Canada's Professional 

Title



SCHOOL OF MUSIC AND ARTS 
Bringing exceptional music, dance and art  education 

Our Team

Meet our Office Manager and  Faculty Team 

Lissette Martinez

Office Manager 
Lissette has been a part of 
CP School of Music and Arts 
since 2015. 
She studied Accounting and worked for many years in the Bank industry. Upon arrival to Canada , Lissette worked at an ESL school which gave her the opportunity to help students in their transition into a new country and new language.  She enjoys being around kids and families and is always willing to help.  Lissette's favorites hobbies include cooking, embroidery and she also enjoys playing dominoes.


Olena Kovalevska 

Dance Instructor
Olena Kovalevska is an experienced ballet teacher, who also teaches many other genres of dance including jazz, hiphop, acro, tap and preschool dance. She started dancing at the age of 3, studied at Vaganova Ballet School in Russia and graduated from world famous Leningrad State Music Hall. Olena was a the primary dancer of the Krasnoyarsk Dance Company of Siberia, as well as a dancer for the legendary Russian singer Valeriy Leontiev. She had also taught classical ballet at famous dance studios in Croatia and Turkey. Olena has been a member of Canadian National Ballet School and was teaching various workshops and seminars from 1998 - 2008 .
She has been apart of CP School of Music and Arts since 2009 and as you can see dance is her passion for life.

Zoe Pagonis

Dance Instructor 
Zoe Pagonis started dancing at the age of 7. She began training in many styles such as tap, acro, ballet, jazz, musical theatre and lyrical at a competitive level, where she competed across Canada and the United States. Currently, she is a part of a pre-professional youth company specializing in tap dance. Her love of dance has led her to perform in many shows across Canada and assist leading artists in workshops, conventions and guest choreography. With a background in competitive gymnastics from the age of 5, she strived to combine the creative aspects of dance and the physicality of gymnastics into her teaching styles. She is currently attending The University of Guelph-Humber for their Psychology program and is planning to pursue a career in occupational therapy. Her hopes for the future are to provide the proper training for her students in a creative and exciting learning environment. 

Lizzie Gnenna

Dance Instructor
Lizzie is a dance teacher here at CP School Of Music and Arts.  She started dancing at the age of 3 and  was a competitive dancer for competing in jazz, hiphop and ballet, along with lyrical, acro, tap and pointe throughout the years. Lizzie as well took piano and voice classes though and holding RCM grade 8 certificate in piano. She had been teaching in studio and help managing recitals for the past year. Lizzie love teaching and spending time with the students, helping them develop into confident dancers. Her goal is to create class environments where students can learn, grow and have fun.

Meet Our Faculty Team

Candace Santos

Piano, Voice Teacher

Candace has been passionately teaching for 9 years at CP School of Music and Arts .She teaches classical and popular music for piano and voice  in a wide variety of genres. Candace began piano lessons at the age of 5 and voice lessons at age 6. She graduated at York University in the Classical Voice program for her Specialized Honours Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in music. Candace has won numerous competitions, a few to mention includes; 2006 CNE Rising Star Junior Grand Champion and  2012 CNE Rising Star Youth Grand Champion, she won the 2012 National Grand Champion for the Canadian Youth Talent Competition in Winnipeg. She is a multi-gold medalist for the World Championships of Performing Arts in 2009 at Los Angeles. Candace Santos was also honored to perform in 2013 at the legendary Apollo Theatre in New York. Candace aims to continue teaching and sharing this gift of music given by the Lord.


Alison King

Piano, Voice Teacher

Alison King has been working at the CP School of Music & Arts for eight and a half years. She teaches voice, piano and theory. Alison had been in choirs through all of elementary school, and in her teens decided to start taking voice lessons. She began playing the piano at the age of six with her mother who was a piano teacher. Alison has a Bachelor of Music from Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, where she majored in voice. She chose to be a teacher, because she enjoys helping young musicians to develop a love for music. In her spare time she enjoys reading, writing and listening to lots of different genres of music.

Roland Hunter

Guitar, Piano, Drums Teacher

 Roland Hunter teaches  guitar (classical and popular),  piano and drums. He did his music studies at Berklee College of music (Boston), University of Victoria and York University. He has a masters degree in music composition from York University. Roland has been teaching music for 25 years. 

With his students, he enjoys exploring musically diverse topics and guiding them to discover the things they love in music.

Joanna Lee

Piano  Teacher
Joanna started playing piano at the age of 8 and is currently a third year student at McMaster University. She has her level 9 RCM certificate and loves listening and playing soundtracks from various shows. If you find a soundtrack you like, Joanna would love it if you shared it with her! Outside of music, she enjoys reading and has competed in swimming provincially. Joanna is excited to share her passion for music with students!

Meet Our Faculty Team

Coleen Satchewell

Dance Instructor

Coleen is an emerging dancer, teacher and choreographer based in Toronto, ON.  Coleen is a proud graduate of York University’s Performance Dance Program, receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA). Coleen has been able to expand her dance education by being provided with opportunities to perform and create her own work in Dance Innovations. As well as perform and collaborate with the York Dance Ensemble in 2020-2021.

Striving for new heights, Coleen has pushed herself to become as versatile and outgoing in her training as possible. She implements goals as performer and as a teacher and creator. As a teacher and choreographer, she is dedicated to positive practice and challenges dancers to step outside of their comfort zone to receive new information that will carry into their own artistry. 

Kay Tozawa

Violin Teacher
Kay Tozawa has been studying violin since the age of 5. She is a performer and teacher for classical violin. Kay is currently an undergraduate student at York University for violin performance. Some music highlights include placing first at Nationals 2019 with her piano trio, being a finalist at provincials 2017, playing in the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra for 3 years, and completing RCM ARCT performance certificate. She also enjoyed taking part in the trial of the RCM Teachers course which inspired her to start teaching, discovering new techniques of sharing passions with new students. Some hobbies include singing with her guitar, spending time with cats, and watching horror movies. 

Meg Rowen

Voice, Piano Teacher
Meg Rowen is one of our music teachers at CP School of Music & Arts. She began singing with a professional coach at the age of seven and since then has learned to play piano, guitar, ukulele and flute. Her passion for music led her to graduate from Metalworks Institute of Sound & Music Production where she specialized in Music Performance & Technology. Along the way Meg has learned a lot about the music industry and is able to incorporate music business, music history, theory, songwriting and performance into her lessons. Learning from Meg is about finding yourself as a musician and preparing for your musical career. 

Claire Mok

 Piano Teacher

Claire has over 9 years of piano teaching experience where she taught in Tom Lee Yamaha music school in Hong Kong and in Toronto, and has successfully prepared students for the British ABRSM and RCM piano examinations. She graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Arts degree in music and linguistics, where she was awarded a Webb Piano Performance Scholarship. She also has an ARCT diploma in piano performance and was recently granted the Royal Conservatory Teacher Certification. Her teaching emphasizes musicianship development in students and loves to work with their interests in various popular and classical music.

Meet our Faculty Team

Ana Araujo

Art Instructor 
Ana Araujo is an experienced artist with 8+ years of experience in Visual arts, she has taught art classes to different age groups and adults. Her favorite medium is watercolors and acrylic paints to create landscapes and realistic animal portraits. Ana enjoys sketching in her free time and going for long walks with her dogs.

As a huge animal lover, Ana has worked as a Freelance artist creating Pet portraits and more. Working closely with clients to create each unique piece.

Ana graduated from Sheridan College for Visual and Creative arts and also attended Humber College for Multimedia design and development.



Fanny Hung

Piano, Voice and Theory Teacher
Fanny received her diploma in education from McGill University  and she has  BFA in Music from Concordia University. She  has been teaching at CP Music School since 2018, teaching voice, piano, theory, harmony. Also Fanny works as a SK/French/Music teacher in a private school. She had worked as a Music Director in various churches in Montreal and has  over 30 years of teaching experience in Music. Fanny is a mom of three  children and she enjoys watching them training and competing in their High Performance Program of Rhythmic Gymnastics, Synchronized Swimming, and Speed Skating.

Irene Boyko

Piano Teacher
Irene received her Associate degree in piano along with pedagogy for music teacher with the Western Ontario Conservatory of Music. In addition, she is a certified teacher with the Royal Conservatory of Music for Advanced Theory, History and Piano. Irene has been teaching   for 30 years. She prepared students for the Royal Conservatory exams in  both practical and theory each school year. Awards were given to the 3 highest marks in each discipline.
As well, the students participated in 2 recitals during the school year. The final recital was theme oriented so as to diversify the repertoire, create new musical challenges, and have fun for the students as well as parents. Irene have been with the CP School of Music  and Arts for 3 years.


Joseph Apong

Guitar and Piano Teacher

 Jospeh started playing piano when he was about 7 years old, and in high school he learned how to play the tenor saxophone and guitar. He continued to pursue music and classical guitar at York University where he graduated in 2011.  Joseph  have been teaching for about a decade at CP School of Music and Art. Inspiring 

others to see what is possible with a little bit of effort is one of the reasons why he enjoys teaching.  Aside from music, he do like to juggle which he finds uses the same principles as music such as rhythm and coordination. He enjoys running a fair bit as well and love following the latest trends in technology.    

Meet our Faculty Team

Michelle Andrea
Pang-Oden

Piano and Voice Teacher

Michelle is a piano and voice teacher at CP School of Music and Arts.She is working towards finishing her Bachelors of Music at Wilfrid Laurier University.
 She began music at the age of 7, after being encouraged by her family when she sang at
gatherings. Michelle is both self-taught and formally trained with RCM Piano and Theory.
Improvisation and song-writing are two forms of music-making that Michelle is passionate about.
Embedded in her philosophy, she believes "Music-making is a way to make meaning for ourselves, each other and the world
around us." She hopes to not only teach students, but also learn and grow with them as they share time music-making. 




Jessica  Pasia

Piano and Voice Teacher

Jessica is a versatile musician and music educator who completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Music at York University. She has been teaching piano and voice for 4 years and specializes in classical, music theatre, and pop music. Jessica has a passion for singing and has directed several choirs as well as performed with the Concord Vocal Ensemble, Mississauga Summer Chorale’s Frisson and Sehnsucht choirs, the York University Concert Choir, the York University Gospel Choir, and the York University Jazz Choir. Jessica also performed and arranged music for York University’s WIBI A Cappella, Canada’s longest-running collegiate a cappella group who advanced to semi-finals at the 2019 International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella in Buffalo, New York. Jessica loves sharing music with people and is a firm believer in the positive effects of music, especially on young minds. Jessica aspires to become a music therapist.

Justin Kim

Drum and Piano  Teacher
Justin Kim has been playing drums for 20 years which led him to pursue lessons at U of T as well as study jazz and classical percussion performance at YorkU. He plays drumset and percussion in several different projects from bands to orchestras. He enjoys teaching, composing, recording and performing in downtown Toronto as well as the GTA area, performing a variety of musical genres such as jazz, classical, top 40, folk, hip hop, Latin, and fusion. 

Laura Raffin  

Voice and Piano Teacher 
Laura is a classically-trained musician and educator. She studied at The Royal Conservatory of Music‘s Glenn Gould School where she earned a Voice Performance Diploma along with a Bachelor of Music from Thompson Rivers University. Laura is humbled to have won First Place and Most Promising Young Singer Awards at the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS). She also received First Place Awards in Gold & Platinum at the Kiwanis Music Festival. Laura has performed at Koerner Hall, Roy Thomson Hall, Princess of Wales Theatre and at other venues in Canada and the USA. Laura is excited to join the faculty at Canada’s Professional School of Music & Arts, where she looks forward to inspiring each student to advance in their musical training.

Meet Faculty Team

Jacob Manucdoc

Piano and Guitar Teacher
Jacob is a piano and guitar teacher at the CP School of Music and Arts. He is currently working towards his Bachelors in Music Education at the University of Toronto, and aims to complete a Master’s of Teaching in OISE. Jacob began taking lessons at the age of six and retained a constant love and attachment to the piano. He has been in a number of instrumental ensembles and choirs since childhood, and in his spare time has explored a variety of different musical genres and instruments. Jacob believes that passion is the greatest mentor of all and fuels learning more than any teacher could. So before even the most essential fundamentals, the most important lesson a student should learn is to be passionate about their music. Alongside his love for music Jacob enjoys other hobbies including reading, writing, and gardening.

Diane Vallesteros

Piano and Voice Teacher
Diane is a piano and voice teacher at CP School of Music & Arts. She began her musical journey at the age of 6 years old, and has received her Bachelor’s degree in music at York University studying classical piano with Raisa Nakhmanovich, and piano improvisation with Casey Sokol. Through her time at York, Diane also discovered her love for composing for film, video games, animation, and other forms of media. She then earned an Ontario College Graduate Certificate at Sheridan College from the Music Scoring for Screen & Stage program, and has since continued to gain credits composing for the screen. One of Diane’s goals for her students is for them to discover their love and own path with music creation and find their musical voice.

Ashley Zhao

Piano Teacher
Ashley Zhao started the piano at the age of 7 and developed a strong passion for the instrument. She has her level 10 RCM certificate and loves to play soundtracks from a variety of movies and TV shows in her spare time. In addition, she plays badminton at a national level and loves to run. Ashley is honoured and excited to be a part of experiential learning and hopes to be able to show students how cool the piano is, and the infinite possibilities the piano can bring to them. She can’t wait to share her knowledge and get students as excited about the piano as she is!

Alex Azh

Violin Teacher
Alex is a violin teacher at CP School of Music and Arts. He has completed his grade 10 RCM certifiate and I have also been a member of the Mississauga Symphony Youth Orchestra for 3 years as well.Alex is hardworking, patient, kind, and passionate about the things he does. Apart from music and school, he enjoy playing badminton, swimming, and video games. He also take part in the DECA business competition and the HOSA medical conference.



Andrew Gnanapragasam

Piano Instructor 

Andrew became interested in playing the piano in the 5th grade, and has been playing it for 8 years now. He likes learning songs in different genres like pop music, and classical. He has taken part in some competitions over the years. Andrew believes that learning the piano should be fun, and tries to make learning as interactive and meaningful as possible. He believes that an understanding of the fundamentals is essential to succeeding in playing the piano. Aside for playing the piano, Andrew likes playing and watching basketball, and watching movies. He currently attends UTM, and is doing a Bachelors in Psychology in hopes of conducting research in cognitive psychology.



Ethan Collings

Guitar, Piano and Ukulele Instructor 
Ethan took interest in music from a young age, initially starting on piano. He eventually switched over to bass guitar, and has since learned guitar and ukulele. His music experience and knowledge spans from jazz, to rock and pop, and has played with numerous bands across the Toronto area. Ethan decided to pursue music further post-secondary, and has since graduated with a Bachelor of Music in 2022. 


Adriana Ochoa

Piano and Clarinet Teacher
 
Adriana is an experienced educator who has been teaching piano, clarinet and early childhood music for over 7 years.
Adriana began piano lessons at the age of 12 and clarinet at the age of 14. Her passion for music led her to be part of many instrumental ensembles since an early age.  Adriana has a Bachelor Degree in Music Education from Industrial University of Santander, Colombia.
Her Goal as a Music teacher is to provide a comprehensive music education while encouraging the students to love music, feel motivated,  and enjoy the process of learning.
In her spare time she enjoys doing exercise, Hiking, listening to lots of different genres of music and Playing her Piano.