Meet our Theory Teachers!

B.Mus. (Toronto), M.Mus. (Toronto), LLCM (Thames Valley), FLCM (Thames Valley), ARCT (Piano & Violin Performer, Piano Teacher)  

Mark Andrews began studying piano at the age of two with Jesse Morrison, who specialized in the Kelly Kirby method of early childhood music education. Mark was the youngest pianist ever to graduate from this method. Upon Jesse's retirement, Mark began studying with Edward Parker, under whose tutelage he completed his LLCM, FLCM, and ARCT diplomas, winning the gold medal for the Piano Teacher's ARCT. Concurrently, Mark was also studying strings with Roxelyn Ethridge and Erno Kabok, and earned his ARCT on violin and RCM Grade 10 on viola, winning the silver medal for the latter. After finishing high school, Mark entered the University of Toronto, where he completed his Bachelors and Masters in Piano Performance, studying with James Anagnoson and Dr. James Parker. 

Besides teaching, Mark also works as an accompanist and a freelance pianist. On the side, Mark improvises, composes, arranges, transcribes, publishes, records, remixes, and spends endless hours planning how to improve his home theatre system so Mahler's 8th symphony will sound just that much better. Most recently, Mark began a new doujinshi circle (artist's group) focusing mainly on traditional and experimental arrangements of anime and video game music for various and sundry instruments, including piano, strings, and the synthesizer chips from the Commodore 64 and the 80s-era Nintendo. 

Mark is also a computer and board game enthusiast. He leads board game clubs at Sweet Thrills for kids in our lovely Roncy neighbourhood! Yes, he's a big kid himself!

Mark has been teaching with CMC since 2008.  

B.Mus. in Performance, UVic; MMus in Piano Performance and Pedagogy, UofT 

Raised in Victoria BC, Aimi's music making journey began when she was three years old in group piano lessons, accompanied by her mother. From that point onwards, she has continued her music education through the years, winning numerous competitions and awards in local and provincial festivals. She has also been a recipient for various scholarships and awards through the Victoria Conservatory of Music and the University of Victoria. 

Aimi is an active performer in solo and chamber music, and recently enjoyed performing with the Victoria Conservatory of Music Chamber Orchestra as a winner of their concerto competition. 

Under the tutelage of professor May Ling Kwok, Aimi graduated with distinction from the University of Victoria with a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance in 2018. Currently, she is pursuing a Master of Music in Piano Performance and Pedagogy under the instruction of Dr. Midori Koga. 

Aimi has been teaching piano, theory and history since 2010. In her teaching, Aimi hopes to create an environment where students have fun making music and can develop physical facility in their piano playing. She looks forward to helping students at the CMC find their own individual sound and voice at the piano.  

B.Mus. in Performance, UVic; MMus in Piano Performance and Pedagogy, UofT; ACP in Harpsichord Performance, UofT; ACCM, Conservatory Canada (Associate Performer) 

Louise Hung’s first introduction to Classical music was hearing a rendition of Für Elise playing through the speakers of garbage trucks in Taiwan as an awe-struck baby. Now, she works to share the curiosity and wonder of music through her teaching and performing. Growing up in Coquitlam, BC and now studying in Toronto, she has won numerous scholarships and awards from festivals, solo and concerto competitions, and summer institutes. She completed her undergraduate degree in Piano Performance with Distinction at the University of Victoria under the tutelage of May Ling Kwok. Currently, she is completing her MMus in Piano Performance and Pedagogy program at the University of Toronto; studying performance with Professor Marietta Orlov and pedagogy with Professor Midori Koga. Her areas of pedagogical research are the application of mental imagery and Baroque dance in piano education. 

Louise has been awarded Conservatory Canada Medals of Excellence for piano studies, theory studies, history studies, and the Conservatory Canada Lynda Rehder Kennedy Medal of Excellence for the top exam marks in Canada. She has also worked with top pedagogues in both North America and Europe, including Robert Levin, Andrea Lucchesini, Jimmy Briere, Enrico Elisi, James Parker, Corey Hamm, Marc Pierre Toth, Ken Broadwood, and Ralph Markham, in masterclasses and summer institutes. 

Louise performs as a soloist and collaborative musician in recitals, competitions, and festivals across Canada. She is a performer comfortable on both piano and harpsichord. A passionate advocate for “hip” (historically informed performance), she has studied with Colin Tilney on harpsichord and is now studying with Tafelmusik’s Charlotte Nediger. Recent early music engagements include Tafelmusik Winter Institute, Opera Q, Cor Unum, Theatre of Early Music, and the Gallery Players of Niagara. 

Louise has been teaching piano, theory, and history since 2010. As a teacher, she works to nurture a student’s musicality, imagination, musical understanding, and physical comfort at the piano. She loves melding history, theory, performance practice and imagination into her lessons. She believes in tailoring her teaching style to suit each student’s search for their own unique way of musical expression.  

B.Mus., Calgary, M.Mus., Doc of Mus., U of Toronto

Erik Ross composes for all musical media and he has written for productions that include electronics, theatre, film and dance. His large choral work, Icarus in the Sea, with text by Lorna Crozier, was toured four times in Canada by the Canadian Chamber Choir, and his chamber opera Northern Lights, Eastern Fire, with librettist Phoebe Tsang, for which he was also the pianist and music director. His commissions also include a piece for Toca Loca’s P*P Project, a solo steelpan and brass band piece for steelpan virtuoso Liam Teague for the 25th anniversary season of the Hannaford Street Silver Band, a large work for the Evergreen Club Contemporary Gamelan and a chamber orchestra piece for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. His concerto for saxophonist Wallace Halladay and percussionist Ryan Scott premiered in March 2013 on the final concert of the 30th anniversary season of the Esprit Orchestra. His song cycle, Waypoints, with the poetry of Zachariah Wells, was written for Phillip Addis and Emily Hamper and was premiered in Toronto and was subsequently performed by the commissioners at the Bastille Opera house in Paris. His most recent commissions also include a song for tenor Lawrence Wiliford and a song cycle for soprano Ambur Braid and the Canadian Art Song project, on the death poetry of Charles Baudelaire. He is currently writing a song cycle for chamber orchestra, soprano and tenor for g27.  

Dr. Ross’s Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra was premiered by Joseph Salvalaggio and the Memphis Symphony, and it was performed again at the International Double Reed Society Conference in Melbourne, Australia, by Diana Doherty under the direction of Nicholas Daniel. His piano trio was premiered by the Gryphon Trio at the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, he wrote a chamber opera for Tapestry New Opera Works’ production at the Opera America Conference, and he wrote a marimba concerto for Ryan Scott and the Esprit Orchestra.

He holds a Doctor of Music degree from the University of Toronto where his advisor was Christos Hatzis and he was a two-time recipient of the John Weinzweig Scholarship. He spent two years composing for the Canadian Composers Music Workshop at the Festival of the Sound under the direction of Gary Kulesha, he has acted as musical interpreter for numerous John Oswald projects, and he has acted as dance captain for numerous Halo Ballet productions (a piece that combines live music with live video dancing).  

Erik also takes great enjoyment in performing contemporary classical/jazz/rock repertoire, particularly that of his peers, and he is an improvising pianist and keyboardist, including performing for the New Creations Festival with the Toronto Symphony. He has received numerous awards, fellowships and scholarships, including top prizes at SOCAN, and has received commissions from the Canada Council, the Ontario Arts Council, the Toronto Arts Council, the Music Gallery, Roger D. Moore and the Laidlaw Foundation.  Erik is an avid educator, and has taught private and conservatory piano, theory, improvisation and composition lessons to individuals of all ages and ability levels for 20 years. He has taught classes at the University of Toronto and U of T at Scarborough and has been an instructor/composer for numerous music programs including: education director for Soundstreams Canada’s Cool Drummings Festival; the Canadian Music Centre’s outreach program; with the Gryphon Trio at Earl Haig Secondary School; the Classical Music Conservatory; the Canadian Composers Music Workshop; the Canadian League of Composers’ Composing the Future; the Canadian Children’s Opera Company’s OPERAtion KIDS program; Young People’s Theatre’s Music Theatre program.  

Erik has also written works for artists and ensembles such as soprano Carla Huhtanen, counter-tenor Scott Belluz, the Aldeburgh Connection, Arpatambora, the Caliban quartet, the Lee-Villanueva Duo, oboist Sarah Jeffrey, accordionist Joseph Petric, hornist Gabriel Radford, as well as a cave installation that was produced in collaboration with the Contemporary Keyboard Society through the New Music in New Places series of the Canadian Music Centre. His compositions have been performed by artists such as vocalists Tracy Smith Bessette, Norine Burgess, Teri Dunn, Matthew Leigh, Allyson McHardy, Marion Newman, Giles Tomkins and Vilma Vitols, hornists Nancy Goodearl and Joan Watson, New Music Concerts, the Talisker Players, and the Land’s End Chamber Ensemble. He has had live performances of his works in Australia, Canada, England, France, Japan, Latvia, Thailand, and the United States.  

Erik is at: www.erikrossmusic.com