Our Team

Staff

Elizabeth Reed

Executive Director

Elizabeth A. Reed has been the Executive Director of the National String Project Consortium since 2018. In the fall of 2021, Dr. Reed accepted a position as Assistant Professor of String Music Education at Miami University of Ohio and became the coordinator of the department in 2022. Dr. Reed has taught beginning to advanced levels of orchestra (4th- 12th) to students in Fairfax County Public Schools, VA and Lexington-Richland School District Five, SC.

Dr. Reed received her Ph.D. in Music Education at the University of South Carolina. While there, she was the Assistant Director of the U of SC String Project and taught Music Appreciation. Other degrees include a Master of Music in Music Education from the Eastman School of Music (2004) and a bachelor’s degree in Music Education with a Performance Certificate in cello from the University of South Carolina (2001).

As a conductor, Dr. Reed has guest conducted for the South Carolina Junior All-State Orchestra, Fairfax, Loudon, and Prince William County District Honor Orchestras in Virginia, MMEA Eastern District in Massachusetts, and the GMEA Middle School Honors Orchestra in Georgia. She also conducted with the Prince William Youth Orchestras for two years.

As a cellist, she has performed and soloed with the Pan American Symphony Orchestra, Fairfax Symphony, Mason Symphony Orchestra (OH), Friends and Family Chamber Orchestra of Fairfax County, Signature String Quartet, The Quartet Program, Il Grazioso Piano Trio at the Orford Center of the Arts in Quebec, South Carolina Governor’s School of the Arts Resident String Quartet, Eastman Bartok String Quartet Seminar, and on broadcasts for SCETV, South Carolina Public Radio, and WVIA in Pennsylvania.

As a researcher and clinician, Dr. Reed focuses on professional music teacher identity, culturally responsive pedagogy, the String Projects, and pitch perception. Dr. Reed has publications in the American String Teacher and Teaching Music Through Performance in Orchestra, Volume 4. In addition, she has presented clinics and research poster sessions at IAFOR, ASTA, ISME, NAFME, SMTE, TMEA, and VMEA.

Christine Russell

Program Evaluator
University of Akron

National String Project Consortium Board

The National String Project Consortium Board is comprised of members from across the United States. Many members serve as faculty at universities/colleges and are associated with a String Project site. The board is also fortunate to have members from the music industry as well.

Madeleine Guillaumot

Student Advisory Member

Madeleine Guillaumot is a senior at the University of Arizona pursuing a BS in Neuroscience & Cognitive Science as well as a BA in Music, focusing on cello performance under the tutelage of Dr. Buchholz. At the University she has enjoyed participating in chamber music, playing with the Arizona Symphony Orchestra, and performing solo. Madeleine placed first in the 2023 Solo Bach Competition and was a finalist in the 2022/23 and 2023/24 Cello Congress Solo Competitions. Madeleine has played in masterclasses for renown pedagogues including Johannes Moser, Hans Jensen, Anthony Elliot, and Lawrence Stromberg. Madeleine teaches privately as well as with Tucson Youth Music Center and String Project. She loves to inspire students to believe in their abilities through understanding how the brain learns and how to practice effectively. In her free time Madeleine loves to connect with her Oregon roots through hiking, rock climbing, and spending time outdoors. .

Dijana Ihas

Board Member

Dijana Ihas is an Associate Professor of Music Education at Pacific University in Forest Grove, OR, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in music education, as well as directs/, conducts Pacific Philharmonic Orchestra. She also serves as an applied viola instructor and supervises student-teachers. Dr. Ihas is a Founding Director and Master Teacher of the Pacific University String Project which is the first program of its kind in the state of Oregon and was awarded the Outstanding String Project Award 2018 by NSPC & ASTA. Prior to her position at Pacific University, Dr. Ihas taught elementary, middle, and high school strings, orchestra, and general music for seven years in Salem, OR. Dr. Ihas’ educational background includes PhD in Music Education from the University of Oregon, Master's Degree of Music Education from the University of Arizona, Master's of Fine Arts in Viola Performance from the University of California in Irvine, and Bachelor's Degree in Viola Performance from the University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Currently, Dr. Ihas is in the sixth year of service as Oregon Music Educators Association Orchestra Chair and she also serves as OR ASTA Chapter president. She is a regular presenter at state and regional conferences as well as at ASTA National Conferences. Dr. Ihas has received numerous awards including Pacific University’s Junior Faculty Award (2015) for her dedication to excellence in teaching, scholarship, and service and Pacific University’s Faculty Achievement Award (2018) for her dedicated work with Pacific University’s music department and String Project.

Kelsey Nussbaum

Board Member

Kelsey Nussbaum is a PhD Candidate in Music Education at The University of North Texas in Denton where she is also a Teaching Fellow and Assistant Director of the UNT String Project. She actively engages in research and scholarship that examines equity and inclusion in music education, with a particular focus on race and string education. She has presented research at national and international conferences and remains an active clinician in string pedagogy. Ms. Nussbaum earned her undergraduate degree from The University of Texas at Austin and her MMEd at UNT. Prior to attending The University of North Texas, Ms. Nussbaum spent five years teaching orchestra in Austin, TX. During her teaching in Austin, she also held leadership positions within the Texas Music Educators Association and is a founding member of the Texas Hill Country Bass Collective, an organization offer bass camps and workshops.

Dr. Noah Rogoff

Board Chair

Dr. Rogoff is the chair of the Department of Music, Theatre, and Dance at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, where he also directs the UNK String Project and Music Business program. He is the cellist of the Frahm-Lewis Trio, the endowed faculty piano trio at UNK, which has performed educational outreach for the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Noah holds degrees in cello performance from Northwestern University and the University of Minnesota. He was a Visiting Scholar at the Faculty of Music at Cambridge University for the 2017-18 academic year and was elected an Artist Fellow of Churchill College, where he performed a solo recital for the benefactors of the college.

Noah was the recipient of a Judd Fellowship to study the works of Arnold Schoenberg in Vienna and has presented on the music of Isang Yun at Ehwa Women’s University in Seoul, Korea. He performed the complete solo cello music of Elliott Carter in the presence of the composer at the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra Center. He served as assistant principal cellist of the Camerata Fukuda in São Paulo, Brazil and has performed on many occasions with the Minnesota Orchestra. Noah has studied with members of the Pacifica, Shanghai and Juilliard Quartets and performed solo in the master classes of Paul Katz and Steven Isserlis. As the cellist of the five-member Trans-Nebraska Players, he has performed in the Canadian National Flute Conference, the Malibu Coast Music Festival (California), and Murray Edwards College (Cambridge, UK).

Sophie Till

Past Board Chair

Sophie Till, is Associate Professor of Violin/Viola at Marywood University, PA, Director of the Marywood String Project and Associate Faculty at the Golandsky Institute, NY. Under Sophie’s direction, the Marywood String Project has grown to serve 150 children ages 4 -18. In addition to the main Marywood site, the program has expanded to include two satellite programs in local schools. Since 2015 she has visited Scotland regularly giving workshops, presentations and lessons for members of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and BBC Scottish Orchestra. In 2016, she made her first visit to teach members of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra which led to an extended visit of lessons and workshops and an invitation to become the orchestra’s string specialist in 2017. Sophie is an active performer, giving recitals, playing concertos and chamber music in the U.S, and internationally. She completed her undergraduate studies with Zakhar Bron at the Royal Academy of Music and in Lübeck, Germany and her graduate studies with Charles Treger at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Since 2007 she has worked regularly with Edna Golandsky.

Molly Wilkens-Reed

Board Member

Molly Wilkens-Reed is instructor of viola and director of the Virginia Tech String Project at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. As faculty at Interlochen Summer Arts Camp, she spends her summers in beautiful northern Michigan striving to inspire love of instrumental music through an explorative learning design. Past teaching engagements include faculty positions at the Peabody Preparatory, Baltimore School for the Arts, the Bryn Mawr Music School, and the Memphis Suzuki Summer Institute. She has performed with orchestras in Tennessee, Mississippi, Virginia, and Arkansas.

Wilkens-Reed was awarded the Dean’s Incentive Grant from the Peabody Institute for her project to commission a new work for intermediate level string quartet, tackling an ever-present need for pedagogically appropriate repertoire for young string players. She was also awarded the Israel Dorman Memorial Award in Strings from Peabody and a Peabody Institute Career Grant. Under her leadership, the CNAFME chapter of the University of Memphis won the 2015 TMEA Outstanding Chapter Award for the state of Tennessee. She was awarded the 2008 “Vision Award” by Memphis Women Magazine and named an Outstanding Young Woman of Memphis. Wilkens-Reed is a member of the Epsilon Omicron Chapter of the Pi Kappa Lambda Society, the Suzuki Association of the Americas, the American String Teachers Association, and the American Viola Society. She serves as a board member of the National String Project Consortium and on the American Viola Society’s Youth Advisory Council.

Wilkens-Reed earned Bachelor of Music degrees in Music Education and Viola Performance from the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music at the University of Memphis, and a Master of Music degree in Viola Performance with a concentration in String Pedagogy at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. Her primary teachers include Lenny Schranze, Victoria Chiang, and Rebecca Henry. Wilkens-Reed is certified in the Suzuki Violin Method through book 6, studying with teacher trainers Marilyn O’Boyle and Judy Bossuat-Gallic.

Tzeying Wu

Secretary/Treasurer

Dr. Tze-Ying Wu is a violist, educator, and director. Before coming to Kentucky, she was Director and Violin Instructor at the Sturgis Music Academy of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Wu received her Doctor of Music and Master of Music degrees in viola performance from the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University, under the tutelage of Professor Atar Arad. She has served as the violin/viola instructor at Indiana University’s pre-college string program, Indiana University String Academy, where she worked closely with Mimi Zweig and Dr. Brenda Brenner. She earned her BFA at National Taiwan Normal University, and she has performed with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

As a chamber musician, she performs extensively with her harp trio, the Formosa Trio. They were selected to compete in the semi-final stage of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in 2012. In addition to performing standard repertoire for this instrumentation, the trio seeks to connect old and new repertoire through working with composers and arranging music. Their recent activities include premiering two pieces at the 13th World Harp Congress at Hong Kong, performances and workshops at the University of Illinois, Western Illinois University, Central Michigan University, Shanghai Concert Hall, National Concert Hall in Taipei, to list a few. Their first album, “First Impression,” was released in 2018. During her time in Little Rock, she regularly collaborated with local musicians appearing in chamber music series of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and was a featured guest musician for numerous chamber recitals at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Artist Advocates

A growing number of well-known solo performers, chamber musicians, orchestral musicians, and performers in contemporary and alternate styles are choosing to become NSPC Artist Advocates. Each recognizes and supports the work of the National String Project Consortium and its member String Project universities. Each believes in our mission of educating the next generation of string teachers in order to help pass on our cultural heritage to the future. We appreciate their support and advice, and are proud to introduce them to you here.