Meet our Guitar, Bass, Ukulele and Mandolin Teachers!

B. Mus, Berklee College of Music

Kat McLevey is a multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter, and arranger from St. John's, NL. Kat's early musical life involved singing in choirs, taking classical piano lessons and playing french horn in school bands. In their teens, Kat gravitated towards guitar, electric bass, and mandolin, finding an avenue for songwriting and production. They quickly made a name for themselves among Newfoundland and Labrador's gamut of prestigious songwriters with the release of their debut album Evergrown in 2015. With its characteristic alternate guitar tunings and twisting melodies, the record earned Kat Female Artist of the Year and Emerging Artist of the Year at the 2015 MusicNL Awards, as well as a nomination for Rising Star of the Year at the 2015 East Coast Music Awards.

After taking a gap year to write, perform, and record, Kat pursued a Bachelor of Music at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA studying electric bass, jazz composition, American roots music, and just about everything in between. After graduating in the summer of 2019, they hit the road with acclaimed songwriter Tim Baker on a tour across the US opening for Half Moon Run. Moving to Toronto on the heels of that tour, Kat has settled in well as a session musician, performer, arranger, and educator. They can be found performing and touring with the bands Zinnia and Donovan Woods. 

As a teacher, Kat loves helping students connect with their creativity and engage with music in new ways. With training in both classical and jazz traditions, their teaching approach gives structure to their students' goals and interests. Kat couldn't be happier joining the team at CMC! 

B.Mus. in Performance, Humber College, RCM Classical Guitar Performance ARCT level 

Luan Phung (born 1991 in London, England) is a Toronto based improviser, composer, guitarist, and teacher/clinician who works in a broad spectrum of musical idioms. He has been described as “outstanding” and “an impact player” who “raises the bar on so many levels” by distinguished Canadian guitarists Geoff Young and David Occhipinti. Equally comfortable performing straight-ahead jazz and freely improvised musical contexts, to fully notated new music/contemporary works, Luan is an in demand Canadian musician. 

As a young classical guitarist, he garnered a number of musical accolades including four consecutive Royal Conservatory of Music silver medals for the highest practical examination mark in the province, a number of first place gold medals at Performing Arts BC, a finalist for the renowned Kay Meek scholarship Competition, and a national finalist at the Canadian Music Competition, among others. Luan was chosen to play in the TD Canada Trust High School Jazz Intensive, led by the anchor of Chicago’s jazz scene, renowned and innovative flautist Nicole Mitchell and winning the CanFor scholarship in conjunction with the Vancouver International Jazz festival, as well as being chosen to play in the Ottawa Youth Summit All-star Band, led by Canadian trumpet great Jim Lewis and winning the Galaxie Rising Star award for jazz performance. Luan holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Humber College with honors and was awarded the Ten Quinlan guitar award and the Dave Stillwell composition award. Luan has studied with Hanh Nguyen, David Occhipinti, Geoff Young, Kirk MacDonald, Shannon Gunn, Jim Lewis, Ted Quinlan and many more. Luan currently leads his own quintet and performs/records in a variety of musical contexts and groups in festivals and around the Toronto area. 

Luan has over 10 years of experience teaching beginner and advanced music concepts and technique to students who range from young beginner children to potential post-secondary music degree entrance hopefuls and believes in the importance of imparting passion, curiosity, and knowledge onto the next generation of music makers. 

Bachelor of Music in Jazz and Commercial Music, Humber College

Originally from Kanagawa, Japan, Hiro Suzuki is an enthusiastic musician and teacher with 9 years of teaching experience both in English and Japanese. Hiro works predominantly in the genres of jazz, Latin, pop, and rock. 

After formally learning the piano and drums, Hiro picked up the guitar and played in various jazz, rock and bossa nova groups, orchestra pits for musicals, and on recording projects. 

Hiro acquired his first experience in teaching back in Japan, where he taught guitar students of all levels and ages for 4 years at a music academy. Then, Hiro moved to Canada to pursue a degree in Music at Humber College, where he studied with David Occhipinti, Lucian Gray, Kirk McDonald and Trevor Giancola, and was awarded Humber's scholarship for academic excellence in 2021. 

After graduating from Humber, Hiro is an active performer in the Toronto live music scene. Since moving to Canada, Hiro has taught in-person and online private guitar, ukulele, drums and piano lessons tailored to each student's needs and requirements for the past 5 years. 

B. Mus & M. Mus Performance in Opera, UBC

Soprano Gwendolyn Yearwood began her teaching career at the age of 18 when she first started working as a vocal coach for the Calgary Girls Choir. She taught and mentored several young singers while completing a diploma of music performance at Mount Royal University.

In 2012 her love of performance and opera took her to Vancouver where she completed a Bachelor’s and Master’s of Music at the University of British Columbia.During her time with UBC Opera she had the opportunity to perform several roles throughout Canada, the Czech Republic, and China. Her performances included: Countess in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Magda in Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Consul, Mimi in Puccini’s La Bohème, and Giorgetta in Puccini’s il Tabarro. Gwendolyn has also performed the role of Musetta with Burnaby Lyric Opera, Rosalinde with the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra, Niece 2 in the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s production of Peter Grimes, and Mimi in Against the Grain Theatre’s production of La Bohème. 

In 2021- 2022 Gwendolyn was a Fellow with the Association for Opera in Canada’s RBC Artist Fellowship program which aims to advance the careers of portfolio(multidisciplinary) opera artists. Gwendolyn currently resides in her home town of Calgary Alberta where she continues a career as a performer, teacher, and the co-founder of Good Mess Opera Theatre.

She is thrilled to be teaching virtually with CMC!