About IreneI started piano at age 4, but was exposed to music right from birth, as my dad was a big music lover and would always play classical music on his hi-fidelity stereo whenever he was home. I grew up in Calgary, Alberta, where I was priviledged to study with some pretty amazing teachers, including Enid Gladwell, who first challenged me to take on big works and concertos, Dale Jackson, who drew out soul, passion and expression in my playing and Professor Marilyn Engle at the University of Calgary who challenged my mind and technique to make music a holistic activity of understanding physicality of the body and analysis of the music. Later on, I received my Masters of Music in Piano Performance with Marietta Orlov at the University of Toronto. I have also had lessons and masterclasses with John Perry, Lee Kum-Sing, Stephane Lemelin, Anton Kuerti, Jon Kimura Parker, and Paul Badura-Skoda. Over the years I have received countless awards, including the Rose Bowl and Scholarship from the Calgary Kiwanis Music Festival (1997), first prize at the Canadian Music Competitions (2002). I have performed several concertos with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the Calgary Civic Orchestra and the University of Calgary Orchestra, and have participated and performed in music festivals in France and Italy.
As a musician and teacher of over 25 years, my wish is to share the joy of musical expression with my students, and to challenge them to stretch their awareness of self, of sound and of creativity in all that they do. |