Faculty

Allen Lieb received his M.M. in Violin Performance from SIU/Edwardsville, studying Suzuki pedagogy with John Kendall. He holds a Teacher Training Certificate from the Talent Education Research Institute in Matsumoto, Japan following several years’ instruction with Dr. Shin’ichi Suzuki. A registered Teacher-Trainer with the Suzuki Association of the Americas since 1981, Mr. Lieb has taught institutes, workshops and conferences across the United States, Canada, Central America, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. He is Chair of the SAA Violin Committee, the SAA liaison to the International Suzuki Association Violin Committee and a member of the SAA Heritage Committee. Mr. Lieb is Head of the Violin Department and Instructor for the Teacher-Training Seminar at The School for Strings. He is also a violin instructor at The Diller-Quaile School of Music where he was a recipient of the 2012 Clifford/Levy Creativity Grant. For 13 years, Mr. Lieb served as Curriculum Coordinator for the Newark Early Strings Program, a Suzuki-based violin program jointly sponsored by the Newark Public Schools and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, for which he was recognized with the 2008 Samuel Antek Award for Music Education.

Marina Obukovsky, Head of the Piano Department, lives and works in New York City where she is a sought-after piano teacher, performer, and clinician. According to the American Suzuki Journal, “Marina is a true musician and passionate about music, with the ear of a superhuman, able to distinguish the most nuanced of nuances.”

Ms, Obukovsky currently holds faculty positions at The School for Strings where she is the Head of the Piano Department and the Suzuki Teacher Trainer, and at the Mannes College of Music Preparatory Division. As a dedicated and inspiring teacher, Ms. Obukovsky maintains a full studio of pianists, ranging from beginner to pre-college level. Her students frequently participate in master classes with renowned pianists and have won of many of New York’s prestigious competitions, performing at venues such as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, and Symphony Space. Many of her students continue their training at conservatories and major in music at college.

In demand as a clinician and teacher, Ms. Obukovsky has given numerous workshops in New York, Washington DC, Maine, Vermont, Texas, and Bermuda. At the 15th Biennial Suzuki Conference (May 2012), she was invited to give a master class on new piano repertoire in the revised Suzuki piano books. During the past five years, she has taught at the InterHarmony International Music Festival in Germany, the InterHarmony Festival in Arcidosso, Tuscany, Italy, and at the “Accademia di Musica Lorenzo Perosi” in Biella, Italy. A longtime faculty member at the Hartt Suzuki Institute in Connecticut, she additionally joined the faculty of the Berkshire Summer Music Camp in Massachusetts in 2014.

Ms. Obukovsky received her Master of Music degree (cum laude) from Kharkov Conservatory, Ukraine. She studied piano with Professor Tatyana Verkina, a former student of Heinrich and Stanislav Neuhaus. She also participated in numerous master classes and workshops at the renowned Gnessin Russian Academy of Music in Moscow. As a student, she won several competitions and performed with the Kharkov Philharmonic Orchestra. An accomplished pianist, she has performed solo and chamber music recitals throughout Ukraine and Russia and has served as an accompanist for the National Opera Competitions in Moscow, Odessa, Lvov, and Kiev. She was a former faculty of the Kharkov Conservatory (currently the Kharkov University of Arts).

An avid chamber musician, Ms. Obukovsky frequently collaborates with fellow musicians in cello–piano duos, as well as in 4–8 hands piano ensembles. Ms. Obukovsky is currently a member of the Music Teachers National Association, the Associated Music Teachers League, and the Suzuki Association of the Americas.