Elisabeth K. Hope

Elisabeth Hope grew up in a musical family and began her violin study as a “Suzuki kid” at the age of three under the excellent instruction of Susan Kempter in Albuquerque, NM. Her early experiences with the Albuquerque Youth Symphony and a touring Suzuki violin group inspired her to pursue music as a career.  She attended George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, studying violin with Peter Haase. She graduated from Mason in 2008 with a double Bachelor of Arts degree in music and communication (public relations concentration).  She then moved to Texas to pursue her Master of Music degree at the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music, studying the violin with Andrzej Grabiec and graduating in 2010. 

Mrs. Hope has performed across the United States as well as in Mexico and Spain.  She has been featured as a soloist with orchestras in New Mexico, Texas and Virginia, most notably at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage in Washington, D.C.  Mrs. Hope has completed all ten books of violin training in the Suzuki method, and she finds the training so valuable that she’s continuing her Suzuki training by revisiting courses. Her trainers have included Susan Kempter, Allen Lieb, Gail Johansen, Alice Joy Lewis, Carol Dallinger, Ann Montzka Smelzer, and Daniel Gee Cordova. She has received training in Suzuki Early Childhood Education with Sharon Jones and Danette Schuh.

Mrs. Hope currently lives in Dickinson, Texas, where she has the honor of sharing her love of music with a studio of eager Suzuki violin students, performing in the Houston area as a freelancing violinist, and serving as the orchestra director at Bay Area Christian School.  After seeing firsthand the amazing benefits that Suzuki Early Childhood Education classes provided for her two small children, Mrs. Hope knew she must offer the same wonderful opportunity to babies and toddlers in her area.  Before the pandemic, she taught SECE classes at an assisted living home, where she was thrilled to see the positive effects for both the young students and the observing residents.  Her most challenging but rewarding musical endeavor is learning how to navigate the role of practice parent for two aspiring young Suzuki violinists. Mrs. Hope is the past president of the Southeast Texas Suzuki Association.