FSI Faculty

Violin

Nicolette Solomon

Laingsburg, South Africa

Nicolette Solomon is the Director of the Monticello Talent Education School of Music. She was the Executive Director and President of the Suzuki Music Institute of Dallas for 20 years and has taught violin, viola, chamber music and conducted string orchestras for over 40 years.

Ms. Solomon was born in Laingsburg, South Africa, to musician parents. In 1975 she played at the International Festival of Youth Orchestras in Scotland and has twice toured Europe as well as and performed in Israel and Taiwan. She has also been an Adjudicator/Examiner for music competitions
and examinations in South Africa and the USA. Ms. Solomon founded and directed the Solomon Suzuki School in Johannesburg, South Africa, which was the first Suzuki Music School in Africa.

Nicolette Solomon obtained a Bachelor of Music (Honors) and Higher Education Diploma (Post Graduate) at University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Her violin pedagogy training continued with Christophe Bossuat at the Ecole Suzuki in Lyon, France. Nicolette studied with Dr. Shinichi Suzuki at the Talent Education Research Institute in Matsumoto, Japan in 1992. During that time, she taught at a private studio in Nagano City, Japan and at Shinshu University.

In 1994, Ms. Solomon played in the Eduard Melckus Baroque Ensemble. She has taught at workshops and Institutes in South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and throughout the USA and Central America. Her studio in Dripping Springs comprises of violinists and violists ranging from 4 year old beginners to College level students. She is married to Carl van Wyk, has 2 adult children and two grandchildren, Leonardo and Julia. She loves gardening, architecture, hiking, film, reading, art, food and wines.

Gretchen Grube

Chicago, Illinois

Gretchen Grube grew up as a traditional violin student in northern Wisconsin. She discovered the Suzuki method when she began studying violin performance at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

Gretchen holds a B.M. in Violin Performance with Suzuki Pedagogy from University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP). She completed her M.M. in Violin Performance with Suzuki Pedagogy from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE).

Gretchen teaches at the Music Institute of Chicago and Music for Youth in the Arlington Heights District 25. In addition, she is an active clinician across the country at institutes and workshops and plays in an Irish rock band called the Gleasons.

Michael McLean

Los Angeles, California

Based in Los Angeles, California, composer and violinist Michael McLean is an internationally noted composer, violinist, and pedagogue. On the faculty of the Colburn School of Performing Arts, he teaches violin and composition while maintaining a lively career as a composer of orchestral, chamber, and film music. He received his B.M. in Violin Performance from Northwestern University where he studied violin, composition, counterpoint, and orchestration extensively. Michael also received a degree from the University of Southern California in “Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television”. Mr. McLean is a popular guest clinician at workshops and institutes throughout the country, and has been invited to teach and perform in Argentina, Singapore, Tanzania, Canada, France, Belgium, Mexico and Peru. Michael was recently asked to teach a seminar on Bach at the Juilliard School for the “Starling-Delay Symposium on Violin Studies”. He is also an active member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas where he has given various sessions on violin pedagogy and Bach at the SAA’s bi-annual conferences. He has studied Suzuki Pedagogy with Yuko Honda, Barbara Barber as well as John Kendall. Founder and president of Oak Cliff Publishing, he has composed and arranged more than 100 of his compositions and has recorded four CD’s, “Care to Tango?” (with Brian Lewis and Barbara Barber), New World, Pieces and Kokoro (with Yuko Honda). His Violin Concerto, and two large scale Viola works (Viola Suite and the orchestration of Schumann’s “Marchenbilder”) were recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios with Brian Lewis and Roger Myers as the featured soloists. He is currently working on his second Violin Concerto to be recorded with Brian Lewis and the London Symphony and has recently composed the film music for an award winning documentary on the iconic American architect, Louis Sullivan. Michael loves to hike, backpack and basically be outdoors as much as possible.

Christie Felsing

Hartford, Connecticut

Christie Felsing is Director of Teaching and Learning at the University of Hartford’s Hartt Community Division where she teaches violin in the Hartt Suzuki Program and leads the Suzuki graduate pedagogy courses. She has been active in the Suzuki Association of the Americas as a registered teacher trainer for many years, served on the SAA Board of Directors from 2004 to 2009, coordinated the 2010 SAA conference, worked as a staff member from 2014 to 2016, and served as a consultant for teacher development. Christie was assistant director at the Preucil School of Music in Iowa City, Iowa, for 17 years, and taught on its violin faculty from 1996 to 2014. In 2013, the Iowa String Teachers Association named her the Leopold LaFosse Studio Teacher of the Year. Christie received her Master of Music degree in Suzuki pedagogy with John Kendall at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, and her Bachelor of Music degree with Vartan Manoogian and Marvin Rabin at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In addition, she completed a nine-month Suzuki internship with Doris Preucil in Iowa, and her arts administration training (AMICI) with the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts. Christie currently serves on the International Suzuki Association Board of Directors as an At-Large Director.

Lucy Shaw

Seattle, Washington

Lucy Shaw is an active performer, Suzuki teacher and clinician currently based in the Seattle, WA area. A native of Nova Scotia, Canada, she received her Bachelor degree Brandon University in Manitoba, Canada, and her Master of Music in Violin Performance at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. Important musical influences include Sergiu Luca, Francis Chaplin, Sydney Harth and Jean-Jacques Kantorow. For eighteen years Lucy was owner/director of the Village Violin School in Houston where she was an active member of the Houston Area Suzuki Strings Association. She was violin coordinator for the Suzuki Association of the America’s 2008 National Conference and served on the SAA Board of Directors 2011-2014. As a guest teacher and clinician Lucy has taught at Workshops and Institutes in Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica and throughout the continental United States. Lucy currently maintains a private studio in Redmond, WA.

Susan Crawford

Northfield, Minnesota

Susan Crawford teaches violin and viola at Carleton College and is on the Suzuki faculty for both MacPhail Center For Music and Northern Lights School for Strings in Minnesota’s Twin Cities. After many rewarding music festival experiences as a participant, Susan is delighted to be a frequent clinician at institutes and workshops fulfilling her dream of furthering talent education. Places she has taught include Fairbanks Suzuki Institute, Intermountain Suzuki String Institute, Greater Austin Suzuki Institute, Greater Washington Suzuki Institute, Peaks to Plains and Ozark Suzuki Institute. Her students have won many awards and are continuing their studies at programs including Juilliard, Northwestern and Oberlin.

She is a member of Minnesota Sinfonia, has been the concertmaster for the Ordway Music Theater’s Broadway series for many years, and enjoys an active freelance career.

Viola

Lucy Shaw

Seattle, Washington

Susan Crawford

Northfield Minnesota

Cello

Elizabeth Mikhael

Fox Island, Washington

Cellist ELIZABETH MIKHAEL made her Carnegie Hall debut as soloist with Pinchas Zuckerman and the Manhattan School of Music’s Chamber Sinfonia and was a Fellow for three consecutive summers at the Tanglewood Music Center. Awarded the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Karl Zeise Memorial Cello Prize, Ms. Mikhael holds degrees from the University of Southern California, the Manhattan School of Music’s distinguished Orchestral Performance Program, and the Universität der Künste Berlin as a Fellowship recipient from the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. Highlight solo performances include sold-out classical recitals in New York’s Carnegie Hall and Mexico City’s Palacio de Bellas Artes with pianist Santiago Piñeirúa and with Vox Anima London under the baton of James Meaders at Southwark Cathedral. Ms. Mikhael toured the US with Rez Abbasi’s star-studded jazz band, Invocation, and is featured on his album “Unfiltered Universe” with Rudresh Manahthappa, Vijay Iyer, Johannes Weidenmueller, and Dan Weiss.

Equally at home as both a performer and teacher, Ms. Mikhael completed her Suzuki Teacher Training at the School for Strings in New York City with Pamela Devenport and has studied Suzuki pedagogy with Allen Lieb, Carey Beth Hockett, Carey Cheney and Gilda Barston. She has taught at workshops and institutes internationally. After eight years as a faculty member at the School for Strings in New York City, Ms. Mikhael maintains a private studio in Washington. She serves as a board member for the Suzuki Association of Washington State.

Mary Walters

Seattle, Washington

Mary Walters teaches a thriving cello studio in Seattle, Washington. Prior to moving to Seattle, she taught at the Music Institute of Chicago. Mary has been a guest clinician at many institutes including the Chicago Suzuki Institute, Fairbanks Suzuki Institute, San Diego Suzuki Institute, Hawaii Suzuki Institute, Alaska Cello Intensive, as a teaching assistant at the Bowdoin International Music Festival, and more. In 2018, Mary directed the first cello choir ever gathered at the Suzuki Association of the Americas conference. Mary earned her master’s degree in cello performance and pedagogy from Northern Illinois University, and her bachelor’s degree from the University of Oregon Honors College. She has been a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and Northwest Indiana Symphony. Mary has also performed frequently with the Seattle Symphony, and as a recording studio musician has played on dozens of Hollywood film, television, commercial, and video game soundtracks.

Flute

Noelle Perrin-Bryson

Hackensack, New Jersey

Noelle Perrin-Bryson is founder of the FluteStars®️ Music Studio and director of the Suzuki Flute Program at Thurnauer School of Music. She is a certified Teacher Trainer for the Suzuki Association of the Americas and the Asia Region Suzuki Organization. In 2016 she had the pleasure of training 12 music teachers at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music in Kabul. She has been guest flute clinician for many additional music institutes including the Cedros International Music Festival, Colorado Suzuki Institute, Boston Flute Institute, and McMaster University in Hamilton, ON. Noelle was also the 2008 Flute Coordinator for the Suzuki Association of the Americas National Teachers Conference in Minneapolis, MN and was accepted into the Professional Flute Choir performing during the 2009 National Flute Convention in New York City. Ms. Perrin has extensive formal teaching experience as well as Dalcroze, Suzuki, and Montessori training. Her students perform widely and have won competitions across the country such as MTNA, NJMTA, Mid-Atlantic Music Teachers Guild and NYFC Young Musicians Competition. Noelle’s many flute choir arrangements have been performed globally including a recent concert in Finland of 94 flutists performing “The Fireflies Chronicles”. She holds a Master’s Degree in flute performance from Manhattan School of Music, Diploma from the Nice Conservatoire, and a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Noelle made her New York City Solo Debut at Weille Recital Hall in 1994 sponsored by Artists International. She presently enjoys performing and teaching throughout the United States and abroad.

Guitar

Stephen Bondy

Denver, Colorado

Stephen Bondy is an active Suzuki Guitar teacher in Denver Colorado. He runs a full studio, is regularly asked to teach at Suzuki workshops across the country. He also runs his own local workshop every winter for Suzuki Guitar students in the area and beyond. Praised for his powerful and passionate playing, it is teaching where he is strongest. He enjoys every stage of teaching, from the exciting beginnings of the pre-Twinkle levels, to the interesting and sometimes complicated middle school years, and into the rewarding high school years.

Mr. Bondy’s students have twice won ensemble performance opportunities at the Guitar Foundation of America competition and conference, the most prestigious guitar gathering in North America. He is so excited to have been asked back to the Fairbanks Suzuki Institute!

William Kossler

Winston-Salem, North Carolina

William Kossler is a guitarist of uncommon ability in demand internationally as both a teacher and performer. He holds a MM in Guitar Performance from 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 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 and Teacher Trainer for the Suzuki Association of the Americas, Mr. Kossler has conducted pedagogy workshops for guitarists throughout the United States, South America, Canada, Europe, and Australia. He currently teaches guitar as the director of the Winston Salem Suzuki School and has served on the North Carolina Arts Council’s Touring Artists Directory as a performer on the guitar, lute, and vihuela. William performs in solo and various ensemble settings, including with his three sons who are also accomplished guitarists. His oldest son Adam was appointed Professor of Guitar Studies at Appalachian State University in the fall of 2022. Middle son Sam is a multi-instrumentalist and performs with various artists out of Nashville Tennessee. Youngest son John is an accountant and also performs with his brother Adam as the Kossler Duo. In 2019, the Kossler Duo released their first album titled Danse Macabre, a collection of their own new transcriptions for guitar duo. The recording debuted at #2 on Billboard’s “Traditional Classical” chart, and #7 on Billboard’s “Classical Albums” chart.

Dalcroze Eurhythmics

Mira Larson

Salt Lake City, Utah

Originally from Chicago, Mira Larson started training in cello and dance at an early age. She continued her cello studies at Northwestern University (BM, summa cum laude) and the New England Conservatory (MM). She holds a Dalcroze Professional Certificate and a Dalcroze License from the Dalcroze School of Music and Movement. Mira is the founder of Rythmique Music School (RMS), a Dalcroze eurhythmics program for children in Salt Lake City. Mira currently serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Dalcroze Society of America, as well as Chapter Chair for Music for Food.

As a chamber musician, Mira has performed at Jordan Hall (Boston), Orchestra Hall (Chicago), and Carnegie Hall’s Weill and Zankel Recital Halls. She has collaborated in chamber and contemporary music performances across the country and around the world. She finds great joy in communicating through the non-verbal language of music, whether with concert audiences or her students. Mira teaches privately, through RMS, and at the French-Immersion Preschool at the University of Utah.

World Rhythms

Sean Dowgray

Fairbanks, Alaska

Dr. Sean Dowgray is a classical percussionist specializing in modern and contemporary music. His efforts include percussion performance, teaching, recording, research, composition, curation, directing, and speaking. He has been featured as a soloist at the Oberlin Percussion Institute, the Percussive Art Society International Convention (PASIC), the WasteLAnd New Music Series, Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Learning, and universities throughout the United States (most recently at the Manhattan School of Music). Dr. Dowgray attended the Oberlin Conservatory (B.M.) and received his D.M.A from the University of California San Diego where he studied with world renowned percussionist, Steven Schick. He is currently Term Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Alaska Fairbanks where he leads the UAF Percussion Group, organizes the Circumpolar Music Series, and engages in a number of collaborative projects each year.

Chamber Music

Yue Sun

Fairbanks, Alaska

Ms. Sun has performed recitals and concerts throughout America, Europe, and Asia at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Konzerthaus Berlin, the Sanders Theater at Harvard and Shanghai Concert Hall. She was selected as the concertmaster and associate concertmaster for the Latin GRAMMY® Award Orchestra of the Americas and the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival Orchestra. Christoph Eschenbach praised her as “a rare talent of roaring flame and infectious passion.” In January 2017, her DVD album “Passion” for 8 premiers of Chinese solo violin works was released by Shanghai Audio and Video Publishing House. Shortly after, the album was published by Shanghai Music House with the sheet music, and the CD version of her album was distributed globally in the United States by Skillman Music in January 2018.

Ms. Sun graduated from Stony Brook University with a Doctorate of Music Arts, and earned her Master of Music from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Ida Kavafian on full scholarship. Ms. Sun is a member of DEKA String Quartet. With the quartet, she has been closely mentored by the Emerson String Quartet and David Finckel for the past half decade. Since the fall of 2019, her quartet has serve as Artists-in-Residence through the SUNY Rockefeller Institute of Government. Ms. Sun played with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra from 2019 to 2022, immediately after, she was appointed as tenure-tracked assistant professor in upper strings of University of Alaska Fairbanks and director of the Northern Light String Orchestra. She is also the concertmaster of the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra. In her spare time, she loves to cook and compose.

Charles Akert

Fairbanks, Alaska

Charles Akert has been described by Toronto’s Ludwig Van as “a performer with great sensitivity to the music, and an understated virtuosity.” Born in Alaska to Swiss parents, Mr. Akert’s career as a cellist began at age 5. Since then he has enjoyed a varied career as soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and “rock star”. His performances have ranged widely: from Carnegie Hall to NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts. His collaborations include performances with violist Kim Kashkashian and bands like The Family Crest and The Trans-Siberian Orchestra..

After completing degrees at the University of Northern Colorado and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, he was awarded residencies at the Banff Centre, the Aspen Music Festival, and Carnegie Mellon University. In 2011, he won first prize at the Plowman Nation Chamber Music competition as a member of the Nexus String Quartet.

As a teacher of both cello and chamber music, Mr. Akert has served as guest faculty at the Kinhaven School of Music, at the Blue Lake Festival, and at the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival. He is a regular guest artist and core member of the Trinity Alps Chamber Music Festival.

Mary Walters

Seattle, Washington

Susan Crawford

Northfield, Minnesota

Pianists

Suzanne McBride-Ruedy

Fairbanks, Alaska

Suzanne McBride-Ruedy is a piano instructor and accompanist from North Pole Alaska. She is the owner and sole proprietor of Suzanne McBride-Ruedy’s Piano Teaching and Accompanying.

She received her B.M. degree, with an emphasis in piano performance from UAF in Dec 2004, under the instruction of Dr Eduard Zilberkant. She furthered her studies in music and received her M.A. degree also from UAF, with an emphasis in piano performance, accompanying and instruction, in May 2012.

She has been teaching piano for approximately 35 years and currently teaches 62 piano students. She currently accompanies at University Baptist Church, Fairbanks Symphony Chorus, Fairbanks Suzuki Institute and UAF Summer Music Academy.

Suzanne loves being a positive role model and mentor to her students to help them achieve excellence and success.

Her husband Mark is her greatest supporter and she loves spending her free time with him, her children and grandchildren.

Evelina Savonin

Delta Junction, Alaska

Evelina Savonin is pursuing a Master of Music in Piano Performance at the University of Alaska Fairbanks under the direction of Dr. Eduard Zilberkant. She completed a Bachelor of Music Education and a Bachelor of Music Performance in Piano at UAF in 2021. Before returning to UAF to continue her studies, Evelina has been actively teaching private students of various ages and abilities to play the piano and has been accompanying a local church choir and the community choir in Delta Jct. She is an active member of MTNA (Music Teachers National Association) and a local member of IAKT (Interior Alaska Keyboard Teachers). During the 2022-2023 school year, she has been teaching Functional Piano I-IV classes as well as Class Piano courses at UAF. Evelina is excited to work for the Fairbanks Suzuki Institute as an accompanist.

James Spontak

Fairbanks, Alaska

James Spontak has had a broad and varied musical background. He has studied both piano and trombone at the collegiate level. He began studying piano in his hometown of Chicago and continued his studies here at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He has served as accompanist for the Fairbanks Suzuki Strings program for more than 25 years and the Aurora Women’s Chorale since its inception. In addition, he currently is accompanist for the Northland Youth Choir and the recently formed Borealis Men’s Chorale. He teaches piano privately and serves as accompanist for many students in Fairbanks.