Suzuki Institute Faculty

  • Julia Bartsch, Violin/Ensemble Coach
  • Val Buchmeier, Orchestra/Ensemble Coach
  • Ellen Kim, Violin/Ensemble Coach
  • Joan Molloy, Violin/Ensemble Coach
  • Adrianna Rossmiller, Cello/Ensemble Coach
  • Edward Wharton, Viola/Ensemble Coach

Julia Bartsch

Violin/Ensemble Coach | Bloomington, MN

Julia Bartsch received a B.S. in Music Education from the University of Minnesota in 1982. She has been a Suzuki violin teacher for 23 years at the St. Paul Jewish Community Center Suzuki Violin School. Julia received her training at the American Suzuki Institute in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, where her trainers included Alice Joy Lewis, Rhonda Cole, Carol Dallinger, and Pat D’Ercole. She has been a guest clinician at several workshops in Minnesota and Nebraska and is an active freelance musician performing with the Aurora String Quartet. Julia has just finished her fifth year as the Orchestra Director at Edina High School where she has two orchestras and 105 orchestra students.

Val Buchmeier

Orchestra/Ensemble Coach l Crookston, MN

Val Buchmeier is a bassist in the Greater Grand Forks Symphony and the founder and director of the Grand Forks Youth Symphony. He is also the director of orchestra programs in Crookston Public Schools which includes the 5th and 6th grade orchestra, middle school orchestra, and high school orchestra.

Ellen Kim

Violin/Ensemble Coach | St. Paul, MN

Ellen Kim is a graduate of Bowling Green State University in Ohio and holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Violin Performance and Music Education. She is the Founder and Director of the Northern Lights School for Strings at the Jewish Community Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. The program is celebrating its 27th year and has a faculty of four teachers and over 70 students. Each year, students in the program perform in solo and group settings throughout the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota. Ellen completed her Teacher Training Units at the Greater Washington Suzuki Institute in Washington D.C., and the Chicago Suzuki Institute and the American Suzuki Institute in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. She is a founding member of the Suzuki Association of Minnesota and has served as its Treasurer and President. Currently, she is an advisor to the Board of Directors.

Joan Molloy

Violin/Ensemble Coach l River Falls, WI

Joan Molloy begin playing the violin in Oberlin, Ohio when she was eight years old. She studied violin performance at Bowling Green State University in Ohio and at the University of Minnesota, where she received her Bachelor of Music Degree. She went on to study Suzuki Method pedagogy and has completed levels 1A through Book 8 of teacher training as well as many overview and enrichment units. Joan is currently the director of HeartStrings Studio in River Falls, WI and is the director of the middle school orchestra program at St. Croix Preparatory Academy in Stillwater, Minnesota.

Adrianna Rossmiller

Cello/Ensemble Coach l Minneapolis, MN

Adrianna Rossmiller began playing cello when she was eleven years old with Kristina Vaska Haas in Shrevport, Louisiana. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree in performance from the University of Texas at Austin in 2002 where she studied with renowned pedagogue Phyllis Young. While attaining her Master of Music degree at the Hartt School in Connecticut, Adrianna completed a long term Suzuki teacher training course with her mentor Pamela Devenport. She was also a member of Hartt's School's elite chamber music program Performance 20/20, which involved the preparation and performance of several chamber music programs each year. In 2004 she relocated to Minneapolis, and from 2004-2009 Adrianna built a large Suzuki Cello Studio at MacPhail Center for Music. Adrianna currently maintains a private Suzuki cello program in Minneapolis and she is also an active freelance performer.

Edward Wharton

Viola/Ensemble Coach l St. Paul, MN

Originally a Suzuki violinist, Edward switched to viola at the age of 17 after discovering its rich and amorous tone. Beginning under the tutelage of Leroy Bauer in his hometown of Moscow, Idaho, Edward went on to study with Tamas Strasser in St. Paul, Masumi Rostad at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Ferenc Cseszko at the University of Idaho. A dedicated fan of chamber music, Edward has studied chamber music with the Pacifica, Borromeo, and Lafayette String Quartets, as well as the Apple Hill Chamber Players.

Since 2008, Edward has taught violin and viola at HeartStrings Suzuki Studio in River Falls, WI and at the St. Paul Conservatory of Music. Since then, Edward has integrated the Suzuki violin method into the Michael Frome Academy, a green public charter school located in Woodbury Minnesota. As of last fall, Edward began as an instructor at the Headwaters School of Music and the Arts in Bemidji, Minnesota. Edward has completed the ECC course, Book One Training, and a Books 1-5 course overview with Ronda Cole.