Our Mission | Our Team | Our History
OUR MISSION
Credo develops young musicians — musically, personally, and spiritually — to prepare them for lives of music and service.
DEVELOP THE GIFT
Credo offers challenging and rewarding musical training opportunities, taught by some of the finest faculty in the classical music world. Students are immersed in the study and performance of string chamber music and are challenged to meet high expectations. Our programs help develop these young musicians into future leaders of the classical music world.
ACKNOWLEDGE THE SOURCE
The Credo experience goes well beyond technical development, to challenging and encouraging the whole person. Each day at Credo begins with Morning Sing, a devotional time led from a Christian perspective, where a faculty member shares how their faith in God has helped them navigate the deep waters of personal and professional life. This act of acknowledging and giving glory back to God sets the Credo program apart from other high level programs, and creates a meaningful mentorship environment. Students of all faiths find Credo a welcoming and compassionate environment.
RESPOND WITH SERVICE
Students devote one day per week to volunteering at local nonprofits and performing for those who do not have access to the arts — audiences in hospices, nursing homes, prisons, low-income housing projects, and inner-city youth centers. By serving marginalized communities with labor and music, both students and audiences realize their shared humanity.
OUR TEAM
Credo's teamwork is based from our home in Oberlin, Ohio, and includes remote employees who embody our presence as a nationwide movement.
Peter Slowik
Founder & Artistic Director
A native of Chicago, Peter Slowik never achieved his first professional goal – to play shortstop for the White Sox. However, he has achieved his secondary career goal – a meaningful career of performing with the world’s greatest ensembles, performing and teaching on five continents, and mentoring students from all of the major US conservatories. Affectionately known by generations of Credo students as “Pslo,” Peter takes great joy from his marriage, his 4 sons, and 8 grandchildren, as well as a legion of musical “offspring.” Learn more about Peter in his faculty biography.
Vicky Slowik
Camp Life Director/Camp Mom
Vicky Slowik met her husband, Credo Artistic Director Peter Slowik, on
their first day as students at New England Conservatory of Music! In over forty years with Peter, her music career has taken many forms – as a private and public school music teacher, orchestral and chamber performer, church music director, and as Credo Director of Admissions.
As Camp Life Director, she is focusing on what she loves most about Credo – our amazing community of students, mentors, and parents! However, her favorite role will always be as wife of the Artistic Director, mother to their four sons, and grandmother to their eight grandchildren!
Brooke Smith
Executive Director
With a multifaceted background in general management, Suzuki teaching, and viola, as well as mentoring youth and leading international service trips, Brooke Smith joined the Credo team with the excitement of interweaving the myriad parts of her life into one harmonious medley of music, faith, and service. Her first Credo experience was an early Credo Day Dallas back in 2009 – precious memories of playing Brandenburg at a soup kitchen – where she also met her future viola professor! “In the wild” you’d find her drinking tea, learning something new, hiking, or playing music on the porch with friends.
Kim Lint
Office Manager
Kim Lint joined the Credo family in 2002 when her oldest daughter first attended the summer festival. Over the next seven years her two daughters (a violinist and a cellist) attended Credo a combined total of eight times! In 2018 Kim joined Credo's staff, bringing this firsthand knowledge of the program and years of professional experience with her. Kim is an avid runner and hiker, and loves a good cup of coffee.
Credo Outreach Team
Caroline Beckman
Caroline Beckman ('22) joined the Credo family as both a counselor and as a violinist in the Festival Fellowship String Quartet program. A Kansas native, Caroline holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music, with a minor in Biblical and Theological Studies from Cedarville University, and Master of Music in Performance and Pedagogy from Ohio University. She was thrilled to join the Credo team in a role that supports community outreach, development of meaningful partnerships, and facilitating awareness about investing into the next generation of young musical artists for the glory of God. She enjoys traveling and meeting new people, cake decorating, and spending quality time with family and friends.
Maria (Beltavski) Monday
Maria (Beltavski) Monday (‘11, ‘12, ‘15) joined the Credo family in the summer of 2011 as a student! She proceeded to attend Credo again in the summers of 2012 and 2015. Maria, a violinist, is a passionate teacher and performer. She plays regularly at her church and has lately enjoyed giving yard concerts to people in the community. Maria joined Credo staff in 2020 and is excited to bring the joy of Credo to everyone! Some of her hobbies are gardening, reading, and doing martial arts.
Valerie Terdina
Val Terdina (‘21, ‘22) is a violinist and music education major at Wheaton College who was inspired by her two summers at Credo (both virtual and in person) to a passion for service. Her role at Credo is to coordinate service projects alongside alumni of all ages as a means of developing relationships and giving back to local communities. She is involved in worship and children’s ministry at her home church, and she performs at other churches whenever she can. She loves to read classics, spend time with her family, and enjoy tea and tasty snacks!
Credo's Board of Directors
Brian Wiebe
Board President
President/CEO, Horizon Education Alliance
Doug Haloftis
Board Treasurer
Partner, Barnes & Thornburg LLC
Jonathan Storch
Board Secretary
VP, Professional Skills Facilitator, Bank of America
David Chan
Concertmaster, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
Vera Parkin
Artistic Director, Webster University Community Music School
Peter Slowik
Professor of Viola, Oberlin Conservatory
Artistic Director, Slowik Music Institute
Brooke Smith
Executive Director, Credo Music
Mark Taylor
President and CEO of Tyndale House Publishers
Credo's Advisory Board
Bonita Boyd
Professor of Flute, Eastman School of Music
Andy Crouch
Author, Culture Making: Recovering our Creative Calling
Lawrence Dutton
Violist, Emerson String Quartet
Henry Fogel
Dean of the Chicago College of Performing Arts
Former President, Chicago Symphony Orchestra
David Kim
Concertmaster, Philadelphia Orchestra
Jeffrey Leimgruber
President (retired), Hillcrest Hospital
John Nelson
Grammy-award winning Conductor
Directeur Musical Honoraire, Orchestre de chambre de Paris
Philip Ryken
President, Wheaton College
Michael Wilder
Dean, Wheaton Conservatory of Music
Anne Martindale Williams
Principal Cellist, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
OUR HISTORY
"Whatever..." Philippians 4:8
The heartbeat of Credo finds its foundation in words the Apostle Paul wrote to the early church community in Philippi:
Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if there is anything excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things.
—Philippians 4:8
This lifestyle of acknowledgement — recognizing and responding to the grace of God — is expressed daily as Credo faculty members share from their hearts and personal experiences as followers of Christ. Credo students learn that true success is not measured by wealth or fame, but by exhibiting qualities such as kindness and compassion, and daily pursuit of intimacy with God.
HOW DID CREDO GET STARTED?
As he served on the faculty of top summer string programs in the 80’s and 90’s, Credo’s Artistic Director Peter Slowik saw the need for a new kind of program — one which addressed the whole being, focusing on personal excellence as well as musical excellence.
Motivated by the philosophy of such great musicians / humanitarians as Pablo Casals and Fritz Kreisler (“No man can achieve great things unless his heart is filled with love.“), Slowik envisioned a place where the highest level of musical training would be accomplished in an atmosphere of Christian love and mentorship. By January 1999 Credo’s mission was set: “Develop the Gift, Acknowledge the Source, Respond with Service.”
YEAR ONE
In the summer of 1999, forty-five intrepid students descended on Resurrection Center in Woodstock, Illinois, to try this bold new approach. As one student put it, “I have no idea what cleaning homeless shelters will do for my playing, but I’m going to find out!” And find out they did, with Credo’s unique blend of faith, musical excellence, and service forging a special inspirational bond.
Students from that first year have since won the National American String Teachers Association Solo Competition, graduated from Juilliard, Curtis, and Eastman, and now hold significant positions in professional orchestras and on college faculties. A number of them have become string teachers across America — in fact, some of their students (we call them “Credo grandstudents”) have come to Credo in recent years!
A NEW HOME IN OBERLIN
Having recently joined the Oberlin Conservatory faculty in 1999, Slowik saw the synergistic possibilities of Credo in Oberlin, and in 2002 the Credo board voted to move the program to Oberlin. In the spring of 2004, Slowik founded the 501(c)(3) non-profit Slowik Music Institute as Credo’s parent organization.
Establishing Credo at one of the world’s recognized centers of string excellence did much to bolster Credo’s esteem in the musical community, and applications grew threefold over the next four years!
MAKING AN IMPACT
Credo is now a fixture on the summer string education scene. Our alumni occupy leadership positions in major orchestras, colleges, and conservatories throughout the country, and are consistently among the major prizewinners in national and regional competitions.
Equally impressive is Credo’s uncompromising commitment to serving our community with labor and music. Whether it’s cleaning homeless shelters, packing food at a food bank, or performing for underserved audiences at nursing homes, hospitals, and low-income housing projects, Credo students have made a lasting impact on thousands of people in Northeast Ohio.
David Stull, former Oberlin Dean and President of San Francisco Conservatory, has remarked:
[Credo] is really a phenomenal program. But beyond that, what does make it unique, is the fact that involved with this program is a directed, not just superficial, effort towards community service. The students really engage with the community here in Oberlin and spend time in the summer working with people in ways that typically aren’t found at most chamber music camps — in fact, none that I am aware of.
The small beginning in Woodstock, Illinois, has been transformed in the last two decades into a national program. In addition to its current Credo Festival in Oberlin and Credo Flute, Credo has presented programs in Chicago, Waco (Texas), Sydney (Australia), and metropolitan Boston. Credo has become not just a summer festival, but a way of life!