Göran Berg – violin, viola, orchestra, chamber music, artistic director/owner
He is strongly dedicated to the teachings of Dr. Shinichi Suzuki and of his own teacher, Professor John Kendall. Mr. Berg has 50 years of music teaching experience, the last 35 years including the Suzuki Method. He conducts parent and teacher education training classes throughout the United States and Europe.
Mr. Berg teaches violin, and viola, both Suzuki and traditional methods. He conducts orchestra and coaches chamber music. Among other music styles, he likes to utilize fiddle tunes as part of his teaching as a complement to classical instrumental studies.
Mr. Berg has a long background in voice and singing. He is a trained baritone with many years of vocal studies in Stockholm. As a member of several choirs and choruses in Sweden his repertoire streched from medieval music to contemporary works. As a member of the Stockholm Motet Choir he can be heard on the BIS CD Scandinavian Choir Music. He also performs on the Erato recording of “Figure Humaine” by F. Polenc, with the Stockholm YMCA Chamber Chorus. Well-known chorus conductors of great importance for him are Dan Olof Stenlund, Professor at the Copenhagen Music Conservatory, and the late Eric Ericsson, Professor emeritus at the Royal Swedish Music Academy in Stockholm.
Göran Berg writes original arrangements of Scandinavian fiddle music, both for violins and orchestra/string quartet. His “Fiddle Heart” books are used by educators internationally.
He has also published string arrangements in the new Eclectic Strings Series, Book 1, at Alfred Publications; Violins Go Vivaldi / Eclectic Strings.
Christina Berg
Göran Berg and the late Christina Berg are the parents of three adult children and have four grandchildren. All three children took Suzuki violin and cello throughout their childhood. Until the children moved on to college, the Berg family played as a quartet. The Berg Quartet performed at numerous weddings and church events at the Church of Sweden, San Francisco.
Carol Vitcha – violin
In the Bay Area, Carol has taught with the East Bay Suzuki Music Association in Berkeley, Salinas Junior College, Dominican University, and Holy Names Suzuki Prep programs and maintains a home violin studio. She also has played with many “freeway” symphonies and presently plays in a string quartet. Carol loves to help students work on reaching higher levels in playing and having fun with music.
Carol is a member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas and the Suzuki Association of Northern California and is a member and evaluator for the Music Teachers’ Association of California.
Carol lives in Richmond with her husband, Bob, and three cats: Jack, Lucy, and Ethel.
Andy Ly – cello
Andy is excited to be at the start of his professional career, with performances taking him across the states and in venues such as Carnegie Hall and Davies Symphony Hall. An active musician in the Bay Area, he has performed in the cello sections of the Livermore-Amador Symphony, Berkeley Symphony, California Pops Orchestra, and UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra and played under the baton of conductors David Ramadanoff, Gerard Schwarz, Michael Morgan, and Joana Carneiro.
In 2014, Andy received the Livermore-Amador Symphony Association’s Bill King Memorial Award for his contributions to school and community musical activities. Recently he won the SFSU Concerto Competition and performed Ernest Bloch’s Schelomo with the University Orchestra directed by Brad Hogarth.
Website: www.andylycello.com
Sycamore Strings Academy 