Cynthia Cheng
Cynthia attended University of Toronto where she obtained her Bachelor of Architecture degree. She has studied with Professor George Baird and Professor Brigitte Shim and for her thesis project, she studied under renowned Canadian Architect Ed Zeidler. She is a firm believer of relevant “hands-on” learning experience and structures her classes to make the lessons meaningful for children. Cynthia thoroughly enjoys interacting with children and sparking their interest and quest for knowledge.
Cynthia hopes to share her passion for architecture and design with the students of the school and with community. Her goal is to foster a creative and dynamic LEGO® learning environment making architecture and design enjoyable to children of all ages!
Eliza Wong
Eliza began her music study in Yamaha courses at the age of 4 in Hong Kong. Later, Eliza studied at the Faculty of Music at University of Toronto with Professors Phil Nimmons, John Kruspe and Leslie Kinton. Eliza also holds a post-graduate diploma from Humber College. Over the years, she participated in numerous music festivals in Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan and Canada. In 1997, she represented Canada at the International Electone Concours held in Tokyo, Japan.
Eliza loves teaching music to people all ages. She has over 15 years of experience teaching the Yamaha cirriculum. Her students have enjoyed success participating in concerts in Canada, USA, Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan and Singapore. Earlier in her career, she held the post of National Course Supervisor at Yamaha Canada Music and was also a Royal Conservatory of Music Examinations Centre Representative. In 2006, she joined Yamaha Music & Electronic China in Shanghai as Music Director. Her main duties there included recruiting and training of local teaching staff. She also worked to establish Yamaha Music Schools in Beijing and Guangdong.
Jialiang Zhu
A native from China, Jialiang Zhu has been living in Toronto since 2007. Jialiang has completed her Masters Degree under the tutelage of Marietta Orlov and Midori Koga at University of Toronto. During her study, she taught at the U of T Children’s Piano Pedagogy Program and the Adult Community Piano Program. In June 2012, Jialiang held two workshops at the Hainan Provincial Kindergarten in China, guiding young children to discover more fun and satisfaction in music making and piano practicing. Jialiang believes that each student has a distinctive personality and potential, and she strives to help them find their unique ways of self-expression.
Jialiang is also highly active as a performer. She has played concerts in various cities in Canada, Germany, China and U.S. Jialiang is excited to communicate with audience through solo and ensemble performances, as well as multi-media concerts. She enjoys exploring various musical genres, including classical music, contemporary music, jazz, pop, new age, world music and improvisation.
Pei-Chen Chen
Pei-Chen began her career in music by studying the Yamaha Music Education System at the age of 5 in Taiwan. She completed her Bachelor of Music at National Taiwan Normal University then obtained her Masters Degree from the University of Toronto in Piano Performance and Pedagogy under the tutelage of Dr. Midori Koga. Pei-Chen has won several piano competitions in Taiwan and has been awarded scholarships from the International Keyboard Institute and Festival in New York and the University of Toronto.
Pei-Chen is passionate about both performing and teaching piano. She has teaching experience throughout Taiwan and Canada, and enjoys teaching music to students of all ages and levels. Currently, she is also an instructor in the Children’s Piano Pedagogy Program and Adult Community Piano Program at the University of Toronto and a private piano teacher at Montcrest School in Toronto.
Fabio Dwyer
Fabio Dwyer was born in Brazil and lives in Canada since January 2011. At 18, he went to a Jazz music school in Brazil, where he learned about Harmony and Improvisation. He also had a three years stint in Music University in the teacher’s training program. During all this time he had been building a solid career as a teacher, developing his own music instructional material that comprehends six books so far, ranging from acoustic and electric guitar, to Jazz Harmony and Improvisation to a Blues course.
Fabio has also been extremely active as a performer, having played acoustic, electric and slide guitar in many bands and as a recording session musician. He sang for seven years in popular and classical choirs and as a songwriter, wrote, arranged and produced two solo albums and a movie soundtrack as well.
In early 2011 Fabio immigrated to Toronto, Canada where he has been successfully re-establishing himself professionally as a performer and a teacher, working with different bands, most notably with the Blues/Soul/Rock band Coyote Blue and with the Aslan Gotov & Fabio Dwyer Duo, playing Brazilian, Latin Music and Jazz. Fabio is currently studying at the Royal Conservatory in the Artist-Educator Training Program.
Leandro Marcondes
Leandro Marcondes has been teaching music since 1994, including 9 years of teaching in Public Schools, giving him experience with students from age 6 to adults. Having a Bachelor Degree in Music Education has provided him with the foundations of what it means to be a good teacher. Not only is Leandro patient and kind, but he also motivates his students and inspires in them a love for music.
As a professional guitar/bass player and singer, Leandro has worked with many great musicians over the last 20 years. This includes more than 9 years of collaboration with 2005 Grammy Award Winner Peter Madcat Ruth, who speaks very highly of Leandro. “I can confidently say that Leandro is one of the finest musicians I have played with in terms of his professionalism, focus and follow-through. It has been a great pleasure to work with Leandro all these years and I strongly recommend him to any position that matches his qualifications and interest.”
In addition to his formal academic background, Leandro has performed with many bands from a wide range of music genres such as Rock, Blues, R&B, Funk, Reggae, Country, Latin and Brazilian Music. Leandro is also an active songwriter and music producer.
Laura McLean
A native of Nova Scotia, soprano Laura McLean has been described as possessing a voice of “brilliance and freshness…almost startling in its beauty”. Laura has performed in concert in Verona, Italy, as part of the Opera Viva program, in Montreal as a student at the International Vocal Arts Institute, at Le Nouvel Opéra Baroque workshop, and in the Montreal Baroque Festival, and was a participant at Operaworks in Los Angeles. Laura has worked extensively as an outreach performer with the Community Partnerships department at New England Conservatory, planning and performing musical education and holiday programs for school groups, hospitals, nursing homes, and libraries. She was recently a finalist in the Elora Festival Young Artist Competition and received second place at the National Music Festival (FCMF). Laura holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Mount Allison University and a Master of Music in vocal performance from the New England Conservatory in Boston.
Chris Soong
Chris started his piano studies at the age of 5 and has been under the tutelage of Professor Nancy Hou ever since. At the age of 9, Chris began his violin studies under the tutelage of Professor Alec Hou. He completed his ARCT in Piano Performance at the age of 15 and is currently an active teacher for private and group lessons on both piano and violin. After having graduated from the Arts York Program at Unionville High School, Chris currently majors in piano as he studies at the University of Toronto in the Bachelor of Music Education program.