Vicki Gray owns and directs the Gray School of Music. She founded the Gray School of music and has taught piano for 40 years. She has a Masters of Music from Southern Methodist University and has done doctoral studies in piano at the University of North Texas. Mrs. Gray is a distinguished and accomplished composer. Compositions have included five children’s fairy tale operettas; MUSIC FOR MINORS, a method for preschool music; and articles in professional journals and newsletters. Mrs. Gray is an expert on musical technology and motivational techniques. Her students have been winners in competitions at Baylor University, Dallas Piano Solo Competition, Dallas Symphonic, DMTA Jazz Festival, at the state level in the Texas Music Teachers Association Solo Performance Competition, and McKinney Young Artist Competition. Mrs. Gray has been awarded a Permanent Professional Certificate by the National Music Teachers Association and has been listed in Who’s Who of American Women. She is the mother of three children, all of whom attended music conservatories and obtained doctorate degrees in piano performance. Jenni has a Bachelor of Piano Performance from Eastman School of Music, Master of Music from the University of Texas, and Doctorate from the University of Houston. Julie has a Bachelors and Masters of Piano Performance at Eastman School of Music and a doctorate from the University of Texas. Justin earned a Bachelor in Piano Performance from the Juilliard School, a Masters of Music in Piano Performance from Southern Methodist University, and a doctorate of Piano Performance at the University of North Texas. Mrs. Gray enjoys gardening, cooking, and playing with her six grandchildren. She and her family were recently profiled in The Dallas Morning News. Her husband, Haskell, is owner of a consulting and representation firm for advanced computer networking.

Xiao-Bo Chen Nestler is the recipient of the Performer's Certificate and holds an Artist Diploma in Piano Performance from Texas Christian University and a Masters of Piano Performance from UNT. She has taught for seven years at Gray School of Music. She has experience in teaching all age levels, from young children through adults. In 2012, Ms. Chen won the concerto competition at North Texas as well as second place in the TMTA State Competition. She has recently performed in Carnegie Hall in New York City as a winner of the Steinway Competition.

Meredith Devine is a Dallas Native who began taking piano lessons at the age of five. Throughout her career, Ms. Devine has competed and placed in numerous Dallas Music Teacher Association competitions. She was the first prize winner of the CMTA Senior Scholarship as well as a finalist in the Texas Music Teachers Association State Piano Competition.

Meredith Devine acquired her Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance Cum Laude from Texas Christian University where she was a piano student of John Owings and studied piano pedagogy with Dr. Ann Gipson. She received the TCU Chancellor Scholarship in Music and participated in master classes with Dr. Veda Kaplinsky of the Juilliard School of Music, as well as with Robert Weirich and Dr. Carol Leone. She started an internship in summer of 2013 with the Van Cliburn Foundation. Ms. Devine has experience in group teaching through the TCU Piano Laboratory Program as well as private teaching. She currently maintains her own private studio in Argyle, Texas.

Ms. Devine is an active member of Pi Beta Phi as well as a member of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. Outside of piano, Ms. Devine enjoys Bikram yoga, playing tennis, and spending time with her Weaten Terrier, Penny. She is currently teaching at the Gray School of Music while she prepares for graduate school in a local university.

Julie Ann Dieltz is a native of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Julie graduated from Abilene Christian University with her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance. She recently completed the Master of Music program Southern Methodist University as the recipient of the Meadows Artistic Scholarship.

Julie’s musical career began singing in her church with her mom accompanying her. She also has played piano since age 8 and has played percussion throughout middle and high school.

As an undergraduate student, Julie performed roles as the mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, and many scene productions. Her most recent role was as Magda Sorel in Menotti’s The Consul while at Abilene Christian University. While at SMU, Julie performed with the Meadows Opera Theater in Le nozze di Figaro as Marcellina and Albert Herring as Lady Billows. She was also a soloist in the Abilene Classical Chorus’s presentation of Handel’s Messiah and in Vivaldi’s Gloria in D at The University of South Dakota. In the Fall of 2013, Julie will also be performing the role of Rebecca the world premier opera A New Nation, a retelling of the story of Jacob and Essau.

Outside of music, Julie enjoys going back to the Midwest to spend time with family and friends. She also loves the Minnesota Twins, traveling, and shopping whenever possible!

Ana Maria Gomez Ferstl completed a Master of Music degree in piano performance at Southern Methodist University where she received a full scholarship (Meadows Artistic Scholarship) and studied with Dr. Carol Leone and Bachelor of music in piano performance at the University of Miami, where she was awarded the Bertha Foster Scholarship and studied with J.B. Floyd. She has been a member of the “National Society of Collegiate Scholars” since 2005.

Born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Ms. Gomez Ferstl began the study of piano at age 9. As a student of Maria de Fatima Geraldes, she continued her studies at the National Conservatory of Music where she also studied viola and was a member of the conservatory orchestra. She won top prizes repeatedly at the yearly “Festival de Musica Latinoamericana”, including a special award for the best performance of a work by dominican composer Margarita Luna.

Ms. Gomez Ferstl participated in several festivals in summer programs, such as Chautauqua Institution, Florida State University summer piano program, the Golandsky Institute summer symposium at Princeton University, International Keyboard Institute and Festival at Mannes School of Music, Piano Texas Academy and Festival at Texas Christian University and Accademia Santoro piano masterclasses in Boiano, Italy.

She has received additional training from Anton Nel, Edna Golandsky, Joaquin Achucarro, Alessio Bax, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Kemal Gekic, Alexander Kobrin, Jose Feghali, Arthur Greene, Rebecca Penneys and others. She received chamber music coachings from Paul Posnak, Andres Diaz, Ellen Rose, Wilfred Roberts among others.

Ms. Gomez Ferstl is part of Richard Rejino’s “What Music Means to Me”, a book that celebrates the value of music in education and quality of life. She teaches piano at the Gray School of Music while continuing private studies with Dr. Carol Leone and Dr. Alex Mcdonald.

Dr. Anatolia Ioannides enjoys a versatile career as a teacher, performer, collaborative pianist and coach. A seasoned recitalist and sought- after collaborative partner.

Ms. Ioannides has performed in a number of national and international venues and festivals such as Voces Intimae and Opera in Concert, the Mozarteum Sommer Akademie.  She has served as staff pianist for the Piatigorsky International Seminar for Cellists, UNT-Clarinet essentials, and the Banff Centre for the Arts, and has performed for the Jugend Musiziert Wetbewerb, and the Women in Music Composers’ Conference, USC-Visions and Voices and KUSC-Sundays Live with the Rick Todd’s USC Wind and Percussion ensemble.

As the artistic director and founder of the chamber ensemble Cmc3+, she was involved in outreach programs in Southern California public schools, advocating for a comprehensive music program and the importance of chamber music in secondary education.  As the principal pianist of Cmc3+, she coached high school student ensembles in workshops and master classes as part of the ensemble’s residency activities at Glendale High School in Southern California.

In addition to coaching and accompanying college students and performing with faculty and guest artists at UNT and SMU, Dr. Ioannides and teaches piano and the art of accompanying and chamber music to pre-collegiate music students at her private studio in Dallas.  She also serves as faculty at the Music Institute of North Texas in Frisco.  An active member of Music Teachers National Association, she is in strong demand as adjudicator for young artist festivals and competitions in Texas and California.

Ms. Ioannides is co-founder and the pianist for Ensemble Trio Polis with UNT faculty clarinetist Kimberly Cole and violinist Felix Olschofka and the accompanist and coach for UNT’s ClarEssentials Summer Workshop.

Dr. Ioannides received her B.M in piano performance and pedagogy from the Universitat für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria.  She completed her M.M and D.M.A in Keyboard Collaborative Arts at the University of Southern California.  She is a Royal Conservatory of Music registered teacher and a member of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA), Texas Music Teachers Association (TMTA),  and the Dallas Music Teachers Association (DMTA).  DMTA is the largest and most active chapter of MTNA in the United States.

For more information, visit her Web site at www.anatoliaioannides.com.

Dr. Heejung Kang Jackson was born in Seoul, Korea, and studied at the Seoul Music and Art High School for musically gifted teenagers. She graduated with the highest honors from the College of Music, Ewha Woman’s University in Seoul and later at the same university she earned her Master’s Degree in Piano, receiving the Ewha Graduate Research Fellowship Scholarship. Completing her doctoral dissertation on Rachmaninoff, she received her doctorate in Piano Performance at theCollege of Music at the University of North Texas in 2004. In 2002, She made a recording of “Rediscovered Lieder and Piano Pieces by Kletzki, Oppel, and Schenker,” sponsored by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Jewish Federation, and College of Music at UNT. In December 2004, she performed music by Paul Kletzki, Reinhard Oppel, Arnold Mendelssohn and other composers live on Israel Radio. In November 2005, she performed solo piano music by Heinrich Schenker at the inaugural meeting of the Korean Society for Music Theory in Seoul and premiered Kletzki’s Sonata for Piano and Violin with Robert Davidovici on Korean National Radio (KBS FM1). Dr. Kang Jackson has recorded Reinhard Oppel’s solo piano music for Toccata Classics in England, which was released in 2011. Currently a Senior Lecturer in Piano at the University of North Texas, she teaches courses in Piano Literature, Sight-reading, Score Reading, and Keyboard Harmony. Not only teaching undergraduate and graduate piano major students, she is also an active teacher of both children and adults. She has been a judge for the Lewisville Lake Symphony Young Artists Competition since 2007. She is a guest member of Lewisville Lake Symphony Orchestra. She and her husband, Dr. Timothy Jackson, a professor of music theory at UNT, have two children, Daniel and Anna Sarah.

Reinhard Oppel: Piano Music, Volume One performed by Dr. Heejung Kang available at Amazon

Marissa Messina brings more than 25 years’ experience teaching piano and voice for all ages and levels of learning. Her teaching experience started when she was a college student and former founder of Messina Studios, where her students’ recitals incorporated a multi-arts approach with drama, ensemble and musical theatre to build the whole musician. They featured all genres and styles of music from classical to contemporary.

Marissa received her Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance at Southern Methodist University with a merit scholarship under the tutelage of DSO artist-in-residence Alfred Mouledous. She competed and was awarded one of two full stipend/scholarships to study with acclaimed international pianist and recording artist Mme. Lili Kraus, founding board member and judge of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and artist-in-residence at TCU, where Marissa completed a Master of Music in Piano Performance.

At a young age, Marissa was awarded study with artist Elaine de Kooning. From childhood, Marissa studied extensively with esteemed Fulbright scholar and winner Dr. Donna O’Steen Edwards. While at TCU on stipend, she became co-teacher with Dr. Edwards, both for campus TCU students and for Dr. Edwards’ private studio. Marissa studied voice with Dr. Joan Wall at Texas Women’s University with focus on opera, cabaret, musical theatre and contemporary styles. She has been coached by vocalist Adrianna Hardy and drama and vocal coach Arthur Lessac.

Marissa takes pleasure and pride in molding the “total musician” for any age, musical interest or endeavor and in imparting a well-rounded awareness and joy of music as a lifelong lifestyle. In fact, over the years, she often hears from and loves to keep up with former students who have continued to report on their love of music or professional careers in the field. Examples include a jazz/pop vocalist award recipient of the Muhammed Ali Award, a cabaret NYC circuit vocalist, and a community college piano instructor.

Marissa comes from a family of music enthusiasts. Her grandfather from Italy was first chair clarinet with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Her father was a vocal student of renowned Baron Curci and held first chair clarinet with the Los Angeles Community Student Orchestra at a time when John Philip Sousa was commissioned a commemorative composition for the group.

In addition to teaching, Marissa works as a professional artist and also enjoys freelance writing and composing.

Amy Mitani is originally from Sendai Japan. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Music from the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma. While there, she studied pedagogy with Dr. Ann Gipson and was an alternate winner of OMTA Collegiate Piano Competition. After teaching for several years, she decided to go back to school for her graduate studies. While pursuing her Master of Arts in Teaching Music from Portland State University, she studied piano performance with Dr. Carol Rich, received intensive pedagogy trainings from Professor Mary Kogen, and taught several college courses for music majors.

Ms. Mitani has been giving group and private instructions for 18 years. Most recently, she taught piano and theory classes at music schools in California, and also served as a board member and a certified evaluator for MTAC. Her students performed exceptionally for recitals, auditions, and specialized exam evaluations.

A while ago, she discovered a joy of collaboration with other musicians; she has performed in an orchestra for musicals and has been performing two-piano ensembles for six years. Because of her passion and love for Latin music and dance, she studied Latin-Jazz/Salsa piano from a well-known salsa pianist, Christian Tumalan. After a tremendous discovery of Latin music, she started to perform as a salsa pianist with several bands in San Francisco bay area.

Ms. Mitani and her husband Jason recently relocated to Dallas because of his job transfer. They reside in North Dallas and are exploring the area. She joined a local Latin band “Orchesta Cervantes” and gave her first performance in Dallas in October 2012. While she has some free time, she enjoys taking Zumba and Yoga classes.

Mary Anna Salo began her piano studies at the age of five with her mother, Diane Salo, an accomplished pianist and veteran teacher of keyboard and music theory. Mary Anna began teaching and accompanying at thirteen. As an accompanist, Miss Salo has worked with adult choirs, vocalists, string and woodwind players. When she was fourteen, Mary Anna enrolled, along with her mother, in N. Jane Tan’s three-year teacher training program, the Well Prepared Pianist Institute. The course began in September 2001 and concluded in 2005, taking almost four years due to an expansion of the first year to two years. She was the youngest teacher/student ever to take the class. At seventeen, Mary Anna began studies with Judit Jaimes, head of the piano area at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In 2008, she enrolled as a piano performance major at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she continued her studies with Jaimes during her freshman and sophomore years. At the start of her junior year, Mary Anna transferred studios to the studio of Elena Abend, with whom she completed her under-graduate studies in the spring of 2012. After she completed her undergrad, Ms. Salo spent a year-and-a-half furthering her training in pedagogy, specifically in the Well Prepared Pianist, under the instruction of Barbara Bunge and Sue Rusch at their studio in Hales Corners, Partners in Music. This study included private lessons, observing lessons and teaching lessons. In addition to studying pedagogy, Mary Anna continued her own piano studies under Annie Sherter and Dr. Paul Sánchez. Currently, Mary Anna is the music director at Calvary Lutheran Church in Brookfield, WI, as well as a private teacher and free-lance accompanist. This fall, she will begin pursuing her Master’s degree in piano performance with a minor in arts administration at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

In 2006, Miss Salo was a semi-finalist in the international PianoArts competition held bi-annually in Milwaukee, WI. She, as a student-teacher, presented the key-note recital at the Well Prepared Pianist Institute’s international festival in the summer of 2008. Other performances include Steinway Gallery of Milwaukee’s Steinway and Sandwich program, student recitals, both solo and collaborative, at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and a shared-program on Music and More, a summer music series hosted by First Presbyterian Church in Racine, WI. In 2011, Mary Anna was selected as an alternate for the 2011 Mimir Chamber Music Festival held annually at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, TX. The following year, she had the privilege of being selected for the 2012 MCMF and attended the festival as one of the young artists. In the summer of 2011, she was accepted into the inaugural young artist program of the Dakota Sky International Piano Festival held annually in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. While there, she played in masterclasses with Douglas Humphreys, Jeffrey LaDeur and the Delphi Trio, Petronel Malan and Alessio Bax. She performed in both of the young artist recitals. Mary Anna returned to Dakota Sky in 2012 as both a young artist and an intern, and again in 2013 as a volunteer. Her most recent accomplishment is the launching of Winterpast Recital Series in January of this year. Winterpast is a recital series dedicated to giving up-and-coming young artists a performance and publicity opportunity in Southeast, Wisconsin. For more information on the series, please visit www.winterpastseries.com.

Dr. Rinna Saun is nationally certified as a teacher of piano by the Music Teachers National Association. She has earned a Doctorate in Piano Performance from the University of North Texas, where she was awarded a teaching fellowship in class piano and accompanying. She received a Bachelor of Piano Performance from the University of Maryland, an a Master’s degree from the Mannes College of Music in New York City. Her teachers have included Dr. Nelita True, Richard Goode, Edward Aldwell, Robert Helps, Timothy Schumacher, and Dr. Pamela Paul. Her performances have been heard in the halls from New York to Oregon. She has been described as a “gifted” pianist, and her playing filled with “technical assurance and spunk.” She is the recipient of the First Prize from the New York Korea Times Competition and the International American Music Scholarship Association Competition. Her playing has been featured in NPR and has been a guest performer at the Gracie Mansion in New York.

A longtime observer and diligent practitioner of the natural piano technique, Dr. Saun has had training in the Dorothy Taubman technique as well as the Abby Whiteside techniques as described in her book, the Indispensables of Piano Playing.

Performances in Dallas include Mozart’s Piano Concerto # 20 in D Minor, Keyboard Concerto in D Minor by J.S. Bach, the Mendelssohn Piano Concerto #1in G minor, and Beethoven’s Fantasy in C Minor for Piano, Chorus, and Orchestra. In November of 2013, she presented a solo recital for the benefit of Christ United Methodist Church music program on their Hamburg D Steinway. She loves playing the music of Bach, Beethoven, and Chopin. She will be performing the works of Liszt, Schubert, and Brahms in seasons to come. In 2014, Dr. Saun wil issue a CD of her favorite works as well as continue to thrill audiences with her passionate performances and exceptional talent.

Dr. Saun is an exceptional teacher of adult students from beginner through advanced levels. Her students enjoy their Musicale group meetings where refreshments and performances by her students bring delight to all attending. Dr. Rinna Saun is available for early afternoon lessons at the Gray School of Music.

Branda Tan was born in Malaysia. Starting at the age of 7, she entered for the music exams offered by the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) and completed all 8 levels of graded exams in piano, violin, and music theory. She then studied at The Malaysian Institute of Arts (MIA) with a major in piano and a minor in violin. In 2001, Branda earned an Associate in Recital in Solo Piano through the Trinity International Examination Board under the Trinity College London. She was also awarded an Achievement Award by the Music Department at MIA, and graduated with distinction. In December 2004, Branda graduated cum laude from the University of North Texas with a Bachelor of Music in Music History and Music Literature. While studying at UNT, she was a student of internationally renowned pianist Mr. Adam Wodnicki. She was also the recipient of numerous scholarships and awards, including the Multicultural Scholastic Award, the Academic Achievement Award, and the Outstanding Undergraduate Student in Musicology Honor. Branda was later offered a teaching assistantship by the UNT department of Music History. She completed the Master of Music degree at UNT in May 2008 with a Master Thesis on Franz Liszt’s “Swiss” volume of Anneé de Pelèrinage. Branda has many years of experience as a piano and violin instructor to students of all ages and levels. She also accompanies many vocalists and solo instrumentalists at recitals.

Erica Tauscher Tran is a pianist and pedagogue who is passionate about teaching the instrument she loves as well as performing as a solo and collaborative pianist.  Born into a family of musicians, she started piano lessons at the age of three and has been teaching piano for over 10 years.

Erica received her Bachelors of Music in Piano Performance from the University of Kansas, where she studied with Richard Reber and Steven Spooner.   In 2009, she was the first prize piano winner in the Kansas City Musical Club and in the same year won first prize at the Kansas State Collegiate Auditions, Junior/Senior Level.   Erica continued her education at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, and completed her Masters of Music in Piano Performance in 2012 under the guidance of Eduardus Halim (the last pupil of Vladirmir Horowitz).

Erica was previously a member of the adjunct faculty at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development as well as a faculty member at the International School of Music in Bethesda, Maryland where she taught piano to almost 40 students.

She now resides in Dallas, Texas with her husband, Paul.

Dr. Eri Yoshimura, born in Osaka, Japan, earned a music education degree from Shinshu University before moving to Denton, Texas. There, she obtained Master’s and Doctorate of Musical Arts degrees in piano performance from the University of North Texas under Dr. Pamela Mia Paul with a related field in Music and Medicine under Dr. Kris Chesky.

Dr. Yoshimura’s scholarly research has focused on understanding and preventing piano-related medical problems. Her research papers were published in the Medical Problems of Performing Artists journal 2006 and 2008 and in the MTNA E-journal 2009. Her dissertation focused on the possible application of an ergonomically modified keyboard (a narrower-sized keyboard) for reducing piano-related pain among small-handed pianists. In April 2006, she performed on the 15/16-sized keyboard in one of her doctoral degree recitals; this performance marked this keyboard’s concert premiere. She has presented her research in conferences at Aspen (PAMA), Chicago (NCKP), Serbia (EPTA) and England (RNCM). She won the research scholarship in 2008 and was featured in the university homepage/magazine and regional TV news reports and radio. She is currently using the 7/8-sized keyboard to teach her students at this school.

Dr. Yoshimura has performed solo, chamber and four-hands recitals in USA (including Hawaii), Japan, Mexico, and Hungary (Franz Liszt International Festival). She and Hungarian pianist, Emöke Ujj, released their first album together, “Contemporary Piano Music for Four Hands”, which contains the works by four living composers. All compositions in this album were specifically composed for Emöke and Eri.

Dr. Yoshimura's Web site is www.dolcedolcemusic.com