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. Jenny 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.
Jenny’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 Jenny 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 growing family settled in Issaquah where she has taught with the Foothills Suzuki Institute and now Issaquah Suzuki Strings. When she is not teaching her students she is busy helping her three boys with their piano, cello and violin playing!
Jenny is a member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas, the Suzuki Association of Washington, 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.
Andrea Talley
Violin
Andrea began playing the violin in the public school system at age nine and hasn’t stopped since. She holds a B.M. from Western Michigan University, and a M.M. from Michigan State University, both in violin performance. In grad-school, Andrea was an active member of the Community Music School at Michigan State University, a Suzuki school servicing the greater Lansing area. A registered Suzuki violin teacher, Andrea has completed training seminars with Judy Weight Bossuat, Christie Felsing, Martha Shackford, and Ed Sprunger. Andrea has taught as part of the Foothills Suzuki Institute, and most recently, helped to co-create Issaquah Suzuki Strings in 2014 where she currently teaches. She instructs over 40 young violin students, both private and group lessons, and helps to run Camp Tierra, an annual Suzuki Strings summer camp held at the Tierra Learning Center in Leavenworth, WA. Besides studio teaching, Andrea gets a kick out of conducting student orchestras. She spent 4 years with the Everett Youth Symphony organization as the director of the Prelude String orchestra, and is currently conducting the Overture String group with the Cascade Youth Symphony Organization. Previously, Andrea has worked as a strings specialist for the Northshore, Edmonds, and Mukilteo School districts, and as a clinician for regional solo and ensemble competitions. She was the primary teacher/developer of a Suzuki strings program for the La Conner School District, and directed the violin program at Immaculate Conception Regional School in Mt. Vernon. As a performer, Andrea has played with the Juneau Symphony, Federal Way Symphony, Bellevue Philharmonic, Skagit Opera Orchestra, and the Lake Washington Symphony. She is also a member of NOCCO, a conductor-less chamber orchestra performing in the Seattle area. Andrea is the President of the Suzuki Association of Washington State, and a member of the Suzuki Association of America and the American String Teachers Association. When not performing, teaching, or conducting, Andrea enjoys traveling, and hiking the next section of the PCT with her violinist-husband Marcus.
Rafael H. Howell-Flores
Viola and violin
Rafael H. Howell-Flores is an active violist and violinist Rafael plays in numerous orchestras and chamber ensembles, including the Northwest Symphony, Rainier Symphony and Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra. Rafael also works as a Teaching Artist for Seattle Symphony and Arts Corps, offering different music programs throughout the Puget Sound area. Rafael is a violin coach for the Cadet group at Bellevue Youth Symphony Orchestra and he is a string clinician with the Auburn School District. He has worked with all age levels, including preschool, elementary school, junior high, high school and adult.
Rafael started his musical studies at Conservatorio de Castella in his native country, Costa Rica. There he earned his high school diploma and an honorable mention in violin performance. As he began his college years, he started teaching Suzuki-based lessons at three music schools in the Costa Rican countryside. After earning a degree in Horticulture from Universidad de Costa Rica in 2000, Rafael then switch to playing viola, studying at the Instituto Nacional de Música and later playing with the Costa Rica National Symphony in 2001. In 2002 he won the Monroe Scholarship at Loyola University New Orleans to study violin and viola. In 2005 due to hurricane Katrina he relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico where he concluded his undergraduate viola performance degree and then earned his Masters in Music Performance at University of New Mexico. In Albuquerque he was the violin teacher for the El Sistema-based Young Musician Initiative (YMI), conducting group violin lessons for elementary school students. Also, he served as orchestra clinician for middle and high school orchestras and coached string chamber music groups throughout the state. Prior to arrival in the Seattle area, Rafael played with The World Orchestra, New Mexico Philharmonic, Santa Fe Symphony, San Juan Symphony, Ensamble Tarrazú and The World Orchestra Soloists.
In his free time, Rafael enjoys spending time with his wife and son, and his puppy and two cats. He also enjoys gardening, traveling and learning to play the harp.
Kim Blanchard
Cello
Kim has been teaching cello privately in the Seattle area since 2000. After receiving her BFA from Alfred University in ’95, Kim went on to receive her Bachelors of Music in cello performance from Cornish College of the Arts in ’05 where she studied with Paige Stockley Lerner. She has also studied with Mara Finkelstein of NW Sinfonietta and Walter Gray of the Seattle Symphony. Kim has received 10 years pedagogy training in the Suzuki method studying under Barbara Wampner, Gilda Barston, and Carey Cheney with supplemental courses in teacher practicum and advanced cello techniques.
Kim has been actively involved in the arts community of the Northwest. Up to the present, her work has included intern and coach at Chamber Music Madness under nationally recognized chamber music teacher Karen Iglitzen, intern at Marrowstone Summer Music Festival, faculty for Lopez Island String Workshop and Vivace Chamber Players, and founder and coach at the Foothills Cello Festival. She has been a member of the Northwest Symphony Orchestra for the past 14 years. She has also performed with Symphony Orchestra Academy of the Pacific, Lyric Opera NW, Bellevue Opera, Bellevue Ballet, and is an active chamber music performer in the greater Seattle area.
Kim discovered her interest in composition while studying at Cornish and was fortunate to study with Janice Giteck and Jarrad Powell. The premier of her first choral work “Quaking Aspens”, 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, and in 2007 Kim was commissioned by the Chautauqua Regional Youth Symphony to write a piece for their 20th Anniversary Gala Concert. This piece had its Northwest premier with the Northwest Symphony Orchestra in the fall of 2009.
In her free time she enjoys cooking, gardening, and she loves to go backpacking, mountain biking, bikejoring, trail running, and skijoring with her Alaskan Husky, Egret and their partners in adventure Piset and his furry friend, Bernie.