Jennifer Cappelli

Jennifer Cappelli is a graduate of Indiana University where she earned both her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Violin Performance as a student of Josef Gingold.
Following her graduation from Indiana, Ms. Cappelli spent six years with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra before returning to her native Chicago where she is a highly sought after teacher and performer.
As a member of the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra's first violin section, Jennifer has performed with that orchestra for the past eleven seasons. She has been a substitute player with the Chicago and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestras, and has acted as Concertmaster for the Lakeshore Symphony Orchestra and Assistant Concertmaster of the Chicago Philharmonic and Chicagoland Pops Orchestras.
Ms. Cappelli has also performed with Music of the Baroque, the Joffrey Ballet, the Ravinia Festival Orchestra and the Fulcrum Point New Music Project in Chicago.
She was a featured soloist with the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the Chicago Businessman's Orchestra, and has performed in recital throughout the Midwest.
She is a winner of the Society of American Musicians, St. Paul Federal and Artist Presentation Society competitions.
Ms. Cappelli has participated in the television productions for PBS Soundstage, performed live with The Three Tenors, and was a part of the orchestra for the opening of acclaimed Broadway show "The Producers".
As a teacher, Jennifer Cappelli has trained and mentored young violinists who have attended the Aspen, Interlochen, Tanglewood, Music Academy of the West, Rocky Ridge, Marlboro and Sewanee Music Festivals, and have been leading members of the Chicago Youth Symphony and the Chicago Civic Orchestra.
Her students have won numerous awards including the Society of American Musicians, Geneva, Oak Park Symphony Concerto Competition, the MacDowell Artists Association and the Corpus Christie International Music Competitions., in addition to college scholarships including a full tuition scholarship to the Juilliard School and a position in the first violin section of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
As a chamber musician, Jennifer Cappelli has performed as part of the WKFUO "From the Garden, Live" radio series in St. Louis, the Galena Chamber Music Festival, the St. Louis Symphony Music Marathon, and the LSTC Chamber Music Series in Chicago.
Ms. Cappelli is from a family of professional musicians who teach and perform throughout the Chicago and San Francisco areas.

Ayako Kikuchi

Ayako holds both a Bachelors degree and Masters degree in Violin performance from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University where she studied with Yuko Mori and Cyrus Forough.

Ayako began her musical training on piano at age four having studied with Renee Robbins, Dickran Atamian and jazz improvisation with Carl Alexius.  At age six, Ayako was invited to perform with Shinichi Suzuki at the Tenth Suzuki Method International Convention in Adlaide, Austraila. Ayako is a winner of the Ann Arbor Bach Festival and first prize winner of the Ann Arbor Piano Teachers Guild Foundation Award.
 
Ayako was also accepted to the Chicago College of Performing Arts as a pianist but chose to focus on Violin only in College. As a violinist, Ayako was the second Violinist in the Iridis String Quartet which won first runner up at the MASTA Chamber Music Competition. Currently, Ayako is a freelance violinist in the Chicago area performing in various ensembles and maintains a busy teaching schedule.