Clarisse Atcherson

Clarisse Atcherson joined the Oregon Symphony in 1985, and served on the faculty at the Community Music Center in Portland from 1986 to 2015. She combines an active performing career with a full teaching roster of students of all ages; over the years, a number of her students have won national competitions, attended major conservatories, and have become professional violinists themselves.

Clarisse received a B.M. summa cum laude from the Eastman School of Music, where she was also valedictorian. At Eastman, Clarisse studied with Charles Castleman, members of the Cleveland Quartet, and Abram Loft. She later earned an M.M. from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. While there, she studied pedagogy with John Kendall and was certified through the Suzuki Association of the Americas to teach all ten Suzuki books. 

As a teacher, Clarisse combines the pedagogical techniques of Galamian/DeLay with the Suzuki approach. She has taught and presented lectures at many Suzuki Institutes, including Oregon Suzuki, the Advanced Suzuki Institute at Stanford, and at Suzuki programs in Korea. Clarisse has also taught at the Montecito International Music Festival in California, and serves on the board of the Oregon Chapter of the American String Teachers Association. Her main project with OR-ASTA involves organizing master classes with prominent teachers, such as William Preucil, David Russell, Yizhak Schotten, and others.