DIRECTOR / VIOLIN FACULTY

John “Adidam” Littlejohn is a violinist and hip-hop artist. He is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory where he completed a Master of Music degree and a Graduate Performance Diploma in violin performance with Herbert Greenberg, after completing a Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Michigan. He has served as the concertmaster of the Newark Symphony and has been a member of numerous orchestras and ensembles including the Baltimore Opera Orchestra. As a soloist, he has performed with orchestras and given recitals throughout North America and Europe.

John has been a string pedagogue for over 20 years. While in graduate school he received specialized training in violin pedagogy and curriculum development from Rebecca Henry, co-chair of the Peabody Institute’s Preparatory String Department in Baltimore, Maryland. John aims to inspire, engage, and equip each student through a unique curriculum that combines the methodology of Shinichi Suzuki and Paul Roland, with teachings of Joseph Gingold, Ivan Galamian, Demetrius Dounis, Otakar Sevcik, Henry Schradiek, Jazz Improvisation, and some original tools developed through experience. His students have won competitions and have gone on study music in University.

“Adidam”, which is an acronym for “All Day I Dream About Music,” has released three full-length albums, “Violinistik”, “All Day I Dream About Music,” and his latest release, “Caterpillar Chronicles.” Tim Smith, music critic of the Baltimore Sun, called his music “distinctive” with “tightly rhymed lyrics,” and a VH1 entertainment journalist called his compositions “extremely original and magnificently arranged and played.”

He is a currently a member of Infinitus, a genre-bending, beatboxing string trio, performing education and community performances throughout North America and Asia. Infinitus recently completed a successful string of over 10 performances at the Lincoln Center in New York, NY.

As an active proponent of music outreach, John is the director of the Thrive City String Boot Camp, a tuition-free intensive retreat for string players. He is also on the faculty of the Vancouver Academy of Music and the Delta Community Music School.

VIOLA FACULTY

Anthony Cheung is an avid performer, educator, composer/arranger, and adjudicator. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where he completed a double major in Viola Performance and Movement Science (Kinesiology), and was a recipient of the Martin Luther King Jr. Spirit Award. He holds multiple personal training certifications, under the American Council on Exercise.

Anthony has won awards at the national and international level, including the ASTA, Chicago Viola Society, and Corpus Christi International Competitions. He has performed throughout North America and Europe, and has been broadcast on numerous radio and television stations, including: CBC, NPR, CTV, and OMNI. Previous teachers include Kurt Sassmanshaus, Yizhak Schotten, and Dave Harding.

As a teacher of prize-winning students, Anthony is passionate about educating and can be found adjudicating competitions and running various clinics, coachings, lessons, masterclasses, and technique classes. He is on faculty at the Vancouver Academy of Music.

Anthony is a zealous advocate for high-quality outreach and can be frequently seen facilitating and performing at fundraisers, nursing homes/senior centres, hospices/hospitals, inner-city schools, and juvenile detention centres.

He is blessed, beyond measure, to be one of the founding members of the ground-breaking, genre-blurring, innovative string trio, Infinitus.

CELLO FACULTY

Alexander Cheung, cello, is gaining a reputation as a compassionate, innovative, and inspiring musician of his generation.  Alexander graduated from the University of Michigan with a double major in Cello Performance and Movement Science (Kinesiology).  He is also a certified personal trainer under the American Council on Exercise.

Principal cello teachers include Wayne Smith, Anthony Elliott, and Eric Wilson.  Alexander has been awarded numerous accolades throughout his musical journey, competing at the national and international level.  While a student at the University of Michigan, Alexander was a recipient of the Martin Luther King Spirit Award, given “in recognition of individuals whose leadership and service exemplify the spirit of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”  His work has been broadcast by NPR, CBC Radio One and Two, and on television.

Alexander is one of the founding members of the dynamic string trio, Infinitus.  Along with his other colleagues, he arranges, composes, and performs original works, as well as fresh takes on classic compositions.  Prior administrative experience includes co-directorship of the Vancouver Chamber Players, an organization that presents lesser-known classical works to general audiences and care centres for seniors.

On the teaching side, Alexander integrates his kinesiology training into musical concepts that provide a holistic perspective to learning a string instrument.  Utilizing the approach that music is a sport, lessons keep the student engaged while building skills that extend beyond the classroom.  Current and former students have competed and are prizewinners in local and provincial events.  In addition to adjudication duties throughout the year, Alexander holds a faculty position at the Vancouver Academy of Music.

CELLO FACULTY

Janelle has earned multiple degrees in music: a Bachelor of Music in cello performance degree at Shenandoah Conservatory of Shenandoah University, a Master of Music in String Pedagogy and Literature and a Doctor of Musical Arts in cello performance at the University of Texas at Austin where she served as Phyllis Young’s teaching assistant and had extensive pedagogical training. During her graduate studies she also received Suzuki training in both cello and violin. Her doctoral treatise is entitled “The Lutheran Hymn ‘Ein’ feste Burg’ in Claude Debussy’s Cello Sonata (1915): Motivic Variation and Transformation” and in it she overturns existing beliefs regarding the sonata, showing instead that Debussy depicts the battles between French and German armies during World War I through dichotomies of motives, styles and tonal areas. Prof. Young also had Janelle assist her at the International String Workshops both in Biarritz, France, and Graz, Austria.

Janelle is an accomplished teacher whose students frequently win awards and honours at festivals, pass Royal Conservatory of Music exams with high honours and are often selected as principal chairs of the youth orchestras in which they participate. Her students have also been accepted into cello performance programs on scholarship at various universities and have now become professional cellists. In Austin, TX, Janelle held various teaching positions at the University of Texas String Project, the Orpheus Academy and the Austin Chamber Music Center and co-founded the Northwest Hills Chamber Music Festival. Now in Vancouver, she runs a successful home studio with her husband, Andrew Luchkow.

Janelle has also enjoyed conducting various ensembles. At the present time she is the musical director of the Newbie Adult Chamber Orchestra (NACHO), a beginner-to-intermediate symphony orchestra that meets at the St. James Community Square and was featured on the CBC radio podcast North by Northwest with Cheryl MacKay. In the past she has conducted the senior orchestra at St. Jude Catholic School in Vancouver and the Advanced Orchestra at the University of Texas String Project.

In addition to teaching cello and conducting, Janelle is often called upon to teach sectionals and master classes as well as adjudicate at various festivals and institutions including Thrive City String Boot Camp, the Fine Arts Byng Arts Mini Program, the Association of Christian Schools International Solo and Ensemble Festivals, the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Langley School of Music, the Richmond Delta Youth Orchestra, the Vancouver Academy of Music and the Chancellor Music Festival at St. Thomas More Collegiate, among others. In 2009, she presented a lecture for the British Columbia Music Educators’ Association conference entitled “Off to a Good Start: Encouraging Correct Technique in the Beginning School Orchestra”. She is a member of the British Columbia Registered Music Teachers’ Association.

As a performer, Janelle was a member of the Blue Ridge String Quartet which toured Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic, and in Austin performed as a chamber and orchestral musician at the International Festival-Institute at Round Top (Texas), played with Mid-Texas Symphony and Brazos Symphony and was a weekly soloist at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Austin. Since moving to Vancouver, Janelle has focused more on building a teaching studio and raising her two children but has still found time to perform with such groups as Orchestra Armonia, Sentio Dance Company, and Samuel Sixto. You can see her “five seconds of fame” towards the end of the Hallmark movie Miss Matched. She also contracts chamber music for weddings and other events.

VIOLIN/VIOLA FACULTY

After moving to Vancouver, Manti Poon furthered his studies in viola performance with Professor David Harding at the University of British Columbia on full scholarship. Since then he has become a much sought-after musician in British Columbia as a soloist, orchestral musician and chamber music collaborator.

Apart from holding the position of principal violist with the Vancouver Island Symphony Orchestra, he also performed with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Opera Orchestra and the CBC Vancouver Orchestra, to name a few. Mr. Poon was a member of the Vancouver String Quartet and had also collaborated with the members of the Pacific Rim String Quartet, the Rose Gellert String Quartet, the Koerner String Quartet, the Borealis String Quartet, the Purcell String Quartet and the Emerson String Quartet.

Mr. Poon had served on faculty at the Douglas College, the Kwantlen Polytechnic University, the Vancouver Academy of Music and the VSO School of Music. He also coaches violin and viola at West Point Grey Academy. Mr Poon is the associate conductor with the Intermediate Strings of the Richmond Delta Youth Orchestra. He coached and conducted the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Surrey Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Academy Symphony Orchestra and the Coquitlam Youth Orchestra. He was the Chamber Music Director at the Surrey Youth Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Poon was also on faculty at UBC String Music Camp, Courtney Youth Music Camp, VAM Sea to Sky Music Camp, Quiring Chamber Music Camp and MMM Music Camp in Washington State.

Mr. Poon performs on fine instruments by Marino Capicchioni and a rare Sartory viola bow on loan to him by Poesis Fine Instruments & Bows.