The Suzuki Piano Association of Ottawa/Gatineau is a federally incorporated non-profit corporation whose members are the faculty of the Association. The officers of the corporation are Carolyne Solberg (President), Kristine Gore (Vice-President, Co-ordinator), Diane Briscoe (Treasurer) and Catherine Donkin (Secretary). The administrative duties are shared by all faculty members.

All of our teachers are listed below. To see a list of teachers who are currently accepting students, please refer to the Find a Teacher page. If there is no-one available in your area at this time, you can contact teachers below to be put on a waiting list. Teachers for whom no email address is listed are not able to accept students for a waiting list.

Brenda Beckingham (Ottawa West) studied piano, organ and voice at Acadia U. and completed her degree, BA (Mus) at Ottawa and Carleton U. Brenda received her ARCT in organ performance with Toronto Conservatory. She studied Suzuki Music during the summer at the Kingston Institute with many wonderful teachers. Brenda has been with the Suzuki School in Ottawa for many years and continues to look forward to teaching this amazing piano method. Email

Diane Briscoe (Gatineau) studied piano and accompanied ballet in France before returning to Canada to complete a B.A. Hon. Music and a Masters in Music at the University of Ottawa. At this time, she also graduated with an A.R.C.T. Piano Teacher diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music. She has studied the Suzuki method and has taken various workshops with clinicians Bruce Anderson, Carol Bigler, Mary Craig Powell, Clayton Scott, and Valery Lloyd-Watts. Diane speaks English and French. For more information, please visit www.dianebriscoepiano.ca. Email

Jocelyne Brault (Bayshore) graduated with a Laureat II in Piano (ARCT equivalent) from L’Ecole Vincent D’Indy in Montreal, and then studied at McGill University. Jocelyne received a B.Sc. in Occupational Therapy from the University of Toronto and remains active with the committee work for the disabled. Jocelyne is the Suzuki mother of four children and is fluently bilingual.Email

Catherine Donkin (Ottawa Centre) received her early musical training on the piano with Willa Meyers in Grande Prairie, Alberta. She then went on the University of Alberta in Edmonton where she received her bachelor’s degree in performance, under the guidance of Stéphane Lemelin. Catherine then came to Ottawa to study with Andrew Tunis, completing her master’s degree in piano performance in 2000. As a student she was featured as soloist with both the University of Alberta and University of Ottawa Orchestras. In September of 2008 she and her piano duet partner Amelie Langlois travelled to Norway, and were semi-finalists in the Grieg International Piano Competition. Earlier in 2008 the duet placed first in the Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition. In November of 2007 they performed in a recital of finalists in New York City after placing second. Most recently the duet performed at Carnegie Hall after winning the competition again in 2010. Recently she gave masterclasses to students from Cambrian College and Laurentian University in Sudbury Ontario. Catherine is on the Associate Performance Faculty at Carleton University, and maintains a busy teaching studio in Ottawa.

Christine Donkin (Ottawa Centre) completed a Bachelor of Music Degree at the University of Alberta, and a Master of Music degree at the University of British Columbia. Her pedagogical piano and violin compositions are published by the Frederick Harris Music Company, and her choral and instrumental music has been performed across the continent and beyond. As well as composing and maintaining a private teaching studio in Ottawa, she is active as an adjudicator and clinician, and co-creator of Tonic Tutor, a web application for music teachers and students. For more information, please visit www.christinedonkin.com. Email

Kristine Gore (Hull) has completed and registered Suzuki Piano Teacher Training with Valery Lloyd-Watts, Carole Bigler, Mary Craig Powell, Bruce Anderson, Beverly Tucker Fest, Doris Harrel and Doris Koppelman. Her formal education consists of a BME, University of Wisconsin at River Falls, and MM, University of Wisconsin at Madison.Kristine is a pianist at The School of Dance in Ottawa, composer of the "Minibooks" Music Reading Series, and creator of "PianoFlash!", a music reading App for the iPad.

Nancy Pinck (Ottawa West) holds a B.A. in Psychology and has completed Suzuki training with Mary Craig Powell, Bruce Anderson, Valery Lloyd-Watts, and Carole Bigler. At an international Institute in Scotland, she was privileged to observe Dr. Shinichi Suzuki teach. Nancy is a Suzuki Mom of two sons who studied piano from age 4 to senior high school, and enjoys attending institutes with her students. Email

Carolyne Solberg (Orleans) has been successfully teaching classical piano based on the Suzuki methodology for over 20 years. Her love of teaching young children motivated her to become a Suzuki teacher after studying Japanese pedagogy at the University of Alberta with Haruko Kataoka who taught with Dr. Suzuki in Matsumoto. Carolyne has continued her quest for Suzuki excellence throughout the years by attending teacher-training workshops at Queens University, at the Studea Musica Institute in Quebec, and at Waterloo University. She has a BA in music from the University of Ottawa and studied at York University. Carolyne was also a professional musician for ten years, playing in a variety of popular bands in Western Canada. Carolyne now lives with her husband in Ottawa, Ontario where she teaches piano and music theory and conducts workshops for the Suzuki Piano Association of Ottawa/Gatineau of which she is also President. Email