​Oregon ASTA

biographies

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Dr. M. Lisa Zweben, Acting President

Dr. M. Lisa Zweben is a professional violinist and violist teacher and conductor. A native of Washington D.C., Lisa earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Violin Performance from the State University of New York, College at Purchase. She also attended the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, where she earned a Master of Music in Violin Performance and Doctor of Musical Arts in Viola Performance. Principal teachers include Charles and Heidi Castleman. Lisa has been a member of many orchestras including the Royal Opera of Ghent, Belgium, the Naples Philharmonic in Naples, Florida, and the Miami City Ballet. Prior to moving to Portland in August 2010, Lisa lived in Virginia for fifteen years and was active both as a performer and teacher. In addition to maintaining a studio of private violin and viola students, she taught in public schools strings programs, after-school strings programs and youth orchestra programs. Lisa also served as an instructor on the faculty of Virginia Tech in Women’s Studies and as a violin teacher and chamber music coach at Washington and Lee University. She continues to teach and perform here in Portland and during summers she teaches at the Castleman Quartet Program.

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Lillian Manis, President-Elect

Widely recognized for her work as a Suzuki educator, Lillie Manis is currently completing her doctorate at Teachers College, Columbia University, where her research focuses on studio teachers' holistic strategies for cultivating expressive performance in young violinists. She is a faculty member at the Willamette Violin Academy, teaching students of all levels — from preschool-aged beginners to concerto-level high schoolers — in both individual lessons and groups. From 2009-2020, she was a faculty member at the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance, where she mentored graduate violin and viola pedagogy students, served as the Assistant Director of the Community Music Institute, and taught courses within the music education department. Members of her vibrant pre-college studio and her graduate student mentees have achieved noteworthy musical and professional success, including competition wins, full scholarships to major music schools and summer programs, and college teaching appointments. Active as a clinician, masterclass presenter, adjudicator and conference presenter at both the regional and national levels, she enjoys performing chamber music alongside some of the northwest's finest players, and recently completed a term of service on the editorial committee of the American String Teacher magazine. 

Lily Burton, Secretary

Lily Burton received degrees in violin performance from the University of Cincinnati and the Cleveland Institute of Music. She is a former member of the Atlanta Symphony, Honolulu Symphony, and San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. Her passion for teaching began in Corvallis, Oregon, where she was an Elementary Strings instructor in the public schools. Since moving to the Portland area in 2006, she has performed often with the Oregon Symphony and is concertmaster of both Portland Chamber Orchestra and the Portland Festival Symphony. She also plays chamber music with Waters Chamber Players. She remains a devoted teacher who thoroughly enjoys her studio of violin students.

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Sharon Eng, Treasurer

Violist Sharon Eng has performed worldwide with her trio, Classical Nuances (oboe, viola, piano) for more than 20 years on five continents. While studying for her bachelors and masters in viola performance at the Juilliard School in New York City, she played in the American Ballet Theatre and NYC Opera orchestras. Professionally, Dr. Eng toured China twice as co-principal viola of the Polish Sinfonietta, maintains a private violin studio in Portland, is on the strings faculty of Portland Parks and Recreation, co-founded Madrona Viola Duo and the Raphael Spiro String Quartet, and is president of the Oregon Viola Society. She freelances with many local ensembles, among them-- Oregon Coast Music Festival, Portland Opera, Portland Symphonic Choir, Newport, Rogue Valley, Corvallis and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras. Since 2003, Dr. Eng has served on the summer faculty of the Intermuse lnternational Music Institute and Festival (IIMIF) at Mount St. Mary's Univ. in Emmitsburg, Maryland (www.imif.us). Eng has been a member of ASTA for over 40 years and is currently treasurer of the Oregon Chapter of the American Strings Teacher Association. Her board qualifications include a doctorate (PhD) in international nonprofit management and 25 years as a development aid specialist managing USAID, Asian Development Bank and Australian AID projects ranging in grants of $25,000 to $8 million. Dr. Eng is currently adjunct associate professor on the Faculty of Business, Government and Law at the University of Canberra in Australia (www.sharoneng.com)

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Diane Chaplin, ASTACAP Chair & Webmaster

Diane Chaplin is a solo artist, chamber music cellist and nurturing music educator who lives Portland, Oregon. She tours around the U.S. as a featured member of the Portland Cello Project, and is often heard in solo and chamber music performances across the globe. She has a large class of private students, both in-person and online, and teachers at the Online Cello Academy, based in Norway. Diane has taught at Yale University, Bard College, Oberlin Conservatory, Linfield University, Lewis and Clark College, Swarthmore College and at the Castleman Quartet Program, and has given master classes in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, The Netherlands, Bosnia and Russia. As a member of the Colorado Quartet for twenty years, Diane performed in more than twenty countries and recorded several critically acclaimed albums. The Quartet was the first all-female string quartet to perform the complete quartets of Beethoven in both North America and Europe. Diane holds a BFA degree from the California Institute of the Arts and a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School. She received a Special Prize from the International Cello Competition in Viña del Mar, Chile, and a Certificate from the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. www.cellochaplin.com