Suzuki Music School Instructors
Jan, Nina, Cynthia, Jay and Patrick
Janet Janz (Cello/Kindermusik)
Jan is the owner/director of the Suzuki Music School and has taught cello since 1983. She holds a B.M. in Music Education from DePaul University. Jan performs with the Lake Shore Symphony Orchestra and the Fern Court Trio. She is also on faculty at the Merit School of Music and is a licensed Kindermusik teacher.
Nina Saito (Violin)
Nina received her B.M. from Northwestern University and her M.M. from the University of Houston. She has only recently begun to teach and is really enjoying the Suzuki Music School family! Nina previously performed throughout the country with various orchestras including the New York City Opera National Company, Western Opera Theater (San Francisco) and Sarasota Opera. She enjoyed spending ten wonderful summers performing with the AIMS Festival Orchestra in Graz, Austria as well as participating with the Spoleto Festival both in Spoleto, Italy and Charleston, SC. Nina currently teaches and freelances in the Chicago area.
Jay Kolin (Piano)
Jay has taught Suzuki piano since 1998. He has a MS in education from Wheelock College in Boston, specializing in primary education. He was a former Peace Corps volunteer in Togo, a former teacher/deputy head teacher at Kisumu International School in Kenya, and field officer/teacher for Harvard University’s WorldTeach Project, also in Kenya. He has studied piano with Darryl Rosenberg, Kathleen Supove, Leena Crothers, Greg Slowik, and has done master classes with Melvin Chen (Yale University), Diane Andersen (Conservatoire Royale de Musique, Belgium), and Rebecca Rafaelli (New Haven). He also teaches Suzuki piano at the Music Institute of Chicago.
Cynthia Papierniak (Piano)
Cynthia has taught at SMSLP since 1987. She earned a B.A. in Music Education from Montclair State College, NJ, and an M.S. in Biology from IIT. She spent two years in the Navy and twenty-three years as a medical research technician at Michael Reese and Rush hospitals. She has studied Suzuki pedagogy through Book VII having studied with Yasko Joichi, Carole Bigler, and Valery-Lloyd Watts. She also teaches in her home studio in Oak Park. (papierniakpianostudio.com.) Cynthia is a member of CAMTA, National Guild of Piano Teachers, and SAA. Her husband, Michael, plays the French horn, and her daughter (an SMS alumna) teaches violin in Baltimore. She shares the keyboard ministry at her church and is a student of Dr. Michael Fritsch of Wheaton. Cynthia is an amateur composer.