Chicago Area Violin Teachers

Aleksa Kuzma

Miss Kuzma is a passionate and motivated violin and viola instructor who teaches beginners through advanced students. She earned my Masters degree in Viola Performance from DePaul University in June 2017. She teaches Suzuki and traditional methods to beginners through advanced students.  Miss Kuzma is a violist in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and performs with Yo-Yo Ma both in Chicago and on tour. 

Miss Kuzma's students love being able to pick there own pieces, so she usually combines a classical piece with a piece of their choosing. When teaching, she creates her own lesson plans based on what she has been taught and what has been successful. However, each student learns differently and Miss Kuzma is eager to work with students according to their learning styles.

Nothing is more rewarding than when students leave the lesson more motivated than when they came. Miss Kuzma understands that it is a challenge for students to go home and practice, so she address this by setting goals for the student. She wants the student to leave the lesson feeling proud of what they accomplished and motivated to continue learning. 

Laura Boekeloo

Laura Boekeloo, originally from Kalamazoo, Michigan, recently earned her Master of Music Degree in Viola Performance from Roosevelt University's Chicago College of Performing Arts, where she studied under Roland Vamos. She previously earned her Bachelor of Music Degree in Viola Performance from Western Michigan University, where she studied under Igor Fedotov. Laura began studying viola at the age of ten and quickly became an avid member of the Kalamazoo Prep String Orchestra and the Kalamazoo Junior Symphony Orchestra. Throughout her studies, Laura performed regularly with the Western Michigan Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago College of Performing Arts Symphony Orchestra. Ensembles with which she has performed professionally include the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra, Holland Symphony Orchestra, and Whiting Park Symphony Orchestra. She has performed internationally in Puebla, Mexico; Casalmaggiore, Italy; and St. Petersburg, Russia.

Laura has over four years of experience teaching Violin, Viola, and Piano to students of all ages. In Kalamazoo, Laura tutored young students in Violin, Viola, and Piano through Thompson Tutoring. In Chicago, she teaches students of all ages and skill levels in Violin, Viola, and Piano. Laura strives to foster enthusiasm for learning music among all of her students.

Nissa Anderson

Nissa Anderson has loved music for as long as she can remember. At three years old she was dancing around her dad's office as he played Stevie Ray Vaughn. At four she was begging her older brothers to teach her something on their guitars. By eight she was teaching herself "I Want It That Way" on her MIDI keyboard and by nine she finally decided to play the violin through her school orchestra program. She participated in orchestra from fourth grade until she graduated from Lake Forest College in 2016, having studied the violin intensively under Rolando Freitag and Dr. Kate Carter. Interested in both musical performance and education, Ms. Anderson received her Music Education degree to become not only a diverse performer, but a capable educator. 

Since college, Ms. Anderson has focused on honing her skills as an educator, having taught in both public school and private lesson settings. She has worked as an orchestra teacher in both Elmhurst and St. Charles in addition to maintaining a thriving private studio, serving diverse learners aged six to 60. With a breadth of teaching experience already under her belt, Ms. Anderson strives to personalize each lesson to the student and their individual goals, finding practical approaches to arm students with a solid foundation of musical knowledge and technique. Always looking to improve her teaching skills she has also begun her training in the renowned Suzuki method, studying under Dr. Tanya Carey and Ed Kreitman. She continues to develop her skills as a violinist, having recently performed with the Chicagoland Educators Orchestra and is looking forward to joining a community symphony in the near future to fully embrace both music performance and music education.
 

Seth Pae

Seth Pae, originally from Cleveland Ohio, has been playing the viola since age 9. He got his start in a public school music program. His first primary teacher was Lembi Veskimets of the Cleveland Orchestra. Next, he studied with Louise Zeitlin as he earned his bachelor's degree at Baldwin Wallace University. Seth completed both Master's Degree and Artist Diploma programs at DePaul University while studying with Wei-Ting Quo of the Chicago Symphony and legendary Chicago violist, Rami Solomonow. Seth was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago from 2015-2018 and performed with the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra as their Project Inclusion Fellow in the summer of 2018. He currently performs with the Chicago Sinfonietta as the Project Inclusion Fellow. 

Seth is a champion of playing new music. He frequently works with Chicago based composers and premiers new works. It is his mission to perform music by women and people of color as often as possible. 

In his free time Seth is a certified soccer referee, an amateur runner and plays in various rec sports leagues.