“The teachers create a warm, friendly, and inviting environment that encourages, supports, and inspires students to master their craft and work hard.”
– Isabelle L. (Student at Cantabile)
Please note that not all our staff and teachers are listed here due to privacy reasons.
Meet Our Teachers and Staff
Matthew’s Story, Director of Cantabile School of Music
Bachelor of Music Performance (Melbourne University)
A.Mus.A (AMEB), DipABRSM
VMTA Fully Accredited Member
Most people reading this section might be expecting to peruse about a person with an extraordinary list of performing accomplishments and achievements. Honestly, I have never won a single trophy, medal from any music competition or anything alike. Bear in mind that not every great performer is always a good teacher. My passion is for teaching. As a result, I started the Cantabile School of Music.
My musical journey began with lessons from my mother. As she was a piano teacher, it was quite natural for me to take up the piano as my first instrument. I started the piano at the age of seven, and a year later I also began learning the violin. However due to family circumstances I continued only with learning the violin.
Music has helped me overcome many difficulties and challenges, and has developed into an intrinsic part of my everyday life. A real turning point in my life occurred when I was in high school while studying the violin with one of my most influential teachers, Brian Blake. At this stage I had already completed my Grade 8 violin exam, yet learning from him made me realise that this was just the beginning. More importantly, his incredible teaching philosophy showed me there was more to learning music than merely overcoming technicalities, but harnessed a powerful way to develop life skills.  I began to realise that music has a far greater meaning than simply going for just that music examination or scholarship. Although those things are important, they should not be the ultimate goal.
Finishing my Music Performance Bachelor degree from the University of Melbourne in 2011, I established the Cantabile School of Music in hopes to share this new founded realisation. It began solely as a violin teaching studio at first, gaining over 30 private students in my first year of teaching. I then brought in my first teacher to work with me, which was none other than my mother. Piano lessons were then incorporated into the school. Since then, our school has grew to serving over 250 students in a week and hope to bring the joys of music to many more teachers and students.
So why am I telling you all this? I am nothing special, but music is. Music allowed me to overcome many challenges and hardships in my life, and I believe it can do the same for you.
It has been a few years since I joined the Cantabile School of Music team. I love working here as I love Music. I learnt piano when I was in Secondary School. Music helps me relax during my busy days. So being part of the team to help students and parents is something I enjoy doing.
I also love working with children, my background in Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care helps me know better how to build a relationship with students and parents.
I aspire to make students and parents feel welcome and comfortable in the school with my bright smile and friendly personality, as well as answering any questions and helping them with any queries.
In my spare time, I enjoy baking, listening to music, reading and spending time with my husband and two sons.
My life with the piano began when I was 5 years old. I loved music and enjoyed playing the piano so much that I continued learning it for many years.
My passion for piano became stronger when I went to Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School. Having friends who had so much passion for their instrument and music influenced me that I started to love the piano even more. As a result, I received a raw score of 50 for Music Performance in VCE by the time I was in year 11. I then went on to complete my Bachelor of Music at the University of Melbourne.
I love teaching piano. I love how I can share my knowledge about the piano with others and that we can achieve lots of things together. I hope to meet more students so we can share some fun learning the piano and have great time together.
It was almost expected for me to learn piano as all the children in the family did before me. I started learning the piano when I was five and took many AMEB exams for both theory and practical throughout the years.
Of course like most kids there was a time I absolutely hated practising and tried every excuse in the book to not attend lessons, and after completing my AMEB Grade 8 exam in high school I put piano off entirely for a year. But after deciding to choose VCE Music Performance in my final year of high school, music really changed for me and I enjoyed spending time on the piano. I decided to pursue it further and went on to complete my Bachelor of Music at the University of Melbourne under Max Cooke.
I hope to share my experience and knowledge to help others in their music and see how fulfilling and enjoyable music can be.
Looking back on my childhood, my life was surrounded by a variety of music and instruments. I started learning piano when I was six and I really enjoyed playing it. When I got into high school, I challenged myself to learn the violin as well. Soon after, I found the violin to be such a fascinating instrument and it was not difficult for me to choose this instrument as a major for university.Â
After finishing Grade 8 in my AMEB examinations, I am currently studying my Bachelor of Music at Monash University. Learning music and violin is my joy in life and it will continuously be my happiness. I hope other students can realise this great treasure by learning music.Â
Music has been a big part of my life but I struggled in the past to pick an instrument that I really like. When I was young I tried to learn guitar, the keyboard and organ, and I gave up on all of them after learning for a couple months. This trend came to an end when I entered secondary school, where my friend encouraged me to join the string ensemble. I picked up the cello as my primary instrument and I have been playing it ever since.
What I like about the cello is that the tone of the instrument represents the human voice. This allowed me to express myself through playing the cello. Teaching the cello has been a fun and enjoyable experience to me as I get to connect with different people and share my passion about the cello. I always hope my students are able to have fun and enjoy playing the cello.
Apart from playing the cello, I am also a registered music therapist. I always think music is such a good tool to connect people and I want to use it in the way that I can help people. As soon as I found out there are people in this world who use music as therapy to help people, I immediately knew that this is the job I would love and would want to do for the rest of my life. I went on to study my Masters of Music Therapy at the University of Melbourne and graduated in 2018.
Besides my passion for the cello and as a music therapist, my dream is to eat croissants everyday without getting fat.
I was born in Poland and began studying piano at the age of 6. My music education included piano performance, recorder, music theory, music history, composition, ensemble and choir. I have also completed Masters Degree in Education (primary and secondary) from University of Wrocław, Poland.
My philosophy is that anyone can achieve good results but it takes time and hard work. Practice is an essential part of learning an instrument and, with young children, so is parental involvement and support.
On a personal note, I live with my husband and two daughters. Both of my children completed AMEB piano grade 8 as well as violin grade 8 (older) and flute grade 5 (younger). My other passions include gardening and sustainable living.
My music journey began when I was five years old through learning piano and violin. At that moment, I honestly did not enjoy playing the piano or violin due to such a strict environment for my musical learning. Because of this, I would love to make my students feel comfortable when they come to my lessons and help them enjoy playing and practicing their music.
During my education at the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School, I placed music as my priority and had a willingness to do music as my primary career. I gained diverse experiences there, such as performing in chamber groups, and as a soloist, I challenged myself to do competitions and eisteddfods. After graduating high school, I am currently studying my Bachelor of Music at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music.
In my teaching, I especially love to teach young children. I look forward to helping more students to experience the joys of playing the piano. I want to help them understand that when you apply yourself to study the piano, you will have such a rewarding and enjoyable experience!
Born in the Republic of Korea and raised in Australia, I completed my undergraduate and graduate studies in Canada and US. I recently returned to Australia, and I am currently pursuing a PhD degree in Piano Performance at the University of Melbourne.
My musical journey has covered a wide range of topics in solo and collaborative performing experiences at prestigious venues throughout Australia, Europe and North America. In addition, as an active music educator, I taught students from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Canada and The Young Pianists Program at Indiana University. Through various mentors, teachers, and coaching experiences, I have learnt the importance of creative practice, motivational teaching, and the growth of music education and bringing it back to communities.
It is an absolute pleasure to share my musical beliefs, and it is a joy to be a part of music education for the next generation.
Music had always been something that I held closely to my heart as I grew up. It had always been the first thing I went to if I was feeling down, stressed or just wanted to relax. I started piano at 6 solely because my parents forced me to, and it was a rough beginning. I hated the rigid teaching style of my first piano teacher. However, I started loving it when I entered a classical band and we performed for concerts, charities, and orphanages and this made me feel really good that I was helping others in the way of music. I’ve taken many ABRSM exams and participated in a few piano competitions in high school. I love teaching piano to see students learn to love it the way I do as well as giving them a different, more fun and flexible experience than I had in my beginning years.
Aside from piano, I’ve always been a theatre kid from middle school to now. I’m always either onstage or backstage preparing for productions or concerts or hosting. I deeply enjoy the thrill of being onstage and bringing entertainment or even something more to an audience.
I’ve lived in China for 11 years before coming to Australia. I love eating different things, sometimes even strange things to reach my goal of eating everything there is that is edible. I love comedy so I’ll always be in for a giggle whenever there’s a chance.
I began my journey with the piano at six years old and music has since been a significant part of my life. The more I learn from music, my appreciation for it grows stronger.
Practice was very repetitious and automatic when I was younger, which has now shifted to a more conscious learning process that I am still shaping in my music studies at university. Practice comes with frustration and difficulty, but it shows me what I can achieve and discover through persistence. I am thankful that my teachers guide me through learning and understanding music, teaching me the values of dedication and patience, building techniques to explore music even further.
I can say that music challenges me but is also extremely kind to my soul.
I enjoy playing piano in an ensemble, discovering how music connects us as a community as much as we connect to it individually. I hope I can share this joy of experiencing and learning music with others and be a part of the student’s musical journey as they discover their own connection to music.
Music has been in my life since I was born. My father is a guitar teacher and it is only natural for me to learn guitar as my first instrument. Through my ventures into the musical world, I started to pursue my interest in violin and it soon became my second instrument. Due to the fact that my father teaches music at home, I had access to many other instruments such as ukulele, piano and drum. My father then taught me all the other instruments. I was taught violin by a teacher who was also a conductor for the Sarawak State Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, he kindly gave me the opportunity to join his orchestra at the age of 9. As such, I have a huge family of great musicians. I also joined the Malaysian’s Young Talent violin competition when I was 11 and won the best performer’s award. Music teaching aside, I also perform at music venues, wedding ceremonies and state functions.
I have loved playing the guitar and violin; hence they have become the main instruments I play, in which after many years of graded practical exams, I base my teaching on the ABRSM & Trinity syllabus. I have also completed my Certificate of Performance from Trinity (Guitar) and IMEB (Violin). Music is my passion. As a teacher, I believe it is equally important that my students understand the instrument they’re playing and express themselves musically rather than only learning mechanically and methodically. Put simply, I emphasise a thorough understanding of the core elements when playing but also in a way that does not deter them from truly learning.
I started my musical journey in classical piano performance at the age of six under the guidance of Feirist Music Academy and Dr Johannes Nugroho in Indonesia. After completing her grade 8 Piano and Theory Exams from The Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM), I completed my Bachelor of Music (Classical Piano Performance) in Australian Institute of Music, Sydney, under the guidance of Dr. Wojciech Wisniewski (2022) and now, with her ever-growing passion in teaching, pursuing Masters of Teaching in Early Childhood and Primary in Melbourne.
In Indonesia, I had participated and won prizes from national piano competitions, performed in various annual occasions, some of which were 3rd prize Indonesia National Piano Competition 2016 in Advance category, 2nd prize in Veranza Piano Competition Indonesia 2017 and performed in special occasions.
Moving to Australia has been an awesome decision and opportunity for me, as I continue to perform, teach as well as accompany students and other fellow musicians around Sydney and Melbourne.
I also enjoy not only listening to classical music, but arranging pop music and well-known songs too. My huge passion in teaching students music to create fun and unique ways to learn music, and I believe music will always play a huge role in every person’s life to express what cannot be put in words.
Despite being born into a family with minimal music background, my development as a musician began with a small keyboard which had been left alone in my bedroom for years. At 11 years old, I used the internet as a guide to learn to read music notation and to explore some modern music.
After some years, I had eventually begun exploring older music and became captivated by melodies, harmonies and virtuosity offered through the music of the legendary composers such as Beethoven and Chopin. Inspired, I made the decision to upgrade piano and sought guidance from my first piano teacher in 2018, Sharon Pantling, who had helped me drastically develop my skills.
After two years of working with this incredible guidance, I completed my first AMEB examination and then VCE Music Performance. I ended up with enough experience to be accepted into the University of Melbourne which allowed me to begin working with my second piano teacher, Tristan Lee. Eventually, I graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree in 2022.
The longer I spend learning music, the more importance it has in my life. I firmly believe that music provides life-changing insights. As a teacher, I aspire to show my students the beauty and value of which music has to offer.
I began playing the flute when I was 6 years old. I loved playing music and performing and I continued learning throughout high school before continuing at University. I am currently completing my Bachelor of Music specialising in flute performance at the University of Melbourne. I have studied with many influential flute players, including Tony Barnden, Joshua Batty and Lisa-Maree Amos. They have taught me so much about being a performer and a teacher.
I am currently performing with the Australian Army Band and perform regularly with them. As well as the Western region concert band where I have performed with artist Katie Noonan.
I love teaching flute and passing on my enjoyment of the instrument to my students. It’s a great way to express yourself and is incredibly rewarding as well!