Welcome Back 2025

Dear Parents,

Welcome back for the 2025-2026 School Year!

I hope you had a wonderful summer—creating new memories, celebrating old ones, enjoying sunshine and smiles… maybe even a little travel!  

Although our Fall term doesn't start until August 24th, we’re thrilled to share some exciting updates with you about this upcoming year:

New Updates

First of all, we have a new way to pay tuition this year!  No more digging out your checkbook just for us— tuition invoices and statements will be sent to your email, and can be paid with a click of a button!  We can do it all now— you can pay by ACH payment, Credit Card, Apple Pay, and more…all easily online with email invoicing!  You no longer have to wait for the mailman to receive your statement.  Our new invoicing is much clearer, and easier to pay than ever.  Shall we celebrate?!  

With the help of Alec Mather, the Senior Data Science and Engineering Position of RCA Records and Sony Music Entertainment, Emily and Hannah have been working as a team on building a new Database for the School, which hasn’t been updated since the 80’s…our database has lived a good lifetime!  It was definitely time for a new system, and we are so excited to be launching it this Fall.  It will help the efficiency of our school, keep more accurate records for invoicing and credits, ensure better security of you and your child’s information, and moves us into the future!  Please be patient with us if there are some initial hiccups, but we are thrilled about the new possibilities.  

Please note that credit card payments incur a 3% processing fee, same as before.  ACH payments will have a 1% charge.

Additionally, to keep up with the rising costs of the economy, there will be a $1 per hour increase to your tuition this year, which is a 0.89% increase.  

By offering online payment options, our goal is to streamline the tuition payment process for everyone, which will allow us to better focus our energy and resources on our most important mission: educating your children and growing our program to share a love and passion for music with as many families as possible!   

We are also excited to welcome Hannah Cesear to her first academic school year with us this year!  Hannah has been a wonderful addition to our family so far, supporting you all behind the scenes!  If you see Hannah around, make sure to say hi!  

If you have any questions, please contact Emily Mather at admin@wsste.com.  

Summer Celebrations

Lets take a moment to celebrate how the school is thriving, and we are bustling and busy with musical experiences!

Our Chamber Music Camp was a HUGE success!!!  Thanks to our Chamber Camp Directors, Ryan Caparella and Alex Revoal, the students enjoyed a wonderful week of lessons, rehearsals, coachings, and performances.  There were also special masterclasses with guest clinician Cheng-Hou Lee from the Avalon String quartet— we were so lucky to have him!  Next year is our 10th Anniversary of our Chamber Camp here at WSSTE/NSS, and big plans are already being explored!  If you are Book 4 and above, we hope it’s on your calendar for next summer!   

Many of our students at both WSSTE and NSS also participated in the Chicago Suzuki Play-Together at Grant Park on July 18th!  It is so fun to use the summer to engage our communities in different ways!  We had many of our students also attend Ithaca Suzuki Institute, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, and more!  If you have pictures of that event, or if your child attended a Suzuki Institute this summer, please forward your photos to admin@wsste.com so that we can include them in the upcoming school newsletter email and on the website!   

Our Cellissimo students embarked on their very first ever international adventure together this summer, and we couldn’t be more proud of them! Traveling as independent families to Denmark, they performed as featured guests at the prestigious Aarhus Cello Expo, and participated in the festival there.  Many stayed afterward to explore the country and build lifelong memories together with beloved friends. Thank you to all of the parents for planning the activities and travel plans so everyone could enjoy this experience together, and for helping to nourish the Cellissimo community!  Cellissimo has received the international recognition that they deserve through this experience— Bravo to Cellissimo, Ms. Sally, and Mr. Alex for this remarkable milestone!

Lastly, our Allegro Ensemble did a wonderful tour to Dallas in May!  Allegro’s 2025 tour to Dallas was a meaningful extension of our mission through music—bringing joy, connection, and inspiration to students, teachers, and communities alike.  We performed a benefit concert supporting Suzuki scholarships, performed for the Prosper School District’s Suzuki Program, performed outdoors at a professional sound stage in Dallas, saw Beethoven X Beyonce with the Dallas Symphony, went to an interactive Art Museum, had pool resort time to nourish friendships and enjoy the Texas sun, went to the Dallas Farmers market, and ate at some of the top tourist attractions in Dallas!  The tour was a celebration of artistry, friendship, and service, and jam packed with experiences and memories for a lifetime. The impact was felt deeply by all, and the memories created will carry forward into the year ahead!  Allegro auditions are coming up soon, and we are looking forward to the next Allegro season!!

Looking ahead…

We have many exciting concerts and events planned for the year.  Please check the calendar on the school’s website.  Here are a few highlights!  

• We will return to Hammerschmidt Chapel for our Winter Concert on Sunday, November 16th 2025  

• We are planning a formal Spring concert at Wentz Concert Hall on May 17th 2026

• All three of our performance ensembles, Cellissimo, Chicago Consort and Allegro!!! will be running a full schedule of events and presenting concerts in the Spring!  

• Violin Groups will perform at the DuPage Children’s Museum on October 11th, and the Cello Groups will perform on November 1st

• We will also continue to organize three solo recitals in both Naperville and Western Springs, giving every child in our program an opportunity to perform and show their hard work and celebrate their progress. 

• 
  

Our school would not be thriving and succeeding as well as it is without the parents— the true heroes!  We hope that all of you parents know how much we love and appreciate you, and your support means the world to us here at WSSTE/NSS.  Thank you for all that you do— your dedication to your child, dedication to our program, and support of the larger vision for our whole musical family.  

It takes a village to make beautiful things happen, and I have been very grateful for the incredibly special community that we have here at WSSTE/NSS.  

We hope you enjoy the remainder of your summer, and are getting excited for Fall!  We are so looking forward to another exciting year of music making with you and your children! 

Sincerely, 

Emily Mather 

Director

Western Springs School of Talent Education and Naperville Suzuki School

“Character first, ability second.  Perhaps it is music that will save the world." -Dr. Suzuki