Our growing faculty includes the following experienced professional teachers who all
hold Master’s degrees in Music.
 Taka Matsunaga Lisa Lithall HaeRim Yoo 
 |
|
Naomi Matsunaga
Whun Kim
Myeong Su Park Yuriko Tanaka |
Taka Matsunaga, Violin/Viola, MA
Born in Fukuoka, Japan, Mr. Matsunaga began his violin studies at the age of 11 under Hikaru Ito who was awarded the Order of Rising Sun by the Japanese Government. He then studied the violin with Sadao Shirakura who was a member of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra of Tokyo.
After he came to the U.S. in 1998, he studied the violin with principal players of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra such as David Taylor, Joseph Golan and Robert Chen while attending the Chicago College of Performing Arts of Roosevelt University and Northeastern Illinois University, where he received a Master of Arts in Music under the direction of David Taylor. From 1999-2001, he was a regular member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago: a training orchestra of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In March of 2000, he made his debut at Carnegie Hall with the Civic Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Daniel Barenboim during the orchestra’s New York tour. In the summer of 2001, he won an audition of the National Orchestral Institute of the University of Maryland as a full-scholar musician.
Mr. Matsunaga has played the violin professionally with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, South Bend Symphony Orchestra, Whiting Park Festival Orchestra and Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra, where he served as an Assistant Concertmaster.
He is a good-standing member of the American String Teachers Association (ASTA).
Ms. Lithall holds her Bachelor of Arts from Northern Illinois University, where she studied with Marc Johnson. Her Masters degree was received from Western Illinois University, where the primary teacher was Tanya Carey. She has taught cello for over 20 years including Barrington High School, Suzuki-Orff School for Young Musicians, Barrington Suzuki Strings, Music for Youth of Arlington Heights.
As an active musician, she has been a member of the Northbrook Symphony Orchestra and Arabella Ensembles. Also, she holds her annual solo recitals and numerous church performances.
Ms. Lithall joined the faculty of the Midwest Conservatory of Music in June of 2007.
Ms. Yoo studied piano with Dmitry Rachmanov and Pawel Checinski and received her Bachelor’s degree in Music from Roosevelt University, Chicago. Her Masters degree was received from Northern Illinois University, where the primary teacher was William Goldenberg. She received Rudolph Ganz Scholarship while attending Roosevelt University and Graduate Assistantship in Accompanying from Northern Illinois University.
She has appeared in numerous concerts and recitals as a soloist, an accompanist and a chamber musician. She has also been teaching piano at Northern Illinois University Community School of the Arts, DeKalb, IL. In the Fall of 2008, Ms. Yoo won as a top winner at the 2008 Concerto Competition held at Northern Illinois University.
Currently, she has been pursuing her Performer’s Certificate in Piano Performance at Northern Illinois University and is a member of the Music Teachers National Association, Illinois State Music Teachers Association and Naperville Chapter of the Illinois State Music Teachers Association.
Ms. Yoo joined the faculty of the Midwest Conservatory of Music in August of 2008.
Naomi Matsunaga, Oboe/Piano, MA
Ms. Matsunaga holds a Master of Arts in Music from Northeastern Illinois University. She has studied oboe with Takahisa Shinmatsu, former Principal Oboe of the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Ray Still, former Principal Oboe of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and J. Ricardo Castenada, Principal Oboe of the Chicago Sinfonietta. She has appeared in the Northwest Indiana Symphony, Illinois Symphony and Illinois Philharmonic Orchestras.
She also holds a Piano Pedagogy Certificate from Elmhurst College, where she studied the piano under the direction of Linda Camp.
She has been a staff pianist of the Midwest Chamber Strings and accompanying for student recitals and music competitions.
She is a member of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA), Illinois State Music Teachers Association (ISMTA) and Northwest Suburban Music Teachers Association (NWSMTA).
Born in Seoul, Korea, Ms. Kim began her violin studies at the age of 7 at which time she immigrated with her family to the U.S. She attended Northwestern University where she studied with Dr. Myron Kartman and received a Bachelor of Music degree. She further attended The Juilliard School where she studied with Joseph Fuchs and received her Master of Music degree. She has studied with Marc Zinger and Albert Igolnikov in Chicago.
Ms. Kim has had coaching with Eugene Becker, Hamao Fujiwara, Fredelle Lack, Igor Ozim and William Lincer. She won first prize in the Solo and Ensemble Competition of Hawaii. She also received second prize in the Society of American Musicians Competition of Illinois, was a finalist in the Chicago Symphony Youth Auditions and received the Farwell Award from the Women's Musician Club of Chicago.
Ms. Kim presently teaches and performs as concertmaster with the Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra where she recently was soloist for Vivaldi's Four Seasons. She also plays in the first violin section of the Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra and free-lances in Chicago. She resides in the Chicagoland area with her husband Bernardo Arias and their two daughters, Claire and Esme.
Ms. Kim joined the faculty of the Midwest Conservatory of Music in May of 2008.
Myeong Su Park, Violin/Viola, MM
Mr. Park studied violin with Nam Yoon Kim and received his Bachelor’s degree in Music from Kyung Hee University in Korea. He was a concertmaster of the university orchestra and the leader of its chamber ensemble. After his graduation from the college, he played in the In-Cheon City Symphony Orchestra for seven seasons.
After he moved to the U.S., he studied violin with Cyrus Frough, Yuko Mori and Arron Shultz while attending the Chicago College of Performing Arts of Roosevelt University and the American Conservatory of Music, where he received his Master’s degree in Music in Violin Performance.
He has been a member of the Northbrook Symphony Orchestra and has played with the Rockford Symphony Orchestra. He has also played at numerous concerts in the Chicagoland area. He has been teaching many students both in Korea and in the U.S. and many of his students have won competitions and led their school orchestras. Currently, he is a music director and conductor at a church in Mt. Prospect, IL.
Mr. Park joined the faculty of the Midwest Conservatory of Music in June of 2008.
Yuriko Tanaka, Piano/Music Theory, MM
Ms. Tanaka studied piano in Japan under Naoyuki Inoue, Hiroko Kurai and Etsuko Tazaki, and she joined the piano adjunct faculty member of the School of Music at Mukogawa Women’s University of Hyogo, Japan.
After moving to the U.S., Ms. Tanaka further pursued graduate studies in piano performance at the Chicago College of Performing Arts of Roosevelt University, where her principal teachers were Ludmila Lazar and Annie Sherter. During her studies at Roosevelt, she won the first prize at the Irene Tintner International Piano Competition. She also performed for master classes by Edith Picht-Axenfeld and Richard Goode. Since she graduated from Roosevelt with honors, she has been teaching piano throughout the Chicago area.
Ms. Tanaka joined the faculty of the Midwest Conservatory of Music in September of 2008.
