Meredith Blecha-Wells

Praised for her "beautifully full and lyrically strong tone" by Gramophone Magazine, Meredith Blecha-Wells is a sought-after performer and instructor. She has played throughout much of the United States, Europe, Australia, South America, and Asia.

As a recording artist, Dr. Blecha-Wells has released several CDs spanning the solo, chamber music, and orchestral space. Her solo album was described as "technically dazzling" (the Whole Note), and she was praised for her "lyrical warmth and her powerful athleticism" (Classical Music Discoveries). Dr. Blecha-Wells recordings can be found on labels including Naxos, Navona, and Onyx Lane Productions and broadcast on numerous radio stations such as WFMT (Chicago, Illinois), WMBR (Cambridge, Massachusettes), KALX (Berkley, California), WRUV (Burlington, Vermont), WCNY (Syracuse, New York), KUCO (Edmond, Oklahoma), among others.

Dr. Blecha-Wells previously served as professor of cello at Oklahoma State University, where she was awarded the College of Arts and Sciences Junior Faculty Award for Scholarly Excellence and the First Lady of OSU Distinguished Music Professor award. A passionate pedagogue, Dr. Blecha-Wells is committed to raising the efficiency and joy of learning. Her students have gone on to remarkable programs, including the Juilliard School, the New England Conservatory, the Eastman School of Music, Rice University, the University of Michigan, the Manhattan School of Music, the San Francisco Conservatory, Northwestern University, Indiana University, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the University of Southern California, DePaul University, and the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. Additionally, her students have won several competitions, including the Classics Alive Artists, Enkor International Competition, American Protégé Competition, Ad Astra String Competition, MTNA, and Hyechka String Competition. Dr. Blecha-Wells students have also been selected to participate in prestigious festivals, including the National Youth Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra 2, Brevard Music Festival, Eastern Music Festival, Green Mountain Music Festival, and several others.

Dr. Blecha-Wells received a bachelor's and master's in Cello Performance from Indiana University, where she studied under Janos Starker and Helga Winold. She also holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music, where she served as the teaching assistant to Distinguished Professor Alan Harris. Additional studies include festival participation at the Taos School of Music, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Spoleto Festival USA, the National Repertory Orchestra, and the Bowdoin International Music Festival.

Barbara Thiem is an internationally acclaimed cellist who combines teaching cello and coaching chamber music with her active schedule of solo, concerto, and chamber music performances in Europe and the United States. She is a founding member of the Mendelssohn Trio which regularly performs throughout the United States, as well as Austria, Switzerland and Germany including appearances at the International Mendelssohn Festival in Berlin. Her prolific solo performance schedule includes 20-30 concerts each year across Europe, the U.S., Canada, and South America, as well as many guest artist appearances at the International Draeseke Conference in Coburg, Germany.

In addition to concertizing, Thiem has recorded for many radio stations and has produced several CDs, among them a set of Bach Suites for solo cello, Complete Works for Cello and Piano by Felix Draeseke with pianist Wolfgang Mueller-Steinbach, Works for Cello and Organ with organist Robert Cavarra, and cello/bass duets with Gary Karr. She has published translations of Gerhard Mantel's Cello Technique, and Ernst Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s From New York to San Francisco, both with Indiana University Press, as well as a number of articles on good postural and practicing habits, which have appeared in the American String Teacher Association Journal and the American Suzuki Journal.

As an active clinician, lecturer, and adjudicator, Thiem has been a guest at the Encontro Orquestra de Cordas da UnB in Brazil, the Pan American Cello Festival in Texas, and at prominent national association conferences, including the Music Teachers National Association, the American Musicological Society, and the American String Teachers Association, as well as various state music teacher’s conferences and contests.

Barbara Thiem taught and performed within the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance at Colorado State University until her retirement in 2022 where she taught cello and chamber music, led a three-semester course in cello pedagogy, and served on  the faculty for CSU’s Pre-College Chamber Music Program. The Mendelssohn Trio is in residence at the University, and Thiem has also participated in research within CSU’s renowned music therapy area. Previous teaching appointments include the University of Wyoming, Indiana University, Lamont School of Music, University of Colorado, University of Texas, and Iowa State University. She has often administered the International Summer Academy of Schloss Ort, Austria.

Barbara Thiem holds a Masters degree in Cello Performance from Indiana University where she was a Graduate Teaching Assistant to Janos Starker and was awarded the coveted Performer’s Certificate, as well as degrees from Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Cologne, Germany where she studied with avant-garde cellist Siegfried Palm.

Barbara Thiem is a ‘Best Teacher’ award-winner at Colorado State University, and a ‘Teacher of the Year,’ nominee.

Helga Winold, DMA, worked as Professor of Music at Indiana University, Jacobs School of Music, teaching cello lessons, cello literature, cello pedagogy and chamber music from 1969.  In 2008 she was honored at Indiana University with the President's Award for Distinguished Teaching and retired as Professor Emeritus.  Many of her students have gone on to significant performing and teaching positions.

Presently retired in Tampa, Florida, she still maintains a busy schedule of teaching at the University of Tampa, master classes, solo recitals, and chamber music recitals.  She is the author of a beginning method for cello entitled Cellocity, which is free and available on winoldsmusic.com.  A recording of her master class “Cellocity, Fundamentals of Cello Playing with Helga Winold”, is also freely available on Youtube.

Learn more about Helga’s pedagogical developments here: https://www.winoldsmusic.com/cellocity

Heather Hadley is in demand as a teacher and workshop clinician across the country, and
maintains a thriving studio of young cellists of all levels. As a Suzuki Association of the Americas
registered Teacher Trainer, she conducts the cello long-term training program at the University
of Denver’s Lamont School of Music and is co-director of Lamont Suzuki Strings, the partnered
program for Suzuki students. She has also been a member of the faculty of Boulder Suzuki
Strings since 2003. Heather contributed to the SAA’s Parents as Partners video series and the
American Suzuki Journal, and served on the board of the Suzuki Association of Colorado. She
holds degrees from Lawrence University and the University of Colorado at Boulder, and a Suzuki
Certificate from the University of Denver. Heather is passionate about helping all students and
families experience the full benefits of a Suzuki education.