Mrs. Gabriela Potter Peoples

Gabriela Potter is a professional violinist, violist, and registered Suzuki violin instructor residing in North Carolina. Ms. Potter is registered for Violin Books 1-10 with the Suzuki Association of the Americas and has completed intensive long-term teacher training with renowned Suzuki Pedagogue Joanne Bath. She completed Suzuki Early Childhood Education Unit 1 teacher training with Danette Schuh, Revisiting Suzuki Violin Book 1 teacher training with James Hutchins, and Music Mind Games Unit 1 teacher certification with Kristen Tourville.

At the age of ten, Gabriela began studying the violin with Sandra Hunt in her home town of Chesapeake, Virginia. She continued her studies with Dora Marshall Mullins of Virginia Beach and was accepted into the prestigious Governor’s School for the Arts in Norfolk, which she attended for her four years of high school. As a member of the Virginia Beach Chamber Orchestra and the Bay Youth Orchestras of Virginia, she maintained an active performance schedule throughout south eastern Virginia.

Gabriela received her Bachelor of Music degree in Performance, Magna Cum Laude, from East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, where she studied violin and viola with Jorge Richter and Ara Gregorian. During this time, she received chamber music coachings from Hye-Jin Kim, Emanuel Gruber, and Melissa Reardon, and completed her Suzuki Pedagogy studies with Joanne Bath. She has performed onstage with guest artists such as Michael Kannon, Maria Lambros, Keiko Sekino, Bonnie Thron, Kristopher Tong, and Xiao-Dong Wang. She has been selected to attend the Eastern Music Festival on scholarship, and has participated in the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival’s Next Generation and the Next Gen on the Road concert tours. She has performed with the Long Bay Symphony Orchestra (Myrtle Beach, SC), Tar River Symphony Orchestra (Rocky Mount), Civic Theater Pit Orchestra (New Bern), City Ballet Orchestra (Wilmington), Beaufort County Orchestra (Washington), Pitt Community College Orchestra (Greenville), ECU Summer Chamber Music Institute Faculty ensemble (Greenville), North Carolina Suzuki Institute Faculty ensemble (Greenville), Greenville Civic Ballet Orchestra, Greenville Choral Society Orchestra, and the East Carolina University Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Potter has taught for Suzuki outreach programs at public schools in Pitt and Beaufort counties, and has helped coach the Eastern Youth Symphony Orchestra and the NC Suzuki Institute student orchestras. She has taught at the Third Street Education Center, Wahl-Coates Elementary School, Bath Elementary School, the Wright School of Music, Greene County Intermediate School, Arendell Parrott Academy, the ECU Summer Chamber Music Institute, the North Carolina Suzuki Institute, and the Meredith College Community School of Music. In 2017, she was awarded the Schubert Fellowship at the West Side String School in Greenville, where she maintained a private studio for two years.

Ms. Potter attended the 2014 Suzuki Association of the Americas’ Conference in Minneapolis, and has worked as a Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival Associate as an Administrative Support Associate in the College of Fine Arts and Communication at East Carolina University. She currently holds the position of Secretary of the North Carolina Suzuki Association, and was an active member of the Eastern North Carolina Suzuki Association from 2012-2019. 

Gabriela enjoys listening to audiobooks, camping in the state’s national forests, and attending workouts at Burn Boot Camp. As of 2019, she is proud to be a Durham resident, and looks forward to a long career in the Bull City.