Learn from Great Viola Teachers

Sometimes, I wish composing was as easy as making yogurt—once started, it would essentially create more of itself. Even though that is definitely not the case, I generally still take more enjoyment in the disorderly scrawls on the manuscript paper piling up on my desk than in the tangy bacteria cultures in my crockpot.

I began playing the violin when I was 3 years old, and switched full-time to viola at the age of 12. Since then, I have completed 3 post-secondary performance degrees at the San Francisco Conservatory, New England Conservatory, and Lynn University, studying primarily with Jodi Levitz, Kim Kashkashian, and Ralph Fielding.

Shawn LeSure, a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory, has been playing the violin since the age of ten. He comes from a musical family; his older brother, a cellist, is a Juilliard graduate. Shawn was the winner of the MENC all-USA High School Musicians’ Competition and also has many scholarships to his credit: Sewanee Music Festival, Apple Hill Chamber Music Festival, and the…

I am a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and Florida State University. I have worked professionally in an established string quartet (Lindsayan), a Piano trio (Arlington), performed with Orchestras (recently leading the viola section of the Ulster Orchestra, in Belfast, Northern Ireland), at respected national chamber music festivals, and for studio recordings in a wide…

Brendan Lesavage is a violinist currently residing in Northeast Pennsylvania. Mr. Lesavage enjoys a versatile career as a cross-genre musician, educator, and composer. His performances have taken him everywhere, from popular restaurants to the highly esteemed Carnegie Hall, across all of Northeastern Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey. Mr.

Sharon Gulla is a violin teacher and performer residing in the Lehigh Valley. She spent her formative years learning Russian playing technique with Vladimir Pritsker, who was a long-time performer with the Syracuse Symphony. She later studied violin with Susan Waterbury at the Ithaca College School of Music.

Aimée Blom is a professional violinist and upper strings teacher with over 7 years of teaching experience. She completed her BMus (2014-2017) and MMus (2018-2019) studies with distinction at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, under the guidance of Johanna Roos and Irene Tsoniff.

I am a chamber musician and music teacher. Currently, I work as Assistant Director of Sycamore Strings Academy, teaching violin individual and ensemble lessons, conducting the youth chamber orchestra, and coaching the adult chamber ensemble. Recent public performances have included accompanying choir and soloists in Handel's Messiah and Saunder Choi's Verum Corpus.

Violinist Emelyn Bashour (BM, Eastman School of Music; MM, University of Michigan) has performed across North and South America. During her studies she served as concertmaster of both U-M’s University Symphony Orchestra and the Eastman Philharmonia. She is also an alum of the New England Conservatory Preparatory School.

With over 25 years of teaching and performance experience, I am passionate about fostering musical growth and personal development through violin and string education. I hold a Master of Music in Violin Performance from the prestigious Rotterdam Conservatory (2001) and a Bachelor of Music from the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam (1999).