DeKALB – Two talented string performers and teachers with roots in the Chicago area will be in DeKalb, Sycamore and at Northern Illinois University May 3 through 5. Cellist Amy Barston and her sister, violinist Elisa Barston, are making school presentations, teaching master classes, conducting a workshop and performing with the Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra as part of a guest residency with the NIU Community School of the Arts.

The visit is funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts as part of its Arts Education in American Communities program. Additional funding has been provided by the Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the NIU Community School of the Arts.

The Barstons began their studies as Suzuki students with the Music Institute in Evanston, where they grew up. Organizing the activities are Linc Smelser, director of the Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra and cello teacher with the community school and Ann Montzka-Smelser, director of the community school’s Suzuki Strings Program.