Cathlin Reese

A little bit about me…

I am a Suzuki-trained violinist and a native Houstonian.  I began my violin studies at the age of six under the direction of Judy Offman in Houston, TX, and completed all of the ten books of the Suzuki repertoire by age 16.  During those years of study, I had the great privilege of taking lessons with Dr. Shinichi Suzuki, in Japan, in 1979, and was one of 10 American and 10 Japanese Suzuki violin students selected to tour Japan and China with the Suzuki Method in 1983.  

I went on to attend the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston for two years, and for the last two years, went to Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, and graduated High School from there.  I hold two degrees in violin performance.  A Bachelor of Music degree from Western Michigan University, where I studied with Mrs. Renata Knific, and a Master of Music degree from Miami University, where I studied with Mr. Hal Grossman.  While I was at Western, I had the honor to perform in a master class for Yehudi Menuhin.  When I was at Miami University, I was the 1st place winner of the concerto competition in 1993, and had the honor of performing the first Movement of the Barber violin Concerto with the University Symphony Orchestra.  In addition, I earned credits toward a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Oklahoma, where I was a member of the Crouse Graduate String Quartet, and where I once again, was able to study with Mr. Hal Grossman who like before, helped to bring my playing to a higher level.  After my schooling, I was continually in pursuit of performing, thus my music career has taken me to live in six different states in the country.  On this journey, I was able to play in many different professional orchestras including the San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra in California where I was the Associate Concertmaster, and also the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, in Oklahoma to name a few. 

I have had the pleasure of playing with many wonderful performers from the classical world with different orchestras, like Joshua Bell, Gil Shaham, and James Ehnes, and also performers from the pop world such as Willie Nelson, Stevie Wonder and Kanye West.  I have received excellent teacher training in all 10 books of the Suzuki repertoire and have been teaching for 30 years.  The following Suzuki teachers have greatly influenced the ways that I teach.  Helen Brunner, Edward Kreitman,  Kathy Lee and Alice Joy Lewis.  I greatly appreciate all the teachers who have helped make me a better player and pull from that knowledge as well when I teach my students.  I have experienced first-hand the successful results of growing up with the Suzuki method, and I really enjoy helping my students learn to play beautiful music on the violin.  In addition, my students have routinely placed in high positions, like Concertmaster, in the Texas All-Region and All-State Orchestras.