Learn from Great Strings Teachers

Jezreel Houtz is an award-winning cellist and online private cello teacher. Within just three years of learning the cello, he performed as a soloist with the CKYO Symphony Orchestra. He has also won competitions including the BorchardtConcerto Competition and was named a finalist in the Hilton Head Concerto Competition.

Hi, my name is Andy. I've been teaching music professionally for the past 15 years. In that time, I've worked with students of almost every conceivable age and ability level on a wide variety of instruments (ukulele, guitar, bass guitar, banjo, harmonica, piano) and am here to help make your musical dreams come true.

Ben Shanblatt is a guitarist, composer, and educator based in NYC. He has served as a sideman, session musician, touring guitarist, and bandleader in virtually all styles of contemporary music. Some venues Ben has played include Smalls Jazz Club, The Knitting Factory, The Cutting Room, and Nublu among many others.

Violinist/violist, composer, and visual artist Leah Asher is an avid performer of contemporary music and creator of new artistic works. Leah is a member of The Rhythm Method string quartet, the violin-piano duo Aether Eos, and co-creator of the series ‘Meaningless Work’ with Nicolee Kuester.

I’ve been teaching and performing music in the Washington, D.C. area for over three decades. My solo classical guitar performances have garnered me recognition, but I’ve also played in various musical ensembles, ranging from flamenco to jazz to rock. I studied Classical Guitar at Northern Virginia Community College and George Mason University.

Kira Bayer is a classically trained violinist from San Francisco, California. She has been playing the violin since age 7, and decided to pursue music at 14. She is now a 2nd year undergraduate student at New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. She is currently studying with Kristopher Tong of the Borromeo Quartet.

She began her studies at the Collegium Musicum and then at the López Buchardo National Conservatory of Music in Buenos Aires. As a violinist she was part of the Academic Orchestra of the Teatro Colón, the Chamber Orchestra of the National Congress, the Municipal Orchestra of Avellaneda, the Marta Argerich Chamber Orchestra, among others.

Daphne Manavopoulos is a violinist and teacher specializing in historical and modern violin. Born in Montreal to a Greek father and Canadian mother, she took her first violin lessons with Theodora Stathopoulos and at the McGill Conservatory of Music with Jean Grimard at age three.

Violinist Emelyn Bashour (BM, Eastman School of Music; MM, University of Michigan) has performed across North and South America. During her studies she served as concertmaster of both U-M’s University Symphony Orchestra and the Eastman Philharmonia. She is also an alum of the New England Conservatory Preparatory School.

John Gray has been teaching since 2011, privately and in public and private schools throughout the New York Tri-state area and online. John teaches private lessons on bass (upright and electric), guitar, piano, ukulele, voice, and ensemble music classes. John is a passionate music educator who works hard to tailor lessons to students of all ages and abilities.