Welcome to our Winter Workshop “Flogontz”!

String students of all levels and ages are invited to participate in an amazing weekend of music and fun.

It will be held on:

January 2nd to January 4th, 2025

located at:

Celebration United Methodist Church

9501 SW Archer Road

Gainesville, FL 32608

Keep Scrolling to learn more!

“Teaching music is not my main purpose. I want to make good citizens. If children hear fine music from the day of their birth and learn to play it, they develop sensitivity, discipline and endurance. They get a beautiful heart.”
— Shinichi Suzuki

Check out the fun!

  • masterclasses, orchestra, Group lessons, technique classes, Improv, Chamber music and more. Schedules can be structured to meet students individual needs

  • All available for Suzuki and Traditional Violin, Viola, Cello and Bass students

  • Come join in the fun, make new friends, and return home inspired, nurtured and ready to practice!

Meet the Faculty

Team Member 1

Linda Fiore

Linda Fiore, began violin lessons at age 5 with her mother Louise Wear, a Suzuki violin teacher. She earned a Bachelor of Music in violin performance at the Hartt College of Music in Hartford, CT and studied with violinist Raphael Bronstein in New York City. Later, she studied with Dr. Suzuki at the Talent Education Institute in Matsumoto, Japan for 18 months. Upon returning to the United States, she became the first teacher to teach Suzuki Violin Method for brain-injured and well children at the Institute for the Achievement of Human Potential in Philadelphia. In 1983, she and her husband Domenick founded DaCore Talent Education in Glenmore, PA where, for 14 years, she taught violin and directed her own workshops. Having returned to PA, Linda and Domenick are currently continuing the development of DaCore Talent Education Academy and Fiore Performing strings in the Lehigh Valley area. They continue to co-direct the Ogontz Suzuki Institute, a Summer Institute in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Linda has done extensive orchestra, chamber orchestra, and chamber music performing over the course of her career with groups such as the Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra and the Northeastern PA Philharmonic and the Pennsylvania Sinfonia. She trains teachers and students nationally and internationally and is the mother of two sons, Michael and Christopher.

Team Member 2

Domenick Fiore

Domenick Fiore, co-director, bassist, and orchestra director began studying the double bass with Wes Fisher in Reading, Pennsylvania, at the age of 14. He attended the Philadelphia Musical Academy where he studied with John Schaeffer, principal bass of the New York Philharmonic. After graduation, Domenick freelanced in the Philadelphia and New York City areas, performing in Broadway shows, The Brooklyn Orchestra, the National Ballet of Canada, and the Duke Ellington Pops Concerts. He earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree from West Chester University and began teaching in the Ephrata, Pennsylvania School District. Domenick has been director of orchestras and chamber music at the Mid-Southeast Suzuki Institute, Snowmass Suzuki Institute, Chicago Institute, Calgary Suzuki Institute, Central Pennsylvania Institute, and the Hartford Suzuki Institute, as well as clinician at the Bermuda, Puerto Rico, Hickory (North Carolina) and Augusta (Georgia) Suzuki workshops. He and Linda currently live in the Lehigh Valley where they have established a Suzuki studio and freelance throughout the region.

Team Member 3

Michael McLean

Michael McLean, based in Los Angeles, is an internationally acclaimed composer, violinist, and educator. He teaches at the Colburn Community School of Performing Arts, where he specializes in violin, composition, and ensemble direction. With a Bachelor of Music in violin performance from Northwestern University and a certificate from USC's Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television program, McLean is renowned for his orchestral, chamber, and film compositions. As the founder and president of Oak Cliff Publishing, he boasts a catalogue of over 100 original compositions. Notably, his violin and viola concertos have been recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios. McLean's expertise extends to the solo violin music of J.S. Bach, and he has been invited to lecture at prestigious conferences, including the Suzuki Association of the Americas and the Delay-Starling Symposium for Teaching Excellence at The Juilliard School.

Team Member 4

Sarah Smale

Sarah attended the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire where she received a BA with honors and continued her studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Her musical studies eventually took her to the Hartt School, where she studied with the Emerson String Quartet and obtained her MM in viola performance, also her Suzuki teacher training with Linda Fiore and Teri Einfeldt. Ms. Smale has won several awards, including the Birmingham Conservatoire string quartet scholarship and the Herbert Lumby Viola prize. She has worked with world-renowned artists such as Pierre Boulez, Yuri Bashmet, Nicholas Kramer, Steve Reich, Sir Simon Rattle and Valery Gergiev. Her experience includes numerous concerts and seminars with talented quartets and orchestras including: Takacs Quartet, European Chamber Opera, Russian National Ballet, and the Emerson Quartet, to which she was the assistant while in Hartford. Ms. Smale has also played with numerous choral societies as principal viola, recorded television work for the BBC, and recorded extensively for Radio Suisse. She also performs with L’Orchestre des Jardins Musicaux in Switzerland, where she is principal viola. Sarah is co-director of the White Mountain Suzuki Institute at Ogontz in New Hampshire and is in demand as a guest teacher at various workshops and summer institutes around the country.