Staff

Angelica Cortez

Executive Director
[email protected]

Angelica Cortez (she/her) is a Los Angeles-born arts leader and educator committed to music, community, and learning. She serves as Executive Director of the SAA, where she supports a community of teachers, artists, young musicians, Suzuki families, and leaders across the Americas committed to advancing the Suzuki Method. She is on the Board of Directors of the International Suzuki Association, where she is a regional representative. Angelica teaches at the University of Southern California as part of its Arts Leadership program. Prior to these positions, she served as Interim President and CEO of El Sistema USA, where she worked to ensure music was more widely accessible to young people in the United States. She started her career with the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Youth Orchestra Los Angeles, Gustavo Dudamel’s signature program, offering free music education and academic support to students around the country. Angelica was selected as a Sphinx LEAD (Leaders in Excellence, Arts, & Diversity) fellow, a two-year leadership program designed to evolve the industry landscape by empowering the next generation of executive leaders. She is an active speaker, educator, and consultant. Outside of her work and healthy obsession with music education, she loves writing, cooking, running, reading, and the amazing people in her life.

Laura Yasuda

Director, Operations
[email protected]

Erin Rushforth

Learning Manager
[email protected]
720-562-2955

Contact Erin regarding training courses, institutes, festivals, scholarships, auditions, Certificate of Achievement, Teacher Trainer applications, the Suzuki Training Committee, and related policies. Cute dog videos also welcome.

Erin Rushforth is a violinist with an eye for detail and a penchant for planning. Erin stepped into her role as Learning Manager in 2023 and brings with her a deep commitment to Suzuki education, a love of people and languages, and abundant leadership experience. Erin was a Suzuki kid and studied in high school with Mary West of the MacPhail Center for Music. At Brigham Young University, she earned a BA and MA in French, before embarking on her Suzuki pedagogy studies. Erin taught violin privately for two decades, while continuing her Suzuki training, as well as coaching and teaching in public and private schools. In 2019, Erin became Director of the Japan-Seattle Suzuki Institute. She helped form the Institute Leadership Team, where she worked to foster a collaborative, inclusive community for Suzuki Institute directors and to build bridges of communication within the SAA community. Erin enjoys the continuation of that effort in her current role and is thrilled to help shape the future of Suzuki education. Apart from her work, she loves hiking, running, clean comedy, travel, new beginnings, and her family.

Dalanie Harris

Marketing & Event Manager
[email protected]
720-562-2952

Contact Dalanie about all things related to marketing, business membership, and events!

Dalanie Harris is a double bassist from Los Angeles, CA. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music and the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, Harris is a fierce advocate for equity and cultural inclusivity in classical music spaces. In November 2018, Harris co-founded Classically Black Podcast, which brings listeners into the world of classical music through the eyes of Black classical musicians. Harris has presented at conferences promoting equity and inclusion for Black musicians across the country, including SphinxConnect, the YOLA National Symposium, and the El Sistema USA National Symposium.

Dyane Protzmann Rogelstad

Membership Associate
[email protected]
303-444-0948

Contact Dyane regarding SAA membership, renewals, profile support, and general info.

Dyane is pleased to serve the SAA team as Membership Associate and to be able to support the organization which has supported her for most of her lifetime. Dyane completed long-term Suzuki Piano training in San Diego and has been actively teaching and pursuing ongoing professional development since 1982. She currently lives in Colorado and enjoys water sports and visiting with her three grandchildren.

Dr. Andrew J. Braddock

Editor, American Suzuki Journal
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Violist Andrew Braddock enjoys a varied musical career as a performer, teacher, and scholar. He is currently the editor of the American Suzuki Journal, a quarterly publication of the Suzuki Association of the Americas. He is the former editor of the Journal of the American Viola Society (2017–2021) for which he contributed feature articles, interviews, and New Music reviews. In addition to writing for the ASJ and JAVS, his writings have appeared in The Strad and the Journal of the British Music Society. Dr. Braddock’s main areas of scholarship are string pedagogy and the analysis of viola music. Recent publications have focused on the pedagogy of fundamental bow strokes, intermediate viola repertoire sequences, and the viola music of Hans Werner Henze. A passionate educator, he has given masterclasses at Vanderbilt University, the Chinese Culture University in Taipei, Taiwan, Bowling Green State University, and many others. He teaches at Western Kentucky University (WKU) and is the co-director of the WKU String Academy. In the summers, he teaches at the Indiana University Summer String Academy and directs the Hilltop String Festival and the WKU Summer String Institute. His creative teaching led him to co-found Bridging Cultures with Music, a 501(c)(3) organization that supports various pedagogical and outreach programs in his community and abroad. His performing career has recently taken him to the Sejong Center in Seoul, South Korea, a solo appearance with the Paducah Symphony Orchestra, the National Concert Hall in Taipei, Taiwan, and the International Viola Congress in Rotterdam. He is the principal violist of the Paducah Symphony Orchestra, and he regularly plays with the Nashville Symphony and the Nashville Opera. He holds degrees from Indiana University, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Kentucky. His principal teachers are Atar Arad, Kathryn Plummer, and John Graham. He plays a viola made by Giovanni Pistucci, ca. 1920. Visit his personal website for his recordings, research, and arrangements for viola: andybraddock.com