Meet The Teachers
En-Ting Hsu
String Sprouts Lead Teacher, Violin
A native of Taiwan, En-Ting is currently pursuing the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the UMKC Conservatory, studying with Scott Lee. She received her Master’s of Music at Indiana University and obtained the Bachelor of Music degree at National Taiwan Normal University. As an orchestral player, she performed in the U.S., Japan, South Korea, China and Hong Kong. As a chamber music lover, she has attended Eastern Music Festival and Kent/Blossom Music Festival in past summers. Also, her string quartet won the first prize in National Taiwan Music Competition for several times. En-Ting is a HCM alumni.
Samuel Cho
String Sprouts Lead Teacher, Cello
Samuel Cho was born in San Francisco, CA, but grew up and received his early childhood education in Taipei, Taiwan. He received his BMA at Georgia Southern University, and is currently pursuing a MMA at UMKC where he is a member of the Graduate Fellowship String Quartet. Samuel is an HCM alumni and past Festival Scholar.
As an educator, Samuel has been the orchestra instructor at Seaman School district and USD 501 Topeka Public Schools in 2011. He taught at New Heart String Camp in Houston, TX, from 2009 to 2011. Samuel served as music faculty at Savannah Country Day School from 2016 to 2018.
As a chamber music enthusiast, Samuel co-founded the Fairway String Quartet and received fellowships at many prestigious music festivals, including Juilliard Quartet Seminar, McGill International String Quartet Academy, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival at Yale University, Virginia Tech’s Intensive String Quartet Seminar, Accent at Cincinnati Conservatory and Heartland Chamber Music Festival.
When not teaching or performing, Samuel enjoys family time with his two boys, Silas and Simon, and his wife Shannon, who is a violinist.
Assistant Sprouts faculty
Nelle Henning
Hamp Henning, Jr.
Polina Krasnopolskaya
Ian Lim
Maddie Smith
Lucia Marquez- Uppman
Sprouts are mentored by HCM alumni as Lead and Assistant teachers and Kansas City Symphony musicians who perform quarterly at the Sprouting Up concerts, all creating a caring and supportive community.