Wendy Tangen-Foster

Wendy Tangen-Foster, former president of the Suzuki Association of Minnesota, currently directs the Suzuki Strings Program at the Saint Paul Conservatory of Music (SPCM). Wendy’s teaching style is characterized by her animated, enthusiastic and relentlessly positive approach with students and parents. Wendy’s rigorous attention to technical detail and her ability to balance high artistic standards with creativity, humor, fun and excitement has made her a sought-after guest clinician at Suzuki institutes and workshops across the United States. Wendy began her Suzuki teacher-training in high school with LeRoy Bauer, Deborah Goolsby and Craig Timmerman, and furthered her studies with Jacqueline Maurer, Carol Smith, Pat D’Ercole, Kathleen Spring, Joanne Bath, Edmund Sprunger, Joseph Kaminsky, Nancy Lokken, Alice Joy Lewis and Ronda Cole. Wendy developed her passion for chamber music after studying with the Philadelphia String Quartet, the Lafayette Quartet and the Apple Hill Quartet. While studying at the Lionel Hampton School of Music, she fell in love with jazz and improvisation and went on to study with jazz-violinist Randy Sabien. She joined his swing band Rhythm and Bows achieving acclaim in the Midwest and performing as an invited guest artist at the International Jazz Educators Conference in 2012. Wendy has toured nationally with rock/blues bands, and performs and records as a freelance musician in the Twin Cities. She incorporates “alternative” violin styles into her Suzuki curriculum. Currently, she performs with Charanga Tropical and Rogue Tango, bands that play a blend of tango, jazz, rumba, and flamenco music.