Harmony Teachers
Rodrigo Vasconcelos
piano, theory, harmony, history
Rodrigo Vasconcelos holds a Master of Arts degree from Campbellsville University and a Piano Performance degree from the University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His piano teachers include Linda Bustani, Estela Caldi, Allan Hersh, and Wesley Roberts.
Mr. Vasconcelos keeps a healthy performing career as a choral conductor, pianist, and lecturer throughout the US, Germany, England, Czech Republic and Brazil, including appearances with the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Vasconcelos serves as music educator for the Our Lady of the Visitation School, and on the piano, music history, and theory faculty of Indian Springs Academy of Music.
Mr. Vasconcelos is a Founding Teacher of the Royal Conservatory of Music's Music Development Program and is an active member of the National Association for Music Education and the Ohio Music Educators Association.
Pianist-Composer Dr. Christina Tan holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance, Theory cognate from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music where she was invited by concert pianist Béla Siki to study. At CCM, she earned her Master’s and Bachelor of Music degrees while on various scholarship awards and teaching assistantships. Her teachers include James Tocco, Eugene & Elizabeth Pridonoff, Frank Weinstock, and Béla Siki. Representing Singapore in the 1991 Robert Casadesus International Competition, she clinched the top prize and awards at several local and international piano and composition competitions, including the 1986 Diners Club Pianist of the Year Award.
Having played with orchestras on both sides of the Atlantic, The Lexington Herald-Leader writes, “Tan always seemed to be gauging her performance to suit the needs of the moment, and such intelligent playing is as welcome as it is rare.” The Straits Times describes her music, “Spirited piano piece a winner...21st-century music does not need to be inaccessible to be taken seriously” On her performance, “Tan’s artistry shone through with utter clarity, humor, and beauty…There was much poignancy to be had in the familiar preludes...sheer poetry reigned ...a captivating performance on the whole.”
An enthusiastic educator, collaborator/chamber musician, and adjudicator, she has served on the music faculties of the University of Akron, Hiram College, Asbury, Transylvania, Northern Kentucky, Carnegie Mellon, Duquesne, and Winthrop Universities. In 2010, she was invited to teach at Singapore’s School of the Arts ~ SOTA. In 2014, she also began teaching at the LASALLE College of Arts’ School of Contemporary Music and NAFA ~ Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts' School of Music. She has been invited to give master classes both in Asia and the US. She has also always served as an organist-music director at a local church. Passionate about music making and education, she is the current Vice President of the Singapore Music Teachers’ Association.
Christina’s students have been national and international level award winners in solo, chamber and composition competitions. Equally at home with both beginning and advanced levels, her intrinsic desire is to impact a student’s life by instilling a lifelong passion for learning in a stimulating while nurturing environment for her students of all ages. It is the supreme joy of awakening the wonder of creative expression, heightening aesthetic awareness and growth in others that fuels her passion for her calling.
