Therese Fetter; Department Chair, Artistic Advisor & Master Teacher 

 

• Russell Hall 73-- (319)273-6113   Therese.fetter@uni.edu           
• B.M., Irish College of Music; M.M., University of Northern Iowa     

Therese Fetter, a native of Dublin, Ireland, began her violin studies at the Irish College of Music. She received a Master of Music degree in Violin Performance from the University of Northern Iowa.  Her Suzuki training has included work with Doris Preucil, Martha Holvik, Barbara Barber, Almita Vamos, Yuko Honda and Bill Starr.  She has had an extensive career as an orchestral performer in the US and abroad, most recently as concertmaster of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Fetter joined the faculty of the UNI Suzuki School in 1978, served as Director from 1986-2000, and was named Artistic Advisor in 2010. Through her association with that school, she has touched the lives of hundreds of families in the Cedar Valley.  Under her leadership the UNI Suzuki School initiated two youth orchestras, created an outreach and performance group of advanced violinists (called "Fiddlesticks"), introduced a comprehensive theory curriculum, and added flute and clarinet programs.  In 1997, in collaboration with Center City Arts, she helped establish "Music Works," a program in Waterloo that provides subsidized violin lessons for inner-city children.                   

Over the past fifteen years Ms. Fetter has served as a role model and mentor for numerous student string teachers who now teach throughout the United States and as far away as Saudi Arabia.  Her former students have gone on to study and play the violin at such schools as Harvard, the Cleveland Institute, Northwestern, Indiana University, the Eastman School of Music, St. Olaf College and at virtually every college and university in Iowa. 

 

Ute Brandenburg; Suzuki School director and Viola and Violin Faculty 

 

• Russell Hall-173- (319)273-2037   ute.brandenburg@uni.edu
• B.M., Hochschule fuer Musik und Theater, Hanover, Germany 

Ute Brandenburg, a native of Oldenburg, Germany began her viola studies at age 13 with Julienne Riedel. Ute credits Ms. Riedel with inspiring her love for the viola and her desire to become a string teacher. She went on to study at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover, Germany with Hatto Beyerle and Jaap Zeijl. Since moving to the United States, she completed Suzuki training with William Preucil, Nancy Lokken, and Helen Brunner.

Ms. Brandenburg joined the faculty of the UNI Suzuki School in 1998, and currently serves as Administrative Director. Ute has also been a parent in the Suzuki program since 2001, an experience which has deepened her understanding of the Suzuki philosophy of teaching.  

Ute is currently a member of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony, she plays regularly with Orchestra Iowa, serves as the orchestral coordinator for the Metropolitan Chorale and is an active chamber player in the area. Ute's interests aside from music include cycling, family history research, and studying the Feldenkrais Method of Somatic Education.

 

Dr. Julia Bullard; Viola Faculty 

 

 

• Russell Hall-167-319-273-3074   julia.bullard@uni.edu
• B.M., M.M., Temple University; D.M.A., University of Georgia

Julia Bullard teaches viola, string pedagogy, and string methods and techniques at the University of Northern Iowa. Bullard is the Associate Director for Graduate Studies in the School of Music and master teacher for the UNI Suzuki School. From 2003-2010, Bullard also served as Director of the UNI Suzuki School. She is an active solo, chamber and orchestral performer both in the US and abroad. Recent solo engagements include performances in Russia, Central and South America, New York and Iowa. She has also presented master classes at Herzen Pedagogical Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia; the University of Costa Rica in San José, Costa Rica; Facultad de Musica, Universidad Juan N. Corpas in Bogota, Colombia; and the State University of New York at Fredonia. Bullard has served on the board of the Iowa Viola Society and as President of the Iowa String Teachers’ Association.

Prior to joining the UNI faculty, Bullard taught at the University of Georgia's Pre-College Program; Toccoa Falls College (GA); Clarke Middle School (GA); Settlement Music School (Philadelphia); Temple University's Music Preparatory Division; and the Brenau (GA) Suzuki School.  

 

 

 Holly Schult; violin and viola faculty 

 

• (641)-425-3567   holly.schult@uni.edu
• B.A., University of Northern Iowa    

Holly began her violin studies at the age of 13 at the UNI Suzuki School and studied with Therese Fetter and Ute Brandenburg. At the University of Northern Iowa, she studied violin with Frederick Halgedahl and viola with Dr. Julia Bullard with whom she continues graduate viola studies. Holly has been a teacher with the UNI Suzuki School since 2006 and has taken teacher training with Michele Higa George, Joanne Bath, and Susan Kempter. Holly is a member of the Waterloo Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra.  In addition to teaching and performing, Holly loves chamber music, reading, interior design, fashion, antiquing, and collecting vintage and antique books. 

 

 

Todd Williams; Violin Faculty 

 

• Russell Hall 175-- (319)273-3302     todd.williams@uni.edu
• B.M., University of Minnesota 

 

Todd Williams began his musical studies as a Suzuki student, and went on to earn a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Minnesota in violin performance.  He also completed extensive Suzuki training at the University of Minnesota, studying with Mark Bjork, and was an intern for the Suzuki program at the McPhail Center for the Arts in Minneapolis.  Before joining the UNI Suzuki School faculty in 2003, he was a faculty member at the St. Paul Conservatory and taught Suzuki at the ABC Montessori International School in Bloomington.  He is a member of the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Symphony.  Todd is also a zealous handyman/carpenter, and enjoys juggling, cooking, and fixing things!  

 

Low Strings:  

 

Suzanne Bullard; Department Chair, Cello Faculty 

 

• Russell 170--273-2548  suzanne.bullard@uni.edu           
• B.M., Baldwin Wallace Conservatory; Performance Diploma, Longy School of Music; M.M., University of Northern Iowa  

Cellist Suzanne Bullard joined the UNI Suzuki School faculty in (January) 2002.  She teaches all of the private cello lessons and group classes and also coaches student chamber ensembles. 

Suzanne received a BM in cello performance from Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory (OH), a Graduate Performance Diploma in cello from the Longy School of Music (MA), and a MM in cello performance from the University of Northern Iowa.  Her teachers have included Jonathan Chenoweth, Ann Alton, Andrew Mark and Regina Mushabac.                    

Suzanne received her Suzuki training at various summer institutes with teacher trainers Catherine Walker, Nancy Hair, and Carol Tarr.  Prior to joining the UNI Suzuki School, Suzanne taught privately in New York and Massachusetts, and for the Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory Preparatory Division in Ohio.  Suzanne is a member of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony and loves playing chamber music, especially string quartets.  She lives in Cedar Falls with her husband, Tim Purdum,  their son, Elliot, and their cats Cleo and Sabrina.   

Guitar:

 

Robert Dunn, guitar  

 

• Russell Hall-65- (319) 273-6373 Robert.Dunn@uni.edu

Prominent Iowa jazz musician Bob Dunn, a UNI graduate, currently teaches jazz and classical guitar lessons and music classes as a UNI adjunct instructor and Suzuki guitar for the UNI Suzuki School. 

As a fretted instruments specialist, Dunn has played with the Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, and Waterloo/Cedar Falls symphonies on classical, acoustic, and electric guitar, banjo, mandolin, electric bass, and ukulele. Likewise, Dunn's involvement in Iowa's jazz community has been diverse. At home in a wide variety of styles, he performs regularly with the UNI Faculty Jazz Combo, the Tom Barry Quartet, the Don Wendt Trio, the Dick Watson Trio, The Saints, Magic Mike and the Blue Side, and Checker and the Bluetones. 

Over the past two decades, Dunn has taught at Wartburg, Grinnell, Coe and Clarke Colleges and the Southwest Community College Jazz Camp and the UNI Combo Camp.  Mr. Dunn has served as an adjudicator for Jazz Contests and as both adjudicator and guest artist at the Coe Jazz Summit. Dunn also participates in a classical guitar-flute duo with Wartburg faculty member Dominique Cawley. 

  

Enrichment Faculty:

to be announced; Music History, Theory

Orchestra & Chamber Ensembles:

Tom Schilke; Northern Iowa Junior Orchestra