Faculty

Piano

Esther Kwon - B.A. in Piano Performance from George Mason University and studied with Dr. Anna Balakerskaia. Harmony Road Certified Music teacher with more than 20 years teaching experience and she is an active church musician. Esther studied with Eriko Robilette. Her students have received awards and performed at the Carnegie Hall past consecutive years. Her students have earned awards in various competitions and festivals, including NVMTA and International. She has experience teaching students of all ages and abilities, beginner through advanced.

Diane Moody - Diane Moody did her Doctoral work in Musicology at Catholic University in DC; graduate work at the University of Louisville in composition; M.M in performance from the University of Richmond and Shenandoah Conservatory. B.M in Performance from Virginia Commonwealth University, where she coached chamber and duo-piano ensembles and taught music classes for dancers as Adjunct-Faculty for the music and dance department. Performance certificates from Fontainebleau, France with Nadia Boulanger and Ewa Boukojemska; and from Conservatoire de Sion, Suisse with Bela Boszormenyi-Nagy; private lessons with Kendall Taylor in London. She has worked as accompanist and she has been teaching piano since the age of 18.

Shinae Song - B.A. in Piano Performance from Ewha Womans University (South Korea). She received awards from various national piano performance competitions in South Korea. With the teacher's certification in music, she has spent several years developing her skills as a competent teacher for all age groups. She has more than 7 years of experience in teaching piano to students ranging from elementary school to adults.

Karen Wu - holds a bachelor's and master's degree in classical piano performance from California State University, Northridge. A student of Françoise Regnat, Karen's performances have included solo recitals, chamber music, and accompanying for instrumentalists and vocalists. As a winner of the CSUN Concerto Competition in California, Karen performed Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 1 with the CSUN symphony. She served as a coordinator of the Sonata/Sonatina competition sponsored by the California Association of Professional Music Teachers, and was an adjunct instructor at the Colburn School of Music in Los Angeles. A native of Taiwan, Karen has taught students of all ages and levels for over twenty years and is experienced with various teaching methods. Her students have completed Level 10 of the Music Teachers' Association of California Certificate of Merit program. Karen's teaching style is based on technique and consistency, a foundation which she encourages students to embrace for success in all subjects of their academic studies.

Cello

Violin/Viola and Piano

Hyunjung Mia Allen - B.M. in Violin and Piano from HyoSung Woman's University in South Korea (1993). Mia was concertmaster at Hawaii Pacific University for four years (2010). She has been teaching all ages of students over 20 years. Her students has received great results in competition and festivals.

Violin and Piano

Rachel Lee- received a bachelor's degree in classical piano performance as well as a master's in violin performance from George Mason University. She has been awarded Suzuki Method training and uses her expertise to collaborate with her students as much as she can. Rachel uses her musical skills to assist middle-high school students during auditions by using her highly qualified teaching techniques.

Piano & Guitar

Heerak Kim - B.A. in Music Technology and Piano at George Mason University. Heerak Kim has both engineering and music background, combining both science and music he has been studying music production in addition to classical piano. He has many experience in teaching piano and guitar to young students. He has been active in performing as a lead guitarist and keyboardist at local churches.

Guitar

Michael Caracciolo - a native of Woodbridge, Virginia, is a professional classical guitarist who graduated summa cum laude with a Master’s in Music from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (‘19) and a Bachelor’s in Music from George Mason University (‘17). He studied guitar with Clare Callahan and Larry Snitzler, both students of Andrés Segovia, as well as Matthew Trkula. Michael has experience in solo, chamber, and large ensemble performance, and recently toured France and performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City as a member of the United States Guitar Orchestra. As an educator, Michael studied guitar pedagogy with Glen McCarthy, a Grammy-nominated educator in the guitar field, and served as Graduate Teaching Assistant to Clare Callahan in Cincinnati, where he taught students privately and in a classroom setting at the university.

Art

Elaine Kim - received a masters degree in art from Ewha Woman's University. She is currently an art associate in Maryland as a painter. She has many years of teaching experience from university and art studio. She has exhibited her art works in the U.S. as well as Korea.