Virtual Suzuki Institute Faculty
Gabe Bolkosky
Violinist and violist Gabe Bolkosky has been praised for the way he “takes audiences into his confidence and includes them” and described as having “the serenity of a master without a hint of coldness.” He has performed and taught across the United States, abroad, working with all ages of musicians. As a member of the Bayberry String Quartet, he recently pioneered an online approach to music-making and collaboration from home. His organization, Education for Happiness, recently launched PhoenixPhest Virtual Online Chamber Music Immersive, culminating a 20 year in-person program. His focus educationally has been to help musicians in all developmental stages and levels of interest with a focus on inclusion. He has worked with thousands of students across the states and abroad.
Primarily a violinist, he performs a diverse repertoire of classical and contemporary works with different collaborative artists from many musical genres in many of the great concert halls. To date, Gabe has released seven recordings that show his breadth as a musician focused in the areas of contemporary music, jazz, and nuevo tango as well as traditional classical music. Over the last two decades, Gabe served as the executive director of The Phoenix Ensemble, a nonprofit organization dedicated to warm hearted and compassionate arts education.
Terry Durbin
Dr. Timothy (Terry) Durbin’s unique brand of teaching excellence makes him one of the most sought-after clinicians/conductors throughout the world. With infectious enthusiasm and inspired musicianship, he brings smiles and laughter to students throughout the United States and around the world. His dynamic teaching career includes over 800 workshops and institutes! His performance and teaching career stretches across the United States and Canada into Bermuda, Germany, Italy, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia,Thailand and Singapore, and he has recorded two CDs, including the complete chamber music of Marcel Dupre for the Naxos label. He has been appointed principal conductor of the Cave Run Symphony Orchestra beginning with the 2016 season. He has directed the South Dakota and Montana All State Orchestras. He is the holder of the American Suzuki Institute Suzuki Chair Award for 2013. Terry Durbin is also an accomplished composer and notable arranger.
Dr. Durbin holds a DMA in orchestral conducting from Claremont Graduate University in Los Angeles, California, a Masters in violin performance from the University of Illinois, an undergraduate degree in violin performance from the University of Alabama, and is currently the director of the Suzuki String Program at the University of Louisville. He is a registered teacher trainer with the Suzuki Association of the Americas.
Terry lives with his wife, Sandy, on 140 acres north of Lexington, Kentucky. They have three children and two grandchildren.
He believes in the magic of music’s power to enrich our lives.
Joe Kaminsky
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Steffani Kitayama-Bolkosky
Violinist Steffani Kitayama splits her time performing, teaching, and dancing with a small ballet company in Michigan. She is a founding member of the Bayberry String Quartet, a quartet that combines performing and education to encourage people from all walks of life to enjoy and play music together. The Bayberry String Quartet is emerging onto the concert scene with upcoming appearances at Carnegie Hall and the Chautauqua School of Music and will be releasing their first album of Mozart quartets this summer. As a teacher, Steffani has taught in a variety of settings from public school outreach to group classes and private lessons. She and her husband, Gabe Bolkosky, founded Education for Happiness and recently launched Rollin’ Daily Practice Support as a way to help musicians find consistency and sustainability with their practice.
Wendy Tangen-Foster
Wendy Tangen-Foster is past-president of the Suzuki Association of Minnesota and currently directs Ms. Wendy’s Suzuki Violin Studio in St. Paul where children and adults learn violin as part of a joyfully vibrant community of students, parents and families. She is also the former director of the Suzuki Strings Program at the Saint Paul Conservatory of Music and a former instructor at HeartStrings Studio in River Falls, Wisconsin, where she worked with Joan Molloy.
With over 20 years of Suzuki teaching experience, Wendy’s students are recognized for their dedication to music, their strong technical foundation, and their passion for performing. Her teaching style is characterized by an animated, enthusiastic, and relentlessly positive, yet rigorous, approach with students and parents. Her ability to integrate high artistic standards with creativity, humor, excitement, and fun has made her a sought-after guest clinician at Suzuki institutes and workshops across the U.S. One of Wendy’s strengths is teaching Group Classes where she inspires and creates breakthroughs for students of all ages, levels, and experiences.
Wendy began her Suzuki teacher-training in high school with LeRoy Bauer, Deborah Goolsby, and Craig Timmerman, and furthered her studies with Jacqueline Maurer, Carol Smith, Pat D’Ercole, Kathleen Spring, Joanne Bath, Edmund Sprunger, Joseph Kaminsky, Nancy Lokken, Alice Joy Lewis, and Ronda Cole.
Wendy developed her deep passion for chamber music after studying with the Philadelphia String Quartet, the Lafayette Quartet, and the Apple Hill Quartet. While studying at the Lionel Hampton School of Music, she fell in love with jazz and improvisation and went on to study with jazz-violinist Randy Sabien. She joined his swing band Rhythm and Bows achieving acclaim in the Midwest and performing as invited guest artists at the International Jazz Educators Conference in 2012. Wendy has also studied improvisation with Christian Howes (jazz violin) at the Creative Strings Workshop in Ohio.
Wendy has toured nationally with rock/blues bands, performs and records as a freelance musician in the Twin Cities, and incorporates “alternative” violin styles into her Suzuki curriculum. Currently, you can find Wendy onstage performing every Sunday with Rogue Tango, a 4-piece band that plays a blend of tango, jazz, rumba, and flamenco music. Wendy makes her home on Cathedral Hill in Saint Paul where she enjoys running, drinking coffee on the patio, listening to records, and playing music with her partner, Django.