Principal Teacher - Edita Stankeviciute
Edita was born to a family of musicians. At age seven, she was registered to a music school for gifted children, where she was studying classical piano till she was sixteen. Having finished the school with the highest grades, Edita entered the State College of Music named after J.Tallat-Kelpsa in the city of Vilnius, Lithuania.
Edita's College teacher was talented professor and piano performer, M.Radvilaite who had graduated with honours from the State Moscow Conservatory. She passed on her experience in the piano performance and pedagogy to Edita. While in College, she played the world's best classical repertoire of both Russian and foreign composers: Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Scarlatti, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, and Scriabin.
Edita also performed piano concerts. During the years of tenacious study, Edita has mastered and perfected the performance skills as well as acquired fundamental knowledge in child psychology, pedagogy and various techniques of teaching piano. Having studied successfully for four years, Edita graduated from the State College of Music with the Diploma of music teacher and performer (Bachelor of Arts in Music).
After graduation from the J.Tallat-Kelpsa Music College in Vilnius, Edita continued studies in classical piano at the Lithuanian Music Academy. She studied with professor A Staskus, receiving a Master's degree in music.
Edita started teaching her first students while being in Music Academy, after which she decided to be a teacher and to continue performing piano. She was invited to work as a pianist with the Opera and Ballet Theatre and on Lithuanian television in the City of Vilnius, Lithuania. There she performed as a solo pianist, a pianist with orchestras, as well as an accompanist to singers, choirs, and ballet. While performing at the theatre and on television, Edita worked as a teacher in a music school, teaching children of different age groups. With twenty-year pedagogical experience, Edita created her own method of teaching piano, based on the best Russian traditions of piano school as well as the latest achievements in music pedagogy.
Edita considers each student to be unique and believes that communicating with the student is important and his/her needs must be met. That is why she believes in an individual approach, and that patience and love are the most important things of successful teaching. With this teaching philosophy, she helps students acquire the piano skills very quickly and easily, and prepare for concerts and exams. Quite often, Edita's students have been among the winners of various competitions, and many of them have become teachers and performers.
Since 2001 Edita has been living in London and worked as a piano teacher in different schools. She is happy that she has the opportunity of doing what she loves most and enjoys continuing to help students discover the beautiful world of music.
Piano Teacher - Simon Buck
Simon Buck began learning the piano at the age of three. As a teenager he won numerous awards in regional competitions and festivals before gaining a scholarship at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, where he studied for four years with Carole Presland, receiving additional awards for performance in every year. Following his studies at the RNCM, Simon enrolled on the Master of Arts course at the Royal Academy of Music in London under the tuition of Rustem Hayroudinoff, where he gained further awards and scholarships before graduating with distinction. During his six years of conservatoire training Simon benefited from playing in many masterclasses with eminent pianists, including Aleksander Madžar, Steven Osborne and Stephen Hough.
Simon has given solo recitals at venues around Great Britain. He has appeared as soloist in concertos by Mozart, Beethoven, Grieg and Scriabin, and won the highest award in the RNCM's Concerto Competition with a performance of Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No.3. He also regularly performs in various chamber settings and won the Bemrose Bursary for chamber music at the RNCM.
Simon has studied teaching methods in both a pedagogy course at the RNCM and on the Royal Academy's LRAM course in instrumental teaching. He began teaching as an undergraduate student and has since worked with children from age four, and with adults. Simon is enthusiastic not only about the merits of making music, but also about understanding the means by which students can achieve the most as musicians and performers. His approach to teaching, which is adapted for each individual student, is intended to nurture not only technical skills, but all round musicianship.
Simon was delighted to be offered the position of Piano Teacher at the Windsor Piano School in 2011.
Piano Teacher - Olivia Skwara
Olivia Skwara was born in Gdansk Poland to a family of musicians and she gave her first public performance at the age of seven. At eleven she made her concerto debut with the Polish Youth Orchestra Following and she was granted a scholarship from the Chopin's Society in Warsaw and from the Polish Government to continue her studies.
Olivia studied under the legendary Lev Naumov at the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory.
“Olivia is a gifted pianist, truly devoted to music, with excellent virtuoso skills, emotional and artistic” (Lev Naumov)
She was certified as a piano performer, piano teacher, accompanist and chamber ensemble artist. She also completed her masters in music.
Olivia captured the attention of audiences juries when she won the first prize in the prestigious International Festival for Young Pianists held in Siedlce Poland. She is a laureate of several national and international competitions in Poland, Italy and Germany.
Olivia works regularly with the Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra and her performances with Samara and Belgorod Philharmonics as well as “Mihail Jora” di Bacau Orchestra have won her outstanding praise and acclaim. She appeared with many outstanding conductors including Zygmunt Rychert, Tomasz Chmiel, Ovidiu Balan, Mikhail Shcherbakov and Igor Shchadrin.Her live recordings have been broadcasted by Polish, Russian and American TV and Radio.
In 2006-2009 Olivia was teaching piano at university levels in China and in Ngai Lam College in Hong Kong, and performing in Asia. In 2010, Olivia was delighted to be offered a place as a member of the teaching staff at such a unique school as Windsor Piano School.
Piano Teacher - Stefan Ćirić
Stefan Ćirić was born in 1986 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. After commencing his piano studies at the age of 6, remarkable early progress led to success in several national and international competitions. As well as concerts and television appearances in Yugoslavia, he has already toured as soloist in various countries. His orchestral engagements include concerts with the Stanislav Binički Symphony, Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra and London Soloists Chamber Orchestra.
Stefan studied at the Mokranjac Music School in Belgrade, and continued at the Purcell School, London. In 2008 he graduated from London's Royal Academy of Music and completed his MA in 2010 working with Sulamita Aronovsky.
In 2003, Stefan won top Prize and Audience Prize in the Cantù International Piano & Orchestra Competition, Italy. His performances in Sala Verdi, Milan and the South Bank, London were received to great critical acclaim and he returned to Italy for a recital tour in 2004 which brought a further enthusiastic response.
Highlights in recent seasons were performances of Mozart Concerto K.595 at Cadogan Hall, London with the London Soloists Orchestra and in Austria with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, and a concert tour of China- all attracting praise to the exceptional talent and supreme accomplishment of Stefan Ćirić.
Among later successes he lists prizes in International Piano Competitions in Gorizia, Italy and Jaén, Spain in 2008 and a most impressive Canadian debut at the Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto which was received with a standing ovation. In 2009 he was recipient of the Wigmore Hall Award from the Royal Academy of Music and most recently won the top Prize and Audience Prize at the 60th Viotti International Piano Competition in Vercelli, Italy.
Stefan is delighted to have been offered a teaching position at Windsor Piano School as he also has a passion for teaching. He has been teaching privately since 2006, as well as at The International Community School, London and at Portland Place School. He thoroughly enjoys passing on his skills to eager piano students.
Piano Teacher - Lucy Colquhoun
Lucy began studying the piano at the age of 7 and quickly progressed to winning a number of awards in regional competitions. She later gained entrance to the junior department of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she won awards in the school's soloist's competition, and the Lutine Prize, upon leaving. Lucy continued her studies at the Royal Northern College of Music with the Head of Keyboard Mark Ray and later Dina Parakhina, a former professor of the Moscow Conservatoire.
She was a finalist in the RNCM Schubert prize and the winner of the RJ Forbes prize for accompanists. As a talented pianist, she has also been generously supported by the Walter Deakin Bursary for Young Musicians and the RNCM bursary fund. She has also performed in masterclasses with Julius Drake, Ann Queffelec, Ian Brown, Stephen Kovacevich and John York.
Lucy regularly performs as both a soloist and chamber musician throughout the UK. She also has a keen interest in contemporary music and has premiered several new works by important composers including John Casken and Gary Carpenter.
Lucy studied pedagogy in an intensive course at the Royal Northern College of Music and also taught at Heathfield School in Ascot, Berkshire. She strongly believes in the wider benefits of learning a musical instrument as well as finding fun and interesting ways to unlock the musical potential of all students whatever their age or ability.
Lucy was offered a position at Windsor Piano School in 2011 and is immensely excited to be passing on her knowledge to a new generation of pianists in such a unique setting.
Piano Teacher - Andrei Pytaleu
Andrei is the son of a classical composer and university piano professor and as a talented child, he won a place at the Secondary Specialised School of Music in Minsk. Later he graduated from the Conservatoire in Minsk with a triple diploma (Masters degree) as a concert performer, accompanist for instruments , voice, and piano teacher.
Over the years, he has performed around the world, and won numerous awards at International Jazz & Music Festivals in Russia, Belarus, Germany, Estonia, Lithuania and Switzerland.
Andrei has worked for the National Opera House, Minsk, Belarus as an accompanist, and during this time, he also accompanied a variety of rehearsals, from the “Nutcracker” and “Swan Lake” to the modern music of Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Budko and F. Pytaleu.
Andrei is the fourth generation of piano teacher and since 1985, has been teaching students of different levels and varied abilities. In 1989 he worked as the Assistant Music Director for the Central College of Music in Minsk, Belarus, and taught both classical and jazz piano. He has advised and consulted with the chamber ensembles at the colleges, such as piano trio, piano quintet and jazz combo groups.
Andrei is now settled in the UK with his family. He is currently teaching Piano, jazz improvisation and music theory at St Christopher School, where his students enjoy studying classical composers and playing duets of his own composition. He is capable of developing disciplined, descriptive and ensemble skills in others, in a practical and logical way that is stimulating, enjoyable, helping students to achieve their full potential. Andrei is a creative and enthusiastic piano teacher who is passionate about the development of young performers. He relishes the opportunity to bring his eclectic experience to Windsor Piano School.
Piano Teacher - Alena Hnidkova
was born in a little mountain village in the Czech Republic where at an early age she became known as “the young talented pianist”, playing and singing at numerous concerts and participating in many piano competitions.
Alena was soon accepted at the Prague Conservatoire, where she also studied for her Masters Degree. She was taught by such renowned professors as Frantisek Maxian and Michael Rezek and she successfully completed her studies, playing (among others) Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin. To some extent this pushed the boundaries of the classically orientated conservatoire.
Alena is an extremely experienced concert pianist, and has performed at the most famous concert halls in Prague, as well as at various music events in London. She frequently offers recitals.
She gained her first piano teaching experience during her studies and became a passionate piano teacher who likes to combine hard work of piano learning and practising with a fun approach of discovering the depths of music. She believes that improvisation, creation and visualisation are as important as music theory, literature and form.
In 2011, Alena was delighted to be offered a teaching position at Windsor Piano School and hopes to excite her students with the wonderful world of piano music.
Piano Teacher - Li You
Li You started studying piano at the age of six. By the age of eight she had already won a few awards and she completed her Associate Degree in general music education in 2000. After working full time as a primary music teacher, she decided to pursue her performing career. She moved to London in 2001 studying piano with Jill Crossland and jazz piano with Eddie Harvey at the London College of Music & Media and achieved a Bachelor Degree in music performance.
In 2002, she was chosen from hundreds of young musicians to compete at the Tunbridge Wells International Competition for young artists and in 2003, she was highly recommended by Holmes Piano Prize in London College of Music. The following year, Li won the Beethoven Piano Prize at The London College of Music. Later, she studied with Murray Mclachlan at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and performed many recitals around UK. Li believes that nobody stops learning, and she also attended many Masterclasses with Kathryn Stott, Stephen Hough, Richard Goode, Nelson Goerner and Alexander Menilov.
In 2006, Li You was offered a full-time teaching job at the Bermuda School of Music. In the past three years,she has taught more than fifty students of all levels. She has helped many students achieved ABRSM and RCM (Canada) levels. Among her students, there are some successful youngsters currently studying at St. Paul’s school in London, Junior RNCM and who have won a couple of scholarships towards their music study. As well as being a responsible and inspiring teacher, Li You did not give up her performance career. Li organized the first piano festival ever in Bermuda in 2008. Her performance of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 in April 2009 was broadcasted on National TV in Bermuda.
Li You studied for her Master’s in composition and performance at Kingston University. Her most recent achievement was performing with the Park Lane Group at the Prestige Royal Festival Hall, and Rose Theatre, Kingston; winning the annual concerto competition at Kingston University and giving a concert including Liszt’s Piano Concerto No.1.
Guitar Teacher - Adrian Curtis
Adrian was born in London and began playing the guitar in his teens. He gained a music degree in commercial music at the University Of Westminster in 1996.
Soon after graduation Adrian became a professional session player and could be regularly seen on TV programmes such as Top Of The Pops and CDUK playing alongside famous pop stars such as Craig David and Louise. During this time he was also performing many jazz concerts at the Jazz Cafe, 606 club, Royal Festival Hall and the world famous Ronnie Scott's club.
In 2001 Adrian was asked to play for violinist Vanessa Mae. He did several world tours with Vanessa visiting places including China, Indonesia, Lithuania, Germany, Latvia, Greece, Cyprus and many more. These tours included memorable performances at The Kremlin and The London Palladium.
Adrian now has a busy teaching schedule, teaching at various schools in London. He also finds time to compose for TV adverts. His guitar playing can be heard on the recent Innocent smoothie TV campaign.
He enjoys teaching many different styles of music, including Jazz, Rock, Pop and Classical. He was very excited to be given the opportunity to teach at The Windsor Piano School.
Guitar Teacher - Mathew Jones
Mathew was born in rural South West Wales and began playing the guitar at the age of nine. His mother bought him his first guitar as she loved the sound of the Spanish guitar, however in a short few years after finding out who Jimi Hendrix was, his Classical guitar practicing was soon replaced by playing Rock guitar from the minute he came home till the minute we went to sleep (then homework on the bus the next morning). Mathew was offered scholarships to study music at numerous universities such as Kent, Bath Spa and the Paul McCartney Liverpool Institute or Performing Arts where only ten UK applicants are selected. However Mathew chose to study in London and attended University of Westminster.
After completing his degree with first class honours and achieving the highest grade in his department's history, he studied his academic Masters degree at Goldsmiths, University of London where he specialised in ethnomusicology and philosophy. Mathew has become an experienced performer and session player having played with some of the biggest signed artists such as The Pogues and Skunk Anansie and is always recording and performing all styles whether on the electric, steel string or classical guitar. As a composer, Mathew composes from his own private studio in South East London and works for companies such as The Sound Works and Resource Sound, composing bespoke music for TV and Film and has composed for clients such as, Nissan, Plenty and BBC. He has even taught some well established artists such as MTV EMA award winner and World Music award winner '2face'. Mathew is currently writing his own range of guitar instructional text books, which will hopefully be released in the new year.
Mathew has been teaching since 2006 and has even taught some well established artists such as MTV EMA award winner and World Music award winner '2face'. When starting his teaching profession, most of his students were based in Wales and he would travel from London to West Wales every Sunday morning and travel back every Monday morning to make sure that his students would get their weekly lessons. After five years of his intense cross-country teaching schedule, Mathew set up his own teaching company, which employs guitar teachers all over South Wales to teach students in the comfort of their own homes. Mathew now only teaches in London so he can more time to concentrate on writing his own range of guitar instructional text books, which will hopefully be released in the new year.
Violin Teacher - Pablo Badenas Tatay
Pablo began his violin studies at the age of 9 years old in Valencia, Spain. Soon he became interested in being a violinist, won scholarships and several competitions in violin and chamber music. During this time he participated in numerous international violin courses with renowned violin teachers such as Vasko Vassilev, A. Chumachenko, etc..These unique experiencesallowed him to improve his technical and interpretive levels. He later graduated with honors from the Valencia Conservatory of Music in Spain.
He was soon collaborating with numerous orchestras on a national and international basis, including The Barcelona´s Opera House Orchestra, Gran Teatre del Liceu, where he worked for two years extending his repertoire. In this period, he extended his studies following a course in Pedagogy at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and achieving a graduate degree in Management in the music industry by the University Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona.
His concert schedule has taken him to perform across the world in places like Spain, Portugal, France, Bahrain, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Germany, and Belgium. He has participated in international festivals such as Berlin Kultur, Germany and the Euro Music Festival in Germany. He also gained great experience recording music for various companies including: RTVE, Onda Cero Radio, TV3, RNE, and the soundtrack for the film Magic Journey to Africa for FILMAX.
Since 1999 he has been teaching the violin to people of all ages and backgrounds. Pablo is currently teaching at Stanborough Park College of Music and he looks forward to offering his expertise to the students of Windsor Piano School.
