Find A tEacher you’ve always Dreamed of
Olga Mandrigina, violin, viola
Olga Mandrigina graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music (Russia) majoring in viola performance, chamber music performance, and violin and viola pedagogy. Her career began under the baton of infamous Karl Eliasberg and spanned over five decades of performing and teaching in Russia, Europe, and the US. Many of Olga’s students have become professional musicians.
Olga is a member of the MTAC and enjoys students of any age and ability.
John Mello, guitar
John Mello has been teaching music for more than 25 years. He has taught hundreds of students, at all levels. From the very beginner, looking to enjoy playing the music they love, to advanced musicians wanting to fine tune their skills.
While attending Musicians Institute’s Guitar Institute of Technology (or GIT for short) John decided he wanted to experience and teach a wide variety of guitar styles. After graduating with the Gibson Guitar sponsored Outstanding Student Award, he has continued to broaden his musical experience by attending educational workshops and retreats with the likes of Tuck Andress, Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew, Joe Pass and many others.
John went on to become one of the core faculty members at the Bay Area’s Guitar Activity Center, a teaching and live performance workshop program for adults. Beginning in 2006 Baywood Elementary School in San Mateo invited John to conduct the School of Rock seminars at their annual Art & Science Day. These are informal demonstrations showing how Rock musicians interact while performing and the role each instrument plays.
Summer 2011 John taught at College of San Mateo Community Education’s College for Kids program. Cool Guitar, was a three-week long course for 5th to 9th graders helping them discover the skills that all bands use to create music. Starting in the Fall of 2018 John was asked to join the faculty of Crystal Springs Middle School to run their guitar program for sixth, seventh and eighth graders.
John continues to stay current and involved with the music industry by maintaining NAMM membership, attending trade shows and music festivals.
Cynthia Brown, voice and piano
Cynthia Brown is a graduate of the University of Missouri with a Bachelor of Science in music education. She received her Masters of Music from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Cynthia taught music in public schools at all levels, then worked for the piano company Sherman Clay in San Francisco and San Mateo. Their music education division was Sherman Clay Lessons Plus. The San Mateo studio later became Lessons on B, with Cynthia as the owner and instructor of piano and voice. This studio is now Gradus ad Parnassum Music Academy and is under the new ownership.
Cynthia has sung in multiple organizations, most notably the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. First under Herbert Bloomstedt, where the symphony and chorus won a Grammy for the recording of Brahms German Requiem, and then under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas, winning a Grammy for Mahler Symphony No. 8. Cynthia also sang in the Rackham Symphony Chorus with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and Cantata Academy of Metropolitan Detroit, which included a European concert tour. For many years, Cynthia is choir director and soloist at Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church in San Francisco. She is also a member of MTAC (Music Teachers Assoc. of Calif.) San Mateo County Branch and The Choristers Guild, Northern California branch.
Ashley Devine, violin
Ashley Devine received her BM at San Francisco State University where she studied with members of the Alexander String Quartet. Upon graduating, she studied with Amy Beth Horman from SFCM. She has worked closely with Peninsula Youth Orchestra and Nom Nom Music as both a coach and conductor. She has led masterclasses and sectionals for various middle and high schools including Carlmont, Borel, and Ralston, and is currently working with students of all ages and levels at PAUSD. Ashley has maintained a full thriving studio since 2008 and has taught several competition winners throughout the years.
David Chernyavsky, violin
David Chernyavsky joined the San Francisco Symphony in 2009. Born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, he began violin studies at the age of six and at eleven gave his first solo recital. After winning prizes in competitions in Russia and France, he entered the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. In 1997, Mr. Chernyavsky came to the US to study at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music with the famous Profesor Nelli Shkolnikova and, later, at the Juilliard School. Before joining SF Symphony Mr. Chernyavsky had been a member of the Kennedy Center Opera orchestra and Los Angeles Philharmonic. He performed and recorded several CDs with the Saint Petersburg String Quartet and with the Joel Rubin Klezmer Music Ensemble, and he has released a solo CD, Klezmer Violin. He also performs and teaches with the San Francisco Academy Orchestra.
Simon Bokman, piano, composition
Simon Bokman graduated from the Rimsky-Korsakov College of Music, St.-Petersburg, Russia (then Leningrad) majoring in Composition under guidance of Galina Ustvolskaya. He also studied piano with Gennady Baumsteyn. Mr. Bokman teaches piano, composes music and writes poetry and prose. A collection of his poems in Russian On the Edge of the Universe was published in Baltimore, MD in 2006. His book Variations On the Theme Galina Ustvolskaya was published in English by Verlag Ernst Kuhn - Berlin in January 2007. His music has been performed in England, Russia and in the United States. His creative Credo is Romanticism, as in warmth and depth of feelings and senses. Romanticism is the driving force behind Universal, Cosmic Creativity.
Vija norkvesta, piano
Vija Norkvesta is a graduate of the State Conservatory in Riga, Latvia. She has taught all her life, beginners to advanced, and is also proficient in accompanying. Miss Vija is a member of Music Teachers Assn. of CA and offers Certificate of Merit. She specializes in advanced students and gets excellent results in CM.
Irina Behrendt, piano
Irina Behrendt is a Russian born pianist, accompanist, and teacher living and freelancing in the Bay Area since 1998. Irina regularly appears as a soloist with the Russian Chamber Orchestra, as a chamber musician at the Noontime Concert Series, San Francisco chapter of NACUSA recitals, teaches piano privately, works as a pianist/organist at the Community United Methodist Church in Half Moon Bay, and serves on the board of the MTAC San Mateo branch.
She holds degrees in Solo performance, collaborative performance, and pedagogy from Kaliningrad Rachmaninov Music College, Petrozavodsk State Conservatory, New England Conservatory.
Irina is a founder and director of the Musical Odyssey, chamber music concert series for children and families in Half Moon Bay, CA.
Junghae kim, harpsichord
Kim earned diplomas in harpsichord performance at the Peabody Institute, Oberlin Conservatory, and Sweelinck Conservatorium before completing her studies with Dutch master Gustav Leonhardt in Amsterdam.
A versatile musician on historical keyboard instruments, Kim has appeared as a soloist with period-instrument ensembles as well as the San Francisco Symphony and New Century Chamber Orchestra. She has been featured on NPR and national Korean television (KBS). A sought-after pedagogue, Kim has taught and performed at festivals around the world, including the Bloomington Early Music Festival, Berkeley Early Music Festival, Madison Bach Musicians Workshop, Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, Assisi Music Festival (Italy), Midsommer Baroque Music Festival (Denmark), and Chuncheon International Early Music Festival (Korea).
As co-director of MusicSources (Center for Historically Informed Performance), Kim advocates for historical keyboard performance and has been active in bringing early music to the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2016, she directed and appeared in a performance featuring Belgian virtuoso Sigiswald Kuijken.
Kim is founder and artistic director of Ensemble Mirable, which has performed throughout the United States and was recognized by Early Music America for the ensemble’s world-premiere recording of the complete cello sonatas of Jean Zewalt Triemer.
Besides her recordings with Ensemble Mirable, Kim’s discography includes albums featuring English virginal music (The Virginalists); the keyboard music of Jean-Henri d’Anglebert; suites and fantasias of J.S. Bach; and four of Bach’s harpsichord concertos.
Kenneth Prendergast, piano
Originally from the United Kingdom Kenneth came to the U.S. as a teenager and received a Bachelor and Masters degree in Piano Performance from Notre Dame de Namur University where he was a student of Thomas LaRatta. Kenneth has been teaching piano for over 30 years at Crestmont Conservatory of Music in San Mateo and at his home studio in Atherton. Skilled at beginning, intermediate and advanced students, children and adult alike, Kenneth brings great joy and love for music to his students and has taught several generations of award winning pianists. He is a member of the Music Teachers’ Association of California.
Terrance Yan,
Violin, Viola
Terrance Yan has been an active musician and educator in the Bay Area for over 15 years. He is the music director of the Stanford Medicine Orchestra and the Infinite Philharmonic, an employee club orchestra at Apple. As a music director and teacher, he emphasizes creating a friendly environment for music making, promoting inclusion and diversity, and advocating lifelong learning of the arts and science.
Terrance received his MMus and BMus from San Francisco State University. He was also a conducting fellow of multiple institutions, including the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra and the Conductor's Institute of South Carolina.
Jordan WeBSTER, Clarinet
Jordan Webster earned her Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from the Lawrence Conservatory of Music in Appleton, Wisconsin. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish from Lawrence University and a Master’s in Education from University of San Francisco. She is the Assistant Director of Instrumental Music at Carlmont High School in Belmont. Carlmont has a robust music program with over 300 musicians and her bands and orchestras have earned superior ratings at numerous festivals and competitions. Previously, she was the director at Ralston Middle School in Belmont for thirteen years where she grew the program to over 400 musicians.
Jordan is the director of the Chamber Players and Camerata Orchestras and the Summer Conservatory at Golden State Youth Orchestra. Before joining the faculty at GSYO, Jordan served as the woodwind coach for Peninsula Youth Orchestra for 10 years.
In addition to teaching, Jordan has served as the principal clarinet with the New Millennium Chamber Orchestra and she performed with the San Francisco Wind Symphony.
Diana Skavronskaya, Voice
Diana Skavronskaya is a professional soprano opera singer and holds a degree from the Moscow State Conservatory, where she specialized in Opera Singing and Performance. She won first prizes in the International Boris Tchaikovsky Competition and Romansiada International competitions, known far and wide as the world's most competitive. She had the honor of learning from esteemed vocal coaches such as Galina Pisarenko, Richard Barrett, Makvala Kasrashvili and Dmitry Vdovin, as well as Dr. Julia Hunt-Nielsen. Her musical journey led her to perform on some of the world's most prestigious stages in Italy, Germany, Belgium, Georgia, as well as in Asia. She has been recognized by the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) as an International Operatic Soprano and Classical Singer In 2023, Diana Skavronskaya initiated an Opera Club in San Francisco, where she co-hosts performances with various artists, aiming to introduce people to the world of opera. Her experience in vocal coaching and conducting master classes spans eight years and remains integral to her professional pursuits.
