Highly qualified artist faculty provide musical instruction based on the methods and philosophies of Mimi Zweig, Shinichi Suzuki and Paul Rolland. The faculty works as a team, interacting with students to provide continuity in instruction as student needs change. The special training, experience and expertise of this outstanding faculty in the musical education of young people results in students playing with technical ease and musical sensitivity.
| David Anderson, violin | |
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String Academy faculty since 1991. Mr. Anderson has been a Member of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra since 1976. He studied with Daniel Majeske, former concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra, and at the Cleveland Institute of Music with David Cerone. His chamber music teachers include Josef Gingold, Mischa Schneider and the Guarneri Quartet.
Contact Mr. Anderson: davidanderson@stringacademyofwisconsin.org |
| Katherine Brooks, violin | |
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String Academy faculty since 1990. Ms. Brooks studied with Leonard Sorkin and received a Dorothy Starling Fellowship to study with Eudice Shapiro and Cyrus Forough at Rice University for a Master of Music. She performed for three years with the Sacramento Symphony Orchestra, toured Europe with the New York Harlem Orchestra. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a Master of Music degree from Rice University. Ms. Brooks is currently Principal Second Violin of the Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra and plays with the Bel Canto Orchestra, Waukesha Symphony, and participated in the AIMS Orchestra in Graz, Austria, and the Woodstock Mozart festival, and Green Lake Festival. She is a former faculty member of the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music.
Contact Mrs. Brooks: katiebrooks@stringacademyofwisconsin.org |
| Scott Cook, cello | |
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String Academy faculty since 1996. Mr. Cook is a graduate of the Saint Louis Conservatory and has a M.M. from the University of Akron. His cello and chamber Music studies were with Savely Schuster, Steven Shumway, Michael Haber, Samuel Sanders and Lazar Gossman. He was a faculty member at Converse College, Principal Cellist of the Greenville Symphony and was a member of the Belle Terre Chamber Players, Cezanne Quartet and Mostly Modern Chamber Players. he is currently a member of the AIMS Orchestra in Graz, Austria and principle of The Waukesha Symphony. Mr. Cook has appeared as soloist with orchestras in Saint Louis, Cleveland, and Greenville and has presented solo and chamber music recitals in the U.S. and in Austria.
Contact Mr. Cook: scottcook@stringacademyofwisconsin.org |
| Darcy Drexler, violin (Executive Director) | |
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String Academy faculty since 1990. Ms. Drexler is Executive Director of the String Academy and teaches string pedagogy at UW-Milwaukee. She received a B.M. from Southern Methodist University and M.M. from the University of Illinois and was a student of Ronald Neal and Catherine Tait. She has performed recitals throughout the US and is an active chamber musician and clinician. Her students are performing and teaching across the US. Previously she was a member of the Dallas Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonia da Camera, Hawthorne Quartet, the Killington (VT) Music Festival. She has taught at the Indiana University Summer String Academy, the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music and the Illinois Wesleyan University Suzuki Program.
Contact Mrs. Drexler: darcydrexler@stringacademyofwisconsin.org |
| Alana Dust, cello | |
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String Academy faculty since 2008. Ms. Dust received the Premier Talent Scholarship to study with Elizabeth Simkin at Ithaca ollege for a B.M in Cello Performance. She also received a Full Fellowship to study with Anthony Elliott at the University of Michigan to earn her M.M in Cello Performance. While in Ann Arbor, she was faculty at the Plymouth Music School and the Novi Music Academy. Ms. Dust’s chamber music studies were with members and former members of Takacs, Cavani, Ying, Audubon, Concord, Pacifica and Ariadne String Quartets as well as Ani Kavafian, Jaime Laredo, Martin Katz and Anner Bylsma.
Contact Mrs. Dust: alanadust@stringacademyofwisconsin.org |
| Jamie Hofman, viola, violin | |
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String Academy faculty since 2007. Jamie Hofman, a Milwaukee native, is a SAW alum where he studied with James Pryzgocki and Mimi Zweig. He earned a B.M. in viola and violin performance, in addition to a Performer Diploma in viola at Indiana University. His major teachers there included Atar Arad, Jerry Horner and Mimi Zweig. He has been a prize winner in the Chicago Viola Society Solo competition, and concerto competitions sponsored by the Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra and Milwaukee Catholic Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Hofman has been a member of the Louisville Orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Louisville String Quartet, and has served on the faculty at the University of Louisville, Campbellsville University, and currently Carroll University. He has performed extensively throughout the U.S., Europe, and Japan, and is on faculty at the Eastern Music Festival during the summers.
Contact Mr. Hofman: jamiehofman@stringacademyofwisconsin.org |
| Jessicca Williams, violin | |
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String Academy faculty since 2004. Ms. Williams received a Bachelor of Music with Honors from Evangel University (Missouri), and a Masters of Music in String Pedagogy from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She is a former student of Bernard Zinck, Myron Kartman, and Larry Dissmore and studied String Pedagogy with Darcy Drexler. In addition to teaching, Ms. Williams is also an active performer, performing with both the Racine Symphony and Green Bay Symphony. Summer performance and teaching opportunities include the Tuscia Opera Festival in Viterbo, Italy and Friends of Music Festival in Incheon, South Korea.
Contact Mrs. Williams: jessiccawilliams@stringacademyofwisconsin.org |
Staff
| Heidi Knudsen, office administration, (and flute!) | |
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Heidi Knudsen earned a Bachelor of Music from the Lawrence Conservatory of Music in 1974, worked in banking until 1983, lived overseas from 1983-1987, raised four children between 1985 and 1999, and then came to work for the String Academy of Wisconsin in August 1999. As a flutist, Heidi is a member of Festival City Symphony and does other freelance playing.
Contact Mrs. Knudsen: heidiknudsen@stringacademyofwisconsin.org |
Past Faculty
The String Academy is tremendously grateful and indebted to all of the faculty who have served as faculty in the past. They have built and shaped this institution, and influenced countless student’s lives.
- Mimi Zweig, violin, viola founder 1990-1996
- Jim Przygocki, violin/viola 1990-1993
- Sherry Sinift, violin 1990-1993
- Julie Hochman, cello 1990-1992
- Sara Edgerton, cello 1990-1991
- Trischa (Seaman) Loebl, cello 1991-2006
- Jim Olsen, violin, viola 1990-2000
- Toshi Olsen, violin, viola 1997-2006
- Wei-Tsun Chang, violin 1993-1994
- David Becker, violin/viola from 1990-1994
- Seanie Chang, violin/viola 1993-1994
- Michael Fitzpatrick, cello 1993-1994
- Erica Lessie, cello 1994-1995
- David Bebe, cello 2002-2006
- Elizabeth (Betsy) Pabon, violin 1994-2003
- Dinorah Marquez, violin 1998-2000
- Susan Dominguez, violin 1995-1998
- Wendy Warner, cello 2006-2008
