Neighborhoods united by empowered young musicians.
The Spark.
In March 2014, co-founders Elise Alaimo, Yuki Numata Resnick, and Virginia Barron played a Brahms quartet for elementary students at P.S. 45 on Buffalo’s West Side. The kids were transfixed. One little boy, peeking from under a desk, intuitively captured the moment: I think it means, 'I love you so much'. Swept up by the students' eager questions and demands to play, the founders asked themselves, When, indeed? By September, Buffalo String Works (BSW) was born.
Meet The Founders
Yuki Numata Resnick
Yuki Numata Resnick is a violinist, nonprofit leader, educator and professional problem-solver. She is passionate about her newfound home, Buffalo, NY, and ensuring that all youth in Buffalo have equitable access to music education.
Born in Vancouver, Canada, Yuki holds violin performance degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Michigan. She has also received a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Duke University.
As a violinist, Yuki has performed on stages from the Sydney Opera House to Carnegie Hall and is a passionate advocate for new music. A versatile musician, Yuki has also played with and recorded for bands such as The National, Beirut, Local Natives, Lisa Hannigan, and Aracade Fire. Most recently, Yuki has recorded for Taylor Swift and can be heard on Swift’s Folklore, Evermore, Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s version).
Co-Founder
Virginia Barron
For the past 35 years, Virginia has taught violin and viola to students of all ages and abilities. A native of Toronto, Virginia received her training at the University of Toronto and the Manhattan School of Music. An experienced orchestral player, Virginia has performed with the Chicago Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Lyric Opera Orchestra, and the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra. She has been a regular substitute player with the Chicago Symphony for 23 years, and has gone on six international tours with the orchestra, playing under such conductors as Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, Bernard Haitink and Riccardo Muti.
Virginia has served the Colorado College Summer Music Festival for the past 25 years as performer, teacher and Associate Director. She has taught viola, violin and chamber music at the University of Western Ontario, the University of Toronto and Roosevelt University in Chicago. In addition to her work at Buffalo String Works, Virginia can be heard frequently as a program host on Buffalo’s classical music radio station, 94.5 WNED. When not playing or teaching, she is an aspiring dressage rider (on her draft-cross horse Harvey), gardener and cook.
Co-Founder
Elise Alaimo specializes in putting instruments into the hands of children and seeing the happiness in their faces! In addition to teaching students of all ages, she leads workshops for teachers in the arts, and has created several arts enrichment organizations to fill needs for music in the community. Elise founded and directed Northern Lights Children's Multi-Arts Center and co-founded City Strings, a Buffalo youth string orchestra. In her teaching, she uses movement, puppetry, and storytelling to engage students' imaginations and provide a context for songs and musical concepts. She continues her lifelong study of music actively, having completed more than 200 hours in Dalcroze Eurhythmics and Music Learning Theory.
Elise most recently completed two piano courses at Juilliard and has maintained a private piano studio for more than 30 years. Permanently certified by the State of New York (Music, K-12), she received a BFA degree in Piano Performance and a Master’s degree in Music Education from the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. Elise served two years as co-director of Buffalo String Works after co-founding the program with Ginny and Yuki. She currently teaches Music at Buffalo Public School #84, Health Care Center for Children at Erie County Medical Center.
Co-Founder