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.”
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 (Piano Teacher) 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.
Janice has been taught piano for over 25 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.
Arthur Yearsley (Guitar Teacher)
an accomplished guitarist and producer from England/New Zealand. It was at the age of 9 that he first picked up the guitar, and for the past 14 years has been honing his skills in all aspects of the instrument, and the art of music. For hours on end every single day after school, Arthur would sit in his room, perfecting his new favorite song he wanted to learn, composing his own songs and riffs, or relentlessly improvise over backing tracks on YouTube. He prides himself on being an incredibly eclectic musician, able to adapt and play with anyone in any genre, and always jumping at the opportunity to play something new.
Arthur took part in town festivals growing up, played in big bands, concert bands, musical productions and even helped found a guitar specific ensemble at his high school. It was around this time too when he began to delve into the world of teaching, offering lessons to family friends, younger students, and people of all ages. He then spent 4 years perfecting his craft at the world-renowned Berklee College of Music in Boston Massachusetts, where he studied Contemporary Writing and Production, with a minor in Latin Music. It was here where he began to delve into the creative and technical world of music production, and is currently working on a myriad of projects with fellow peers and musicians around New York.
With such a love and appreciation for the art of music, Arthur also regularly performs in shows around New York now, currently standing as the guitarist for over 4 bands, and is performing almost every week. His passion for playing anything and everything also extends to his work as a recording/session musician, already featured on a handful of songs and records released to the world.
“The importance of art can never be understated, and the role of music in our lives, to me, is the most impactful of them all. Music stirs intrigue, it makes people feel things they never feel otherwise, it brings people together in all contexts, and it can be the vessel for messages that we need to heed more than ever today. There is something so primal in the sonic nature of music that I don’t think humans will or could ever abandon and it is a hope we can always cling too. I hope to inspire my students to really feel music, and think of it not as another obligation, but as a means of expression that is hard to come across in the digital age”.
Freddie Khaw (Piano Teacher)
a 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. 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. 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.