Instructor Biographies
Andrea Talley, Violin
Ms. Talley’s teaching goals are centered around the young violin player. She enjoys teaching beginning and intermediate students and has extensive experience in this field. She has completed training in the Suzuki Method of teaching, but also incorporates other pedagogical techniques into her instruction.
Currently, Andrea is the primary teacher/developer of a Suzuki strings program for Kindergarten and first grade students in the La Conner School District, and the director of the violin program at Immaculate Conception Regional School in Mount Vernon. She also enjoys her work as conductor of the Prelude String Orchestra for the Everett Youth Symphony organization and working with public school orchestras in the Edmonds and Northshore school districts. Andrea performs with the Skagit Opera orchestra and the Sahale Strings Quartet and as a substitute for the Bellevue Philharmonic.
Degrees include a Masters Degree in violin performance from Michigan State University, and a BM from Western Michigan. Principal teachers include I-Fu Wang, Charles Avsharian, Renata Knific, Marilyn McDonald and Walter Schwede.
Jennifer McCrorey, Violin
Jennifer Fedie McCrorey began violin lessons at age 4 as part of the Suzuki Talent Education program in Eau Claire, WI. This was her inspiration to study music and become a teacher herself. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Violin Performance with honors from the University of Wisconsin at Madison where she studied violin with Vartan Manoogian, and a Master’s degree in Violin Pedagogy from the University of Texas at Austin where her violin teacher was Eugene Gratovitch. Jennifer was a teacher at the acclaimed Texas String Project under Anne C. Witt where she worked with students of all levels in private and group lessons.
Jennifer’s teaching and performing career began in Dallas, TX where she performed with several area orchestras including The Chamber Symphony of the Metrocrest, Plano Chamber Orchestra and Richardson Symphony. She taught violin lessons in her own home studio as well as in the Carrolton-Farmer’s Branch and Lewisville school districts.
From 1999-2005 Jennifer and her husband lived in Madrid, Spain where she was a member of the Orquesta Filarmonía de España and was co-founder of the International Violin School of Madrid, a Suzuki violin program made up of Spanish and expatriate students from all over the world. Jennifer has also lived outside of London, England where she maintained a violin studio and performed with the Surrey Mozart Players and the Baroque ensemble, The Cannons Scholars. In 2008, she and her husband settled in Issaquah where they are raising their two young boys.
Jennifer is a member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas and the American String Teachers Association. She has attended numerous workshops in Europe and the U.S. covering all aspects of Suzuki and traditional violin pedagogy, as well as historical interpretation and performance.
Elizabeth Gue, Violin/Viola
Elizabeth Gue has been teaching violin using the Suzuki Method for over ten years. She began her violin studies at the age of 3 with Celia Nicks at the Suzuki Institute of Seattle, whom she studied with for 15 years. While in college she went on to study Suzuki pedagogy with Celia Nicks and earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Violin Performance at Western Washington University with Walter Schwede. She spent two summers working with Charles Avsharian at the Meadowmount School of Music, where she assisted him with his Galamian Techniques classes. In 2006 she completed her Master’s Degree in Music Performance at the University of Texas at Austin where she studied violin with Vincent Fritelli and Violin Pedagogy with Dr. Laurie Scott. During her graduate studies in Texas she was an active teacher with the University of Texas String Project, teaching both private students and group classes ranging from pre-school to intermediate level students. She has most recently studied Suzuki Pedagogy with Judy Wiegert-Bossuat at the University of Oregon Suzuki Institute and has become a Registered Suzuki teacher. She is a member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas and the American String Teachers Association.
A versatile performer on both violin and viola, Elizabeth performs with both classical groups as well as with the Seattle Area rock band, Exohxo. She has most recently performed with the Tacoma Symphony, the Juneau Symphony, the Seattle Rock Orchestra and the Octava Chamber Orchestra. She also performs frequently as a freelance chamber musician in the Seattle area.
Kim Blanchard, Cello
Kim has been teaching cello privately in the Seattle area since 2000 and has recently received pedagogy training in the Suzuki method studying under Barbara Wompner at the Seattle/Japan Suzuki Institute. She has been an intern and coach at Chamber Music Madness for several years under nationally recognized chamber music teacher Karen Iglitzen. Kim has been actively involved in the arts community of the Northwest for over a decade. She is a member of the Northwest Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Opera NW, and Bellevue Opera. She also performs as a freelance musician and is an active chamber music performer in the greater Seattle area. Kim moved to Seattle in 1996 after receiving her BFA from Alfred University in New York and went on to receive her Bachelors of Music in cello performance from Cornish College of the Arts in 2005 where she studied with Paige Stockley Lerner. Kim currently studies with Mr. Walter Gray of the Seattle Symphony.
While studying cello performance at Cornish, Kim discovered her interest in composition and was fortunate to study with Janice Giteck and Jarrad Powell. Kim finds ways to combine her visual art background with her music by collaborating with artists of various disciplines through performing and composing. Kim’s first project, Katrina, is based on a heroic young woman’s experiences through a mythic world. She combines spoken word and film along with various non-traditional combinations of instruments. The world premier of “Quaking Aspens”, from Katrina was performed by the Bainbridge Choral in May, 2005. Also in the spring of 2005 the Saint Helens String Quartet performed the first movement of String Quartet No. 1, “I. Sunrise”. In 2006 Kim composed the score for the short film, “R.E.X.” by her friend and collaborator W. Jack Strain. Most recently, Kim was commissioned by the Chautauqua Regional Youth Symphony to write a piece for their 20th Anniversary Gala Concert on May 18, 2007. This piece is scheduled to have its Northwest premier with the Northwest Symphony Orchestra in the fall of 2009.
