Meet the teachers

Ravenswood Location

  • Hailing from Chiba, Japan, Azusa Tashiro started solfège training at the age of three and violin studies at four. Her passion for music led her to continue studying at Toho Gakuen School of Music, earning a Bachelor of Music degree. She then completed a Master of Music degree from DePaul University School of Music, where she studied with Ilya Kaler.

    Azusa’s Suzuki teacher training mentor was Ed Kreitman. To date, many of her students have been accepted into prestigious orchestras such as the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and Midwest Young Artists, and they have also received multiple top prizes in the IMA completion.

    When teaching, she focuses on developing students' abilities to analyze and solve problems independently. She believes that by nurturing independent learners and fostering a growth mindset, students thrive not only in their musical journey but also in the multifaceted challenges they may encounter throughout life.

    As an accomplished violinist, Azusa is currently serving as the Concertmaster of the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra. Additionally, she holds principal positions in both the South Bend Symphony Orchestra and the Rockford Symphony Orchestra. She has appeared as a soloist with the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, Lakeshore Symphony Orchestra, College of DuPage Chamber Orchestra, and Northwestern University Orchestra. Her performance has been heard numerous times on WGN Radio, WGN-TV, and WFMT.

    When Azusa finds free time, she indulges in her other passions: cooking, eating and playing with her cat, Gabriel von Eisenstein.

    Azusa is fluent in English and Japanese, and she is currently accepting students in both languages.

    Learn more about Azusa here.

  • Alba Layana Izurieta is a violinist from Ecuador who currently performs on a 1974 Sergio Peresson violin and an Émile Ouchard bow, long-term loans by Bein & Fushi. Alba is the Concertmaster of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, and she actively performs with the Grant Park Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Camerata Chicago, and Music of the Baroque. In 2024, she was a Grant Park Music Festival Violin Fellow and, before moving to the United States in 2018, she was a section violinist with Orquesta Sinfónica de Guayaquil, with whom she performed as a soloist later in 2019.

    Alba’s career highlights include appearances on Louisiana Public Broadcasting's Ziggy's Arts Adventures, on TVeo Canal Regional in Mexico and Ecuavisa in Ecuador. To honor the musical legacy of her cultural heritage, she performs Latin American music with her mother, sister, and friends across Ecuador and the US. Being born in a musical family, Alba draws on their rich artistic traditions to inspire her students. She teaches violin and piano, working with students of all ages and levels. Fluent in English and Spanish, Alba is currently accepting students in both languages.

    She holds a Master of Music degree from Northwestern University as a Program Honors recipient, and a Bachelor of Music degree from Louisiana State University. Her mentors include Desirée Ruhstrat and Espen Lilleslåtten.

Irving Park Location


  • Willie McLellan has performed and taught violin and viola in Chicago for the last decade. He is an experienced orchestral musician, having played with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Elgin Symphony Orchestra, and Sinfonietta. Willie also greatly enjoys playing chamber music. He was a member of Chicago Symphony’s MusiCorps outreach program that educated and performed for audiences in schools and park spaces. In 2019 he co-founded the Kolmar Music Collective, a mixed ensemble that performs works of diverse and underrepresented composers. In the summer of 2021 he was a featured performer in a string quartet at the American Suzuki Institute in Stevens Point.

    Willie has a performance degree from UW-Madison in violin. He studied viola performance at DePaul University and Northern Illinois University, where he was a teaching assistant to Tony Devroye. Willie began his Suzuki Method teacher training with Ed Kreitman and continued with Rolando Freitag.

    As a teacher, Willie enjoys working with students of all levels. He believes learning to play with physical ease is fundamental to the lifelong enjoyment of an instrument. At weekly lessons he aims to give his students personalized instructions to improve their technique, listening and reading fluency, and musicality.

    When he is not busy on the music scene Willie enjoys cooking new vegetarian recipes, biking the streets of Chicago, and playing competitive foosball.

  • Cellist ALEXA MUHLY holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music and a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music. Her major teachers include Aldo Parisot, and Alan Harris.

    She has performed extensively in the United States, Canada, England, France, Germany, Hungary, and Lithuania, and is an active orchestral and chamber musician in the Chicago area.

    In recent seasons, she was the principal cellist of the Kalamazoo Symphony, and also appeared with the Grand Rapids Symphony and the Pine Mountain Music Festival. Ms. Muhly received early recognition as first-prize winner in the Iowa Center for the Arts competition as well as prize winner in the Jugend Musiziert national competition in Germany.

    Other honors include a long-term residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Calgary, Alberta and awards from the Cleveland Institute of Music, Yale University, and the Aspen Music Festival. She was the cellist for the new music ensemble Opus 21 with whom she has performed at Symphony Space and Carnegie Hall in New York City. She recently has performed in Santa Fe, New Mexico at the Lensic Performing Arts Center.

    She currently teaches cello performance and music theory at Oakton College.

  • Casey was 12 when he began to study classical guitar with Paul Henry of Roosevelt University, adding lessons with Chicago jazz guitarist Neal Alger at 14. He earned a BM in Jazz Studies from NIU, studying both genres with internationally renowned Fareed Haque and three more years, post graduation, with classical guitarist Denis Azabagic, also at Roosevelt. Casey performs solo recitals throughout the Chicago area and is a jazz bandleader and sideman in various groups throughout the USA.

    As a classical guitarist, solo concerts throughout the Chicago area including Baker Memorial Church, Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, North Shore Baptist Church, Elgin Public Library, Northbrook Public Library, Fabyan Park Japanese Garden series, and Musical Offering’s Music on Madison concert series.

    As a jazz guitarist, most of Chicago’s jazz venues including Andy’s, Fulton Street Arts Collective, Green Mill’s Composer Collective, Jazz Showcase, Merriman’s Playhouse, and The Whistler.

    Since forming in 2014, his Lapis Trio has played many venues including Chicago Botanic Gardens, Elastic, Fabyan Park Japanese Garden series, 2017 Glen Ellyn Jazz Festival, Merriman’s Playhouse, and Musical Offering’s Music on Madison concert series.

    Learn more about Casey here.