Faculty

Christie Chen
Theory
Bio coming soon...

Christine Cheung
Theory, Introduction to Music History, Ear-Training
Bio coming soon...

Stacy Gehman
Alexander Technique
Stacy began studying the Alexander Technique in 1977, and in 1980 apprenticed with Marjorie Barstow, the first teacher certified by Alexander in the early 1930s. In 1986 he moved to Seattle to help form The Performance School, a Center for the Alexander Technique, and is on the faculty of the teacher training program. Stacy has also been a student of Tai Chi Chuan since 1973 and has taught classes integrating Tai Chi and Alexander work. He has published articles on the Alexander Technique, many of which are available on his website, Stacy is a faculty member of the Barstow Institute where he teaches each year at the Barstow/Alexander Technique Summer Institute (Doane College, Crete, NE), and is an Alexander Technique International Certified Teacher. Stacy is also a physicist, and works as a research engineer developing medical instruments, and algorithms for analyzing the electrocardiogram.

Joseph Gottesman
Director of Chamber Music and Ensembles
His performing and teaching career has taken him from Lincoln Center to Broadway, and from New York and Seattle to Tokyo. He has toured most of the United States, as well as Europe and the Far East. In 2006 he was chosen as the viola soloist for Lincoln Center's production of Bernarda Alba and has appeared as Principal Violist in Aida, Bombay Dreams, 110 in the Shade, as well as the national production Phantom of the Opera. In the 1990s he served as Professor of Viola at Western Washington University, where he also coached chamber music and conducted performances of the WWU Chamber and Symphony Orchestras.  He has also been the viola coach for the Greater Boston Youth Orchestra, as well as for the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Bellevue Youth Symphony. Mr. Gottesman conducts master classes and clinics throughout the United States in solo, chamber and orchestral playing.  His pedagogical interests extend, as well, to adult enthusiasts in violin, viola and chamber music. For ten years he served on the faculty of Chamber Music and Composers Forum of the East, in summer residence at Bennington College. 

Wayne Horvitz
Director, 21st Century Music Program
BA in Composition from University of California Santa Cruz. Composer, pianist and electronic musician. Performed throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and North America. Among those he has collaborated with are Bill Frisell, John Zorn, Michael Shrieve, and Paul Taylor. Commissions include works by Kronos String Quartet and the National Endowments for the Arts. Produced many CDs. Among his professional honors, he is the recipient of the 2002 Rockefeller Map Grant and the 2008 NEA American Masterpieces Grant.

Akiko Iguchi
Official SCM Pianist
Performance Coach & Collaborator
BM and MM, Indiana University with Edward Auer, Jean-Louis Haguenauer and Edmund Battersby. Currently working on DMA with Craig Sheppard at UW school of Music. Assistant Instructor for Edmund Battersby at IU. Teaching Assistant - UW. Studied Chamber Music with Ik-Hwan-Bae (violinist), Tsuyoshi Tstsumi (cellist), Eli Eban (Clarinetist). Accompanist – Mimi Zweig String Academy. Accompanist – International Clarinet Festival Competition, Japan, 2005. 1st Prize – Chicago Area Music Teacher’s Association Competition in 1989. Full Scholarship - Leipzig International Music Akademy 2005. Performed Sunday Concert at Mendelssohn Haus

John Kim
Coach, Eastside Chamber Program
Coach, Seattle Chamber Program
Coach, Seattle Chamber Music Program. BM, Violin (Cleveland Institute of Music); MM, (Manhattan School of Music); currently Concertmaster Bellevue Philharmonic; former Concertmaster, N.W. Sinfonietta, Jupiter Symphony of NY, National Orchestral Institute; former Assoc. Concertmaster, N.W. Chamber Orchestra; former Asst. Concertmaster Sarasota Opera, Soeul Symphony of NY. Carnegie Hall and Kennedy Center performances with NY String Orchestra. Solo appearances with Richard Stolzman, and Joseph Silverstein. Soloist with many orchestras and top prize winner of: Ladies Musical Club of Seattle. Mr. Kim is a sectional coach for the Seattle Youth Symphony Organization and on the faculty of Marrowstone Music Festival and Evergreen Music Festival. Mr. Kim teaches privately in Bellevue and Lynnwood.

Harumi LaDuke
Director, Junior Division
Music History, Music Theory & Ear Training, Choir, Literature & Music
BA, Music, English Literature and Creative Writing (Dartmouth College) Vocal Studies, (Royal College of Music, London), Alumni Seattle Conservatory of Music. Recipient: Metropolitan Opera Encouragement Award; Gold Medalist, Seattle Young Artist Music Festival (Piano), Winner, Music Teacher National Association Competition (Voice), Winner, Performing Arts Festival of the Eastside, Voice and Piano Divisions. Principal Role performances with Seattle Community Outreach, Dartmouth College. Featured Artist, Opera North, Skagit Opera, Lyric Opera Northwest. Faculty, The Northwest School, teaching Upper School Humanities.

Michael Lim
Coach, Seattle Chamber Music Program
BM and MM (Indiana University) with Joseph Gingold; Graduate String Quartet in Residence (Juilliard), string quartet studies and teaching assistant to the Juilliard String Quartet; Performs nationally and internationally as a member of both the Corigliano String Quartet and Open End (contemporary music and improvisations); First Violin, American Ballet Theater Orchestra; Concerto performances with the Indianapolis Symphony, International Chamber Orchestra of Girona (Spain), and Lafayette Symphony Orchestra; solo performances at Weill Recital Hall tribute to composer John Corigliano; As co-founder of the Corigliano String Quartet, he has won the Grand Prize in the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and the ASCAP/CMA Award for Adventurous Programming and has received rave reviews in publications such as The Strad and The NY Times;Corigliano Quartet performances in Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall and the Kennedy Center; First Prize, Indiana University Violin Concerto Competition; Former Faculty-Lecturer at Indiana University and Musical Artist-in-Residence at Dickinson College; Recordings on Naxos, Dream/Works, Albany Records, CRI, Bayer Records and Aguava New Music; Appearances on NPR’s ‘Performance Today’ and ‘All Things Considered’; Taught Master Classes in the US, Korea and France and teaches violin and viola privately.

Pamela Liu
Coach – Eastside Chamber Program
BM-Violin, Shepherd School of Music, Rice University. MM-University of Washington. Currently founding member of the Lully Piano Trio. Sectional coach for Seattle Youth Symphony and Newport High School. Member of Lake Washington Music Teacher’s Association. Teaches privately in Sammamish and Redmond.

Jared MacFarlane
Suzuki Violin, Note Reading
A strong advocator of classical and popular modern music, Jared MacFarlane is a frequent collaborator with independent artists in Seattle. He has appeared at Bumbershoot, Sasquatch, Folklife Festival and performed at venues Triple Door and Benaroya Hall. Jared's musical training began when he started studying violin at the age of three using the Suzuki method. Jared advanced through summer institutes, honors recitals, solo competitions & youth symphonies. Primary teachers include Kent Coleman and Ilkka Talvi and he has worked under conductors such as Huw Edwards and Eric Hanson. He received his Bachelors of Arts in Music Technology from Seattle Pacific University in 2007.

Leslie Marckx
Coach, Eastside Chamber Music Program
Bio coming soon...

Margaret Pressley
Founder & Director, Seattle Conservatory of Music
Collegiate/Performance Preparation Program, Chamber Music
Founder/Director of Seattle Conservatory of Music and the Pressley Violin Studio; nationally recognized violin pedagogue; American String Teacher Association’s 1994 Outstanding Studio Teacher of the Year; featured author in 1994’s American String Teacher national magazine and subject of article in 2005 ‘Clavier’ magazine; former Scholar-in-Residence at University of Colorado, Boulder; former lecturer at Western Washington University, Seattle Pacific University; Master Teacher, Indiana University Summer String Academy, Schlern International Music Festival in Italy, Heifetz Institute.

Mark Salman
Director, Senior Division
Solfege, Theory, Ear-Training, Piano Literature, Composition, Literature & Music, Counterpoint
BM, Piano (Juilliard); attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for composition studies; performed in Carnegie and Alice Tully Halls in New York City; the subject of profiles in New York Times and Kick magazine; performed the cycle of 32 Beethoven piano sonatas in a series of eight recitals in New York City; many solo performances with local orchestras; CD recording on Titanic Records features the music of Beethoven, Alkan and Liszt.

Julia Schnebly-Black
Dalcroze-Eurhythmics, Dalcroze at the Keyboard
Ms. Schnebly-Black has earned the Dalcroze Certificate and License from Carnegie-Mellon U. under Marta Sanchez; B.Mus, Peabody Conservatory, M.Mus, Yale U., Ph.D., U.WA. She has presented sessions at national and international conferences. In addition to private teaching she conducts classes at the Seattle Conservatory of Music for children from three years to high school age. She is the founder and director of Dalcroze NW, a Summer program at the University of Washington, and advisor to the Northwest Chapter of the Dalcroze Society of America. Julia is co-author of two books with Dr. Stephen Moore: The Rhythm Inside: Connecting Body, Mind, and Spirit through Music and Rhythm one on one.

Chic Streetman
Creative Expression
Bio coming soon...

Andrea Talley
Co-Director, Suzuki Program
MM, violin performance (Michigan State University); BM, violin performance (Western Michigan University); Registered Suzuki training; Mrs. Talley is the primary teacher/developer of the Suzuki strings program for Kindergartener and first graders in the La Conner School District and the director of the violin program at Immaculate Conception Regional School in Mount Vernon. Andrea conducts the Prelude String Orchestra for the Everett Youth Symphony organization and works with public school orchestras in the Northshore school district. Mrs. Talley currently teaches at the Foothills Suzuki Institute in Issaquah and has private studios in Bothell and LaConner. Andrea previously taught Suzuki violin at the Michigan State University Community Music School and The String Connection. Her primary teachers include I-Fu Wang, Renata Knific, Walter Schwede and Leslie Johnson.

Marcus Talley
Director, Eastside Chamber Program
Co-Director, Suzuki Program
Coach, Seattle Chamber Program
DMA, violin performance (Michigan State University); MM, violin performance (Western Michigan University); BM, violin performance (Western Washington University); Mr. Talley has private studios in Issaquah, Bothell and LaConner, is the violin coach for the Everett Youth Symphony Orchestras and works with high school orchestras in the Northshore school district. Marcus works with the LaConner Suzuki Strings program and the violin program at Immaculate Conception Regional School in Mount Vernon and performs with the Bellevue Philharmonic. Mr. Talley was the facilitator of the College/Performance Prep Program '08-'09 and has held teaching positions at Interlochen Arts Camp, Seminar Music Camp, and the Suzuki Institute of Seattle. He also spent two years as teaching assistant to Renata Knific at Western Michigan University. His principal teachers include Charles Avsharian, Renata Knific, Walter Schwede, and Celia Weiss-Nicks.

David Upham
Conductor & Director, Orchestral Music Program
Ear-Training, Introduction to Music History
DMA, instrumental conducting (University of Washington); MM, instrumental conducting (University of Northern Colorado); BA, Music (Luther College). Dr. Upham is Music Director of the Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra, and has worked with other Seattle-area ensembles, including the Rainier Symphony Orchestra, Ballet Bellevue, the Northwest Mahler Festival Orchestra, and the Marrowstone Summer Music orchestras. In November 2008 he conducted at Aujourd'hui musiques, a French contemporary music festival. Working across the region and country as a conductor, educator and clinician, David has led 2 orchestras of the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras and as director of two prominent high school orchestra programs.

Brandon Vance
Coach, Scottish Fiddling
In addition to being a two-time U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Champion, Brandon Vance has earned both his Bachelors and Masters from the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying under renowned pedagogue, Paul Kantor.  He has played with four professional orchestras and is currently a member of the Northwest Sinfonietta, performing regularly in Seattle, Tacoma, and Puyallup.  Brandon has studied and performed with Scottish fiddlers, such as Calum MacKinnon, Ryan McKasson, Alasdair Fraser, Iain Fraser, Bonnie Rideout, Catriona MacDonald, Buddy MacMaster, Bruce Molsky, Jan Tappan and Martin Hayes.  He has collaborated with folk crossover musicians Mark Minkler (Irish flautist/Jazz pianist),  Eliot Grasso (Uillean piper/Classical pianist), and Nadia Tarnawsky (Ukrainian folk singer) — artists who share a deep respect and command of their own traditions, while seeking out regions of common ground in order to build a bridge between seemingly disparate musical worlds.  Brandon has a CD called Beyond the Borders — a mix of original and traditional Scottish, Irish, and Cape Breton music.