Pre-College String Program: Indiana University Jacobs School of Music

String Academy Faculty

Violin and Viola Faculty

Cello Faculty

Mimi Zweig is currently a professor of violin and director of the Indiana University String Academy. Since 1972 she has developed pre-college string programs across the United States. She has given master classes and pedagogy workshops in the United States, Mexico, Canada, Israel, Japan and Europe. She has recently produced StringPedagogy.com, an innovative web-based teaching tool. In the spring of 2006, American Public Television released the documentary, “Circling Around-The Violin Virtuosi” which features String Academy students. The String Academy and Mimi Zweig are recent recipients of a Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation grant which supports the teaching of gifted violinists. Her students have won numerous competitions, and teach and perform worldwide.

Brenda Brenner is Associate Professor of Music Education in the IU Jacobs School of Music and Assistant Director of the IU String Academy. She specializes in the area of string music education, teaching applied violin and courses in violin and string pedagogy. Her String Academy students have been featured in concerts in major venues throughout the United States and Europe. Prior to her arrival at IU, Dr. Brenner was Assistant Professor of Music at Carleton College. Active as a performer, she received her Doctorate in Musical Arts in Violin Performance from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Sylvia Rosenberg, Donald Weilerstein, and the Cleveland Quartet. A member of the award-winning Augustine Quartet, she was a finalist or prize winner in several competitions, including the Banff International Quartet Competition, Concert Artists Guild, Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, and Cleveland Competition, and has worked with the Cleveland, Toyko, Juilliard, American and Emerson Quartets.

Christina Hightower (violin) has earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Utah, where she studied with Leonard Braus, served as concertmaster of the University Philharmonic and was a member of the Honors Quartet. She received the Master of Music degree from Indiana University while a student of Mimi Zweig. Most recently, she served as violin coordinator of the Indianapolis String Academy.

Gwen Chan (violin) Gwen Chan holds a Master of Music from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she studied with Mimi Zweig, and a Bachelor's degree from the Eastman School of Music. Her performing experience includes work both as soloist and orchestral musician, and she is active as a chamber musician. She has extensive experience as a teacher both at the college and pre-college levels, and also serves as violin and viola faculty at Anderson University. Her students have included prizewinners in both local and state competitions.

e-mail: gwenchan@juno.com
tel. 812.334.3642

Emily Nehus (violin) is completing graduate studies in violin and music education at IU, where she has studied violin with Brenda Brenner, Mimi Zweig, Ik-Hwan Bae and Stephen Boe, and Baroque violin with Stanley Ritchie. Since earning her BA in English from Grinnell College in 1991, Emily has taught violin for pre-college programs at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory and Columbus Pro Musica in Columbus, IN. Recent performances include solo and chamber recitals in Indiana and Missouri, and orchestral performances with Fort Wayne, Columbus and Evansville Philharmonics, and the IU Philharmonic, Concert and Baroque Orchestras.

Joan Doike (violin)

e-mail: joandoike@hotmail.com
tel. 812.339.1819

Misha Shapiro (violin) is the Associate Instructor for the Jacobs School of Music String Academy. She completed her BM degree at IU where she studied with Mimi Zweig and Atar Arad. She is currently pursuing a MM degree with Atar Arad. During the summers she is a member of the Suisse Romande Orchestre at her home in Geneva Switzerland. She has been a member of the String Academy faculty for the past two years.

Susan Moses: The cello branch of the String Academy is led by Susan Moses, Assistant Director. Susan was deeply impressed by the work of Mimi Zweig when she was a Visiting Professor at the School of Music in 1994-95; so much so that she decided to join with Mimi Zweig in 1996 and develop a cello school combining Zweig's methods and philosophy with those of the great cello masters Popper, Matz, Dotzauer and Lee. Susan earned her degrees with the highest honors at Indiana and Yale Universities before completing her studies at the renowned Jascha-Heifetz-Gregor Piatigorsky Master Classes at the University of Southern California. She was awarded a Ford Foundation Prize and has performed throughout the world in recital, with orchestra and as the solo violoncellist of the celebrated I SOLISTI VENETI. While living in Europe she taught for Boston University, in the Conservatoires Regionales de France and founded the Chicago String Trio that was awarded a special Prize by the University of Milan for outstanding contributions in chamber music. She records for ERATO and CONCERTO and was nominated for a Grand Prix du Disque. Susan also was recognized by the University of Padua for her outstanding research on the school of Giuseppe Tartini in the 1700’s and created for Trinity College a special music program for their Italian Elderhostel where she is principal lecturer and performer. She presently heads the cello department of the String Academy at Indiana University, has been on the faculty of Oberlin College and represents the United States in International cello competitions.

Helen Ford (cello) received her B.M. and M.M. degrees from the University of Minnesota where she studied with Tanya Remenikova and Robert Jamieson. In Minneapolis, Helen was a member of the Sartory string quartet and performed with the Minnesota Opera Orchestra, Philomusica, Minnesota Contemporary Ensemble, the Plymouth Music Series Orchestra, and other regional ensembles. Recently, Helen has been active in the contemporary music scene in Austin, Texas, as a member of the group Audio Inversions and as a frequent guest with the University of Texas New Music Ensemble.

For more than a decade, Helen was an instructor of cello and chamber music at the MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis, where she also served as string department chair and chamber music coordinator. Helen has also been on the faculty of the Armstrong Community Music School in Austin and was one of the founders of the Sartory String Quartet Institute.

Janus Kubiak (cello)
e-mail Janus Kubiak
tel. 812.335.9116

Cara Miller (cello) is currently pursuing her doctoral degree at Indiana University, Bloomington, in cello performance. She holds the position of assistant instructor and assistant to Professor Emilio Colon. She has studied and taken lessons with many leading cellists including Janos Starker, Anne Martindale-Williams, Mikhail Istomin, and Andres Diaz. She has played in masterclasses for Mstislav Rostropovich, Janos Starker, Sharon Robinson and the Kodaly String Quartet. She has soloed with the Reading Symphony Orchestra and the Duquesne Symphony Orchestra. As an active chamber musician, she has most recently served as the coordinator of the Ashlawn Opera Chamber Players. She has held the position of principal cellist of the Ashlawn Opera Festival for the past three years. She is certfied in the Suzuki Method and has had experience with the Alexander Technique, Feldenkreis, and Pilates.

Miss Miller pursues an active teaching schedule as a faculty member of the Indiana University String Academy and the Indianapolis Academy of Music.

tel. 717.385.9183