Team

Jiye Hayden, born in South Korea, is a professional pianist, vocalist and music instructor based in the greater Los Angeles area. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance and a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from California State University, Northridge, as well as a Piano Teaching Certificate from Ewha Woman’s University in Seoul, South Korea.

Exposed to music from a young age, she received her first piano lessons at age six and later learned multiple instruments, including violin, saxophone and guitar. Over the years, she has performed in various roles as a musician in a variety of venues, including as: saxophonist in the Olympia Hotel in Seoul, bar pianist at Four Seasons Resort in Santa Barbara, pianist/keyboardist in numerous musical theater productions, and chorist at Carnegie Hall and in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at Walt Disney Hall. As a freelance collaborative pianist and staff accompanist at CSUN, she also has extensive experience with accompanying instrumentalists and vocalists in recitals and competitions.

Ms. Hayden’s career as a music teacher also began at a relatively young age – over the past twenty years, she has taught over a thousand students. As a result of this extensive teaching experience, she has developed a flexible method that adapts to and nurtures each child’s individual learning abilities, including children with ADHD and autism. Her greatest passion is teaching children and guiding them on their journey to becoming independent musicians and music lovers.

Sara Almasi is a passionate pianist and music instructor. Her method in teaching music is influenced by her studies and long time experience, working with students of all ages. She started playing the piano at the age of five. She received her Bachelor’s degree in piano performance from Tehran university with distinction and then continued her studies at Art university of Tehran under guidance of Gagik Babayan, Setare Beheshti and Tamara Dolidze, until she got her Master’s degree. She visited master classes in piano education, conducting, modern music and Alexander technique by Manuchehr Sahbai, Delbar Hakimova, Tollib Shahidi, Iradj Sahbai and Azin Movahed.

After moving to Vienna-Austria, the capital of classical music, she studied music pedagogy and piano under Hafez Babashahi in Wagner Konservatorium with a minor in ensemble conducting. She taught for many years in her native country both privately and in music schools such as Pars Institute. She also was a lecturer at art and architecture branch of Azad university of Tehran.

George Karpasitis is a Guitarist, Film Composer, Music Producer and Educator from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, now residing in Los Angeles, California. He is best known for his lyrical spanish guitar compositions, as demonstrated on his two solo releases, ‘Sounds of Mar Vista’ (2019), and ‘Breakwater’ (2020).

He is also the guitarist for the R&B group Federal Av, and regularly collaborates on projects with film makers, dancers, songwriters and other instrumentalists. He has worked in the music department for over 20 films, and has performed and recorded internationally, including at Abbey Road Studios in London.

His studies include a Master’s Degree in Scoring for Film, TV and Video Games from Berklee College of Music, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance and Production from Middlesex University London.

More recently, George has shifted his focus to songwriting, drawing influence from artists such as Bill Withers, Cat Stevens and The Beatles. His first single as a singer-songwriter, titled, ‘Speaking of Love’ is now available everywhere online.

Sarah Salazar, is no stranger to the stage. After winning Miss Tustin in 2010 she was awarded the preliminary talent award at the Miss California Competition. In 2015, Salazar faced a life threatening illness, where it was projected she would not survive, let alone sing. After an extensive recovery period, she has never been more sure that she was put on this earth to use her voice.

She has sung with Opera Santa Barbara, Valley Opera and Performing Arts, Los Angeles Metropolitan Opera, Glendale Opera Company and The Pacific Opera Project. She also currently sings as a Fox Singer with the Verdi Chorus.

Siranush Davtyan is a pianist, accompanist, and music instructor based in the Los Angeles area. She was born in Armenia, where started her music education at age of 5. She graduated with honors from Romanos Meliqyan state Musical college, as a solo performer, chamber performer, concertmaster, and pedagogue. After musical college, she graduated with honor from Yerevan State Conservatory after Komitas, where she received her Master’s degree in Piano Performance and Post Graduate Degree inMusic Arts. She worked as a concertmaster with choir and symphonic conductors, vocalists, and instrumentalists. She performed as a soloist and concertmaster on different stages, concerts, and festivals in Yerevan and Moscow. Was a Leading concertmaster in Opera studio, and Musical comedy theater in Yerevan (Armenia).

In 2010 she moved to Moscow (Russia), where she worked as a Piano teacher, concertmaster and was Head of the Concertmaster Department in Music School.

In 2012 Siranush moved to Los Angeles, where she continued to work as a private music teacher. Since 2013, she is an active member of the Music Teachers’ Association of California. Her students successfully passed Certificate of Merit Evaluations. As a teacher with about 20 years of teaching experience, Siranush had taught numerous numbers of students from age of 4 to 63 at different levels. She engages her students in a wonderful and magical world of music, helps them to improve their skills in music performance, teaches them to like music, and make it an integral part of their lives.

Kevin Breeding teaches violin and viola in the San Fernando Valley and surrounding areas. He teaches all levels. Kevin started playing violin at the age of ten. He has received both his Bachelors and Masters degree from California State University Northridge. He has participated in many competitions. Kevin Breeding has performed in Los Angeles, New York, Switzerland, France, and Italy. In his free time, Kevin enjoys video games after a long day of practicing, teaching, and working.

Liana Rodriguez is a Los Angeles-based operatic soprano, singer-songwriter, actress, and vocal/ukulele/guitar teacher. She recently graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.M. in Vocal Arts Performance from California State University, Northridge. She was awarded a Rundlett Fund awardee by the Santa Barbara Music Club and a Helen Houle awardee by CSUN’s music department. Colleagues describe her as an enthusiastic and uplifting spirit with a deep passion and love of music. Liana has a strong appreciation of song lyrics, storytelling, and character analysis. 

For the past 5 years, she has been studying vocal techniques, operatic acting techniques, vocal pedagogy, French diction, German diction, Italian diction, English diction, songwriting, guitar, ear training, music history, world music, sight singing techniques, music entrepreneurship, vocal literature, and music theory. Liana has been performing as a singer-songwriter for 11 years and has been writing for as long as she can remember. 

As a working musician, her favorite performances include: Charlie Hildebrand/First Nurse Maid in CSUN Opera’s production of Kurt Weil’s “Street Scene”, Shepherdess in CSUN Opera’s production of Maurice Ravel’s “L’Enfant et les sortilèges”, Gheradina in CSUN Opera’s production of  Giacomo Puccini’s “Gianni Schicchi”, chorus in Mission Opera’s productions of David Avshalomov’s “The 13 Clocks” and Mozart’s “Don Giovanni”, The Plaza Del Sol as a featured soloist with CSUN’s University Chorus and Northridge Singers, Michelle DeYoung’s CSUN masterclass as a featured soloist, Disneyland with the CHS Madrigal Singers, and The Granada Theatre with the Santa Barbara Symphony. 

She will continue her choral performance work this holiday season with The Other Reindeer and The Goode Time Carolers. Liana is always excited to help musicians achieve their goals. She feels as if working with her students reminds her of the beauty in music every day. 

Evan is a professional drummer currently residing in Los Angeles, CA. He has been playing drums for over 20 years. Evan graduated from the University of Louisville in 2006 with a degree in Music Performance, and since 2004 he has taught drum set, classical and rudimental snare drum, and guitar.

While living in Louisville, Evan was a founding member of Louisville groups Paradigm, The Deloreans, and The Pass. While a member of the fusion rock and jazz group Paradigm, Evan toured across the United States and opened for such groups as the Benvento/Russo Duo, Charlie Hunter, Club D’Elf, and the Lee Boys. Since moving to Los Angeles in 2009, Evan has recorded and/or played with The Santa Monica Symphony Orchestra, the Sean Stackpoole Quartet, West LA Fadeaway, Jay Stapleton, and June Aja.

Evan strives to instill the fundamentals of music in his students in a fun, creative, and engaging way. He believes it is important for students to develop the ability to solve musical problems from a place of creativity and positive contribution. If a student can learn to do so early, she can take that ability with her throughout her career.

Allegra Berger is a pianist, vocalist, and composer born and raised in Los Angeles. She began learning piano at the age of seven and has been singing in choirs for nearly a decade. She has performed in choral ensembles alongside the Los Angeles Master Chorale and Chanticleer of San Francisco. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Music Performance at Bard College in upstate New York, where she gained piano, theory, and vocal training in a wide range of genres, from jazz to classical, and in music from around the world. Allegra spends much of her time composing music, and has even had her compositions featured in films. She has a deep passion for teaching others, and for passing along the tools that have been given to her by inspiring teachers from her years as a student.

Dianne Meyer, a southern California native, is an experienced piano instructor, elementary music educator, and church choir director/accompanist; she has also performed in numerous musical theatre productions as music director/pianist. She started playing the piano at age five and cello at age eight. She studied piano with Pierce College professor Rowan Taylor and cello with Edwin Geber, former cellist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Coming from a musical family, she has sung, and played cello and piano, in numerous family concerts, as well as performing piano trios with her mother and brother throughout the Los Angeles area. Dianne has been singing in church and school choirs since age 10. She was recruited to play cello in the West Valley Chamber Orchestra at the age of 13. She began accompanying as a high school student, and accompanied the advanced mixed choir and show choir at El Camino Real High School.

While studying at Brigham Young University, Dianne directed church choirs; she also played cello in the BYU Philharmonic and Mormon Youth Symphony. She has played in two-piano four-hand performances as well as piano duets with several collaborators. She has taught elementary music for 25 years, with an emphasis on vocal instruction and performance. One highlight was a performance with Round Meadow Elementary School chorus students at Carnegie Hall in 2018. She enjoys working with students of all ages, and she has taught students between the ages of 5 and 75. Dianne loves to teach students the artistry of playing the piano as well as the musical knowledge to become independent musicians. She loves to enrich each student’s life with a skill that will last them a lifetime and bring them joy. 

Anzhela Davtyan is a pianist, music educator based in Los Angeles. She was born in Yerevan, Armenia, where she received her first piano lessons at age 6. Anzhela made her concerto debut at the age of 9, playing Haydn’s D major piano concerto along with Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in C-sharp minor. She went on to complete her musical education at the Arno Babajanyan Musical Pedagogical college in Yerevan, where she obtained a Bachelor degree with honors in solo performance, ensemble performance, accompanying and pedagogy.

After moving to Los Angeles, she continued her piano studies at the California State University of Northridge under the direction of Dr. Dmitry Rachmanov, Professor Edward Francis and engaged in pedagogical activities and ensemble performing. Anzhela holds both Bachelor of music degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy and Master degree in piano performance from the California State University of Northridge. Her teaching experience includes maintaining a private piano studio for the past 16 years. She has an extensive experience in performing on stage and teaching classical piano lessons to students of all ages and skill levels. Besides teaching privately, she also has much experience working at the major music studios in Los Angeles, such as Knauer Music School, Musonia Music School, Angeles Music academy.

Gregory Sim is a multi-genre pianist residing in Los Angeles, with experience across classical, jazz, pop, rock, and funk. His performance history includes venues such as the Soraya, Gibson Amphitheater, Rose Parade, Vitello’s, and The Baked Potato. He also performs frequently in small group settings, and was featured in a jazz combo in Downbeat magazine. Born November 3rd, 1997 in Jakarta, Indonesia, he moved to the United States with his family in 1999, and began classical piano lessons at 8 years old in 2005. The next year, he began learning the trumpet, and continued to study both instruments until 17, when he decided to focus on piano. Gregory has been teaching since 2015, with an emphasis on jazz piano, music theory, and ear training. From 2018 to 2021, he attended California State University Northridge under the Help Alpert Foundation Scholarship, where he graduated with a BM in Jazz Studies/Piano Performance.

Leon Salazar is a classically trained pianist, composer for films and video games, an experienced accompanist, and a vocal coach.
He is currently teaching piano and voice lessons from Orange County to Woodland Hills to children and adults of all ages. He also works as a church accompanist and section leader as well as freelance composer.
He received a Bachelor Degree from California State University Fullerton focused on piano pedagogy and choral education, where he exercised his passion of baroque, jazz and Spanish / Latin keyboard music. Alongside these studies, he also received extensive solo voice training as well as training on the organ instrument. He has 10 years experience of singing and writing in professional and private performances and looks forward to continuing to do so in the future.

Juliann (or Ms. Juli) as her students call her,  is a graduate of USC Thornton School of Music.  As a child she began singing in school and church choirs from first grade through college. She studied piano with Virginia Petersen from age 6 to age 17, then went on to study piano, voice, pipe organ and choral conducting at USC.   Over the past 30 years Juli has served as a Church Organist, Pianist, Music Director, Classroom Music Teacher, as well as a Piano and Voice teacher.  In addition, Juli has served as an accompanist for local music productions.  Juli enjoys accompanying both  instrumentalists and singers.  Juli is currently the Choir Director and Organist at St. John’s Presbyterian Church in West Los Angeles.  Juli is a member of the Music Teachers Association of California.  She has successfully guided many piano students through the Certificate of Merit Evaluations. Juli is thrilled to be a part of the After School Conservatory. She has a deep and abiding passion for instilling the love of music into the hearts and minds of her students.

Marie-France Lévesque holds a Degree in Music and Dance from Old-Montreal College, Canada and she has studied piano, grand organ, composition, counterpoint, theory, solfeggio and music history among other music classes at the highly distinguished “Vincent d’Indy Conservatory of Music” of Montreal, Canada for 12 years and began teaching at age 17. She has now been a seasoned music and piano teacher for over 25 years in Los Angeles and she recently was teaching at the Middle and High School at Viewpoint Independent School. She loves to share her passion, experience and knowledge of music to inspire students of all experience levels to find and pursue their own passions and express themselves through music as a means of developing their creativity as well as to instill a positive, healthy and empowering attitude which will reflect in their schooling and their life. As a teacher, her pedagogical philosophy is to make the best of each student’s talent, to use and develop the qualities of each person to maximize each individual’s potential.

Dana Lewis Howell holds degrees in music composition from UCLA (PhD), San Francisco Conservatory of Music (MM) and Carnegie Mellon University (BFA).  His teachers included Leonardo Balada, William Critser, Nancy Galbraith, Paul Chihara, David Conte, Roger Bourland and Ian Krause. He grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and pursued dual degrees in composition and clarinet performance before moving to California to continue studies. 

Dana Howell currently serves as Instrumental Music Director at Highland Hall Waldorf School.  Since coming to Los Angeles in 2004, he has been an active composer, performer, conductor and teacher, previously holding positions as Music Director at St. John Eudes Church and organist at Echo Park United Methodist Church.  He taught composition and theory at the Brevard Music Center summer festival from 2008 to 2012 and studied at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau.