Suzuki Violin and Viola
Paule Barsalou (violin instructor, artistic director, SAA certified Teacher Trainer)
Lessons available in French and English
One of only three SAA certified Violin Teacher Trainers in Ontario!
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A native of Dunham, P.Q., Paule Barsalou holds a D.E.C. from the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec à Montréal, a B.A. in Music Performance from Laval University (P.Q.) and an M.A. in Performance and Suzuki Pedagogy from the Cleveland Institute of Music (OH). Her main teachers and mentors have been Michele Higa George, Daphne Hughes, David Cerone, Kathleen Winkler and Gyorgy Terebesi.
Paule has been teaching at the Suzuki String School of Guelph in Guelph since 1989 and became the Artistic Director of the school in 2004. She is a Suzuki teacher trainer approved by the Suzuki Association of the Americas. She also offers Suzuki teacher training courses at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. She is a guest clinician at institutes and workshops throughout Canada and adjudicates at music festivals throughout Ontario. She is the principal second violin of the Guelph Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Barsalou is a former director of the Southwestern Ontario Suzuki Institute held every August at Wilfrid Laurier University in Kitchener/Waterloo, Ontario which she led from 1996 to 2009. She lives in Guelph with her husband, pianist Ken Gee.
Elspeth Durward (violin instructor)
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Originally from Ottawa, Elspeth Durward holds a B.Mus in Violin Performance from the University of Toronto and a M.Mus in Violin Performance with an Emphasis in Suzuki Pedagogy from the Hartt School of Music. She received her Suzuki training from Linda Fiore while teaching with the Hartt Suzuki Program.
In 2005, Elspeth returned to Canada after spending three years performing with the New World Symphony in Florida. Highlights from her time with the NWS include residencies at New York’s Carnegie Hall and Rome’s National Academy of Saint Cecilia. She has also performed with the Britt Festival, Pacific Music Festival in Japan, Spoleto Festival USA, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Toronto Symphony.
Elspeth is a violinist with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.
Anna Hughes (violin instructor)
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Anna Hughes, violin (Guelph, ON), started out as a Suzuki student at the age of three in the Suzuki String School of Guelph. Her mother, Daphne Hughes, was her first teacher and her main teacher was Tom Wermuth. After leaving the Suzuki Program, she went on to the Orchestral Training Program at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto where she studied with Moshe Hammer for a year. Anna’s orchestral training was enhanced by attending the National Youth Orchestra of Canada for two summers. The year following the Orchestral Training Program she started her Bachelor of Music Performance Degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music. In Cleveland she studied with David Updegraff , David Cerone and completed a year of Suzuki Pedagogy with Michele George. Since completing her degree, Anna has taught and done freelance work in Winnipeg, England, and throughout Southern Ontario. After most recently finishing her position as Coordinator of the University of Manitoba Suzuki Program she has come back to be a part of the Faculty at the Suzuki String School of Guelph.
Witold Swoboda (violin and viola instructor)
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Witold Swoboda was educated at the High Schools of Music in Bielsko-Biala and Cracow, Poland. In 1980, he graduated from the Cracow Academy of Music with a Masters in Violin Performance. A member of the Polish Radio and Television Orchestra, Cracow Philharmonic Orchestra and as violinist and violist with the Ewa Demarczyk Ensemble, he has performed in many European countries, Cuba, Mexico, and the former U.S.S.R. Since 1981, he has lived with his family in Canada, where he has been a member of the Canadian String Quartet, concermaster of the Sault Symphony, Toronto Sinfonietta, Peterborough Symphony, Etobicoke Symphony, and Orchestra da Camera Toronto. He has performed numerous solo and chamber music recitals with his pianist wife Ewa, both in Europe and North America.
His teaching positions (violin and viola) have included Algoma University, Mohawk College, as well as Summer Music Camps and workshops in Canada, United States, England and Poland. Witold is the founder and artistic director of the International Chamber Music Workshop in Pulawy, Poland. He is co-founder of Accademia Musica, a very successful Suzuki program in Peterborough, Ontario. He is also a sought after clinician and adjudicator.
Joy Schuster (violin and viola instructor)
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Joy Schuster graduated, with honors, from Michigan State University in 1987 with a Bachelor of Music Education. Joy then went on to teach in the beautiful state of Maine where she was teaching full time as a “string specialist” in Grades 3–8. In 1989, Joy immigrated to Canada where she taught with the Hamilton school board and the Hamilton Suzuki School of Music. Joy also played with the Niagara Symphony during her years in Hamilton. In 1993, Joy moved to Denver, Colorado, where she completed a Master of Arts in Suzuki Pedagogy. Upon graduation, Joy was elected a member of the Society of Pi Kappa Lambda. In 1996, Joy moved back to her home town of Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she taught with the Grand Rapids Community College Suzuki program and directed a Music Together program. In 2000, Joy moved back to Canada and began teaching at the Guelph Suzuki String School in 2004. Joy is presently the concertmaster of the Cambridge Community Orchestra.
Elayne Ras (violin and viola instructor, SAA certified Teacher Trainer)
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Elayne began Suzuki violin lessons at the age of 11 at the first Suzuki school in Toronto, after studying piano with her mother since age 5. Her early Suzuki teachers were Erica Davidson and Hazel Comer. During high school, she was an accompanist for many Suzuki classes, and achieved her Grade 9 piano, and Grade 10 violin certificates with the Royal Conservatory of Music. She attended the University of Western Ontario, and received her HBMus (Performance) studying with Lorand Fenyves, and her BA in Psychology (Child Development). Elayne has worked with many wonderful Suzuki teachers while pursuing teacher training, including Alice Joy Lewis, John Kendall, Margery Aber, Nancy Lokken, Becky Sandrok, and Brian Lewis, and in 2002 became a registered violin Teacher Trainer with the SAA. In 1984, Elayne began teaching in Huron County, Ontario, and in 1988 she founded the Huron String School when she moved to Goderich. The school offers violin, viola and cello instruction, orchestra, senior ensembles, group lessons, Theory/Music and Movement classes and has just added a Baby/Toddler class. Several of her students have been members of the London (Ontario) Youth Symphony. Elayne has been on the faculty at Institutes and Suzuki workshops across the US and Canada, and has adjudicated for music Festivals throughout Ontario. She is currently the Past Chair of the Suzuki Association of Ontario, presented a session on Rural Suzuki Teaching at the 2002 SAA conference in Minneapolis, and a session on a “Teen Mentoring Course” she developed with Paule Barsalou at the 2007 SAA Leadership Retreat. In addition, Elayne conducted a community Band of all ages in Goderich for 19 years, and is currently a member of the Stratford Civic Orchestra. In Sept of 2008, Elayne moved to Guelph, Ontario, where she now teaches part-time with the SSSG, continue to teach with the Huron String School.
Carmen Evans (violin)
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Carmen Evans attended the University of Guelph where she earned a Bachelor of Arts, Honours Music. She was an active member of the university music community, both as the secretary of the Music Students' Association, and as an organiser, presenter, and performer at the first and second annual Undergraduate Music Symposium. Upon graduating from university Carmen was the recipient of the Gloria Guthrie Memorial Music Scholarship.
Carmen began teaching at the SSSG in 2006, and has also been on faculty at The Royal Conservatory School, The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. Carmen is a violinist in the Guelph Symphony Orchestra. Carmen Evans is native to Guelph, and is a graduate of the SSSG.
