Originally from New Zealand, Giselle Hillyer lives in Moscow where she is active in the region as a music teacher and performer.

She has had Suzuki training with James Hutchins, Edmund Sprunger, David Strom and Allen Lieb, as well as more than 20 years of experience teaching students of all ages and levels. As well as teaching in the Preparatory Division, Giselle is a lecturer in violin and viola at the University of Idaho. From 2006-2013, she taught at the University of Wisconsin River Falls, and before this she was an Associate Professor of Music at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. Her students have been competition medal winners and scholarship winners at national summer festivals.

Giselle has a Bachelor of Music from the University of Adelaide, a Master of Music from the New England Conservatory and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Kansas. Her violin teachers included Jan Tawroszewicz, Beryl Kimber, Michelle Auclair and Ben Sayevich.

A frequent performer, some of Giselle’s recent concerts include solo appearances with the Washington-Idaho Symphony, recitals in Moscow, Pullman and New Zealand and chamber music concerts with Washington State University and University of Idaho faculty. She is currently co-concertmaster of the Washington-Idaho Symphony Orchestra, and has performed with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Minnesota Opera Orchestra and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

A highlight of teaching for Giselle is the relationships with her students and their families that teaching in the Preparatory Division provides. She has been most pleased when she could help a student accomplish personal goals in his or her playing and life.