Ms. Christian Simmelink

Ms. Simmelink has been teaching over the past 12 years and utilizes modern techniques coupled with the Suzuki Method, having trained and completed Every Child Can and Book 1 Suzuki Certification program with Ronda Cole. She started the violin at age four through the Suzuki Method, and has a keen sense of what it takes to start an instrument. She absolutely loves teaching beginners to advanced levels of playing, and has lots of success in watching children blossom throughout their musical journey. These students have gone on to perform with nationwide known youth orchestras such as the Maryland Classics Youth Orchestra, Potomac Valley Youth Orchestra and the Phoenix Youth Orchestra. Her students have enjoyed performances at lovely venues, including the Strathmore Music Center, Gaithersburg Arts Barn, McCathran Hall of Washington Grove and the John Kendall Recital Hall of Potters Violin Shop.

Ms. Simmelink holds a Bachelor’s degree in violin performance from Ithaca College and a Masters of Music from Arizona State University. Her primary teachers have been Mr. Jody Gatwood, Dr. Rebecca Ansel, Ms. Susan Waterbury and Dr. Katherine E. McLin. While in Arizona, she performed regularly with The Phoenix Symphony, Symphony of the Southwest, and was Concertmaster of the Arizona State University Chamber and Symphony Orchestras. She is also a former member of The Urban Strings, a progressive electric string quartet, playing music from hard rock to alternative, pop, jazz and film scores.​​

She has also expanded her performance career with the Maryland Symphony Orchestra, The National Philharmonic, Richmond Symphony, Delaware Symphony, Alexandria Symphony, the American Pops Orchestra, Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, Savannah Philharmonic and the inaugural season of the Gourmet Symphony.  As an avid lover of chamber music, she has performed at the Dumbarton Oaks House Chamber Series, was featured through the Washington Performing Arts (WPA) 6th and I Synagogue concert series with renowned mandolinist, Avi Avital, performed Souvenir de Florence with the Charm City Chamber Players and has been highlighted by the Savannah Philharmonic Chamber Concert Series.

Ms. Simmelink’s performance career experiences have also taken her to the deep south in Savannah, Georgia, the great concert halls across China, the heart of music at the Vienna Konzerthaus and and the prestigious U.S. Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Strathmore Music Hall, The Kennedy Center and Madison Square Garden.

During her summers she has attended the Aspen Music Festival, Audubon Chamber Music Festival, Adriatic Chamber Music Festival in Termoli, Italy, and the Meadowmount School of Music. She has worked with world renowned musicians such as Joshua Bell, Chee-Yun Kim, Christian Tetzlaff, Stanley Richie, Arnold Steinhardt, Andre Watts, Doc Severinsen, Ertha Kitt, Colin Currie and conductors Eri Klas, Lidiya Yankovskaya, Keitaro Harada, Michael Christie, Robert Trevino, Joel Smirnoff and David Amado.

Ms. Simmelink plays on a modern violin by Jonathan Cooper of Portland, Maine, and a fine gold-mounted bow by John Norwood Lee.