Our Staff

Samuel teaches both piano and voice, specializing in musical theatre, opera/classical, and contemporary styles for voice, and covering all genres on piano. His vocal training spans five years of private lessons, and his performance background includes first-place wins at regional and state Small Ensemble Choral Competitions in Oregon. He’s also been recognized with the Semper […]

Sam began studying piano in fourth grade after after hearing his Father and Grandmother playing Chopin, and studied piano throughout high school. After graduating high school, Sam decided to take a detour from Piano, and spent years playing guitar and singing in various indie rock and cover bands in his native city of Portland Oregon. […]

Master of Fine Arts in Jazz Keyboard, California Institute of the Arts; Bachelor of Music in Improvised Music, Willamette University Matt Sazima is a jazz pianist, composer, and educator from Sacramento, CA. At age 9, Matt started taking piano lessons, and by the next year had started learning jazz piano under the tutelage of Dennis […]

Leo began playing piano at the age of six after begging their parents to sign them up for lessons. Over the next 11 years, they took private lessons, performed in recitals, and competed in competitions. They are classically trained with main focus areas in Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Impressionist repertoire. Outside of their classical training, […]

Master of Music in Jazz Composition, University of Miami; Bachelor of Music in Jazz Guitar, American University A Portland native who grew up just a few miles from Hoffman Academy, Joseph’s approach is to make every lesson fun and exciting, but also rigorous and thorough. His curriculum draws from rock and pop, as well as […]

Bachelor’s Degree in Jazz Piano Performance, Portland State University Jesse (He/Him) has been studying piano since age 4, and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Jazz Piano Performance from Portland State University. He has played professionally with many diverse bands for the past 12 years, including Jazz, Classical, Salsa, and Big Band. In addition, Jesse has […]

B.A. in Journalism; Double Minor in Editing and Music Hannah Kendall is a pianist and teacher from Prescott Valley, Arizona. Her piano studies began at 5 years old when her mom taught her to match the colorful stickers on her fingers to the stickers on the keys. Over the next eight years, partially through the […]

Gabriela’s inspiration to pursue music came from many people, but if it wasn’t for her older brother who started music first, she wouldn’t have started. Gabriela started as an instrumentalist on the clarinet and found her love for music. The trust her first teacher, Maggie Daane, put in her is what made her so passionate […]

Master of Music in Music Composition, Rice University; Bachelor of Music in Music Composition, University of Southern California Clare Glackin started playing piano and composing at the age of eight under the guidance and encouragement of her first teacher, Sherry Dufka. A native of Mount Vernon, Washington, she holds degrees in composition from the University […]

Bachelor of Piano Performance with a Jazz Emphasis, Washington State University Brandon Nelson began his piano studies at the age of 12 in Mount Vernon, WA. He graduated from Washington State University in 2016 with a degree in Piano Performance with a Jazz Emphasis. During his studies, Brandon studied directly from renowned musicians Brian Ward, […]