Bio Category: young artist fellow

Apollo’s Fire Young Artist Fellow Hanna Bingham is currently an actively performing violinist in the greater Chicago area. Raised in Dekalb, Illinois, Hanna holds a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from Northern Illinois University, where she studied under Blaise Magniere as well as with soloist Yang Liu. Hanna also received her Masters Degree in String Performance from Northwestern University Bienen School of Music where she studied with Blair Milton and Desiree Ruhstrat. Hanna also studied with Ann Monztka Smelser, Okumura Kazuo, and Drew Lecher. She has soloed with a number of orchestras including the NIU sinfonia, Rockford Symphony Youth Orchestra, the Oistrakh Symphony of Chicago, and the NIU Philharmonic. She has been featured on the WFMT broadcast “From the Top.” Her chamber music experience is diverse, and features an array of ensembles including a string quartet that competed in the St. Paul String Quartet Competition and were named semi-finalists in the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition in South Bend, Indiana. Hanna has been anmed as a recipient of the Richard and Helen Thomas Endowed Fellowship, twice, and is a recipient of the School of Music Eckstein Fund at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music.
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As an instructor, Hanna has been teaching privately for over a decade and pulls inspiration from both the Suzuki method and other traditional methods of teaching. She has worked closely with Stacia Spencer at Northwestern University and Ann Montzka-Smelser at NIU for her pedagogy and teacher training. She is passionate about making sure students get off to a good start and that music making is wonderful for all levels of players.

Seth Hobi, baritone, comes originally from the Cleveland area, and is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Vocal Performance at Cleveland State University. He currently studies voice with Amanda Powell and has also studied voice with Tyler Evatt-Young and Bob Godfrey. He has performed in many choral ensembles, as both chorister and soloist, including The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, Blossom Festival Chorus, Case Western Reserve University Early Music Singers, Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus, CSU University Chorus, and CSU Chorale. In addition to his choral experience, Seth also has served as singer and cantor at St. Anselm Anglican Church, St. Rocco Catholic Church, and the Old Stone Church.

Embracing a vibrant freelance career, violinist Kiyoe Matsuura thrives as both a performer and educator. Specializing in historical instruments, she performs across the country on both violin and viola in groups such as Ensemble Affect, the Haymarket Opera Orchestra, Callipygian Players, the Bach and Beethoven Experience, Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Bella Voce Sinfonia, and the Madison Bach Musicians. As a chamber musician, one of her main projects is Ensemble Vitelotte, a duo with keyboardist Sun Chang, dedicated to showcasing works by historical women composers. The duo has performed for the Landowska Harpsichord Society and the Marilyn Horne Museum, and was recently awarded a grant by Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.

Kiyoe’s skills are the product of extensive training, having studied historical performance at institutes including ‘Juilliard at the Piccola Accadamia,’ the Chamber Music Collective, American Bach Soloists Academy, Amherst Early Music Festival, and Oberlin’s Baroque Performance Institute. Kiyoe holds a Master’s Degree from DePaul University’s School of Music, where she studied violin with Ms. Janet Sung. With fellow DePaul students, Kiyoe co-founded DePaul’s first period-instrument ensemble, which was featured on the Pegasus Rising Young Artist concert series. Prior to that, she earned her Bachelor of Music degree from California State University, Long Beach, studying on a full scholarship under the guidance of Dr. Lorenz Gamma. During her time there, she was a member of the University String Quartet and served as concertmaster of the University Symphony Orchestra. Kiyoe further honed her orchestral skills as a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and in American Youth Symphony and Debut Orchestra in Los Angeles.

In addition to performing, Kiyoe enjoys sharing her knowledge with others. She completed Suzuki teacher training in violin units one through six under the guidance of Rolando Freitag. Her dedication to teaching has yielded notable successes, with her students achieving acceptance into the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and winning prizes in the Chinese Fine Arts Society violin competition. For seven years, Ms. Matsuura served on the violin faculty of DePaul University’s Community Music Division, where she taught both individual and group classes. Along with in-person teaching, Kiyoe has created over 200 YouTube videos about violin student repertoire, which have received hundreds of thousands of views. Outside of her musical activities, Kiyoe is also a certified yoga instructor and has been teaching yoga classes throughout Chicago since 2017.

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