Biography

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, Music Mind Games Unit 1 teacher certification with Kristen Tourville, and Revisiting Suzuki Violin Book 1 teacher training with James Hutchins.

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 southeastern 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 Durham Symphony Orchestra, Raleigh Symphony Orchestra, 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), Greenville Civic Ballet Orchestra, Greenville Choral Society Orchestra, and the East Carolina University Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Potter has taught Suzuki outreach programs at public schools in Pitt, Beaufort, and Durham counties, and has helped coach the Eastern Youth Symphony Orchestra and the NC Suzuki Institute student orchestras. She has taught at the Wright School of Music, Third Street Academy, Bath Elementary School, Greene County Intermediate School, Arendell Parrott Academy, ECU Summer Chamber Music Institute, 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 and 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 enjoys tending to her garden at her home in Durham, camping with her husband and friends in state parks and forests, attending workouts at Burn Boot Camp, and teaching her students ages 3-70 at the High Strung School of Music near Duke’s East Campus.