Laura Eis, NCSI Director
Laura Eis 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 Orchestra. 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, is conductor of the Eastern Preparatory Youth Orchestra, and is an adjunct faculty member at Fayetteville State University, Methodist University, and Pitt Community College. She was the assistant/associate director of the North Carolina Suzuki Institute from 2007-2023 and is looking forward to her first year as director this summer!
Nan Freeman
Nan Freeman has been teaching using the Suzuki Method since 1973. She holds a Music Education degree from Appalachian State University. In addition to teaching, she is the Director Emeritus 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 Europe. She heads up a Suzuki Workshop through the Suzuki School of the Arts as well. She is a retired middle school orchestra teacher and symphony player with the Western Piedmont Symphony where she performed for 51 years. 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.
Sarah Hollis
A native of Greenville, North Carolina, Sarah studied violin across many genres, graduating ECU with a degree in music education and violin performance. Her musical career includes country, bluegrass, and folk bands throughout the region, where she performs and teaches voice, fiddle, and various string instruments.She currently teaches general music and strings at an elementary school in Raleigh, NC, and performs with all-female country band Riggsbee Road.
Betsy Hughes
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.
Mrs. Hughes has served on the faculty of the NC Suzuki Institute since 2002. She is also on the faculty for the Virginia Suzuki Institute and the Pennsylvania Suzuki Institute. She has been a summer clinician for the Community School of the Arts in Charlotte, NC, and a guest clinician for the Suzuki School of the Arts in Hickory (NC), a clinician for the Chapel Hill Cooperative Suzuki Project Fall Workshop, and the orchestra director for SCOrE (Summer Choral and Orchestra Extravaganza) at UNC. She has made guest conducting appearances with the Onslow County (NC) 7th and 8th grade Honors Orchestra, the Dare County HS All County Orchestra as well as the Chesapeake, VA District Junior High Orchestra.
Currently, Mrs. Hughes is the orchestra director at JH Rose HS and CM Eppes Middle School in Greenville. She has twenty-three years of classroom experience. She is the president of the ECU Friends of the School of Music Board as well as a board member for the S. Rudolph Alexander Performing Arts Series at ECU. She resides in Greenville with her husband, Robert, and their two children, Murray (age 18) and Hazel Kate (age 15).
Sharon Miller
Sharon Miller is a Suzuki violin and viola teacher and teacher trainer from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. She was formerly director of Eastern Mennonite University's Preparatory Music Program and helped develop a string program in Harrisonburg's public schools. Retired from full time work, she continues to enjoy mentoring young teachers, traveling with her husband and spending time with extended family.
Gabriela Potter Peoples
Gabriela Potter Peoples is a professional violinist, violist, and Suzuki violin instructor. Mrs. Peoples is registered for Violin Books 1-10 with the SAA and completed intensive long-term teacher training with renowned Suzuki Pedagogue Joanne Bath. She performs with Symphony Orchestras in Durham, Raleigh, Rocky Mount, Greenville, and Pinehurst. She teaches students ages 3-70 at the High Strung School of Music in Durham.
Jade Siebert
Based out of Greenville, North Carolina, Jade Siebert teaches 4th through 8th Grade Orchestra for Pitt County Schools while maintaining a private cello studio. She has experience teaching students age five through adult. Jade has degrees in Music Education and Cello Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM).