Instructor Biographies
Ashley Sullivan, Violin/Viola
A native of Kingsport, TN, Ashley Sullivan began studying Suzuki violin at the age of 2 under the instruction of Jane MacMorran of the Kingsport Suzuki Association. At the age of 16, Ashley began performing as a first violinist with the all-professional Johnson City Symphony. As a young adult, Ashley studied with Martha Kaufman of the Washington D.C. National Ballet and Peter deVries, former associate concertmaster of the Knoxville Symphony and concertmaster of the Portuguese National Symphony. She also founded the Encore Four String Quartet which was invited to perform for both the Governor of Tennessee and the Governor of North Carolina. Ashley won the Knoxville Youth Symphony concerto competition in 1995 and the Dobyns-Bennett concerto competition in 1995. Ashley attended the Sewanee Summer Music Festival in 1995 and placed in the first violin section of the top orchestra, the Indiana University String Academy in 1996 where she was fortunate enough to have master classes taught by Joshua Bell, and was a junior Scottish fiddling champion, winning several gold and silver medals at the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games and U.S. National Highland Games.
Ashley received a B.A. from the University of Washington where she studied with Kyung Sun Chee and was a first violinist in the UW Symphony Orchestra. Ashley has performed with various symphonies throughout Western Washington, including the Bellevue Philharmonic, the Northwest Symphony, and the Puget Sound Symphony. Ashley is the former orchestra director for the Riverview School District, teaching orchestra to students at Carnation Elemenary and Tolt Middle School from 2006 through 2009. Ashley has studied Suzuki Pedagogy with William Starr, and most recently completed her Book 1 training with Alan Lieb. She is a member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas and the Suzuki Association of Washington State. In October 2013, she was invited to teach at the Washington State Suzuki Festival.
Ashley currently performs classically with the Encore Four Ensemble, The Fire Inside, a local Celtic band, and the Rooftop Dogs, a bluegrass and rock band. She also performs as a freelance musician on both violin and viola.
Ashley has taught violin and viola lessons to students of all ages and abilities in western Washington since 2005. Ashley incorporates the Suzuki philosophy in all her lessons, but in addition to classical repertoire, Ashley teaches fiddle and other styles of music. Her students have participated in the Washington State Suzuki graduation program. Her students have placed in the top orchestras of Bellevue Youth Orchestra and Cascade Youth Orchestra, as well as held leadership positions in their school orchestras. Ashley loves discovering what draws each individual student to music and what motivates each student to continue progressing in a positive, nurturing environment.
Ashley teachers from her home studio in the Bellevue/Redmond area
Elizabeth Gue, Violin/Viola
Elizabeth Gue has been teaching violin using the Suzuki Method since 1997. 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 studied Suzuki pedagogy with Judy Weigert-Bossuat, Elayne Ras, and Catherine Lee. Since 2011 she has been invited to teach at the Washington State Suzuki Festival in Ellensburg, WA. She is a member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas, the American String Teachers Association and the Suzuki Association of Washington State (SAWS, suzukiwashington.org). She was recently elected to the board of directors of SAWS and is excited to be involved in the leadership of the Suzuki method in Washington State.
Many of her students play in local youth symphonies, including the Seattle Youth Symphonies, Bellevue Youth Symphonies, and the Maple Valley Youth Symphony. Her students have also played in the Bellevue School District Honors Orchestras at both middle and high school levels as well as the Jr. All State Orchestra.
A versatile performer on both violin and viola, Elizabeth has performed 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, the Encore Four Ensemble (encorefour.com), and the Octava Chamber Orchestra. She also performs frequently as a freelance chamber musician in the Seattle area.
Elizabeth teaches at Hammond Ashley Violins and from her home studio in North Bellevue.
Foothills Suzuki Institute 