Faculty
Claire Allen (Violin) holds a master’s degree in violin performance from Peabody Conservatory where she studied pedagogy with Rebecca Henry. She has completed Suzuki-registered training in Books 1-10 and was a Teaching Artist and Strings Coordinator at Mason Community Arts Academy before opening her independent studio in 2023. In 2019, she received the Outstanding Teacher of the Year award from the Virginia chapter of the American String Teacher Association, and in 2024 she was named a Distinguished Young Teacher by the Suzuki Association of the Americas. Previous summer camp experience includes Summer Violin Bootcamp at Mason Community Arts Academy, which she created and directed from 2015-2024, and Peabody Preparatory’s Camp Allegro. In addition to teaching her private studio, Ms. Allen has served as an adjudicator for ASTACAP exams, is a frequent contributor to Violinist.com, and most recently co-presented at the 2025 ASTA conference. She lives in Northern Virginia with her husband - luthier Benjamin Jones-Hayes - and their cat Boudicca.
Lisa Cridge (Violin, Chamber Music Institute) “borrowed” a plastic toy violin from her sister at age three and has been playing ever since. She played for Dr. Suzuki at age seven and later earned a BM from the Hartt School. She won a first violin position in the Memphis Symphony and received a full graduate assistantship to attend U. Memphis to earn a Master of Music. She performs first violin in the National Philharmonic, and is principal second violin of the National Gallery Chamber Orchestra. Lisa also performs with the Washington Chorus, the Cathedral Choral Society, and the Choral Arts Society. Graduates from her studio are teaching public school strings, in private studios and also performing with symphony and military orchestras and one is in a rock band in England! She is the author of Bow Games and Goals I which will be available at camp and through Potters Violins. Lisa presently teaches in Arlington, VA and for the first time is teaching the children of her former students!
Laura Frazelle (Violin) grew up in Washington State and settled in Virginia after graduate school, where she has worked extensively as both a performer and educator. She is a core member of the Williamsburg Symphony, and also has performed with the Richmond, Virginia, Annapolis, and Baltimore Symphonies among others. Ms. Frazelle received the Virginia String Teachers Association’s 2021 Outstanding String Teacher of the Year Award in recognition of her private studio, and served on the Board of Directors for the Suzuki Association of the Greater Washington Area (SAGWA) from 2016-2018. Ms. Frazelle holds a Master of Music in Violin Performance and Suzuki Pedagogy from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance cum laude from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory. She enjoys reading, baking, and spending time with her family and dog. She resides with her two young sons and husband Daniel, the Assistant Principal Clarinetist of the United States Navy Band.
Ruth Johnsen (Orchestras, Chamber Music) has recently retired from her career of 20 years as Director of Orchestras at Ligon Gt/AIG Magnet Middle School in Wake County, NC. Her orchestras have performed now six time times at Carnegie Hall.. They have performed with acclaim at Orchestra Hall in Chicago, and Piccolo Spoleto Festival. Ruth received her Bachelors Degree from the Hartt School of Music and Master of Music from Ithaca College in violin performance. She is married to cellist Brent Wissick (whom she met in junior high orchestra!) and has two adult children, Andrew (former Suzuki cellist) and Ariana, who is an avid equestrian. www.ruthjohnsen.com
Lisa Liske (Cello, Chamber Music Institute, Celtic Cello) is a distinguished pedagogue of the cello and a major performer in her own right. Her performing interests focus upon new music, baroque music, unaccompanied cello music, improvisation, and chamber music of all sorts. She performs regularly with the Philadelphia-based New River Ensemble and the North Carolina Baroque Orchestra, and has held titled positions in the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra and Opera Roanoke. She has filled adjunct faculty positions at four colleges and universities over the years. Lisa is a registered Suzuki teacher and is devoted to the Creative Ability Development method. She co-founded the Blue Ridge Suzuki Camp, and teaches and adjudicates for the Tennessee Cello Workshop at the University of Tennessee.
Arianna Macy (Fiddling, Folk Dancing) is a music educator living and working in the greater Boston area. As an elementary strings teacher and orchestra director, she blends the Suzuki Method, the Bornoff Approach, and a variety of folk and fiddle repertoire. In the general music classroom, she draws from the global folk tradition to teach singing, folk dancing, and music literacy. She is passionate about sharing her love of fiddle music and folk dancing with students and other educators, and recently led a series of workshops on how to teach folk dancing to children. She also enjoys participating in the vibrant fiddle scene in the Boston area! Arianna began attending Blue Ridge as an elementary student herself and loves that she gets to return and be a part of what makes it special for a new generation of students and their families.
Vivian Mayers (Violin, Chamber Music) is a violinist and Suzuki teacher based in Winston-Salem, NC. She specializes in the performance of early music, and holds a Master’s degree in Historical Performance from The Juilliard School. She has recently appeared with the Valley of the Moon Music Festival; the Elm City Consort; the Yale Baroque Opera Project; The Sebastians Chamber Players; and Juilliard415, Juilliard’s touring period orchestra. Vivian grew up attending Blue Ridge Suzuki Camp and graduated from Yale University in 2021 with a Bachelor of Arts in History.
Sasha Mikhlin (Violin, Chamber Music Institute) is on the faculty of the Levine School of Music in Washington, D.C., adjunct professor at Anne Arundel Community College, and teaches at her home studio in Annapolis MD. Her students have won numerous awards internationally and in Washington D.C., including first prizes in Feder, Cogen, and Marlin-Engel competitions, Vivo International Youth Competition; the Concert Artists International Maestro Competition. She received her Suzuki training with Terri Einfeldt, Linda Steig and Christie Felsing, her Bachelor of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music and her Master of Music from Yale University School of Music. Sasha is the Concertmaster of Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, acting concertmaster of Apollo Orchestra in Bethesda, MD, a member of the Annapolis Symphony and also plays regularly with Washington National Opera Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Washington Concert Opera and National Philharmonic Orchestra. She lives in Annapolis with her husband Marcus and is the mother of Cam, Misha, and Nadya.
Alex Nelson (Guitar, Guitar Improvisation, Early Childhood Music) has been described as a dynamic and versatile musician, teacher, composer, and performer, with a passion for inspiring creativity in his students. He teaches guitar, piano, ukulele, and composition, with a focus on classical, jazz, and other styles. He' has served as Music and Artistic Director for performing arts camps, worked as a recording artist and producer, conducted jazz ensembles and ukulele bands, lead workshops on composition and songwriting, and taught classes on performance practice at the university level. He has a Master of Music in Guitar Performance from the University of NC School of the Arts, where he did Suzuki teacher training with Joseph Pecoraro. When not working with music, he enjoys hiking, playing board games, and reading fantasy novels.
Joseph O'Donnell (Viola, Violin, Chamber Music Institute) was raised as a traditional student, but fell in love with Suzuki teaching when working as a summer intern at the North Carolina Suzuki Institute. He pursued his Suzuki Pedagogy studies at East Carolina University under Joanne Bath and has since taught across North co-founder/director of TASTE (Triangle Area Suzuki Talent Education). As a performer, he appears regularly on Baroque concerts around North Carolina and occasionally farther afield, having appeared with Miami's Seraphic Fire, on the Baroque and Beyond series in Spokane, and with numerous groups based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Outside of musical pursuits, he is an avid origamist and loves the preparation and consumption of excellent food.
​Hilde Singer (Violin) received her education in Violin Performance and Suzuki Pedagogy from the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM), studying violin with David Updegraff and Linda Cerone, and pedagogy with Michele Higa George and Teri Einfeldt. She spent time in Japan studying with Koji Toyoda, and attended the 13th World Suzuki Convention. Mrs. Singer taught at CIM from 1998 - 2004, including serving as Assistant to the Director and Coordinator of the Suzuki program during that time. Hilde has taught at Suzuki summer camps, festivals, and workshops, and presented at the 1st Suzuki Convention of the Americas in Cancun. In addition to teaching, she has performed with the Akron Symphony, the AIMS orchestra in Graz, Austria, the Alexandria Symphony, the Virginia Chamber Orchestra, and the National Philharmonic. She is also involved with the Iris Music Project. A former Suzuki student herself, she currently maintains a private studio at her home in Maryland, where she is also a Suzuki mom to her two children.
​Sera Smolen (Cello, Improvisation, Musicianship) is an active performer of numerous genres of music as a soloist, chamber musician, improviser, orchestral musician, and recording artist. She is a member of the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, subbing with Syracuse Symphony for many years. She composes records original and music with her husband, Tom Mank with whom she has toured the Netherlands and Belgium numerous times. Smolen received her PhD in music education from the Union Institute in 2000, with graduate study at Ithaca College and Cornell University. Her bachelors degree was a double major in performance and music education. She currently teaches at the Opus Ithaca School of Music in Ithaca NY. She is a frequent guest clinician in Europe, the US and Canada for workshops and teacher training seminars covering pedagogies of improvisation and composition for string players. She has taught at Mansfield University, Alfred University, the Kanack School in Rochester NY, and Hobart and William Smith College. She has been an assistant director of the New Directions Cello Festival for over 20 years.
Jim Van Reeth (Violin, Chamber Music) is Director of the Denison University Suzuki Program in Granville, OH and teaches violin. Additionally, he enjoys teaching music appreciation and violin at Denison. Jim holds a BM in violin performance from the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College-CUNY where his principal teacher was Ruth Waterman, and a MMEd with Suzuki Talent Education emphasis from UW-Stevens Point having completed long-term Suzuki training with Patricia D’Ercole. Jim is married to composer Ching-chu Hu, and they are Suzuki parent/practice partners for their four kiddos (2 violinists, a pianist and a flutist). He is a member of the Newark-Granville Symphony Orchestra, and his favorite food is ice cream, so he makes a point of sampling the local creameries whenever possible.
Benjamin Wyatt (Cello, Chamber Music) is the cellist of the Avanti Ensemble and teaches at the Renaissance Music Academy in Blacksburg, Virginia. He has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia, and has collaborated with leading artists, including members of the Guarneri, Vermeer, Pacifica, Vanbrugh, Brentano, Ridge, Meliora, Mendelssohn, Amernet, Chicago, Rolston, and Dover String Quartets. As a Baroque cellist, he has played with ensembles including Musica Angelica, The American Classical Orchestra, and Three Notch’d Road. After undergraduate studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music, he completed his doctoral studies at the University of Southern California where he was honored as the Outstanding Doctoral Graduate; he studied the Suzuki Method in New York at the School for Strings with Pamela Devenport and has taught at Institutes and workshops around the country. His students have been accepted to prestigious music schools, including The Juilliard School, The Cleveland Institute of Music, The New England Conservatory, and Rice University.
​Erica Sipes (Piano Accompanist) received her bachelor's and master's degrees in piano performance from the Eastman School of Music. She has been an adjunct faculty member and staff pianist at Radford and has freelanced as a piano collaborator and coach. Ms. Sipes has also performed with the Roanoke Symphony and Amici Musicorum. She is a founding member and pianist of the Alma Ensemble, a trio dedicated to featuring music composed by women and with Canadian pianist, Sandra Mogensen, she has launched a YouTube channel and project called Piano Music She Wrote with a similar aim. In the summer of 2012 Erica officially launched her own business as a practice coach, Beyond the Notes, offering coachings, workshops, planning sessions, and practice boot-camps for anyone that could use some help with practicing. Erica can often be found talking about practicing, piano, and music or livestreaming her practice sessions on Twitter (@ericasipes). She has also been a prominent blogger, writing frequently about her views on performing, learning music, and the classical music world in general. Her blog, “Beyond the Notes” can be found at http://ericaannsipes.blogspot.com
Katherine Wiley (Director) founded the Blue Ridge Suzuki Camp in 1998 with her colleague and friend Lisa Liske. Building on their initial vision, Katherine has been the Director for 27 years. She has a private Suzuki studio in Winston-Salem, NC, and is an adjunct faculty in music at UNC School of the Arts and Wake Forest University. Katherine is a violinist with the Winston-Salem Symphony, and developed the program and curriculum for their El Sistema based program. She is also passionate about traditional music and performs with her Celtic band. Katherine grew up in Massachusetts, attended Oberlin College/Conservatory, Indiana University School of Music, and East Carolina University, where she received a Master of Music in Performance and Suzuki Pedagogy. She is past president of the NC Suzuki Teachers Association, and has taught at Suzuki workshops and Institutes in VA, NC, MA, CT, and WI. Katherine has two sons who grew up Suzuki students. www.katherinewileymusic.com
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