School of Music

Bio

A native of London Ontario, Dr. Rebecca Hunter began her violin studies at an early age in the Suzuki Method. She received her undergraduate degrees in Violin Performance and French from the University of Western Ontario, a Masters in Performance from the Royal Northern College of Music (Manchester, England), a Masters in Suzuki Pedagogy from Ithaca College with Sandy Reuning, and a Doctorate in Musical Arts from the University of Oregon in Performance with a supporting area in Musicology. Her teachers include Patrick Burroughs, Dr. Robert Skelton, Gwen Thompson, David Russell, David Cerone, Wen Zhou Li, Susan Waterbury, Kathryn Lucktenberg Fritz Gearhart. She has also participated in masterclasses with Stefan Jackiw, Christian Tetzlaff, Arnold Steinhardt, Sydney Harth, William Preucil, Lara St. John, Christopher Rowland and Scott St. John.

Dr. Hunter has played with the Eugene Symphony, the Corvallis Symphony Orchestra, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, Finger Lakes Symphony and the Hallé Orchestra in the UK. As a soloist, she has performed concertos with the Faculty Chamber Orchestra at Encore/Coda Festival, Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra London (Ontario), the University of Western Ontario Symphony, Clarion Symphony, London Community Chamber Orchestra, Niagara Youth Symphony and the London Youth Symphony. Winner of the Empire State Competition (collegiate instrumental music category) and the Ladies’ Musical Club of Seattle Competition, Dr. Hunter has also received numerous awards from the Kiwanis Music Festival and was named a national finalist in the Canadian Music Competition. Still an active performer, Dr. Hunter enjoys collaborating with her colleagues, and performs in chamber recitals in the U.S. and overseas.

As violin faculty at USC, Dr. Hunter teaches graduate violin pedagogy courses, applied violin lessons, chamber music, Suzuki violin private and group lessons and is the director of the Suzuki Strings at USC program. Dr. Hunter is presently working to create a Masters of Music Degree in Violin Pedagogy, which will incorporate the teachings of Dr. Shinichi Suzuki, specifically for violin books 1 through 4, with other pedagogical courses. In addition to her responsibilities at USC, Dr. Hunter has taught at various camps, institutes, masterclasses and Suzuki workshops in the U.S. and has been a past adjudicator for the Kiwanis Music Festival in Canada. She has also given lectures on Suzuki’s Talent Education in the U.S., Thailand and St. Lucia.