock Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Chamber Orchestra, and Anchorage Youth Symphony Orchestra. He greatly enjoys performing with the eclectic bass quartet, Bad Boys of Double Bass. Prior to his appointment at UNCSA, he was a tenured professor at Texas Tech University, adjunct faculty at University of North Texas, and an instructor at Augustana College (Rock Island, IL), and the Preucil School of Music. His principal teachers are Jeff Bradetich and Diana Gannett. He has been a frequent reviewer of new publications, music, and recordings for Double Bassist and the International Society of Bassists.
Nicole Castleberry is devoted to teaching bass and cello at The Music Settlement in Cleveland, OH. She loves to perform with the Cleveland Pops, Cleveland Opera and Blossom Festival Orchestra. She formerly played with the orchestras of Red {an orchestra}, Toledo, Wheeling, Canton and Erie as well as Pittsburgh Opera and Sarasota Opera. Nicole received her B.M. from the Manhattan School of Music as a student of Orin O’Brien and continued with graduate studies at the Julliard School. She received her M.M. from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec with Michael Leiter. Before making Cleveland her home she performed with the symphony orchestras of Montreal, Memphis, Phoenix, Albany, Fresno and Las Vegas. Nicole has been a participant of many summer music festivals including the Peninsula Music Festival in Wisconsin, The National Repertory Orchestra, The National Orchestral Institute, Music Academy of the West, The Round Top Festival, Chautauqua Institute and the Brevard Music Center. Nicole studied Suzuki Double Bass pedagogy under the tutelage of Dr. Dan Swaim at Arizona State University and has traveled to several Institutes for cello teacher training. Nicole lives in Shaker Heights with her husband John Clouser and their two young sons, Timothy and Teddy. Tibbott their cat is in residence as well!
Violin
Father and daughter team Thomas and Allegra Wermuth have been team teaching for the past seven years. Through the Preludio program at the Ithaca Suzuki Institute they have sent many aspiring young violinists on to major Conservatories and Universities with a set of skills and tools to provide them with the opportunity to go on to careers in music.
Thomas has been an active teacher in the Suzuki Method for the past thirty-five years at many institutes and workshops throughout the world. In 2007 he was recognized by the United States Department of Education and was given the Presidential Scholars Mentors Award at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. His background includes 15 years with the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, Canadian Chamber Ensemble, and private studio teaching. For the past twenty years he has been on the faculty at the Western Springs School of Talent Education in the Chicagoland area. In addition to teaching, Tom is a graduate of the Barbara Brennan School of Healing.
Allegra Wermuth began her violin studies with her father at the age of five. Her former teachers include Almita and Roland Vamos, and Shmuel Ashkenazi of the Vermeer Quartet. A graduate of Oberlin College and Northern Illinois University, she is currently active in orchestral and solo performances, maintains a private studio and is associate principal second violin with the Colorado Symphony. Allegra resides in Arvada, Colorado, is married to french hornist Matthew Scheffelman and has a two year old daughter.
Thomas and Allegra teach with an open heart, based on the philosophy that all children can succeed. Given the right atmosphere, hard work and dedication, the success of their teaching shines. They feel that through their team effort, balanced with encouragement, directness, dedication and love, anything can be accomplished.
Scott Conklin regularly appears as a recitalist, soloist, chamber musician, orchestral player, and clinician throughout the United States and abroad, and he is a violin professor at The University of Iowa School of Music and a violin teacher at the Preucil School of Music. Conklin has performed with numerous orchestras, including the Louisville, Nashville, and Berlin Symphony Orchestras. He is the 2008 Iowa String Teachers Association Leopold LaFosse Teacher of the Year, and his album Violinguistics American Voices is available on Albany Records. During his youth, Conklin studied with Carol Dallinger, Violin Professor at the University of Evansville. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from The Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied violin with David Updegraff and chamber music with Peter Salaff. Conklin also earned Master of Music and Doctorate of Musical Arts degrees from The University of Michigan School of Music as a student of Paul Kantor.
Viola
William Preucil Sr., violist, has performed in thirty-five countries on six continents. He received Bachelor and Master of Music degrees and the Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, was principal violist of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and a founding member of the Stradivari Quartet. He is Emeritus Professor at The University of Iowa, where he was given its annual M.L. Huit Award for Teaching Excellence in 1992.
While at the Eastman School he was a member of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and, upon graduation, served for three years in the United States Marine Band in Washington, D.C. where his string group played for White House functions.
Mr. Preucil is the recording artist for the method books of the Suzuki Viola School and has served the Suzuki Association of the Americas as Chair of the Board of Directors and also the International Suzuki Association as its Vice President. As a registered Teacher Trainer with the SAA, he has taught master classes and workshops in Europe, Asia, Australia, and throughout North America. He has served on judging panels for the Primrose International Viola Competition, the Stulberg International String Competition, the Washington International Competition for Strings, and the Johansen International Competition for Young String Players.
He is a longtime member of the American String Teachers Association who presented him with its Artist Teacher Award of 2009, and also of the American Viola Society where he served as Vice President and received their award for Creative Achievement in 2008.
Mr. Preucil was a co-founder (with his wife, Doris) of the Preucil School of Music. The school was established in 1975 in Iowa City and has a current enrollment of 700 students. Mr. and Mrs. Preucil’s four children are all professional string players: William, Jr., concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra; Walter, cellist with the Chicago Lyric Opera; Anne, harpist with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, and Jeanne, violinist with the Cleveland Orchestra.
Brightmusic co-founder Matthew Dane is a member of the Boulder Piano Quartet, serves as Principal Violist of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra in Houston, and is on the faculty at the University of Colorado. Chamber music festival appearances include OK Mozart, Portland (Maine), Chamber Music Quad Cities (Iowa), Ruby Mountains (Nevada), and Tanglewood. With the BPQ and Jon Manasse he has recorded quintets of Lowell Liebermann for Koch. In summers Dane performs in the Colorado Music Festival and teaches at the Texas Music Festival. His Doctoral Document, which examines the teaching influence of Karen Tuttle, enjoys wide circulation among amateur and professional violists nationwide. Dane has served the viola community as Editor of the Journal of the American Viola Society and as a Viola Society Board member at both the local and national levels. Website: www.daneviola.com
Recorder
Hailed as “distinguished” by the Chicago Tribune, and “a combination of steel and velvet” by the Chicago Sun Times, Patrick O’Malley has performed across the US and Europe. He is on the faculty of the Music Institute of Chicago and the Suzuki Music School of Lincoln Park. He runs a private studio and teaches remote students via video conference at PatrickRecorder.com. Patrick earned a Master of Music degree in recorder from Indiana University, studying with Eva Legêne. Under a Netherlands Fulbright Fellowship, he studied with Han Tol at the Rotterdam Conservatory.
Flute
Bart Feller is Principal Flute of the New York City Opera and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. He has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Bargemusic and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Mr. Feller has also appeared as concerto soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Jupiter Symphony. He is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where his teachers included Julius Baker and John Krell; he has also worked extensively with Keith Underwood. Among the summer festivals he has participated in are the Marlboro Music Festival, OK Mozart International Festival, Colorado College Chamber Music Festival, Napa Valley Chamber Music Festival, and the Grand Teton Music Festival. Mr. Feller is Professor of Flute at Rutgers University/Mason Gross School of the Arts, and teaches in the Pre-College Division of The Juilliard School.
Sara Traficante, Artistic Director and Flute Faculty—National Capital Suzuki School of Music, Ottawa ON Canada.
Sara Traficante began playing flute as a first generation Canadian Suzuki flute student in Hamilton, Ontario studying with David Gerry. She received her Bachelor of Music degree at the Eastman School of Music with Performer’s Certificate studying with Bonita Boyd, and Master of Music degree from McGill University studying with Timothy Hutchins. Sara has also studied with Suzanne Shulman and Toshio Takahashi.
As an orchestral and chamber musician, Sara has performed in Canada, USA, Ireland, France, Taiwan and Japan, most recently with the National Arts Centre Orchestra and Festival of the Sound. Sara was awarded a debut recital for Radio-Canada CBC and was broadcast on the series ‘Jeunes Artistes de la Chaîne Culturelle’ and was recently featured on the SAA “Celebrating Excellence” CD. An active vocalist, Sara has performed in many capacities both on stage and in the studio.
Sara formed the SuzukiMusic Flute Ensemble to create an opportunity for her teen students to play chamber music, develop performance skills and enjoy making music together.
Cello
Gilda Barston, cellist, is Dean Emeritus of the Music Institute of Chicago. She is currently the Artistic Director of the Chicago Suzuki Institute. In addition to her teaching, she currently serves as secretary on the Board of the International Suzuki Association, and has served as Board Chair of both the ISA and SAA. A student of Leonard Rose, Gilda received a B.S. and M.S. degree from the Juilliard School of Music in New York.
In 1998, Gilda received a Distinguished Service Award from the Suzuki Association of the Americas for her work with the SAA Cello Committee, and was the recipient of the American Suzuki Institute’s 2005 Suzuki Chair Award. A Registered Teacher Trainer of Suzuki Pedagogy, Gilda has taught at many Institutes and workshops throughout the country and in Canada. She was a faculty member and soloist at the International Suzuki Teachers’ Conference in Matsumoto, Japan, taught at the World Conference in Edmonton, Canada, the Pan-Pacific Suzuki Conference in Adelaide, Australia, the Melbourne Autumn Festival and at the Korean Suzuki Association Winter Camps 2003-2008. In April of 2006 she was an honored guest and faculty member at the 14th Suzuki Method World Convention in Turin, Italy.
Gilda is the mother of Elisa Barston (violin, Seattle Symphony Orchestra) and Amy Barston (cello, Suzuki teacher and performer), and the grandmother of Melia Hsu (Suzuki violin student). Ask her for stories about both daughters, especially about practicing with them. It is much easier to be a Suzuki teacher than to be a Suzuki parent!
Praised as “passionate and elegant” by The New York Times, cellist Amy Sue Barston has performed as soloist and chamber musician on stages all over the world, including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Ravinia, Caramoor, BargeMusic, Haan Hall (Jerusalem), the Power House (Australia), the International Musicians Seminar (Cornwall, England), Symphony Center (Chicago), the Olympic Music Festival, and the Banff Centre (Canada). At age seventeen she appeared as soloist with t he Chicago Symphony on live television, won Grand Prize in the Society of American Musicians’ Competition, and won First Place and the Audience Prize in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.
Starting cello at age 3, Miss Barston studied with Nell Novak at The Music Institute of Chicago. She continued with Eleonore Schoenfeld at the University of Southern California and with Joel Krosnick at The Juilliard School, where she earned her Masters degree and was Class Assistant to Mr. Krosnick. She has also worked with Yo Yo Ma, Rostropovich, David Geringas, Bernhard Greenhouse, Robert Mann, Ralph Kirshbaum, Timothy Eddy, Gary Hoffman, Mannheim Pressler, Tabea Zimmerman, and Pinchas Zukerman, among many others.
Miss Barston has premiered many works written for her by living composers across the United States. In 2000 she performed as soloist with the Prometheus Chamber Orchestra in the world premiere of a concerto written for her by Juilliard professor Kendall Briggs. In 2001 she toured the US and Australia and performed Osvaldo Golijov’s Omaramor for solo cello in twenty cities, receiving twenty consecutive standing ovations. In 2002 she performed the world premiere of Ned Rorem’s Aftermath at the Ravinia Festival; The Chicago Sun-Times wrote: “the deep, rich tones of Barston’s cello haunted the vocal line like a sorrowing vision.”
Miss Barston has performed as soloist with the Chicago Symphony, the Chicago Chamber Orchestra, the Prometheus Chamber Orchestra, the Rockford Symphony, the Denison Symphony, the USC Symphony, the Westchester Symphony, the Pasadena Orchestra, the Intermountain String Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes, and the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra, among many others. She made her first solo appearance with orchestra in Guelph, Canada when she was twelve.
Miss Barston is the cellist of two critically acclaimed chamber ensembles: the Corigliano Quartet and Divahn. Strad magazine hailed the “abundant commitment and mastery” of the Corigliano Quartet. Divahn is a unique all-female quartet comprised of voice, percussion, violin, and cello that specializes in Middle Eastern music and improvisation. Miss Barston has also performed sonatas and chamber music with many of the world’s leading musicians, including Leon Fleisher, Jon Kimura Parker, Arnold Steinhardt, Bernard Greenhouse, Leila Josefowitz, Peter Oundjian, Ralph Kirshbaum, Ani Kavafian, Mark O’Connor, Danny Phillips, the Ying Quartet, the Orion Quartet, and the Lark Quartet, among many others. She is also Co-Artistic Director of the Canandaigua Lake Chamber Music Festival.
Above all, Miss Barston is a devoted teacher: in her home, at the New York School for Strings, as a guest teacher at Juilliard, and at numerous summer festivals. Many students commute for lessons from hundreds of miles away, some from as far as Alaska, Brazil, and Japan.
Miss Barston’s upcoming schedule includes solo and chamber music performances in England, New Zealand, Sydney, Seattle, New York, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Wisconsin, Rochester, Denver, Chicago, and Germany, as well as giving classes for young cellists in nine cities in the US, Europe, and Australia. www.amybarston.com
Piano
Doris Koppelman is a pioneer in the Suzuki piano movement who has been teaching Suzuki piano teachers and students throughout the world for more than 30 years. She is the author of the book “Introducing Suzuki Piano” as well as a contributor to “Teaching Suzuki Piano”. Ms. Koppelman is a registered teacher trainer and is the recipient of the SAA Outstanding Teacher Award and Distinguished Service Award. She has been a member of the SAA and has been awarded Honorary Life Membership by the International Suzuki Association. She is active in the musical life of San Diego.
Japanese-Australian pianist Hikari Nakamura was born in Yokohama and began her music lessons on the violin with her father, Yasuki Nakamura. Her family moved to Sydney in 1979, where she began learning the piano through the Suzuki Method. Ms. Nakamura holds degrees from The University of Sydney, Queensland Conservatorium of Music, Queensland University of Technology and The University of Iowa. In Australia, her teachers have been Nada Brissenden, Neta Maughn and Max Olding with additional lessons from Lev Vlassenko. Her studies abroad include Talent Education Research Institute in Japan with Haruko Kataoka and from Naoyuki Taneda in Karlsruhe, Germany. In 1996, Ms Nakamura taught at The Central Queensland University-Conservatorium of Music and in 2000 joined the piano faculty at The Preucil School of Music in Iowa City, Iowa. A recipient of the Becker Scholarship, Ms. Nakamura obtained her Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in 2005 from The University of Iowa, studying with Uriel Tsachor.
In addition to her teaching career, she is active both as a soloist and collaborative pianist. She was awarded a scholarship to attend the Australian National Academy’s chamber music program in Melbourne. As member of a trio, was featured in Musica Viva concert series in Sydney and performed at the Chamber Music Festival in Townsville. Performances as concerto soloist include the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra Rantos Collegium Orchestra in Melbourne, the Te Jeon Symphony Orchestra in Korea and Yomiuri Philharmonic Orchestra in Japan. In 2007, she performed the Brahms Piano Concerto No.1 with The Fortworth Symphony Orchestra at The Piano-Texas International Festival and Academy as one of the winner in the concerto competition for teachers. Ms. Nakamura was the winner of the 11th North Queensland Concerto Competition and the National Chopin and Wieniawski Competition in Australia. She received second prize in the Young Artists’ Division of the World Piano Competition in Cincinnati.
Harp
Elinor Niemisto is instructor of harp at Carleton College and St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN. She is principal harpist and soloist with the Rochester(MN) Orchestra and the LaCrosse (WI) Symphony. Elinor maintains a studio of up to 40 students from age 4 to 70 and plays restful harp music to homebound and bedridden residents in the area. She has completed courses in Suzuki Harp Teacher Training levels 1-4, plus Practicumm and has been teaching Suzuki Harp since 1985. Elinor is active in her community as harpist for weddings, choirs, church and parties.
Harpist Angela Dastrup Willis has performed throughout Western Europe and the United States. She has received recognition in state, national, and international competitions, including the International Lily Laskine, the USA International, the American Harp Society National, and the Utah State Fair Music Competitions. She appeared twice as a youth soloist with the Utah Symphony Orchestra.
As a Level I ARTS Week Winner and 2005 Presidential Scholar in the Arts, Angela was a special guest at the White House and performed in Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center. She also recorded the Suzuki Harp Book 3 CD for worldwide distribution.
A lifetime student of her Suzuki teacher, ShruDeLi Ownbey, Angela has also studied with Catherine Michel in Europe and Nicole Brubaker Brady at Brigham Young University.
Guitar
William Kossler is a guitarist of uncommon ability in demand internationally as both a teacher and performer. He holds Masters and Undergraduate Degrees in Classical Guitar Performance at the University of South Carolina where he studied with Christopher Berg. William has placed as a finalist in regional and national competitions and received positive reviews for his compelling performances.
He is the author of several publications on guitar pedagogy, and his articles have appeared in Soundboard (the Journal of the Guitar Foundation of America), The Suzuki Journal (the Journal of the Suzuki Association of the Americas), and several other publications.
He has conducted Long Term Artist Residencies with both the South Carolina and Tennessee Arts Commissions, and as a recipient of a Rotary International Scholarship spent a year in Japan studying with pedagogue Dr. Shinichi Suzuki. A co-author of the Suzuki Guitar Method, Mr. Kossler has conducted pedagogy workshops for guitarists throughout the United States, South America, Canada, Europe, and Australia.
He currently teaches privately in Winston-Salem, with the Davie County Public School System, and is on the North Carolina Arts Council’s Touring Artists Directory as a performer on the guitar, lute, and vihuela.
Adam Kossler began his musical studies with the violin at the age of two years old at the Suzuki Institute in Matsumoto, Japan. At the age of three he became one of the earliest Suzuki Guitar students under the guidance of his father, William Kossler, a pioneer in Suzuki Method for guitar.
During high school Adam both performed and taught guitar in his hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
He received his undergraduate degree in guitar performance with Dr. Elliot Frank, at East Carolina University. He earned his master’s as a graduate assistant at Appalachian State University under Dr. Douglas James.
Adam currently resides in Tallahassee FL where he teaches, performs and studies at Florida State University as Bruce Holzman’s Teaching Assistant. He is currently pursuing a DMA in Guitar Performance.
He has been awarded prizes in many Guitar Competitions including 1st prize in the MANC International Guitar Competition and 2nd prize in both the Appalachian Guitarfest and Columbus State Guitar Symposium.
SYOA Conductors
Marilyn Kesler has recently retired after forty-two years as a teacher in the Okemos, Michigan Public Schools teaching 7th and 8th Grade strings and three high school orchestras. She is continues to be the director of the Community Education Suzuki program where she teaches Suzuki cello lessons.
Ms. Kesler began her teaching career as a general music teacher in Alton, Illinois; while there, she earned a Masters Degree in Music Education at Southern Illinois University where she specialized in the adaptation of the Suzuki Violin Method for the cello with then professor, John Kendall. Her undergraduate degree in Music Education was from Indiana University where she studied cello with Janos Starker and Leopold Terraspulsky.
She is presently on the Suzuki Association of the Americas Board of Directors. Past offices in clued President of Michigan Chapter of the American String Teachers Association, Secretary of the Suzuki Association of the Americas, Chairman of the SAA Cello Committee, Public School Committee, and Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association vice-President of Orchestra Activities. In 1990, she was the first recipient of the ASTA National School Educator Award which is presented to the outstanding public school music teacher in the US. In 1998, she received the “Distinguished Service Award” from SAA. Other honors include, MSBOA, MASTA, and Indiana University Alumni “Teacher of the Year”.
Winifred Crock is the orchestra director at Parkway Central High School and maintains a private violin studio, in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Mrs. Crock has taught strings in the public schools for 23 years and has taught violin for 31.
Under Mrs. Crock’s direction the orchestras at Parkway Central High have tripled in size and have performed in prestigious venues across the country to critical acclaim. In 2000, Parkway Central music department was awarded “Grammy Gold Signature School” status as a part of the national school recognition program by the “Grammy” Foundation. In 2006, Central was recognize again as a Grammy Signature School. Mrs. Crock has been named Missouri ASTA Private Studio Teacher of the Year, a Pillar of Parkway and been selected for the “USA Today” National Teacher Team. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree summa cum laude from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville and a Masters of Music summa cum laude from Kent State University in Ohio. Mrs. Crock received the Rotary International Foundation Scholarship and subsequently graduated from the Suzuki Talent Education Institute in Matsumoto, Japan while studying with Dr. Shinichi Suzuki. In addition to her Suzuki work she has earned Kodaly Certification from the Kodaly Center of America in Boston and has also traveled to Helsinki Finland to investigate the Kodaly inspired “Colourstrings” method of string teaching.
While many of her students have been gone on to successful music careers, she believes that some of her most important teaching is to students who will never become professional musicians. Mrs. Crock is a frequent clinician, conductor and lecturer and is active in numerous music organizations. She writes frequently for the Suzuki Journal of the Americas and for ASTA publications. She is married to Steve Crock and has a son, William, 12.
Bad Boyz of Bass
The Bad Boyz of Bass is a quartet of past prize-winners of the International Society of Bassists Solo Competition. Despite the fact that they are all distinguished professors at important schools of music (Volkan Orhon, University of Iowa; Anthony Stoops, University of Oklahoma; David Murray, Butler University; and Paul Sharpe, University of North Carolina School of the Arts), their concerts are far from professorial, and in fact are distinguished by a refreshing irreverence and great joy in the music they are making. With repertoire choices ranging from Bach to Borodin and Metallica to Sir Mix-a-lot they have delighted audiences with numerous performances in the United States and Europe.
The Bad Boyz of Bass will present a unique concert of entertainment during the Conference weekend!
Last updated March 4 2010
