Graduate & Undergraduate Teachers
Tony Garrett
Tony Garrett is a junior music education student, with an emphasis in violin, at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He currently studies violin under David Neely. As a music education student he is a member of the UNL Symphony, UNL chamber ensembles, and a volunteer for Special Musicians (an organization that provides students with mental and physical disabilities a way to make music). He is an alum of the Omaha Conservatory of Music where he studied under Ruth Meints. Additionally, he participated in several ensembles including Frontier Strings, an auditioned violin group of students playing popular music. Moreover, Tony has also been an assistant in group violin and cello classes under the organization, Sprouts Tony is excited to continue helping students learn and love music.
Anna Grass
Anna Grass is originally from Seward, Nebraska. She holds a music degree from Concordia University and is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree in violin performance at the Glenn Korff School of Music in Lincoln under Professor David Neely. She began studying violin at the age of seven, played in the Kansas City Youth Symphony in high school, and in the Concordia University orchestra and the Lincoln Civic Orchestra through her undergraduate degree. Anna enjoys playing many other instruments, including piano, organ, bass guitar, and trombone. She especially loves sharing the joy of music with string students and helping them to discover and explore the ways it connects to the lives people from all walks of life. Anna has been teaching at Marble Music Studio since August of 2021 and looks forward to teaching in the String Project.
Liesl Nowak
Liesl Nowak is a sophomore Music Education Major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She currently studies the viola under Professor Clark Potter. In addition to her ten years of study on the viola, she has spent numerous summers working and volunteering at summer camps, including string orchestra camps. She has played in orchestras and professional choirs throughout the greater St. Louis area, including the top orchestral ensemble at her high school and the St. Louis Children’s Choir. She is committed to fostering a love and appreciation of music among young students and is so excited to be joining the String Project faculty.
Izzy Scollard
Violinist Izzy Scollard is a high school graduate from Semper Reformanda Academy and Metropolitan Community College. She studied violin for seven years with Anne Nagosky and was a member of the Omaha Area Youth Orchestra for two years. She is a freshman at UNL pursuing the Bachelor of Music degree in violin performance.
Dmitrii Tulupov
Dmitrii Tulupov is a violinist currently pursuing a Master of Music in Violin Performance at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, where he also serves as a Graduate Teaching Assistant. He completed his Bachelor of Music in Performance at the University of Missouri–Kansas City. Dmitrii has performed as a soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician with university ensembles and international festivals, and is a prizewinner at national and international violin competitions.
Already during high school in Lawrence, Dmitrii was invited to join the University of Kansas Symphony Orchestra as a first violin, gaining early professional experience and performing in a wide range of concerts. During his bachelor’s studies, he expanded into teaching through Curricular Practical Training in Kansas City, working both privately and in school programs. He focused on helping students strengthen technical skills, develop musicality, and prepare for performances and competitions, including youth violin contests. This combination of early orchestral experience, performance achievements, and teaching highlights his commitment to both artistic excellence and practical music education.
Mercy Wuehler
Cellist Mercy Wuehler is from the Fort Collins, Colorado area. In the Fall of 2024, she received an Associate's degree in the Arts at Laramie County Community College (LCCC) in Wyoming. Mercy is currently a transfer student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, pursuing a degree in cello performance. She started playing the cello in 2018 and since then has performed with the Greeley Chamber Orchestra, the Greeley Chorale, the Northern Colorado Youth Orchestra, the LCCC Chamber Orchestra, and was a finalist in the 2024 Wyoming Symphony Young Artist Competition.
Sara Miller
Lead (Supervising) Teacher
Ms. Miller started playing the viola in 4th grade, through her school district’s elementary orchestra program in Washington state. Inspired by her own music teachers, Sara earned her undergraduate degree in Music Education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and currently teaches elementary strings in Lincoln Public Schools. She is passionate about cultivating positive, growth-oriented communities for young musicians, and enjoys assisting all students in achieving their individual goals. In her spare time, Sara enjoys catching up with friends and family, trying different arts and crafts, playing video games… and practicing!
Dr. Karen Becker
Director
Karen Becker is Professor of Cello in the Glenn Korff School of Music at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and director of the University of Nebraska and Lincoln Public Schools String Project. She also coaches chamber music and teaches Cello Pedagogy and Literature. Dr. Becker is an active soloist and avid chamber and orchestral player, serving as principal cellist of the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra and touring regularly both as a soloist and as cellist in the Concordia String Trio. She has performed throughout the United States as well as throughout Europe, Mexico and Korea. She is faculty artist with the Red Lodge Music Festival in Montana and the Omaha Conservatory of Music Institute, and often serves as faculty artist for the Ameropa Chamber Music Festival in Praque, Czech Republic.
Becker has presented at numerous conferences, including international conferences of the College Music Society and national conferences of the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) in Kansas City, Atlanta, Providence, RI, Louisville, KY, Albuquerque, NM, and Salt Lake City, as well as the Midwest Band & Orchestra Clinic in Chicago. She has served as president of both the Nebraska and Missouri chapters of ASTA and has served on national committees. She has received the ASTA Citation for Leadership & Merit and the Private Studio Teacher Award from the Nebraska chapter.
