Piano

Andrew Reveno is a highly accomplished classical pianist currently studying at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music under the guidance of renowned pianist Awadagin Pratt. Before attending the Conservatory, Andrew honed his skills at the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy, where he earned multiple awards, including being a finalist in the 2023 Interlochen Concerto Competition and winning the 2022 Eastern Music Festival Concerto Competition. He has also participated in distinguished festivals such as the Oberlin Piano Festival and the Amalfi Coast Festival.

In addition to his musical accomplishments, Andrew brings a wealth of teaching experience to his piano instruction. He has taught children and adults at the Riekes Center for Human Enhancement, where he developed skills in coaching music, art, and athletics. His ability to connect with students of all ages and backgrounds makes him a compassionate and effective teacher. Outside of music, Andrew has served as the Mindfulness, Resilience, and Wellness Officer on the Interlochen Arts Academy Student Representative Board. His diverse experiences contribute to a well-rounded teaching approach, combining technical expertise with a deep understanding of personal growth and well-being.

Anna Muravitskaya comes from a traditional classical piano and vocal education.  She prepares her students in classical bel canto vocal technique while her piano technique and musicianship comes from the Russian school of music. Her pedagogy allows the student to learn in a way that encourages them to be curious about the history of music as well as performance. Anna emphasizes the history and the background of music while teaching to listen to the line and phrasing of songs. With piano she teaches the proper technique that students can build on to have fun with their pieces. With Vocal coaching she emphasizes bel canto technique that can later be used for any style of singing. Anna encourages students to find their voice and style.

Ariela Dea is a local jazz vocalist who has been playing music since the age of 3. Starting on piano, she moved on to more instruments such as trumpet, French horn, and ukulele. From a young age, Ariela was always involved in choirs and was classically trained vocally until college. Graduating from San Francisco State University with a degree in music, Ariela also played in the SFSU Jazz Band, singing and playing trumpet. She was section leader of the French horn section in the SFSU Wind Ensemble and was involved in many other music ensembles. Ariela enjoys arranging music and put together a 2 hour senior recital with multiple peers and showcased her vocals, ukulele, trumpet, and French horn. She continues her passion for music playing with combos and bands and is a part time music teacher for SFUSD.

Clark began his musical career at 9 years old (year 2000), taking piano lessons with Ms. Janet Brewer. In his time under Janet's instruction, Clark explored baroque, early classical, and romantic repertoire, completing several annual piano auditions for the National Guild of Piano Teachers (NGPT) and receiving awards for his performance of 10-15 pieces from memory each year. At age 13, he began studying violin under Victor Lin at ViBo Music Center, expanding his musical interest to include modern genres of music as well as traditional world music. Not long after, Clark enrolled into Archbishop Riordan High School, whose music program did not include stringed instruments. In this time, Clark began to learn how to play various instruments. In his graduation year, Clark was selected as the recipient of the John Philip Sousa Award. Clark has been teaching at ViBO since 2014, and is currently composing his own method books and original pieces for his students. Students of Clark can expect to learn Common Practice music as well as Jazz and improvisation, with strong foundations in instrument technique and music theory.

Gaby Aldaz is a trombonist, pianist, composer, and music educator. She began her musical journey at the age of 9, and began learning jazz at the age of 12. In high school, she participated in prestigious honor groups, such as Jazz Band of America, All-Southern Orchestra, and All-State Jazz Band. She has studied jazz, classical, latin, electronic, soundtrack, and many other types of music at Oberlin Conservatory and SF State, where she recently earned her Bachelor's of Music with an emphasis in composition. Gaby regularly performs around the Bay Area in jazz, salsa, neo soul, and funk bands. She also teaches brass, piano, and music theory lessons to students of all ages. She loves spreading the joy of listening to and creating music, and aims to share her experience, knowledge, and expression with others through teaching and performance.

Instruments - guitar, piano

Gram Aguas grew up learning music here in the San Francisco Bay Area. When he was eight years old, he studied and played clarinet at his elementary school orchestra band. At age twelve he fell in love with blues, funk, R&B, and rock and roll music. He picked up a guitar as a result and started learning how to play songs from recordings of his heroes. Hungry to know more about music, he started taking lessons at ViBO Music Center. Not only did he learn a variety of skills, techniques, and styles while taking lessons (classical, jazz, reggae, folk, metal, latin, etc), he also found a deeper love and appreciation for many different types of music as well. At age sixteen, he started teaching his own weekly private students and started studying more jazz, as well as piano. He would play local gigs at restaurants and private events with different jazz combos during high school. At age eighteen, he went on to get a bachelor’s degree at San Francisco State University studying music while simultaneously teaching and playing gigs after classes. Gram continues to perform and teach music around the Bay Area today. His goal as a teacher is to help his students understand the joys of playing and listening to different types of music, as well as providing them with the tools they need to help them succeed in their own personal musical journey.

Instruments - piano, vocals

Guanhua Ge (Monica) is a pianist, singer, composer and music producer living and working out of California. She had 24 years of experience playing piano and 7 years of experience singing. As a soprano singer, she won 3 awards in Italy, and 3 awards in the USA for choir. She composer for a animation film that won 10+ international film award nominations and awards, including The 53rd Taiwan Golden Horse Awards Best Animated Short Film Nominees, The 57th Krakow Film Festival, The 33rd Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival narrative short film selection etc. She scored 14 original songs for Taiwanese Public Television service Broadcasting, with an estimated 18 million viewers.

Guanhua Ge (Monica) began the musical career at the age of 4, taking piano lessons with Ms. Sao Jin. At the age of 16, she began learning harp lessons with harp professor in Tianjin Conservatory of Music, China. When she was 20 years old, she began to learn Musicology in Xinghai Conservatory of Music, China. Monica earned her Master degree of Fine Arts in Music Production and Sound Design for Visual Media at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. She had a Bachelor of Music Degree in History of Western Music and Modern Chinese Music in Musicology at Xinghai Conservatory of Music, China.

Monica's teaching style emphasizes music to understand music history, music culture and music literature. She is good at teaching students to think differently and encourage learning and understanding of music. She is very satisfied with the patience of the students, because she believes that the golden keys to teach music not only tell students to play musical instruments or singing skills, but also to maintain and understand, love and enjoy music. Students can expect to learn music theory, chord / scale relationships, piano and vocal music, Western music history in different periods, national and cultural backgrounds.

Matt Hale began learning piano at age 6, and continued studying through elementary, middle, and high school where he fell in love with creating music. He then began singing in high school choir and pursued a degree in vocal music while continuing piano instruction from Dr. Julie Bees at WSU. He has since ranked internationally in voice ensemble competitions, performed in musical theatre, opera, and melodramas, played professionally as a high school accompanist, taught voice lessons to students of all ages, and continues to learn from his students in the San Francisco Bay Area!

Mikael Falcao studied piano and guitar at the University of São Paulo, where he also became a lecturer.  He believes the piano opens a rich world of music and loves making learning fun for his students. Mikael has played with the University of São Paulo’s choir, orchestra, and various chamber music groups, gaining lots of experience along the way. He’s dedicated to sharing his love for music and inspiring others to enjoy their own musical journeys.

Naomi Stine began playing the piano at age four and has been surrounded by music ever since. At age twenty Ms. Stine studied piano with Dr. Bruce Cook at Diablo Valley College, and in 2004 was chosen to perform the Mozart Piano Concerto No.23 K.488 as a live soloist with the Diablo Valley Philharmonic Orchestra. Since 2006, Ms. Stine has studied piano with world renowned concert pianist Roger Woodward at San Francisco State University where she earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance. She earned her Masters of Music Degree in Piano Performance under Roger Woodward. Ms. Stine has participated in many recitals and competitions at San Francisco State University and plans to pursue a Doctorate of Music upon her graduation in the Spring. Ms. Stine is excited and eager to pursue teaching piano to students of ages and walks of life throughout her musical career.

Robert’s musical training began when he was in utero because his mother was an accomplished classical pianist and she spent hours practicing. Then, through her training he was playing Bach, Beethoven, and show tunes by the age of 4. His first performance was in kindergarten when he performed his pieces and accompanied his school for the holiday recital. With a degree in music from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh, Robert has made it his mission to spread the joy of learning to play piano to anyone interested and has been teaching for over 30 years. He has developed a variety of fun and innovative techniques and shortcuts to make playing piano accessible to all, and has proven time and time again that it is never too late to start.

Stephanie Finch has been teaching and performing music for over 20 years. She has a multiple- subject K-8 teaching credential with an emphasis in Language Arts. In 2015, she became a full- time K-8 music teacher at Ring Mountain Day School in Mill Valley until the school closed in 2018. During her time there, Stephanie planned and implemented the music curriculum. In addition, she was the musical director for three school musicals and adapted teaching methods to fit each student’s learning style. She kept students engaged and motivated by using a hands-on approach through fun games and theory lessons. She believes music opens the mind and heart to creativity. Through piano and voice instruction, she has guided hundreds of students to bring out their inner voice in music, and is always gratified to see the light turn on. Stephanie enjoys helping students discover their talents through practice, creativity and personality. At Ring Mountain, Stephanie also regularly taught one-on-one piano lessons after school, and she continues to take students, both individuals and groups, in piano and ukulele, through the After School Music Academy. One-on-one teaching allows her to give more attention to the students’ interests and learning styles. In addition to teaching the fundamentals of piano and song, she focuses on rhythm and melody, which culminates in the students’ composing their own musical pieces. She also provides links to backing tracks so that the students have more fun practicing at home. Since the late 1990s, Stephanie has recorded and performed internationally, as a vocalist and on keyboards, accordion and guitar in the Chuck Prophet Band. With the band, she has toured the world many times over and performed on The David Letterman Show and Austin City Limits. In addition, she has released two critically acclaimed albums of her own, co-writing songs and co- producing. Her “Cry Tomorrow” album was reviewed by Ken Tucker on NPR’s “Fresh Air.” Stephanie looks forward to providing an enjoyable and nurturing environment and assisting your child in his/her musical exploration!

Taylor holds a Master’s Degree in Viola Performance at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she studies with Jonathan Vinocour.

Taylor Cooksey started studying violin at the age of fourteen with Dr. Georgette Popa and viola at age seventeen with the same professor. While under Dr. Popa’s instruction, Taylor participated in the Seraphim Symphony Youth Orchestra in Southern California, where she was a soloist, concertmaster, and principal viola throughout the four years she spent in the ensemble. With the symphony, Taylor got the chance to perform the Czardas violin solo with the orchestra at the 2012 London Olympic Games, and the Hoffmeister viola concerto at the Chambord Castle and La Madeleine Cathedral in France in 2014. Other notable performances that Taylor has been a part of include touring Germany and Prague with the BCCM Orchestra in 2017, and performing in concert halls such as Carnegie Hall, the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Segerstrom Performing Arts Hall, and the Kennedy Center.

Taylor received her Bachelor’s Degree in Viola Performance with a minor in psychology in 2019 from California State University, Long Beach where she studied with Dr. Josephine Moerschel and Dr. Jason Bonham. During her time at Long Beach, Taylor joined the American Youth Symphony Orchestra, and had the privilege to perform in various studios to record viola tracks for the short film “Bruised” and for the band Tribal Seeds.

Taylor has been teaching violin, viola, cello, and piano for five years in various private music schools and public schools. For the 2018-2019 school year, Taylor had the opportunity to teach high school orchestra at Villa Park High School, where she led the ensemble in rehearsals and prepared them for their school concerts. Taylor also has experience teaching middle school orchestra, as she led a summer orchestra program in 2018 and 2019 at East Whittier Middle School. Taylor also has extensive experience teaching children under the age of five, as well as children that have special needs.