STEP Teachers

Carole Bestvater (Violin)

Carole Bestvater Carole has recently relocated to St. John's, NL to start a Master's Degree in Violin Performance with Nancy Dahn. She is originally from Saskatchewan, but ventured one province over to Manitoba to study music at Brandon University. Upon completion of her degree, she packed her belongings into her car and drove to Providence, RI. There, she was part of a unique Fellowship Program at Community MusicWorks, a non-profit organization based in the inner-city neighbourhoods that melds high quality performance and music education together. Along her travels, she has collected many tunes and stories, and is thrilled to continue her adventures here.

A lover of both classical and folk music, Carole is a diverse and energetic musician. She is also a dedicated educator, having experience teaching individual lessons and an array of different types of group classes. She has studied the Suzuki Method with Joanne Martin and Karen Kimmett, and is very happy to be teaching with the STEP program here in St. John's.

Julia Bowdring (Violin, Fiddle, Accompanist)

Julia Bowdring Julia Bowdring began playing piano at age four, violin at age eight, and has been a member of the STEP community for over ten years. Julia plays with the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, and recently stepped down as the concertmaster of the Newfoundland Symphony Youth Orchestra. She has played with groups such as the STEP Fiddlers and the Celtic Fiddlers, and now plays with At Ship's End. She frequently plays around St. John's for Canada Day and St. Patrick's Day celebrations, The Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival, benefit concerts, and musicals, such as South Pacific and West Side Story. She has played concerts around Newfoundland, Canada, and Ireland. Julia is a piano performance major at Memorial University School of Music, studying with Dr. Maureen Volk.

Nancy Case-Oates (Violin)

Nancy Case-Oates Nancy Case-Oates began her musical studies on piano and violin at an early age, performing regularly at local Kiwanis Festivals and winning many awards for violin, piano and voice. She has acquired degrees in performance from both Universities of Toronto and Victoria.

Nancy holds the position of Principal Second Violinist with the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, a position she also held with the Vancouver Island Symphony Orchestra, and is also currently the Second Violinist of the Atlantic String Quartet. She has been featured as solo artist twice with the NSO Sinfonia.

Currently, Nancy maintains an active performing career with the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, teaching Suzuki violin, and playing with The Pachelbel Trio. In her spare time, Nancy designs and creates hand-embroidered crafts and enjoys spending time with her sons Edmund and Noah.

Dominic Greene (Violin, Fiddle)

Dominic Greene St. John's native Dominic Greene is currently working on a Bachelor of Music degree at Memorial University, studying violin with Dr. Nancy Dahn. Prior to his current studies at Memorial, Dominic attended Holy Heart of Mary High School, where he was an active participant in the school's choral and instrumental music program. Dominic plays violin and viola with the Memorial University Chamber Orchestra, and first violin with the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra. He is past assistant concertmaster of the Newfoundland Symphony Youth Orchestra. Dominic enjoys playing violin as a pit orchestra musician, having played for local productions such as South Pacific and West Side Story.

Dominic performs regularly in the local Kiwanis Music Festival for solo violin, and has represented the strings in the Junior Rosebowl competition several times. He has participated in summer programs, including the Tuckamore Chamber Music Festival and the Scotia Festival of Music. Dominic also shares his love of choral music with numerous ensembles around the city, including the Memorial University Chamber Choir, Newman Sound Men's Choir and Innismara Renaissance ensemble.

Jennifer Johnson (Violin, Body Mapping)

Jennifer Johnson
Photo: Sheilagh O'Leary Jennifer began her musical training in southern Ontario, Canada and earned her Honours Performance Degree from Converse College, South Carolina, studying there with Paul Statsky. She was Director of the Suzuki Talent Education Program at the University of Lethbridge, Alberta, before coming to St. John's, Newfoundland in 1993 to play as principal second violin of the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra and second violin of the Atlantic String Quartet. During her twelve years playing with the Atlantic String Quartet, she performed regularly with artists of international acclaim including Krystof Penderecki, Dennis Brott, Patrick Gallois, Rivka Golani, and Anton Kuerti.

In addition to her performing career, she also has a well-established reputation as a pedagogue in St. John's. Throughout her career, she has been dedicated to the advancement of musical education, specifically through the Suzuki Talent Education Program of St. John's of which she served as Artistic Director from 1998-2002.

In 2004, a generous grant from the Canada Council for the Arts funded a 7-month Alexander Technique sabbatical for Jennifer which permitted her to study throughout Europe and the United States with many of the world's leading Alexander Technique teachers. Some of these teachers included Pedro de Alcantara, Walter Carrington, Marjorie Barlow, Joan and Alexander Murray and Barbara Conable. Jennifer went on to train with Barbara Conable and in 2005 became Canada's first certified Andover Educator. She now presents Body Mapping workshops across the country working with musicians who are interested in learning to enhance their musical ability and to prevent injury through a clear understanding of how their bodies are designed to move.

Chantelle Jubanville (Fiddle)

Chantelle Jubanville

Native of Chatham, Ontario, Chantelle Jubenville recently completed her Bachelor of Music at Wilfrid Laurier University where she studied violin and viola with Dr. Jeremy Bell of the Penderecki String Quartet. During her first year she played viola in the WLU Orchestra and participated in viola sectionals lead by former principal violist of Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, David Rose. She later switched to violin, and had violin sectionals with current Concert Master of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Stephen Sitarski.

In addition to performing in both university and community ensembles, Chantelle has a great love of teaching. She studied violin pedagogy with Vanessa Mio (of Indiana University) and has taught violin privately and at Merriam School of Music.

This fall, Chantelle will begin her Masters of Violin Performance and Pedagogy at Memorial University of Newfoundland in addition to performing viola with the NSO through the Suncor Energy Orchestral Fellowship Program.

In addition to her classical training Chantelle grew up fiddling in the Ontario style, with strong influences from her French-Canadian background.

Heather Kao (Violin, Accompanist, STEP Orchestra)

Heather Kao Heather Kao is a freelance violinist and teacher living and working in St. John's. She frequently can be seen on stage performing as a soloist, with the The Four Seasons String Quartet or with the Ora Ensemble. She has been a guest performer on countless recordings, as well as on TV and radio. She has a performance degree from the Memorial University School of Music and is a past member of the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, The National Youth Orchestra of Canada, Quintessential Vocal Ensemble and Lady Cove Women's Choir. She has received many awards from the Kiwanis Music Festival including the Senior Rose Bowl, and has competed at the national level of the Canadian Music Competition and National Music Competition. Heather has recently returned from a tour across the southern United States with local singer/songwriter Christa Borden.

Ellen Kogut (Violin; ACSI Director 2012)

Violinist Ellen Kogut (B.A., McGill University; M.M. Suzuki Pedagogy, Ithaca College) is a native of upstate New York. Her principle teachers include Susan Waterbury and Sanford Reuning. Ellen completed Suzuki teacher training in Books 1-10 with Mr. Reuning, a former student and colleague of Dr. Suzuki and past president of the Suzuki Association of the Americas. Ellen has served on the Suzuki faculty at 171 Cedar Arts Center in Corning, New York and the Ithaca Talent Education School. She has taught at the university level both at Ithaca College, as teaching assistant to Professor Waterbury, and at Cornell University. In July 2011, Ellen presented a two-part lecture titled "The Pedagogy of Artistic Tone: Shin'ichi Suzuki and the Recordings of Fritz Kreisler" at the Ithaca Suzuki Institute.

Ellen regularly performs with the Binghamton Philharmonic, Cornell's new music society Contrapunkt!, and in recitals and masterclasses throughout North America. An avid chamber musician, Ellen has recently participated in the Adriatic Chamber Music Festival in Bonefro, Italy, and the Tuckamore Festival in St. John's, Newfoundland.

Evelyn Osborne (Violin)

Evelyn Osborne Evelyn Osborne has been a faculty member of STEP since 2004. Between 2006 and 2009 she served as STEP's artistic director and in 2011 was the artistic director of ACSI. She has completed both short- and long-term violin pedagogical training (books 1-8) with Teri Einfeldt (US), Alice Joy Lewis (US) and Helen Brunner (UK) as well as the Early Childhood Education (Infant/Toddler) Suzuki course with Dorothy Jones (Canada). Evelyn has given international Newfoundland fiddle and dance workshops on four continents (Canada, Scotland, Singapore, Australia). She holds an undergraduate degree in violin (Ottawa, 1997) and a Master of Arts in Canadian Studies/Ethnomusicology (Carleton, 2003), and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Ethnomusicology at Memorial University of Newfoundland expecting to complete her degree in 2011. Her research focuses on the construction of Irishness in Newfoundland fiddle music as influenced by media and specific Irish musicians. Evelyn maintains an active private studio of violin and fiddle students who always keep her on her toes!

Lauren Smee

Lauren SmeeLauren Smee is a violin teacher and performer living in St. John's. Originally from Toronto, Lauren studied with May Ing before going to Wilfrid Laurier University where she earned her Bachelor of Music degree studying with Jerzy Kaplanek and Christine Vlajk. Lauren has performed at various music festivals including the Casalmaggiore International Festival in Italy and the Tuckamore Festival here in St. John's, and is a past member of the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra. Currently Lauren is pursuing a Master of Music degree in Performance and Pedagogy at Memorial University, studying with Dr. Nancy Dahn.

In addition to teaching at STEP, Lauren has taught Suzuki violin at the Atlantic Canada Suzuki Institute and Toronto Suzuki Studio Summer Camps. Outside of the Suzuki world Lauren has been a music teacher at Canada's National Ballet School, an assistant conductor for the Laurier Singers Chamber Choir, and Choral Director for the First Unitarian Congregation of Waterloo.

As a teacher and player Lauren is passionate about cultivating physical and musical freedom and preventing playing-related injury. As an Andover Educator Trainee studying Body Mapping with Jennifer Johnson she explores how accurate information about the body in movement can enhance music pedagogy and musical ability. In June 2011 Lauren attended the Andover Educators' 5th Biennial International Conference in Montclair, New Jersey.

Christina Smith (Violin, Fiddle, Cello; Artistic Director)

Christina Smith
Photo: Sheilagh O'Leary Christina Smith is a performer, recording artist and teacher, living in St. John's. A native Newfoundlander, Christina performs in North America and Europe as half of the award-winning Newfoundland Folk Music duo, Christina Smith and Jean Hewson, and as member of the Mahers Bahers. She teaches both Suzuki Method strings and Newfoundland Fiddling in St. John's and at workshops in Ontario and Quebec. In April 2012 she was presented with the 2011 "Arts in Education" Award by the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council.

Christina's compositions and arrangements can be heard on several CBC radio documentaries, as well as short films and videos. In demand as a session player in her hometown of St. John's, she has backed up Newfoundland's best known musicians, including Emile Benoit, Buddy Wasisname, the Irish Descendants, Jean Hewson, Jim Payne, Fergus O'Byrne, Ron Hynes and others. She is featured on a solo CD entitled Fiddle Me This, and the duo albums Like Ducks! and August Gale.

Christina holds a B.Mus. with Honours in History and an Artist's Diploma in Cello Performance from the University of Western Ontario, and the Suzuki Cello Teacher's Degree from the Talent Education Institute, Matsumoto, Japan. She learned Newfoundland fiddling from Emile Benoit and Rufus Guinchard.

Website: jeanandchristina.ca

Past Teachers: