SSI Faculty Members

Dr. Andrew Braddock - Institute Director

Violist Andrew Braddock’s teaching and performing career has recently taken him to the Sejong Center in Seoul, South Korea, the National Concert Hall in Taipei, Taiwan, and the International Viola Congress in Rotterdam.

A passionate educator, he has given masterclasses at Vanderbilt University, the Chinese Culture University in Taipei, Taiwan, Bowling Green State University, and many others. He is currently on the faculty of Western Kentucky University (WKU) and is the co-director of the WKU String Academy. In the summers, he teaches at the Indiana University Summer String Academy and directs the WKU Summer String Institute, an intensive summer camp for students ages 4 to 18 based around chamber music and orchestral performance. His creative teaching led him to co-found Bridging Cultures with Music, a 501(c)(3) organization that supports various pedagogical and outreach programs in his community and abroad.

Research, writing, and intellectual discovery are central to his artistic mission. His writings have appeared in The Strad and the Journal of the British Music Society, the American Suzuki Journal, and the Journal of the American Viola Society. He is currently the editor of the American Suzuki Journal, a quarterly publication of the Suzuki Association of the Americas. From 2017 to 2021, Dr. Braddock was the editor of the Journal of the American Viola Society, the most prominent peer-reviewed publication for viola scholarship. The journal presents musicological and music theory research relating to the viola, in addition to pedagogical insights and current reviews. Most recently, Dr. Braddock spearheaded an issue devoted to the 40th anniversary of George Rochberg’s viola sonata, examining it from various musicological, historical, and theoretical perspectives. He previously served as the journal’s New Music Editor and on the board of the American Viola Society.

He is the principal violist of the Paducah Symphony Orchestra, and he regularly plays with the Nashville Symphony and the Nashville Opera. He holds degrees from Indiana University, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Kentucky. His principal teachers are Atar Arad, Kathryn Plummer, and John Graham. He plays a viola made by Giovanni Pistucci, ca. 1920.

Visit his personal website for his recordings, research, and arrangements for viola: andybraddock.com

Dr. Zachary Ebin

Dr. Zachary Ebin is the Director of the Suzuki Program at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music.  Zachary holds a BA and an MA from Brandeis University, an MM from the Boston Conservatory, and a PhD from York University.  Before relocating to Nashville, Dr. Ebin was on the faculty of Etobicoke Suzuki Music in Toronto, where he founded and directed Arco Violini, an advanced precollege string orchestra dedicated to giving back to the community through performances at hospitals, senior residences, and charity events.  Dr. Ebin led Arco Violini in over 40 performances including two television appearances.

In high demand as a guest clinician Zachary has taught and lectured all over North America at conferences, institutes, and workshops.  His research has been published in the American Suzuki Journal and the American String Teacher.  In 2015, Dr. Ebin founded the Silent Voices Project. In the project young composers write chamber music based on poems written by children during the Holocaust.  The Silent Voices Project has given multiple concerts across North America and recently released a recording.

Dr. Ching-Yi Lin

Violinist Ching-Yi Lin’s recent performances and masterclasses have taken her to the Barratt Due Institute of Music in Norway, the Shenyang and Xi’an Conservatories in China, Northwestern University, Vanderbilt University, and the University of British Columbia. She’s also performed in New York on the Museum of Modern Art’s Summer Garden Series, at Sejong Center in South Korea, and in Taiwan at the National Concert Hall in Taipei.

Her recent album on MSR Classics features sonatas for violin and piano by Charles Ives, William Bolcom, and John Corigliano. In reviewing the album, Gramophone noted the “panache and warmth” of Ms. Lin’s playing and described her interpretations as “a series of tender, lively, and challenging conversations.”

A dedicated and creative teacher, Ching-Yi Lin is Associate Professor at Western Kentucky University and also serves on the faculty at the Indiana University Summer String Academy and the WKU Summer String Institute. Previously, she served on the faculty of the Sommersymfoni i Kristiansand in Norway and Chicago Chamber Music Festival.

In 2013, Ching-Yi was presented with the prestigious Jefferson Award for Public Service in Washington, DC, recognizing her work in bringing music into the lives of young people throughout her community. And in 2017, Ching-Yi received a Sisterhood grant from Western Kentucky University to direct student teachers and volunteers in teaching the violin to refugee children in Bowling Green, KY. In 2020, this program developed into a non-profit organization called Bridging Cultures with Music. The program offers college music majors an opportunity to teach, inspire, and make an impact in a global classroom setting.

Ching-Yi regularly presents at the American String Teachers Association National Conference and is an active clinician and adjudicator. As a board member for the Daraja Music Initiative, a non-profit organization in Moshi, Tanzania, Dr. Lin founded a beginning strings program for students of the Majengo Primary School in 2016. Over 60 string instruments were donated from across the United States for this endeavor. She also currently serves as the Secretary and on the Board of Directors of the Suzuki Association of the Americas.

Dr. Lin holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and she undertook additional studies at the Vienna Conservatory. She plays on a violin made in 1863 by Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume.

www.chingyilin.com

Patrick O'Rourke

Patrick O’Rourke is director of the orchestra program of the Bowling Green Independent School District in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The orchestra program at BGISD currently employs three full-time teachers, serving over 380 students in grades 4-12. The Bowling Green High School and Junior High School orchestras have consistently achieved Distinguished ratings at KMEA Assessment events and have performed at the KMEA Professional Development conference three times under the direction of Mr. O’Rourke.

An active performer on the double bass, Mr. O’Rourke has performed with Orchestra Kentucky, the Paducah Symphony, the Evansville Philharmonic, the Owensboro Symphony, and the Lexington Philharmonic. He lives in Bowling Green with his wife Destiny and their two children: bassist Jesse, age 11;  and cellist Carmen, age 10. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time outdoors and writing about himself in the third person.

Landon Case

Landon Case is an orchestra teacher in the Bowling Green Independent School District (2017-present). He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Music Education (2017) and Master’s degree in Orchestral Conducting (2021) from Western Kentucky University. His principal instrument is the viola, and he has performed with the Paducah Symphony and Orchestra Kentucky. Mr. Case won the KMEA Third District Middle School Music Teacher of the Year Award in 2020, and has led his orchestras to receive Distinguished ratings at performance assessment each year. 

Landon is also a member of the worship team at Bowling Green Christian Church. In 2020, he and his wife Megan welcomed their first child Howard Taylor, and in 2022, their second child, Bennett Foster. Mr. Case loves spending time with his family, drinking coffee, and talking about all things Tolkien.

Emily Vaughn

Emily Vaughn currently teaches private violin and viola students at the Music Academy of Western North Carolina in Hendersonville, NC. Mrs. Vaughn performs regularly with Spartanburg Philharmonic and as a substitute for Hendersonville Symphony Orchestra. She served as Principal Violist of the Johnson City Symphony Orchestra located in Johnson City, TN from 2021-2023. Emily Vaughn earned a Masters in Music Pedagogy from Western Kentucky University and Bachelors of Music in Viola Performance and Music Education from the University of Tennessee. Mrs. Vaughn was awarded the Yates Scholarship to attend the UT School of Music based on her outstanding level of performance. She served as Strings Director at Mountain View Elementary School in Johnson City, TN, where she taught 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade students. Mrs.Vaughn has also assisted at the Science Hill High School orchestra program. During her time at UT she volunteered at the Joy of Music School where she taught private lessons to underprivileged students. Mrs. Vaughn became a volunteer for the Daraja Music Initiative, a non-profit organization in Moshi, Tanzania, and assisted Dr. Ching-Yi Lin in initiating a beginning strings program for students of the Majengo Primary School in 2016. While working on her Masters in Music Pedagogy she became a faculty member teaching violin and viola at Western Kentucky University’s Pre-College Strings Program. She also taught violin group classes for WKU’s Violin Fest and Summer String Institute from 2015-2018. Mrs. Vaughn assisted in directing student teachers and volunteers in teaching the violin to refugee children in Bowling Green, KY.

Aleka Chau

Aleka Chau is a private lessons instructor and strings teacher for the Bowling Green Independent School District in Bowling Green, Kentucky. She graduated from Western Kentucky University in 2023 with a bachelor’s degree in music education for grades K-12. Her educational styles are directly inspired by the Suzuki Method and Paul Rolland. She is currently researching and learning about “Suzuki in the Schools,” which brings the Suzuki method and philosophy to any elementary or secondary school program (public and private).

Ms. Chau has taught private lessons at the WKU String Academy since 2020 and taught over the summer for the WKU Summer String Institute in 2022.

Emily Chambers

Emily Chambers is a K-5 elementary music teacher at Lafayette Preparatory Academy in St. Louis, Missouri. Emily is a first generation college graduate where she majored in K-12 Music Education at Western Kentucky University. Throughout her time at WKU she had an abundance of opportunities and experiences to develop herself professionally as a musician and educator including teaching violin and early childhood music classes with the WKU String Academy, being an orchestral librarian for the WKU Symphony, serving as the president for the ASTA Student Chapter, and being the children’s music director for the First Presbyterian Church of Bowling Green. Emily previously taught at the WKU Summer String Institute in 2022.