"When love is deep, much can be accomplished." - Dr. Suzuki
Teacher Bios
Marcos Kreutzer
Marcos Kreutzer began his violin studies with Luiz Benke in his native Brazil. He attended the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul where he pursued a Bachelor’s degree in violin performance. In 2006 Marcos moved to Albuquerque, NM, where he earned a Master’s degree in violin performance under the instruction of Dr. Cármelo de los Santos at the University of New Mexico. At UNM, Marcos also did extensive coursework in String pedagogy and did long-term Suzuki training with Susan Kempter.
Marcos is currently co-Chair of the String department at the Hochstein School in Rochester, NY, where he is also the coordinator of the Suzuki program and the director of the Concertino Strings Orchestra. At Hochstein, Marcos has a large and vibrant studio with students of all ages studying traditional and Suzuki violin and viola. In 2022, along with two other string teachers, Marcos conceived and started a Suzuki in the Schools based orchestra program at the Rochester Prep elementary schools where currently 3rd grade students receive daily violin, viola, and cello lessons.
As a performer, Marcos played in the Theatro São Pedro Chamber Orchestra for many years and was a regular guest violinist with the Porto Alegre Symphony Orchestra and the FUNDARTE Chamber Orchestra. Currently he is a member of the Cordancia Chamber Orchestra where he enjoys exploring and playing new and old music with colleagues from the Rochester area.
Julie Bickel
Julie Bickel joined the faculty of the Music Institute of Chicago in 2021. She pioneered Virtuoso Strings, their new advanced touring ensemble. In 2022, they embarked on their first tour to Hawaii. This year, they will tour Italy for their first International Tour. For over 20 years, Bickel worked at Wheaton College Community School of the Arts as a violin instructor and Director of the Vivaldi Strings touring chamber ensemble. She taught for the Wheaton College Music Conservatory as faculty teaching String Pedagogy and mentoring Interns. She holds a B.A. in Violin Performance and a B.S. in Pre-Med from the University of Notre Dame, as well as a M.M. and Performers’ Certificate in Violin Performance and Pedagogy from Northern Illinois University. Bickel has been a participant in all eleven of the Starling-DeLay Symposiums at the Juilliard School of Music.
Bickel studied with Betty Monahan, Almita and Roland Vamos, Rachel Barton Pine, Simin Ganatra, Mathias Tacke, Vermeer Quartet, and Brian Lewis. She has performed the Mendelssohn, Khachaturian, and Beethoven Concertos with orchestra and currently performs with the Butterfield String Quartet with colleagues, Anita Arch, Emily Puntuzs, and Dr. Tanya Carey. She has trained extensively since 1996 in Suzuki Pedagogy and has taught at various music institutes, including Sound Encounters in Ottawa, Kansas; Texas State University Suzuki Strings Institute in San Marcos, Texas; Intermountain Suzuki String Institute in Draper, Utah; DFW-WOW in Dallas, Texas; American Suzuki Institute in Stevens Point, Wisconsin; and the Chicago Suzuki Institute in Deerfield, Illinois.
As the director of the Wheaton College Community School of the Arts’ Vivaldi Strings touring group, she prepared the group for national tours to Alaska, California, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Washington, and Wisconsin; and international tours to Austria, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Japan, Morocco, Puerto Rico, Scotland, and Spain. The group has been featured on both ABC and NBC Chicago affiliates as well as Beijing TV and the NHK Japanese-English website. In 2012, the group was invited, all expenses paid, by the Chinese government to represent the USA along with 42 other countries in the International Children’s Culture and Art Festival. Prior to Covid, they had planned to travel to Washington D.C. to participate in the 6th World Children’s Festival hosted by the International Child Art Foundation.
Bickel coordinated the Suzuki Youth Orchestras of the Americas for the 11th and 12th SAA Conferences. At the 13th and 16th SAA Conferences in 2008 and 2014, Vivaldi Strings was selected to perform for the International Ensembles Concerts. In 2014, Bickel was awarded Teacher of the Year from the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra.
Andrea Cannon
Andrea is an alumna of Boston's Berklee College of Music with a major in Jazz Performance as well as an Outstanding Alumni Service award. Post-Collegiate studies include extensive Applied Performance in Classical Guitar with Robert Guthrie of Southern Methodist University and Suzuki Method pedagogy courses in both guitar and Early Childhood Education.
Andrea’s Guitar Arts Studio in Houston, Texas includes training in Theory and Performance skills for guitarists as well as the first Suzuki Early Childhood Music program established in the US. She serves as a consultant to the Spring School District Music Department and directs Applied Guitar studies at Lone Star College. She is Certified through Music Teacher’s National Association and is a Registered Teacher Trainer with the Suzuki Association of the Americas.
Andrea is humbled and proud that arts advocacy group ‘Alarte’ of Guatemala City, Guatemala has created a Scholarship in her name. The first recipient of the ‘Beca Andrea Cannon’ is enjoying the benefits of a new guitar as well as expert Suzuki instruction; and she also has a beautiful smile.
Taylor Morris
Hailed by a class of 2nd graders as “wreely nice and kind” and “the coolest man on erth,” Arizona native Taylor Morris enjoys blurring the line between violin and fiddle. Strongly believing we can learn more about the world through collaboration with others, he actively pursues musical projects in different genres. Currently, he is part of Tricia & Taylor, a genre-bending violin/fiddle duo with concert violinist Tricia Park, and a member of The Sound Accord, a string sextet that creates vibrant arrangements of folk music. After studying classical violin at Arizona State University with Dr. Katie McLin, he spent four years touring with Barrage, a world-music violin troupe based out of Canada. His travels, both with Barrage and personally, have led to performances in 48 states and 13 countries with musicians from a multitude of backgrounds.
Offstage, Taylor obtained a master's in education from Harvard University and teaches nationally as a guest educator, working with 4-year-olds to professionals and teachers. He co-founded/co-directs the Gilbert Town Fiddlers (an extracurricular fiddling program for young string players), serves as a continuing Guest Lecturer at Arizona State University, runs a summer camp for young musicians called StringPlay, and is a committed private teacher with a dynamic studio of young violinists and fiddlers. For more information on Taylor, please visit: www.taylormorrismusic.com.