Online Group Class teacher

Daniela Pierson has over 30 years of experience in teaching music to children and absolutely loves her work. In addition to having a thriving private studio, Ms. Pierson has been Conductor and Artistic Director of Philadelphia’s Musicopia String Orchestra ensembles for twelve years. She believes in the power of music to deeply transform people’s lives and loves watching children learn not just about the instrument but about their own ability to grow and contribute to their community.

Ms. Pierson is also an active performer. In addition to recent forays into improvisation, she is principal violist of Tempesta di Mare and has performed with many early music ensembles including Early Music New York, New York Collegium, La Rocinante, and Washington Cathedral Baroque Orchestra. She has appeared at the Magnolia Baroque and Newburyport Festivals, Festival Internacional de Musica Barroca de Barichara, and as a guest artist with Chatham Baroque. After graduating summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Urban Studies, she moved to Italy to work with an Italian traditional music ensemble. Over the next several years she toured as a violinist, percussionist, and dancer with several groups based in Rome and New York City. She eventually settled in Philadelphia, where she lives with her husband and where she raised her daughters, Eliana and Alessandra.

Online Group Class teacher and Los Angeles private teacher

Aiko Jimena Richter is a Los Angeles-based violinist, originally from Baltimore, Maryland. She has been a fellow at festivals including the National Orchestral Institute, Domaine Forget Academy, Festival Napa Valley, and Kent/Blossom Music Festival. As a soloist and chamber musician, she has performed in masterclasses for Gil Shaham, Noah Bendix-Balgley, Ani Kavafian, Brooklyn Rider, and the Kronos Quartet among others. An active chamber and orchestral musician in LA, Aiko has performed in series such as the Dilijan Chamber Music and Monday Evening Concert series, in addition to working frequently as a recording artist in Hollywood’s TV and film studios. Aiko recently earned her M.M. at UCLA as a student of Movses Pogossian and Varty Manouelian. During that time, she was a member of the VEM Quartet, graduate string quartet in residence at UCLA, with whom she has performed across the US, Canada, and Armenia.  They can be heard on the album “Modulation Necklace” which showcases contemporary works by Armenian composers, released in early 2020 from New Focus Recordings. She has taught privately for many years in addition to teaching and coaching in programs such as “Share-a-Stand” (through the American Youth Symphony) and Musical Empowerment. She also served as violin and chamber music teaching assistant during her time at UCLA.

Online Group Class teacher

A native of Philadelphia, cellist Eliana Razzino Yang has performed solo recitals in London, Paris, Rome, Brussels, Frankfurt, New York, Helsinki, Boston, and Philadelphia and concertos with orchestras at the Incontri di Canna Music Festival, Lansdowne Symphony, Newburyport Festival Baroque Orchestra, Temple University Pre-College, New England Suzuki Institute, and Musicopia String Orchestra. She has also performed as part of Harrisburg’s Market Square rising star series and the Taos Chamber Music Group, and has received top prizes in the All City Orchestra, YCVT, Caprio, and Vivace competitions. Eliana has collaborated with members of the Emerson, Tokyo, Borromeo, Vermeer, Audubon, Aizuri, and Momenta string quartets, Ensemble Epomeo, and the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE). In 2015 she travelled to Budapest, Hungary, to play for composer György Kurtág and cellist Miklós Perényi and in 2016 she played for composer George Crumb. She has performed in Carnegie Hall as a participant of the 2015 New York String Orchestra Seminar under the baton of Jaime Laredo. Eliana will be attending Kneisel Hall during the summer of 2020. Past programs include the Perlman Music Program, Heifetz Institute, Castleman Quartet Program, Meadowmount School of Music, USC String Seminar, and Hotchkiss Institute. She is currently a sophomore at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Natasha Brofsky.

Online Group Class teacher

Violist and Philadelphia native Alessandra Yang studies with Carol Rodland at Juilliard Pre-College. Previous teachers include Kerri Ryan (Philadelphia Orchestra) and Gerry Rice. She has performed as part of the Juilliard Pre-College Symphony, Temple University Pre-College Orchestra, Philadelphia Young Artists Orchestra, and Musicopia String Orchestra, as well as in chamber groups at Juilliard and Temple University pre-college. In 2018 she performed in Boston's Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory. Alessandra will be attending the Perlman Music Program during the summer of 2020; past summer programs include Greenwood Music Camp and Kinhaven Music School. This past year, Alessandra was asked to perform Tchaikovsky’s "Souvenir de Florence" in the Juilliard Fall Benefit, and also performed in Juventus Pro Musica with violist Richard Young and violinist Dmitri Berlinsky. This year, her pre-college quartet was invited to participate in Juilliard College's 2020 ChamberFest and in the Kaufman Luna Composition Lab. Alessandra loves mathematics and baking when she’s not playing viola.