Ms. Meg Lanfear

SAA Registered Training

(Violin)

Core Units

• Every Child Can!
• Suzuki Principles in Action
• Violin Unit 1
• Violin Foundation 1A
• Violin Foundation 1B
• Violin Unit 2
• Violin Unit 3
• Violin Unit 4
• Violin Unit 5
• Violin Unit 6
• Violin Unit 7
• Violin Unit 8
• Violin Unit 9-10
• Violin Practicum

Supplementary

• Mozart Violin Concerti: The Challenges and the Rewards

Meg Lanfear is a Suzuki Talent Education specialist and is the founder and Director of the Oak Park String Academy, a Suzuki violin and cello program located in Oak Park, IL. Founded in 2005, OPSA offers expert instruction in violin and cello, along with a full array of musical experiences designed to provide an extraordinary musical education for children ages 3 – 18, preparing students for a lifetime of music making at the highest level, regardless of professional aspirations.

Meg began her musical studies on piano at the age of 3 and then continued on to Suzuki violin lessons at the age of 7. The daughter of a Montessori school director, she comes from a strong background in education. Meg went on to complete her Masters in Violin Performance as well as Suzuki Pedagogy at theCleveland Institute of Music—one of the nations top conservatories.

While at CIM, Meg taught at the Fairmount Fine Arts Center as well as the Cleveland Music School Settlement. Meg lived in Matsumoto, Japan for two months and studied at the Suzuki Talent Institute with Koji Toyota and performed in several concerts. Several other institutions were of significance in Meg’s studies including the Western Springs School of Talent Education with Ed Kreitman (where she was on faculty for 9 years), the String Academy at Indiana University with Mimi Zweig and the Suzuki Talent Education Program at Augsberg College in Minnesota with Nancy Lokken.

Meg has studied pedagogy and Suzuki philosophy with some of the most illustrious Suzuki Teacher Trainers in the world, including: Linda Case, Carol Dallinger, Teri Einfeldt and Tom Wermuth. She has been profoundly influenced and inspired by her principal mentors Nancy Lokken and Almita Vamos. Meg has also been a past participant in the Juilliard Symposium in New York City—a 3 day conference with some of the most skilled pedagogues in the world, including Paul Kantor, Ida Kavafian, and David Kim.

Her students have consistently won high recognition in many solo competitions and contests, and are often selected to participate in prestigious performing groups including various All-Region Orchestras, all levels of the Chicago Youth Symphony and the Illinois Music Education Association’s All-State Orchestra. Her students have performed as soloists with orchestra, and have participated and won distinction in area competitions such as the DePaul Young Artists Concerto Competition and the OPRF Symphony Orchestra’s annual Concerto Competition. In addition to having become extraordinary individuals in many diverse fields, her students have been accepted to prestigious universities and music schools such as the New England Conservatory, Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.

Meg has won many awards for her scholarship, musicianship, and abilities as both a performer and as a teacher. In 2010, Meg became one of nine teachers who were the very first teachers in the country to earn the Certificate of Achievement from the Suzuki Association of the Americas, an award given to teachers that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to lifelong learning and excellence in their teaching.

As a professional performing musician, Meg has performed around the globe as soloist or orchestral member in some of the world’s most famous halls including, Chicago’s Symphony Hall, Cleveland’s Severance Hall, The Hollywood Bowl and Boston’s Tanglewood. She has also performed with some of the world’s most prestigious musicians including Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, Edgar Meyer, Mark O’Connor, Leonard Slatkin, Daniel Barenboim, JoAnne Falletta, Diana Krall, and Herbie Hancock. Meg has held principal or section positions with ensembles such as the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, the Illinois Philharmonic, Canton and Akron Symphonies and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. Meg performs regularly with the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, which most recently welcomed former Assistant Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, Andrew Grams as Music Director.

This summer, Ms. Lanfear will be on the faculty of the Colorado Suzuki Institute in Beaver Creek and the PhoenixPhest in Ann Arbor, MI with Gabriel Bolkosky.

Meg lives in Oak Park, IL with her husband, Randy, and her two young boys, James (4) and Henry (1).