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| The view from Salzburg Castle, Austria |
Lea Matthys holds Bachelor of Music degree from Hope College in Holland, Michigan and a Master of Music degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee studying with Richard Piippo and Stefan Kartman. During graduate school, she completed intensive coursework in cello pedagogy with Scott Cook of the String Academy of Wisconsin. Her Suzuki Method training has been overseen by Pamela Devenport of the School for Strings, New York City. She has appeared as soloist with the Hope College Orchestra and UW-Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and performed in the Holland (MI), Racine (WI), Kenosha (WI) and Sheboygan (WI) Symphonies. She has played in the Green Mountain and Mimir chamber music festivals and performed in masterclasses for Jesus Castro-Balbi, Lawrence Dutton, Wolfgang Laufer and George Sopkin.
Lea Matthys' teaching career centers on nurturing the talent of cello students of any age. With more than thirteen years of experience, her compassionate, committed approach has encouraged students into active musical lives from passionate amateurs to skilled professionals. Offering both Suzuki method and traditional lessons, she believes that anyone can learn to play the cello well, given expert guidance and a tailored, encouraging approach. With creativity and tenacity, Lea creates curricula to overcome difficulties large and small. Students challenged by dyslexia, vision impairment, autism and muscular dystrophy have excelled in her studio.
An advocate for new music, Lea has premiered more than 20 new works for the cello, including works by Joel Hoffman and Steve Talaga. Locally, she performs with Classical Revolution Cincinnati, the experimental group Fringe Logic, and in collaboration with the Cincinnati Composers’ Laptop Orchestra Project (CiCLOP). She collaborates with her husband Joel, a composer, keyboardist and accordionist, to create, commission and perform new works for the cello as part of their project Tune Monger.
