Our Faculty

Masterclass and Workshop Teachers

Kasia Borowiak~ Pianist, Suzuki Piano Teacher Trainer and Clinician

Kasia Borowiak studied piano with Bronisława Kawalla and chamber music with Maja Nosowska-Pasławska at the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw (AMiFC), Poland, and piano with James Gibb at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama (GSMD) in London. She furthered her performing skills with Jan Ekier, Bernard Ringeissen and Richard Goode. She has performed throughout Poland for the Warsaw Philharmonic, Warsaw Music Society and F. Chopin and K. Szymanowski societies, and the UK, Ireland and Japan, as a soloist and chamber musician. Between 1987 and 1991 she was part of Sir Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now! Series. She has been performing with London Octave at St. Martin-in-the-Fields since 2006 and was a member of The Haydn Trio of London. She holds a Master of Arts in Performance degree from AMiFC and a Concert Recital Diploma (Premier Prix) from GSMD. She has been the European Suzuki Association (ESA) Teacher Trainer and Examiner since 1992. A Suzuki Method pioneer and a founder of the Polish Suzuki Association in 1996, she has fostered the first Polish Suzuki piano teachers and Piano Teacher Trainers & Examiners in Poland. During 2002-2010 she was the ESA Piano Director and a member of International Piano Committee, as well as a co-editor of the New International Suzuki Piano Edition. Since 2013 she has been directing her Independent Suzuki Piano Teacher Training, which she runs in partnership with the Hertfordshire Music Service at the Watford School of Music and since 2015 the National Suzuki Piano Teacher Training in Sweden. At present she is a Chairman of ESA Piano Committee and a member of ESA Instrumental Committee. Kasia was a chamber music coach at the AMiFC in 1985/86 and since 1990 has been professor of piano at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama Junior School, St. Albans Music School and Watford School of Music. Between 1999 and 2008 she was a Guildhall (later Trinity Guildhall) examiner, as well as a consultant for the Trinity Guildhall Piano Syllabus. She has lectured on numerous courses and seminars throughout the UK and worldwide - in Australia, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Poland, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand and the US.

Bernard Duerksen ~ Pianist, Organist, Adjudicator, Teacher and Chamber musician

Bernard Duerksen began playing the piano by ear at the age of 5. His early training included studies with Hilda Reimer, followed by instruction from pianists Peter Katin, Jane Coop, Robin Wood, John-Paul Bracey, and composers Peter-Paul Koprowski and Gerhard Wuensch. He is experienced in solo, chamber and concerto work. Performance highlights include numerous solo recitals at the Vancouver Art Gallery where he played the Preludes of Messiaen, Visions Fugitives by Prokofiev, and Tippett Sonata No.2. In 1991 he was honoured to work with Jean Coulthard in preparation for the world premiere performance of Image Terrestre. She described him as “a splendid pianist,” and the composer and critic David Gordon Duke described the debut as “radiant”. In the mid 1990’s, Mr. Duerksen learned the 32 sonatas of Beethoven, performing many of them, as well as piano concertos 3 and 4. His six-year collaboration with baritone Glen Harder culminated with an invitation to perform Schubert’s Die Winterreise at the 1993 International Schubert Conference and Festival at the University of Victoria. In 2001 he co-founded, directed and performed in “Simply Piano Recitals”, a series of eight piano recitals with Martin Humphreys. In 2003 and 2004 he played piano duos of Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances, Brahms Haydn Variations, Lutoslawski Paganini Variations. He has made recordings for CBC radio and is also an accomplished organist. Mr. Duerksen performed on the last 3 seasons of West Coast Chamber Music where he played quintets by Brahms, Dvorak, Schumann and Martinu with members of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra. This season he will play Trios by Beethoven and Schumann at Douglas College and again for West Coast Chamber Music. He has been actively teaching and adjudicating for 31 years. He has taught music appreciation courses for seniors and given pre-concert lectures for various concert societies. His students are frequent prize winners in festivals. He is a graduate of UBC and holds a MMus degree. He is an avid reader and runner and was recently the hand double for John Lithgow playing Bach in the movie Rise of the Planet of the Apes. He resides in Vancouver.

Roberta Ciancio ~ Pianist, Suzuki Piano Teacher and Teacher Trainer

Born in Vasto in 1980, she began studying piano at a very young age with the composer Raffaele Bellafronte at the Ritucci Chinni Civic Music School. He continued his piano studies with Maestro Lucia Passaglia, Marcella Crudeli, Michela De Amicis, Angela Aloi, Giovanna Musiani and in 2004 he obtained a Diploma in Piano at the State Conservatory of Music "G. B. Martini" in Bologna. In 2011, she graduated from the Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna with a thesis in Musical Aesthetics on Robert Schumann and in 2013 she obtained the fifth level of qualification to teach the Suzuki Methodology issued by the European Suzuki Association, under the guidance of the European pianist and Teacher Trainer Lola Granetman Tavor. In 2017 he specialized in music education for the 0-3 age group in Zurich Suzuki Early Childhood Education, S.E.C.E. In February 2024 she was appointed Italian Instructor by the European Suzuki Association for the training of piano teachers and in March of the same year she graduated in Composition with full marks and honors in the class of Maestro Cristina Landuzzi. She has performed in concert and won piano competitions, as a soloist and in duo, in various Italian cities including Pisa, Naples, Lamezia Terme, Vasto, Sesto San Giovanni, Sannicandro Garganico, Osimo, Chieti, Bologna, Florence and has attended the specialization courses of M° Marcella Crudeli, Lucia Passaglia, Samuel Dilworth Leslie, Michela De Amicis, Angela Aloi, Lola GranetmanTavor, Sandro Baldi. Since 2006 she has collaborated as a teacher of Principal Piano and Theory, rhythm and musical perception in Bologna with the Accademia dei Floridi and with the Nuova Accademia Musicale, and since 2009, also as a teacher specialized in the Suzuki methodology, in Venice with the Barchetta Blu Association, in Bologna with the C.E.M.I. Association, the Primo Levi University, with the Cemi Bologna Social Cooperative, with the MusicLab Academy, in Vasto with Comma srl, the BCC Foundation of the Trigno Valley, Bianconiglio private kindergarten, with the Musica in Crescendo youth orchestra Association. In 2018 he founded and still directs Suzukìp. Suzuki Piano School , based in Bologna in Strada Maggiore 90A, which in December of the same year is among the 15 winners of INCREDIBOL, CREATIVE Innovation of Bologna, a project for the development of cultural and creative professions and industries (Icc) in Emilia-Romagna promoted and coordinated by the Municipality of Bologna, which since 2022 has been a school recognized by the EmiliaRomagna Region and has an agreement with the G. B. Martini State Conservatory of Music in Bologna. Since October 2016 he has been President in office of the Fiorenza Rosi Association of Bologna with which he organizes the concert series I violini torna in memory of the violinist and enlightened Suzuki teacher Fiorenza Rosi. From 2019 to 2022 he organized and held orchestra workshops for primary schools in collaboration with the Angelica Music Research Center and the Pierrot Lunaire Association of Bologna. Since 2019 she has been supporting the Italian Teacher Trainer in the Training Courses for teachers in training in the Suzuki methodology at the Suzuki Music Center in Milan.

Tina Margareta Nilssen ~ Founder of The Timani Method and The Musicians Health and Movement Institute

Tina teaches teachers and students from around the world online and in person at the MHMI (Musician Health and Movement Institute) in Oslo, Norway. She has helped Norwegian concert pianist Leif Ove Andsnes and many more world class musicians to learn the tools needed to play effortlessly and to prevent pain and injury through the movement system Timani. You can learn to get rid of physical and mental blocks that stop you from expressing your full potential as a musician. Through cutting edge science and years of experience teaching thousands of musicians from all around the world, at MIHI we provide specialised help for both the physical and mental aspects of music performance.

~Evelina Vorontsova in Concert~

Where? at Uilenburgersjoel~

When? Sunday, February 09, 2025

What time? 13:30 -14:15

See you there!

Hanna Matthijsse has been a prefessional violinist, violin instructor, and music educator since 2000 in Canada and in the Netherlands. She has an active studio in Amsterdam and at the Accademia Filarmonica in Utrecht. Hanna received her ESA Suzuki Teacher Training in 2018 under the guidance of Johannes Lievaart. She has taught at various Suzuki workshops, written articles, and facilitated masterclasses for ESTA (NL-BE).

For many years Hanna called Toronto home, performing with Canadian ensembles including the Via Salzburg Chamber Orchestra, Hamilton Philharmonic and Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra. She holds an Artist Diploma from the Glenn Gould School of The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, and a Bachelor of Music from Western University in London, Ontario. Her principal teachers are Paul Kantor, Mayumi Seiler, and Gwen Thompson.

Hanna is active in her community having served as a board member of the Theo Verbey Foundation, a non-for-profit organization dedicated to keeping alive the works and legacy of the Dutch composer, theorist, and educator, Theo Verbey, and currently, the Stichting Accademia Filarmonica.

Brendan Conroy is an Australian cellist based in the Netherlands. He studied at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague with Lucia Swarts and completed his fifth level of Suzuki Training with Ruben Rivera and Chantal Latil in France.

As a cellist he has performed in concerts in five continents with a variety of orchestras and chamber ensembles, including the Sydney Symphony, the Tasmanian Symphony, and the Diemen Quartet.

He has held teaching positions at schools and music schools in Australia and the Netherlands, and he has conducted many different youth orchestras. Invitations to teach at workshops have come from countries as far afield as China, Australia, Denmark, France, and Lithuania. Brendan currently has an active Suzuki studio in Amsterdam, and his students regularly attend Summer Schools around Europe.

Workshop Teachers

Patricia Robaina ~ Harpsichordist, Continuo player and Clinician

Patricia Robaina (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) is specialized in Early Music as harpsichordist and continuo player. She began her musical education with violin in her hometown obtaining the Professional Degree with honors. Years later, Patricia began her harpsichord studies with Rosa Falcón. After, she moved to the Conservatorio de Música de Aragón specializing with Silvia Márquez (harpsichord) and Saskia Roures (organ). Her education then continued at The Royal Conservatoire of The Hague, under the guidance of Jacques Ogg (harpsichord) and Patrick Ayrton (basso continuo). She is a member of the International Bach Festival working with soloists from the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Patricia is a founder of L’Enharmonique focusing on French repertoire from the 20th and 21st centuries. She is a member of Academia de los Afectos and also S105 Ensemble. She has been invited on several occasions by the Young Orchestra of the Canary Islands and the Orquesta Filarmónica of Gran Canaria. Founder and artistic director of the Ensemble La Pantomime where she is working on writing transcriptions for two harpsichords and different settings. She also works with the New Dutch Academy with whom she has recorded for the Pentatone record label. Patricia has participated in orchestral projects and workshops with musicians such as Ton Koopman, Peter Van Heyghen, Hidemi Suzuki, Mike Fentross, Kris Verhelst, Christophe Rousset, José Luis González Uriol, Michael Chance, Siebe Henstra, Annelie de Man, Goska Isphording, Alfredo Bernardini, Sergio Azzolini, Pieter-Jan Belder, and others. She has been performing in many concert halls around Spain, UK, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Indonesia, Hong Kong and in Festivals as BRQ Vantaa Festival (Finland), Börzsöny Barokk (Hungary), Utrecht Early Music Festival (Netherlands), MAfestival Brugge (Belgium), Festival Links (Bulgaria), International Bach Festival (Spain).

Heleen Verleur ~ Scarlatti & Maria Barbara Piano Story Concert, composer, pianist, Suzuki piano teacher

Little is known about the keyboard composer Domenico Scarlatti. There is only one portrait of him, only a few notes with his own handwriting have been found and even his sonatas are not in the original notation because they were all copied later. Probably by his keyboard student Maria Barbara, Princess of Portugal. Is that why no performance has ever been made about him before? In this narrative performance we look at the life of the Neapolitan composer Scarlatti through the eyes of Princess Maria Barbara, who has just turned 17. Heleen Verleur has come up with a unique form for this. As she previously did with George Sand & Chopin , she now takes on the role of Maria Barbara: Scarlatti's famous student who could play the harpsichord very well. Maria Barbara and her husband Fernando are held captive in the palace for 17 years. How did Scarlatti's music save them? What does the castrato Farinelli do every evening in King Philip V's bedroom? How does he end up becoming his prime minister? Scarlatti's father is close to him, so Scarlatti draws up a document in 1717 in which he forces his father to declare him independent. How does their complex relationship influence Scarlatti's composing? A beautiful combination of theater and music, depicted by one person. A performance with the power of simplicity and a minimum of decor and attributes. Some reactions to the Scarlatti performance : “Had never heard of Scarlatti before, but I will never forget this.” “It was so lively and visual: And the music was enchanting. What a wonderful afternoon I had!” “I felt sorry that it was already over.”

Cynthia Freivogel ~ Violinist, Concertmaster, Chamber musician and Clinician. Guest Parent Talk speaker for Piano Day 2024

Cynthia Miller Freivogel is the leader and concertmaster of the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado (Denver) of the ARTEK chamber orchestra (New York) and is the co-artistic director of the ensemble Combattimento. She also spent three years touring with the Belgian Zonzo Compagnie the production 3ach, a multimedia production about Bach for children. She is a frequent a guest leader, soloist and concertmaster with early music ensembles and chamber groups across Europe and the United States.. Ms. Freivogel received a BA in musicology at Yale University and an MM in violin performance at the San Francisco Conservatory. She studied principally with Camilla Wicks and Marylou Speaker Churchill, and is a dedicated and certified Suzuki teacher. She is currently studying to become a certified Laban Bartenieff Movement Analyst at EMOVE institute in Holland and working towards her Dalcroze teaching certificate at Dalcroze School of Movement and Music with Prof. Jeremy Dittus. She lives in Amsterdam with her husband, Ben - a theoretical physicist at the University of Amsterdam - and son, Eliot.