Erika Lord-Castillo
Erika Lord-Castillo (violin, viola) is the Interim Director of the SIUE Suzuki Program. She has been a faculty teacher in the SIU-Edwardsville Suzuki Program since 2009 and became a Suzuki Violin Teacher Trainer in 2021. Originally from Iowa City, Iowa, Erika earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Violin Performance and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature, Sciences and Arts from the University of Iowa. She holds a Master's in Music Education from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, and studied Suzuki pedagogy Violin Books 1-10 with Vera McCoy-Sulentic. Erika has also completed Suzuki teacher training with Michelle Higa George, Moshe Neumann, Judy Bossuat, Nancy Jackson, Christie Felsing, William Preucil, Senior, and Alice Joy Lewis. Erika taught in Corvallis, Oregon through Corvallis Youth Symphony's Elementary Strings Program and taught elementary through high school orchestra in the Ferguson-Florissant School District in North St. Louis County. Erika has performed with numerous community orchestras in Iowa and Oregon, with the St. Louis Philharmonic Orchestra, the Illinois Symphony, and is a regular member of the Edwardsville Symphony and the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Orchestra. Erika's violin teachers include Annette-Barbara Vogel, Katie Wolfe, and Lenora Anop. Erika presented her Masters Thesis at the American String Teachers Association national conference, is a regular contributor to the American Suzuki Journal, and has also presented at the Suzuki Association of the Americas Conference. She is a past director of SIUE's Summer String Camp and of the SIUE Suzuki Viola Camerata, part of the larger SIUE Suzuki Tour Group. Erika received the Suzuki Association Certificate of Achievement Level 1 in the summer of 2015.
