Our Staff

Diego Soto is a Bay Area local who has enjoyed playing drums since the 8th grade. He has grown up playing in several Jazz and R&B groups around the area and in the local school community at Harvest Park Middle School, Amador Valley High School, and Las Positas College. In 2024, he received his Bachelor […]

Taylor has been doing music her whole life, and was actually very adamant at a young age about it being something she could do for a living, and not just as a hobby. She was part of the Youth Choir at St. Raymond’s Church for six years, and was also a member of her High […]

Michael Solomon is a Conservatory Music (RCM) certified piano instructor with over 15 years of experience teaching and working in the music industry. In addition to beginning, intermediate, and advanced piano students, Michael is a high-level classical guitar instructor. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Music at California State University, East Bay in Hayward, […]

Kathryn is a board-certified Music Therapist who received her Master’s in Music Therapy from University of the Pacific in 2022. She enjoys leading group music-based early childhood classes and provides 1:1 or group Music Therapy sessions at Music ‘N Beyond, Alamo. Kathryn personally studied classical piano for 15+ years, is Music Together certified, has experience working in […]

Jeremy Greene is a multi-instrumentalist who has been studying and playing music for over 30 years and teaching for over 10. He started on piano in grade school, switched focus to saxophone in middle school, and picked up guitar while playing in bands throughout high school and college. Jeremy started teaching guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, […]

Jake Nunn is a professional musician and is the founder/lead vocalist/guitarist of Hysteria, as well as the lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist of the Oakland-based heavy metal band Hell Fire. He has gigged and toured alongside some of the most notable names in the metal genre, such as Death Angel, Jason Newsted (Metallica), Saxon, Exodus, High On […]

Herman has earned a reputation as one of the Bay Area’s premier keyboardist. He is a writer, performer, piano teacher, and an entertainer. He has written many songs in an array of styles that were picked up by acclaimed artists, including Greg Errico of Sly and the Family Stone, Lee Osker from the group War, […]

Eric Dannewitz is a seasoned teacher with over 20 years of teaching experience of woodwind instruments. Performance credits in nearly 100 different theater productions for Bay Area companies such as Berkeley Play House, CCMT, DLOC, and 42nd Street Moon.

Soprano Emily Rae Fealy is a Bay Area local who has been singing since the age of 5. She has participated in youth choirs and semi-professional choirs, where she developed her background in choral and liturgical music. In 2012, while in high school, she attended Diablo Valley College and earned her associate’s degree in Music. […]

Hi my name is Danielé Oriti. I have been drumming since the age of 7. My initial influences were classic rock like Zeppelin, but as I got into different aspects of drums and percussion, I started to develop my own voice on the instrument.  I did drumline in high school (played tenors), jazz big band […]

Livermore native Bill has over 40 years of experience performing and teaching drums. Bill began studying music with the Livermore schools program where he played in Concert Band, Marching Band, and Jazz band as well as the pit orchestra for Oklahoma and Peter Pan. While still in high school, Bill began playing with rock bands […]

Benny has been playing guitar for over 20 years and taught most of that time. Benny has a love for music, especially the craft of guitar. He is passionate about being able to share his love of music. He has a certificate of performance from Musicians Institute and is currently studying for an AA in […]

Lok Man (Vincent) started playing piano at the age of 9 and started playing percussion at the age of 13. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of the Pacific in Percussion Performance and Jazz Studies. He has played in the Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Wind Ensemble, and Jazz Combo. During his time […]

Antonia Venezia teaches voice and songwriting and has signed music publishing deals in Nashville and Los Angeles. Her other studies include piano, songwriting, music theory, theatre arts and music business at De Anza and Gavilan College. She is also a music producer, creates music videos and is a recording artist. She has performed in South […]

Fredric Zimmerman studied Piano at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and Music Composition at UC Berkeley. Since graduating college with a bachelor’s degree in Music Composition and American History from UC Berkeley and a master’s degree in Music Composition from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Fredric has been working professionally throughout the Bay […]

Jeremiah Trujillo is an active collaborative pianist, vocal coach, piano teacher, soloist, and historical musicologist. He holds a Ph.D. in Music from the University of California, Davis. He is the staff collaborative pianist for the Music and Theater Arts departments at Las Positas College. Starting in Fall 2021, he’s been the accompanist for Pacific Edge […]

Heeyoung Choi is a doctoral candidate in music composition at UC Santa Cruz. She began her musical career as a violinist at the age of 6. She studied violin performance in arts school and performed in numerous repertoires. She has taught a wide range of students and seeks to help students foster musicality as well […]

Shannon loves to share her passion and skills in music with her students! She began piano lessons at age 8 and earned a B.A. and M.A. in Voice at Whitman College and Cal State East Bay. Shannon has had the opportunity to perform in musical theater, opera, and churches in the Bay Area and in […]

Gary Allen is an accomplished musician, and a teacher of the acoustic and electric guitar, as well as the ukulele. He is also a published songwriter, and a member of ASCAP, Inc. Gary comes from a very musical family. Both his father and mother played the guitar, and were songwriters. His paternal grandmother was a […]

Kathrine Waters is a performing vocal teacher with extensive experience in small and group instruction in voice and piano, as well as private lessons. She has a bachelor’s degree in music education from San Francisco State University and a master’s degree in music education from the Boston Conservatory. She has taught public school music at […]

Michael Ramos has taught guitar since 2000. He attended Monte Vista High School in Danville and received a degree from Harvard College in 2005. He has toured Japan, played at the Monterey Jazz festival, and was twice a member of the Grammy High School Band. Michael studies, performs, and teaches many styles of guitar including […]

Anna Logiman was first introduced to piano at age 5 by her mother, an avid pianist. She continued to learn piano under her mother until she was 10 in which she developed a lifelong passion of music. From age 10 till high school, Anna learned piano exclusively under a Japanese piano master in Jakarta, Indonesia. […]

Lisa Braz has taught piano privately, prior to joining New World Music Academy. She has studied music at Las Positas College, Berkeley Jazz School, Hayward State Jazz Program and San Francisco State University. She received a Bachelor of Arts from SFSU. Lisa studied classical piano with Richard Gough and while at SFSU studied with William […]

Jacob Lane is a composer, pianist, and teacher who lives in Oakland, California. He is the pianist for the chamber groups Sleight Ensemble and Portato Portato. A member of The Music Teachers’ Association of California, Jacob teaches piano performance and music theory at The Alameda School of Music and New World Music Academy. Jacob holds […]

Kiki Lieow, or Ms. Kiki as her students know her, has over 40 years of teaching experience and has participated in numerous piano teaching workshops and piano pedagogy symposiums. She supports the ABRSM (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music), a UK-based program for music students that promotes high standards of excellence in music […]

John R Burr (jazz piano and songwriting) is a musician with uncommonly broad range of musical interests and experiences. He is equally at home with traditional jazz as well as pop, bluegrass, blues or rock and has been recently nominated for a Grammy Award. He has performed and recorded with such artists as Robben Ford, […]

Pianist and NWMA Artistic Director, MARKUS PAWLIK is best characterized as one of the rare pianists of today who manage to combine sensitivity and expressiveness together with a phenomenal virtuoso technique. Born in Bremen in 1966, his talent was recognized at an early age as he began performing publicly at 7 and was the three-time […]

Having begun piano studies at the age of 5, pianist and Executive Director of New World Music Academy Mark Anderson is widely recognized as one of the world’s outstanding classical pianists. In the United States, his formative teachers were Trula Whelan and Aiko Onishi while in the UK they were Ryszard Bakst and Benjamin Kaplan. […]