Ann Montzka-Smelser has been a Suzuki student for 43 years, a Suzuki teacher for 28 years a Suzuki parent for 15 years and a Suzuki Teacher Trainer for 3 year.
In between receiving her Bachelors of Music Education and Masters in Performance and Pedagogue at Northern Illinois University, Ann studied with Dr. Shinichi Suzuki at the Talent Education Institute in Matsumoto, Japan.

In 2003, Ann was the recipient of the Byron Hester Memorial Excellence in Teaching Award. In 2006-2008, Ann was co-coordintor for the Suzuki Youth Orchestras of the Americas and will be a presenter at the SAA Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota in May 2010.
Ann has performed in many orchestras and chamber ensembles and is currently principal 2nd violinist with Camerata Chicago and concertmaster of the Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra.
Ann is on the music faculty at Northern Illinois University and Wheaton College teaching Suzuki Pedagogy. She is also director of the NIU, CSA Suzuki Strings Program. Ann enjoys working with Suzuki families and Suzuki Teachers at Suzuki Institutes and workshops throughout the United States. Ann lives in DeKalb, Illinois with her children, Ben and Genna, and her husband, Linc.

Linc Smelser received his bachelor’s degree in cello performance from the University of Arizona, and his master’s degree and performer’s certificate in cello performance and pedagogy with Madame Raya Garbousova at Northern Illinois University. He has appeared as cello soloist with the Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Fox River Valley Symphony, and the Rockford Symphony Orchestra. He has been a member of the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra cello section for seventeen years and has been an active substitute with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for eleven years. He is also one of the Three Celli, an ensemble that performs throughout the Northern Illinois area

.He is on the faculty of the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music and of the Northern Illinois University School of Music and has been teaching private cello lessons through the NIU Community School of the Arts for twenty years. He is also on the faculty of the Chicago Suzuki Institute and guest artist (cellist) of the 2009 Intermountain Suzuki String Institute in Utah. He was appointed conductor and music director of the Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra in 2003 and has been guest conductor of the Rockford Area Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Northern Illinois University Philharmonic, the Skokie Valley Community Orchestra, and other orchestras. He is conductor of the NIU Sinfonia and Youth Symphonette, two youth symphonies that attract students from the Northern Illinois area. And he is the piano accompanist for the Northern Illinois University Suzuki program.

He has won several awards, including first prize of the National Society of Arts and Letters Chapter Competition, top prize of the National Federation of Music Clubs Regional Competition, and first prize of the International Lili Boulanger Memorial Fund Competition. He is also the recipient of the 2003 Altrusa Award, and he was named 2009 Conductor of the Year (Small Orchestra) by the Illinois Council of Orchestras.

37 year-old Christian Howes grew up in Columbus, Ohio and received a degree in Philosophy from the Ohio State University. After spending 8 years based in New York City and touring the world extensively, he has recently returned to Columbus to reclaim his roots.
As an educator, performer and composer, Christian Howes has gained great notoriety and respect from critics and players alike. Christian was a favorite of the late Les Paul, with whom he worked for 11 years. Says Christian of his mentor, ”Les defied categorization in terms of age or genre. His character, approach to life, and musicianship taught me many valuable lessons which I hope never to forget”. In recent years, Howes has become an in-demand violinist on the New York scene, performing and recording with a bevy of jazz artists, including alto saxophonist Greg Osby, pianist D.D. Jackson, guitarists Les Paul , Frank Vignola, and Joel Harrison, drummer Dafnis Prieto, vibraphonist Dave Samuels’s Caribbean Jazz Project, crossover pioneers Spyro Gyra, and a 4-yr chair in Bill Evans Soulgrass. On his recent cd, Heartfelt, the violinist collaborates with pianist-arranger Roger Kellaway, a legendary figure in his own right.

In August, 2009, Christian was ranked (for the third time) as the #2 violinist in the Downbeat Critics Poll “Rising Stars”. Says All About Jazz ,”as a jazz violinist he has no peer”. The Minneapolis Tribune called Christian ”arguably the most intriguing young violinist in jazz”. According to the Chicago Reader, “Not since Jean Luc Ponty has a violinist ranged from pure classical to fuzz-tone rock to convincing jazz with such authority”.
After releasing a string of potent CDs as a leader, a majority of which flew under the radar of most jazz critics, violinist Christian Howes is set to make a big splash with Heartfelt, his spectacular debut on Resonance Records which charted at 24 on the national jazz radio. Rather than exhibiting the charming delicacy of a Stephane Grappelli or the jaunty Swing era bounce of a Joe Venuti, Howes is a wildly inventive post-bop burner with monstrous facility, a wide expressive range and a take-no-prisoners approach. On Heartfelt, he parlays his Herculean chops, blistering intensity and haunting romanticism into a winning combination that is eminently accessible without sacrificing his obvious skills.

An Associate Professor at the Berklee College of Music, he is also the founder of the Creative Strings Workshop and Festival, which convenes during the first week of July every year at Otterbein College. Says Howes, “The Creative Strings Workshop and Festival offers string players from Columbus and around the world an opportunity to study improvisation, composition, and styles outside the realm of classical music, while bringing the city of Columbus a plethora of talent and musical energy. This July marks the 6th annual camp, and once again we will overwhelm central Ohio with over 25 concerts in various venues throughout the week.”

Janis has taught in the Pasadena and Wheaton College Suzuki Programs and has been a faculty member of the Western Springs School of Talent Education since 1995. She has been a guest clinician at numerous Suzuki institutes in the United States and Canada.Students of Janis Wittrig have appeared as soloists with orchestras in the Chicago area and have been selected as master class performers at the SAA National Conference.

Since 2005, Janis has been Concertmaster of the DuPage Symphony Orchestra, which in 2007 was named by the Illinois Council of Orchestras as Community Orchestra of the Year. Janis has two children, Aaron, a cellist studying Mathematics, and Rachel, a violinist studying music, both students at the University of Illinois.

As a member of the first Quartet-in-residence at the Shepherd School of Music, Rice University, Ang Chek Meng has worked with renowned artists like Paul and Martha Katz of the Cleveland Quartet, Ken Goldsmith and Norman Fischer.

Winner of the Singapore National Music Competition in 1985 and 1987, Ang Chek Meng went on to further his studies under a Singapore Symphony Orchestra Scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music, London. His teachers included Jean Harvey, Erich Gruenberg as well as members of the Amadeus Quartet. For his outstanding results, Chek Meng was awarded the Countess of Munster Trust Scholarship and graduated with honours.

A member of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra from 1991, Ang Chek Meng left to pursue his love for chamber music with the award-winning T'ang Quartet which was appointed the first Quartet-in-residence at the Shepherd School of Music, Rice University. There he worked with renowned artists like Paul and Martha Katz of the Cleveland Quartet, Ken Goldsmith and Norman Fischer.

As a member of the quartet, he has performed to critical acclaim at major venues like the Aspen Music Festival, Tanglewood Festival, Music Mountain Chamber Series, Melbourne Festival, New Zealand Arts Festival as well as in engagements around Asia.

Ang Chek Meng is currently a member of the artist faculty at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute.

Violinist Gabriel Bolkosky has been praised for the way he “takes audiences into his
confidence and includes them” and described as having “the serenity of a master
without a hint of coldness.”

As a recitalist, Gabe has performed across the country and has premiered hundreds of
works, including works by composers such as Thomas Ades and Frederic Rzewski, on
Carnegie Hall's Making Music Series. He has also worked closely with composers such
as William Bolcom, John Harbison, John Lindberg, George Tsontakis, Christopher
Rouse, Bernard Rands, and Augusta Read Thomas.
Gabe performs classical works as part of a piano duo with Michele Cooker and as first
violinist of the Phoenix Quartet, artists in residence at the University of Michigan School
of Music, Theatre & Dance.

Gabe has released six CDs that show his breadth as a musician. His debut solo album,
This and That, features jazz and classical music. Other albums include The Shape of
Klez to Come with the klezmer group Into the Freylakh; The Orchestra Is Here to Play, a
live recording teaming the Gemini children's-music group with a full orchestra; The
Oblivion Project Live, showcasing the music of Astor Piazzolla; Non Sequitur,
contemporary and experimental music, including one of his own compositions; Home
from Work, an eclectic mix of jazz and folk standards; and as sideman on John
Lindberg's recording Two by Five. An upcoming CD with his string quartet paired with
the Jeff Haas jazz quartet is due for release this year.

As an educator, Gabe teaches violin at the University of Michigan and is executive
director of the nonprofit organization The Phoenix Ensemble. He directs two chamber
music festivals, in May and August in Ann Arbor, Michigan, designed to bring together
participants of all ages and levels, ranging from beginner through college level. He has
toured as an educator throughout the world, giving workshops at Harvard, Dartmouth,
Brandeis, Princeton, the Walden School, the Aspen Music Institute, the Netherlands,
Mexico, and Singapore as well as all over the United States.

Born and raised in Detroit, Gabe started playing violin at age three. His teachers have
included Michael Avsharian; Paul Kantor, Ed Sarath, and Ellen Rowe at the University
of Michigan; and Donald Weilerstein, Peter Salaff, and members of the Cavani String
Quartet at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he was teaching assistant to Mr.
Weilerstein.

Sylvia Khoo received her Bachelor and Master's of Music Degree from Southern lllinois University where she was a graduate assistant under John Kendall. Upon her return to Singapore, she joined the Singapore Symphonic Orchestra as a violinist before being appointed the coordinator of the music program at the Raffles Girls' School's string ensemble, a well-established group that is in popular demand.

Since 1987, she runs her own Suzuki program, called the Joyful Strings, which presents highly acclaimed annual public concerts. Sylvia has been regularly invited to conduct workshops and training at Suzuki institutes in Tennessee, North Carolina, Utah and Australia.