We are very fortunate to have such experienced teachers at the Japan-Seattle Suzuki Institute. Many of our teachers are teacher-trainers and have served as master teachers at international conferences throughout the world.
Administration
Holly Blackwelder Carpenter, institute director (Seattle, WA)
Holly Blackwelder Carpenter received her Bachelor of Music from Walla Walla University in 2000. She grew up as a Suzuki violin student in Walla Walla, Washington, under the tutelage of Kathleen Spring. Holly began her teaching career at Walla Walla University in the String Preparatory Program, taking a year out of college to start a string program at Universidad Peruana Union in Lima, Peru. She currently maintains a private violin studio in Seattle.
Advanced Program
Amy Sue Barston, cello (New York, NY)
Praised as "passionate and elegant" by The New York Times, Amy Sue Barston has performed as a soloist and chamber musician on stages all over the world. Amy began her studies at age three with Nell Novak at The Music Institute of Chicago. At age 17, she appeared as soloist with the Chicago Symphony on live television. The same year, she won Grand Prize in the Society of American Musicians Competition, and First Place and the Audience Prize in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. She studied with Eleonore Schoenfeld at the University of Southern California and Joel Krosnick at The Juilliard School, where she earned her Master degree. In addition to performing standard cello repertoire, Amy has premiered a variety of works written for her by living composers across the United States. She is also the cellist of the Corigliano Quartet and Divahn, two critically acclaimed chamber ensembles. Amy is, above all, a devoted teacher: in her home, at the New York School for Strings, as an assistant teacher at The Juilliard School, and at numerous summer music festivals.
Brian Lewis, violin (New York, NY)
Brian Lewis began his violin studies at the age of four, participating in the Ottawa Suzuki Strings program and traveling to Japan twice to study with Dr. Suzuki. He received his Bachelor and Master degrees from The Juilliard School, studying with the renowned pedagogue, Dorothy DeLay. Mr. Lewis holds the David and Mary Winton Green Chair in String Performance and Pedagogy at The University of Texas at Austin. He is also artistic director of the Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at The Juilliard School in New York City, concertmaster of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra in Houston, and artistic director of the Starling Distinguished Violinist Series at the University of Texas at Austin. Much sought after as a performer and teacher, Mr. Lewis concertizes and teaches around the globe. He has released six CDs, most recently for Delos as soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra of music by Leonard Bernstein and Hollywood composer Michael McLean.
Violin
Elisa Barston (Seattle, WA)
Praised by The Strad for her "glowing sound" and "technical aplomb," Elisa Barston is currently the principal second violinist of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. She previously served as the associate concertmaster of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, and was a first violin section member of the Cleveland Orchestra. Her principal violin teachers include Almita and Roland Vamos, Robert Lipsett, and Josef Gingold. Elisa earned a Bachelor of Music Cum Laude from the University of Southern California and a Master of Music from Indiana University, where she was awarded the prestigious Performer's Certificate, the Jascha Heifetz Scholarship, and the Starling Foundation Grant. Elisa has also garnered top prizes at the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition, First Prize at the Julius Stulberg Auditions, Grand Prize at the International Kingsville Young Performers' Competition, and First Prize in the Seventeen-General Motors National Music Competition. As a soloist, Ms. Barston has performed extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia, with the major symphony orchestras of Chicago, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Seattle, and Taipei, among numerous others.
Gaye Detzer (Vashon, WA)
Gaye Detzer has been a Suzuki teacher for more than 30 years and currently maintains a private studio. She has taught violin classes and chamber music at Suzuki institutes in Washington, Oregon, and Alaska, as well as at Vivace! Chamber Players. Gaye plays violin and viola with the Arioso Ensemble and the Vashon-Maury Chamber Orchestra, and is also the music director of the Vashon Youth String Orchestra and the Teen String Ensemble. Her family has four Suzuki children, one of whom graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Music and is now making a career as a cellist. Another is part of a rock band that has toured the United States and Europe.
Yasuko Eastman (Canada)
Yasuko Eastman began teaching the Suzuki Method in 1963, in Japan. In 1966, she arrived in Edmonton, Canada, to help establish the Suzuki program there at the recommendation of Dr. Suzuki. Yasuko moved to Victoria with her family in 1985, and she continues to enjoy teaching at home and and at numerous Suzuki institutes. Yasuko's former students are active as professional and amateur musicians and are contributing to the world in diverse ways. She has served as concertmaster of the Victoria Chamber Orchestra since 1996, and is also a founding member of the Galiano Ensemble of Victoria and first violinist of the Heron Quartet. Yasuko's teachers include Koichi Hasegawa, Shinichi Suzuki, Thomas Rolston, and members of the Hungarian String Quartet. She holds a Bachelor of Music and a Bachelor of Education from the Osaka College of Music, and a Master of Music from the University of Alberta. Yasuko enjoys traveling, hiking, gardening, designing, and drawing.
Helen Higa (Honolulu, HI)
Helen comes from a family of music teachers and was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. She studied with Dr. Shinichi Suzuki for two and a half years in Matsumoto, Japan, receiving her Teacher Certification from him in 1973. Other teachers include William Starr, Louise Behrend, and Gerald Beal. In 1983, Helen became a Certified Teacher of the Alexander Technique from the American Center for the Alexander Technique in New York City, and she taught in the Center's Teacher Training Program until returning to Hawaii in 1987. In 1990 she began teaching with the late Hiroko Primrose, who founded the Suzuki program at the Punahou Music School. Helen is presently the head of this Suzuki program and has a private violin studio of over 40 students. Her other teaching positions have included the University of Tennessee’s Suzuki Program, New York’s School for Strings, and the Diller-Quaille School of Music. In recent years, Helen has enjoyed exploring how the Alexander Technique can offer insights and complement her students' understanding of Dr. Suzuki’s violin pedagogy and philosophy. Helen serves as the president of Suzuki Talent Education of Hawaii, and is a part-time member of the Honolulu Symphony.
Mihoko Hirata (Bellevue, WA)
A native of Matsumoto, Japan, Mihoko Hirata received her teacher training under the personal guidance of Dr. Suzuki. In 1967, she was selected by Dr. Suzuki to be one of the first teachers to introduce his method in the United States. In addition to William Starr, Mihoko received a Creating a Learning Community Award from the SAA, recognizing her as the "Spirit of Suzuki in the Northwest." Mihoko is a member of the National Registry of Suzuki Violin Teacher Trainers. She has established Suzuki programs in Seattle and Bellingham, Washington, and has presented workshops and master classes throughout the United States and Canada.
Joseph Kaminsky (St. Louis, MO)
Joseph Kaminsky is one of the most sought-after Suzuki violin clinicians, having taught at over 200 Suzuki workshops and seminars in 32 states, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Canada, and at the 1999 Suzuki World Conference in Japan. He is founder and director of the Kirkwood Academy of Music, is on the violin faculty of the University of Missouri-St. Louis and Webster University, plays professionally in the Landolfi String Quartet, and has been a registered Suzuki teacher-trainer since 1984. He received his violin training from Almita and Roland Vamos, Shinichi Suzuki, John Kendall, Fryderyk Sadowski, and Donna Wiehe. Joseph's students have been concertmaster of virtually every student orchestra in the St. Louis area, and his former students play professionally in the Ann Arbor, Arkansas, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse Symphonies. Joseph is recognized by the Suzuki Association of the Americas for his Technique Mastery CD and books, Vibrato From the Ground Up instructional DVD, and 18 pedagogical articles published in the American Suzuki Journal.
Allen Lieb (New York, NY)
Allen Lieb received his Master of Music in Performance from SIU/Edwardsville, studying Suzuki pedagogy with John Kendall, and holds a Teacher Training Certificate from the Talent Education Research Institute in Japan after several years' study with Dr. Shinichi Suzuki. A registered teacher-trainer with the Suzuki Association of the Americas, Allen has taught at institutes, workshops, and conferences across the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia. He is chair of the SAA Violin Committee, the SAA liaison to the International Suzuki Association Violin Committee, and a member of the SAA Heritage Committee. He is also head of the violin department and instructor of the Teacher-Training Seminar at The School for Strings, and a violin instructor at The Diller-Quaile School of Music. As curriculum coordinator for the Newark Early Strings Program, a Suzuki-based violin program that is jointly sponsored by the Newark Public Schools and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and serves over 500 students in 13 elementary schools, he was recognized with the 2008 Samuel Antek Award for Music Education. Allen is also the Suzuki consultant for Musicians4Harmony, a New York-based organization that sponsors activities to revitalize the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra and the Baghdad Conservatory of Music and Dance.
Cathy Lee (San Francisco, CA)
Cathy Lee serves as president of the Suzuki Music Association of California and co-director of the Northern California Suzuki Institute. A world-renowned teacher trainer, Cathy has taught and lectured throughout North America, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and Japan, and at SAA Nationals, Leadership Summits, and World Conferences. In 1977, Cathy founded the Suzuki Music Studio of San Francisco. Her students have held titled chairs in orchestras and have performed at international and national conferences, recitals, and competitions. Cathy is respected for teaching all ages and levels using her detailed and practical "best of both world" approach, inspired by her studies with Dr. Shinichi Suzuki and her extensive "traditional" studies with Dame Camilla Wicks. Cathryn has a Bachelor of Performance and Composition, a Master of Violin Performance, and a teaching certificate from Dr. Suzuki. She is a proud Suzuki parent of sons Whitney, a graduate of New York University in Violin and Musical Theatre, and Cory, a violinist at The Juilliard School.
Brian Lewis (New York, NY)
Felicity Lipman, violin (United Kingdom)
Felicity Lipman studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and has performed worldwide as a soloist. She has led the Linley String Quartet, the Razumovsky Quartet, and the Haydn Piano Trio of London, and has played in the Academy of St. Martins in the Fields and the BBC Studio Players. In 1975, Felicity was awarded a Winston Churchill Memorial Scholarship to study with Dr Suzuki in Matsumoto, Japan. She was so inspired that she returned to Matsumoto in 1976 and became the first European to graduate from the Talent Education Research Institute in Japan. At Dr Suzuki's request, she co-founded the European Suzuki Association and the British Suzuki Institute, and directed teacher-training for Suzuki violin teachers in London. Felicity is also a qualified teacher of the Alexander Technique. She has been professor of violin at the Guildhall School of Music since 1995, is regularly invited to give master classes, and has taught at nearly every World Suzuki Method Convention.
Michael McLean (Los Angeles, CA)
Michael McLean is an internationally noted composer of orchestral, chamber, and film music, as well as a violinist and pedagogue. He teaches violin and conducts various ensembles at the Colburn School of Performing Arts. Michael received his Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from Northwestern University, and has recently completed the prestigious Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television program at the University of Southern California. He has taught violin at the Music Center of the North Shore in the Chicago area, Texas Christian University, and various workshops and institutes throughout the United States, and has also been invited to teach and perform in Argentina, Singapore, and Tanzania. He is an active member of the SAA and studied Suzuki pedagogy with Yuko Honda, Barbara Barber, and John Kendall. Michael is also is founder and president of Oak Cliff Publishing, which features more than 100 of his compositions and four CDs: Care to Tango? (with Brian Lewis and Barbara Barber), New World, Pieces, and Kokoro (with Yuko Honda). His concerto for violin and string orchestra, Elements, was recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios with Brian Lewis, soloist, and Hugh Wolff, conductor. He is currently working on his second violin concerto and composing the film music for a future PBS documentary on Louis Sullivan. Other works in progress include a suite for viola, works for four solo violins, a violin sonata, and a large-scale choral work, The St. Thomas Passion. Michael also loves to hike in the Sierras and run marathons.
Sandra Payton (Bellingham, WA)
Barbara Riley (Ellensburg, WA)
Barbara Riley grew up in Minnesota and studied violin at the New England Conservatory. She received her Master of Music in Viola Performance from Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington. On a visit to Japan in 1980, she met Dr. Shinichi Suzuki and returned to Bellingham to begin teaching the Suzuki Method. In 1988, she spent two months in Matsumoto studying with Dr. Suzuki. For over 20 years, she has led a busy life in Seattle, teaching violin and viola and playing in musical theater. Since moving to Ellensburg, Washington, in 2005, Barbara teaches in her home studio and at Central Washington University through the Preparatory Strings Department. She plays chamber music and Celtic fiddle, is a violinist with the Yakima Symphony Orchestra, and enjoys life on a small farm with her husband, a dog, and two horses. Barbara has taught at Suzuki institutes in Seattle, Oregon, Idaho, and Washington.
Satoko Robert (Mill Creek, WA)
Satoko Robert earned a Master of Music in Violin Performance from the University of Massachusetts and an Artist Diploma from Kyoto University of Art and Music. She received most of her Suzuki teacher training from Dr. William Starr. Satoko has taught violin and viola for over 40 years, and also performs and coaches chamber ensembles. Before moving to Washington, she was an assistant professor of music education at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ. Satoko volunteers as a bilingual liaison to the SAA and ISA, and has taught at many Suzuki institutes and workshops across the United States. The two things Satoko loves most, besides her family and her work as a Suzuki teacher, are chamber music and dogs.
Hiromu Yasuda
Cello
Amy Sue Barston (New York, NY)
Gilda Barston (Evanston, IL)
Gilda Barston is Dean Emeritus of the Music Institute of Chicago and the artistic director of the Chicago Suzuki Institute. In addition to teaching, she serves as secretary on the Board of the International Suzuki Association. A student of Leonard Rose, Gilda received a B.S. and M.S. degree from the Juilliard School of Music. She received a Distinguished Service Award from the Suzuki Association of the Americas in 1998, and the ASI Suzuki Chair Award in 2005. A registered teacher-trainer of Suzuki pedagogy, she has been on the faculty of the American Suzuki Institute since 1976, and has taught at many Suzuki institutes, workshops, and conferences. In April 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 and Amy Barston and the grandmother of Melia Hsu. Ask her for stories about both girls, especially about practicing with them. Gilda lives with her husband, Gene, and two kitties, Zoltan and Cleo.
Blake Brasch
Akira Nakajima (Japan)
Akira Nakajima was deeply influenced by Dr. Suzuki when he met him in Matsumoto, Japan, and this encounter decided the course of his life. Akira has been a Suzuki cello teacher since 1971. He has served on the board of directors for the Talent Education Research Institute, and in 1999, he was chairman of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Shinichi Suzuki during the 13th Suzuki Method World Convention and Summer School held in Matsumoto. In 2006, Akira taught at the 14th Suzuki Method World Convention in Turin, Italy, and he has taught at summer Suzuki institutes and international conferences in the United States, Australia, Asia, and many other countries. He is regularly invited abroad to teach master classes and teacher-training courses.
Barbara Wampner (San Francisco, CA)
Barbara Wampner maintains an active private studio and has taught at international conferences in Europe, Japan, Australia and Korea and Canada. She has also taught at festivals in Peru and Chile, and numerous summer institutes in the United States. Barbara received a Master of Arts with cello studies with Margaret Rowell from San Francisco State University and a Bachelor of Music Education from Northwestern University. She is a registered SAA teacher-trainer, has served on the SAA board of directors, and has edited the American Suzuki Journal cello column. Barbara was an active member of the International Suzuki Association Cello Committee during the revisions of the cello repertoire, Books 4-8. Currently, she is chair of the SAA Suzuki Heritage Committee.
Music History, Theory, Orchestra, and Composition
Tam Osborne (Lake Forest Park, WA)
Tam Osborne is a graduate of the University of Washington, where he received a Bachelor of Music and a Bachelor of Music Education. He received his Master of Education from Seattle Pacific University, along with Administrative (Principal) credentials. He has been the administrator of visual and performing arts in the Edmonds School District and a member of the board of the Washington Music Educators' Association. Tam has been actively affiliated with youth symphony organizations in Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Idaho for over 20 years, and conducts regularly with the Everett and Cascade youth symphonies. He is currently the director of staffing and human resources in the Edmonds School District.
Kaori Sakai (Nagoya, Japan)
Kaori Sakai graduated from the Aichi University of Education, where she specialized in music. Since then, she has taught music in high schools and piano at a junior college, and offered many rhythmic classes to students in Bellevue, Seattle, Tokyo, Matsumoto, and Nagoya. Kaori participated in the Dalcroze Congress International in Geneva in 2003 and 2007, and has been a faculty member of the Japan-Seattle Suzuki Institute since 1988, the first year it was held. She currently maintains a private music studio in Nagoya, where she teaches piano and music theory.
Adam Silverman (West Chester, PA)
Adam Silverman is a composer whose works have been commissioned and performed across the United States by The New York City Opera, The Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, The Brooklyn Symphony, The Corigliano Quartet, The Flux Quartet, and others. Adam's compositions include classical concert works, rock-based music for live performers and electronics, opera, conceptual music-theater, and educational music as composer-in-residence for The Commission Project. He studied composition at Yale (Doctor of Musical Arts, 2003), the Vienna Musikhochschule, and the University of Miami School of Music. From 2004-2006 he taught music at City University of New York, and currently serves as Assistant Professor of Music Theory and Composition at West Chester University in Pennsylvania.
Marcus Tsutakawa (Seattle, WA)
Marcus Tsutakawa has been a music teacher in the Seattle Public Schools since 1979, and the director of the award-winning Garfield Orchestras since 1985. He is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Seattle Symphony and is in his ninth season as director of the Seattle Junior Symphony. Awards include the Prix de Martell, recognizing "Champions of Classical Music" (1992); the A&E Network Biography "Community Hero" Award (2002); the Mayor's Arts Award for Excellence (2005); recognition as a community leader in the Follow the Leader Program sponsored by Macy's, The Seattle Times, and KING5 TV (2006); and the University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences "Distinguished Alumni" Award (2007). Guest conducting honors include the 2008 Indiana All-State Orchestra and the Suzuki Youth Orchestra of America at the 2008 Suzuki National Convention, among others. He is the son of well-known Northwest artist George Tsutakawa.
Piano
Laura Kennedy, piano (Milford, NH)
Pianist Laura Kennedy has distinguished herself across the nation as a solo performer, accompanist, and chamber musician, and has been featured in all three capacities on NPR's Performance Today. Laura has performed with many chamber ensembles and solo performers, including performances throughout the United States with violinist Brian Lewis. She has participated in many music festivals across the country, and has been a faculty member at the Killington Music Festival and the Ottawa, Seattle, and Hartford Suzuki Institutes. Laura has recently recorded two CDs entitled New World and Pieces with violinists Brian Lewis and composer/violinist Michael McLean. Coming from a long line of family musicians, Laura enjoys concertizing with her brother, violinist Joseph Scheer, and for her daughter, Clara Kennedy, a cellist in her fourth year of study at The Juilliard School.
Allyson Kramer (Seattle, WA)
Allyson Kramer has served as an accompanist for the Japan Seattle Suzuki Institute since 2000, and loves working with young musicians at every level. She is the founder and director of Vivace! Chamber Players, a summer chamber music camp for young musicians. Allyson completed her undergraduate work at Western Washington University while studying with Ford Hill, and received her Master of Music in Performance from the University of Minnesota. While she stays busy homeschooling her two teenage daughters, Rachel and Carlin (also Suzuki kids), Allyson enjoys teaching piano in her private studio.
Body Mapping
Kerry Travers (Chelan, WA)
Violinist Kerry Travers received a B.A. in Biological Sciences from California State University at Sacramento. Kerry has maintained a private Suzuki violin studio for 20 years in Utah and Washington, and has taught at Suzuki institutes and festivals throughout Washington. Kerry also performs throughout Washington with her trio, Classic Pizzazz, and is a regular member of the Wenatchee Valley Symphony, the Lake Chelan Bach Fest Orchestra, and the Eastern Sierra Festival Orchestra. In 1998, Kerry began studying body mapping with Barbara Conable while recovering from an injury. She began including this information in her own teaching to help prevent injury and promote good body use in her students. Since completing her Andover Educator Certification in 2007, she has presented lectures on body mapping across the United States, including the 2006 and 2008 SAA Conference in Minneapolis, the Boston University School of Music, Central Washington University, and the Kairos Lyceum. Kerry teaches the course "What Every Musician Needs to Know About the Body," with a particular emphasis on upper strings.
