Institute Bios

Laura earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from Susquehanna University in 2001. She received a Master of Music degree in Violin Performance and Suzuki Pedagogy and a Certificate of Advanced Performance Studies in viola from East Carolina University in 2008 and 2009 respectively. 

Currently, Ms. Eis is a member of the Fayetteville Symphony, the Tar River Symphony, and concertmaster of the Pitt Community College Symphony Orchestra. She was the associate director for the North Carolina Suzuki Institute from 2007-2023 and became the director in 2024. She is a member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas, and treasurer of the North Carolina and Eastern North Carolina Suzuki Associations. 

Ms. Eis maintains a private violin and viola studio in Greenville, NC, and is an adjunct faculty member at Fayetteville State University, Methodist University, and Pitt Community College.

Nan is from Hickory, NC and has been teaching music since 1970. She holds a Music Education degree from Appalachian State University. Nan’s Suzuki Training has been through many teachers, but mostly from William Starr, Hiroko Driver, Linda Fiore, Gilda Barston, Tanya Carey, and others.   In addition to teaching violin, viola and cello, she is the Executive Director of the Suzuki School of the Arts in Hickory, NC and the Director of the Virginia Suzuki Institute in Emory, VA. She also directs the Suzuki Tour Group of the Carolina’s which has toured throughout the eastern United States, the Caribbean, and 7 tours of Europe. 

Nan has been a guest clinician throughout the southeast and Hawaii  and holds weekend workshops through the Suzuki School of the Arts.  She directed and taught in the Suzuki Preschool in Hickory for 10 years. Nan is a retired middle school orchestra teacher and a retired symphony player with the Western Piedmont Symphony where she performed for 51 years.  

In March, Nan was awarded the “Creating Learning Community” award from the Suzuki Association of the Americas.  Nan and her husband Gene are avid potters and have their own pottery studio, Foo’s Pottery, where they enjoy making lots of fun and functional pottery.  They have three sons who grew up as Suzuki students. Her biggest joy in life is spending time with her 4 granddaughters and her family.

Meredith Harris, performer, educator and viola enthusiast, lives, works and plays in the Greater Houston area and beyond. She is a section member with the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (ROCO) and has enjoyed performing on contract with the Houston Symphony for the past few seasons.

Originally from North Carolina, Meredith earned her Bachelors of Music in Performance at East Carolina University with Ara Gregorian and her long-term Suzuki teacher training with Joanne Bath. She made Houston her home after completing her Masters Degree in Viola Performance with James Dunham at Rice University.

A grown up Suzuki kid herself, Meredith is very thankful for many decades of dedicated and inspiring Suzuki teachers and mentors who have shaped her musical journey. She has chosen to pay it forward by serving as a current board member and former president of the Southeast Texas Suzuki Association. She has had the privilege to present at the ASTA Conference, Suzuki Association of the Americas Leadership Retreat, and serve as a clinician for workshops, camps, and institutes around the country. Meredith maintains an active Suzuki teaching studio and is passionate about helping each student find creative ways to learn new skills and inspiring them to nurture and share their own musical voice.

Betsy Hughes began Suzuki violin lessons at the age of three in Greenville, North Carolina with Nancy Kostek and later with Katherine Jenkins. While a student at East Carolina University, she studied with Fritz Gearhart, Ara Gregorian, and Joanne Bath. She received her Bachelor of Music in Music Education from ECU in 2001 and her Master of Music in Violin Performance with a concentration in Suzuki Violin Pedagogy in 2002. Mrs. Hughes has registered long term teacher training with the Suzuki Association of the Americas for volumes 1A-10. 

With twenty-five years' experience in the public school classroom, she has served school systems in Wake, Durham, and Pitt counties. Currently, she is the orchestra director at J.H. Rose HS and C.M. Eppes Middle School in Greenville, NC.

In addition to her role as orchestra director, she conducts the Eastern Junior Youth Orchestra, and performs with the New Carolina Sinfonia. In the community, she serves on the board for the ECU Friends of the School of Music and for the S. Rudolph Alexander Performing Arts Series. She is the past president of the Farmville Community Arts Council.

When she's not teaching, performing, or volunteering, she enjoys spending time with family. Her two children, Murray and Hazel Kate, are lifelong Suzuki students!

Pattie Kinlaw began as a Suzuki violin student at age four and earned her Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance along with Suzuki Pedagogy Certification from East Carolina University. A highly versatile musician, she bridges classical violin and American roots traditions with equal fluency. She pursued her love of bluegrass studying with Bobby Hicks, a first-generation bluegrass fiddle player, and Mark O’Connor, blending that lineage with her high-level classical training.

Pattie tours nationally and internationally as a performer and recording artist, collaborating with symphony orchestras on genre-crossing programs that integrate classical repertoire with American roots music. She has appeared at major festivals including MerleFest, Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, Bristol Rhythm & Roots, ROMP, Durango Bluegrass Meltdown, FloydFest, Mountain Song Festival, and the Reykjavík Folk Festival. She has performed as a guest artist with the Sam Bush Band, Leftover Salmon, Steep Canyon Rangers, and the late Charlie Daniels and Bobby Osborne.

Her symphonic collaborations include appearances with the Long Bay Symphony, Winston-Salem Symphony (Unbound Series), Winston-Salem Chorus, Mallarmé Chamber Players, and the Western Piedmont Symphony (Maestro Quartet).

She is releasing her twelfth album this year on Robust Records with Hank, Pattie & The Current, Under the Stars, a two-volume project featuring a full symphony on Volume I and a string quartet on Volume II.

Pattie maintains two thriving private studios in Eastern North Carolina, teaches and performs nationally and internationally, performs regularly with the New Carolina Sinfonia and Firefly String Trio, and co-leads Hank, Pattie & The Current out of Raleigh, NC. She is also founder of the American Music Foundation of North Carolina.

Lisa Murray holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Mississippi in Vocal Performance, and a Masters of Music in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy from East Carolina University, where she also studied Suzuki Pedagogy with Joann Bath. 

In 1998 she began teaching Suzuki Piano at The Suzuki Music School of Westport, CT and completed Suzuki Piano books 1 and 2 with Mary Craig Powell. While at SMSW, she developed a pre-Suzuki curriculum to familiarize students with the Book 1 repertoire on violin, viola, and piano through singing games and movement activities. 

In 2015 she traveled to Helsinki, Finland to train with Päivi Kukkamäki, who developed the Suzuki Voice program at Dr. Suzuki's request. She continued Suzuki Voice training with Mary HJofer at the American Suzuki Institute. Lisa began teaching Suzuki Voice as one of a handful of trained Suzuki Voice teachers in the United States in her home studio in Greenville, NC.

Currently, Lisa teaches General Music and Chorus at Ridgewood Elementary School in Winterville, NC. She also performs extensively in local theatre groups and frequently directs, music directs, and coaches musical productions at high schools and community theatres. She is the mom of baritone and cellist Chris and mezzo-soprano and violist Emily.