String Teachers
Philip Baruth, classical guitar
Barbara Beechey, violin, viola
Janet Bond Sutter, violin
Roza Borisova, cello
Caroline Brandenberger, violin
Kin Chau, viola and violin
Miyoko Grine-Fisher, cello
Nori Kalman, violin
Laura Kenney, cello
Arden Lambert, violin
Yuliya Smead, violin
Susan Sullivan, string bass
Carrie Willer, cello
Barbara Beechey, has taught full time on the viola/violin faculty of the Lawrence Academy of Music in Appleton, Wisconsin.since September of 1999. In addition to her duties as a viola/violin instructor at the Academy, Ms. Beechey also teaches an upper string pedagogy class at the Lawrence Conservatory.
Ms. Beechey has served as Principal Violist of the Fox Valley Symphony since 1999, Assistant Principal Violist of the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra since the 2001-2002 season, and most recently, Associate Principal Violist of the Water City Chamber Orchestra in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Ms. Beechey completed her undergraduate work at Miami University of Ohio with a Bachelor’s degree in Viola Performance under the instruction of Mary Harris, who inspired her to pursue a career in music. Barbara then earned both a Masters Degree in Pedagogy/Viola Performance, as well as a Graduate Performance Diploma at the Peabody Conservatory of Music. Her principal instructors at Peabody included Victoria Chiang, Roberto Diaz, Richard Field, and Violaine Melançon(violin). It was during her studies at Peabody that Ms. Beechey began to develop a strong interest in teaching children. Before coming to Lawrence, Ms. Beechey began a doctorate at Indiana University where she spent one year studying with Mimi Zweig. Ms. Beechey is currently pursuing a doctorate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison under the guidance of Sally Chisholm.
Ms. Beechey performed with several long-term string quartets throughout her college years. Chamber music coaching and master class instructors include members of the DaVinci Quartet, the American String Quartet, the Peabody Trio, the Maia Quartet, the Oxford String Quartet, and the Cleveland Quartet. Her experience not only developed her passion for chamber music, but also took her to music festivals and performances in Austria, Luxembourg, Germany and the Czech Republic as well as to the Coleman Chamber Music Competition in Pasadena, California.
Other projects since Ms. Beechey came to Lawrence have included a solo performance with the Oshkosh Symphony Orchestra, faculty solo and chamber recitals, alumni recitals and a master class at Miami University.
Janet Bond Sutter, violin instructor and conductor of the Academy String Orchestra, is a native of Indiana and holds degrees from Indiana University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Memphis. Before moving to Appleton in 1990, she held professional positions as a member of the Symphonic Orchestra of West Berlin, Germany; the East Switzerland Chamber Orchestra; the Memphis Symphony and Opera Orchestras and the Fort Worth Symphony and Chamber Orchestras. She has toured with these orchestras in Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Mexico and China. While in Texas for 11 years, she helped establish an ongoing chamber music society called "The Spectrum," based in Fort Worth.
Since moving to Appleton, Ms. Bond Sutter has been involved in various musical endeavors in the Fox Valley and the Door Peninsula. In addition to teaching violin at the Academy of Music, she is Concertmaster for the Fox Valley Symphony and Principal Second Violin of the Green Bay Symphony, as well as continuing to be a member of the Peninsula Music Festival every August since 1981. She participated in several educational outreach programs for all of these organizations. Additionally, her teaching activities have included being Director of the "Chamber Music Week at The Clearing" for seven summers.
Roza Borisova, cello, a native of Ioshkar-Ola, Russia, has been teaching at the Academy of Music since 2003. Ms. Borisova began studies on the cello at the age of seven. After receiving her B. A. in Music Performance from the Ioshkar-Ola State Music College, she moved to Moscow where she earned a M. M. in Performance Pedagogy and a D.M.A. in String Quartet Performance from the Russian State Academy of Music (formerly Gnesin’s Institute) in Moscow.
In 1989 Ms. Borisova was selected to be cellist of the Veronika String Quartet (newly formed by Valentine Berlinsky, cellist of the Borodin String Quartet). The Quartet’s international tours resulted in numerous prizes including the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, the Shostakovich String Quartet Competition, and the Russian National Competition. As an award of the Shostakovich Competition, in 1993 the Quartet was invited to study with the Fine Arts Quartet at the University of Wisconsin/Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and relocated to the U.S. Ms. Borisova served as Artist-in-Residence and graduate teaching assistant at various institutions in Wisconsin, Ohio, Illinois, and Colorado and earned a second M.M. in Music Performance.
As part of the Veronika String Quartet, Ms. Borisova performed regularly as cellist with various symphony orchestras and at many festivals and institutes around the world including the Steans Institute for Young Artists at Ravinia Festival in Chicago, the Second Jerusalem Chamber Music Encounters in Israel, the Britten-Pears School of Music in England, and the Lancaster Music Festival in Ohio. She currently performs with the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra, and the Woodstock Mozart Festival Orchestra, Woodstock, IL. She takes pleasure in teaching aspiring cellists and has taught at several major music institutions in the U.S.
Caroline Brandenberger, violin,
Kin Chau, violin and viola, has made numerous appearances in the United States, Canada and the far-east as an active soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and concertmaster. She has been heard on the Irish Public Radio, RTHK Classical Music Radio, Wisconsin Public Radio, and has appeared on Hong Kong Television Broadcasting Ltd. Hong Kong TVB Pearl Channel, QDTV National Television in Qing Dao, as well as Lanzhou National Television. Ms. Chau has collaborated with Stuart Canin, Stephen Kates, Donald McInnes, Milton Thomas, and the Vedehr Trio among others in various music festivals such as the International Music Festival in Taipei, Taiwan. Her recent engagements include collaborations with Artists from Columbia Management Inc. in chamber music series in the cities of Boston, New Haven, and New York as well as a touring in the People's Republic of China.
Ms. Chau has been awarded prizes at numerous competitions including the Grand Prize in the Artist of Tomorrow Competition in Los Angeles, Grand Prize in the Hong Kong Music Festival Competition, the Jascha Heifetz Award, the Award for Distinguished Solo Performance at the Santa Barbara Music Festival, the University Fellowship Award at Yale University and the University of Southern California Concerto Competition.
A native of Beijing, China, Ms. Chau began studying violin at age six and gave her first public performance at age seven. She received her Bachelor of Music degree at USC and was awarded the prestigious faculty prize of Outstanding Student in Graduating Class in Recognition of Professional Service, Leadership and Performance, where she was a student of Alice Schoenfeld. She completed her Master of Music degree at Yale School of Music as a student of Erick Friedman. She has lectured and given masterclasses in Asia and the United States and was concertmaster of the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra from 1995 to 2006. Ms. Chau joined the Lawrence Conservatory and Lawrence Academy of Music in 1993.
Miyoko Grine-Fisher, cello, has been teaching cello for over ten years, and has been a member of the Lawrence Academy of Music faculty since 2003. In addition to her private studio teaching, Ms. Grine-Fisher is the director of the Academy's Chamber Music Odyssey camp, and will teach string pedagogy at Lawrence University Conservatory of Music in 2009.
Ms. Grine-Fisher is currently the assistant principal cellist of the Water City Chamber Orchestra in Oshkosh. She is also a sponsored chair recipient in the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra.
Ms. Grine-Fisher graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.M. in cello performance and a B.A. in east asian studies from Oberlin College and Conservatory. While attending Oberlin, she studied with Peter Rejto. Ms. Grine-Fisher obtained her masters degree in cello performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music under the instruction of Jean-Michel Fonteneau. While attending SFCM, she was a faculty member of the conservatory's outreach program and helped develop a new after-school strings program for inner city schools.
Ms. Grine-Fisher was a scholarship recipient numerous summers at the Meadowmount School of Music (1991, 1993) and the Aspen Music Festival (1994-1998). During recent summers, Ms. Grine-Fisher was a faculty member for Arts Education for Children Group in Maui and Lakeside Strings Association in Michigan.
As both a solo and chamber musician, Ms. Grine-Fisher has been invited to perform in master classes for Steven Isserlis, Stephen Doane, Tanya Carey, Janet Anthony, Bonnie Hampton, Anthony Elliott, Gilbert Kalish, Menahem Pressler and Mark Sokol.
Laura Kenney, cello, has Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in cello performance from the University of Michigan. She has been featured as soloist with the Manitowoc Symphony, the Green Bay Civic Symphony and the Fox Valley Symphony in Appleton, Wisconsin, where she presently holds the position of Principal Cellist. Ms. Kenney is also currently principal cellist of the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra and performs with productions at the Weidner Center for the Performing Arts and the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center with such notables as Judy Collins, Bernadette Peters, Cathy Rigby, Anne Murray and Robert Goulet. She held posts as principal cellist with the Adrian Symphony Orchestra in Michigan, the Green Bay Civic Symphony and numerous chamber ensembles. Ms. Kenney is also teacher of cello at Lawrence Academy of Music.
Ms. Kenney performs in duo with her mother, Carol Leybourn as pianist. The duo have performed in concerts throughout the United States and have given frequent benefit concerts for charitable organizations, including the Lake County Youth Orchestras in Grayslake, Illinois, the Adler Cultural Center in Libertyville, Illinois and the Kobe Earthquake Relief Fund in Portland, Oregon, as well as performances in British Columbia and Indianapolis, Indiana. Ms. Kenney is also an active chamber musician and is cellist for the North Shore Quartet which concertizes in Wisconsin and Michigan and has performed with the Wausau Conservatory faculty in their Chamber Music series.
Arden Lambert, violin, on leave 2010-11
Yuliya Smead, violin, is currently concertmaster of the Oshkosh Symphony Orchestra and Assistant Concertmaster of both the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra and Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra. Yuliya moved to the United States in 1999 from Ukraine. While in Ukraine she was concertmaster of the State Chamber Orchestra Trembita and Symphony Leopolis. Both orchestras toured extensively in Germany, Belgium, France, Poland and Switzerland. She was a two-time winner of the Young Talents State Competition and a second prize winner of the Gitaralia competition in Poland. She appeared as a soloist with the Lviv Philharmonia Orchestra and Symphony Leopolis in Ukraine and Belgium and with the Oshkosh Symphony in the USA. Yuliya played first violin with the Ensemble of Modern Music Cluster for 5 years. The ensemble performed throughout Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Holland and Hungary. Yuliya holds a B.A. in violin performance and pedagogy from Ternopil State College of Music, and master and doctoral degrees, both cum laude, from Lysenko Lviv State Conservatory in Ukraine.
