PRIVATE LESSON FACULTY: Strings

MICHELLE CHOI (violoncello) has her Master of Music degree in cello performance from Catholic University and is the principal cellist of the Loudoun Symphony Orchestra. She joined the Music Spectrum teaching faculty in 2022. Ms. Choi was born in Texas and moved in her early years to Korea, where she was raised. Her first meeting with her Cello was at the age of 10 and from the first moment that she saw the instrument, she knew it would be her life-long partner. Since that first meeting, she has won numerous awards in several prestigious music competitions throughout South Korea including: the Music Journal Competition, the Yejeon Music Competition, the National Music Competition, and the Korean National Student Cultural Music Contest by the Daejeon Catholic Cultural Center. She also played as a soloist and as a member of various orchestras while attending Daejeon Art High School and Kyung-Won (Gachon) University. After getting a Bachelor of Music degree from Kyung-Won University as a merit-based scholarship recipient, she joined the Master of Music program in cello performance at the Catholic University of America (CUA) in 2014, where she was the recipient of a full-time scholarship. While attending CUA, Ms. Choi studied under Michael Mermagen, an associate professor of UMKC Conservatory and a faculty member of Aspen Music Festival and School. She has also studied under Amy Frost Baumgarten, a faculty member of CUA and the principal cellist of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra. In addition, in 2016 Ms. Choi also participated in the Aspen Music Festival as a merit-based scholarship recipient.

Ms. Choi teaches on Tuesdays,

Wednesdays and Saturdays

Senior Teaching Artist rate:

(instructors with advanced degrees

and/or extensive teaching experience)

$56/30-minutes; $81/45-minutes; $104/hour

ANNA KONG (violin) obtained her Master of Music degree in violin at the Peabody conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University, under the tutelage of Herbert Greenberg. She has been teaching at Music Spectrum School since 2017. As a native of Northern Virginia, she received a Bachelor of Music degree with honors in violin performance at George Mason University where she served as concertmaster of the Mason Symphony. 

She has played with the Virginia Symphony, Arlington Philharmonic, McLean Orchestra, the American Festival Pops Orchestra, and is a seasoned pit musician and freelancer with the Kennedy Quartet. She currently divides her time between playing with the Richmond Symphony and more locally, the Alexandria Symphony. She also enjoys playing with her piano trio which made their Carnegie Hall debut at Weill Hall in September 2019, and will return in the Fall of 2022. 

Principle teachers include Julia Sun, Peter Haase, Jennifer Kim, and Zino Bogachek. Other notable lessons have been with Charles Castleman, Elizabeth Pitcairn, Ricardo Cyncynates, Oleg Rylatko, Paul Arnold, and William Preucil. She has attended the Castleman Quartet Program, Summit Music Festival, National Orchestral Institute, and Prague Summer Nights Festival. Ms. Kong is currently also on the adjunct faculty of Northern Virginia Community College, Loudoun Campus. 

Ms. Kong teaches on Mondays,

Tuesdays and Thursdays

Private Lesson rate:

$53/30-minutes; $77/45-minutes; $97/hour

DR. ASLI GÜLTEKIN ÖZEK (viola, violin) was born in Ankara, Turkey. She received her Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in viola performance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), and her Bachelor of Music degree from the Bilkent University in Turkey.  She has been teaching at Music Spectrum School since 2016. At UIUC, she studied with Rudolf Haken and Masumi Per Rostad, the violist of the Grammy-winning Pacifica Quartet. She has been an active participant in master classes and music and orchestra festivals in Poland, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, and China. She also performed in master classes of the Kronos Quartet and Avalon Quartet as part of her graduate quartet assistantship, and in master classes of Jerzy Kosmala, Csaba Erdelyi, and Ivo-Jan van der Werff at UIUC. She has given solo recitals and chamber concerts in Turkey and the United States. She is the recipient of the Chip Davis Mannheim Steamroller Orchestra Award in 2007 and was the finalist of the Coeur D’Alene Young Artist Concert Competition in 2008. Dr. Özek has been living, teaching and performing in the VA-MD-DC area since 2010. 

Dr. Gultekin Özek teaches on Mondays

Senior Teaching Artist rate:

(instructors with advanced degrees

and/or extensive teaching experience)

$56/30-minutes; $81/45-minutes; $104/hour