Olivia Steiger Heston has returned to Northwest Arkansas after extensive studies in both Texas and Hawaii. Ms. Holly is delighted that she is home to share her experiences and teaching skills with young people. Olivia is currently teaching in her private studio in Pea Ridge, Arkansas.

Personal experience and educational opportunities inspire Olivia’s passion to share her love of music, learning and character development through violin teaching. Olivia was first inspired by her violin teacher, Diane Halliburton and later became a student of Ms. Holly. Following graduation from Bentonville High School, Olivia studied at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas where she completed a Bachelor of Arts in Music and Mandarin Chinese. Combining music and language through a liberal arts education instilled in Olivia the importance of music in culture and music’s role in forming identity. This inspired her to study music through an ethnomusicology related master’s degree in Asian Studies from the University of Hawai at Mānoa where she researched classical orchestral music and identity in modernizing China. She also learned to play the violin’s Chinese cousin, the erhu, as a solo instrument and in a traditional Chinese music ensemble. Since then, Olivia has lived and taught violin in Honolulu, Chiang Mai Thailand, and Northwest Arkansas. She strives to regularly expand her understanding of music and identity and loves to perform with local ensembles. She is a member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas and is committed to being a lifelong learner. To that end she is so far a registered Suzuki teacher in book 1-4.