Meet Our Instructors

Saki (she/her) was born in Yokohama, Japan and moved to the United States at a very young age. She began piano at the age of 5. As a teenager, Saki realized her passion for teaching and thus began her journey to become an educator. She attended Queen’s University (Kingston, ON) where she studied with Dr. Cindy Tormann and received her Bachelors of Music Education and continued on to study at McGill University (Montreal, QC) under the tutelage of world renown pianist, Kyoko Hashimoto. After receiving her Masters in Collaborative Piano degree, she decided to begin her teaching career in Montreal. Saki has taught at many music schools including Yamaha Music School, Long and McQuade, Queen’s Conservatory of Music and McGill Conservatory of Music. She has extensive experience in a multitude of musical teaching environments such as group classes for children as young as newborns to private lessons for retirees, and is comfortable teaching students of all ages and levels. Saki’s teaching philosophy is centered around the belief that every student possesses the ability to create. She understands that every student has different needs and her teaching style is very much centered around her students. Fun and laughter is an important part of all of her lessons as she carefully designs the programs to help each student meet their individual goals while still enjoying their lessons. Saki is trained for level examination preparation for Royal Conservatory of Music and L’école de musique Vincent D’Indy.  Although teaching private lessons is a big part of her days, some of Saki’s favourite classes to teach are the group classes for toddlers and pre-private lesson group classes. As a performer, she enjoys playing chamber music with friends or exploring her Japanese roots with occasional performances in Montreal.

Alessandro (he/him) has been immersed in his native Montreal’s beautiful and diverse culture since birth. He is a versatile percussionist, active in genres ranging from chamber music, rock, musical theatre, world music, to hip-hop. Valiante was a featured soloist in the Random Walks Xenakis Festival (Toronto) and has frequently collaborated with Sixtrum (Montreal). He holds a bachelor and master of music performance from McGill University, where he established himself as a specialist in the chamber repertoire of Steve Reich, Iannis Xenakis, David Lang, and John Cage and worked with a diverse set of composers including Vinko Globokar and Thierry De May. Alessandro has a masters of percussion from McGill University. He is a founder and current member of the Montreal based professional percussion quartet, Architek. When he is not on tour or preparing for concerts, he enjoys teaching his students anything from mallet percussion instruments, snare drum technique to any style of drums. You know someone who wants to rock out or have children who like to bang on things? Alessandro’s your guy!

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