about laura

An avid freelance and chamber musician, Laura has performed throughout the United States and internationally. As a chamber musician, Dr. Eakman has collaborated with the assistant concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, Michelle Kim, as well as renowned soloist, Elizabeth Pitcairn. She has worked with the Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane Dance Company, performed with new music ensembles in Colorado, and was a founding member of the Avant Duo, Kylian Quartet, and Camus Quartet which toured the Netherlands in 2009. She has served as assistant principal violist with the Northbrook Symphony Orchestra, the Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and the Lasalle Bank Messiah held at Chicago’s Civic Opera House.

Laura is currently Executive Director of The Music Academy in Rockford, IL, a not-for-profit community school offering Suzuki and traditional lessons and employing 25 teachers. Previous to this role she served as Strings Division Chair at Community School for the Performing Arts at Kansas State University where she founded a Suzuki Program, Chamber Music Program, Summer Camp and taught violin and viola students. Laura has been teaching privately for over 20 years and has taught in the classroom for El Sistema Colorado which serves primarily disadvantaged children in metro Denver as well as private charter schools in Colorado.

Laura received her Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder where she served as Erika Eckert’s teaching assistant and studied chamber music with members of the Takacs Quartet. Her doctoral thesis, Teaching the Violin with Purpose: strategies designed to foster musical, cognitive, and social development in low-income students, has been a resource for El Sistema sites, and has been adapted to suit the Suzuki philosophy in a forthcoming article in the American Suzuki Journal. 

Laura received both her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Northern Illinois University in music performance and pedagogy where she studied with Richard Young and Anthony Devroye. Additional studies include coaching with Roger Chase, Mathias Tacke, and Robert Chen. Dr. Eakman's pedagogy training has included Suzuki registration with Ann Montzka-Smelser as well as classes and workshops with Mimi Zweig of Indiana University and Rebecca Henri of Peabody Conservatory.