Mimi Zweig is currently Professor of Violin at the Jacobs School of Music and Director of the Jacobs School of Music 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. In 2019 Mimi Zweig was the recipient of the ASTA Artist Teacher Award. Her students have won numerous competitions and teach and perform worldwide.
Brenda Brenner is the Eugene O’Brien Bicentennial Executive Associate Dean (Interim) and Associate Professor of Music Education in the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she specializes in string music education, teaching applied violin, as well as courses in violin and string pedagogy. She 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 an underserved school is taught violin as part of the curriculum – Brenner is researching the cognitive, academic and social outcomes of early instrumental music instruction. An active performer of chamber music throughout the United States, Brenner partners with pianist Kenneth Huber and 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. She is an active international clinician, with recent appearances at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, the ASTA National Conferences, and at Music Educators Conferences throughout the United States. Brenner is a Past President of the American String Teachers Association.
James Przygocki is Professor of Music at the University of Wyoming where he teaches viola, violin pedagogy and music education courses. In addition to his work with university students Mr. Przygocki teaches pre-college students for the String Academy of Wyoming and is the director of University of Wyoming String Project. Mr. Przygocki is active as a performer, conductor and clinician. He performs regularly with University of Wyoming faculty as a member of the Summit Chamber Players and serves as principal violist with the Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra. He is active as a soloist and chamber musician, having performed in Europe, China, Brazil, and around the U.S. He has recorded for AK/Coburg, CRI and Indiana University Press. His viola transcriptions have been published by One World Strings.
Sherry Sinift is the director of the String Academy of Wyoming, a member of the Summit Chamber Players, adjunct faculty member of the University of Wyoming and Administrative Coordinator and Supervising Teacher for the UW String Project. Ms. Sinift is former associate concertmaster of the Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra and performed throughout the United States and Europe as a member of the Hawthorne Quartet . Ms. Sinift has built exceptional violin classes at the String Academy of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, Lawrence University and Indiana University. She holds a MM in performance from Indiana University and a BM in performance from Western Michigan University. Her influential teachers included Tadeusz Wronski, Mimi Zweig, Rostislav Dubinsky, and Gerald Fischbach.