Lucinda E. Ali-Landing

Lucinda E. Ali-Landing

Founder - Violin Teacher

Lucinda E. Ali-Landing, (formerly Lucinda Holland) violinist and founder of the Hyde Park Suzuki Institute, began her studies at age six, with her father, James Holland, a violinist/violist. She began with Suzuki studies, which was relatively still new in North America in the early 1970’s. After studying for one year with her father, she then studied with Sarah Deneen and later Donna Ross.

More About Lucinda

Anokyewaa Oppong Wadie

Anokyewaa Oppong Wadie

Violin

​Anokyewaa Oppong Wadie is an experienced violinist of almost 12 years. She began her journey in violin studies after being inspired by Grammy-award- winning jazz and classical violinist Regina Carter- about one year later she began her lesson in classical violin. Although Anokyewaa comes from a musical family, especially a pianist, Anokyewaa was the first violinist in her family and was taught classical violin at the age of nine. Specifically the Suzuki method. As the years would go by Anokyewaa grew a deep passion for the violin and began taking lessons from some of the best violinists in the Midwest and in the Chicago area.

Her teachers spanned from Julia Sizer of the University of Chicago Symphony to Lucinda Ali Landing of Chicago Sinfonietta and Suzanne Rickman of Illinois Philharmonic. After all this experience Anokyewaa decided to take violin studies as her major at Northeastern Illinois University where she is currently a senior of violin performance violin/viola teacher, performer, and pedagogue Jaime Gorgojo. As a daughter of first-generation immigrants forms Jamaica and Ghana, Anokyewaa has always felt the importance to work hard, having goals, and most of all achieving milestones in her career.

Nia Barberousse Binns, Esq.

Nia Barberousse Binns, Esq.

Deputy Executive Director - Cello Teacher

Nia-Imara Barberousse, an HPSI Alumni, is a classical cellist and Chicago native. As a child, she was a student of Martine Benman and a member of the Hyde Park Suzuki Scholars Quartet, where they toured through the Chicagoland area. Nia graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy where she studied with Crispin Campbell. She completed her undergraduate degree in Cello Performance at the University of Toronto under the instruction of Shauna Rolston-Shaw. Now that Nia has returned to Chicago, she greatly enjoys teaching at her childhood music school (HPSI) and performing throughout her hometown of Chicago.

Matea Hernandez

Matea Hernandez

Violin

Matea Hernandez is a dedicated violinist and educator with a passion for making classical music more inclusive. She began playing the violin at age six through a Chicago Public Schools music program and grew up in an artistic community surrounded by poets, painters, and musicians. Her early exposure to the arts shaped her commitment to both performance and teaching. She has studied with esteemed violin instructors, including Yang Liu, James Sanders, Hye-Sun Lee, and her longtime mentors Yvonne Davila Cortes and Lucinda Ali-Landing. She has also received chamber music coaching from Jessie Montgomery and members of the Catalyst Quartet. As a performer, Matea has appeared on numerous stages with the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Sphinx Performance Academy, including a performance last year in Chicago. She has also had the unique opportunity to perform at Legends with Buddy Guy, who signed her early 20th-century French violin. Matea is currently pursuing a degree in Violin Performance and Pedagogy at VanderCook College of Music, where she was awarded multiple scholarships for her studies. Since 2023, she has been an instructor with One City Strings and Hyde Park Suzuki, working to create an engaging and accessible learning environment. Through both performance and education, she is committed to fostering diversity in classical music and inspiring the next generation of musicians.

Ifetayo Ali

Ifetayo Ali

Cello

Ifetayo Ali began her musical studies on violin when she was able to stand. An HPSI Alumni, at age 3, she decided that she preferred the mellow sounds of the cello and begged her mother to switch. She was allowed to switch at age 4. Her teachers and coaches have been Lucinda Ali Landing, Megan Lauterbach and Martine Benmann at the Hyde Park Suzuki Institute, Tahirah Whittington, and Hans Jørgen Jensen. She has also studied with teachers at summer music camps at Suzuki-Deerfield, Illinois Wesleyan, Sphinx Performance Academy, Meadowmount, and the Young Artists Program.

Ifetayo is the Sphinx Competition Junior Division First-Place Laureate for 2017 and performed as soloist with the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra at Orchestra Hall in Detroit. At the 2016 Sphinx Competition, she was awarded Second-Place Laureate in the Junior Division. Ifetayo was also one of the winners of the 2016 DePaul Concerto Festival for Young Performers and performed as soloist with the Festival’s Oistrakh Symphony Orchestra. She has performed with the Wilmington (NC) Symphony at the Wilson Center, New World Symphony at New World Center in Miami Beach, Florida, Detroit Symphony in Orchestra Hall, Pittsburgh Symphony in Heinz Hall, South Bend Symphony at Morris Performing Arts Center, Buffalo Philharmonic in Kleinhans Music Hall, Elgin Symphony at Hemmens Cultural Center, Chicago Sinfonietta at Chicago Symphony Center, and Southwest Michigan Symphony at Howard Performing Arts Center.

Recordings, radio, and television appearances include “Holes in the Sky” a Lara Downes Project, “White Christmas” for Jessie J with the Matt Jones Orchestra, NPR’s From the Top Show 349 with host Christopher O’Riley in New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall, WTTW’s Chicago Tonight, and WFMT Radio “Introductions.”

In 2013, at the age of ten, Ifetayo was honored at the Friends of the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra Rising Stars Showcase, where she recorded the 1st movement of the Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto (No. 1). To date, the video has over 105,000 YouTube views and over 15 million Facebook views. She also recorded “Celtic Hymn” by James MacMillan, who discovered the video and complimented Ifetayo via Twitter. Her most recent YouTube recordings are the first movement of the Shostakovich Cello Concerto (No. 1) and Pampeana No. 2 by Alberto Ginastera.