A little about me…
With a passion for musical expression and quality music education, I treasure the privilege I have to work with families and students as they discover music as a catalyst to character formation, meaningful worship and whole-hearted service.
A native of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Savannah Kari began her violin instruction at age 6 under the instruction of Marilyn O’Boyle and later went on to study classical repertoire with Ruxandra Marquardt and Elizabeth Larson-Freeman. As a young student, Kari collaborated with her siblings (also violinists) to start their own performance group called “The Golden Scroll Players,” participating in numerous self-organized concerts, fundraisers, and charity benefit events. After discovering a passion for orchestral music, Kari performed with a variety of student orchestras including the Albuquerque Youth Symphony, Albuquerque Philharmonic Orchestra, Eastern Music Festival Orchestra (2017), and Biola Symphony Orchestra. As a chamber musician, she has played with quartets, quintets, and trios, and spent time as a member of Biola University’s featured Honors Quartet. After graduating from Biola University Conservatory of Music in 2021, Kari moved to Northern Virginia/D.C. Metro Area and began freelancing as a teacher and regular sub for Fairfax Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Christopher Zimmerman, sharing the stage with many musical icons, such as Rachel Barton-Pine, Renee Fleming, and Jeremy Denk. She also played with the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic and the Symphony Orchestra of Northern Virginia. During the summer of 2024, Kari will participate as part of Eastern Music Festival's highly esteemed Orchestral Fellowship program.
A passionate and dedicated teacher, Kari has taught private violin lessons for the last 12 years, maintaining large studios in three different states and drawing her pedagogical inspiration from the Suzuki Method and renowned teachers such as Elizabeth Faidley. She served as the K-8 Orchestra Director for Immanuel Christian School in Springfield, Virginia, where she successfully revitalized the program after the pandemic and tripled the size of the orchestra during her three-year tenure at the school. Kari has recently relocated to Southern California and looks forward to further nurturing her passion for teaching by growing a studio that prioritizes the development of young students as whole people, using music as a tool to mold and mature body, mind, and spirit. In her free time, Kari is a person of diverse interests, and loves anything from sunset walks on the beach, to reading books about psychology and Christian theology, to DIY building and gardening projects.