Elaine Friedlander, NCTM

Elaine Friedlander received her Bachelors Degree in both Performance and Music Education from the Philadelphia Musical Academy, and holds a Masters in Music Performance from West Chester University. She has studied with Anthony Mecoli, Clement Petrillo and Richard Veleta. She has also done additional training with Valerie Lloyd Watts and Carol Bigler at the Suzuki Institute in Kingston Ontario and the Taubman summer institute where she worked with Maria del Pico Taylor. While at WCU she participated in a master class with Rebecca Penneys. 

Mrs. Friedlander has been teaching piano since 1966. Since she also has classroom experience teaching music she brings her education background to her private lessons.   Mrs. Friedlander has a busy private piano teaching studio in West Chester and many of her students have been competition prize winners. A member of the Music Teachers National Association, Mrs. Friedlander has been an adjudicator for piano competitions and music festivals. She is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda, the national musical honor society. In addition, she is the Music Coordinator at the Unitarian Fellowship of West Chester. She is currently the chair person for conferences of the Pennsylvania Music Teachers Association.  Through the MTNA she holds national certification for teaching piano. She also teaches music theory as part of the regular lessons and in classes for more advanced theory leading to college preparation.

For fifteen years Mrs. Friedlander played in the Brandywine Piano Duo with Joanne Crystle. They performed programs of piano duet music throughout the Delaware Valley. She has also been a member of the Fellowship Trio consisting of violin cello and piano. More recently she has been responsible for benefit concerts at the Unitarian Fellowship which have included piano ensemble performances for one piano four hands and two pianos. This has included works for up to eight hands. 

Donald Bristol, Piano

Don received his Bachelor’s Degree (piano performance) in 2002 and Master’s Degree (piano pedagogy) in 2004 from West Chester University, where he studied with Dr. Richard Veleta.  At WCU, he was an active accompanist and prize winner and he performed in various collaborative ensemble settings with students and faculty, most special of those being a piano trio that participated at several music festivals in the Delaware Valley and Lancaster areas and performed throughout Delaware and Pennsylvania as part of Delaware Classical Showcase. Currently, Don is active in collaborative ensembles, working with fellow musicians on concert series in Schuylkill and Chester Counties, while still accompanying local musicians in various settings.  He is also regularly sought as an adjudicator for local music teachers’ association piano festivals. 

Don has been a teacher at the Friedlander Piano Studio since 2000. He is also as an estate administration paralegal at MacElree Harvey, Ltd. in West Chester.  He resides in Exton.

Dana Wiederhold, Violin

Dana Weiderhold received her B.M in violin performance in 2004 from West Chester University, PA and her M.M. from the University of Maryland, College Park, MD in 2008.  Ms. Weiderhold was concertmaster of the West Chester University Symphony Orchestra in addition to the WCU Chamber Orchestra and has appeared as a featured soloist with both ensembles as well as the Newark Symphony Orchestra.  While at Maryland, she served as a principal violinist in the orchestra and was an active participant in the chamber music program.  In May of 2008, Dana represented the university as a music ambassador to Venezuela providing private lessons and orchestral coaching to the students of “El Sistema”. 

Dana has previously performed with the Harrisburg Opera Association and Schuylkill Symphony Orchestra and currently substitutes with the Annapolis, Pottstown, and Allentown Symphonies.  Dana periodically serves as principal violinist with the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra and is also an avid chamber musician with the Annapolis Chamber Players performing throughout Pennsylvania and Maryland.   Her teachers have included Sylvia Ahramjian, Simon Maurer, Michael Jamanis, James Stern, and Arnold Steinhardt and she has performed in masterclasses for Judith Ingolffsohn, Andrew Manze, the Guarneri String Quartet, the Colorado String Quartet, and the Lark String Quartet.

Ms. Weiderhold has been teaching students of all ages and levels for nearly a decade having been a faculty member of Darlington Fine Arts Center, The Music Centre, Blue Mountain Academy, and Olenka School of Music in Maryland.  She has instructed young student group classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of Music in Lancaster and coaches at the Bear Crossing Chamber Music String Camp each summer. 

Dana is aspiring to create more opportunities for audiences to attend professional solo and chamber music performances throughout Chester County.  In collaboration with the Friedlander Piano Studio in the heart of West Chester, she is also working to establish a successful violin/viola teaching studio.  Dana aims to present her students with the opportunity to learn through private instruction, coupled with a shared learning experience between her own stu$ents and the students of the piano studio.  This collaborative effort will greatly enhance each student’s individual ability and help develop an enthusiasm to learn their instrument in this exciting and challenging environment.