The Violin and Viola Studio of Michael L. Hining provides students of all ages expert instruction in the violin and viola. The goals of the studio are to help students (and their parents if school age) learn to appreciate the arts, to help each student discover his or her own special talents and to encourage all students to achieve their own potential. Interested students may call 708-383-2025 for more information and to observe a lesson.
The Suzuki Ensemble is a wonderful opportunity for beginning students to share in the joy of making music with others. Ensemble skills, note-reading, and elementary theory are taught each week to assist in the students’ progress away from the instrument. The Suzuki Ensemble is featured at least three times a year in concert with a repertoire from classical favorites to pop and show tunes.
The Windy City String Ensemble has been in existence for only ten years, but in that span of time, the Ensemble has performed the most diverse and challenge of string orchestra repertoire, from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons to Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis and Chamber Symphony Opus 110 by Shostakovich. Comprised of more than thirty of Mr. Hining’s advanced violin and viola students, as well as gifted student cellists and bassists from the Chicago area, the members of the orchestra range in ages from 9 to ageless.
The Chamber Orchestra has preformed in many diverse musical arenas, including Chicago’s Navy Pier with Queen Elizabeth Competition Laureate Rachel Barton. In 1998, the WCSE was selected to represent the United States at the 1999 Sydney International Music Festival in Australia and won the gold-medal. In 2000, the group received the Outstanding Outreach Ensemble from the Suzuki Association of the Americas. In 2002, the WCSE was selected to play Mr. Hining’s composition “Fantasia on themes of Rachmaninoff” at the 10th Suzuki Teachers Convention in Minneapolis. In 2003, the WCSE performed with 4 other selected groups to make their Carnegie Hall debut in New York City as part of the New York Youth Orchestra Festival.
In addition to their formal concert series, the chamber orchestra seeks to bring music to those in need, through their performances of outreach concerts to benefit the young, the homeless, the aged, and those with AIDS. In 2000, the Benefit concert sponsored by the WCSE helped to raise $2000 for Oak Park Animal Care League’s new shelter, and raised a similar amount in 2003 for PING!, to bring instruments and lessons to children who could not otherwise afford them. All interested current students as well as cellists and bassists are encouraged to audition Call the studio at 708-383-2025 for information.
Michael Lynn Hining began studies in music at age 9. After winning the National Federation of Music Club’s violin solo competition twice, Mr. Hining was accepted into the school of Dorothy Delay at both the Aspen Music Festival and Julliard School. Mr. Hining went on to play for a master class by Shlomo Mintz, who led him to studies with renowned violinist Shumel Ashkenasi. After finishing his bachelor’s degree, Mr. Hining began viola studies and received his Master of Music Degree and his Performers Certificate at Northern Illinois University with both Ashkenasi and Richard Young of the Vermeer Quartet as instructors. The winner of numerous awards, Michael Hining has received the prestigious Bloomfield award at the Eastern Music Festival, given annually to the outstanding performers of the summer by its instructors and the Outstanding Alumni Award in 2000 from Northern Illinois University. Mr. Hining has performed in the Chamber Music Series of the Eastern Music Festival with renowned violinist Joseph Gingold and NY Philharmonic cellist Carter Brey. Michael Hining’s violin and viola students have placed in such competitions as the Illinois Young Performers Competition, the Tertis International Viola Competition, and the American String Teachers Association National Concerto Competition. His graduates have been accepted to major music conservatories in Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Nashville, New York, and San Francisco as well as Oberlin College and Indiana University. Mr. Hining is an accredited teacher and member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas as well as the American String Teacher’s Association. In 2006, Benny Peled, a student of Mr. Hining from age 6 through 18, won the first violin section audition of the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam. Other alumni have performed in the Chicago, Detroit, Arkansas, New World, and Lyric Opera Orchestras.
