Kelli Ingels is the founder and director of the Norman School for Strings, a Suzuki school located in her home town of Norman, Oklahoma. Kelli completed her education in Norman at the University of Oklahoma and won a position with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic upon graduation. In her many years in that position, she has performed the greatest works for orchestra and shared the stage with acclaimed concert artists, but her biggest love is teaching and Suzuki education. After 30 years of teaching, Kelli is a believer in life-long learning and has spent her summers traveling around the country supplementing her Suzuki training. She has served as a guest clinician at the North Texas School of Talent Education and on the faculty at the Greater Austin Suzuki Institute and the Acadiana Suzuki Strings Institute.
Rachel Neece started classical guitar lessons at age 10 in her home state of Texas. She completed her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music in guitar performance with Nicholas Goluses at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Rachel also holds a Master of Arts degree in Musicology from Eastman and enjoys researching early music. While in graduate school, she began teaching at a private music studio. In 2019, she relocated to Stevens Point, Wisconsin, where she trained in the Suzuki method with MaryLou Roberts and Mychal Gendron and taught for four years at the nationally-recognized Aber Suzuki Center. In her spare time, Rachel enjoys reading, puzzles, and petting any dog she sees.
Natalie Emrich began violin at age four and studied Suzuki violin under Kelli Ingels from age ten until she graduated high school. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Music at the University of Oklahoma. Natalie did her Suzuki teacher training with James Hutchins and is registered with The Suzuki Association of the Americas. She currently studies violin under Dr. Gregory Lee and is a member of the Claeys String Quartet.
A native of San Antonio, Texas, Victoria Day is a cellist, teacher, and adjudicator currently living in Norman, Oklahoma. Victoria has a Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance and Bachelor of Music Education degrees from The University of Oklahoma. While there she was an active performer in the OU Symphony Orchestra, serving as principal, section, and undergraduate orchestra assistant. In addition to this, Victoria has performed regularly in a variety of student quartets and with OU’s New Century Ensemble. She has participated in the FOOSA Summer Festival, Sewanee Summer Music Festival, and Manhattan in the Mountains Music Festival, where she studied with many accomplished instructors such as Marion Feldman, Thomas Loewenheim, and Bonnie Hampton. Her primary instructors include Jonathan Ruck, Ignacio Gallego, and Phyllis Kline. When not playing cello, Victoria enjoys cooking, crossword puzzles and spending time with her friends.
Dr. Ana Maria Wilson Vandervort began her violin studies at the age of three as a student of the Suzuki Method. She earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in violin performance at the University of Oklahoma, and a Master of Music degree in violin performance and violin Suzuki pedagogy as well as the Professional Studies Diploma from the Cleveland Institute of Music. Ana Maria graduated cum laude with dual degrees in international studies and violin performance from Bradley University. In 2003, she spent two months in Japan studying at the International Suzuki Academy in Matsumoto, where she had the opportunity to work with Koji Toyoda. She performs regularly at the Peoria Bach Festival in Illinois on both violin and viola, and is currently a first violinist for the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra and a violist for the Norman Philharmonic Orchestra.
Ana Maria has been a participant of music festivals in Canada, Italy, and the United States such as Aria, Musicorda, Chautauqua, the Texas Music Festival, Encore, and Zephyr. Her violin teachers have included Rossitza Jekova, Gary Kosloski, Felicia Moye, Stephen Rose, Marcia Henry Liebenow, Betsy Jones, and Patricia Hackler. She studied viola with Evan Wilson, Joanna Mendoza, Matthew Dane, and Marcia Henry Liebenow. Ana Maria’s Suzuki pedagogy instruction has been from Michele Higa George, Teri Einfeldt, Diane Slone, Nancy Lokken, and Christie Felsing, and she was named a Shinichi Suzuki Teacher Training Scholar at the American Suzuki Institute in Stevens Point, Wisconsin during 2011. Ana Maria wrote her doctoral dissertation on Margery Aber, a pioneer in the Suzuki Method in the United States who started the first Suzuki institute outside of Japan in Stevens Point.
Ana Maria has been a participant of music festivals in Canada, Italy, and the United States such as Aria, Musicorda, Chautauqua, the Texas Music Festival, Encore, and Zephyr. Her violin teachers have included Rossitza Jekova, Gary Kosloski, Felicia Moye, Stephen Rose, Marcia Henry Liebenow, Betsy Jones, and Patricia Hackler. She studied viola with Evan Wilson, Joanna Mendoza, Matthew Dane, and Marcia Henry Liebenow. Ana Maria’s Suzuki pedagogy instruction has been from Michele Higa George, Teri Einfeldt, Diane Slone, Nancy Lokken, and Christie Felsing, and she was named a Shinichi Suzuki Teacher Training Scholar at the American Suzuki Institute in Stevens Point, Wisconsin during 2011. Ana Maria wrote her doctoral dissertation on Margery Aber, a pioneer in the Suzuki Method in the United States who started the first Suzuki institute outside of Japan in Stevens Point.
Emily Gosma Stoops began her cello studies in Davenport, Iowa at the age of four, and began studying piano at the age of 7. She holds a Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan, and Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Arts in English degrees from the University of Iowa. She has studied and performed in prominent summer music programs including Banff(Alberta, Canada) and Encore (Cleveland, OH). Her most influential traditional cello teachers include Anthony Elliott and Charles Wendt. She studied Suzuki cello pedagogy with Tanya Carey at Western Illinois University and traditional string pedagogy with Robert Culver at the University of Michigan.
Emily enjoys a balanced career of teaching, orchestral playing, and chamber music performance and coaching. She runs a yearly summer cello workshop,“Cellobration”, at the Norman School for Strings and teaches cello, chamber music and sectionals yearly at the Great Midwestern String Clinic, which in 2013 celebrated its 15th anniversary, engaging over 80 young musicians in intense musical study.
Emily is a member of the cello section of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, a position she has held since moving to Oklahoma in 2006. Her other extensive orchestral experience includes performing in the Quad City, Toledo, Flint, Lawton, Saginaw, and Ann Arbor symphony orchestras. Her students are highly successful and can be found in top chairs not only in their school orchestras, but in the Oklahoma Youth Orchestras and in the Oklahoma All-State orchestra as well. They consistently receive top ratings at regional and state solo contests, and participate regularly in regional music camps, including the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute at Quartz Mountain. Emily lives in Norman with her husband Anthony, who is Professor of Double Bass at the University of Oklahoma, and their two young children, who are learning to play the violin and cello.
Emily enjoys a balanced career of teaching, orchestral playing, and chamber music performance and coaching. She runs a yearly summer cello workshop,“Cellobration”, at the Norman School for Strings and teaches cello, chamber music and sectionals yearly at the Great Midwestern String Clinic, which in 2013 celebrated its 15th anniversary, engaging over 80 young musicians in intense musical study.
Emily is a member of the cello section of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, a position she has held since moving to Oklahoma in 2006. Her other extensive orchestral experience includes performing in the Quad City, Toledo, Flint, Lawton, Saginaw, and Ann Arbor symphony orchestras. Her students are highly successful and can be found in top chairs not only in their school orchestras, but in the Oklahoma Youth Orchestras and in the Oklahoma All-State orchestra as well. They consistently receive top ratings at regional and state solo contests, and participate regularly in regional music camps, including the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute at Quartz Mountain. Emily lives in Norman with her husband Anthony, who is Professor of Double Bass at the University of Oklahoma, and their two young children, who are learning to play the violin and cello.
Tova Olkinetzky is a native of Norman Oklahoma and began her musical training at the age of eight with Dr. Colbert Hackler at University School. With an innovative approach to education, University School focused on holistic education and greatly emphasized the importance of the cultural arts. This foundation helped to form Tova’s belief that creative expression is vital to healthy learning and living. As Shinichi Suzuki said, “It is necessary to be concerned about the importance of educating a really beautiful human spirit.”
Having graduated with distinction from the University of Oklahoma in Music Performance, Tova’s main teachers were Pierre d’Archambeau & Michael Ma: violin and Wayne Crouse: viola. She has played with numerous chamber and orchestral groups including Go For Baroque, Texas Baroque Ensemble, Lyric Theatre, Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, Lawton Philharmonic Orchestra, Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Norman Philharmonic Orchestra. Tova has also been a special instructor at the Oklahoma Baptist University, the Baptist Fine Arts Academy and the University of Oklahoma.
Having graduated with distinction from the University of Oklahoma in Music Performance, Tova’s main teachers were Pierre d’Archambeau & Michael Ma: violin and Wayne Crouse: viola. She has played with numerous chamber and orchestral groups including Go For Baroque, Texas Baroque Ensemble, Lyric Theatre, Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, Lawton Philharmonic Orchestra, Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Norman Philharmonic Orchestra. Tova has also been a special instructor at the Oklahoma Baptist University, the Baptist Fine Arts Academy and the University of Oklahoma.
(405) 818-9504 normanschoolforstrings@gmail.com