Susan Gagnon

Susan Gagnon is a registered teacher trainer with the Suzuki Association of the Americas, giving courses in Canada and the USA. She is also on faculty of The Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists at The Royal Conservatory, teaching cellists and coaching chamber music.

Ms. Gagnon holds a Bachelor of Music degree with Honours in Performance from the University of Western Ontario.  She studied with Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi and attended master classes at the Banff School of Fine Arts with Janos Starker and Aldo Parisot.

Susan teaches all levels and ages. She is in demand as a cello workshop and master class presenter. She is a member of the Canadian Music Festival Adjudicators' Association and has adjudicated festivals across Canada.

Susan has been playing with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra from 1983-2019. She enjoys performing chamber music and has been a member of String Quartet Panache, the Toronto Arts Trio, and the Chrysalis Piano Quartet.

Several of the quartets that Susan has coached have won Provincial Finals, CMC finals and been awarded the SOCMI scholarship to participate in events at the Banff International String Quartet Competition. Susan has been a regular faculty member at Music at Port Milford, an international summer music camp that teaches chamber music to teens, since 1995.  

Susan Gagnon has been an examiner for the RCM since 1995, compiled the 1995, 2007 and 2013 Cello Syllabi as well as the 2013 repertoire books for the Royal Conservatory Music Development Program.  Ms. Gagnon is also a Certified Teacher with the RCM Teacher Certification program.

She has been on the faculty at Suzuki Institutes across Canada and throughout the US, teaching both teachers and students. Susan was Chamber Music coordinator for the 2014 Suzuki Association of the Americas Bi-annual conference.  She was formerly the Chair of the Suzuki Association of Ontario. Susan is also one of the coordinators of the RCM Suzuki program.