Meet the faculty

Our music teachers nurture a culture of excellence, achievement, and inspiration.

It’s a world-class team, teaching right here in Salt Lake City. Our exceptional instructors produce students who go on to study at every top music conservatory in the United States, including Juilliard, Curtis, Colburn, New England, Peabody, Cleveland, Bard, Indiana, and San Francisco. Academically oriented students have been accepted on scholarship to every local university and top academic programs like Stanford, Harvard, Rice, Columbia, and Yale.

Our Founders and Executive Director

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Eugene Watanabe

Co-Founder & Artistic Director

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Dr. Vera Oussetskaia Watanabe

Co-Founder & Piano Area Chair

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Dr. LeeAnn Morgan

Executive Director

Our Faculty (in alphabetical order)

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Shenae Akagi (Andersen)

Violin, Conservatory Orchestra

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Shelley Astle

Collaborative Pianist

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Dr. Jeffrey Allardyce

Saxophone

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Dr. Koji Atwood

Piano, Music History

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Katherine Baird

Cello, Suzuki Program Director

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Thomas Baron

Violin, Chamber Music

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Yelena Bates

Piano, GRIT Choir

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Anne Francis Bayless

Cello, Chamber Music

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Dr. Blanka Bednarz

Violin

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Johnny Cardenas

Jazz Piano, Jazz Composition

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Dr. Michael Chikinda

Music Theory Area Chair, Faculty Council Chair

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Christopher Danz

Trumpet

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Abby Dreher

Viola, GRIT Director

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Linda Duan

Piano, Assistant Artistic Director, Conservatory Director

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Dr. Matthew Durrant

Music Theory and Composition

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Luca de la Florin

Oboe

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Rebecca Goeckeritz

Violin

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Gabriel Gutierrez

Flute

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Emily Holmstead

Violin

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Sarah Houghton

Voice, Choir Director

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Erika Hubbard

Violin

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Rachel Bower Karr

Violin

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Monica Mendoza

Music Theory, Early Childhood

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Rebecca Moensch

Violin, Chamber Music

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Andrew Keller

Double Bass

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Kimberly Marsden

Music Preschool, Music Theory

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Dr. Whitney Pizza

Piano, Collaborative Pianist

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Dr. Conlan Miller

Collaborative Piano

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Joanna Oshida

Supplemental Piano

Andres Reyes

Jazz Guitar, Ukulele, GRIT Jazz

Matthew Robertson

Conservatory Choir

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John T. Posadas

Viola

David Price

Violin

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Mark Rau

Piano, Group Piano Instructor

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Suzannah Rose

Music Theory

Dr. Alie Yorgason

Collaborative Pianist

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Rachel H. Taft

Violin, GRIT

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Kevin Shumway

Cello, Chamber Music

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Sophie Stanley

Classical Guitar

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Wachira Waigwa-Stone

Percussion

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Monica Yardley Thiriot

Violin

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David Yavornitsky

Double bass