Ann Montzka-Smelser began her Suzuki violin studies with her father at the age of three. She later studied with Kazuko Numanami and Sarah Hersh at the Oberlin College Talent Education Program, then with Rebecca Sandrok of Glen Ellyn, Illinois.

During college, Ann studied violin and viola with the late Pierre Menard of the Vermeer Quartet. In between receiving her Bachelors of Music Education and Masters in Performance at Northern Illinois University, Ann studied with Dr. Shinichi Suzuki at the Talent Education Institute in Matsumoto, Japan.

Ann is currently on the music faculty at Northern Illinois University teaching viola and violin and string techniques. She is also the director of the NIU Community School of the Arts Suzuki Violin Program. Ann is on faculty at the Colorado Suzuki Institute in Snowmass, the Chicago Suzuki Institute and she teaches at many Suzuki workshops throughout the country.

Ann has been a member of the Rockford Symphony Orchestra (viola) and the Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra. She is the former concertmaster of the Illinois Valley Symphony Orchestra and occasionally plays violin in the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra. Ann enjoys performing in recital with her cellist husband, Linc. Ann and Linc are proud parents of Genevieve (7), and Benjamin, (5).