Susan Jean Sturman
Professor of Cello
Cello, Double Bass
Susan Sturman is Professor of Cello and Double Bass at Del Mar College. Professor Sturman earned her Bachelor of Music from Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory of Music and her Master of Music from Northwestern University. Her principal teachers include Regina Mushabac and Alan Harris. Additionally she has studied orchestral cello playing with Stephen Geber and Richard Weiss of the Cleveland Orchestra, as well as with Carter Enyeart and Gordon Epperson.
Professor Sturman has performed extensively in Texas and nationally as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player. Some of the groups she has performed with include the Islander String Quartet, the Islander Chamber Players, the Aurora Piano Trio, the Chanticleer String Quartet, the Ohio Chamber Orchestra, the Cleveland Ballet Orchestra, and the Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra. She currently serves as principal cellist with the Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra.
Professor Sturman is a committed pedagogue. She is interested in the entire spectrum of cello teaching from the very beginning through advanced. Her studio at Del Mar College reflects that interest as it ranges from young Suzuki students to advanced college music majors. Professor Sturman is constantly exploring new ways to reach her students. She has studied Suzuki pedagogy with Carol Tarr and Susan Gagnon, the Margaret Rowell approach with Irene Sharp at the Irene Sharp Cello Seminar, and other teaching approaches at the Madison Summer Cello Institute. Additionally she has explored alternative styles of music at the Eugene Friesen String Institute and at the New Directions Cello Festival. Professor Sturman frequently gives master classes and clinics throughout South Texas. Previous to her teaching at Del Mar College she taught at the Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory, the Somerset Music Festival in Pennsylvania, and the III Campamento Musical Juvenil in Honduras. Professor Sturman has recently completed a volume of Bach Chorales arranged for two cellos which she uses with her students to work on intonation, phrasing, and position work.
In addition to her busy performing and teaching schedule, Professor Sturman serves as the String Division Chair for the Corpus Christi International Competition.