Christina

I`m a committed, passionate musician and teacher with experience in tutoring a rage of subjects; from English Literature and essay writing skills, to teaching violin, viola and piano. I graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of the Netherlands in 2020.

I believe versatility is crucial both in performance and teaching, so I combine aural skills and ear training from my Suzuki method background with theory. My violin teacher was a student of Ivan Galamian, and I am influenced by this school of approach. I find that it gives a solid, yet flexible technical foundation.
I have also done courses in Alexander Technique and Feldenkrais which I use in my teaching, in order to help students maintain healthy posture and play the instrument in the most natural way.

I find it important to address the needs of individual students, and adapt my approach to find what is interesting, enjoyable and ultimately the best learning experience for the pupil. I am very familiar with both Trinity and ABRSM exam boards, and have experience teaching both adults and children (from age 7 upwards).

My lessons are adapted to suit the needs of pupils individually. Generally I will assess what they are most struggling with and focus on exercises to address these areas, then working between developing stable technique and learning pieces/developing creativity and musical ideas.

Willing to travel: Home Only

Experience: I began playing violin at the age of 5 and piano age 7 with Suzuki method, after musicians visited my school and introduced me to their instruments. I then studied at a specialist music school with a UK government scholarship, before being awarded a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of music in London junior department, where I also achieved grade 8 piano.

During this time I was member of the National Youth Orchestra GB, and performed in the Royal Albert Hall, 2016 BBC proms, and subsequently recorded with Chandos Records (‘The planets’ suite from Holst, and Strauss ’Also sprach Zarathustra’, released in 2017).  
I have since returned to play in the orchestra as an alumni, and was recently offered membership for the European Youth Orchestra earlier this year.

I have also participated in international competitions, such as the Cecil Aronowitz international Viola Competition as a semi finalist, and have won bursary awards such as the Southwell choral society music scholarship. As well as classical performance, I enjoy collaborative performances with different artists, performing in events such as performing with the South African poet and author Antjie Krog as part of the International Poetry Festival in Rotterdam, 2019.

I am an active historical player, regularly performing on period instruments with groups including performances on national Dutch radio as part of The Authentic String Quartet project in 2018.

I am currently teaching online, whilst auditioning for orchestra academies in Germany and Switzerland and applying for my masters degree in Berlin.