About Us

Suzuki Strings Cedar City began 40 years ago with a small number of families studying with Shannon Pointer. She had studied violin teacher training in Japan with Dr. Suzuki.  Other teachers took the training offered by the Suzuki Association of the Americas, mostly at the Intermountain Suzuki Strings Institute, directed by Ramona Stirling.  Then an adjunct professor at Southern Utah University (SUU), Sara Penny started the Music Festivals in Cedar City and had Suzuki Strings put under the auspices of the SUU Music Department. Marin Colby now directs the Southern Utah String Festival and Brittnie Larsen directs the Piano Festival, both previous Suzuki Strings participants.

Numerous nationally prominent clinicians have come to Cedar City to help develop our program over the years including Terry Durbin, Brian Lewis, Phil Baldwin, Ed Sprunger, Andrew Galos, Louise Scott, Gabe Bolskovsky, and Susan Kempter. Utah clinicians have included Ka-Wai Yu, Kirsten Candland, Denise Willey, Xun Sun, and Randen Heywood.  Several Suzuki String alumni have also served as clinicians.  

Ramona Stirling, Janet Andersen, and Doralee Madsen first brought a Salt Lake group to Cedar City in 1989 for a joint concert.  Jack Ashton has brought his Young Artist Chamber Players many times and we've hosted two performance groups from New Mexico.  Our students have participated in regional, national, and international events, including Interlochen and JessiKate Riley's solo in Turino, Italy when she was nine. She later became Miss Utah 2017 and Miss Utah USA 2021. Sarah Sun was involved in Suzuki Strings as a child and is currently serving as Miss Utah.  Several of the current teachers are previous Suzuki Strings students.  School orchestra programs in both Beaver and Kanab developed from families participating in this Suzuki Strings program.

Orien Dalley donated his student instrument collection to the SUU Music Dept. in 1989 which added cello and viola to the program and developed a student orchestra. When Chelsea Thompson Gardner returned to Cedar City she organized Suzuki Strings Cedar City as a non-profit. This allows Suzuki Strings Cedar City to be one of the RAP (Recreation, Arts, and Parks) groups that benefits from the RAP fund that will be voted on for reauthorization this November. The group also receives a Utah Division of Arts and Museums grant to help keep tuition low enough for local students to participate and help bring in outstanding clinicians to work with the students.
 

The program has benefited from many devoted teachers, pianists, and families over the years.  We are excited to see new students joining our musical family. Some of those instrumental in the success of the program are Patty Walser, Marin Colby, Ling Yu, Carol Fife, Sunny Chen, and Julie Beck.  "This program has been a team effort. So many pianists and teachers have helped the students succeed. We appreciate everyone who has participated over the years," said Sara Penny.  The new leadership includes Lindsay Szczesny, Amy Gold, Heather Wilhelm, and Leah Brown. Second generation students are now participating in the program with Jon and MaLaan Shumate serving as parent leaders.

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-Written by Leah Brown and Sara Penny