Guest Artists
Each ICMA year, we plan to bring in amazingly talented Guest Artists to work with our students. We are excited to share this year's Guest Artists with you!
Jane Hoffmire, violin
Mrs. Hoffmire graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University with a Bachelor of Music degree in violin performance, receiving a full tuition music scholarship, complemented by a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish. She furthered her education at the University of Illinois, where she was granted a teaching assistantship while earning a Master of Music degree in violin performance.
Jane has performed in concerts and festivals in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Russia.
In addition to maintaining a private violin studio for over 30 years, she has taught in the Illinois Wesleyan Preparatory Department and coached the Honors String Quartets for Youth Music Illinois.
Her students consistently receive leadership positions in local youth orchestras and have received awards in local and state music competitions, in addition to receiving college music scholarships in and out of state. Jane has been blessed to see her students go on to pursue successful professional music careers but is equally blessed when her students continue violin playing as a complement to their primary profession.
She manages, contracts, and plays violin for the Peoria based River City String Quartet. One of Jane’s greatest joys is being wife to Darin for over 30 years, mother to three adult daughters, and most recently, given the pleasure of becoming Grammy.
Cora Swenson Lee
Praised by the San Francisco Classical Voice for playing "with maturity and panache," Dr. Cora Swenson Lee is a cellist and baroque cellist who performs actively around the United States. She holds a Doctorate of Music in Cello Performance and Bachelors Degree in Cello Performance with highest distinction from the Eastman School of Music, as well as a Masters Degree in Cello Performance from Boston University College of Fine Arts.
A passionate educator, Dr. Swenson Lee is currently Instructional Assistant Professor of Cello at Illinois State University and the director of the Eastman Cello Institute. She has previously held appointments at Bucknell University, Illinois Wesleyan University, musiConnects, the Youth and Muse Festival, and the Hochstein School of Music and Dance. During her doctoral studies she served as a teaching assistant to Alan Harris and as a secondary lesson teacher at the Eastman School of music. Dr. Swenson Lee has also taught chamber music, orchestral sectionals, and graduate courses at the University of Rochester and Nazareth College.
Dr. Swenson Lee is an ardent chamber musician and recitalist. After a performance of Mendelssohn's String Octet, the Boston Musical Intelligencer stated "Swenson Lee, whom I had not heard previously, was a treat to discover..." She was awarded first prize in Instrumental Performance (professional division) of the 2019-2020 American Prize. In the 2014-2015 season Dr. Swenson Lee was named a Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Fellow at Emmanuel Music. Dr. Swenson Lee’s early music ensemble, Trio Speranza, concertizes around the United States each season, and in 2014 won the Presentation Prize at Early Music America's Baroque Performance Competition. During her time as cellist of the Boston Public Quartet, she was part of the Celebrity Series of Boston initiative Artists in Community, which brings free concerts and school presentations to several Boston communities.
Dr. Swenson Lee performs regularly on concert series including Kings Chapel Recitals, Emmanuel Music’s Lindsey Chapel Series, the Eastman Cello Institute Faculty Recital series, Live from Hochstein Radio Broadcasts, the Musicians Club of Women, and the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series in Chicago. Dr. Swenson Lee has appeared with Emmanuel Music, Boston Baroque, the Rochester Philharmonic, the Handel and Haydn Society and the New World Symphony. Highlights include performances at the San Francisco Early Music Society, Trinity Church Copley and Jordan Hall in Boston, Quigley Chapel and DePaul University in Chicago, the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, and Odori Park in Sapporo Japan.
