Hopkins

As a classically trained violinist and pianist, Esther has performed extensively throughout the United States and Europe.  She began piano lessons at a young age, followed by violin lessons a few years later.  Esther graduated from Luther College with her B.A. in Violin Performance.  She has participated in many violin and piano competitions, music camps and masterclasses, and toured with the Sound of Strings Music School and Luther College Orchestra.  Esther graduated from Luther in 2011, and has been teaching since 2014; she can work with all ages and abilities.  Although her training was formal, Esther enjoys teaching all genres of music and customizes her teaching method for each student.  She aims to share her passion of music with her students, and create a positive learning experience.  She enjoys collaborating and working with students to play with her and other students.

Chris grew up hearing his dad play guitar around the house and at live shows. He “caught the bug” around age 13 and hasn’t stopped playing since! He’s been teaching guitar since 2003 and received his Bachelor of Arts in Music at North Central University in 2008 where he studied jazz, blues, rock, classical, songwriting, and church music. As a teacher, he’s taught about two dozen lessons a week for the better part of 10 years; from beginner to advanced, hobbyist to college-prep or gig-ready, from age 8 to retiree. He also specializes in blues, rock, improvisation and songwriting. What he loves most about teaching is being able to pass on everything he has learned and continues to learn in his 20 years as a musician, helping students take step after step to achieve their musical goals. As an active musician, Chris has been the lead singer/songwriter/rhythm guitarist for a local rock band and has performed/recorded as the lead guitarist for a number of other bands/artists. He currently plays for a blues-rock band and is working on writing his 2nd solo album.

Matt is a pianist, composer, improviser, and educator currently based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He received a Bachelor of Music degree with a self-designed major in contemporary improvisation at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. While at Lawrence, Matt had the opportunity to study with Tim Albright, Bill Carrothers, Patty Darling, José Encarnación, Michael Mizrahi, Anthony Padilla, and Matt Turner. Since relocating to Minneapolis, his latest projects include performing with YINS, a duo with drummer Devin Drobka; Collector, an improvising piano trio with bassist Jakob Heinemann and Devin Drobka; Work Friends, a jazz quintet dedicated to playing all original music; and Slipstream, a chamber quartet that focuses on the commissioning and performing of new music. In addition to these projects, Matt has had the honor of performing with John Christensen, Barry Paul Clark, José Encarnación, Jonathan Greenstein, Russ Johnson, Christopher Porterfield, Hal Rammel, Dane Richeson, Chris Weller, and Minneapolis based dance trio Kelvin Wailey. As a part of Slipstream, Matt has premiered new compositions by Patrick Marschke, John Mayrose, JP Merz, Chris Misch-Bloxdorf, and David Werfelmann. Matt has also been regularly performing solo, either on solo piano or solo prepared Fender Rhodes and electronics. In June of 2017, Matt recorded his first solo record with drummer Dave King (The Bad Plus, Happy Apple) as producer. The recording, Shadow Sets, features eight original compositions for solo piano and was released in April of 2018.