About The Directors
Ruth Godfrey
Ruth Ann Godfrey received her Bachelors of Music in violin performance from San Francisco State and her Masters of Music from the University of Arizona. Her career has taken her from California where she was a member of the Santa Rosa and Sacramento Symphony orchestras to the Tucson Symphony and then Rome, Italy where she played for the Teatro dell'Opera for nine years. In Michigan in the early 90's she did extensive orchestral work, performing in the Ann Arbor, Flint, Saginaw, Lansing, and Toledo symphony orchestras and the Michigan Opera Theatre. She began her Suzuki training at Stevens Point, Wisconsin the summer of 1995, followed by continued training in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Ithaca, New York, and Salt Lake City, Utah.
Since 1996 Ruth has made her home in Salt Lake City where she played in the Ballet West Orchestra for 22 seasons, maintains a full Suzuki studio, and participates in the Suzuki Association of Utah. Recently she completed a successful three-year term as President of the Suzuki Association of Utah (SAU). In the summer she teaches at the Intermountain Suzuki String Institute (ISSI) in Draper, Utah. In 2018 Ms. Godfrey and her students joined the advanced violin performing group, Rocky Mountain Strings.
Her interests include skiing, hiking, biking and scuba diving as well as reading and family history. Ruth has five stepchildren with her husband Kevin, and seven adorable grandchildren.
Leslie Henrie
Dr. Leslie Henrie is a native to Utah, and she has chosen to return and pursue her career as a professional violinist, violist, and teacher. She received her Bachelor of Music degree in Violin Performance at the University of Utah in 2001 and her Masters of Music degree in Violin Performance at the University of Kansas in 2006. She completed her Artist’s Diploma in 2008 at Park University’s International Center for Music. While living in Kansas City she was also the associate concertmaster and principle second violin for the St. Joseph Symphony. She completed her Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in violin and viola performance and pedagogy at the University of Utah in 2013, where she was a teaching assistant to Dr. Hasse Borup. Her lecture recital and dissertation emphasis was on the literary imagery and elements found in the Violin Sonatas Op. 105 and 121 of Robert Schumann. During her doctoral studies she also served as concertmaster of the Utah Philharmonia and was one of the first recipients of the University of Utah Graduate String Quartet Fellowship. As a member of the quartet, amongst her vigorous performing schedule and teaching responsibilities, she enjoyed most of all touring to local high schools throughout the Salt Lake and Utah Valleys, presenting outreach and educational chamber music concerts to young music students.
Dr. Henrie performs and records extensively with many local professional organizations and labels, including the Utah Symphony, Boise Philharmonic, Vivaldi Virtuosi, Utah Chamber Artists, Telarc, Covenant, and the LDS Church. She currently serves as concertmaster for Sinfonia Salt Lake, a newly formed professional chamber orchestra, of which she is also a founding member. She was most recently featured as a soloist on Covenant Communications’ album release, “This Is The Christ,” where she premiered a new solo work written by local LDS composer and artist Marshall McDonald. She has performed in masterclasses given by Joseph Silverstein, Cho-Liang Lin, and Eric Rosenblith among others, and past teachers include Hasse Borup, Gerald Elias, Mikhail Boguslavsky, Ben Sayevich, Kanako Ito, Martin Storey, and Eric Rosenblith. Collegiate teaching experience includes her current position as Adjunct Professor of Violin and Viola at Westminster College, as well as previously serving on the faculties of Salt Lake Community College, Utah Valley University, and the University of Utah String Preparatory School, where she taught violin, viola, and various other music courses. She teaches and coaches chamber music annually at the University of Utah Summer Chamber Music Workshops and the Intermountain Suzuki String Institute. She currently maintains her own private studio of around forty students in Draper, Utah.
Dr. Henrie plays a 1929 violin by the Swiss maker, Fritz Baumgartner, and a 1986 David Wilson (Liverpool) viola. She resides in Draper, UT with her husband Chad Medeiros, son Connor (who is currently a percussion performance major at the University of Kansas!), and daughter Georgia. In her spare time she enjoys reading, mountain biking, shopping, cooking, traveling, singing, and spending time with her family.
Amy Oswald
Amy Oswald’s musical journey began in Utah as a young Suzuki violin student. Little did she know then how the Suzuki philosophy would positively shape her life. With the love and care of dedicated parents and teachers, she earned her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Utah and her Master of Music degree from the North Carolina School of the Arts. Influential teachers include Deborah Moench, Hiroko Primrose, Jack Ashton, Gerald Elias, and Nicholas Mann. Amy continued her Suzuki Talent Education with skilled and inspirational teachers Ronda Cole, David Strom, and Linda Fiore, to whom she is forever grateful! Amy has played professionally with orchestras across the United States including the Utah Symphony, Ballet West Orchestra, Greensboro Symphony, San Bernardino Symphony, Redlands Symphony, Maryland Symphony, and as concertmaster of the Frederick Symphony Orchestra. She has also served as violin co-chair for the Suzuki Celebration X Concert and is currently a violin committee member for the Intermountain Suzuki String Institute. Some of her fondest memories are of her experiences as a student in Rocky Mountain Strings where she built many lifetime friendships and had opportunities to share music around the globe. She is excited to return to her roots of making music with this world-class performing ensemble! She is thankful for her husband Kyle and three children, who support her by encouraging her to keep learning. Amy resides in Holladay, Utah where she grows an active Suzuki studio and enjoys the curiosity and joy her students share. When outside the studio, Amy can be found hiking and stargazing in Utah’s magnificent mountains, or recharging her soul through attending performing arts events.
Corine Hart
Corine Larsen Hart began her violin studies before the age of three with the Suzuki violin method. She studied most of her early years with Jeannie Grover. Later, she studied with Jack Ashton and then Ralph Matson at the University of Utah on a full music scholarship. In 1999, Mrs. Hart served a musical performing mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Nauvoo, Illinois. She sang, danced, and fiddled nightly for visitors. In 2000, she married Brody Hart and had her own Suzuki family of 6 children who perform extensively throughout Utah as HartStrings. She continues to coach her three sons’ musical training on violin, piano, and cello, while her daughters are former members of Rocky Mountain Strings, and Gifted Music School. Her two oldest daughters currently have scholarships to Juilliard in New York City and enjoy being roommates. Corine performs regularly with her family in the community and has given several concerts internationally in China, Brazil, Thailand, India, and Singapore. She has enjoyed being a charter member of the Orchestra at Temple Square since 1999 and has toured alongside her husband, Brody, who sang in the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square for 15 years. They have toured all over the United States, Canada, and Europe together with the choir and orchestra.
In 2017, Mrs. Hart started a performing violin group called "Vivace" who traveled internationally to China, Thailand and Singapore presenting programs of classical, modern, fiddling, and sacred music. Currently, she is a director of the esteemed performing group Rocky Mountain Strings that also tours internationally.
Corine has experienced all three sides of the Suzuki triangle from being a student, parent, and teacher. She has loved teaching for more than 30 years. Besides the violin, her passions include singing, cooking, traveling, children, animals, and assisting her husband in foreign countries on charitable dental missions.
Corine hopes to bring light to the world through musical expression!
Michael McLean
Composer/Arranger
Based in Los Angeles, California, composer and violinist Michael McLean is an internationally noted composer, violinist, and pedagogue. On the faculty of the Colburn, he teaches violin, composition, and conducts various ensembles throughout the school while maintaining a lively career as a composer of orchestral, chamber, and film music. He received his B.M. in Violin Performance from Northwestern University where he studied violin, composition, counterpoint, and orchestration extensively and has recently completed the prestigious program at the University of Southern California, "Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television". He is founder and president of Oak Cliff Publishing, which features more than 100 of his compositions and four CD’s. His three concertos for Violin and Viola have been recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios. These works have been performed many times domestically and internationally to rave reviews. His film music for an award winning documentary on Louis Sullivan has been haled as “innovative and exquisitely distinct…”
Currently, Mr. McLean has been studying the solo violin music of J. S. Bach and has been asked to Lecture on this topic for the SAA conference and for the Delay-Starling Symposium for Teaching Excellence at the Juilliard School. His studies about this important music will soon be published in a forthcoming book, along with recordings by various artists. He is also arranging the great preludes and fugues of Bach for string quartet and will have more than 50 of these masterworks published in the near future. When not overworking, Michael enjoys long backpacking trips in the Sierras. He knits his own wool hiking socks.
Shelley Astle
Accompanist
Shelley Astle studied piano at the University of Utah while also playing violin in the orchestra. She studied organ as well. Shelley performs regularly at recitals, auditions, and music festivals, as well as at her local church services. She has performed with the Rocky Mountain Strings in Poland, Belgium, France, Russia, and Austria, as well as locally. Her greatest joy is time spent rehearsing with her grandchildren who study violin, cello and piano. She is the widow of Dennis Astle and together they have 19 grandchildren.
Emily Williams
Accompanist
Emily Williams is the vocal coach and pianist at Westminster University, in Salt Lake City, Utah. She is the pianist and coach for the Westminster Singers, Westminster Chorale, as well as the musical director for the Opera Studio. She regularly accompanies guest master classes at Westminster including those taught by Frederica von Stade, Celena Shafer, Michael Chioldi, and Robert Tweten. She also accompanies and coaches at the University of Utah where she regularly performs on student recitals. Ms. Williams is an active vocal coach, recital pianist, and chamber musician throughout the Wasatch Front.
In addition to her work in academia, Ms. Williams often spends her summers in Italy as a principal rehearsal pianist with La Musica Lirica, a summer program for young American performers. Since attending the program in 2007, she has coached and accompanied rehearsals for Gianni Schicchi, Suor Angelica, Falstaff, La Traviata, Rigoletto, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and La Rondine. She is also a frequent guest coach and pianist at the Utah Valley Arts Academy Summer Opera Festival in Orem, Utah.
Emily Williams received her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Utah. After teaching choral music for four years, she returned to the University of Utah and earned a Master of Music degree in collaborative piano.