Caitlin Yambao

Caitlin received her master’s degree in violin performance at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, where she studied with Almita Vamos and MingHuan Xu. She was also a teaching assistant for music theory and served as concertmaster of the CCPA String Ensemble.

Caitlin received her bachelor’s degree in violin performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Joan Kwuon, Jessica Lee, and Philip Setzer. She also has minors in business management (from Case Western Reserve University) and music theory. She graduated summa cum laude from CIM and was awarded the Gilbert M. Brooks Dean’s Award for Academic Excellence. 

Caitlin has attended festivals such as the Borromeo Music Festival in Switzerland, Bowdoin International Music Festival, and the Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at the Juilliard School. She has also played in masterclasses with artists such as the Pacifica Quartet, Paul Kantor, Ilya Kaler, and Joel Smirnoff. In 2018, she performed in the masterclass with Martin Beaver at the SAA Conference in Minneapolis. She has been a teaching assistant at OPUS Chamber Music Camp in the Chicago suburbs, where she helps with chamber music and theory/ composition classes.

Caitlin started playing violin at the age of 7 through the Suzuki method at the Western Springs School of Talent Education, where she studied with Thomas Wermuth, Victoria Szczepaniak, and Edward Kreitman. She was a member of Allegro!!! and Chicago Consort performance ensembles during her time at WSSTE, and she was a soloist on Consort’s Cuba tour in 2017. In 2023, Caitlin performed in a Violins of Hope presentation at Neuqua Valley High School, which was presented by the Jewish Community Centers of Chicago. Caitlin also performed as a soloist in the WSSTE Anniversary Concert at Chicago Symphony Center in 2024 as an alumni. She has taken Suzuki teacher training courses with Kimberly Meier- Sims, Judy Bossuat- Gallic, Ann Montzka- Smelser, and Nancy Jackson.