About
Emily's Story...
Emily Mather began violin at the age of four, and ever since then has been drawn to all aspects of the violin. During her adolescent years of playing violin, she performed on tours with the Allegro Performing Ensemble, The Chicago Consort, and the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra as Assistant Concertmaster. She later went to the University of Michigan for a Bachelor's degree in Violin Performance, where she studied with Gabriel Bolkosky, Andrew Jennings, and Yehonatan Berick in her four years there. She performed as Concertmaster of the University Musical Society Orchestra, and also the University Philharmonic Orchestra Concermaster. She has played in violin masterclasses with David Kim, David Halen, Kathleen Winkler, and Paul Kantor, and in one masterclass performing a piece for violin and voice for world famous vocalist, Renee Fleming. She also was involved in the Chamber Program at U of M, coached by Richard Aaron and Anthony Elliot. While in school, she also played with the Detroit Symphony, Kalamazoo Symphony, and the Dearborn Symphony Orchestras. She expanded her horizons by playing with Jazz ensembles and projects, Contemporary Music Ensemble, Baroque Orchestra, and multiple world culture music events.
To further her involvement in music, she decided to go back to her roots of the Suzuki method, where she grew up in the Western Springs School of Talent Education, under the direction of Edward Kreitman, and pursued her teaching career. After graduating from U of M in 2014 with honors, she took the summer to take Suzuki Teacher Trainings for books 1 through 5 with Ed Kreitman over the span of 3 months. She then took Suzuki workshops with Helen Brunner, Allen Lieb, and Cathy Lee to further her education.
In January of 2015, she moved to Austin, Texas to pursue her love for teaching. She became the head violin teacher at two music studios where she implemented a whole Suzuki program including workshops, masterclasses for both teachers and students, and her own violin/viola summer camp. She also taught private violin lessons in four different public schools, and was an Orchestra teacher at Tippit Middle School for an intermediate orchestra and beginning orchestra class, where she taught the Suzuki Method as well. She also played with the Round Rock Symphony, Temple Symphony, Golden Age Orchestra, River Pointe Church Band, and more, as well as playing for weddings and parties in the Austin area.
Emily went on to pursue her Master's degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music in both Violin Performance with Joan Kwuon and Suzuki Pedagogy with Kimberly Meier-Sims. There, she expanded her performing abilities and knowledge immensely, and was able to teach as a Suzuki Theory teacher and Violin Teacher (both group and private) at the Sato Suzuki Center at CIM. She graduated with honors, completed all 10 Books of Suzuki Training, and performed two Masters Recitals in Mixon Hall.
In her free time, she is a dedicated Yogi, and active fitness enthusiast. She loves exploring nature any chance she gets, especially the mountains. Emily is a Mexican food addict, and can win her heart over with guacamole and puppies any day. She and her fiancé, Patrick Connolly, love spending time with their dog Parker, a goofy, playful, and adventurous Border Collie/English Setter rescue dog.
“It’s a fairytale, its an unbelievable full circle story, and its a love story. Emily’s life is one you would see in a movie.”
It all started when...
When my mom was pregnant with me, she was singing with the Cleveland Symphony in Severance Hall. When I was being delivered, my mom decided to listen to the Vivaldi Four Seasons. When I first started to be able to talk, I started immediately pointing out violins in music; hearing music in malls, on the radio, wherever we went, I would find them. My mom took me to see the on stage production of Beauty and the Beast, and she would say, "Emily, look at the pretty princess on stage! Look at all the forks and knives dancing! Do you want to be a singer like mommy?" and I would point down in the pit where the Orchestra was playing, and I would say, "Look at the BOWS! They're dancing! The violins!"
In Kindergarten we learned about the violin, and thats when I came home after school, stomped my feet, scrunched my nose, and begged my mom to play the violin. Luckily, another mom in our town had just started her daughter on violin lessons, so my mom asked for the number of the school. It just so happened that it was the Western Springs School of Talent Education under the direction of Ed Kreitman, one of the best Suzuki Schools in the world.
In 2009, I played the Vivaldi Four Seasons with Soloist Allegra Wermuth, and alongside my current fiancé, Patrick Connolly, in our home away from home, Ithaca, New York where we grew up in Suzuki Summer Camp. I felt like my life had come such full circle. In 2016, I was accepted to the Cleveland Institute of Music, and I thought, 'I'm doing my Masters Degree where I was born and my mom was singing with the Symphony. My life has come full circle.' The last class of my Masters degree, I conducted the Vivaldi Four Seasons, and I thought, 'wow, what a coincidence...' Then, I came on Faculty at the Western Springs School of Talent Education, did a "New Faculty" performance alongside my fiancé Patrick, playing one of the pieces we had played together 10 years prior, led by our Artist Teacher in our high school years Thomas Wermuth, accompanied by the two performing ensembles we grew up in and fell in love in. My life had truly come full circle.