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  Our Planet Needs More Musicians

Our Teachers

Amilia Hildahl - Violin & Piano

Amilia is classically trained through the Royal Conservatory of Music, completing level 10, she has also studied with the Mount Royal Conservatory. She has been teaching professionally since 2017 teaching all ages and styles and is experienced with taking students through the RCM (Royal Conservatory of Music) examinations.

Amilia has performed with the Calgary Youth Orchestra and at the Calgary Performing Arts Festival (formerly Kiwanis Festival for many years both as a soloist and an ensemble performer, for the Eastern European Calgary Youth Orchestra tour as an ensemble performer and the 2017 Alberta Registered Music Teachers Association scholarship performer as a soloist, she has also had the honour of performing at Carnegie Hall in New York as a soloist.

In addition to music Amilia is a student of Greek and Roman history with a specialization in Greek Archeology.

 
Jan Sullivan - Piano

Jan is classically trained through the Royal Conservatory of Music, completing her Grade 10 level, as well as the pedagogy certification, she is currently studying at the ARCT level and it is her personal belief that teachers should always continue to learn. She has been teaching professionally since 2003 and performing live at weddings, banquets, funerals and concerts.

Jan has taught students aged 5 to 85 in all styles including classical, blues, rock, contemporary, and jazz pieces, as well as music theory.





Tracy Hayduk - Piano & Saxophone

Tracy has trained all her life in music, going through the senior high school music program and studied Jazz/Contemporary Performance at Mount Royal University on both Saxophone and Piano. She has been teaching professionally since 2000 and has taught all ages and all styles. She has a specialization in popular, rock, contemporary and jazz styles.

Tracy has been performing live for more than 20 years as a full-time member of several well-known local bands as well as doing some freelance performance and recording work.





Daniel Calvene - Guitar, Bass & Ukulele

Dan has completed his Royal Conservatory Grade 10 with honors, along with the Grade 5 examinations in Theory with honors (Harmony, History, Counterpoint & Analysis). He has been teaching professionally since 1995 to students of all ages and with his depth of experience he can take a student as far as they want to go in any style of playing.

Dan has performed live in various bands and as a solo classical guitarist. He started his professional career as a rock guitarist focused on the electric guitar and upon discovering that many of the rock guitarists that he admired were actually classically influenced, Dan then transitioned to a deeper study of classical guitar. He is now our specialist in classical guitar instruction, from beginner to advanced repertoire.


Kyle Johnson - Guitar, Bass & Ukulele

Kyle has a Music Diploma in Performance, Guitar and Theory from Red Deer College, his training included most genres of music; jazz, blues, funk, fusion, rock, metal, latin, swing, folk, country and classical. He has been teaching professionally since 2016 for students of all ages and all styles.

Kyle has performed live extensively in the local area and has also been on stage at the legendary Whiskey a Go Go in Hollywood, has played a set with Billy Sheenan in California and had the honour of jamming with one of the all time guitar greats Steve Vai.





Mike King - Guitar, Bass & Ukulele

Mike has trained all his life in music including the American Academy of Dramatic Arts,( Acting program), the Royal Conservatory of Music,(Classical Guitar) and Mount Royal University,(Jazz performance). He has been teaching professionally since 1996 including reading notation, music theory and improvisation and has experience with all ages and all styles of music instruction.

Mike has many years of live performance experience in various bands, solo and duos. Name any kind of musical genre and Mike probably has a story about who he played with and what interesting venue he has played in.




Gail Runge - Drums

Gail majored in Drums and Percussion and dabbled in Guitar, Bass, Flute and Piano in his well rounded musical education. He has extensive experience in rudiments and completed grade two music theory through the Royal Conservatory of Music with additional study at Berklee College of Music, Boston. Gail has been teaching professionally since 1992 and teaches drum kit, percussion and drumming technique to students from about the age of 8 to 80 and with his depth of knowledge can easily teach any style of music.

Gail has live performance experience in rock cover bands playing the nightclub circuit, various house gigs in clubs and hotels, with work in recording studios as a session player and has freelanced for many years doing weddings, banquets, conventions and dance parties.


Mariah Empey - Violin & Piano



Mariah started playing violin at the age of 5 and went on to complete Grade 10 with first class honours in violin at age 16 from the Royal Conservatory of Music. She also completed Grade 9 in piano with honours through the Conservatory. Mariah continued her education with Suzuki Teacher Training through the Suzuki Association of America. She has been teaching professionally since 2010 and is able to teach all ages and all levels in both Violin and Piano. Although she is classically trained Mariah has experience with different genres including folk and fiddle, pop, rock, jazz and EDM.

Mariah has performance experience in orchestras and bands where she has played both acoustic and electric violin. Some of the Orchestras she has performed with include the Calgary Youth Orchestra, the Civic Symphony and the Symphony of the Kootenays.