2012 Suzuki Association of Minnesota
Fall Workshop & Master Classes

Saturday, October 27 – Sunday, October 28, 2012
Ferguson Hall on the University of Minnesota Campus

Violin Master Classes with Mark Bjork

MARK BJORK, Professor of violin and pedagogy at the University of Minnesota School of Music, is a graduate of Indiana University where he studied violin under the renowned pedagogue Josef Gingold. A past president of the SAA, Mr. Bjork is recognized internationally as a leader in the field of Suzuki Talent Education. In 1967 he started one of the first Suzuki programs in the United States at the MacPhail Center For Music in Minneapolis. Workshops, master classes and clinics, often related to Suzuki Talent Education, have taken him throughout the world. His former students include orchestral musicians, chamber music performers, teachers, and many happy amateurs. Bjork is the author of Expanding Horizons: The Suzuki Trained Violinist Grows Up.











Saturday, October 27 from 9 am to Noon
Sunday, October 28 from 9 am to Noon

For more information or to register, contact Nancy Esslinger


Piano Master Classes with Reiko Imrie

REIKO IMRIE, pianist and native of Osaka, Japan, received a Bachelor of Arts degree in piano performance and finished the extended Master course from Soai University in Osaka.  She has extensive performance experience in Japan as both a soloist and chamber musician, and has performed with a number of orchestras, including the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra. Reiko was named Best New Artist in the 1987 Naniwa New Artist Competition sponsored by the Sankei News Group. She also won both the Osaka Prefectural Governor’s Award and the Osaka Mayor’s Award. The Sankei Newspaper music critic wrote of Reiko’s “exceptional expression informed in her music.” In 1988 Reiko won First Prize in the French Music Competition, sponsored by the French Embassy and Air France, held in Osaka. Reiko taught several years at Okayama Women's College and gave frequent master classes at Yamaha music schools and Kawai music school in Osaka. Reiko moved to Minnesota in 1999 and joined the MacPhail faculty that same year. She resides in St. Louis Park with her husband, Rob, and their cats, Hana-chan and Kuro.









Saturday, October 27 from 9 am to Noon
Sunday, October 28 from 9 am to Noon

For more information or to register, contact Nancy Daley


Cello Master Classes with Carlynn Savot

CARLYNN SAVOT, Cellist Carlynn Savot is a teacher and performer in Minneapolis, MN. This fall she is delighted to be joining the faculty at St. Joseph’s School of Music in St. Paul. Strongly committed to encouraging the next generation of performers, Ms. Savot has served on the Suzuki faculty at The Hartt School Community Division and the Community School of the Arts at the University of Connecticut, where she held private studios, along with teaching group classes and coaching chamber groups. The West End String Quartet has served as the Hartt Community Division’s ensemble in residence, giving several master classes each year. The quartet also directed the chamber music program at Wesleyan University. Dr. Savot holds performance degrees from St. Olaf College, the University of Hartford, and the University of Connecticut. She has studied with David Carter, Pamela Devenport, and Kangho Lee.








Saturday, October 27 from 9 am to Noon
Sunday, October 28 from 9 am to Noon

For more information or to register, contact Andrea French


Guitar Master Classes with Michele Horner

MICHELE HORNER, is on the Suzuki guitar faculty at the Greenwich Suzuki Academy (CT) and at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music (NY). Michele added guitar instruction to the curriculum of the State College Suzuki Program (PA) when she joined the faculty in 2000. During her tenure as SCSP String Director, Michele's vision for multimedia collaborative performance led her to create innovative programs for the SCSP featuring a confluence of music, visual arts, and dance. In 2006 SCSP was one of only four American Suzuki schools selected by audition to perform a featured concert at the 14th Suzuki World Convention in Turin, Italy. Michele is a graduate of Penn State University and has studied guitar with Kevin Gallagher and Frederic Hand, and completed Suzuki guitar teacher training with Frank Longay, Bill Kossler and David Madsen. Michele created an Interactive Journey through Art & Music in 2003 as a way to help instrumental students of all ages better understand the context of their pieces by identifying common trends in painting, sculpture and music throughout.















Saturday, October 27 from 9 am to Noon
Sunday, October 28 from 9 am to Noon

For more information or to register, contact Christopher Becknell