Wendy Tangen-Foster is a Suzuki violin educator, clinician, and professional violinist with more than 30 years of teaching experience. Based in North Portland, Oregon, she teaches students both in person and online through Ms. Wendy’s Suzuki Violin Studio. She is also a faculty member with Suzuki Stumptown, where she teaches violin group classes, parent education, and Suzuki Early Childhood Education (SECE) classes for young children and their caregivers.
A dedicated leader in the Suzuki community, Wendy is a past president of the Suzuki Association of Minnesota and served as co-founder and director of the Education for Happiness Virtual Suzuki Institute from 2020 to 2024 in partnership with Gabriel Kitayama-Bolkosky. She has taught at the Greater Washington, American, Intermountain, and Ozark Suzuki Institutes and has appeared as a guest clinician at workshops throughout the United States. Her students have earned leading chairs in youth symphonies and All-State Orchestras, and her graduates have received scholarships to St. Olaf College, Augsburg University, Lawrence University, Luther College, and the University of Minnesota.
Wendy began her own Suzuki journey at age five and started Suzuki teacher training at 15 with Craig Timmerman. She later apprenticed with LeRoy Bauer and Linda Wharton at Giant Steps School in Moscow, Idaho, while teaching through Palouse Suzuki Strings. Wendy has completed registered training in all ten Suzuki violin books, as well as Violin Practicum, Suzuki Principles in Action, Violin Teaching Strategies, and Stage 1 of Suzuki Early Childhood Education. Her teacher trainers have included Ronda Cole, Edmund Sprunger, Nancy Lokken, Ann Montzka-Smelser, David Strom, Charles Krigbaum, Daina Volodka Staggs, Allen Lieb, and many others. She is currently working toward becoming a Suzuki violin teacher trainer.
Alongside her classical and Suzuki training, Wendy has explored musical traditions that continue to enrich her teaching. While studying at the University of Idaho’s Lionel Hampton School of Music, she developed a love of jazz and improvisation. She later studied with jazz violinist Randy Sabien and performed with his swing ensemble, Rhythm and Bows. Wendy also spent nearly a decade performing Argentine tango with the Minneapolis-based ensemble Rogue Tango. In 2023, she received the Tango Society of Minnesota’s Tango Treasure Award in recognition of her contributions to the Twin Cities tango community. She continues to perform with Rogue Tango during visits to Minnesota and incorporates improvisation, jazz, tango, fiddle, and other alternative styles into her Suzuki teaching.
Wendy lives in Portland with her partner, Django Amerson, a multi-instrumentalist, guitarist, and Irish fiddler, and their young son, Maceo, who was named after saxophonist Maceo Parker. Maceo is now beginning his own Suzuki journey through violin lessons and Suzuki Stumptown’s SECE program. Together, the family enjoys making music, spending time outdoors, and building community with other Portland families.