Author Archive | TSS

Julian Fisher holds a Bachelor of Music in Performance (Viola) from the University of Toronto(1988). He studied viola with Stanley Solomon and Osher Green. For ten years he was a faculty member at The Royal Conservatory of Music, and is a member of the College of Examiners.

As a teacher, Julian has taught violin and viola since 1976. He is a member of the Suzuki Association of Ontario, and he is a long-time member of the Ontario Registered Teachers’ Association. Julian is active as an adjudicator in many music festivals across Canada. He conducts the Adult Orchestra at the Toronto School for Strings and Piano, which Julian and his wife Mary co-founded in 1999. He is Principal Viola in the Hart House Orchestra at the University of Toronto. 

Julian is the Principal, Registrar and CEO at the Toronto School for Strings and Piano.

Mary Fisher co-founded the Toronto School for Strings with her husband Julian in 1999. She has taught cello for over twenty five years, and brings a wealth of experience, instructing at all levels of cello, from young beginners to gifted young people, and to adults.

Mary has extensive pedagogical training in the Suzuki Method, and is equally versed in traditional teaching approaches. Many of her students have gone on to careers as teachers and performers, as well achieving numerous awards in music festivals, Silver Medals in Royal Conservatory Examinations, and successful auditions to arts-based High Schools. Mary studied cello performance at the University of Manitoba, and taught for ten years at the Royal Conservatory of Music. She is an active adjudicator and a member of the RCM College of Examiners.

Jill received her Bachelor of Music from Queen’s University, and attended the Royal Conservatory of Music as part of the Orchestral Training Program and Professional School.

She received her Suzuki teacher training from the Kingston and Ithaca Suzuki Institutes.

Dona Jean Clary, pianist, graduated with Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Regina. Scholarship awards enabled her to continue her musical studies in London, England, where she received her Licentiate from the Royal Academy of Music. Subsequently, Ms. Clary taught for the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. …→

Phillip Coonce, violinist and violist, has studied with Leonard Felberg, Hiroko Yajima, Felix Galimir, Blanche Moyse and Raphael Bronstein. He earned a B. Mus. from the University of New Mexico, an M. Mus. from SUNY at Stony Brook, and a DMA from the Manhattan School of Music. He has performed with the New Jersey Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic, The Hudson Chamber Players and the Martha Graham Ballet.

A member of the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra and the Right as Rain Bluegrass Trio, Dr. Coonce is on the faculties of the Joiner Academy, Playweek and Summertrios.

He is also the author of Toquemos el Violín, and is the inventor of the Don’t Fret Finger Position Indicator.

Brandon Davis is a Toronto-based bassist, composer, and educator. He holds a Masters in Music from the Manhattan School of Music.

He attended the Jazz Performance program as an upright bass major and was on the Dean’s List for all four semesters of his studies. He primarily plays and teaches upright bass and improvisation, but also offers lessons in electric bass, guitar, and beginner ukulele.

Louise Zacharias Friesen first received an ARCT in Piano Performance and a Bachelor of Church Music in Winnipeg, followed by a Bachelor of Music in Piano from UBC where she studied with Jane Coop.

As a piano duo with her best friend Sandra Joy Friesen, she toured from BC to Manitoba. Choral experiences in Winnipeg, Vancouver, Edmonton, and Saskatoon have been a great joy for her, especially her seven seasons as a soprano with Pro Coro Canada.