Our Founder
Dorisiya Yosifova: Founder, Artistic Director & Violin Faculty
Born in Gabrovo, Bulgaria, Dorisiya Yosifova is a San Francisco based Violinist and Violin/Viola instructor. Her most outstanding performances include appearances with Idyllwild Arts Academy Orchestra, Jupiter Quartet at Oberlin Conservatory, performing at Carnegie Hall as part of Oberlin Orchestra, as well as at Le Poisson Rouge as part of the Next Festival for Emerging Artists. She has held concertmaster positions with Idyllwild Arts Academy Orchestra, Eastern Music Festival Orchestras, and Round Top Orchestra. Throughout her career so far, Dorisiya has won various awards and competitions, including the Boston Conservatory at Berklee’s Merit Scholarship and Marrowstone Music Festivals’ String Fellowship Award, among others. In 2018, Dorisiya won a First Prize in the international competition “Best Mozart Performance” and a Second Prize in “The Music of America” from the “Great Composers Competition” series.
Dorisiya enjoys a vivid career as a performer and a teacher. She can be found concertizing regularly as a solo, chamber music, and orchestra musician at local venues, such as the Herbst Theater and Old First Church in San Francisco, among others. Dorisiya is currently the Principal Second Violinist of the Golden Gate Symphony Orchestra and plays as Section Violinist in the Rogue Valley Symphony in OR. In addition to her performing, Dorisiya is an enthusiastic and dedicated violin/viola pedagogue. Dorisiya is currently on the Violin Faculty at the Community School of Music and Arts and Radayeva Music Studio. In the past, she also taught at MidPeninsula Music Academy, Myriad Music School and the New Mozart School of Music on the Peninsula. She is also the Founder and Artistic Director of the Maud Powell String Institute in Vallejo, CA, which was originally started in Medford, MA in 2020.
Dorisiya’s teaching background is extensive. In addition to undergoing string pedagogy training during her graduate school years, Dorisiya also completed the “Teaching the Violin to Children” workshop at the String Academy of Wisconsin, where she closely observed the renowned string pedagogues Mimi Zweig (Indiana University) and Darcy Drexler (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee). Shortly after graduating from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, she was also Professor Rictor Noren’s personal Teaching Assistant, who is one of Dorisiya’s main inspirations to pursue a career in teaching. Dorisiya’s focus in her teaching is high level training from an early age by using the best educational methods with a proven track record for excellence. Dorisiya strongly believes that developing a solid technical foundation is crucial in every child’s development and plays a major role in their ability to play the instrument, as well as their confidence. Having strong fundamentals can then enable each student to grow musically and discover their own voice. Dorisiya’s teaching style incorporates elements of both the Suzuki and Traditional methods, allowing for flexibility to fill each student’s individual needs. Dorisiya’s extensive background in teaching, her high standards and her keen eye for detail make her a confident and thorough pedagogue with an outstanding knowledge of her craft and a track record for success. Dorisiya’s students regularly participate in performances, auditions, juries, competitions, exams, such as ABRSM, among others.
Dorisiya holds a Master of Music degree from Boston Conservatory at Berklee (‘2017) and a Bachelor’s of Music from Oberlin Conservatory (‘2015). Her primary teachers include Gregory Fulkerson, Marilyn McDonald and Rictor Noren.
Past Faculty Highlights:
Nicole Tetreault: Administrative Intern & Teaching Assistant
Nicole Tetreault is a Massachusetts-based arts administrator and musician. Her passion for performing arts emerged early in her life and has led to a life full of music. Nicole serves as Adjunct Music Director at St. Paul’s Episcpal Church in Wickford, RI and has worked with the Chorus of Westerly, The Bridge Sound and Stage, and Rock-Paper-Scissors Children’s Fund. Nicole is a leader in performance, singing and playing in various ensembles, including her high school pit orchestra for their musical theatre performances, state festivals like SEMSBA and Districts, Wheaton College Chorale, Great Woods Symphony Orchestra, Southeastern Massachusetts Wind Symphony, World Music Ensemble and several chamber music ensembles. She is also co-founder of a barbershop quartet at Wheaton College, which she co-directed until her graduation. Nicole is also enthusiastic about teaching, and has directed some of her own chamber groups, as well as teaching abroad and some private students. Her experiences abroad in both Vietnam and Spain helped her to confirm that music can be much more than a creative space for personal expression and enjoyment – it is also a vehicle for communication and cultural connection.
Nicole studied Music and Hispanic Studies at Wheaton College (MA), earning her Bachelor’s degree. Some of her academic achievements include MayFellows membership, Magna Cum Laude distinction, Phi Beta Kappa Society membership, and Sigma Delta Pi membership.
Elias Miller Cello Faculty & Staff Accompanist
Music director of the Apollo Ensemble of Boston since 2018, Elias Miller has established a reputation as one of Boston’s leading young conductors and orchestra builders. Miller holds degrees from Harvard (A.B. in Music, summa cum laude) and the University of Michigan (M.M. in Orchestral Conducting) and is currently pursuing his postgraduate studies with Prof. Mark Stringer at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna.
In addition to his work with the Apollo Ensemble, Miller led a series of critically acclaimed opera and oratorio performances as the conductor of the Harvard Early Music Society, conducted concerts with the Chromos Collaborative Orchestra, Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra Chamber Players, Harvard College Opera, and more, led independent opera productions in both Cambridge and Ann Arbor, and appeared as a guest conductor with the Ann Arbor Camerata and the Westin Wind Quintet & Friends. In 2020, Miller served as the Conducting Fellow at Opera Saratoga and as an Assistant with the Albany Symphony. In Fall 2021, he will appear with the Hudson Festival Orchestra – a new professional orchestra in Upstate New York – to conduct their inaugural concert.
An accomplished pianist and cellist, Miller briefly pursued a degree in cello performance at the New England Conservatory of Music before transferring to Harvard. He has attended prestigious music festivals including the Aspen Music Festival and School and the Bowdoin International Music Festival, has played in masterclasses for famous artists such as Ralph Kirshbaum, Pamela Frank, Menahem Pressler, and George Benjamin, and has performed in recitals and concerts across the U.S. Miller remains an active teacher of both piano and cello students, and is so excited to serve as a pedagogue at the Maud Powell String Institute this summer.
Greta Rubinstein: Volunteer
Greta Rubenstein began studying violin at age five, and since then she’s played in orchestras and chamber ensembles, at the MICCA (Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductors Association) Competition, in a fiddling group, at solo recitals, and in airport waiting areas, among other venues. Her teachers have included Gabriel Solomon and MaeLynn Arnold, her violin’s name is Violet, and some of her musical inspirations are Min Kym, Hilary Hahn, and her Aunt Eliza, a violinist and conductor. When she’s not practicing, Greta enjoys science, singing in the Boston Childrens Chorus, Lewis Carroll, volunteering, and spending time with her dog (Arlo, an Australian Shepherd) and cat (Sylvie, a rescue). She’s an honors student in the Medford Public Schools, President of her school’s National Junior Honor Society, and an honorable mention winner in NPR’s 2021 Student Podcast Challenge.
Maud Powell String Institute 