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Slater Music Academy
"Quality Music Instruction for the Entire Family"
"Quality Music Instruction for the Entire Family"
| Fort Thomas location: 143 N. Ft. Thomas Ave., Ft. Thomas, KY 41075 Burlington location: 3024 Washington St., Burlington, KY 41005 Phone: 859-486-1032 |
Piano and Voice Faculty
KIRK ARNOLD (Burlington location), piano and voice, is a native of Florence, Kentucky. Kirk
began his musical studies in piano at the age of 14 with Professor Betty Lukashuk, then head of the
keyboard department at Northern Kentucky University. He continued his studies at Georgetown
College, Georgetown, Ky., where he graduated cum laude earning a B.A. in Music with a double
applied major in piano and voice and a minor in speech and drama. At 15 he began working in local
recording studios singing vocal background on album projects. This eventually led to singing lead
vocals and back-up on local, regional and national commercials. Kirk has held the position of pianist
and/or music director at several local churches. He has recorded 2 CDs of original works and
continues to compose in numerous genres including contemporary Christian, praise and worship, adult
contemporary, holiday, country and new age piano.
Kirk has maintained a private studio for 26 years as well as teaching at several music stores in the
greater Cincinnati area. A large number of his students have received vocal, piano or musical theatre
scholarships to numerous colleges and universities. 20 students are planning or already have music
careers in various fields, including private piano and vocal instruction, public school music instruction,
music ministry, musical theatre and composition.
AI LI BROWN (Burlington location), piano and Music Together, was born in Malaysia and received
her early musical training in the British Royal Schools of Music tradition. At the age of seventeen, she
obtained her Performer's Licentiate Diploma from Trinity School of Music, London and soon after
received a scholarship to study piano in the United States. She graduated magna cum laude from
Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas with both piano performance and piano pedagogy
degrees, where she studied with Alfred Mouledous and Sam Holland. She then went on to complete
her Master of Music degree there as well. Upon graduation, she became a faculty member at Dallas
Music, the largest private music school in the Dallas area. There she taught private and group piano
classes, general music classes for toddlers, and she was also the pianist for the Suzuki flute program.
Ai Li is an experienced chamber recitalist, playing mainly with flautists. She is a level III Orff-
Schulwerk certified instructor. She is extremely dedicated to early childhood music education and
simply loves working with young children. Ai Li is fully certified in all Music Together curricula. She
recently got married and moved to the Cincinnati area. When she is not at the piano she loves running
and the outdoors, spending her vacations backpacking in the wilderness. She also loves to cook, knit
and travel. Besides English she also speaks Malay, Chinese, Italian, Spanish and German.
EVELINA KONANIAH (Fort Thomas location), piano, has been teaching for over ten years with
students ranging from children to adults. She has undergraduate and graduate degrees in Piano
Performance, and has studied organ, harpsichord, violin, voice, and conducting. She has participated
in competitions, master classes, recordings, and radio broadcasts. Some of her students have gone to
schools such as Berklee College of Music and Duke University while maintaining active musical lives.
Her students have participated in competitions, festivals, and auditions, with excellent results. She is
also on the piano faculty at the Preparatory Department of University of Cincinnati – College
Conservatory of Music.
JOSHUA S. NEMITH (Fort Thomas location), piano, completed his doctorate in piano
performance at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in June of 2004. Dr.
Nemith has performed throughout the U.S. and abroad as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral
keyboardist; he is also an active recording artist. Currently, he is the principal keyboardist with the
IRIS chamber orchestra in Germantown, Tennessee, under the direction of conductor Michael Stern.
Dr. Nemith performs regularly at professional venues in and around Cincinnati and has been teaching
at the Academy since 2002. He is an alumnus of the University of Texas at Austin and the Eastman
School of Music and he has held fellowship positions with the New World Symphony and the Aspen
Music Festival. He has held several teaching appointments at UC-CCM, including a graduate seminar
course on 20th-century piano repertoire in 2004. His teachers include James Tocco, Nancy Garrett,
Fernando Laires, and David Burge.
MARY ANN POWERS (both locations), voice, taught voice lessons at Robinson Music Inc.,
UConn's Community School for the Arts in Storrs, CT, the Performing Arts Center of the Metro
West in Framingham, MA, and Music Maker School in Acton, MA. Students of Ms. Powers have
advanced in Massachusetts's Junior High and Senior High District Honors Choir and All State Choir,
and several students have performed in community theater companies. Ms. Powers performs a
diverse variety of repertoire, from a Modern Music Chamber recital to a Bach Chamber Music recital
at the historic King's Chapel in Boston. She has premiered works by Matthew McConnell, Derek
Jacoby, and Stanley Hoffman at the Lily Pad, Jordan Hall, the Boston Center for the Arts, and has
sung with Schola Nocturna, a group that specializes in Early Music. Ms. Powers has performed Lucy
from The Telephone, La Musica from L'Orfeo, and Josephine from Story of an Hour (premiere).
She holds a MM in Vocal Pedagogy, a MM in Vocal Performance from the New England
Conservatory of Music in Boston, MA, and a BM in Vocal Performance from Ohio University in
Athens, OH.
TAMMY ROWLAND (Fort Thomas location), voice, has taught using traditional voice methods
since 1999 in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area. She has had experience teaching at the middle
school, high school and collegiate levels. She received her undergraduate degree in music education
from Union University, Jackson, Tennessee, and her Master of Music degree (major in Vocal
Pedagogy/Literature) from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas. She has
performed with the Jackson Theater Guild, Fort Worth Opera Chorus, and Dallas Baptist University.
Tammy has also performed with various church choirs/productions in Tennessee, Texas, Missouri,
and Kentucky. She has recently moved to the Northern Kentucky area. When not singing, Tammy
enjoys scrapbooking/celebrating memories, reading, and spending time with her family.
RICHARD SEIL (both locations), Suzuki and traditional method piano, has been teaching privately
and at the collegiate level for over 15 years. A graduate of Baldwin-Wallace College and Indiana
University, he is currently completing his DMA at the University of Cincinnati. Mr. Seil's former
teachers include Menahem Pressler, Karen Shaw, James Tocco, Richard Fields, Eugene Pridonoff,
Elizabeth Pridonoff and Robert Mayerovitch. An active performer throughout the Midwest, Mr. Seil
enjoys both collaborative and solo performances.
Richard began teaching piano at the Baldwin-Wallace College Preparatory Department and as a
student at Indiana University and the University of Cincinnati. He also taught in Michigan and
Kentucky at the collegiate level and Cleveland and Cincinnati as a private teacher. He has judged
competitions in Michigan and Ohio and participated in the World Piano Pedagogy Conference in
1998, 2000 and 2002. Membership in teaching organizations includes the College Music Society,
MTNA, MMTA, OMTA and KMTA. He was listed in Who's Who in America in 2002. Further
musical interests include conducting and violin.
ELISABETH TYLER (Fort Thomas location), piano and voice, has been teaching traditional
method piano and voice since 2000. She is a graduate of God’s Bible College in Cincinnati and holds
Bachelor’s degrees in Church Music and Music Education (K-12). She is currently completing work
on a Master’s degree in Library Science.
Ms. Tyler has held the position of church pianist at her home church in Pennsylvania and is currently
assisting in the same capacity at the Afton Weslyan Church. She is also the percussion section leader
in the God’s Bible College Orchestra, a group that regularly tours the United States. Ms. Tyler
frequently assists in the musical productions at God’s Bible College, where she is currently teaching
and serving as Head Librarian.
DENITSA YANKOVA (Burlington location), piano, is a native of Bulgaria and began attending a
music school when she was seven years old. Ms. Yankova holds a Bachelor of Music in piano
performance from the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati where she studied
with Eugene Pridonoff, and a Master of Music in piano performance from Bowling Green State
University where she studied with Distinguished Artist Teacher Emeritus Virginia Marks. Ms.
Yankova has won many national and international competitions and honors including: winner of the
Miami University Concerto Competition, Oxford, Ohio, 2005; First Prize and Recital Prize of the
Tuesday Music Club, Akron, Ohio, 2005; Winner of a scholarship through the Three Arts
Scholarship Fund, Cincinnati, Ohio, 2004 and 2005; First Prize of the Cliburn Piano Competition at
the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati, 2002 and 2004; and Winner of Saint-
Saens Concerto Competition at the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati, 2002.
Ms. Yankova has given over one hundred concerts including solo piano and chamber music. She has
appeared as a soloist with orchestras in Bulgaria and the United States.
Ms. Yankova has experience teaching both private lessons and group piano classes as a teaching
assistant at Miami University and Bowling Green University. She enjoys teaching students at any age
and any level. She has strong background not only in piano pedagogy and performance, but also in
ear-training, music history, and music theory.
XIOMING ZHU (both locations), piano, has been playing piano since the age of three and half. At
the age of 12, he entered Sichuan Conservatory of Music in China (the biggest music conservatory
worldwide) for his professional piano training. At the age of 18, he entered the piano performance
program at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and pursued both Bachelor and Master's degrees.
Mr. Zhu is a gifted and highly accomplished pianist and winner of international and national piano
competitions. Zhu’s achievements in the Missouri Southern International Piano Competition and the
German Ettlingen International Piano Competition are of major significance. Mr. Zhu has participated
in many high-status national competitions and in important music festivals among mainland China,
Hong Kong, Canada, and United States, and he has received numerous national awards as well as
critiques in professional and major media. Mr. Zhu published a CD in Canada in 1998, and his
concert Autumn of the Nation has been broadcast by Sichuan Broadcasting and Television Station to
a province with a population of more than 100,000,000 people and also nationwide in 1999. Zhu
received many encouraging commendations from prestigious art associations after the festival and
publications, notably from the New York Philharmonic and the Ohio Music Teachers National
Association. Zhu’s excellent music qualifications have been well recognized by the Associate
Conductor of the New York Philharmonic, Xian Zhang. Zhang recognized Zhu as "an artist and great
pianist of incredible ability". She described Zhu's performance technique is "superb and impeccable".
Mr. Zhu has been teaching piano 2004. He has many private piano students with abundant teaching
experience from Suzuki to adult. His students have participated in competitions and festivals with
great success.
KIRK ARNOLD (Burlington location), piano and voice, is a native of Florence, Kentucky. Kirk
began his musical studies in piano at the age of 14 with Professor Betty Lukashuk, then head of the
keyboard department at Northern Kentucky University. He continued his studies at Georgetown
College, Georgetown, Ky., where he graduated cum laude earning a B.A. in Music with a double
applied major in piano and voice and a minor in speech and drama. At 15 he began working in local
recording studios singing vocal background on album projects. This eventually led to singing lead
vocals and back-up on local, regional and national commercials. Kirk has held the position of pianist
and/or music director at several local churches. He has recorded 2 CDs of original works and
continues to compose in numerous genres including contemporary Christian, praise and worship, adult
contemporary, holiday, country and new age piano.
Kirk has maintained a private studio for 26 years as well as teaching at several music stores in the
greater Cincinnati area. A large number of his students have received vocal, piano or musical theatre
scholarships to numerous colleges and universities. 20 students are planning or already have music
careers in various fields, including private piano and vocal instruction, public school music instruction,
music ministry, musical theatre and composition.
AI LI BROWN (Burlington location), piano and Music Together, was born in Malaysia and received
her early musical training in the British Royal Schools of Music tradition. At the age of seventeen, she
obtained her Performer's Licentiate Diploma from Trinity School of Music, London and soon after
received a scholarship to study piano in the United States. She graduated magna cum laude from
Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas with both piano performance and piano pedagogy
degrees, where she studied with Alfred Mouledous and Sam Holland. She then went on to complete
her Master of Music degree there as well. Upon graduation, she became a faculty member at Dallas
Music, the largest private music school in the Dallas area. There she taught private and group piano
classes, general music classes for toddlers, and she was also the pianist for the Suzuki flute program.
Ai Li is an experienced chamber recitalist, playing mainly with flautists. She is a level III Orff-
Schulwerk certified instructor. She is extremely dedicated to early childhood music education and
simply loves working with young children. Ai Li is fully certified in all Music Together curricula. She
recently got married and moved to the Cincinnati area. When she is not at the piano she loves running
and the outdoors, spending her vacations backpacking in the wilderness. She also loves to cook, knit
and travel. Besides English she also speaks Malay, Chinese, Italian, Spanish and German.
EVELINA KONANIAH (Fort Thomas location), piano, has been teaching for over ten years with
students ranging from children to adults. She has undergraduate and graduate degrees in Piano
Performance, and has studied organ, harpsichord, violin, voice, and conducting. She has participated
in competitions, master classes, recordings, and radio broadcasts. Some of her students have gone to
schools such as Berklee College of Music and Duke University while maintaining active musical lives.
Her students have participated in competitions, festivals, and auditions, with excellent results. She is
also on the piano faculty at the Preparatory Department of University of Cincinnati – College
Conservatory of Music.
JOSHUA S. NEMITH (Fort Thomas location), piano, completed his doctorate in piano
performance at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in June of 2004. Dr.
Nemith has performed throughout the U.S. and abroad as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral
keyboardist; he is also an active recording artist. Currently, he is the principal keyboardist with the
IRIS chamber orchestra in Germantown, Tennessee, under the direction of conductor Michael Stern.
Dr. Nemith performs regularly at professional venues in and around Cincinnati and has been teaching
at the Academy since 2002. He is an alumnus of the University of Texas at Austin and the Eastman
School of Music and he has held fellowship positions with the New World Symphony and the Aspen
Music Festival. He has held several teaching appointments at UC-CCM, including a graduate seminar
course on 20th-century piano repertoire in 2004. His teachers include James Tocco, Nancy Garrett,
Fernando Laires, and David Burge.
MARY ANN POWERS (both locations), voice, taught voice lessons at Robinson Music Inc.,
UConn's Community School for the Arts in Storrs, CT, the Performing Arts Center of the Metro
West in Framingham, MA, and Music Maker School in Acton, MA. Students of Ms. Powers have
advanced in Massachusetts's Junior High and Senior High District Honors Choir and All State Choir,
and several students have performed in community theater companies. Ms. Powers performs a
diverse variety of repertoire, from a Modern Music Chamber recital to a Bach Chamber Music recital
at the historic King's Chapel in Boston. She has premiered works by Matthew McConnell, Derek
Jacoby, and Stanley Hoffman at the Lily Pad, Jordan Hall, the Boston Center for the Arts, and has
sung with Schola Nocturna, a group that specializes in Early Music. Ms. Powers has performed Lucy
from The Telephone, La Musica from L'Orfeo, and Josephine from Story of an Hour (premiere).
She holds a MM in Vocal Pedagogy, a MM in Vocal Performance from the New England
Conservatory of Music in Boston, MA, and a BM in Vocal Performance from Ohio University in
Athens, OH.
TAMMY ROWLAND (Fort Thomas location), voice, has taught using traditional voice methods
since 1999 in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area. She has had experience teaching at the middle
school, high school and collegiate levels. She received her undergraduate degree in music education
from Union University, Jackson, Tennessee, and her Master of Music degree (major in Vocal
Pedagogy/Literature) from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas. She has
performed with the Jackson Theater Guild, Fort Worth Opera Chorus, and Dallas Baptist University.
Tammy has also performed with various church choirs/productions in Tennessee, Texas, Missouri,
and Kentucky. She has recently moved to the Northern Kentucky area. When not singing, Tammy
enjoys scrapbooking/celebrating memories, reading, and spending time with her family.
RICHARD SEIL (both locations), Suzuki and traditional method piano, has been teaching privately
and at the collegiate level for over 15 years. A graduate of Baldwin-Wallace College and Indiana
University, he is currently completing his DMA at the University of Cincinnati. Mr. Seil's former
teachers include Menahem Pressler, Karen Shaw, James Tocco, Richard Fields, Eugene Pridonoff,
Elizabeth Pridonoff and Robert Mayerovitch. An active performer throughout the Midwest, Mr. Seil
enjoys both collaborative and solo performances.
Richard began teaching piano at the Baldwin-Wallace College Preparatory Department and as a
student at Indiana University and the University of Cincinnati. He also taught in Michigan and
Kentucky at the collegiate level and Cleveland and Cincinnati as a private teacher. He has judged
competitions in Michigan and Ohio and participated in the World Piano Pedagogy Conference in
1998, 2000 and 2002. Membership in teaching organizations includes the College Music Society,
MTNA, MMTA, OMTA and KMTA. He was listed in Who's Who in America in 2002. Further
musical interests include conducting and violin.
ELISABETH TYLER (Fort Thomas location), piano and voice, has been teaching traditional
method piano and voice since 2000. She is a graduate of God’s Bible College in Cincinnati and holds
Bachelor’s degrees in Church Music and Music Education (K-12). She is currently completing work
on a Master’s degree in Library Science.
Ms. Tyler has held the position of church pianist at her home church in Pennsylvania and is currently
assisting in the same capacity at the Afton Weslyan Church. She is also the percussion section leader
in the God’s Bible College Orchestra, a group that regularly tours the United States. Ms. Tyler
frequently assists in the musical productions at God’s Bible College, where she is currently teaching
and serving as Head Librarian.
DENITSA YANKOVA (Burlington location), piano, is a native of Bulgaria and began attending a
music school when she was seven years old. Ms. Yankova holds a Bachelor of Music in piano
performance from the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati where she studied
with Eugene Pridonoff, and a Master of Music in piano performance from Bowling Green State
University where she studied with Distinguished Artist Teacher Emeritus Virginia Marks. Ms.
Yankova has won many national and international competitions and honors including: winner of the
Miami University Concerto Competition, Oxford, Ohio, 2005; First Prize and Recital Prize of the
Tuesday Music Club, Akron, Ohio, 2005; Winner of a scholarship through the Three Arts
Scholarship Fund, Cincinnati, Ohio, 2004 and 2005; First Prize of the Cliburn Piano Competition at
the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati, 2002 and 2004; and Winner of Saint-
Saens Concerto Competition at the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati, 2002.
Ms. Yankova has given over one hundred concerts including solo piano and chamber music. She has
appeared as a soloist with orchestras in Bulgaria and the United States.
Ms. Yankova has experience teaching both private lessons and group piano classes as a teaching
assistant at Miami University and Bowling Green University. She enjoys teaching students at any age
and any level. She has strong background not only in piano pedagogy and performance, but also in
ear-training, music history, and music theory.
XIOMING ZHU (both locations), piano, has been playing piano since the age of three and half. At
the age of 12, he entered Sichuan Conservatory of Music in China (the biggest music conservatory
worldwide) for his professional piano training. At the age of 18, he entered the piano performance
program at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and pursued both Bachelor and Master's degrees.
Mr. Zhu is a gifted and highly accomplished pianist and winner of international and national piano
competitions. Zhu’s achievements in the Missouri Southern International Piano Competition and the
German Ettlingen International Piano Competition are of major significance. Mr. Zhu has participated
in many high-status national competitions and in important music festivals among mainland China,
Hong Kong, Canada, and United States, and he has received numerous national awards as well as
critiques in professional and major media. Mr. Zhu published a CD in Canada in 1998, and his
concert Autumn of the Nation has been broadcast by Sichuan Broadcasting and Television Station to
a province with a population of more than 100,000,000 people and also nationwide in 1999. Zhu
received many encouraging commendations from prestigious art associations after the festival and
publications, notably from the New York Philharmonic and the Ohio Music Teachers National
Association. Zhu’s excellent music qualifications have been well recognized by the Associate
Conductor of the New York Philharmonic, Xian Zhang. Zhang recognized Zhu as "an artist and great
pianist of incredible ability". She described Zhu's performance technique is "superb and impeccable".
Mr. Zhu has been teaching piano 2004. He has many private piano students with abundant teaching
experience from Suzuki to adult. His students have participated in competitions and festivals with
great success.
| Fort Thomas location: 143 N. Ft. Thomas Ave., Ft. Thomas, KY 41075 Burlington location: 3024 Washington St., Burlington, KY 41005 Phone: 859-486-1032, Fax: 859-908-2607 Email: info@slatermusicacademy.com |