After School String Program

After School Strings – Elementary Group Violin Class

Please continue to monitor our website and social media for updates on postponed events and announcements regarding our upcoming 2020-2021 season. From all of us at Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra, we send wishes for your continued health and are deeply grateful for your patience, patronage and support. Please contact our office at 910-433-4690 if you have any further questions or concerns. Thank you.

The Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra After School String Program offers group violin classes held at Fayetteville Academy, 3200 Cliffdale Road, Fayetteville, NC. As students learn and polish their music, they will be invited to perform at events around the community including recitals and Festivals.

Group Violin Class: These classes are 40 minutes in length and open to all elementary aged children. Limited to 8 students per class. Class covers basic music concepts and includes beginning violin exercises and posture games. Group will study traditional Suzuki Violin music, holiday music, and fiddle tunes. Parents highly recommended to attend when possible, and daily individual violin practice is required. Correct size violin and Suzuki Book 1 and CD are necessary. These classes meet on Tuesday afternoons.

Group Class is $60 per month.

:: Registration and payment information for the 2020-2021 school year to come ::

About The Director

Monica Thiriot, Operations and Education Manager at FSO: Monica began playing the violin with the Suzuki Method when she was 6 years old. She graduated from all 10 levels by the time she was 14, and two years later, she received her first Suzuki training to become a teacher. As her private studio grew, she received additional Suzuki teacher training from John Kendall and Jeanne Grover. One of her favorite things to do is to put together groups where youth can create music together and perform throughout the community. Her groups have performed at many festivals, fundraisers, and other community events in New York (West Point Youth String Club), Maryland (Suitland Strings), North Carolina (Hope Mills/Fayetteville area), and Texas (San Antonio). She is excited to return to Fayetteville and work with the Fayetteville Academy and Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra in creating a new youth program for this area. Monica graduated from the University of Utah where she was able to study music and receive her degree in Elementary Education. She is in her 3rd season of playing the violin with the Fayetteville Symphony, and has 4 children who also play the violin. Her family can be seen around town performing for the Arts Council, the LaFayette Society, and at different fundraisers.

For more information, please email education@fayettevillesymphony.org.

Featured Musician

Dr. Clark Spencer – Acting Principal Viola

Violist and Violinist Clark Spencer is an active solo, chamber, and orchestral performer living in Wilmington, NC. He is currently assistant principal viola of the Oregon Mozart Players and a founding member of the Blue Box Ensemble. Clark has performed with the Fayetteville Symphony (NC), Long Bay Symphony Orchestra (SC), Eugene Symphony, Eugene Opera, the Corvallis Symphony, Newport Symphony, and the Oregon Bach Festival. He has had the privilege of performing under the batons of Andrew Linton, Marin Alsop, Jeffrey Kahane, Helmut Rilling, and Gunther Schuller.

Originally from Lancaster, PA, Clark earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in performance from Boston University, where he studied viola with Michelle LaCourse and violin with Peter Zazofsky. He recently completed his Doctorate in Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Oregon where he studied with Dr. Leslie Straka. His doctoral research on the Sonata in G by Paul Ben-Haim culminated in a new edition for solo viola. Clark has also studied with Martha Strongin Katz and Jeffrey Irvine. He has performed in masterclasses with Kim Kashkashian, Arnold Steinhardt, Roger Tapping, Pamela Frank, the Ying String Quartet, the American String Quartet, the Orion String Quartet, and the Muir String Quartet.

Clark is an experienced violin and viola teacher. He completed his long term Suzuki training with Karin Hallberg and Louise Scott during his studies at the University of Oregon. In addition to his own studio, Clark has taught for the University of Oregon’s Community Music Institute, where he taught group classes, coached chamber music and conducted a middle school string orchestra. He also coached violin and viola sections of the South Salem High School Chamber Orchestra and the Salem Youth Orchestra. During the summers of 2009 and 2010, Clark served on the faculty at the Vermont Youth Orchestra’s Summer Program, Reveille!

Mailing Address: P.O. Box 302 Fayetteville, NC 28302	Office Location: 308 Green St., Suite 200 Fayetteville, NC 28301
P: (910) 433-4690 F: (910)433-4699	Office Hours: Monday-Thursday 9:00am-5:00pm
info@fayettevillesymphony.org