Mr. Berg holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Violin Pedagogy from the Royal Swedish Music Academy at Stockholm University, and a Master’s Degree in Music Performance and Suzuki Pedagogy in the String Development Program at the Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville.

He is strongly dedicated to the teachings of Dr. Shinichi Suzuki, and his own teacher, Professor John Kendall. He has 36 years of music teaching experience, the last 30 years including the Suzuki Method. He conducts parent and teacher education training classes throughout the United States and Europe.

Mr. Berg teaches violin, and viola, both Suzuki and traditional methods. He conducts orchestra and coaches chamber music. Among other music styles, he likes to utilize fiddle tunes as part of his teaching as a complement to classical instrumental studies.

Besides his time with SSA, he is also Director of the Suzuki Program at the Crowden Music Center in Berkeley. He teaches violin at Crowden and conducts the Crowden Summer Suzuki Workshop, formerly the SSA Suzuki Workshop.

Mr. Berg has a long background in voice and singing. He is a trained barytone with many years of vocal studies in Stockholm. As a member of several choirs and choruses in Sweden his repertoire streches from medivial music to contemporary works. As a member of the Stockholm Motet Choir he can be heard on the BIS CD “Scandinavian Choir Music.” He also performs on the Erato recording of “Figure Humaine” by F. Polenc, with the Stockholm YMCA Chamber Chorus. Well-known chorus conductors of great importance for him are Dan Olof Stenlund, Professor at the Copenhagen Music Conservatory, and Eric Ericsson, Professor emeritus at the Royal Swedish Music Academy in Stockholm.

Goran Berg writes original arrangements of Scandinavian fiddle music, both for violins and orchestra/string quartet. His “Fiddle Heart” books are used by educators internationally. See separate website www.fiddleheartmusic.com.

He has also published string arrangements in the new Eclectic Strings Series, Book 1, at Alfred Publications, go to Home / Eclectic Strings.

EMAIL:
gberg@sycamorestringsacademy.com

TELEPHONE:
925.606.5818 – Sycamore Strings Academy office

Christina Berg completed music studies at the Royal Music Academy in Stockholm. She was a music and elementary school teacher for fifteen years in Sweden, and has taught guitar in the Tri-Valley Area for over a decade. She is a certified Kindermusik Educator, Montessori instructor, and author of music education materials used to train other music educators. At SSA, she teaches her own guitar program, called Guitar with Christina. It emphasizes chord play as accompaniment to own singing. Her Kindermusik classes are organized under the auspices of Livermore Area Recreation and Park District (LARPD).

Christina and Goran Berg are the parents of three adult children, and have two grandchildren. All three children took Suzuki violin and cello throughout their childhood. Until the children moved on to college, the Berg family played as a quartet. The Berg Quartet performed at numerous weddings and church events at the Swedish Church in San Francisco. The quartet can also be heard on the Fiddle Heart CD recordings, complement to the books with the same name.

EMAIL:
cberg@sycamorestringsacademy.com

Violinist Vivienne Kim has been active as a teacher, soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral musician.  She has been featured on television’s Emmy Award Show and Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show.  Her solo performances include appearances with the Taegu City Symphony Orchestra in Korea and with the USC School of Performing Arts Orchestra.  Her chamber music performances include recitals with pianist Adrienne Kim in Iyo-mishima, Japan, and performances at Le Refuge on City Island, at Reynolda House in Winston-Salem, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Toe River Music Festival in North Carolina, the Arcady Music Festival in Maine, and the Shaker Mountain Music Festival.  She has collaborated with pianist Jon Klibonoff, flutist Paula Robison, members of the Lark, Cassatt, Hofstra, and Emerson String Quartet, and has performed with the Mark Morris Dance Group.  She was awarded a fellowship to the Tanglewood Festival, and is a founding member of the Anteros Quartet.

A native of California, Vivienne is happy to be returning after spending 14 years as a teacher and performer in New York.  She has played on such Broadway shows such as The Color Purple, Wicked, The Light in the Piazza, Fiddler on the Roof, Wonderful Town, A Christmas Carol, and Caroline, or Change.  She has recorded numerous film scores and commercial jingles, including those for Hitch, Julie & Julia, The Good Shepherd, The Rookie, The Last Mimzy, You Don’t Know Jack, Bounty Hunter, Failure to Launch, The Departed, and Doubt.  She has appeared on the MTV Video Award show with Sheryl Crow, performed in Carnegie Hall with k.d. lang, and has performed and recorded for Rufus Wainwright and Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys.

Vivienne received a degree in English and American Literature at Harvard University, and studied the violin with Miriam Fried at Indiana University.  She has had the pleasure of training with Suzuki teacher trainer Judy Bossuat, and is a certified teacher for Suzuki Book One.  She is a former faculty member of Concordia College in New York, and is very happy to be joining the faculty of Sycamore Strings Academy in Livermore and the Crowden Music Center in Berkeley. She lives with her husband in Berkeley.

EMAIL:
vkim@sycamorestringsacademy.com

Violist and violinist KC Still divides her time between teaching in the Bay Area and performing on the East Coast. Now residing in Albany, CA, KC is a Studio and Suzuki violin and viola teacher at The Crowden Center in Berkeley and Sycamore Strings Academy in Livermore. She has also been on the faculty at Holy Names University and the Napa Valley Language Academy.

A graduate of Manhattan School of Music as a viola performance major, KC studied with Arianna Bronne and Raphael Bronstein. As a scholarship and fellowship recipient, she attended numerous master classes with notable viola teachers including Donald McInnes, Karen Tuttle, Walter Trampler and Gerald Stannick.

Until January 2008, KC was active as a New York freelance orchestral and chamber music performer. Among the groups she performed with are the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, American Symphony Orchestra, New Haven and Stamford Symphony Orchestras in CT, the ballet orchestras for the Matsuyama, Australian, Royal and Kirov ballet companies, and the pit orchestras for various Broadway shows. KC toured Japan with the New York Pops and opened a new concert hall in Sao Paulo, Brazil with the American Symphony Orchestra. She was a member of the orchestra of the Sarasota Opera Association during the 2000 and 2001 seasons. KC can be heard on the ECM recording of pianist/composer Keith Jarrett with the Fairfield Orchestra and on the Nonesuch recording of “Desert Music” by Steve Reich with the Brooklyn Philharmonic.

KC’s love of teaching grew out of a desire to build the audiences of tomorrow and enrich the lives of children. She combines traditional and Suzuki methods of teaching with an added dash of the Feldenkrais Method and a lot of laughter.

EMAIL:
kcstill@sycamorestringsacademy.com

Ying currently teaches violin out of her home studio in San Ramon. She is passionate about teaching Suzuki. “Any child is able to display highly superior abilities if only the correct methods are used in training.” Ying strongly believes in these words by Dr. Shinichi Suzuki and has been attracted to the Suzuki Mother Tongue Method for a long time.

She has started her Suzuki teacher training at the Northern CA Suzuki Institute and has earned her first teaching certificate from the Suzuki Association of the Americas. Well-known names among her trainers: Kathryn Lee, Beth Titterington, Joe Kaminsky, and Helen Higa. Ying has observed lessons with many established Suzuki violin teachers at schools, studios, workshops, and training classes.

Ying has received a Masters of Education Degree from the University of Tokyo Gakugei, Japan. She is a certified Montessori teacher and speaks three languages. She used to be a member of the local symphony in Dalian, China. Ying is a mother of violin student William.

Katie Walda has been a professional accompanist for over 25 years. She is Staff Accompanist at Las Positas College and the Director of Music/Organist at the Centerpointe Presbyterian Church in Pleasanton. Katie has performed with Choral Groups and Orchestras throughout the Bay Area, including the Valley Concert Chorale and The Classical Philharmonic. She has a degree in Organ Performance and has performed Organ Concerts in venues throughout the world, including Westminster Abbey in London, St. Ignatius in Rome, and Grace Episcopal Church in San Francisco. This is her second year working with the Sycamore Strings Academy where she provides accompaniments for students and teachers at rehearsals, auditions, recitals, concerts, and workshops.