Piano Teachers
Michelle Griffin
Head of Pianoforte Studies
Bathurst campus
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Michelle Griffin grew up in the Bathurst region. She studied piano with Jennie Menzies before being accepted at the Newcastle Conservatorium of Music in 1998, where she studied piano with Gian-Franco Ricci. She graduated in 2003 as a Bachelor of Music with First Class Honours, majoring in Piano Performance and Musicology. She began studying voice with Maureen Lewis in 2005 and gained her A.Mus.A diploma in 2011.
Michelle currently teaches piano and voice at Mitchell Conservatorium, Scots All Saints College and St Stanislaus College. She has toured Europe and Asia as a member of various musical ensembles, and has been a featured guest pianist for the Australasian Liszt Society. Locally, she has performed with theatre groups such as Carillon Theatrical Society and is a regular performer at the Local Stages Cabaret Kite series. She has also performed with ensembles such as the Macquarie Philharmonia, Bathurst Chamber Orchestra and Cantora. She also works extensively as a choral director and accompanist throughout the Bathurst region.
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David Hood
Bathurst campus
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Carolyn Miller
Bathurst campus
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Lyn Phillips
L. Mus. A, A. Mus. A (AMEB), Perf. Cert (Trinity)
Lithgow campus
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Karen Rayner
Bathurst campus
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Robert Saville
Lithgow Campus
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Robert commenced piano studies as a child, completing AMEB 8th Grade in his late teens. He continued to play in various community groups and for personal enjoyment, while having a career in the public sector in finance, administration, financial systems administration and management accounting. He studied piano with Lyn Phillips and under her tutelage recently gained a Pass with Honours result for his AMEB Certificate of Performance. He is now continuing his piano studies with Carolyn Miller and is working towards his AMEB A.Mus.A Diploma.
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Bethany Sherlock-Carter
BA ED, BA Soc. Sc. (Psy), DipMus and AMusA (Voice)
Bathurst Campus
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Vivian Zhao
Bathurst Campus
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Vivian has been training in classical piano and violin from the age of 3 years old, over the last 5 years under AMEB examiner, Sydney Conservatorium lecturer and adjudicator Dr. James Muir. Awarded a High Distinction for her piano LMusA Diploma, she has followed both the AMEB and IMEB syllabus for musical theory up to Grade 6. She has also completed AMEB Grade 6 Violin. Vivian was awarded the Sydney Eisteddfod Alf & Pearl, Pollard Memorial Award for Performance Excellence in piano, as well as numerous awards at Castle Hill, Penrith, St. George and Ryde Eisteddfod over the years. Vivian was also nominated for the HSC Encore performance for both Music 2 and Music Extension. She has extensive classical piano and violin experience, but enjoys teaching across all genres, focusing on technical strength and performance skills, with an aim of endorsing a passion for music. Vivian is also a medical student and is passionate about continuing her music teaching whilst studying.
The image in the header is detail from a sketch by Johann Nepomuk Hoechle showing Beethoven’s studio in Vienna a few days after the composer’s death in March 1827.