Caitlin Yambao

Violin Teacher, Student

Caitlin Yambao

SAA Member

Caitlin is currently pursuing her master’s degree in violin performance at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, where she studies with Almita Vamos and MingHuan Xu. She is also a teaching assistant for music theory and has served as concertmaster of the CCPA String Ensemble.

Caitlin received her bachelor’s degree in violin performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Joan Kwuon, Jessica Lee, and Philip Setzer. She also has minors in business management (from Case Western Reserve University) and music theory. She graduated summa cum laude from CIM and was awarded the Gilbert M. Brooks Dean’s Award for Academic Excellence. 

Caitlin has attended festivals such as the Borromeo Music Festival in Switzerland, Bowdoin International Music Festival, and the Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at the Juilliard School. She has also played in masterclasses with artists such as the Pacifica Quartet, Paul Kantor, Ilya Kaler, and Joel Smirnoff. In 2018, she performed in the masterclass with Martin Beaver at the SAA Conference in Minneapolis. She has been a teaching assistant at OPUS Chamber Music Camp in the Chicago suburbs, where she helps with chamber music and theory/ composition classes.

Caitlin started playing violin at the age of 7 through the Suzuki method at the Western Springs School of Talent Education, where she studied with Tom Wermuth, Vicki Szczepaniak, and Ed Kreitman. She has taken Suzuki teacher training courses with Kimberly Meier- Sims, Judy Bossuat- Gallic, Ann Montzka- Smelser, and Nancy Jackson.