Our Teachers
Alejandro Leston is a Pianist/Composer from Brooklyn New York. He taught himself piano at the young age of 8 with library books. He began composing his own music even before developing any technique. His first piece, entitled “Raindrops,” was praised so much by his mother that he began taking music seriously. This creative impulse inspired him to compose new pieces…led by a sense of wonder to explore. Since then he’s performed in Carnegie Hall. He went on to study Piano at Laguardia High School for Music, The Bloomingdale School of Music, and The Brooklyn Conservatory of Music.
He studied Piano performance with world-renowned Jeffrey Biegel. “ Professor Biegel really taught me how to make the piano sing. His enthusiasm in the classroom made it easy to play with relaxed, proper technique. Often times he would sing and conduct while I’d play my music- and like magic, I’d dramatically improve instantly. My teaching methods are largely influenced by him…” These days, Alejandro Leston is a Performer, Teacher, and Composer. He’s working on his newest album “Emerald Falcons.”
An energetic former Air Force Brat, Briana Lewis has always enjoyed music and performing and was always in a choir or band growing up. She began her flute studies at age ten with Debbie Blake and continued with other teachers. Along with regular band and private lessons, she also attended band camp (don't) and later joined the local Base chapel choir. She continued her flute studies with Dr. Tracy Doyle at Adams State University while partaking in various vocal and instrumental ensembles. She graduated Cum Laude in May of 2012 with a BA in Flute Performance. She was also inducted into Pi Kappa Lambda and officially became a member in May 2012.
Post graduation, Briana sang and acted in Albuquerque's local musical theater scene while freelancing as a flutist. While working at the New Mexico Philharmonic as an administrative assistant, she also taught at the Phil's Young Musician Initiative program. In July of 2015, Briana graduated Cum Laude with her Masters in Flute Contemporary Performance with a Concentration in Studio Production at Berklee College of Music. There, she studied flute performance with Perico Sambeat and voice performance with Celia Mur. She also studied songwriting in master classes and private instruction with Patrice Rushen, Nona Hendryx, John Oates and Bonnie Hayes.
After graduation, she continued performing in other musicians’ projects and her own. And she also taught privately again and absolutely loves it! Be sure to check out brianalewismusic.com for more updates on upcoming projects!
Freddie Khaw, composer, record producer, pianist and music educator, has worked on an international level with recording artists from SONY BMG, Warner Music Group, and EMI. He has also performed live with international recording artists in concerts throughout the United States.
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Although a classically trained pianist, Freddie’s record production work has encompassed various genres of music such as Pop, Rock, R&B, Electronic Dance Music, New Age and Jazz. In addition, he has composed, orchestrated and produced music for films, documentaries and commercials.
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In recent years Freddie has been actively composing and producing original music for Audiobooks released through publishers such as Random House, Scholastic, Penguin, Harper Audio and MacMillan Audio.
Zifeng Michael Zheng often appears as a concert pianist and chamber musician, but also orchestra soloist, opera and choir accompanist. In 2015, Mr. Zheng received the Hackett Music Performing Art Medal of New York City. In 2016, he was honored for the De Los Mederos Special Award in Music Performance. In 2017, Mr. Zheng had won the Douglas Humphreys Piano Competition, and he was awarded the opportunity to be a performance member of the Masterclass hosted by Professor Humphreys, the chair faculty of the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester. Also, he was recognized for two terms for the Annual Outstanding Performance Award from the Conservatory in the years of 2017 and 2019 respectively.
At present, Mr. Zheng is graduated from the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn with honor, Magna Cum Laude, for his Music Performance Degree, and he continues his Master’s Degree of Music Performance with full scholarship. Most recently, Mr. Zheng has won the Rosewood Fanning Piano Competition at Union College, in July 2019, and he won the Conservatory Concerto Competition in January 2020, by his excellent performance of the Mendelssohn Piano Concerto No.1 in G Minor, Op. 25. Mr. Zheng is awarded to perform the concerto again with the Conservatory Orchestra in 2020. Meanwhile, Mr. Zheng is offering numerous recitals and concerts throughout the year.
Rita Livs (Violinist, Violin/Viola Teacher)
European trained violinist and violist, Ms Livs graduated from the Belorussian State Conservatory, where she mastered in music performance. Her musical background is based on the great traditions of the famous violin schools of the past of Leopold Auer, David Oistrakh, and Y. Yankelevich. She studied violin with Prof. Goldfield (student of L. Auer), I. Lubotsky, and N. Arnopolskaya.
She was the winner of several prestigious competitions
Rita has over 30 years of teaching experience. She was the founder and conductor of the Children’s Chamber Orchestra in Belarus, which became popular and remains so to this day.
In 1994, Rita moved to New York, where she was introduced to the Suzuki approach. After completing the two-year teacher training seminar the “School for Strings” she began widely using this unique method in her teaching.
A number of Rita’s students grew to become professional musicians and currently play in world famous orchestras.
Besides of teaching, Rita is appearing on-stages of the great concert halls, such as Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, David Geffen Hall, Symphony Space, as a violinist.
Janice Chan was born in Hong Kong and started learning piano at the age of 5. She was trained in Hong Kong Baptist University for 2 years in music before she moved to New York. She continued her study and graduated with a Bachelor degree in Music at Queens College. She also holds the advanced certificate of the ABRSM.
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Janice has been taught piano for over 20 years to all different ages of students. She prepared students to take music exams and auditions such as ABRSM, NYSSMA, LaGuardia high school, Mark Twain middle school. She also served in churches as piano accompanist for more than 20 years and was also being piano accompanist for music exams many years.
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Shiqi (Aria) Xiao studied the piano at a delicate age. In 2015, she was admitted to Shanghai Normal University with honors, and fellow Valentine Poloskov to craft her piano skill. She was also invited to Professor Dilyara Demitrieva’s Sino-Russia Music Performance Concert, who is the Associate Professor of St. Petersburg Conservatory. Throughout her college career, she is awarded Departmental Scholarship.
In 2019, Ms. Xiao won the award in the instrumental (solo) in Canada Art Festival Competition, and is accepted to the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College, United States, and continue her Master’s degree in Piano Performance with Professor Rieko Aizawa, who was a student of Mitsuko Uchida and Mieczyslaw Horszowski. She made excellent performances during school, participated in orchestra concert played the piano part. She was also promoted to play in Ursula Oppens’s Masterclass.
Now she has been admitted Advance Diploma by Brooklyn College. Alongside her study, she worked as a piano teacher and piano accompanist, teaching music theory and piano classes at an educational institution. She has participated at a non-profit school and Shanghai dramatic art center as a music art director during her spare time. Meanwhile, she volunteers as a commentator at Shanghai international musical instrument exhibition.
Yuriy Lehki Born into a family of musicians, Yuriy Lehki has performed in numerous concerts as a pianist, harpsichordist, singer, and percussionist, and received instruction in piano, singing, music theory, and composition from his parents as a child.
In 2011, he graduated from the Ukrainian Music Institute, where he studied piano performance. At 17 he had developed a newly found passion for composition and music technology.
Yuriy has continued his education at the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College, from which he graduated with a Bachelor's degree in composition and a minor in music technology in 2017.
His compositions have been performed in New York, Pennsylvania, and Japan. In August 2018 he is going start his Master's in Media Scoring at the Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema.
Joe Kaplan became fascinated with music at a very young age. At the age of 9, he received his first guitar and immediately started teaching himself by ear. It wasn’t until he turned 14 that he decided to take his guitar playing to a new level after hearing the music of Frank Zappa and Jimi Hendrix for the first time. At that moment, he had found his true purpose.
Shortly after this new realization, he began taking formal lessons and dedicated himself to practicing for hours a day. He then began playing in small clubs and bars across NYC while he was only 16 years old. After graduating high school, Joe was accepted into the Music Industry program at the State University College of New York at Oneonta. It was here Joe truly found himself at home, playing in various music ensembles such as the SUNY Oneonta Zappa Band, Jam Band, and Jazz Octet.
He also began playing in bands outside of school, opening up for acts such as hip-hop artist Sammy Adams, Rubblebucket, The Brats, and H.R. of the Bad Brains.Throughout his tenure in college, Joe continued to study guitar and music theory vigorously. He officially graduated in December 2014 as a seasoned guitarist with a bachelor’s degree in Music Industry and Audio Arts Production. Today, Joe is currently working with up and coming hip hop artists, Milliondallacapo and Deroyce, under the guidance of Natural Bridge Productions. He is also working on a series of rock projects with Kult 45 (featuring members of The Enablers and Jigsaw Youth—two renowned bands from Staten Island) and Steven Duca (local Staten Island comedy legend).
Tamara Jaton has played the violin for over two decades, earning a bachelor of arts with a concentration in music at Sarah Lawrence College (2011), and later earning a master's degree in songwriting from Bath Spa University in the U.K. (2014).