SuzukiPortland & SuzukiLakeOswego Faculty
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Dr. Valdine Ritchie Mishkin: Cello Lessons, Piano Lessons, & Music Theory Lessons
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Ms. Catherine Whelan: Violin Lessons, Viola Lessons, Early Childhood Education, &
Suzuki Parent Development
Dr. Valdine Ritchie Mishkin
Lake Oswego Studio
Cello, Piano, and Theory
Dr. Valdine Ritchie Mishkin is an accomplished cellist and experienced teacher of all ages and levels. She holds degrees from the top music school of Canada and the US: a Doctorate of Musical Arts and a Masters of Music in Cello Performance from the prestigious Shepherd School of Music (Rice University, Houston, TX) as a student of Lynn Harrell and Norman Fischer, a Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance Honors from McGill University (Montreal, Quebec) as a student of Antonio Lysy, and Associate of Royal Conservatory of Toronto (A.R.C.T.) diplomas in Cello Performance and Piano Performance.
Dr. Mishkin is a certified teacher in cello and piano by the Royal Conservatory of Toronto as well as a certified Suzuki cello teacher. She has participated in such prestigious festivals as Tanglewood, Orford, Banff Centre for the Arts, and Schleswig-Holstein Orchestra Academy.
Before moving to Portland from Houston for her husband’s job, Dr. Mishkin was an active teacher and Suzuki clinician. She maintained a large private studio of cello and piano students aged 4 through 68. Many of her students went on to study cello at the university level. She also kept up a busy performing career playing with Mercury Baroque, Houston Grand Opera, Houston Ballet and other ensembles in the Houston area.
Ms. Catherine Whelan
Portland Studio
Violin,
Viola, Early Childhood Education, &
Suzuki Parent Development
Catherine Whelan began the SuzukiPortland Program in 2000 and currently teaches Viola, Violin, Suzuki Early Childhood Education Baby Classes and Age 3-4 Classes, as well as Suzuki Parent Development classes.
Catherine has studied Suzuki violin and viola pedagogy with Julia Hardie, Rosalind O’Keefe, Vera McCoy-Sulentic, Betsy Stuen-Walker and with Edmund Sprunger at workshops featuring all levels of Ms. Whelan’s Violin & Viola students. Catherine studied Suzuki Early Childhood Education with Dorothy Jones and Sharon Jones. Starting the youngest of children on a quality long-term musical journey is a particular interest of Ms. Whelan’s.
As a violist, Catherine has participated in the Banff Festival masterclasses, was a member of the Young Virtuosi of Montreal and the Prince George Symphony. In 2007 and 2008 Ms. Whelan served as violin teacher and viola teacher on the faculty of the Atlantic Canada Suzuki Institute, (ACSI) in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Through an attempt to heal playing injuries Catherine studied the “Practical Application of Body Mapping to Making Music” with Body Mapping founder Barbara Conable and uses this work extensively to teach healthy physical playing.
Catherine Whelan attended the Royal Conservatory of Music and the University of Toronto Faculty of Music. She is currently the recipient of the Knight Scholarship at Marylhurst University and is completing an Interdisciplinary Studies degree. Catherine is a mother, a Suzuki Parent, a canoeist and telemark skier.
