Sing on!

Dr. Janet Favreau received a Bachelor of Music Degree from the University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music, where she studied on scholarship, with Dr. Wolfgang Fetsch.  She earned a Master of Music degree from the University of Southern California. During this time, she spent two summers in Paris, France, studying French Literature at the Sorbonne University.  Dr. Favreau was then offered a scholarship and teaching assistantship to the Advanced Artist Diploma program at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada.  She returned to the United States in 1991, after living and teaching in Canada and Poland.  From 1995-1999 she served on the board of the MTA of California, South Bay Branch, as First V-President and President.  She is currently on the music faculty at Loyola Marymount University, LA Harbor College, has served on the faculty of LBCC, and has a successful private piano studio. She is a member of MTAC (Bach Festival Chairman), MTNA (State Competitions Chairman), Cambridge “Who’s Who”, Executive Board of the California Bach Festival, and other organizations. Her students have participated in the World Piano Pedagogy Conference masterclasses and have won many prizes including the S. Cal. Junior Bach Festival, SCJ Bach Regionals, and at the SCJ Bach Complete Works (4 consecutive gold medals in the last 4 years), Bach Festival for Strings (chamber music), MTAC Panel Honors Competition, International Young Artists Peninsula Festival Competition, Liszt International Competition of Los Angeles,  MTAC Scholarship Auditions, Artists of the Future Concerto Competition, Edith Knox Concerto Competition, Brentwood Concerto Competition, Torrance Concerto Competition, Voce Chamber Music Competition, Redlands Bowl Young Artists Competition, Los Angeles Philharmonic Rising Stars Showcase, CAPMT Sonata Competition, and others.  Her students also have participated in masterclasses for MTAC and the Virginia Waring International Piano Competition, MTAC annual convention recitals, Liszt Festival in Hungary-Austria, Austrian Piano Festival, Idyllwild Summer Piano Festival, International Institute for Young Musicians, Eastman School of Music Summer Academy, Oxford Summer Academy, and the Young Artists Program at the Tanglewood Festival.  Dr. Favreau also judges for MTAC and MTNA piano competitions, the Southern California Junior Bach Festival, Peninsula Symphony “Edith Knox” Concerto Competition, IIYM International Piano Competition, and others. Her students have been accepted as piano performance majors to such schools as the Eastman School of Music, Jacobs School of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music, Boston University, San Francisco Conservatory, UOP Conservatory, to name a few.  She has performed solo and chamber music in the United States, and abroad.  The French newspaper, Le Dauphine wrote “Janet ‘Favreau’ of the United States plays brilliantly!” In 2005, Janet Favreau was granted a Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance from the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California where she studied with master teacher John Perry.  Dr. Favreau graduated with academic honors, as a member of Pi Kappa Lambda Honors Society.

Dr. Kocyan is Professor of Piano at Loyola-Marymount University in Los Angeles.  In September 2007 the Gramophone magazine, published in London and considered the world’s most prestigious classical music journal, chose Mr. Kocyan’s recording of Prokofiev, Scriabin and Rachmaninoff as one of 50 best classical recordings ever made, alongside recordings of such luminaries as Leonard Bernstein, Dietrich Fisher-Dieskau, Nicolaus Harnoncourt and Arthur Rubinstein. It also featured cover headline “The genius of Wojciech Kocyan”. Born in Poland, Mr. Kocyan studied  with Krystyna Moszynska from age six to eighteen. He also studied with two of the world’s most esteemed piano pedagogues:  Andrzej Jasinski in Poland, where he received his Masters Degree and with John Perry at the University of Southern California, where he received a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree. Dr. Kocyan is a laureate of several international piano competitions, including F.Busoni and Viotti, as well as a special prizes winner of the XI International Chopin Competition and a First Prize winner of the Paderewski Piano Competition.  He performed on all continents participating in music festivals such as Musica Antiqua Europae Orientalis, Capri Festival, Bydgoszcz International Music Festival, H.M.Gorecki Festival, Beethovenfest,  Paderewski Festival, Liszt Festival in Vienna, San Francisco Liszt Festival and the Chopin Festival in Paris.  He was honored to be the final gala concert soloist of the Festival of Polish Pianism, and performed the Paderewski Piano Concerto with Maestro Jerzy Maksymiuk at the opening concert of the Fourth International Paderewski Piano Competition.  He has recorded for Polish Television, Radio and Film and his performances were broadcast in Europe, United States and Australia.  His solo and chamber music recordings can also be found on DUX label. He was a subject of press articles in Poland, France, Italy, Germany, United States and Japan.  Mr. Kocyan participated in two documentary films and several stage programs, including portraying Chopin in Barbara Wachowicz’s theatre play and most recently playing the part of Paderewski in a play staged in Los Angeles, California.

Linda McMann is a dynamic person who has shown an unusual ability to connect with the unique spirit about how things should be done in a business environment.  Linda had early success in the media business as the youngest publisher of a national publication, Playbill Magazine – the theatre magazine.  She quickly moved to radio and television until she took the title of President and Founder of her own television production and distribution business providing independently produced programs to television internationally and domestically including PBS stations, The Disney Channel and nationwide to local television station. Enroute to developing her own company, she was Vice President of Western Distribution for Group W Productions and responsible for the sale and distribution for such programs as PM Magazine, Hour Magazine, He-Man, She-Ra and other hugely successful programs of the 80’s and 90’s.  After these successes, Linda decided to start a new career with less travel and started working in the accounting and tax services business.  Once again she started with the basics and learned the business working with a firm with nearly 1,000 small business and individual accounts gaining 10 years experience. 

GéNIA is a Russian virtuoso pianist with her dexterous fingers in many musical pies. An enigma to both the music and business worlds, GéNIA has become an unstoppable entity constantly seeking to reinvent tradition and stir-up convention. Born in Ukraine to a family of musicians and scientists, her musical upbringing was both traditional and privileged. She started her studies at the age of four with her great-grandmother, the pianist and pedagogue Regina Horowitz (sister of pianist Vladimir Horowitz and wife of the Soviet economist Evsei Liberman). She continued her studies with pianist and teacher Sergei Yushkevitch at the Kharkov State Institute of Arts until moving to London. In 1999, GéNIA graduated from the Guildhall School of Music, where she studied with Professor Joan Havill and was awarded the prestigious Premier Prix. She later graduated from Trinity College of Music, studying with Douglas Finch, and was awarded the Founders Prize for Excellence. In 2000, GéNIA made a controversial and pioneering move away from the classical concert platform which had enabled her to travel the world as a performer. Her provocative and youthful appearance around this time, along with her pioneering website, reflected that of key female figures in the pop and rock industries. Although this now seems to be a standard part of the packaging of classical cross-over artists, at the time it was something that more traditional classical circles were not accustomed to. This move naturally led her towards more underground playing circles, where she discovered her passion for expanding the potential of the piano. She realized this potential in collaborations with an eclectic range of artists and composers, particularly in the world of piano and electronics. Today, GéNIA has commissioned over 20 new works for piano and electronics and is regarded as an innovator in the field of new music performance, equally at ease on the stage of the concert hall or the nightclub. (EPTA Piano Journal, UK). GéNIA’s unique approach to piano playing and broad stylistic reach demonstrate her natural ability to draw creative inspiration from many disciplines. This is manifest best in her output as the inventor or Piano-Yoga®, a mutli-dimensional method of piano playing, performing and teaching. This method combines the fundamentals of Russian piano schools with Eastern philosophies, particularly yoga. The first Piano-Yoga® book was published in 2009 in conjunction with the creation of the GéNIA MUSIC Piano School which is housed at the infamous Schott Music shop in London and offers a variety of playing methods which encourage individuality and self-confidence.GéNIA’s recorded music career to date has seen the release of several ground-breaking records on both the Blackbox and Nonclassical labels. GéNIA’s latest CD Piano Book No. 1 by Gabriel Prokofiev, is due for release worldwide in early September. Through performance and recording, she has worked with some of the most prestigious figures in the contemporary music industry including Nik Bartsch, Max de Wardener, Carl Vine, Gabriel Prokofiev, Karen Tanaka, Ton Bruynel, Hayden Parsey, Mike McFerron, Patrick Nunn, Raimo Kangro, David Bedford, Andrew Hugill, John Richards and Howard Skempton. Her innovative approach has seen her work with some of the most prominent dance producers on the commercial music scene including The Early Man, kREEPA, Medasyn, Derailer, Trevor Goodchilde, Germ and Vex'd.GéNIA's London appearances include the Wigmore Hall, Barbican, South Bank Centre, BFI, Kings Place, St. John's Smith Square, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Olympia, Steinway Hall, Vortex and Cargo.  She also appeared as soloist on soundtracks for the award-winning films "Paradise Grove" and "Bookcruncher" and performed at the play “The Night Season” at the National Theatre in London. Her recordings and live interviews have been broadcast on BBC TV and Radio. GéNIA holds six instrumental diplomas: MMus (Dist), LGSM(Dist), PGDipMus(Dist), PGA(Dist), Honours Diploma of Kharkov State Institute of Arts (Ukraine) and Concert Recital Diploma from the Guildhall School of Music (Premier Prix GSMD). She is also a qualified B.W.Y. (British Wheel of Yoga) teacher and trained with The Life Centre®, London. "a musical gem
... a thrilling and intoxicating experience...''  (Chopin Magazine, Japan) 

A native of Los Angeles, Joanne Saliba began her career in education as a teacher of Theatre Arts at Buckley School.  She then went on to work with adolescents with learning and behavior issues, becoming the Executive Director of Poseidon School in West Los Angeles where she worked in all aspects of non-profit education for over 30 years.  She came out of retirement and worked for 18 months as the Interim Executive Director of Charter High School of the Arts, Multi-Media & Performing (CHAMPS) in Van Nuys. Her professional activities include serving as President of the Board of Directors of the California Association of Private Special Education Schools (CAPSES) and as a member of the Executive Committee of the Modified Consent Decree (Special Ed.) with LAUSD.  She served in a civic capacity as Chair of the Community Action Board (CAB) with the City of Los Angeles.  Joanne’s non-profit volunteer activities include serving as President of the Colburn School’s Friends of Colburn Executive Committee and as a member of Colburn’s President’s Council.  She was a Founding Member of the 24th Street Theatre’s Board of Directors serving as its President for three years.  She has been active with the East Valley Family YMCA serving on its Board of Directors and as a Division Manager of its 2015 Community Support Campaign.   Joanne currently resides in Toluca Lake with her husband.  She has two step-sons, one of whom is a classical ballet teacher and choreographer in Pittsburgh.  Significantly, her birth son was exceedingly fortunate to be under the valuable tutelage of Mikhail for many years as a member of the Colburn Children’s and Young Men’s Choirs as well as the Burbank Chorale.  

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