- Mimi Zweig, Director
- Brenda Brenner, Co-Director
- Christina Hightower, Administrator and Coordinator for new students
- Gwen Chan
- Danielle Girard
- Emily Nehus
- Maki Yamagata
- Seo Yon Park
Cello Faculty
- Helen Shively Ford
- Erica Ogihara
Music Theory Faculty
Reed Mullican
Mimi Zweig is currently Professor of Violin at the Jacobs School of Music 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, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile and Europe. She has produced Mimi Zweig StringPedagogy.com, an innovative web-based teaching tool, which is being accessed worldwide. In the spring of 2006, American Public Television released the Emmy-nominated documentary, Circling Around — The Violin Virtuosi, featuring String Academy students. Her students have won numerous competitions and teach and perform worldwide.
e-mail Mimi Zweig: zweig@indiana.edu
tel. 812.855.8334
Brenda Brenner is Professor of Music Education and Director of the Jacobs Academy at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. She specializes in string music education, teaching applied violin, as well as courses in violin and string pedagogy. Brenner received a BM and BME from Wichita State University and an MM and DMA in violin performance from the Eastman School of Music. In addition to her appointment to the Music Education Department, she serves as co-director of the IU String Academy, a position she has held since 1993. Her String Academy students have been featured in concerts in major venues throughout the United States and have presented tours throughout Europe, Asia, and South America. As director of the Fairview Project – a program in which every first and second grader in a Title I school learns violin as part of the curriculum – Brenner researches the cognitive, academic, and social outcomes of early instrumental music instruction. An active performer of chamber music throughout the United States, Brenner partners with her husband, organist Christopher Young. She also teaches and conducts at the IU Summer String Academy and is Assistant Director of the IU Retreat for Professional Violinists and Violists. Brenner is an active international clinician, is a Past President of the American String Teachers Association, and is on the board of the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic.
e-mail Brenda Brenner: bbrenner@indiana.edu
tel. 812.855.0989
Christina Hightower 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. She has served as the violin coordinator of the Indianapolis String Academy. Currently, in addition to teaching violin, Christina is the Administrative Assistant for the IU String Academy.
e-mail Christina Hightower: crunnacl@indiana.edu
tel. 812.345.9331
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 Gwen Chan: gwenchan@juno.com
tel. 812.318.0577
Emily Nehus studied violin and music education at IU Jacobs School of Music with Brenda Brenner, Mimi Zweig, Ik-Hwan Bae and Baroque Violin with Stanley Ritchie. Emily also studied with Tiberius Klausner at UMKC Conservatory, and holds a BA degree in English from Grinnell College. In addition to 20 years of teaching for String Academy, she created the Bloomington Project School’s grant-winning Strings program, where she taught for seven years. Currently Emily performs with Cardinal Stage Theatre (Les Miserables, 1776, Shrek: The Musical, West Side Story, Oliver, Peter Pan) and IU Theatre (Into the Woods, Big Fish), and with vocal groups Quarryland Mens’s Chorus and Voces Novae. Emily builds houses with Habitat for Humanity, and will gladly recruit anyone interested in swinging a hammer for a good cause.
e-mail Emily Nehus: enehus@iu.edu
Danielle Girard is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Music Education degree at the Jacobs School of Music. She previously completed Master of Music Performance (violin) and a Bachelor of Music Performance (violin) degrees from the University of Toronto and the University of Western Ontario, respectively. For several years, she held a violin teaching position at Sistema New Brunswick, a non-profit organization in New Brunswick, Canada. She is currently studying with Mimi Zweig and Brenda Brenner.
e-mail: dgirard@iu.edu
Maki Yamagata is currently studying with the world-renowned violist and composer, Atar Arad, and pursuing a doctorate degree in music performance at the Jacobs School of Music. She holds both bachelor’s and master’s degree in music performance from University of Victoria, Canada, under the tutelage of Joanna Hood of the Lafayette String Quartet. She was an active teacher in Canada before moving to US and is now studying pedagogy with Mimi Zweig.
e-mail: makiyama@iu.edu
Seo Yon Park is a violinist and educator from South Korea with a strong background inperformance and teaching. She has received several awards, including 2nd Prize at the InternationalArtists Competition and 1st Prize at both the Lima Young Artist Competition and the Alexander &Buono International String Competition.She has performed in numerous concert halls with the orchestra and as a soloist, across the CzechRepublic in Litomysl, at Carnegie Hall as a winner of the Alexander & Buono International StringCompetition, Studzinski Recital Hall, Salon de Musique in Seoul, South Korea, and appearances atthe Musical Time Indiana Candlelight Concert. Other notable performances include appearances atIndiana University’s International Students’ Noon Concert Series, Lotte Concert Hall in Seoul with the One-Korea Youth Orchestra, and Finney Chapel at Oberlin Conservatory as a selected performerin the Graduation concert. As a dedicated orchestra member, she was appointed as a member of the One-Korea YouthOrchestra, conducted by Myung-whun Chung, and served as concertmaster of the Oberlin Orchestra. Her performance credits also include a recording of Ricardo Zohn’s Muldoon, CandelabraIII at Oberlin Conservatory in 2018.She has been a recipient of prestigious scholarships, including the Indiana University John P.Richardson Jr. Violin Scholarship, the Oberlin Conservatory International Grant & Dean Scholarship,the Kenneth Warren & Son Violin Scholarship, and the Interlochen Arts Academy Merit Scholarship.Throughout her education, Seo Yon has been mentored by esteemed violinists, including Mimi Zweig, Kevork Mardirossian, and Milan Vitek. She has also participated in masterclasses withrenowned artists such as Noah Bendix-Balgley, Simin Ganatra, Pamela Frank, Alexi Kenney, theMontrose Piano Trio, Joel Smirnoff, Domenic Salerni, and Svetlin Roussev.She has attended international music festivals, including the Bowdoin International Music Festival,the Saar International Violin Festival, and the Sarasota Music Festival. She was also selected toparticipate in the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra in 2020 before the program’s cancellationdue to COVID-19. Her festival experience extends to the Litomysl Master Class in the CzechRepublic, the Aspen Music Festival and School, the Great Mountains Music Festival in South Korea,and the Meadowmount School of Music.In addition to performing, Seo Yon has extensive teaching experience. In January 2025, she joined the Indiana University String Academy. She has also contributed to community music education projects such as Kids’ Compose, working as an assistant instrumentalist for Charles Ives’ project in local elementary schools. From 2022 to 2024, she wasappointed as an Associate Instructor of Violin at Indiana University, where she taught elective andsecondary violin students. Her passion for accessible music education was further evident in her role as an assistant violin teacher at Fairview Elementary School, a Title I school, in 2022, and as an Associate Instructor at Oberlin Conservatory. A graduate of Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan, she earned a Bachelor of Music from Oberlin College and Conservatory and a Master of Music in Violin Performance from Indiana University. She is currently pursuing a Doctor of Music degree in Violin Performance at IndianaUniversity Jacobs School of Music, with a minor in Music Education.
e-mail: seoypark@iu.edu
Cello
Helen Shively Ford, cello and chamber music. Previously, Helen was on the faculty of the MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis, where she also served as string department chair and chamber music coordinator. She earned her BM and MM degrees at the University of Minnesota, studying with Tanya Remenikova and Robert Jamieson. Helen was a member of the Minneapolis-based Sartory String Quartet and performed with the Minnesota Opera Orchestra, Minnesota Contemporary Ensemble, and other regional ensembles. She was 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. Currently, Helen performs as a member of the Bloomington chamber music collective, Studio in Bloom.
e-mail: hsford@indiana.edu
Hailing from Miami Florida, Erica Ogihara is a passionate performer and teacher. Her repertoire ranges from works as recent as John Adams’ riveting Fellow Traveller to familiar classics such as Franz Joseph Haydn’s beloved Opus 64 String Quartets. Her recent performance highlights include giving the New York City premier of Lisa Heffter’s Carbon Fiber String Quartet with the Continuum Chamber Collective, a musical group focused on performing underrepresented compositions. Erica has put together numerous chamber projects which have led to her participation in masterclasses with artists such as composer Nico Muhly, pianist Ursula Oppens, and violinist Ida Kavafian. Heard as a soloist with orchestras including the Alhambra Symphony Orchestra and the Ars Flores Symphony Orchestra, Erica has also been a laureate at several competitions including the Walenstein Music Competition and the Artist Series of Sarasota Competition.
As an educator, Erica wishes to cultivate a love of music through her teaching and provide music education to as many people as possible. A Suzuki Association of the Americas registered instructor, she completed her teacher training in books 1-8 with Pam Devenport and books 9-10 with Tanya Carey. As a 2021 Fellow at ArtistYear, the premier AmeriCorps program dedicated for artists, Erica taught music and cello to District I Schools in Colorado’s Roaring Fork Valley through her service year. In addition, she taught cello lessons and group classes to young cellists at The School for Strings’ Start-Up Program and was a Morse Teaching Fellow and Gluck Community Engagement Fellow through The Juilliard School.
Erica began her studies on the cello at the age of 10 with Audrey Pilafian. She is pursuing her Doctorate in Cello Performance at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music under the tutelage of Brandon Vamos of the Pacifica Quartet. Erica completed her Master’s Degree from The Juilliard School and also holds a Bachelor of Music from Oberlin Conservatory. Her teachers include Darrett Adkins, Natasha Brofsky, Ross Harbaugh, and Judith Serkin.
e-mail: eogihar@iu.edu
Music Theory
Reed Mullican is a PhD music theory student and assistant instructor at Indiana University. Previously, he received a BM in vocal performance at SMU (Dallas, TX) and a master’s degree in music theory at TCU (Ft. Worth, TX). While he loves analyzing contemporary music and researching advanced ear training techniques, his true passion is making difficult concepts accessible, combining complex ideas and theories with a practical, pedagogical, and historically informed approach. Additionally, Reed has been accruing conducting experience, conducting three contemporary works by IU composers and a chamber arrangement of Richard Straus’s Four Last Songs in the last year. He hopes that this practical performance experience, combined with his love for theory and teaching, can help students have those “lightbulb moments” where something confusing becomes clear and applicable to their musical life.
e-mail: krmullic@iu.edu