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Meet the Directors

The Full Story

Ms. Victoria Lien

Head Director of Orchestras

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Ms. Victoria Lien is the Head Director of Orchestras at Fowler Middle School in Frisco ISD. Born in Plano, Texas, she began her musical career with piano at the age of five and continued with viola throughout school. 

 

Ms. Lien earned her Bachelor of Music degree in Performance with teacher certification (Summa cum Laude with Honors from the Honors College) from Texas Tech University. As an orchestral violist, Ms. Lien has also performed with the Texas Tech Symphony Orchestra as well as the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra. In her last year at Texas Tech, she was awarded the honor of winning the 2015-2016 Presser Award. She also holds a Master of Music Education degree from the University of North Texas. Prior to Fowler, Ms. Lien was the Assistant Director of Orchestras at Liberty High School in Frisco, leading classes and forming the Parent+Teacher Orchestra, a group of beginner parents and teachers who meet once a week to learn to play. In 2021, she was awarded the Teacher of the Year award for Liberty High School and was a finalist for the Secondary Teacher of the Year for Frisco ISD. 

 

Ms. Lien is an active member of the Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Orchestra Directors Association, and currently serves as the Treasurer for the TMEA Region 24 Orchestra division. 

 

When she is not teaching or playing, Ms. Lien likes to craft and boulder, travel, and try new foods.

 

Favorites:

Color- RED! (but I wear a lot of neutral colors-blues, blacks, grays)

Drink- Boba Milk Tea (Jasmine, Hojicha, or Original Milk Tea, half sugar with boba)

Favorite gifts-Gift cards to grocery stores/Urban Cheapskate/Amazon, plants

Likes-being sustainable as much as possible, Gudetama/Sumikko Gurashi/cute characters, boba, TRAVEL, rock climbing/bouldering

Dislikes-people turning in things late, cold temperatures, procrastination, disorganization

Mrs. Haeryun Kim

Assistant Director of Orchestras

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Mrs. Kim began studying piano at a young age of five in South Korea.  She started playing the violin in 7th grade when her family moved to the US.  She knew very little English and started her orchestral career in the back of 2nd violin section but by the beginning of 8th grade, she never lost concertmaster position in top orchestras all throughout high school at Union High School in Tulsa, OK.  She often won concertmaster position in All-Region orchestra, All-State orchestra, Tulsa Youth Symphony, Oklahoma Summer Art Institute and Arkansas Regional Chamber Music Festival.  In 2000, she won 1st place in Young Artist Concerto Competition in Tulsa, Ok.

Mrs. Kim attended Southern Methodist University on a full scholarship, receiving Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance. This is her 11th year of teaching orchestra and her 5th year at Fowler MS.  Prior to becoming an orchestra director, she performed with various ensembles in DFW, including Irving Symphony, Las Colinas Symphony, and Lyric Stage, and had successful private studio consisting of students from Highland Park ISD and Plano ISD.

Mrs. Kim is happily married and is a mother of two adorable girls, Shiloh (12) and Skylar (10).

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Favorites:

Color-light blue, teal, purple, black

Music-all music, especially Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, John Legend, India Arie, Mahler, Dvorak and J. S. Bach.

Favorite Gifts-gift cards

Favorite stores-Amazon, Target, Nordstrom Rack, Marshalls

Animal-peacock, zebra

Food-Sixty Vines, Chuy’s, Chipotle

Mrs. Yumiko Schlaffer

Harp Instructor

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Yumiko Endo Schlaffer has been steadily gaining a reputation as a masterful artist ever since her impressive American debut recital in May 2000 at the Carnegie Recital Hall in New York, shortly after completing her Masters degree from the Juilliard School.  She has been a recipient of numerous awards, including First Prizes in the Japan International Harp Competition -in both Young and Advanced divisions.  Ms. Endo Schlaffer is one of the most distinguished harpists in her native Japan, and she was honored with the opportunity to perform at the Imperial Palace for Her Majesty the Empress and Her Royal Highnesses.  In 2004 and 2006, she gave her major solo recital in Tokyo to a sold out audience, and was soon after invited to perform as a soloist with Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.  Her recent engagements include a performance of Mozart Flute and Harp concerto with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, playing with Mathieu Dufour, principal flutist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and an appearance as soloist with Irving Symphony, Allen Philharmonic Orchestra, Las Colinas Symphony, San Angelo Symphony, Basically Beethoven Festival in Dallas, Chicago Chamber Musicians, The Wartburg Symphony, Ars Flores Symphony Orchestra, and New World Symphony.

 

Yumiko has given numerous solo and chamber music performances throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia, including such renowned venues as Alice Tully Hall in New York and Orchestra Hall at the Symphony Center in Chicago.  As a member of the New Juilliard Ensemble, she performed many world and U.S. premiers of contemporary chamber works at Alice Tully Hall, Juilliard Theatre, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

 

She is also an accomplished orchestral harpist, she has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, as well as Dallas Symphony Orchestra.  From 2001 through 2004, she served as the principal harpist of the New World Symphony Orchestra, where she was featured as a concerto soloist in 2002 and 2004.

 

Ms. Endo Schlaffer began her musical training at the age of three and learned musical theory and Piano.  While taking lessons with Ayako Shinozaki, she received her Bachelors degree from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music.  She also studied extensively throughout Europe with world renowned teachers such as Marie-Claire Jamet and Isabelle Moretti of France, and Marisa Robles of England.  Ms. Endo Schlaffer earned her Masters degree from The Juilliard School where she studied with Nancy Allen, principal harpist of the New York Philharmonic.  She then  pursued her further studies with Sarah Bullen, principal harpist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.  She has been serving as a board member of American Harp Society in Dallas since 2007.

 

Favorites

Food-Japanese! But also French and Italian

Drink-Water and Perrier

Color-Black and White..and pastels

Bands-Generally Pop music, if not Classical

Animal-Dogs

High School Directors

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Mr. Paul Vanderpool

Lebanon Trail High School

Director of Orchestras

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Ms. Julie
Blackstock

Liberty High School

Director of Orchestras

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Mrs. Aline
Moore

Lebanon Trail High School

Assist. Director of Orchestras

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Mr. Brandon Lucio

Liberty High School

Assist. Director of Orchestras

GET IN TOUCH

3801 McDermott Rd.

Plano, TX 75025
Office: 469-633-5074

This website is maintained by the Fowler Middle School Orchestra independently from Fowler Middle School or the Frisco Independent School District. Neither Fowler Middle School nor Frisco ISD is responsible for the content of this website or the content of links external to it. 

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