With this website I want to share who I am, where I come from, and the three passions that I have in my life - performing as a violinist, teaching, and coaching to help to prepare strong performers for any situation.  

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I come from Washington State in the U.S.A. and I grew up with mountains and the ocean near me and that part of the world is always close to my heart.  My parents live on the Oregon coast now and I try to visit them and give workshops and perform concerts in their area a couple of times a year.   My husband, percussionist and instrument maker Orlando Aguilar Velazquez, is from Mexico so we also spend a couple of months each year there as well and work there regularly.   The rest of the time we live in The Hague in The Netherlands with our dog Buddy and our cat Kate.  

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I first moved to The Netherlands to study historical performance practice at the Royal Conservatory and now it's an honor to work there as a member of the faculty.   I teach string quartets for the early music department, baroque violin pedagogy, ensemble teaching, and a career development course called PPP.  I also was lucky to have the opportunity to spend one year as a lectorate for the conservatory in 2023 where I researched 19th century concert practices and it's social relevance today. 

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I'm currently the artistic director and concertmaster of the Dutch-based ensemble Heliosfero.  In 2021, the ensemble started off by organizing several tours, and an Erasmus partnership on didactic online practices called Virtual Stage.   In 2024, the Heliosfero Academy was launched in order to support young musicians who wish to study early music, regardless of their country of residence or economic background.   In June of 2024, the first Heliosfero summer academy in France was also initiated, where students and myself performed in a wood factory as well as a 13th century chapel.   Everyone was given a scholarship from the Adriana Jacobafonds so it was a stress free week of music making together.  

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I perform with several chamber music ensembles as well as orchestras in Europe and the Americas.   I am currently a member of B'Rock, Heliosfero, and Modelo 62.   I also was a member of the Richter Ensemble, a string quartet which recorded several albums of the 2nd Viennese school on gut strings on Passacaille.  Other past and present collaborators are Opera2day, Anima Eterna, Cepromusic in Mexico City, Sarasa in Boston, Ars Lyrica in Houston, San Miguel Chamber Music Festival, the AMA baroque orchestra of Mexico City’s National University and in Curitiba Brazil at the Oficina festival. 

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During the pandemic I decided to get a coaching certification when I realized that many of my students were having a difficult time and I didn't know how to best support them.  I also have had several times in my life where I was overwhelmed with nerves and found it difficult to perform at my best level and during that time I reached out to a coach and it helped me tremendously.   I also believe that the majority of problems, even technical ones, that we face as musicians or in any profession are many times caused by past experiences and unresolved personal issues.  I now want to help to connect musicians (or people in any profession) with coping strategies and practical plans that can help to make life less overwhelming and stressful.  

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I offer lessons and coaching services here on the website and you can look through the rest of my pages which also have links to future concerts, lessons, coaching services, and some of my recordings.   I hope you enjoy!