String Instrument Instructors
Peter Skaar holds a Masters of Music from the Hartt School of Music and a Bachelors in Music Performance from Shenandoah Conservatory. Peter is also a graduate of the Dreyfoos School of the Arts. Starting piano at age 7 and later cello at age 11 Mr. Skaar has over 18 years of musical experience. His major teachers include Terry King Professor of cello at the Hartt School and Longy school of music, Clyde Thomas Shaw Retired Professor of Cello at Shenandoah Conservatory and member of the former Audubon String Quartet, as well as David Cole Cello Professor at Lynn Conservatory.
As a performer Peter has been a part of the Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Jan Wagner and the Hartt School Symphony Orchestra lead by Edward Cumming, also having attended Eastern Music Festival Lead by Gerard Schwarz. His Chamber music experiences include having studied under the direction of the now disbanded Audubon String Quartet and the professors at the Hartt School of music. Peter has also attended the Castleman Quartet Program studying with some of the top chamber music players in the country.
As a teacher, Peter has experience working with all ages and levels of player. He believes that each student’s needs are unique and that with enough dedication anyone can become a musician. “There are only two rules I have in my lessons. A student needs to learn something and the student should have fun during learning.”
Phoebe Suzuki has been studying violin for 12 years. She in currently completing her Bachelors of Music at the Hartt School of Music in Violin Performance with Anton Miller. At Hartt, Phoebe has performed in several small ensembles as well as held concertmaster positions in the Hartt Symphony Orchestra and the Hartt Opera Orchestra. In 2014 she was the concertmaster of the College Light Opera Company Orchestra located in Cape Cod, performing works such as West Side Story and The Mikado. In addition to teaching at Summit Studios she regularly performs in the Hartford and West Hartford areas.