Andrea’s Guitar Arts Studio in Houston, Texas includes training in Theory and Performance skills for guitarists as well as the first Suzuki Early Childhood Music program established in the US. She serves as a consultant to the Spring School District Music Department and directs Applied Guitar studies at Lone Star College. She is Certified through Music Teacher’s National Association and is a Registered Teacher Trainer with the Suzuki Association of the Americas.

Andrea is humbled and proud that arts advocacy group Alarte of Guatemala City, Guatemala has created a Scholarship in her name. The first recipient of the ‘Beca Andrea Cannon‘ is enjoying the benefits of a new guitar as well as expert Suzuki instruction and she also has a beautiful smile.

Ryan Caparella serves on the violin and viola faculty of the Western Springs School of Talent Education and Naperville Suzuki School where he maintains a studio of students ages 3-18, leads the Viola Choir and co-directs the Summer Chamber Music Camp.  Prior to moving to Chicago, Ryan taught for the Elizabeth Faidley Studio in New York. 

Ryan holds Masters and Bachelors degrees in Violin Performance from the Hartt School of Music and University of Miami respectively, and has pursued extensive study in violin & viola pedagogy. Ryan completed his Long Term Training in Suzuki Pedagogy with Teri Einfeldt and has pursued additional pedagogy study with Edward Kreitman, Elizabeth Faidley, Thomas Wermuth, and Doris Preucil.  In 2013, Ryan was invited to present at the American String Teachers’ Association National Conference. In 2017, Ryan was a recipient of the Suzuki Association of America's Certificate of Achievement, a designation recognizing teachers with a commitment to life‐long learning and self‐improvement.

Dr. Derek Deakins is a violinist, fiddler, guitarist, banjoist, and National Board Certified teacher originally from Kingsport, Tennessee.

Derek's musical journey began with Suzuki violin lessons as a young child and has taken him around the world as a professional musician. He has performed with major recording artists including Blake Shelton, The Osborne Brothers, and Miranda Lambert. Derek graduated from Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, with a Bachelor of Music degree in Instrumental Music Education. He also holds a Master of Music degree in Orchestral Conducting with a Suzuki pedagogy emphasis and a Doctorate in Music Education, where his research centered on aligning Suzuki instruction with bluegrass fiddle pedagogy.  

Derek performs regularly with Gravel Road Bluegrass Band and is a teaching artist and multi-instrumentalist for Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Recently, Derek played fiddle on the #1 bluegrass single, "Forever Young," featuring Dolly Parton and Paul Brewster. He holds the title of Fiddle Champion in the Coastal Carolina Fair's fiddle contest for both 2021 and 2023. Derek enjoys performing with his musician wife, Lisa, and his music-loving son, Kirby, and is proud to be experienced in all three points of the Suzuki triangle: student, teacher, and parent!

Eugenio Figueroa is a registered Suzuki teacher in Violin, Viola, and Piano with the Suzuki Association of the Americas. Eugenio currently serves as faculty at Hartt Community Division and assistant to the director at the Music School at Sound Crossing. As a violist, Eugenio is a doctoral candidate at The Hartt School of Music. Eugenio's commitment to the Suzuki philosophy brought him to Connecticut from Puerto Rico, where he did his Masters in Performance Degree and Suzuki Long Term Training.

Teresa Hakel has been teaching Suzuki violin and viola since 1996 in public and private schools, the University of Houston and in a private studio. She currently teaches Suzuki violin at Parker Elementary, Houston’s music magnet elementary school. She has had Suzuki teacher training classes with teachers from across the nation, as well as long term teacher training with Judy Offman in Houston, TX, and has served as director of the Waterford Community Talent Education program, president of the Houston Area Suzuki Strings Association (HASSA), and founding president of the Richmond Area Suzuki Strings Association (RASSA).

Her principal teachers include Yitzhak Schotten and Lawrence Wheeler. A graduate with honors of the University of Michigan (BM) and the University of Houston (MM), Teresa has performed with orchestras and chamber ensembles in Michigan, Texas, and Virginia, enjoys playing Irish and other folk music, and performs throughout Texas with contra dance bands. Her husband, Steve, is a performing violinist and she has two children who also love to play and listen to music. When she is not teaching or playing, Teresa loves to travel, cook and eat.

Kristen Harris is a violinist, fiddler, and educator currently residing in Columbia, SC. She is the Violin Coordinator and violin instructor at the Suzuki Academy of Columbia, and adjunct professor of Violin Pedagogy and String Methods at the University of South Carolina.

Kristen began her musical career as a Suzuki violin student and became passionate about performing and collaborating with musicians of various genres at a very young age. She received her Bachelor of Music degree with honors at the University of Oregon, where she studied with Fritz Gearhart, and earned her Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of South Carolina, where she studied with Dr. William Terwilliger and taught at the USC String Project under the direction of Dr. Gail Barnes. Kristen has been teaching Suzuki violin since 2008, and has taught grades 6-8 orchestra in the public schools. With a current studio of about 20 students ranging in age from 4-18, her students regularly participate in regional and all-state youth orchestras and have won prestigious fiddle competitions such as the SC State Fiddling Championship, Galax Old Fiddler’s Convention, and Mount Airy Bluegrass & Old-Time Fiddlers Convention.

When not teaching, you can find Kristen performing with her Americana group Boomtown Trio, or the Hot Club Jazz band Flat Out Strangers. A multi-instrumentalist and improvising string player, she is an active freelance musician around the Southeast and performs and records regularly as a solo artist and with ensembles ranging in style from classical and jazz, to old time, bluegrass, pop and rock, and has toured across the United States and in the United Kingdom. She is the two-time South Carolina State Fiddle Champion (2013, 2019), the Jasper Magazine 2019 Artist of the Year, and was featured in the Summer 2020 Edition of Fiddler Magazine for the release of her solo old time fiddle album “Borger Wiggle.”

Angela Holguin is an award-winning musician, specializing in cello and piano. She has performed professionally for more than 35 years and worked to educate others for more than a quarter century.  She studied at Western Illinois University and Columbus State University, receiving a master's degree in performance from the former in 2014 and a bachelor's degree in performance from the latter in 1999. She is currently finishing her doctorate in cello, her master’s degree in piano pedagogy, and a certificate in nonprofit management, all at the University of Georgia.

As a teacher, Angela has a remarkable ability to connect with students, developing a rapport that allows her to communicate both fundamentals and the nuances of advanced technique. In addition to teaching at the Conservatory of Puerto Rico for their summer Suzuki programs, she was a professor at the Dominican Republic's National Conservatory of Music from 2000 to 2012, and during that time she established the country's first Suzuki cello program. Her passion for helping those in need drove her to create the Fundación Gisela Dominicana, which provides music education and performance opportunities for children from low-income families. In 2013, along with her husband, violinist Hermes Mejia, she launched the Almita Vamos Violin Competition, which brought gifted string students to Western Illinois University for study and performance. She also worked to find funding for talented Dominican music students to study abroad. Throughout her life, she has maintained a private studio as well, and her students have been very successful, many going on to become professional musicians themselves. She has Suzuki certifications in both cello and piano. 

As a performer, she made her debut as a pianist at the National Theatre of the Dominican Republic in 1987. After she finished her undergraduate work with world-renowned cello pedagogue, Martha Gerschefski, she returned to give a solo recital in cello. In 1997, she was awarded the UNESCO Mozart Medal and has since been nominated twice to Brugal Cree en su Gente award for her social works through the arts. She has been a cellist in the National Symphony Orchestra of the Dominican Republic since 2004, and her performances have taken her from the beautiful halls of Europe and South America to the iconic stage of Carnegie Hall. Outside the symphony, she enjoys playing cello in a wide variety of styles, both as an ensemble player and as a soloist, and she has made a reputation as one of the most sensitive and emotive chamber musicians in Atlanta for her work in both piano and cello. In addition, she has made time to pursue her love of the organ, and has served as the organist and pianist of several congregations in the United States. 

Angela lives in Duluth with her husband and four kids, all of whom are musicians themselves. Angela’s empathy draws her to those in need, and because of this she has also made time to volunteer with Angels Among Us, an animal rescue non-profit, and happily shares her home with her four cats and two dogs.

Pablo Issa performs chamber music internationally. He is also the principal cellist of the Hartford Independent Chamber Orchestra. As an educator, Mr. Issa received Long-Term Suzuki Training at the School for Strings in New York City with Pamela Devenport, and completed his pedagogic studies with Carey Cheney and Nancy Hair.  Mr. Issa taught at the Community School of the Arts at UConn Storrs, the Suzuki Music School of Westport, and Kids Empowered by Your Support in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Currently, he teaches cello and chamber music at The Hartt School Community Division. Pablo Issa holds a Post-High School Graduate Diploma from Interlochen Arts Academy, a Bachelor of Music in Performance from Baldwin-Wallace College, and both a Master of Music Performance and a Graduate Professional Diploma from The Hartt School. His education was made possible thanks to the support of Fundación Arnoldo Schwimmer of Mr. Issa’s native country, Bolivia.