Basel and Briana Sarweh are professional musicians and seasoned instructors. Their students range from those who want to learn for fun to pursuing degrees in music.
A graduate of UT Austin's school of music, Briana brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to violin and viola students. Her lively and attractive style of teaching has helped hundreds of students achieve their goals quickly and effectively.
Briana completed her Bachelors degree in Violin Performance with honors at the University of Texas at Austin under the instruction of Professor Eugene Gratovich of the University of Boston.
Since the age of 15, she has taught children and adults by the Suzuki method with traditional songs as well as fiddle music.
Briana started learning the violin at the age of 5 and was homeschooled while continuing to study orchestral performance starting at the age of 10 in the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra Symphony till graduation.
Along with her sister Olivia Page, they performed numerous times for nursing homes, churches, Main Street Showcases, for the local news channel in Sherman Texas, school assemblies, Rotary Club, Galveston Summer Wednesday Concert Series, Audie Murphy VA Hospital and for the Soldiers hospitalized at Brook Army Medical Center.
In high school Briana performed a European symphony tour covering Czeckslovakia, Poland, and Germany. At the age of 15, she was also part of the Austin College Sherman Symphony in North Texas.
Her music lessons were studied with Bulgarian violinist Vesselin Demirev at Southern Methodist University.
Upon moving to San Antonio Briana was a substitute violinist for the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra before attending College. Also, during her final year in High School, she taught private lessons for the Crystal C Christian Conservatory for Home schoolers in San Antonio.
In 2007, Briana was Concert Master (first chair) in the All Region Orchestra and 3rd in the State of Texas All-State Orchestra. At the San Antonio Convention Center, Briana was chosen to receive a master class with violinist Pinchas Zukermann. Also, in 2007 she was selected to perform in in the Cactus Pear Chamber Music Festival of San Antonio in the first violin section. In the summer of 2007, she performed in the New York University Chamber Music Festival and gave her first recital in New York.
At the University of Texas, Briana gave two solo performances in the Jessen Recital Hall in 2010 and 2011, and performed a year with a piano trio focusing on classical chamber music. In 2010, She also received a master class with William Preucil, Concert Master of the Cleveland Orchestra. This summer Briana was invited to perform solo and chamber works at the International Chamber Music Festival in Castanuelvo di Garfagnana, Italy under the guidance of Efrem Briskin.
Before starting her private teaching studio with her husband, Briana started a violin group class at Grace Christian School. She also taught private violin and music theory classes at the Bulverde Academy of Music and the San Antonio School of Performing Arts,
Briana has also been a featured soloist with the San Antonio Chamber choir and extensively performs throughout the San Antonio area.
Currently, Briana enjoys playing music with her husband Basel, performing locally, teaching, and taking care of her sons Johnny and Tony.
Basel Sarweh began playing the cello at the age of 7. He comes from a long line of musicians tracing its roots to ancient Armenia. His father, John, is a world-renowned zither player in the Middle-Eastern tradition.
As a youth, he often performed both classical and middle-eastern music in the Windsor/Detroit area. At 13, he was appointed principal cellist of the International Youth Symphony, and at 15 principal cellist of the Detroit Civic Symphony. During this time, Basel won the Windsor Symphony Young Artist competition and performed as soloist with the Orchestra. At 16, he won a Symphony audition and became the youngest member of the Windsor Symphony Orchestra. Basel also received the highest honors in the Ontario Regional Music Competition. He was honored to perform with legendary violinist Gordon Staples in Detroit, MI, in a string quartet accompanied by his wife, Beatriz and son, Gregory.
At 18, Basel won a full scholarship in Cello Performance at Wayne State University in Detroit. His teacher was Richard Piippo, a student of Pierre Fournier. Other teachers included Mario DiFiore, John Thurman, Italo Babini, and Hans-Jorgen Jensen. Following this, he studied with the late Eleanor Schoenfeld at USC in Los Angeles and benefited from the wealth of knowledge of many of its professors, including Master Classes with world famous cellist, Lynn Harrell.
Mr. Sarweh has since performed chamber music concerts nationally with friend and noted pianist, Thomas Hrynkiw and appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras.
In 2007, he relocated to San Antonio, Texas. He has been principal cellist with the Dearborn Symphony and Symphony of the Hills, associate principal of Mid-Texas Symphony and Laredo Philharmonic, as well as appearances with the Corpus Christi Symphony and other regional orchestras in South Central Texas.
As a teacher, Basel has had experience in a wide variety of educational settings including guest lectures and classes at the Ithaca Cello Institute, Congress of Strings, YOSA, and was a faculty member of Hill country Youth Orchestras, Schreiner University, and the University of the incarnate Word.