Bascom, Brandon (Private teacher)
Cho, Jihun (Private teacher)
Cleianchina, Olga (Private teacher)
Hattori, Ayako (Private teacher)
Higuchi, Aya (Group teacher, private teacher)
Ms. Higuchi is a native of Japan, and started studying piano in the Suzuki method when she was four years old. She came to North Carolina in 1995, and excelled in performance by winning many awards and competitions, including the NC Music Teacher's College Piano Auditions, and competing as a finalist at the National Convention of MTNA in 2001. Ms. Higuchi received a Bachelor’s degree in Music from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she studied with Francis Whang for four years. She is currently studying with Louis Nagel and John Ellis at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, from where she obtained her Master’s degree in Piano Pedagogy and Performance. She is now a candidate for Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Pedagogy and Performance, and was declared the winner of concerto competition at the University of Michigan in 2002.
James, Lynelle (Private teacher)
Khatsko, Polina (Private teacher)
Native of Belarus Polina Khatsko has established herself as a distinguished and versatile artist of her generation. She has performed as a soloist with the Belarussian Symphony Orchestra and the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Khatsko has also been heard in solo and chamber music recitals in Europe and United States performing a broad range of repertoire. While in Belarus Polina Khatsko received her musical training in the Special Music School for gifted children (currently Republican Music Lyceum) and the Belarussian Academy of Music. In 1999 she was invited to study in the University of Nebraska at Kearney, where she was a recipient of Ms. Elaine Wallace Scholarship. In May of 2007 she received her Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Michigan where she was a full scholarship student of Arthur Greene.
Teaching is one of the Ms. Khatsko's biggest passions. As part of her dissertation at the University of Michigan she presented an extensive research of the system of musical education in Belarus with the emphasis on piano studies. While keeping a full private studio, she remains regularly engaged with soloists and chamber musicians throughout southeast Michigan and serves as an annual staff accompanist for the prestigious Sphinx International Competition.
Liu, Yu (Private teacher)
Ms. Liu is currently a Doctor of Musical Arts pre-candidate in Piano Pedagogy and Performance
under the guidance of Professor John Ellis and Logan Skelton. Prior to
that, she received her Master of Music in Piano Pedagogy and Performance in the
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, and a Master of Music in Piano Performance in the
University of Massachusetts - Amherst where she studied with Professor
Estella Olevsky and Nadine Shank. She received her Bachelor of Music in
Piano Performance in Sichuan Conservatory of Music, China where she studied
piano with Professors including Daxin Zheng, Xiumei Li, and Zhaoyi Dan who
is also a mentor of Yundi Li.
McRobbie, Noel (Private teacher)
Noel McRobbie was born in Winnipeg, Canada and began piano studies at the age of 5. Noel has studied for many years with Prof. Lee Kum-Sing at the Vancouver Academy of Music and the University of British Columbia, where he received an Artist Diploma and Bachelor of Music respectively. He graduated with a Master of Music from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston studying with Patricia Zander. He has received top prizes at many competitions, including the Eckhardt-Grammatte Piano Competition, CBC Debut Concert Artistes Series, and Grand Konzerteum International Piano Competition.
Most recently he was a laureate of the 2006 Seiler International Piano Competition in Crete. Other recent performances include Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Bulgarian Chamber Orchestra, Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, a solo recital presented by the Vancouver Chopin Society, and Grieg's Piano Concerto with the Westcoast Symphony. In 2005-2006, he was a teaching assistant at the University of South Florida studying with Dr. Svetozar Ivanov, and is now pursuing doctoral studies at the University of Michigan where he is a student of Arthur Greene. Having been selected as winner of the 2007 University of Michigan Concerto Competition, he recently performed as soloist with the University Philharmonia Orchestra.
Thayer, Christina (Private teacher)
Christina Thayer Fox received her Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance with a minor in Piano
Pedagogy from Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. Her primary teachers were Peter
Takacs, Antonio Pompa-Baldi and Andrew Hisey. She has since been studying at the University of Michigan,
receiving her Master of Music in 2005 and is currently a third year Doctor of Musical Arts candidate in Piano
Pedagogy and Performance. Her teachers at the University of Michigan are Arthur Greene and John Ellis.
