Denison University Suzuki Program will host its annual strings festival, “Strings in the Snow,” on Friday, Jan. 8, and Saturday, Jan. 9, in Burke Hall (240 West Broadway). Guest cello instructor Alice Ann O’Neill will perform a free, opening concert for all participating strings students, their families, and the community on Friday, Jan. 8, at 6:30 p.m. in Burke Recital Hall (240 West Broadway). The recital is open to the public and free of charge. Generous support for this event comes from the Granville Arts Commission and The Loft Violin Shop.

Violin, viola and cello Suzuki students will participate in group repertoire and technique classes with the guest instructors. Students also will participate in an additional enrichment class in rhythm and percussion, led by Terrence Karn, a resident musician at Denison University.

O’Neill is a professional cellist who has performed in orchestras, chamber ensembles, and as a soloist throughout Europe, Canada, Japan, and the United States. She is a Suzuki cello teacher and has been teaching cello for 22 years and is a guest artist/clinician for many workshops and institutes all over North America.

Guest violin instructors include Susan Forry Locke, Colleen Fitzgerald and James Hutchins. Forry Locke is currently artistic/executive director, teacher and founder of Suzuki Music Columbus Inc. In addition to Locke teaches pedagogy classes at Otterbein College, coaches chamber music at the Chamber Music Connection, plays with Newark/Granville Symphony Orchestra, plays chamber music extensively, and teaches at workshops and institutes throughout the United States.

Fitzgerald is a graduate of the University of Evansville where she studied under world-renowned Suzuki pedagogue, professor Carol Dallinger, and earned a Bachelor of Music degree in violin perfomance with Suzuki pedagogy. Fitzgerald, the 2006 recipient of the Certificate of Excellence in Studio Teaching from the Civic Music Association of Milwaukee, has been teaching violin for the last 13 years as a faculty member of the Barcel Suzuki String Academy in Milwaukee.

Hutchins, a Suzuki-trained violinist, is the director of “The Perpetual Motion Suzuki Strings.” Hutchins has served as a guest clinician at workshops and Suzuki institutes throughout the country and in Lithuania, Iceland, Singapore and Malaysia. Hutchins has performed throughout the United States, Canada, the Bahamas, Israel, Africa, Iceland, Singapore, Malaysia and Japan.

For additional information, contact Denison University Suzuki Program Director Jim Van Reeth at vanreethj@denison.edu.

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

For press inquiries:

Name

Barbara Stambaugh

Position Title

Director, Media Relations

Primary Email

stambaughb@denison.edu

Business Phone

(740) 587-8575