Meet the Founders

Founding Director and Master Teacher 

Kathleen Spring, actively taught Suzuki violin for over 40 years. Her training as a violinist and teacher included an undergraduate degree in music from Walla Walla University as well as violin study with Eduard Melkus at the Universität fur Musik and Darstellende Künst, in Vienna, Austria and with Alan Bodman at Washington State University. She received a M. Mus. in Violin performance with James Maurer from the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver.

Kathleen was honored with the American String Teachers Association’s, Outstanding Studio Teacher Award for Washington state, 1996. On three separate occasions her students have received the Emerson Scholarship to Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan. They have also won concerto competitions with Colorado Youth Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Young Sinfonia, the Aurora Symphony Orchestra, and Colorado Springs Philharmonic. Many were members of DYAO, CYSO, and DYS.

As a registered Teacher Trainer with the Suzuki Association of the Americas and the European Suzuki Association, Kathleen has taught workshops in the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia.  She taught Suzuki Violin Pedagogy in the long-term Suzuki Pedagogy Program at the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music until her retirement the spring of 2022. Currently living in Switzerland, she maintains a small studio and is involved with workshops, primarily in Europe.

Personal statement: I feel privileged to have spent so many years teaching wonderful children and young people. It was not without regret that I made the decision to retire. I view it as a shift in my life, not a cessation of musical activities. That Primavera Place, its structure, its teachers and its mission of high-quality Suzuki education will continue to nourish the community of students and parents in the school is personally very gratifying. Primavera Place will continue to grow and flourish in the coming years. I know that I will miss my students, but I feel very good about the wonderful young teachers they will have the opportunity to study with!