Laura Eis

Treasurer
 
Laura Eis earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from Susquehanna University in 2001. She received a Master of Music degree in Violin Performance and Suzuki Pedagogy and a Certificate of Advanced Performance Studies in viola from East Carolina University in 2008 and 2009 respectively. Currently Ms. Eis is a member of the Fayetteville Symphony, the Wilson Symphony, and concertmaster of the Pitt Community College Orchestra. She has been the associate director for the North Carolina Suzuki Institute since 2007 and is a member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas. In addition she is the treasurer of the North Carolina and Eastern North Carolina Suzuki Associations. Ms. Eis maintains a private violin and viola studio in Greenville, NC, and is an adjunct faculty member at Fayetteville State University, Methodist University, and Pitt Community College.

Gabriela Potter Peoples

Secretary
 
Gabriela Potter Peoples is a professional violinist, violist, and registered Suzuki violin instructor. Ms. Potter is registered for Violin Books 1-10 with the SAA and completed intensive long-term teacher training with renowned Suzuki Pedagogue Joanne Bath. As of Fall 2019, her SAA registration also includes Suzuki Early Childhood Education Unit 1. Gabriela received her Bachelor of Music degree in Performance, Magna Cum Laude, from East Carolina University in 2015. She has maintained private studios in Greenville and Kinston, and performs with professional orchestras throughout the state, including the Raleigh Symphony, Tar River Orchestra, and Durham Symphony. She enjoys tending to her garden at her home in Durham, camping with her husband and friends in state parks and forests, attending workouts at Burn Boot Camp, and teaching her students ages 3-70 at the High Strung School of Music near Duke’s East Campus.

Jessica Jenkins Davis

Member at Large

Jessica Jenkins Davis is the director of the Suzuki violin program at Montessori School of Raleigh and the coordinator for the Community School of Music at Meredith College. She loves attending workshops and events with Suzuki students and colleagues. She holds degrees from Point Loma Nazarene University (B.M.) and East Carolina University (M.M.). Outside of the classroom Jessica loves traveling and spending time with her family. 

Nan Freeman

Member at Large

Nan Freeman has been teaching using the Suzuki Method since 1973. She holds a Music Education degree from Appalachian State University. In addition to teaching, she is the Director Emeritus of the Suzuki School of the Arts in Hickory, NC and the Director of the Virginia Suzuki Institute in Emory, VA. She also directs the Suzuki Tour Group of the Carolina’s which has toured throughout the eastern United States, the Caribbean,and Europe. She heads up a Suzuki Workshop through the Suzuki School of the Arts as well. She is a retired middle school orchestra teacher and symphony player with the Western Piedmont Symphony where she performed for 51 years.  Nan and her husband Gene are avid potters and have their own pottery studio, Foo’s Pottery, where they enjoy making lots of fun and functional pottery.  They have three sons who grew up as Suzuki students. Her biggest joy in life is spending time with her 4 granddaughters and her family.

Marissa Keener

Member at Large

Marissa Keener is a professional violinist, Alexander Technique teacher, and a registered Suzuki violin teacher currently living in Charlotte, North Carolina.

At the age of five, Marissa began studying Suzuki violin with Kathy Hart in Knoxville, Tennessee. She holds a Masters of Music Degree in Violin Performance and Suzuki Pedagogy from East Carolina University, where she studied with Hye-Jin Kim and Joanne Bath and was a Graduate Teaching Assistant. She was selected to participate in the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival's Next Generation Concert series and the Next Gen on the Road concerts. Marissa earned her Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance with Honors, Magna Cum Laude from Miami University of Ohio, studying with Dr. Harvey Thurmer. At Miami, she performed in many small chamber ensembles, the Miami University Collegiate Chorale, and the Miami University Symphony Orchestra, where she served as the Associate Concertmaster.

Marissa is registered for Every Child Can!, Suzuki Principles in Action, and Violin Books 1-10 with the Suzuki Association of the Americas and has completed training with Suzuki Teacher Trainers James Hutchins, Joanne Bath, Edward Kreitman, and Liz Arbus. In 2016, she graduated from the Chesapeake Bay Alexander Studies program, under the direction of Robin Gilmore, where she was certified to teach the Alexander Technique and is a certified Teaching Member of Alexander Technique International. She has also studied with Bill Conable, Bob Lada, Dale Beaver, Meade Andrews, Glenna Batson, Sarah Barker, and Diana Bradley.

Currently, Marissa is the Artistic Director of Carolina Suzuki Strings at Arts+ in Charlotte, North Carolina, one of the largest Suzuki programs in the Southeast. She has a special interest in teaching children with exceptionalities and applying the Alexander Technique in private and group violin lessons. She also serves as the Principal Second Violinist in the Union Symphony Orchestra and is a substitute with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra. In her spare time, Marissa enjoys baking with lots of chocolate, reading, hiking, and playing with her two cats, Zip and Leroy. 

Joshua Weesner

Member at Large

Multi-talented Joshua Weesner is a violinist, composer, songwriter, arranger, orchestrator, and recording engineer. His violin training began in childhood as a Suzuki student under Margie Keller. At the young age of 14 his studies continued at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts under the tutelage of Kevin Lawrence. He also attended competitive summer programs such as the Meadowmount School of Music, Killington Music Festival, and the Henry Mancini Institute. 

Mr. Weesner has been a contract member of the Winston-Salem Symphony, the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra, and the Chattanooga Symphony. As a recording artist and touring musician, he has performed with Ray Price and the Cherokee Cowboys, the Collection, Martha Bassett, and many more.   

Mr. Weesner has enjoyed an extensive career providing custom music services for touring stage productions. Joshua has been the Associate Music Supervisor for the national and international touring productions of: "Cathy Rigby is Peter Pan", "The Wizard of Oz", "Annie", Baayork Lee's "A Chorus Line", "Jekyll and Hyde", Franco Dragone's "India Circus", and "Kung Fu Panda". 

Mr. Weesner is very knowledgeable about Music Technology and is an accomplished recording engineer, composer, song writer, orchestrator, and arranger. 

Mr. Weesner has 13 years of experience teaching violin to students age three through adult, from beginner to pre-college level. He has attended teacher training for Suzuki Books 1-5 and Practicum with wonderful pedagogues including James Hutchins, Nancy Lokken, Anne Montzka-Smelser, and Allen Leib. He currently teaches a large, thriving Suzuki violin studio at his home studio as well as at the Community Music School of University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

Elizabeth Ivy Wilson

Member at Large

Violinist Elizabeth Ivy Wilson has appeared internationally as a chamber and orchestral musician. A proud Suzuki kid, her life-long passion for the violin started at the age of 4 when she began Suzuki violin studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music under Rebecca Ensworth and Michelle Higa George. In 1996, it is important to mention that Elizabeth had the honor and pleasure of playing for and meeting Dr. Suzuki and Mrs. Suzuki in their home along with participating in the 42nd Suzuki Grand Concert in Tokyo, Japan.

As an orchestral musician Mrs. Wilson has performed with various New England orchestras, and has toured with the international symphony, Philharmonia of the Nations. She received her Bachelor of Music degree in 2009 from the New England Conservatory of Music where she studied violin performance under Lucy Chapman and Marylou Speaker Churchill.

Upon moving to Greenville, Mrs. Ivy Wilson supplemented her studies by earning a double certificate in Violin Performance under Ara Gregorian and Suzuki Pedagogy under Joanne Bath at East Carolina University. She is an active freelance musician and performs regularly with The Long Bay Symphony in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and also is a substitute violinist for the Greenville Symphony Orchestra of Greenville, SC.  Her private studio, Ivy School for Violin maintains approximately  30 students at all times.  Her students have been known to be accepted into schools such as CIM amongst other prestigious institutions. Mrs. Ivy Wilson has appeared as a clinician with various organizations such as the North Carolina Suzuki Institute, the STAHR workshop in Norfolk, VA as well as an alumni artist with the Summer Chamber Music Institute at East Carolina University.  She is currently serving on the board of Greenville NC ‘s Eastern Youth Orchestra as well as of this year currently acting as president of the Eastern NC Suzuki Association.  Elizabeth happily resides in Greenville, NC with her loving husband Ben, ever so lively son Cole and their awesome dog, Watson.