Fay S. Adams

Fay Swadley Adams is an Associate Professor of Piano Emerita at the University of Tennessee and is director of the Suzuki Piano School of Knoxville. She is a registered Suzuki piano teacher trainer and served on the Suzuki piano review committee. Her awards include: Tennessee Teacher of the Year awarded by the Tennessee Music Teachers Association, Outstanding Teacher Award from the Tennessee Governor’s School, former member of the SAA and MTNA board of directors, YWCA Outstanding Woman in the Arts, Chancellor’s Citation for Service to the University of Tennessee, the first annual Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award for the UT School of Music, the University of Tennessee Volunteer Spirit Award and, most recently, the MTNA National Teacher of the Year.

Judy W. Bossuat-Gallic

Judy W. Bossuat-Gallic has been teaching violin and training teachers for over 45 years. Her contact with Dr. Suzuki began in 1974 and continued throughout the years after her graduation from the Matsumoto Talent Education Institute in 1978. She is a registered Suzuki Method Teacher Trainer for SAA and the European Suzuki Association where she was named an honorary member. B-G has been national secretary of the American String Teachers Association, president of California ASTA, on the board of the National String Project Consortium among other positions.   B-G’s teaching experiences include over 375 International Conferences, Institutes and Workshops all over the world. She currently teaches at Bossuat-Gallic Music in Dallas, does bi-monthly Master Classes at the Fort Worth Suzuki School and has continued her position at California State University, Sacramento where she is the Master Teacher on the String Project.

Megan Carnevale

Megan Carnevale teaches middle school general music, ukulele, and songwriting at Memphis School Of Excellence in Memphis, TN. Megan has seven years of experience teaching aural skills, ukulele, songwriting, creative musicianship classes for Kindergarten-12th graders in both Tennessee and Michigan. Megan was featured as a ukulele specialist at the Memphis Suzuki Summer Institute in 2017, a co-presenter at the 2014 and 2015 Michigan Music Conferences, and the 2014 NAfME Collegiate Conference at Michigan State University. She is also a strong supporter of local classical music. Megan is a board member at the Memphis Beethoven Club, and can frequently be seen performing with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra Chorus. Megan is a certified Music Learning Theory practitioner, and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from Michigan State University.

Patricia D’Ercole

Patricia D’Ercole is a Suzuki violin teacher and teacher trainer. She completed a master’s degree with an emphasis in Suzuki with Margery Aber and, in 1988, studied in Japan with Dr. Suzuki. She has been a clinician in 22 states in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Canada, Finland, Estonia, Peru, Chile and Taiwan. Pat has written numerous articles for the American Suzuki Journal, was chair of the Suzuki Association (SAA) Board of Directors and served as a member of the SAA committees that developed Every Child Can! and the Suzuki Principles in Action courses. She was the founder and first president of the Suzuki Association of Wisconsin and has been on the planning committee for the International Research Symposium on Talent Education since its inception in 1991 and has served as its coordinator since 1995.

Through her leadership, a collection of videos which chronicles the two weeks of Dr. Suzuki’s teaching at the American Suzuki Institute in Stevens Point in 1976, The American Suzuki Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point: The Suzuki Method in Action, is now preserved on the web. In 2002, she was the recipient of the American Suzuki Institute’s Suzuki Chair Award and in 2008 became a Distinguished Instructional Specialist at UWSP. Pat began the UWSP Suzuki Strings Mentoring Program in 2010, an online year-long mentoring program for Suzuki teachers to improve their teaching skills while teaching in their home studios. Most recently, Pat was the Director of the Aber Suzuki Center at the UW-Stevens Point.

Natalia Vanegas Escobar

Colombian pianist Natalia Vanegas graduated from University of Antioquia studying with Dr. Carlos Eduardo Betancur, Dr. Ana María Orduz and the renowned Colombian pianist Teresita Gómez. She is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Piano Performance at the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music at the University of Memphis where she obtained a full scholarship to study with the renowned pianist Cathal Breslin.

Natalia has participated as a pianist in festivals and concerts nationally and internationally throughout Colombia (Universidad de Antioquia, Universidad Adventista, Jornadas de Música Contemporánea) United States (Piano Festival of the Americas) and Brazil (Encontro internacional de pianistas Piracicaba 2018). In recent seasons, she has performed as a soloist with Amadeus music school Chamber Orquesta and Cameratta UdeA.

Natalia has served as assistant jury of three editions (2014, 2015 and 2016) in the Festival and Competition ̈Pianissimo ̈ held in Medellin, Colombia, next to the important piano teachers.

Patsy Fancher

Department Chair of Communications, Graphic and Fine Arts at Southwest Tennessee Community College
Professor – Graphic Arts Technology

I hold an Associate Degree in Fine Arts/Advertising from Northwest Junior College, a B.F.A. in Advertising/Commercial Art, a B.F.A. in Photography and a M.F.A. in Computer Graphics from Memphis College of Art. I have been in the Graphic Arts field for over 30 years. During my career I have been the Art Director for Satellite Dish Magazine, Artcraft Converters, DCR Graphics, and Sawtelle Printing. I also owned FancherPhillips Graphic Solutions. As well as a Freelance Graphic Designer producing package design for Snap-on-Tools, printed material for Pemko, Memphis Business Products and COGIC. I also produced COGICS’s interactive Convocation Journal and Virtual tours.

I taught for Memphis College of Art for nine years and State Technical Institute for four years as an Adjunct Instructor. I have been a fulltime Instructor at Southwest for 17 years and a Department Chair for 11 of those. I am presently the Department Chair for Communications, Graphic and Fine Arts department.

As Department Chair I provides leadership, management, planning, and advocacy for faculty and programs within the unit, which are Fine Arts, Graphic Arts, Music, Photography, Speech and Theater.

As a Professor in the Graphic Arts Technology program I teach or have taught all classes in the Print Production and Interactive Multimedia concentrations.

Lori Gilbert

Lori Gilbert is a free-lance musician and violin teacher from Memphis, Tennessee. As a child she was a Suzuki student who then became a Suzuki teacher, and is now a Suzuki mom to her three children. She completed long-term Suzuki training with Kimberly Meier-Simms and Libby Armour, and short-term training with Nancy Jackson and Ed Kreitman. She plays with the Delta Symphony as well as other local ensembles. Lori began her teaching career at age 16 and has maintained a violin studio for 18 years. After completing a Master’s degree in Violin Performance under the tutelage of Dr. Soh-Hyun Altino, she has continued her violin studies with Yoko Takebe and Michael Gilbert, formerly of the New York Philharmonic, and Joy Brown Wiener, Concertmaster Emeritus of the Memphis Symphony. Lori enjoys playing chamber music at events in the city with her violinist husband Daniel.

Lora Gubanov

A native of Bulgaria, Lora Gubanov has given many successful performances in the United States and Europe.  Ms. Gubanov received the Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance at the University of Memphis in 2016, with a full teaching assistantship. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor of Music at LeMoyne-Owen College and the founder of Memphis Music Studio in Memphis, Tennessee. As an enthusiastic educator and performer, Lora has received awards in numerous competitions, including the Steinway Young Artist MTNA Piano Competition in 2006 and the University of Tennessee Concerto Competition in 2007. She has also been a finalist in the University of Memphis Soloist Competition in 2013 and the Wideman International Piano Competition in 2014. Her former teachers include David Northington and Cathal Breslin.  Most recently, Ms. Gubanov was nominated to receive a 2017 Steinway Top Teacher Award. In the summer of 2018, she served on the faculty of East/West International Piano Festival in Shenzhen, China, where she gave masterclasses and taught private and chamber music lessons. She is a U.S. nationally certified teacher of music and a member of the Music Teachers National Association, National Guild of Piano Teachers, and Suzuki Association of the Americas.

Rita Hauck

Rita Hauck has been a Piano teacher since 1959, and a Suzuki Piano teacher since 1974. She and her husband, Dr. Robert Hauck, were privileged to have met Dr. Suzuki in 1966, an event that changed their lives forever. Mrs. Hauck has a Bachelor of Music Degree with a major in performance, a Bachelor of Music Education Degree in both Vocal and Instrumental music K-12, a Master of Music Degree in performance, and two years of Doctoral work in keyboard studies, (Piano, harpsichord, organ , and accompanying). She has been a church organist for 55 years. From 1976-1981, she founded and directed a Suzuki School of 350 students, trained 24 Suzuki teachers, and taught Suzuki piano students at Oklahoma Wesleyan University where she was on the Piano, Organ, and Music Theory faculty. From 1981—2011, Mrs. Hauck maintained a Suzuki Piano Studio of 40+ students in her home in Cincinnati, Ohio where she lived with her husband, Robert. She has been training Suzuki piano teachers in the United States and around the world since 1976. Since 2011, Mrs. Hauck has been teaching Suzuki Piano and Organ in her home Studio in Fort Worth, Texas.

Robert Hauck

Dr. Robert Hauck has 21 years of experience as a music specialist with Cincinnati Public Schools. He has served as a consulting teacher, mentor, and team leader. He has a Bachelor of Music in Voice, A Bachelor of Music in Music Education K-12, a Master of Music in Voice and Voice Pedagogy, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Voice, Conducting, Opera, and Church Music. He has served as a full-time minister of music, a university professor and head of the Music Department, as well as a public school music specialist. He has Orff certification at all three levels. He has taught at Suzuki children’s Music Institutes and Workshops all across the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, as well as in Bermuda, New Zealand and Australia.
Dr. and Mrs. Hauck were invited as International Guest clinicians to the 2009 World Suzuki Convention in Melbourne, Australia.

Dr. Hauck’s enrichment classes have included the teaching of Music Theory, Orff, Family Chorus, Voice Lessons, Handbells, Music and Movement, Conducting, Madrigal Singers, Broadway Musical presentations, and lectures for parents. He also possesses excellent keyboard skills. He is a Dad of four children who took Suzuki piano and string lessons from age 3 through high school. He partnered with his wife, Rita Hauck, in daily practicing with their four children, going to lessons with each of them, and participating as a dad at dozens of Suzuki Institutes and Workshops. Dr. Hauck’s classes offer the unique opportunity for a lot of fun for all ages combined with a great experience in learning, all with complete commitment to the philosophy of nurturing children and parents in a wonderful environment.

Mary Ann Mears

Mary Ann Mears is originally from the Memphis, TN area. She studied violin with William Starr at the University of Tennessee and graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree in Suzuki String Techniques. She studied with Dr. Shinichi Suzuki in Matsumoto during the summers of 1976, 1978, 1982 and 1983. She taught in the Denver, Colorado area from 1980 until 2005. While there, she was a founding member of the Suzuki Association of Colorado. Other training includes certification as a Montessori Infant and Toddler directress. She currently maintains a private violin studio in Germantown, TN.

Ali Michael

Ali Michael has grown up immersed in the Suzuki method through violin, flute and piano. She now works with children in art studies through various outlets including homeschool classes and an art studio in Hernando, MS.

Elizabeth O’Connell

Elizabeth O’Connell received her training at the Princeton Ballet School and in summer study at North Carolina School of the Arts and Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. She has also studied with Risa Gary Kaplowitz, Elisabeth Carroll, and in NYC with Nancy Bielski. Ms. O’Connell has performed in New York City and the NY metropolitan area with Classics Dance Theater, Metropolitan Repertory Ballet, Princeton Ballet II, and as a guest artist.  She has also been a company member of The Metropolitan Ballet of Minneapolis and Continental Ballet (Bloomington).  Ms. O’Connell has danced in the Nutcracker, La Traviata, A Christmas Carol, Paquita, Coppelia, Swan Lake and many other repertory works. She has performed the title roles in Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty.  Ms. O’Connell has taught at several schools in New York, New Jersey, and Minnesota where joined the staff of Betty Jo’s Dance Center in 2006 and served as the school’s artistic director. In addition to ballet instruction, she has studied and been certified in Pilates. Ms. O’Connell currently teaches ballet and fitness at several dance schools in the Memphis area.

Jane Kutscher Reed

Jane Kutscher Reed is an internationally recognized Suzuki Piano Teacher Trainer, Suzuki Piano Educator, Parent and Teacher Coach and Motivational Speaker from Greenville, SC. After earning a degree in Piano Performance from the University of Findlay, she found her calling in Suzuki Pedagogy. As she teaches throughout the US and other countries, she dedicates herself to promoting finer education for students, teachers and parents through deeper thinking, validated learning skills and building meaningful relationships between the child, parent and teacher.

Mrs. Reed is also an Independent Facilitator for Parenting the Love and Logic Way, a Certified Elite Life Coach, and Motivational Speaker. She premiered her course for educators, Teaching with Purpose, at Lenoir-Rhyne University in 2013.

She and her husband founded Solutionary Insights, an educational business, which is dedicated to Nurturing Thinking Minds. The unique signature of Solutionary Insights is the intertwining of the respect for the value of individuals, the belief that all are capable of excellence, and the resolve that fine and purposeful teaching and parenting develops outstanding abilities. Watch for their upcoming book, “Nurturing Thinking Minds: The Making of Thought Leaders.”™

Visit their website: www.solutionaryinsights.com

Kristy Robinson

Kristy Robinson began violin at the age of 6 at the Bellevue SPA. Kristy continued violin study with Joy Brown Wiener in middle and high school, and studied with Timothy Shiu and Ara Sarkissian in college. In December of 2013, she graduated summa cum laude from the University of Memphis with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music, violin performance. Kristy studied viola with Lenny Schranze at the UofM for three years. In January of 2012, Kristy sat as principal violist in a concert with the Annie Moses Band at Carnegie Hall, and as assistant principal violist in the Nashville Praise Symphony in 2013. Kristy has taught violin for 10 years and has Suzuki training in Books 1-3 with Libby Armour. She also taught fiddling, chamber, and private lessons for 6 years at the Fine Arts Summer Academy with the Annie Moses Band which included fiddling on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry twice as well as at The Bluegrass Underground. Kristy enjoys fiddling and improvising in several settings from folk music to church music and performs often in local community orchestras. Kristy is married to Daniel Robinson, a business analyst, and has one daughter, Elizabeth, who was born in May of 2018.

Amanda Schubert

Amanda Schubert studied Suzuki violin with her father, Lacy McLarry, from age three through college, receiving a Bachelor of Music degree in violin performance from Oklahoma City University. She received a Master of Music degree in violin performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she studied with Norman Paulu and was coached extensively by the Pro Arte String Quartet. Mrs. Schubert holds a Teaching Certificate from the Talent Education Research Institute in Matsumoto, Japan, where she studied with Shinichi Suzuki. She is also registered through the SAA in Suzuki violin books one through ten, and is a Teacher Trainer. From 1992 to 2009, Mrs. Schubert was a member of the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra. She served on the violin faculty of the Brevard Music Festival in North Carolina from 1996 to 2011. Currently she performs with Waco Symphony and Temple Symphony, plays viola in the Temple Symphony String Quartet, free lances, and is the owner and contractor of Waco Strings. She has served on the violin faculty of the Central Texas String Academy since 2009. She resides in Waco, Texas with her husband, Mark Schubert (a trumpet player), and their two daughters, both of whom are violin students of their mother.

Mary Halverson Waldo

Mary Halverson Waldo received a BA in Music from the College of St Scholastica, and a Master of Music from the New England Conservatory, in Performance of Early Music (Recorder and Traverso). A member of Waldo Baroque and Friends, she has made guest appearances with North Carolina Baroque Orchestra, Trinity Episcopal Cathedral Choirs (Columbia, SC), Broad River Renaissance Band, the Bach Society of Minnesota, Chatham Baroque, Pittsburgh Opera, Fayerwether Friends, and Piccolo Spoleto, Charleston.

Ms. Waldo was a faculty member at MacPhail Center for Music (Minneapolis), and the Saint Paul Conservatory (MN), where she introduced recorder and flute into the Suzuki programs. She is a regular faculty member at music institutes and festivals throughout the United States, Canada, Latin America, and England. Her teenage recorder students have won honors and awards in competitions sponsored by Presidential Scholars in the Arts, and Piffaro! She is a registered Recorder Teacher Trainer for the Suzuki Association of the Americas, and the European Suzuki Association.

Formerly a Music Director for the Twin Cities Recorder Guild (the MN chapter of the American Recorder Society), Ms. Waldo has been a writer for the American Recorder magazine and the American Suzuki Journal, and has served on the boards of the American Recorder Society (ARS) and the American Recorder Teachers’ Association.

Pamela Wilensky

Pamela Wilensky has been a String Specialist for Memphis City/Shelby County Schools for 20 years, teaching at the elementary, middle and high school levels. She is the Fine Arts Department Chair and Director of Orchestras at Central High School in Memphis, TN. She is a graduate of Appalachian State University with a Bachelor of Music Education. She has had extensive Suzuki Teacher Training and taught in the University of Memphis Suzuki Program for 20 years. She is a co-director of Memphis Music Camp as well as Shelby County Schools’ Artsfest. She is an active performer in Memphis and with the Germantown and Delta Symphony Orchestras, and was a member of the Jackson Symphony for 20 years. Pamela is an active member of the West TN School Band and Orchestra Association, the American String Teachers Association, and the Suzuki Association of the Americas, and has been the State Orchestra Chair for TNMEA. She has been a guest conductor for the Memphis City Schools All-City String Festival, Jackson Symphony Music Camp, the Quad State String Festival at Murray State University, the Austin-Peay University honor Orchestra and the Alabama Honor Strings Festival. She has been on the faculty of the Memphis Suzuki Institute for many years, teaching orchestra and technique classes.