Choose Your Piano Teacher

Elham has performed as a soloist on US State Department-sponsored appearances at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC and Carnegie Hall in New York City in 2013. He performed at the Library of Congress for the 2017 Anne Frank Awards Ceremony. He has also played for members of the diplomatic corps of Australia, China, Germany, Italy, and Korea. He has performed for former Afghan President Hamid Karzai and international dignitaries in Kabul and at the Afghan Embassy in Washington DC through the Embassy Series: Uniting People Through Music Diplomacy. His outreach performances in New York include solo recitals for Women for Afghan Women, NYU Forum on Law, Culture and Society, the Hebrew Home for the Aged in Riverdale, and Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts. Elham has been awarded full scholarships to participate in notable summer festivals including Classical Bridge (performances at Steinway Hall and Merkin Concert Hall), the International Keyboard Institute and Festival at Hunter College, the Chopin to Górecki piano festival in Poland, and others. He was the 3rd prize winner in the Golden Key International Piano Competition in Frankfurt in 2012 and the winner of Hunter College Concerto Competition. He has also performed as a solo recitalist in Holland, Italy, and Poland. Elham has been profiled on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition by host Renee Montagne, in BBC, on NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, and in the media in Britain and Pakistan. He is the subject of a German television documentary (ZDF tivi).

Ashley Acksen is an emerging artist currently living and teaching in Beaufort, South Carolina. She has participated in choir since age ten, and continued her formal music education at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, where she graduated with her Bachelors Degree in General Music. After teaching elementary music for one year, she pursued her masters degree in Music Performance at Valdosta State University. She has performed in several prestigious groups and programs, including Bach Festival Society where she sang Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the London Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In June 2023 she made her international debut in Vienna, Austria as Belinda in Dido and Aeneas, and would return in 2025 to understudy the role of Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare and Mimi in Puccini’s beloved classic La Boheme. She plans to continue performing while working as a full-time high school chorus teacher in South Carolina.

Emily is a graduate of Eastern University, earning her Bachelor of Arts degree in general music with a concentration in voice. While there, she also studied piano under the chair of the music department Ronald Matthews, as well as 10+ years of private piano lessons prior. Emily has sung in several touring choirs and has toured up and down the east coast as well as internationally in places like Canada, France, and Germany. She has led worship in her church for 10+ years and was worship coordinator for 2. She was in several musical theater productions both in and out of college. Emily has taught privately for 5 years both in-person and remotely. She was the music director for a theater company in New Jersey called Sojourn Theater Arts Academy for 3 years, teaching the music for shows like Annie and The Little Mermaid to a cast of close to 100 students ranging from 6 to 18 years old. Emily has experience and training in the instruction of voice, piano, guitar, and ukulele. She loves to teach many topics and genres, including musical theater, classical, pop, Disney, music theory, singing while playing, improvisation, jazz chords, note/sight-reading, worship leading, and technique.

As ALL of my students know, I am from Ohio and began teaching there in 2009. My love for music started in the 2nd grade, when I began to take formal piano lessons. In middle school I added guitar to my arsenal of instruments and my passions for organized sound grew even more. I studied Architecture and completed my Bachelors of Arts degree in Jazz Composition in guitar at THE Ohio State University, GO BUCKS! I have been teaching in public, private, and charter schools since 2009, including private lessons. I thoroughly enjoy composing and arranging privately and for my school's bands.

Ana Salas is a wide range music teacher with a fundamental knowledge of many instruments like the Piano, Voice, Guitar, Clarinet and Flute. With 8 years of experience public school teaching, Ana has taught subjects like Choir, Band, Guitar and Piano in large classroom settings. You will learn the basics and much more fundamentals for the instrument that you choose with Ana as your teacher.

From Los Angeles, CA, Oscar has experienced music from all around the world. Primarily a clarinet player, he studied at the University of Michigan and Long Beach State. He also enjoys playing woodwinds such as saxophone and flute. He also has plenty of experience with brass, guitar and piano. Aside from music, he enjoys watching and playing soccer, cooking, and spending time with his family.