The 2022 PRIZM Summer Camp and International Chamber Music Festival is shaping up to be one of the best years yet! Young musicians will learn from and play alongside talented professionals from across the country. Meet this year’s string instructors.

Andrea Yun

Andrea Yun is one of 40 Suzuki cello teacher trainers in the United States. She works as a

 cellist in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she is a member of the Detroit Opera, the Ann Arbor Symphony Or

chestra, and is the principal cellist of the Baroque on Beaver Island orchestra. She has held teaching positions at the University of Michigan, the University of Texas at San Antonio, Bowling Green State University, Ann 

Arbor Pioneer High School and Okemos Chippewa Middle School. Andrea has a bachelor’s degree in music education and mathematics, as well as a master’s degree in cello performance from Indiana University. She earned her doctorate in cello performance and pedagogy from the University of Michigan. Andrea was awarded the 2020 Teacher of the Year award by the Michigan chapter of the American String Teachers Association. 

Er-Gene Kahng

Er-Gene Kahng is a violinist, researcher and educator whose work came to the fore through her advocacy of African American composer Florence Price. Her recording of Price’s Violin Concertos has been praised by sources such as The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker and The New York Times as an important contribution to American classical music and has aired on programs like NPR’s Songs We Love and American Public Media’s Performance Today.  Er-Gene serves as concertmaster with the Fort Smith Symphony and is a member of the Chineke! – the first majority Black, Asian and minority ethnic orchestra in Europe. She serves as professor of violin and director of graduate studies at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. She was a Visiting Wolfson Fellow at the University of Cambridge and received degrees from UCLA, Yale and Northwestern.   

Johnny Walker Jr. 

Johnny Walker Jr. is a professional musician in Washington, D.C. He has earned many awards and performed at some of the most prestigious venues, including the Kennedy Center, the White House, the Carter Barron Amphitheater, the Atlas Theater, the Lincoln Theater and the Department of Defense. Johnny has collaborated with notable musicians and ensembles such as the Eagles, Vanessa Williams, Larry Graham and Graham Central Station, Esperanza Spalding, the Lancaster, McLean, Mid-Atlantic and Soulful Symphonies, the United States Air Force Band and more. He has also performed with world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Johnny currently runs his own private studio and is a member of the Suzuki Association of America. He is also a lead teaching artist for the Washington Performing Arts’ Capital Strings program. When he is not teaching, Johnny performs with his band Kontrolled Khaos, the DC Strings Workshop and independently as a freelancer.

Leslie DeShazor

2021 MPower Grant Recipient and TedX speaker Leslie DeShazor is a soloist, teacher and recording artist. As a soloist, she has performed with the Toledo Symphony. She has also performed with The Sphinx Symphony Orchestra, Michigan Opera Theatre Orchestra, Michigan Sinfonietta, CutTime Simfonica, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Gateways Orchestra, Flint Symphony, The River Raisin Ragtime Revue and Ann Arbor Symphony, as well as jazz ensembles, Leigh Daniels Ensemble the Detroit-based, Musique Noire and Straight Ahead. Leslie has performed and recorded with international, Grammy award-winning R&B stars Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, and Aretha Franklin and Grammy award-winning gospel artists Fred Hammond, Michael W. Smith and Donnie McClurkin. She has recently expanded her versatility musically playing both viola and violin as a part of award-winning hit musicals “Hamilton” and “Hello, Dolly!” An experienced instructor, she currently teaches instructional music programs offered through the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Sphinx Organization and her own private studio.