Strings « Community Music Center

String Teachers

Cello Teachers
Double Bass Teachers
Fiddle Teachers
Viola Teachers
Violin Teachers

Cello Teachers

POPPEA DORSAM (2006), cello, received Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees from Boston University under Michael Reynolds and George Neikurg and was a member of the Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honor Society. Her undergraduate studies were completed at Oberlin Conservatory under Andor Toth Jr. Dorsam has performed with Sacramento, Fresno and Women’s Philharmonics, San Jose, Napa, Monterey, Santa Rosa and Oakland East Bay Symphonies, Pacific Chamber Orchestra, Lamplighter’s, Pocket Opera, and Opera Cinnabar. Dorsam founded, managed and performs(ed) in the Clover Heights Ensemble, Fogtown Four Cello Quartet (Stillwater Sound label), Anne and Poppea Ensemble and Trio Dorado. She is a winner of two CMC Shenson grants and one Partnership grant. Dorsam participated in Tahoe, Blossom, and Apple Hill festivals. In addition to CMC, Dr. Dorsam teaches cello at Golden Gate Philharmonic as well as her private studio.
Mission and Richmond District Branches

JESSICA IVRY (2010), cello. Jessica Ivry is a freelance musician and an instructor of music at the College of Marin. She plays with the Real Vocal String Quartet, an original music string and vocal ensemble and with Amy X Neuburg and the Cello ChiXtet. Jessica has also performed and toured with the Beth Custer Ensemble, singer/songwriter Vienna Teng, and with Balkan women’s choir, Kitka. Jessica scored and performed original music for The Bright River; a hip-hop retelling of Dante’s Inferno, and for Arthur Miller’s classic drama, Death of a Salesman for San Francisco’s A Traveling Jewish Theatre. Jessica recorded on Grammy nominated album, Blueprint of a Lady for jazz vocalist, Nneena Freelon. She has also been featured on “Spark”, KQED public television series about Bay Area artists. Jessica holds degrees from Skidmore College and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Mission District Branch

ALEX KEITEL (2006), cello. Alex Keitel received his bachelors and masters degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of music where he studied with Jean-Michel Fonteneau for seven years. While there, he received instruction by a group of internationally recognized musicians including: Mark Sokol of the Concord quartet, renowned Bay-area cellist Bonnie Hampton, Jodi Levitz of the Ives quartet, Naumberg competition winner Ian Swenson, Sadao Harada of the Tokyo string quartet, and Bobby Mann of the Julliard string quartet, among others. Alex’s most recent musical inspiration comes from the late renaissance and early baroque music of France. After four years of study, and with instruction by John Dorenburg, Elizabeth Reed, and Dutch master Wieland Kujiken, Alex is an accomplished player of the Viola de Gamba, educating with and performing from ancient manuscripts. Alex is the Director of the Comprehensive Musicianship Program at CMC and also the Director of the Inner City Young Musician’s Program where he teaches theory and musicianship. He also conducts and coaches both the middle-school and high-school level orchestras for the ICYMP. Alex has been teaching cello, chamber music, music theory and composition for more than ten years, and will work with any level to help discover the ease of playing and the joys of making music. Alex has continually performed numerous recitals, chamber music and free concerts combining education with live performance for the benefit of the community for the past twelve years, as well as maintaining an international performing schedule. Visit www.alexplayscello.com for free streaming music and videos.

Mission and Richmond District Branches

MICHAEL KNAPP (1994), cello. Michael Knapp received his Master’s of Arts degree in Music Composition from Mills College, where he studied with Lou Harrison. He also completed a Master’s of Music degree in Cello Performance from San Francisco State University. Michael studied cello with Lazslo Varga, Janos Starker and Ralph Kirschbaum. He has composed and performed music for four CDs with Silvia Nakkach: Seeker, Poems Invisible, Ah, and Inside.
Also speaks Spanish.
Mission District Branch

BETH SNELLINGS (2010), cello. Beth Snellings has been performing in the San Francisco Bay Area for more than 20 years. Her experience spans such musically diverse contexts as symphony orchestras, musical theater, television, chamber music ensembles and jazz combos. Beth’s credits include performances at the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, a European tour of “West Side Story”, performances with Different Strokes (a jazz strings duo), the Austin Willacy Band and the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra, as well as musical engagements for private and corporate events. She was also the Music Director of “Funky Fitness”, a TV show produced in San Francisco. Beth is a graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the University of Arizona. www.bethwelchsnellings.com
Richmond District Branch

Double Bass Teachers

MARK KENNEDY (1987), Bass, Guitar. B.A., Castleton College; Ringling School of Art, Berklee School of Music. Private lessons with Dave Cobb, Principal Bassist with Albany (N.Y.) Symphony. Music Director, composer for The Pickle Family Circus, Make* a* Circus and Miracle Theatre. Composer on Academy Award winning film “Clowning Around”. Mark has played on numerous recordings including Susan Chen’s “Harris Nights,” and “For a While”. In 2009 Mark released a c.d.of original tunes entitled “Audrey Does Kennedy”. www.kennedymusicstudio.com
Mission District Branch

ALAN LOCHHEAD (2000), bass (acoustic), BA with honors, University of California, Santa Barbara; Master of Music, San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Participant at the Music Academy of the West and Aspen Music Festival. Performer with Oakland East Bay Symphony for 25 years. Member of American String Teachers Association and the Northern California String Bass Club.
Mission District Branch

RICHARD SAUNDERS (1999), bass (acoustic, electric). Richard Saunders has played with Country Joe and the Fish, Eddie Jefferson, Richie Cole, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Pickle Family Circus, and the San Francisco Mime Troupe. He has also recorded with Country Joe and the Fish, The Cleanliness and Godliness Skiffle Band and Jessica Williams.
Mission District Branch

Fiddle Teachers

TREGAR OTTON (2000), fiddle, violin. Tregar began his classical training at age four. At sixteen, he was the youngest Berkeley Symphony member and played under Maestro Kent Nagano. Tregar has played in the local Latin music scene for over 15 years with groups including Orquesta La Moderna Tradición (which he directs), Los Cenzontles, and Potaje. Worked with Chocolate Armenteros, Patato Valdéz, Juan Carlos Formel, and Orquesta Broadway.
Also speaks Spanish.
Mission and Richmond District Branches

ALINA POLONSKAYA (1999), fiddle, violin, viola, CMC Orchestra. BA, Violin Performance, Southern Methodist University, Dallas. Her teachers have included Zoya Leybin of the SF Symphony, Zaven Melikian of the SF Opera Orchestra and the SF Conservatory, and Emanuel Borok, Concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony. She has played in the Stockton, California, Napa, and Fremont Symphony Orchestras, among others.
Richmond District Branch

Viola Teachers

INDIA COOKE (1988), violin, viola. Master’s in Music from the University of Michigan, Bachelor’s in Music from the North Carolina School of the Arts. Performs nationally and internationally – from classical, to improv, to jazz. She has performed with Joe Williams, the Louie Bellson Orchestra, Sarah Vaughn, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, SunRa, and many others. Recorded for Atlantic, Fantasy and Stax Records. Member of the Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honor Society, American String Teachers Association, Music Teachers National Association, American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, and International Society for Improvised Music. . In 1997 she recorded and released, to critical acclaim, her Grammy nominated debut CD as a leader, Music and Arts’, IndiaCooke~Redhanded. 2005 brought the Red Toucan release of Firedance Joelle Leandre, bass, India Cooke, violin Live at the Guelph Jazz Festival September 11, 2004. Ms. Cooke also currently teaches at Mills College and her Oakland California studio.
Mission District Branch

PAUL ESPINOSA (2000) violin, viola. The better you can hear and sing Happy Birthday the faster you will learn violin or viola. Hear yourself and be physically self-aware. Is the body supportive (arms, hands, shoulders, posture)? or is there counterproductive tension? Practice/hear comfortable and well timed basic moves, then read. Take apart a piece of music this way before practicing the perfomance version. I studied violin from age 7 to 14 with Leona Neblett and Elizabeth Holborn; viola, with Sven Reher, James Dunham (Cleveland Quartet) – Cal Arts, Milton Thomas – U.S.C., Irving Manning (L.A. Phil. training program) and Hank Dutt (Kronos Quartet) – Mills College – M.F.A. I have mainly played violin the last 10 years figuring out better to ways to play and teach. Two especially helpful chamber music coaches: Eleanor Schoenfeld and David Harrington (1st violin Kronos Quartet) at U.S.C.
Richmond District Branch

OLGA MANDRIGINA (2000), viola, violin, CMC Orchestra. Graduated, Rimsky-Korsakov College of Music in St. Petersburg and St. Petersburg State Conservatory. Worked at Leningrad and Kaliningrad Philharmonic as soloist. Member of quartet and symphony and chamber orchestras. Faculty, Jewish Community Center. Member of many Bay Area orchestras including the Russian Chamber Orchestra. Also speaks Russian.
Richmond District Branch

KATRINA WREEDE (2006), viola, violin, composition, Comprehensive Musicianship Program. BA with Distinction in Music Performance, San Jose State University. Violist, composer, and clinician, formerly violist with the Turtle Island String Quartet and a composer for international chamber groups, orchestras, silent film, and dance. Teaching since 1982 in private and group lessons, orchestras, schools, and artist residencies. Composer in the Schools for the American Composers Forum from 1992-2004 and founding faculty member of the John Adams Young Composer Program since 2007, travels around the country with her classroom workshops: “My Goldfish Died-Blues for Strings”, and “Composing Together”. Teaching style includes emphasis on learning basic technique and repertoire through creative composition projects tailored to students abilities, tastes, and interest. Participation in CMC recitals and outside concerts encouraged but not required. More info at: http://katrinawreede.com
Mission District Branch

Violin Teachers

ABRAHAM BECKER (2004), violin. Abraham Becker began violin lessons as a five-year old with Aaron Klasse, a disciple of Leopold Auer. He went on to study with S.Bajour, and, later, in LA, with A.Traeger. As a teacher, he specializes in individual instruction and has a long history of coaching chamber music ensembles, most recently at Humboldt State University. Erik Friedman’s assistant in his Master Classes in Brazil and has performed with N.Hu and A.Mandl. He has soloed with various orchestras and has served as concertmaster for groups such as Avellaneda Symphony, Argentina, Solano Symphony, and for shows such as Chicago, Les Miserables, Beauty and the Beast, Forever Tango in BA and tours to Mexico, China, Japan and throughout the US. Member of the National Symphony and of the Colon Opera in Buenos Aires and La Plata Chamber Orchestra. He is presently assistant principal second violin with the Stockton Symphony, plays regularly with the Modesto Symphony and other orchestras around the Bay Area. Also speaks Spanish.
Mission District Branch

SIN-TUNG CHIU (1988), violin. BA, Dartmouth College; MA, Teachers College, Columbia University; Diploma, The Juilliard School. Teachers: Dorothy DeLay, Ivan Galamian; Chamber Music: Felix Galimir, Juilliard String Quartet (Robert Mann, Claus Adam). Won prizes in violin and chamber music at age 12 in Hong Kong as a student of Chung-On Chan; also studied later with Denes Zsigmondy and Anneliese Nissen in Ammerland, Germany. Performed at various summer music festivals and in master classes under the tutelage of Natthan Milstein at The Juilliard School; Lillian Fuchs and August Wenzinger at The Aspen Summer Festival in Aspen, Colorado and Ruggiero Ricci in Victoria, Canada. Founding violinist, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, which performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and on tours to Europe, North and South America, Puerto Rico and for the Department of State. Soloist with Hong Kong Philharmonic and Dartmouth Community Symphony Orchestra. Currently performs in solo and chamber music recitals and also teaches violin at The Nueva School in Hillsborough, California; Chinese-American International School, and Music City Academy in San Francisco, California. Also speaks Cantonese-Chinese.
Richmond District Branch

ELIZABETH CHOI (2010), viola, violin. Bachelor in Music Performance at Depaul University, Artist Diploma in chamber music performance at SF Conservatory of Music. Teachers: Mark Zinger, Ian Swensen. Faculty member at Olivet Nazarene University, 1st Conservatory of La Grange, Chicago Center School of Music, Cappelli Institute of Music, Hall School of Music, Neuqua Valley High School. Chamber coach at Merit School of Music, Midwest Young Artists, Wheeling High School, Chicago Youth Orchestra. Co-founder of Navitas Ensemble.
Mission and Richmond District Branches

INDIA COOKE (1988), violin, viola. Master’s in Music from the University of Michigan, Bachelor’s in Music from the North Carolina School of the Arts. Performs nationally and internationally – from classical, to improv, to jazz. She has performed with Joe Williams, the Louie Bellson Orchestra, Sarah Vaughn, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, SunRa, and many others. Recorded for Atlantic, Fantasy and Stax Records. Member of the Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honor Society, American String Teachers Association, Music Teachers National Association, American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, and International Society for Improvised Music. . In 1997 she recorded and released, to critical acclaim, her Grammy nominated debut CD as a leader, Music and Arts’, IndiaCooke~Redhanded. 2005 brought the Red Toucan release of Firedance Joelle Leandre, bass, India Cooke, violin Live at the Guelph Jazz Festival September 11, 2004. Ms. Cooke also currently teaches at Mills College and her Oakland California studio.
Mission District Branch

PAUL ESPINOSA (2000) violin, viola. The better you can hear and sing Happy Birthday the faster you will learn violin or viola. Hear yourself and be physically self-aware. Is the body supportive (arms, hands, shoulders, posture)? or is there counterproductive tension? Practice/hear comfortable and well timed basic moves, then read. Take apart a piece of music this way before practicing the perfomance version. I studied violin from age 7 to 14 with Leona Neblett and Elizabeth Holborn; viola, with Sven Reher, James Dunham (Cleveland Quartet) – Cal Arts, Milton Thomas – U.S.C., Irving Manning (L.A. Phil. training program) and Hank Dutt (Kronos Quartet) – Mills College – M.F.A. I have mainly played violin the last 10 years figuring out better to ways to play and teach. Two especially helpful chamber music coaches: Eleanor Schoenfeld and David Harrington (1st violin Kronos Quartet) at U.S.C.
Richmond District Branch

ALISE EWAN (2010), violin. Alise Ewan began studying the violin and piano with her pianist mother at age six and has spent 20 years studying music. She earned her BM and MM in violin performance and pedagogy from the Latvian Academy of Music in Riga, Latvia. While living in Europe, Alise performed in orchestral projects and festivals from Reykjavik, Iceland to Valencia, Spain. Alise lived in Indianapolis from 2006-2010 where she had a successful orchestral and teaching career. Alise has been teaching violin for nearly 10 years. She approaches each student as an individual, has excellent communication skills, and speaks Latvian and Russian.
Mission and Richmond District Branches

JOSEPHA FATH (1992), violin. Received her musical training at SFSU with Dan Kobialka and Manhattan School of Music in NYC with Rafael Bronstein. Performed with California and Berkeley symphonies, Lamplighters, Pocket Opera, Western Opera Theater and SF Opera, and participated in the Spoleto, Tanglewood, Blossom, Waterloo and Mendocino music festivals. Richmond District Branch

HELENE GROTANS (2010), violin. Helene Grotans recently relocated to San Francisco after years of performing, recording and touring out of Tucson, AZ. Helene received her B.M. in Music Education/Violin Performance and her M.M. in Violin Performance from The University of Arizona. Her main passion is in educating and has taught at the Elementary, Middle School, High School and College level. In addition to education, Helene has been a fervent performer. Soloist, Chamber and Orchestral Musician, she has had a diverse and active musical career. She was a member of the U of A Symphony, Enigma String Quartet, Rock n’ Roll bands and performed at many festivals including: Sunflower Music Festival in Topeka, Las Vegas Music Festival and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. Helene studied with professor Mark Rush, author of “Playing the Violin” and Audrey Lipsey, concertmaster of the Kalamazoo Symphony. Helene is currently the Band/Orchestra Director at Borel Middle School in San Mateo and continues to perform and teach privately.
Mission District Branch

MONIKA GRUBER-GIBBONS (2005) violin. She has teaching/artist diplomas from Hochschule fuer Musik ‘Franz Liszt’, Weimar, Germany, and the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique in Lyon, France. She came to San Francisco to get her Masters in Music from the SF Conservatory of Music. Her teachers include Ian Swensen, Stephane Tran Ngoc, and Ulrich Beetz. She was awarded first prize at the second International Chamber Music Ensemble Competition in Boston. Before teaching at CMC she worked as Interim violin faculty in the SFCM Prep Division. She regularly plays in local orchestras and a sonata duo. Mission District Branch

OSCAR HASBUN (2002), viola, violin.
Oscar Hasbun studied at El Salvador National Conservatory of Music and Indiana University with William Primrose. He has worked with symphony and chamber groups for over thirty years and has taught for more than fifteen years. As a freelance musician, he toured with the popular Argentine music and dance performance, “Forever Tango.”
Also speaks Spanish.
Mission District Branch

AKIKO KOJIMA-CRAWFORD (2009), violin.
MM, Professional Studies Diploma, San Francisco Conservatory of Music; BMus, University of Toronto. Studied with Ian Swensen and Leo Wigdorchik. Suzuki Violin Method training with Cathryn Lee. Member of California Symphony, Monterey Symphony, Fresno Philharmonic and Santa Cruz Symphony. Has participated in Festival Del Sole, Festival International du Domaine Forget, California Music Festival, Centre d’arts Orford, and Soundfest with the Colorado String Quartet. Also speaks Japanese.
Richmond District Branch

OLGA MANDRIGINA (2000), viola, violin.
Olga Mandrigina graduated from both the Rimsky-Korsakov College of Music in St. Petersburg and St. Petersburg State Conservatory. She worked at Leningrad and Kaliningrad Philharmonic as a soloist and is a member of a quartet as well as symphony and chamber orchestras. Olga is on faculty at the Jewish Community Center. She is a member of many Bay Area orchestras including the Russian Chamber Orchestra.
Also speaks Russian.
Richmond District Branch

ALINA POLONSKAYA (1999), fiddle, violin, viola. Alina Polonskaya holds a Bachelor of Arts in Violin Performance from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Her teachers have included Zoya Leybin of the San Francisco Symphony, Zaven Melikian of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and the San Francisco Conservatory, and Emanuel Borok, Concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony. She has played in the Stockton, California, Napa, and Fremont Symphony Orchestras, among others.
Mission and Richmond District Branches

LORETTA TAYLOR (1986), violin, Chamber Music Ensembles, String Orchestra Workshop. Loretta is a native San Franciscan. She received her music degree from San Francisco State University, magne cum laude. Loretta has been a member of orchestras in San Juan, Puerto Rico and Perth, Australia. She has participated in music festivals in Italy, Mexico, Nicaragua and Swizterland. Currently, Loretta is Concertmaster of the San Francisco Sinfonietta and Principal Second Violin with the Santa Cruz Symphony. She has also freelanced for many years throughout the Bay Area. Loretta maintains a private violin studio in San Francisco and coaches once a week with many public schools in San Francisco. Also speaks Spanish.
Mission and Richmond District Branches