Louisa Stuber was born in London, and began learning the violin at the age of three with Felicity Lipman. After graduating from Trinity College Dublin with a BA (Hons) in music, she qualified as a level 5 Graduate Suzuki Teacher. She has a great deal of orchestral and chamber music experience including Irish National Youth Orchestra, British Youth Opera Orchestra, the Wallace Ensemble, and has received coaching from Benjamin Zander, Ludwig Müller, and the Spiegel and Ysaÿe Quartets. Louisa is Director and co-founder of the Little Venice Suzuki Group, and runs a busy private teaching practice in St John’s Wood. She has been a member of the London Suzuki Group Teachers’ Committee since 2004, and has directed concerts at the Royal Academy of Music and St John’s Smith Square. holding the position of Chair from 2012-2014.
Guillem Calvo, born in Barcelona, started his violin studies with the Suzuki teacher Albert Sàrrias. Later on he followed his musical studies at the Liceu Conservatori (Barcelona) with Evelio Tieles and finally at the Royal College of Music (London) with the violin teacher Yossi Zivoni. He also studied an Advance Course for Soloist in Lübeck (Germany) with Shmuel Ashkenazy while he became a fully qualified Suzuki teacher in 2007. Guillem has been teaching the Suzuki Method since 2004 both privately and at Southbank International School, as well as co-founding Little Venice Suzuki Group in 2007. To this date he has taught in Workshops like Ingestre Hall and Blue Coat School (Birmingham), BSI National Workshop (London) and at the LSG International Summer School at Bryanston (UK), at the Suzuki Hall (Brussels) and el Musical (Barcelona). In 2012 he volunteered with Clare Raybould’s Shining Light Suzuki Project in Goa (India), to give a Suzuki based musical opportunity to children in extreme poverty.
As a performer, he has toured Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Germany and England playing in different chamber groups including the Martinu Ensemble, Cre.Art Project Ensemble, Quartet Albéniz and Insieme Ensemble. He has also played with renown orchestras and conductors like Bernard Haitink, Sir Colin Davis, Bertrand de Billy, Valery Gergiev in orchestras like “Orquestra de la Òpera del Liceu” or the London Symphony Orchestra with whom he has debuted as soloist in November 2007. He has recently been performing with the Swan Chamber Orchestra and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
Originally from Catalonia, Helena studied violin in Barcelona and Salamanca before moving to London in 2003. As well as being a dedicated Suzuki teacher, she is a Feldenkrais practitioner and enjoys exploring cross-disciplinary improvisation.
Helena holds a BA in Music from the Liceu Conservatoire of Barcelona and has been a member of various orchestras and chamber music ensembles in Spain and the UK. She has collaborated with various rock and jazz bands, at recording sessions and performing in venues such as the Jazz Cafe and the Pizza Express Jazz Club. Helena has been an active member of the London-based collective Zootrophic, an improvisational theatre company with shows in London and Toulouse (France). She has played live music at several dance jams and workshops in her hometown and across the UK, while her increased curiosity about movement and somatic practices led her to study the Feldenkrais Method.
Helena is a fully qualified Suzuki Method teacher accredited by the European Suzuki Association. She is a co-founder of Little Venice Suzuki Group and has taught in Suzuki workshops in Navarra (Spain) and Ingestre Hall (Birmingham) and has been teaching in London since 2004.
Anne Thomas is an American-born violinist living and working in London since 2000. Anne was a Suzuki student from age 5. She studied in the BMus program in the Indiana University School of Music (now the Jacobs School of Music). Subsequently she studied violin performance and chamber music at Washington University in St. Louis where she earned her B.A. Anne teaches violin in north and west London, and at Southbank International School. She performs regularly as an orchestral and chamber musician.
Michiko is originally from Japan, but has lived in the UK since 1994. She started playing the violin at the age of three with the Suzuki method. Since moving to the UK, she has taken part in many music festivals where she won many prizes and awards including the Most Outstanding String Player Award. She later studied at the Royal Academy of Music, where on graduation she received the Music in the Community Award for her outreach work in schools.
Michiko enjoys a dual career as performer and teacher. She regularly performs with many orchestras and chamber groups, as well as giving solo recitals and concerto performances across the UK and Japan.
As a Suzuki violin teacher, Michiko teaches at The Hall School, as well as teaching privately.
Saskia Louth has experienced each side of the Suzuki Triangle: child, parent and teacher.
At age 6 her Aunt surprised Saskia with a violin and entered her into a Suzuki concert that same week, where she proudly played the violin with the bow 6 inches above the string. She’s now a Suzuki parent to her young daughter. Together they enjoy listening to the Suzuki repertoire over breakfast and taking time aside in the day to practice.
Saskia works as a Suzuki Violin teacher, taking students in North West London. She teaches creatively to make the Suzuki Method work for each unique student. The Suzuki Triangle (combined effort of parent, child and teacher) is at the heart of Saskia’s lessons. It’s important to her that parents feel empowered to lead effective, engaging home practice.
Saskia also teaches Music Mind Games and Music & Movement. These classes make Music Theory & Reading concepts digestible and fun, shaping well-rounded musicians. She combines attractive materials with a positive, relaxed environment to help her students learn.
If you walked past her studio you’d hear music, laughter, games, singing, hard work and collaboration.
Johanna Byrne studied singing at the Royal Northern College of Music and The National Opera Studio as a Peter Moores Scholar. In her career she has been active as a performer, a vocal coach, a choir leader and a vocal consultant to choirs. She has also taught singing for many years. Johanna is deeply committed to developing musicianship and an understanding of how music works in young musicians, believing this holistic approach transforms playing and performing. She is a firm advocate of the Kodaly Musicianship approach.
Neus Guiu Ritort is a pianist and accompanist who joined Little Venice many years ago and who balances her accompanying with teaching and also performing in chamber and solo concerts. More info to come!
Alexander Knapp is a pianist, having been awarded LRAM and ARCM Diplomas; and he is also a musicologist and ethnomusicologist: graduate of Selwyn College, Cambridge, with MA, MusB, PhD Degrees. He has been appointed to academic and administrative posts in Cambridge (at Wolfson College), and in London (at Goldsmiths’ College, Royal College of Music, City University, most recently at the School of Oriental and African Studies, until taking early retirement in 2006). As well as composing and arranging, teaching and lecturing, recording and broadcasting, he has performed as accompanist to singers and instrumentalists in the UK, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, and the USA. One of his special fields of interest is the music of Ernest Bloch.
Alice Biddulph Has been enjoying teaching cello with the Suzuki Method since 2005 and is teaching both privately in Belsize Park and at the Suzuki Hub since September 2014. She is also doing some Suzuki piano accompanying for Lauderdale Suzuki Group, Little Venice Suzuki Group, BSI teacher training courses and Southbank International Hampstead School. In May 2013, Alice did Unit 1 Music Mind Games teacher training with Michiko Yurko at the Suzuki Hub and last February 2014, completed Unit 2. She finds that is a really inspiring and fun way to teach music theory.
Juan Drown studied at Cambridge University, and completed his training at the Moscow Conservatoire and the Guildhall School of Music. Juan is a fully qualified Suzuki teacher on both violin and viola. He is responsible for the StAlbans Suzuki Group, and is a regular tutor in workshops across Europe. Juan gives regular viola recitals and chamber music concerts in the London area, and has performed across the UK, France, Romania, Spain, and in his homeland, the Isle of Man.
