EKS Instructors Are Our Pride

Portuguese pianist Dr. Inês Andrade is an avid and versatile soloist and chamber musician. She has performed across Europe and the United States in venues such as Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall (USA), Centro Cultural de Belém (Portugal), Teatro Comunale Luigi Russolo (Italy), and Centre Le Phénix (Switzerland). Recently, she has been a guest artist at the Boston Portuguese Festival, Bay Chamber Concerts, Boston Conservatory New Music Festival, Classical at the Cabot, and CAC Tejo's Autumn Festival.
She was praised for her “excellent technique and elaborate touch” (Diário de Notícias), after her performance of Grieg’s Piano Concerto with the Lisbon Sinfonietta Orchestra. As a winner of the 2013 Steinhardt Piano Concerto Competition, Inês performed Schumann’s Piano Concerto with the NYU Symphony Orchestra at the Frederick Loewe Theater (New York). She has also appeared as a soloist with the MPMP Orchestra, the ArtQuest Orchestra, the ESML Symphony Orchestra, and the Lisbon National Conservatory Orchestra.
A passionate chamber musician, Inês is a prizewinner of the Portuguese Young Musicians Prize, in duo with violinist Tamila Kharambura. The duo recently recorded “Quasi una Sonata” by composer António Pinho Vargas, which was released by MPMP in 2017. Inês also founded Duo Pianissimo, with pianist Marta Menezes, to celebrate and disseminate Portuguese music written for two pianos. She collaborates regularly with ensemble ALEA III and is a member of the ensemble Virtuoso Soloists, which was founded in New York City in 2014. Virtuoso Soloists has performed extensively in the United States, Italy, and Portugal. The ensemble recorded an album with music by acclaimed Italian composer Mario Pagotto, which was released by MEP Italia in January 2018.
Inês Andrade holds a Bachelor of Music and Master’s degrees in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa (Lisbon, Portugal), under the guidance of Miguel Henriques. During her studies in Lisbon, she was named the Most Outstanding Student of the Year in 2008 and 2010. She moved to the United States in 2011 and continued her musical studies at New York University, where she studied with José Mendez and Marilyn Nonken.
Inês graduated last May with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Boston University, under the tutelage of Pavel Nersessian (piano) and David Kopp (music theory). She was distinguished by the Boston University Women’s Council and invited to join the National Music Honor Society Pi Kappa Lambda. Her dissertation project, “Tradition and Innovation in the Piano Works of Portuguese Composer António Fragoso,” won a Graduate Arts Research Grant from the BU Arts Initiative.
Inês has taught piano, music theory, and ear training at New York University, Boston University, Sharon Music Academy, as well as in music conservatories in Portugal. She is currently on the faculty at Kingsley Montessori School and is the artistic director of the Bendada Music Festival. Her upcoming projects include a commercial recording of António Fragoso’s complete chamber music works and a tour of China in Summer 2019.

Graciela Arguedas, MM, is a classical pianist trained in the Russian tradition under the tutelage of Drs. Tamara and Alexandr Sklioutovsky.  At the age of fifteen, she moved alone from her native Costa Rica to the United States to continue her piano studies with Blanca Uribe and Seymour Bernstein. Soon after, she received a full scholarship to the pre-college program at the Mannes School of Music where she learned from the late Richard Shirk. Graciela earned her Bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance from the Eastman School of Music and her Master’s degree at New York University where she studied once more under Seymour Bernstein. 

A prize winner in multiple international competitions, Graciela has performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall, The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, the Palace Theater, and the Skirball Center of the Arts. In 2007, she made her New York concerto debut at Merkin Hall performing Chopin’s Piano Concerto No.1 with the Camerata New York Orchestra. Graciela has been a featured soloist with the Hartford Symphony, the National Symphony of Costa Rica, and the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony, among others. Graciela’s performance with the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony was recorded and broadcasted worldwide through WQXR on the McGraw Hill Young Artists Showcase. In addition, Graciela has performed as a soloist and chamber musician at festivals including the YOPEFE International Festival of the Arts in Korea, the Edinburgh Festival and the Madrid ClarinetFest. Graciela has participated in master classes with Rebecca Penneys, Richard Goode, Barry Snyder, Andrey Pisarev, Natalia Antonova, Frederic Chiu, György Sándor, Victor Rosenbaum, Monique Duphil, Elizabeth Pridonoff, Sara Davis Buechner, Solomon Mikowsky and many other fine musicians.

Graciela enjoys helping her students develop their proficiency at the piano and appreciation for music. She was an Adjunct Instructor at NYU Steinhardt, where she taught keyboard skills to music majors and provided private piano lessons to other undergraduates. She was a faculty member at several piano institutions in the Greater New York City area, including Grace Music Center, the Piano School of New York City, PianoVerse, and the Art of Piano Playing Music School. She also served as an adjudicator at the Young Musicians Festival in Connecticut and the New York State School Music Association. Graciela is a member of the Leschetizky Association, the Music Teachers National Association, and the Massachusetts Music Teachers Association.

Susan Bill, is a New England native.  She holds a bachelor's degree in education and a Master's degree in performance from the Boston Conservatory.  As a violist she has been an active free-lancer in the Boston area, playing with such groups as the Cape Cod Symphony, New Hampshire Symphony, Vermont Symphony, Central Mass. Symphony, etc.  She has taught at Quincy Catholic Academy and in the Brookline and Cambridge school systems and currently teaches in Quincy's public school string program.  She is the founder and conductor of the Atlantic Youth Orchestra in Quincy and coaches the Boston City-Wide String Orchestra in Roxbury.  She is also a keyboard artist and singer and is the organist/choir director at Emmanuel Episcopal in Braintree. Ms. Bill will be offering violin, viola and cello lessons at EKS Music School.

Jim Davidson is a guitarist, teacher, and composer from Southeastern Massachusetts. Highlight performances include Boston GuitarFest, the Boston Classical Guitar Society, and numerous solo & chamber recitals throughout New England. Former teachers include Jérôme Mouffe, Eliot Fisk, Berit Strong, and Don Lappin. He has performed in masterclasses for Jorge Caballero, Grisha Goryachev, Denis Azabagic, and others. Jim earned his Masters Degree cum laude at New England Conservatory in 2018 and his Bachelors at Bridgewater State University in 2015.  Additionally, Jim will by joining the faculty of Bridgewater State University in the fall of 2019. Jim plays a 2015 Alan Chapman guitar.  

Jennifer Ann Pearl has been teaching students of all ages for the last eighteen years, in private as well as in a choral setting.  Her unique background includes classical vocal studies with an emphasis in the Italian bel canto method and a study and performance of the African-American Spiritual, both as a choral conductor and soloist.  Her work as a young singer in both singing in and observing master classes with late Bass-baritone, William Warfield and Metropolitan opera vocal coach, Sylvia Olden Lee, shaped her approach to music as being "between the notes" and derived from the poetry/text of the song. Jen is beginning her third year on the voice faculty at EKS and is the founder and conductor of the Quincy-based Schiller Boston-Area Community Chorus.  She frequently runs free choral and vocal workshops in Dorchester at St. Mary's Episcopal Church, to teach the congregants and members of the community to sing. As a performer, Jen sings in concert venues and various churches in the Boston-area. She has performed Russian, Italian, and Yiddish repertoire at Harvard University for concerts sponsored by the Harvard Chinese Students and Scholars Association. She also sings with Big Smile Entertainment and the Very Merry Dickens Carolers. As a conductor and singer, she has performed at such venues as the Cathedral of the Holy Cross (Boston), Carnegie Hall (NYC), St. Mary's Episcopal Church (Dorchester), and Riverside Church (NYC). She has a passion for singing Yiddish folk songs, German Lieder, and African American Spirituals. She earned her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance in 2001 where she studied with Metropolitan Opera Baritone, Timothy Noble. Following her college studies, she traveled to Italy to train and perform in master classes with Verdi soprano, Antonella Banaudi. She is an active member of National Association of Teachers of Singing and the Greater Boston Choral Consortium.  Ms. Jenn's student has been invited to Carnegie Hall for performance.

Andy Lo is a Pianist, Composer and Educator.   He was a disciple of Ted Lo, Greg Hopkins, Bob Pilkington, Ayn Inserto, Maxim Lubarsky and Jeff Covell.

In 2017, he graduated from the Education University of Hong Kong, majoring in Music Education (Contemporary Music and Performance Pedagogy).  Then he gets accepted into the Berklee College of Music with a scholarship,  majoring in Jazz Composition.  In 2018, he held a concert with his quartet, performing his own positions.  In 2019, he held another concert with his 9-piece jazz band, performing his own compositions and arrangements.

Andy Lo is currently a freelance musician and educator based in Boston, MA.  He is offering instruction in piano, music theory and composition.

Ashley Jee is the current Studio Manager of EKS Music School. She was a past piano student of Ellyses Kuan for five years. Currently, she is attending Suffolk University and majoring in Business and minoring in Communications. She worked as a certified teacher and Administrative Manager at a non-profit afterschool program called GBCCS during her high school years. Her hobbies are watching Japanese animation, playing piano versions of anime songs, and reading non-fiction books.