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Our Faculty
Rick Bieniek - Violin
Rick is a 1976 graduate of the University of New Hampshire and has taught music and drama in public and private schools. He has been Director of the String Instrument Program in Manchester, New Hampshire and taught History of Musical Theatre at UNH Durham. As a violinist, Rick performs extensively as a “strolling violinist” and is a member of the Windsor String Quartet and the New World Quintet. He has also written several original musicals. He lives in Durham, New Hampshire with his wife Meg and children Nick and Margaret.
Jess Eberiel – Violin
Jessica grew up in the Westford Suzuki School, beginning piano lessons at age 3 and violin at age 4. As an undergraduate at UMass Lowell she majored in music and studied violin with Anne Black. She began her Suzuki teacher training in 1997 at Occidental College with Susan Kempter and has completed Suzuki training through Book Four. Her trainers have included Helen Brunner, Alice Joy Lewis, and Edward Kreitman. In 2003 Jessica began her graduate studies at the Boston Conservatory where she earned a Master’s Degree in violin performance while studying with Joseph McGauley from the BSO. Jessica continues to be an avid teacher and performer in the greater Boston area and is co-owner of Bridges and Bows.
Nancy Eberiel – Piano
Nancy holds both a MS in Biology (Boston University, 1968) and a MS in Music (University of Lowell, 1982.) In 1984, she and Carole Todaro founded the Westford Suzuki School.
Suzuki training has taken her to Washington, DC, Chicago, IL, Pasadena, CA, Berkeley, CA, Kingston, Ontario, and Chautauqua, NY. She maintains the central studio for WSS at 4 Depot Street in Westford, Massachusetts. Nancy has taught biology at the college level and served for 30 years as a church organist and choir director. She plays cello in the Merrimack Valley Philharmonic Society.
Ann Greenwood – Administrator
Ann has been a part of the Westford Suzuki School family since its beginning. As a parent, she attended lessons and served on the executive board. She has been a volunteer in local charity organizations and enjoys gardening, quilting, yoga, and tennis. Ann is the fifth parent to serve as administrator for WSS.
Valerie Mack – Violin
Valerie began her formal music education when she was 5 years old studying piano with Marie Nelson in Middleborough, MA until she graduated from high school. She started the violin in the 4th grade and quickly grew to love it. When her parents noticed her affinity for violin, they found a teacher from the New England Conservatory, Geda Khatutskaya. In Valerie’s high school orchestra there were no violists, but the school owned a viola. She learned to play the viola with the help of her high school orchestra conductor Ken Clinton, and then went on to study viola and violin at UMass Lowell with Anne Black. She received her Bachelor of Music Education degree in 2001 after completing her student teaching in the Concord-Carlisle school district. She earned her Master of Music in string performance from the Boston Conservatory in 2005, where she studied with former principal violist of the BSO Patricia McCarty. Valerie is also on the string faculty of the Indian Hill Music School and is co-owner of Bridges and Bows.
Rae Nickel – Cello
Rae has a BSc degree from Waterloo University and is a graduate of the Suzuki teacher training course at School for Strings in New York. Her experience includes Suzuki cello programs for Thurnaner School of Music, Westminster Conservatory, Princeton Day School, and Community Education of West Windsor-Plainsboro. She taught in the New Jersey/Pennsylvania area from 1984 to 2000.
Carole Todaro – Faculty Emeritus at WSS
Carole Todaro graduated from Wellesley College. A mother of 5 children, she continued her musical studies at UMass Lowell and taught string instrumental programs in public schools. She became interested in the Suzuki approach after attending a conference at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst when Dr. Suzuki visited from Japan. Hence, she has received Suzuki training at Ithaca, Hartt, and Stanford Institutes. Carole is founder and director of the Sandy Island Suzuki Camp.
Susan Turcotte-Gavriel – Violin
Susan earned a BS in Music from the University of Lowell. She then studied at Indiana University with John Kendall, the leading Suzuki Master Teacher in the United States and also with Dr. Suzuki himself in Japan. Susan has taught in numerous public schools in Massachusetts, as well as in private music schools. She currently is the coordinator for the Lowell Public Schools String Project, a program funded by ASTA through UMass Lowell. In addition to teaching at WSS, she is kept busy with her husband John and sons Christopher and Peter.
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