Yuyu I.,
Yuyu Ikeda, violin, is pursuing her Master’s degree with Laurie Smukler at the Juilliard School, where she is a recipient of the Lester R./Doris S. Benjamin and Louis Persinger scholarships. She holds undergraduate degrees in biology and violin performance from the Oberlin College and Conservatory, where she studied with David Bowlin. Previously, she studied with Koichiro Harada and Linda Rose.
Yuyu debuted as a soloist at the age of 10 with the Bellflower Symphony Orchestra, and since then has played alongside the Orchestra Collective of Orange County and the Ueno Orchestra in Japan. An avid orchestral musician, Yuyu toured in 2023 with the New York Classical Players, and has served as concertmaster of the 2022 Pacific Music Festival Orchestra and assistant concertmaster of the Juilliard Orchestra. She also held principal positions in the Oberlin Baroque Orchestra and Oberlin Contemporary Ensemble, where she developed valuable knowledge and expertise in different periods of classical music. Yuyu has also extensively studied chamber repertoire at Juilliard under professors Ronald Copes, Jonathan Feldman, and David Finckel. In 2019, she participated in the Sarasota Music Festival where her chamber performance was broadcast on WQXR’s Young Artists Showcase. In 2022, her quartet was invited to perform in Juilliard’s Focus Festival for contemporary music.
As an educator, Yuyu has been teaching private lessons for three years and holds teaching positions at multiple music schools in New York City. She is a teaching fellow at Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program and is a teaching artist at Midori and Friends. In 2022 and 2023, she performed in Carnegie Hall’s Link-Up concert series, an educational program to introduce classical music to young children.
Teaching philosophy: I focus on creating lessons where students can have ownership over their improvement and is driven by self motivation. Depending on the students’ age/level and goals, I adjust assignments and expectations accordingly. I also always like to dedicate time to fundamentals so that a student can have a smoother learning process in the long run, and can avoid developing bad habits that can cause problems or injuries later on.
I grew up with both Suzuki and traditional method teachers, and am accustomed to both ways of teaching. I generally like to use Suzuki books for beginner-intermediate level players, alongside other materials to work on fundamental techniques. For advanced players, I assign pieces that I think the student is ready to learn.
Yuyu teaches Violin lessons and Piano lessons.