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!

Lisa Deakins, a violinist and fiddler based in Charleston, South Carolina, is a versatile musician who performs and teaches nationwide. She has worked with country artists Pam Tillis and Whisperin’ Bill Anderson and performed on iconic stages like the Grand Ole Opry, Song of the Mountains, and the Crook & Chase show. A Suzuki-trained musician in Nashville’s “play-by-ear” culture, Lisa has recorded five albums and won the International Bluegrass Music Association’s “Recorded Event of the Year” award.

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As the owner of Deakins Suzuki Strings, Lisa teaches both classical and alternative fiddling styles. She has also compiled and arranged Fiddlin’ Favorites, a music book series for Suzuki violinists licensed by the International Suzuki Association. Her dedication to teaching excellence earned her the Certificate of Achievement from the Suzuki Association of the Americas.

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Beyond teaching, Lisa performs with her husband in their acoustic duo, Derek & Lisa, across the Southeast. Lisa loves embracing all three points of the Suzuki triangle—student, teacher, and now Suzuki parent to her young violin-playing son—reflecting her deep commitment to the Suzuki philosophy.

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.”

Pablo Issa is an accomplished cellist based in Hartford, Connecticut, and a member of the Azul String Quartet. He regularly performs with various ensembles and orchestras in the region and appears as a guest artist and educator across the United States, South America, and Europe.

Mr. Issa is a dedicated educator, teaching both Suzuki and traditional cello at the University of Hartford’s Community Division. In addition, he co-directs the Hartt Suzuki Institute, held each July at the University of Hartford. He is also a valued faculty member at the Atlanta Suzuki Institute and the Ithaca Suzuki Institute.

Mr. Issa received his Long-Term Suzuki Training at the School for Strings in New York City under Pamela Devenport and has furthered his pedagogy with notable instructors throughout his career.

A graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy, Mr. Issa holds degrees from Baldwin Wallace University and the University of Hartford. His studies were made possible with support from “Fundación Arnoldo Schwimmer” in his native Bolivia.

Sarah Smale received her BA (hons.) in viola performance at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, continuing postgraduate work at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, gaining the Postgraduate Diploma in Orchestral Training. Sarah obtained her MM in viola performance from the Hartt School where she was assistant to and studied with the Emerson String Quartet.

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Sarah has played with various ensembles as principal viola, recorded television and radio for work for the BBC and Radio Suisse and performed for many years with the Orchestre des Jardins Musicaux in Switzerland as principal and assistant principal viola. Sarah’s long term Suzuki Training was with Linda Fiore and Teri Einfeldt. She took further Suzuki training from Ed Kreitman and Tom Wermuth while teaching at the Western Springs School of Talent Education.

Currently the Associate Director at the Suzuki Music Schools in CT, Sarah Smale is also chair of the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Festival and former co-director of the Ogontz White Mountain Suzuki Institute in New Hampshire. Sarah enjoys teaching all ages, including at the university level and is a frequent guest teacher at educational workshops and Suzuki Institutes around the country.

Jim Van Reeth, violinist, remembers marching around his elementary school gymnasium playing Twinkle rhythms at his first concert. His violin journey began with lessons in the public-school program in New Concord, OH that was greatly influenced by Suzuki pioneer John Kendall, violin professor at Muskingum College. Though Jim did not come to know and study the Suzuki method formally until he was teaching after college, he was hooked during his first teacher training class and has enjoyed a rich career as a Suzuki student and teacher.

Jim is Director of the Denison University Suzuki Program in Granville, OH and teaches violin. Additionally, he enjoys teaching music appreciation and violin at Denison. Jim holds a BM in violin performance from the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College-CUNY where his principal teacher was Ruth Waterman, and a MMEd with Suzuki Talent Education emphasis from UW-Stevens Point having completed long-term Suzuki training with Patricia D’Ercole.

Jim is married to composer Ching-chu Hu, and they are Suzuki parent/practice partners for their four kiddos (2 violinists, a pianist and a flutist). He is a member of the Newark-Granville Symphony Orchestra, and his favorite food is ice cream, so he makes a point of sampling the local creameries whenever possible.