Jeff Dixon - director

• Jeff Dixon is the President of Dixon Strings, Inc. He established Ravenswood Music Academy to provide music instruction to all levels of musicians and musical interests and styles.
  
• Born into a life filled with music & growing up in Mequon, WI with musicians for parents, Jeff was introduced to music at an early age. Jeff spent his childhood studying with renowned teachers such as Patricia Anders, Sibbi Bernhardsson, Jerome Franke, and Taik-Ki Kim. He became co-concertmaster of the Senior Symphony of the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra (MYSO) and concertmaster of the Homestead High School Orchestra. He was a finalist in the MYSO Senior Symphony’s Concerto Competition and received Honorable Mention in the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s Young Artists Competition.
• He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Violin Performance from Butler University’s Jordan College of Fine Arts in Indianapolis as well as a Master’s degree in Violin Performance from Northwestern University under the tutelage of Professors Almita and Roland Vamos.
• Prior to founding Ravenswood Music Academy, Jeff spent many years bridging his violin performance background with work as a sales representative of both antique and modern hand-made violins, violas and cellos. He continues this work today as head of Dixon Strings. Jeff currently lives in Chicago with his wife Stacy and their young son.

Jon Feller - violin/viola

• Jon Feller has been playing violin and viola for 30 years. He has studied with Humberto Oran of the Madrid Opera, Rami Solomonow of DePaul University, and Sarah Gentry of Illinois State University. He completed a degree in viola performance from Northeastern Illinois University in 1991 and did graduate work in viola and conducting at Illinois State University from 1991–1995. He was a member of the Peoria Symphony and played in the Illinois Symphony Orchestra from 1991–1995 and still performs in recitals.
• Jon completed Suzuki violin training through Book 6, studied Suzuki pedagogy with Ronda Cole, attended Mimi Zweig’s Retreat for Violin & Viola Teachers and studied Dalcroze Eurhythmics with Robert Abramson and Joseph Reiser.
• He continues studying violin and pedagogy with Stacia Spencer of Northwestern University. Jon began teaching violin and viola in 1992, and founded the Andersonville Suzuki Academy in 1998. He has been a faculty member since 2006 at the Bow-dacious String Band Summer Camp in Champaign-Urbana.

Aimee Biasiello - violin/viola

• A native Chicagoan, Aimee Biasiello began her musical studies on violin when she was five years old. She later switched her focus to the viola, studying with Desiree Rushtrat at the Music Institute of Chicago. Aimee holds a BM from the Cleveland Institute of Musicas a student of Lynne Ramsey and Jeffrey Irvine, and a M.M. from the Chicago College of Performing Arts, as a student of Roger Chase.
• Aimee is a founding member of Chicago Q Ensemble, an all female contemporary string quartet dedicated to making chamber music accessible and engaging through collaboration, education, and performance. As a chamber musician, Aimee has had the privilege of working with Peter Salaff of the Cleveland Quartet, Mark Johnson of the Vermeer Quartet, Deborah Sobol of the Chicago Chamber Musicians, the Cavani String Quartet, and Mimi Zweig, at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in Notre Dame, Indiana. Aimee has performed works from the quartet repertoire at festivals such as the Aspen Music Festival, Utah Music Festival, ENCORE! School for strings, and Casalmaggiore International Music festival in Italy. Since moving back to Chicago in 2008, Aimee has performed with the Millennium Chamber Players, Aperiodic Experimental Music Series, the International Chamber Artists, The Ravenswood Concert Series, Chicago Composers Orchestra, Camerata Chicago, and the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra.

Suzanne Slaughter - Musikgarten

• Suzanne Slaughter loves teaching Musikgarten! She earned her B.A. in Elementary Education at Wheaton College and has taught kindergarten and preschool. She has also led mom-and-tot playgroups for years. A busy mom of three, she also finds time to read and sew.
• Suzanne is currently a student at the Music Institute of Chicago and sings with the MIC Chorale in addition
  to teaching Musikgarten at Ravenswood Music Academy.

Marko Dreher - violin

• Marko Dreher was born into a family of Croatian musicians in Chicago in 1983. He began classical violin studies and started sitting in with his father’s tamburica band at the age of four and has played tamburica professionally since age seven. Marko has toured with I Solisti Di Zagreb, as well as with such greats as Zvonko Bogdan and Miro Skoro. He performs regularly with the Jerry Grcevich Tamburica Orkestar and with Otrov and Harmonia.
• In 1998 Marko was the youngest person to ever receive the TAA founder’s award. Marko has degrees from Oberlin Conservatory and The Cleveland Institute of Music and is on the faculty of the Vamos School
  of Music. He has served on the staff at the Eastern European Folklife Center (EEFC), which runs internationally-acclaimed summer school programs to train Balkan musicians, singers and dancers. He has also taught classes in violin and tamburica.

Akiko Konishi - piano

• Akiko Konishi completed her undergraduate studies at Rice University with a double major in Music and English. She recently graduated with a Master's degree as a full-scholarship student of pianist Abbey Simon from the University of Houston. She has performed with the Shepherd School Symphony as a winner of Rice University's concerto competition, and as a high school student in Los Angeles, California, she has also appeared with the Oakland Youth Orchestra. She has successfully competed in numerous other competitions and has appeared in concert at the Steinway Hall-Fort Worth Guest Artist Series as a finalist and winner of the Jury Discretionary Award in the Texas Steinway Society Career Development Award Competition, as well as in aconcerto performance at the D'Angelo Performing Arts Center in Erie, Pennsylvania, as a finalist of the D'Angelo International Young Artist Competition.
• As a participant in summer programs such as the Aspen Music Festival and the Prague International Piano Masterclasses, she has worked with artists such as Christopher Elton, Gyorgy Sandor, Alexander Jenner, Menahem Pressler, Horatio Gutierrez and Ursula Oppens. Her previous teachers include Dr. Robert Roux, John and Antoinette Perry and Dr. Andor Kiszeley. She currently attends Yale University as a graduate student of Peter Frankl.

James Jaffe -
upright & electric bass

• James Jaffe began playing music at the age of 11. After studying multiple instruments he focused on the bass. A native of the Chicagoland area, he studied at the College of Dupage and finished his studies at Elmhurst College where he received a B.A. in Music with focus in jazz. He studied bass with Ken Haebich and Virginia Dixon, and studied jazz with guitarist Frank Portolese and pianist Frank Caruso.
• Since graduating from Elmhurst in 2008, James has been teaching lessons and playing with various groups around Chicago and its suburbs. He is a member of the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra, local folk group The Howl, and subs for jazz and country bluegrass bands in the area. He is also a registered Suzuki bass teacher.

Matt McGuire - guitar

• Matt McGuire studied classical guitar at Northwestern University with Anne Waller and jazz with Mike Kocour. After earning his Bachelors of Music and Masters of Music, he began teaching in Chicago and performing in a variety of settings, ranging from rock with Gareth Woods to jazz with the Matt McGuire trio.
• In 2008 he began working as a guitarist in the cruise ship industry. After two and a half years and seven different ships, he returned to Chicago. Matt teaches a wide variety of methods and styles of guitar, allowing each student to pursue their musical interests while gaining a solid technical foundation.

Amber Walton-Amar - cello

• Amber Walton-Amar began playing cello at age 3 after hearing a performance by Canadian/Israeli cellist Ofra Harnoy. Upon moving to Toronto from rural Ontario, Amber studied with cellist Coenraad Bloemendal for 9 years. She later moved to Holland to continue her studies in Amsterdam. In 2001 she returned to Canada and obtained a Bachelors degree in cello performance from the University of Toronto where she studied with cellist Simon Fryer. In 2008 she moved to Chicago to study with Professor Hans Jensen of Northwestern University. Amber then completed her Masters degree at DePaul University under the tutelage of Professor Stephen Balderston.
• Ms. Walton-Amar has attended festivals such as the Casalmaggiore International Chamber Music Institute in Italy, the Kronberg cello festival in Germany and various others throughout Canada. As a member of Toronto's Estlin String Quartet, Amber has performed in master classes given by the Tokyo, Guarneri, St. Lawrence, Penderecki, and Emerson String Quartets.
• In addition to being a devoted chamber and orchestral musician, Amber is a dedicated teacher. In Toronto she directed the chamber music and cello departments at the Regent Park School of Music for 10 years, a unique program which provided lessons for underprivileged children. She also taught at the Toronto Suzuki School and coached chamber music its summer music festival in French River, Ontario. Amber is currently teaching teaching and playing in Northwest Indiana and in Chicago.