Mark Bjork, Professor Emeritus of violin and pedagogy at the University of Minnesota School of Music, is a graduate of Indiana University where he studied violin under the renowned pedagogue Josef Gingold. A past president of the SAA, Mr. Bjork is recognized internationally as a leader in the field of Suzuki Talent Education. In 1967 he started one of the first Suzuki programs in the United States at the MacPhail Center For Music in Minneapolis. Workshops, master classes and clinics, often related to Suzuki Talent Education, have taken him throughout the world. His former students include orchestral musicians, chamber music performers, teachers, and many happy amateurs. Bjork is the author of Expanding Horizons: The Suzuki Trained Violinist Grows Up.

Annika Eriksson graduated with honors from Augsburg College with a Bachelor of Music Education degree and taught 4th-8th grade orchestra in the Mounds View Public Schools since 2010. Prior to that, she worked in the Eastern Carver County schools and helped establish an elementary string program within the district’s community education and has also taught private violin lessons since 2003.

Annika has performed in a variety of settings throughout Minnesota and beyond, including in a string quartet and other larger ensembles in the metro area. She has specialized study in orchestral conducting and composition; one of her compositions was premièred in concert by the Augsburg Symphony Orchestra, and she frequently arranges fun music of a variety of styles for students and continues to compose in her spare time. In addition to her classical training, she also specializes in traditional Swedish folk music and served as Artistic Director for the American Swedish Institute Lilla Spelmanslag for 5 years and brought the youth ensemble on tour to Sweden in 2008.

Lionnel Genovart started his luthier training at 14 with Italian master Franco Ponzo. he continued his training with international luthiers Burkhard Menze (Alemania), Ivan Guimaraes (Brasil), Burkhar Meyer, Hyronimus Kostler, and Horacio Piñeiro (New York).

IN 2005 he opened his own atelier where he does important restorations, maintenance and fine tuning of instruments. He also makes violins, violas, and cellos that are often chosen by important local musicians in Argentina, as well as international musicians, due to their tone quality and style.

Since 2012 Lionnel travels periodically to Guayaquil, Ecuador, to care for the instruments in the Guayaquil Symphony Orchestra and Academia Pepper.  He also works on the promotion and teaching of instrument making by giving lectures in conferences and writing articles in Latin American countries.

Nancy Lokken has directed Augsburg University Suzuki Talent Education (AUSTE) in Minneapolis, Minnesota since 1989. She also teaches Suzuki pedagogy as a registered Teacher Trainer with the Suzuki Association of the Americas. She studied with Dr. Suzuki in Japan and is an active Clinician and Teacher Trainer at institutes, festivals and workshops throughout the United States, Canada, and Latin America. She is a founding member and first President of the Suzuki Association of Minnesota, and served on the board of the American String Teachers’ Association of Minnesota. She was the Coordinator of the 30th Anniversary Conference of the Suzuki Association of the Americas (SAA) in 2002, has presented at several SAA and American String Teachers’ Association (ASTA) National Conferences, and served on the SAA Teacher Development Committees which developed the courses ECC!, “Every Child Can!, and SPA, “Suzuki Principals in Action.”

Violinist, composer, and teacher, she graduated from the Manuel de Falla Music Conservatory in Buenos Aires. She studied composition with Ricardo Capellano. Her work “Vientos de Octubre” (October Winds) won her a scholarship in improvisation and composition from the Fondo Nacional de las Artes in Argentina. She currently coordinates and conducts the Students’ Tango Orchestra “El semillero” in Córdoba, Argentina, and freelances with her duet Mongelli-Cosacov. Victoria works at “Fundación Las manos del músico” treating and preventing injuries through Fedora Aberastury’s Conscious System for Movement's Technique.