Who I Am

Elizabeth began her violin studies at the age of three and viola studies at age 12 with Celia Nicks at the Suzuki Institute of Seattle. At age four she decided she wanted to be a violin teacher when she grew up.  Elizabeth started teaching violin when she was still in high school, assisting her teacher as well as volunteering at a middle school after school orchestra program. As a student she performed frequently in the Seattle area in the Seattle Youth Symphony, the Seattle Philharmonic, the Garfield High School Orchestra, Washington State Jr. Old Time Fiddlers, as well as smaller chamber ensembles. 

She earned a Bachelor of Music in violin performance at Western Washington University where she studied under Walter Schwede. She earned her Masters of Music from the University of Texas at Austin where she studied violin performance with Vincent Fritelli and string pedagogy with Dr. Laurie Scott. While in Texas she also taught beginning violin lessons as part of the Texas String Project, one of the largest teacher training programs in the country, serving around 500 young string students from the local community.

Having grown up in the Suzuki method, she is a member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas and the Suzuki Association of Washington State. She has completed Suzuki teacher training courses with Celia Nicks, Cathryn Lee, Elaine Ras and Judy Bossuat. In the summer of 2001 she was also a teaching assistant for Charles Avsharian at the Meadowmount School of Music where she tutored advanced pre-college students in foundational technique. 

Since moving back to the Seattle area in 2006 she has built up her studio in Bellevue. Many of her students have participated in the Bellevue Youth Symphony and the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras as well as smaller ensembles and school orchestras. She has been a violin coach for the Bellevue Youth Symphony organization both during the concert season and their summer camps. 

A versatile performer on both violin and viola, Elizabeth has played professionally with the Juneau Symphony in Alaska, the Tacoma Symphony, the Seattle Rock Orchestra, as well as many smaller community ensembles. She performed as a member of the Seattle based band, Exohxo, for several years as well as backing up other local artists. She also frequently performs for weddings and events as part of a string quartet. 

When she is not playing music, Elizabeth enjoys gardening, hiking, and building lego creations with her two sons