Violin guest coach, Isabella Lippi ( August 13 workshop)
Past: 2018
Violinist Isabella Lippi made her début at the age of ten with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She has since appeared as soloist with orchestras in the United States, Mexico, Europe, and the Far East. She has performed with the Dallas, Baltimore, Phoenix, New Orleans, San Diego, Jacksonville, Columbus, Vermont and New World Symphonies, the Tulsa and Mexico City Philharmonics, the Orquesta Sinfonica de Bilbao of Spain, and the Moscow Symphony. Isabella Lippi has won numerous competitions and awards, was named a Presidential Scholar in the Arts, and has performed recitals at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Chicago's Ravinia Festival, and Suntory Hall in Tokyo. She has participated in the chamber music festivals of Santa Fe, La Jolla, Mainly Mozart, and the Aspen Music Festival. She was Concertmaster of the Charleston Symphony from 1999-2002 and is currently Concertmaster of the Elgin, IL Symphony.
Violinist Isabella Lippi made her début at the age of ten with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She has since appeared as soloist with orchestras in the United States, Mexico, Europe, and the Far East. She has performed with the Dallas, Baltimore, Phoenix, New Orleans, San Diego, Jacksonville, Columbus, Vermont and New World Symphonies, the Tulsa and Mexico City Philharmonics, the Orquesta Sinfonica de Bilbao of Spain, and the Moscow Symphony. Isabella Lippi has won numerous competitions and awards, was named a Presidential Scholar in the Arts, and has performed recitals at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Chicago's Ravinia Festival, and Suntory Hall in Tokyo. She has participated in the chamber music festivals of Santa Fe, La Jolla, Mainly Mozart, and the Aspen Music Festival. She was Concertmaster of the Charleston Symphony from 1999-2002 and is currently Concertmaster of the Elgin, IL Symphony.
Piano guest coach, Yu-sui Esther Hung (August 13 workshop)
Past:2014
A versatile performer, Yu-Sui Esther Hung has appeared as a solo and collaborative pianist throughout the United States and her native Taiwan. A chamber music enthusiast, she is equally at home with singers and instrumentalists and has collaborated with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra in Taiwan.
Yu-Sui has participated in numerous piano and chamber music masterclasses conducted by leading musicians, most notably Martin Canin, Orlando Cole, Vladimir Feltsman, Seymour Lipkin, Lambert Orkis, David Soyer, Herbert Stessin, James Tocco and the Guarneri Quartet. As an orchestral pianist, Yu-Sui has performed in major concert halls such as the Kimmel Center of Performing Arts and the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, the Orchestra Hall in Chicago, the Aspen Music Festival and the National Concert Hall in Taipei, Taiwan, and has worked under the baton of Luis Biava, James Conlon and David Zinman. A strong advocate of new music, she has premiered both solo and chamber works extensively including works dedicated to her and has played with various contemporary ensembles throughout the US.
Yu-Sui holds a bachelor’s degree in piano and clarinet from National Taiwan Normal University, master’s in solo and collaborative piano from Temple University, and doctorate in piano performance with secondary expertise in theory from University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). She is currently on the faculty of VanderCook College of Music in Chicago, where she teaches piano and theory and serves as staff pianist. She also serves as the music director at Taiwan Presbyterian Church of Greater Chicago in Des Plaines. Before settling in Chicago, she has taught piano, music theory, and ear training at Temple and CCM. Her primary teachers include Charles Abramovic, Li-Chin Lai, Lambert Orkis and Frank Weinstock.
Elizabeth Warne (July 29 workshop)
Elizabeth Warne’s love of chamber music began when she was one of 12 violinists selected to
participate in The Cleveland Orchestra’s Kent Blossom Music Festival before graduate school.
Ms. Warne holds a Masters of Music degree from Northwestern University, and a
Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, both in Violin
Performance. Her teachers were Efim Boico of the Fine Arts Quartet, and Blair Milton of the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Warne has also done post-graduate work with Burton
Kaplan, Professor Emeritus of Violin and Viola of the Manhattan School of Music.
Ms. Warne is a member of the Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra’s first violin section, and became
their Orchestra Manager and Librarian in 2018. She was also a member of the Knoxville
Symphony Orchestra, and a substitute violinist with the New Mexico Philharmonic, Grand
Rapids Symphony Orchestra, Nashville Symphony, and performed with the Dallas Opera
Orchestra through two full seasons. Ms. Warne freelances in Chicago, and performs for the
Marcus Center’s Broadway Series in Milwaukee, both on violin and viola.
As an educator, Ms. Warne was named Civic Music Association of Milwaukee’s Studio Teacher
of the Year in 2021. She taught at Austin College in Sherman, TX for two years, and at Carthage
College in Kenosha, WI for five years. Ms. Warne has coached at the International Suzuki
Institute, and is a regular coach and adjudicator for the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra
(MYSO). Her students have won concerto competitions with the Milwaukee, Kenosha, and
Racine Symphony Orchestras.
Elizabeth Anderson (July 29 workshop)
Past: 2019
Elizabeth is a member of the Chicago Philharmonic, Lake Forest Symphony, City Lights Orchestra, Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, and the Ars Viva Symphony. She has performed with Chicago Opera Theater, Music Theater Works, Chicago Sinfonietta, Ravinia Festival Orchestra, American Ballet Theater and the Joffrey Ballet. As a theater musician she has played for shows at the Goodman, Court, Northlight and Chicago Shakespeare theaters, and for several productions with Broadway in Chicago. In addition to the Music Institute of Chicago, Elizabeth is on the faculty of North Park University, and teaches private lessons at Francis W. Parker school and in her home studio.
Elizabeth is a member of the Chicago Philharmonic, Lake Forest Symphony, City Lights Orchestra, Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, and the Ars Viva Symphony. She has performed with Chicago Opera Theater, Music Theater Works, Chicago Sinfonietta, Ravinia Festival Orchestra, American Ballet Theater and the Joffrey Ballet. As a theater musician she has played for shows at the Goodman, Court, Northlight and Chicago Shakespeare theaters, and for several productions with Broadway in Chicago. In addition to the Music Institute of Chicago, Elizabeth is on the faculty of North Park University, and teaches private lessons at Francis W. Parker school and in her home studio.
Elizabeth earned a Master of Music degree in cello performance from Indiana University, where she was a student of Janos Starker.
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Past Guest Coaches:
2019 guest coach, Alexa Muhly Past Guest Coaches:
Alexa Muhly holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music and a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music. Her major teachers include Aldo Parisot, and Alan Harris. She has performed extensively in the United States, Canada, England, France, Germany, Hungary, and Lithuania, and is an active orchestral and chamber musician in the Chicago area. In recent seasons, she was the principal cellist of the Kalamazoo Symphony, and also appeared with the Grand Rapids Symphony and the Pine Mountain Music Festival. Ms. Muhly received early recognition as first-prize winner in the Iowa Center for the Arts competition as well as prize winner in the Jugend Musiziert national competition in Germany. Other honors include a long-term residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Calgary, Alberta and awards from the Cleveland Institute of Music, Yale University, and the Aspen Music Festival. She was the cellist for the new music ensemble Opus 21 with whom she has performed at Symphony Space and Carnegie Hall in New York City. She recently has performed in Santa Fe, New Mexico at the Lensic Performing Arts Center. Ms. Muhly currently teaches cello performance and music theory at Oakton Community College.
2019 guest coach, Patrycja Likos
Past:2014
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Patrycja Likos began her cello studies at the age of eight at the Ignacy Jan Paderewski School of Music in Krosno, Poland, under the direction of Wojciech Pelczar. She earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s of Music degrees from the Grayna and Kiejstut Bacewicz Academy of Music in Łódź under the tutelage of Andrzej Orkisz. Patrycja then went on receive an Artist Diploma in cello performance at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the studio of Brandon Vamos. Currently, Patrycja is a regular member of Civic Orchestra in Chicago.
Patrycja has performed solo in master classes led by such outstanding cellists as Andrzej Bauer, Michael Flaksman, Jonathan Pegis, Jeroen Reuling and Paul Uyterlinde. As a chamber musician, she took part in chamber music master classes of Pacifica Quartet, Parker Quartet, Arianna Quartet and Jupiter Quartet. She received invitations to DoCha Chamber Music Festival and Allerton Music Festival, where she performed chamber music with faculty members of the University of Illinois.
Patrycja has participated in cello competitions in the United States and abroad. In 2011, Patrycja won the first prize in the Krannert Center Debut Artist Competition at Urbana-Champaign. She earned the third prize at the International Cello Competition in Kosice, Slovak Republic, and the first prize at the Chamber Music Competition in Stalowa Wola, Poland. She participated at International Cello Competition in Liezen, Austria, and at the K. Wilkomirski’s Youth Cello Competition in Poznan, Poland. As an awarded graduate, Patrycja has performed with the Rzeszów Philharmonic in Poland.
Patrycja is a founder and a cello teacher at the Likos String Academy in downtown Chicago.
2019, guest coach, Ai Ishida Melby
Past:2018
Violist, Ai Ishida Melby studied viola at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. Her viola studies continued at Northern Illinois University, where she won the concerto competition and performed Bartok’s Viola Concerto. Her teachers include Richard Young, Li-Kuo Chang, Yukiko Ogura and the Vermeer Quartet.
Ai has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago as principal violist, and she is a founding member of Kontras Quartet. She has traveled the world to appear at music festivals including the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival; the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, where she worked with the Tokyo String Quartet; and the Pacific Music Festival, where she performed with members of the Vienna Philharmonic. Recent performances include master classes with Nobuko Imai and Yo-Yo Ma, and a show at Chicago’s Green Mill following studies with jazz master David Bloom.
Past: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018
Violinist, Kate Black, has taught at the Carnegie Mellon University String Preparatory Program in Pittsburgh since its inception in 2003. Originally from Chicago, she holds a bachelor of music degree from DePaul University and a Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan. Her principal teachers have included Paul Kantor, Andrew Jennings and Mark Zinger. Before coming to Pittsburgh, Kate was on faculty at the Merit School of Music in Chicago.
Ms. Black enjoys performing as well as teaching. She was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago when it performed under the direction of Daniel Barenboim in Carnegie Hall. She also performed frequently with the chamber orchestra Concertante di Chicago. While living in Pittsburgh, she has held the Assistant Concertmaster positions in the Wheeling, Westmoreland and Youngstown Symphonies, as well as Principal Second Violin of the Pittsburgh Live Music Chamber Orchestra and Assistant Principal Second Violin in the West Virginia Symphony. Currently, she is a frequent substitute with the Pittsburgh Symphony and is a member of the Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra. In the summer, Kate has performed with the Sunflower Music Festival Chamber Orchestra in Topeka, Kansas and the Grant Park Music Festival.
2018 guest coach, Clara Lindner
Past: 2018, 2017,2015
Violinist Clara Lindner has appeared with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. She has performed at Carnegie Hall, and at the Grand Teton and Aspen Music Festivals. She is a founding member of the Vienna Waltz Ensemble which plays charming nineteenth century Viennese dance music specifically composed for two violins and bass.
Ms. Lindner has played first chair with Chicago Opera Theater, the World Festival Orchestra, and the Joffrey and Bolshoi Ballets and also appears regularly with the Ravinia Festival Orchestra, Ars Viva, and the Chicago Philharmonic. She has recorded numerous national commercials and has played for Emmy and Grammy award-winning performances with artists such as Celine Dion. Natalie Cole, Andrea Bocelli, and Mannheim Steamroller. She has been on faculty at the University of Minnesota and Columbia College (Chicago), and has a thriving private teaching studio. Ms Lindner trained at the University of Southern California and Northwestern University.
2016 guest coach, Hiroko Nagahata
Hiroko Nagahata is an active and accomplished
pianist with experience in solo performance, vocal accompaniment, and chamber
music. She has performed in numerous music festivals, most notably the
Summit Music Festival in New York City, the International Academy of Music in
St. Petersburg, and the European American Musical Alliance in Paris. She was a
Special Presentation Award winner of the Artists International Audition and
made her New York solo recital debut at Carnegie Weill Recital Hall in 2009. In
2011, Nagahata performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor with the
New York Concerto Sinfonietta, conducted by Paul Hostetter, in the same
venue.
Nagahata received a Doctor of Music Degree
from Michigan State University, a Master of Music degree from the
Manhattan School of Music, and a Bachelor of Music Degree from Kobe
College. She has worked as a teaching assistant, instructor of music theory,
and accompanist (instrumental, vocal and choral) at NYSMF: New York
Summer Music Festival at SUNY, Oneonta. She is an accompanist for the school
residency program at Lyric Opera of Chicago since 2013.
2015 guest coach, Susan Chou
Susan Chou was born in Taipei Taiwan. She moved to the United States when she was sixteen and completed her bachelor degree in computer engineering at Northwestern University. During her studies at Northwestern, she was greatly inspired by her piano teacher Professor Alan Chow and hence decided to pursuit her career in piano after graduation. In 2004, she was awarded full scholarship to study with Menahem Pressler at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she completed her Master degree and continued on to her doctorate degree. Ms. Chou served as an Associate Instructor from 2004 to 2010. Currently, she is a Doctoral Candidate in Piano Performance.
In addition to giving numerous solo and chamber recitals, she had worked with famous musicians such as Cliff Colnot, Julian Martin, Ursula Oppens, Miriam Fried, Sylvia Wang and Victor Yampolsky. She has appeared as soloist with the Good Samaritan Symphony Orchestra, IU Student Orchestra, IU University Orchestra, Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra and Symphony of the Mountains. She was one of the six semifinalists at the Rolf and Brigitte Gardey International Piano Competition in 2007, and she was also a prize winner in the 2008 National Society of Arts and Letters Music Competition. In spring of 2009, she won a scholarship from IU Travel Grant competition which subsidized her travel to other major international competitions. Ms. Chou is the 2011 recipient of the Farwell Trust Piano Award from Musician’s Club of Women.
2014 guest coach,Lisa Goethe-Mcginn
Lisa Goethe-McGinn has an active career as a teaching artist and soloist/chamber musician. She has performed in many festivals and concert series’ throughout the U.S. and abroad.
Known as a versatile performer, Lisa is a much sought after performer of contemporary classical music and improvisation. She is currently working on solo projects and with duo, Cherchez la Femme. She has performed with new music and improvisation groups, Ensemble Noamnesia and MAVerick Ensemble. She has given both U.S. and World premiere performances of numerous compositions and has worked directly with composers George Crumb, Helmut Lachenmann, Savlatore Martirano and Yehuda Yannay among others.
Her first feature CD, Uncommon Voices on Vienna Modern Masters, was released in 2008 containing works by American Composers; Burt Levy, Salvatore Martirano, Yehuda Yannay and Ben Johnston.
Lisa received her degrees from the University of Illinois and Millikin University and has studied with Alexander Murray, Mary Karen Clardy and Mary Ellen Poole. She has had the privilege to study additionally with Robert Dick, Camilla Hoitenga and Anne LaBerge and has participated in Masterclasses with Walfrid Kujala and Patricia Spencer.
Lisa is an active teaching artist and chamber coach. She is on the faculty of Sherwood Community Music School at Columbia College, ChiME School of Music and maintains a home studio.
Additional information and listening at: www.lisagoethemcginn.com
2014 guest coach, Agnieszka Likos
Agnieszka Likos recently completed her Master’s Degree in violin performance at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University in the studio of Stefan Hersh. In 2011, she received her Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana – Champaign, where she studied with Sibbi Bernhardsson and was awarded the Smith Scholarship for artistic work and academic achievements. During her pre-college studies, Agnieszka was a student of Marko Dreher at the Music Institute of Chicago. She began violin in Poland under direction of Dorota Pelczar at Ignacy Jan Paderewski School of Music in Krosno, and continued with Iwona Wojciechowska at Henryk Wieniawski School of Music in Łódź.
Agnieszka realizes her musical interests in the field of chamber music, performing at multiple chamber music festivals in Bowdoin (ME), Madeline Island (WI), Hot Springs (AR) and Urbana-Champaign (IL). She took part in multiple masterclasses led by outstanding chamber musicians such as the Guarneri Quartet, Pacifica Quartet, Hugo Wolf Quartet, Arianna Quartet, Parker Quartet and Shanghai Quartet. From 2004 to 2006 she was a member of Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Music Program. As a member of a piano trio from Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra Chamber Music Program, Agnieszka won the first prize in the O.P.U.S. Chamber Music Competition in Chicago.
Agnieszka is a founder and a violin teacher at the Likos String Academy.
2014 guest coach, Andrew Harmon
Andrew Harmon is a double bass performer and teacher in the Chicago area. He was appointed Principal Bass of the Peoria Symphony Orchestra in 2012 and is a member of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra (Springfield). He has also performed with the Rockford Symphony, Madison Symphony, Heartland Festival Orchestra, Opera Illinois, Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra and the International Beethoven Project (Chicago). He has been a clinician at VanderCook School of Music and the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools and as has taught at The Musical Offering (Evanston) and Ossia Space in the Fine Arts Building (Chicago Loop). A St. Louis native, Andrew has studied with members of the St. Louis Symphony and Chicago Symphony. He earned a BA in English and Music from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville and a MA in the Humanities from the University of Chicago.
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Former Chicago Trio Members/Coaches
Piano Coach, Mirei Hori
(former Chicago trio pianist, founder) 2006-2019
Mirei is an active pianist and collaborative artist. In 1994, she was featured as a guest soloist to perform Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.2 with Operahouse Philharmonic Orchestra. Ms.Hori has also performed at series of solo concerts as well as chamber music through out the Netherlands and Japan. She is a founding member of the Chicago Trio.
Her teachers have included Takako Kawakami, Kenichi Ara, Thom Bollen, Lazar Berman and Earl Wild.
(日本語。英語/ Japanese, English)
cello coach, Karen Schutz-Harmon
(former Chicago trio cellist)2008-2014
Her journey with music began at the age of seven when she started playing the piano and violin. At age 15 she switched to cello (the instrument she had wanted to play for many years) at the request of her high school orchestra director. Once she started playing the cello she immediately took off and knew it was the instrument she had been meant to play. After only a few years she was accepted into the St. Louis Youth Symphony and by her senior year in high school she was playing with the St. Louis Philharmonic. That year she also had the wonderful opportunity to play with the Opera Theatre St. Louis' Youth Opera Program, where she was the principal cellist for the the premiere of Joshua's Boots and the U.S. premiere of Brundibar. Her primary teachers in high school were Suzanne Harlamert, cello, and Donna Bodart, piano.
Karen attended Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville, where she received a full scholarship to play in the honors string quartet. While there she was the principal cellist of the orchestra (four consecutive years), studied piano with Linda Perry, voice with Lori McCann and cello with Joseph Pival and Kangho Lee. Karen graduated with a major in Cello Performance and a minor in Piano Performance. Being so close to St. Louis, she continued to play in the St. Louis Philharmonic and studied with St. Louis Symphony cellists, Lowell Adams and Ken Kulosa. She also won an audition to play with the Bayerisch Opera Theater in Germany for two months and sat principal for The Barber of Seville, Rigoletto and Tosca.
Karen attended Northern Illinois University at the invitation of cellist Marc Johnson on full scholarship. She graduated in 2005 with a Masters of Music degree in Cello Performance. During her time at NIU she enjoyed working with the members of the Vermeer Quartet.
Karen has been heavily involved with the Chicago Cello Society for the past ten years, serving as vice president for eight years and president since the fall of 2011, succeeding Tanya Carey. One of her main achievements was reviving the Cello Scroll newsletter.
Karen has taught private lessons from her studio located in the Fine Arts Building, A pedagogue emphasizing both tradition and innovation, Karen works with students of all ages. She greatly appreciates passing on her knowledge of music, inspiring future (and present) generations of music lovers.
