Carl Hoff is a native St. Louisan. He attended Kirkwood schools for grades K-9, where he began violin studies with Martha Klann. He holds a B.S. in Music Education from Missouri State and a Master of Music in Performance from SIU-E. He also earned Suzuki certification while studying with John Kendall. Mr. Hoff recently retired from a 30-year career as a string specialist in the Rockwood School District, where he taught Beginning/ Intermediate strings and Orchestra. He has been an active orchestral and freelance violinist in the St. Louis area for over 35 years. He currently serves as concertmaster of the University City Symphony and is  a member of the Salem Chamber Orchestra, Landolfi String Quartet, and the Gateway Festival Orchestra, where he performs with a string quartet to promote the orchestra’s urban education/ outreach program, “Develop the Active Listener”. Through the years, Carl has played shows at The Fox, Stiefel Theater, and Hollywood Amphitheater for such artists as Smokey Robinson, The Moody Blues, Barry Manilow, Dionne Warwick, and Idina Menzel. He teaches privately at the West County School of Music and at his home studio.

Monet Royal is a native of St. Louis, Missouri. She began her viola studies at the
undergraduate level of education at Southeast Missouri State University. There, she earned her
Bachelor of Music degree in Viola Performance in 2017. Monet has also earned her Master’s
degree in Music Performance at Oklahoma State University in 2019. She was a Patti Johnson
Wilson Foundation fellow and was given the opportunity to perform with the Tulsa Symphony
Orchestra while enrolled in classes. Ms. Royal has performed internationally in Guardiagrele,
Italy and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. More recently, Monet has performed in
Sacramento, California with the Colour of Music Festival and in Atlanta, Georgia at the first Red
Bull Symphonic in the United States with the Orchestra Noir. Ms. Royal is not only passionate
about being a classical musician, but being a black, female classical musician.

At age 11, Ms. Fariga E. Drayton-Conway began cello studies with Kirkwood Orchestra Director Patrick Jackson.  After graduating from Kirkwood High School in 1995, she went on to pursue her Bachelor’s Degree in Cello Performance from the University of Kentucky and in 2006 completed her Music Education Certification from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

Drayton-Conway's teaching experience began in 2004 in the Alton School District (Illinois), where her ensembles received First Superior Ratings at both Large Ensemble Contest and Solo/Small Ensemble Festivals for seven consecutive years. During her tenure, Ms. Drayton formed the Schumann Chamber Orchestra; a 20-piece honors ensemble.  This ensemble annually competed and won the Six Flags Music in the Parks Festival Orchestral Division and was also featured at an Alternative Music Concert during the Illinois Music Educators Association Conference (IMEA) and Clinic in 2011.  In addition to her chamber orchestra, Ms. Drayton has also directed the Alton Jr. Youth Symphony (4th-8th grades), the St. Louis All-Suburban 7th/8th Grade Honors Orchestra and coached many cello sectionals across the area.

With nearly 30 years of performance experience in St. Louis, MO and its surrounding areas, she has performed with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (St. Louis Strings), the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players Mid-West Tour, and the Southern Illinois Music Festival in Carbondale, IL featuring all of the Brandenburg Concertos.  A substitute cellist with the MUNY Orchestra for 2012-2015, Ms. Drayton is currently principal cellist of the Gateway Festival Orchestra.  She has also been a featured soloist with Belleville Philharmonic, University City Symphony and the Gateway Festival Orchestra.

This is her 13th year in the Kirkwood School District teaching Beginning Strings (cello), the director for the Nipher Middle School Orchestra and 3rd year as the KHS Symphonic Orchestra Director.  She was also the recipient of the 2019 Secondary Educators Award for the Missouri chapter of the American String Teacher Association that was presented at MMEA In-State Clinic.

Her Nipher Middle School Orchestra (2014) and her Symphonic Orchestra (2024) have both performed at the Missouri Music Educator's Association.  In March, the Nipher Orchestra applied and were selected out of over 160 orchestral applicants to perform at the prestigious and historic Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference in December 2014.  They were one of three middle school orchestras and one of thirteen orchestras selected worldwide.  Nipher is the first ensemble in the Kirkwood School District to ever participate at this prestigious event.  In March 2016, the orchestra was invited to perform at the Nation Youth Orchestra (Director's Choice) at Carnegie Hall in New York.  Nipher Orchestra was the youngest group and the only string orchestra group to perform in at 30-minute concert.  The orchestra received many compliments as well as 3 standing ovations.  In the Spring of 2018, her Symphonic Orchestra received a Gold Rating at the Heritage Music Festival which included the Adjudicator's Award and an invitation to the Festival of Gold in Nashville, TN in 2019.  In March 2020, her Symphonic Orchestra will be one of 10 groups selected nationwide to participate in the National Orchestra Cup at Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York.

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Mrs. Drayton-Conway is the recipient of the 2019 Missouri American String Teacher Association Secondary 

Educator of the Year Award.

Dr. Platt holds undergraduate, masters, and doctorate degrees in Violin Performance from Boston University and Ball State University, with a minor in Vocal Performance. She has performed in orchestras across the United States and Europe. She is the concertmaster of the Saint Louis Philharmonic Orchestra, the Gateway Festival Orchestra, and the Town and Country Symphony Orchestra. In the past, she has served as concertmaster of the Edwardsville Symphony, the University City Symphony, the Clayton Orchestra, the Saint Louis Civic Orchestra, the Fabulous Fox Theater Orchestra, and the Salem-Chamber Orchestra. In addition, she has performed with the Kingsbury Ensemble, St. Louis Municipal Opera Theater, the Union Avenue Opera, the St. Louis Bach Society, the Winter Opera, and many traveling shows and performers such as Rod Stewart, Barry Manilow, Frank Sinatra Jr. and the Tran-Siberian Orchestra. 
 
Dr. Platt believes that music is a language and should be studied as such. She has certification in all levels of Suzuki pedagogy. John Kendall, Donald Becker, Vera McCoy-Sullentic, Winifred Crock, and Thomas Wermuth have mentored her in her Suzuki training. She has taught at the Suzuki Institute of Boston, the String Project at the University of Texas in Austin, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and the Kirkwood Academy of Music. 
 
Dr. Platt believes all students should study solo repertoire, chamber music, composition, improvisation, theory, history and technology in order to understand music at the highest level possible. Teaching the entire human being is her goal. 
 
Currently, Dr. Platt conducts the orchestra at Lindenwood University and teaches applied violin, viola, chamber music, history and string pedagogy. She also teaches at the Webster Community Music School.

​Outside of music, she loves spending time with her friends, playing tennis, hiking, canoeing and practicing yoga. She is constantly learning and growing with membership of the Bulletproof Musician and other in-kind communities.

A native of Kirkwood, Mrs. Sarah (Klevorn) Dane began piano lessons at age seven and violin lessons at age ten. She graduated from Kirkwood High School in 2009 after 8 years of instruction in the Kirkwood School District string program. Ms. Klevorn went on to earn a Bachelor's degree in Music Education and the Certificate in Violin Performance from Florida State University (FSU) as well as a Master's degree in Music Education from the Eastman School of Music. Influential teachers have included Corinne Stillwell (FSU), Juliana Athayde (Rochester Philharmonic), John McGrosso (Arianna String Quartet) and Dr. Kent Perry (St. Louis Philharmonic). 

Prior to joining Kirkwood School District, Ms. Klevorn was the Associate Orchestra Director at Winter Park High School in Orlando, FL. Her position included instruction of almost 200 students in five orchestra classes ranging from chamber music to large orchestra with full wind section. During her time at Winter Park, the program was selected as the Orlando Philharmonic's "Orchestra of Distinction" (the highest possible honor for school music programs in Orlando). Students earned Superior ratings at local and state level Music Performance Assessments and won seats in every local and state level honor orchestra. Ms. Klevorn also served as the Tri-M National Music Honors Society club sponsor, the conductor for the fall musical, and was selected as the winner of the 2016 Winter Park WildCat Spirit Award.

Active in the professional string teaching community in Florida, Ms. Klevorn has served as an adjudicator for All-State auditions, All-County auditions, and as a clinician for high school and middle school orchestras in both Orange and Volusia counties. 

Ms. Klevorn has played with numerous ensembles, including the Tallahassee Symphony, Cordancia Chamber Orchestra, and the FSU Symphony and Opera Orchestras. She served as Principal of the FSU Philharmonia. She currently performs with the Metropolitan Orchestra of St. Louis.

This is Ms. Klevorn's fourth year with Kirkwood School District. During her time at Kirkwood, she has led North Kirkwood Middle School Orchestra in their debut performance at the Missouri Music Educators' Association Annual Conference and the KHS Concert Orchestra to two division-winning and Gold performances at the Heritage Music Festival. 

Patrick Jackson’s instructional leadership and commitment to music education is legendary in the Kirkwood School District.  He has been honored in Who’s Who Among America’s High School Teachers by former students.  Jackson was the recent recipient of the Missouri American String Teachers Association’s “Secondary String Educator of the Year” award.  In addition, the Kirkwood School District honored him as the 2003-04 Teacher of the Year.  Jackson was also the 2003 Emerson “Excellence in Teaching” award winner and was recognized the following year by The St. Louis American as one of its “Excellence in Education” honorees.  He is the recipient of the McComb High School Hall of Fame Class of 2014.   His orchestras have won local, state and national acclaim for the past 29 years.  After being invited to perform at the Missouri Music Educator's Association State Conference six times, his Symphonic Orchestra will make a second appearance at Carnegie Hall, March 5, 2017.  A distinguished double bass pedagogue, Jackson has presented at the MMEA State Conference and the prestigious Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in 2016.   In March 2010, the KHS Symphonic Orchestra performed at the famed Carnegie Hall, selected as one of three high school orchestras in the nation to do so.  In June 2011, Mr. Jackson received the Yale Distinguished Music Educator Award from the Yale School of Music.  Prior to his joining the Kirkwood School District, Jackson taught in the Normandy School District and St. Louis Public Schools.   Mr. Jackson’s former students have won first prize in prestigious strings competitions including the Avery Fisher Prize, the Sphinx Competition, and the Young Concert Artist Guild.   Jackson’s students have also attended top music schools nationwide, including The Juilliard School, Eastman School of Music, Yale School of Music, New England Conservatory, Oberlin Conservatory, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.   A native of McComb, Mississippi, Jackson received his B.M.E. at Jackson State University and his M.M. in Double Bass performance from the St. Louis Conservatory of Music. While at Jackson State University, he was a member of the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra and Mississippi Opera Orchestra and received full scholarships to study music at Interlochen National Summer Music Camp and the Aspen Music Festival. Later in his career, he studied orchestral conducting at the South Carolina Institute of Conducting and American Institute Of Conducting.  Daughter Patrice Jackson, a cellist, is a graduate of Yale School of Music and the Juilliard School.  She is also Associate Cello Professor at Boston Conservatory at Berklee in Boston, MA.   Jackson served on the MSHSSA advisory committee for music.  He is a member of the American String Teachers Association, M.M.E.A., N.A.f.M.E., and is past vice president of the High School Orchestra for the St. Louis All-Suburban Music Educators Association.  He is the Director of Webster University's Young People’s Concert Orchestra and Symphonic Orchestra.

Joseph Kaminsky studied violin with the esteemed Northwestern University violin professors Almita and Roland Vamos and he graduated with a Masters in Music from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville studying Suzuki instruction from John Kendall and in Japan with Shinichi Suzuki himself. He has been teaching violin almost 50 years and has garnered numerous honors such as "Who's Who in American Universities and Colleges", 1999 MoASTA "Private Studio Teacher of the Year", and 2014 MoASTA "Artist String Teacher of the Year". His students are legendary for success and have been Concertmasters of the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra many times, as well as serving other prominant chairs in the Missouri All-State High School Orchestra, the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra, the Metropolitan Orchestra of St. Louis, and the Webster University Community Music School orchestras. They have been accepted into the Julliard School of Music, Oberlin College, SMU, and Northwestern University as music majors. His studio graduates currently play in the Milwaukee Symphony and the Indianapolis Symphony as well as others, and are on the violin faculty of St. Louis University, Blackburn College, and Principia College.

        Mr. Kaminsky himself has served as University violin instructor for Principia College, the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and Webster University. He currently maintains a demanding private studio but still finds time to play as Principal 2nd Violinist in the Metropolitan Orchestra of St. Louis (an orchestra many retired and some current SLSO members play with), in Bach Society, and in the Landolfi String Quartet and Ensembles. He has been for many years the violin columnist of the National publication "American Suzuki Journal". But most exciting are his Kirkwood connections. He graduated from Kirkwood High School, has taught the Beginning Strings Class here for 23 years, and one of the full time Kirkwood Orchestra teachers was actually a beginning violin student in his class.  Joseph lives in Kirkwood with his wife Lynn, and his son Nicholas living nearby. Lynn's daughter Erin is the current Assistant-Concertmaster of the St. Louis Symphony.