Jonathan Ireland has been studying classical vocal technique and performance for over seven years. He has been playing guitar and piano for over 10 years while studying different styles of music from genres such as jazz, classical and pop/rock. He has a degree in audio engineering and also sound design. He has been writing music … Continue reading Jonathan Ireland ~ Guitar, Voice, Piano, Bass

Sarah Peters has been playing violin for almost 20 years. She holds a bachelors degree in Music Education from Youngstown State University. While she was there she performed with the Dana Symphony Orchestra, Dana Chamber Orchestra, and Dana String Ensemble. She has also played with the Cleveland Women’s orchestra and several other community groups. She … Continue reading Sarah Peters ~ Violin

Born and raised in Romania, Filip Voia-Tipei grew up in a musical environment from an early age. At the age of 7, he was enrolled into a music school and studied violin for the next few years. While there, he won several local and national competitions. This helped establish a strong musical education and performing … Continue reading Filip Voia-Tipei ~ Drums

I have been teaching violin since 2000. I started playing violin at the age of 10 and have continued through college and since. I played in the Clark College Orchestra and have done so for 18 years. I played in the Metropolitan Youth Symphony in Portland, Oregon for 5 years, during which time I went … Continue reading Michelle Lowry ~ Violin, Piano

Born in San Jose, CA and raised in Fairfield County, CT, Daniel grew up in a single parent household. His mother did her best to consistently help and nurture his talents and abilities as an artist and musician. He first became a musician by becoming a Drummer at the age of 14 by beginning local … Continue reading Daniel Todd Carter ~ drums

Ewa was born and raised in Poland where she received her art education. When she moved to New York City she stayed involved with art and her creativity bloomed when she work as an artist-designer for a commercial decorating company where she held a head designer position. After moving to Arizona she worked for the … Continue reading Ewa Kobacka-Bugala ~ Visual Arts

For many years, I was an amateur musician in the truest sense of the word, pursuing music simply because I loved it, even though I often was not very good at it.  With the exception of several months of guitar lessons where I learned basic major, minor and 7th chords, I was mostly self-taught. By … Continue reading Bob Strahota ~ Piano, Guitar, Voice

Sidni Powell is currently a music education major at Grand Canyon University studying with Dr. Katherine Shields. Her musical journey began at 5 years old when she started learning piano. At 13, she began violin and soon switched to her primary instrument. Soon after she quickly fell in love with the viola as well. At … Continue reading Sidni Powell ~ String Instruments

Stephanie is a Co-Owner of Peigné Dance Studio and has been dancing and teaching Ballroom and Latin for eight years. She is a licensed ballroom instructor and has trained with renown coaches in the dance industry. Throughout her career, she has successfully won competitions professionally with her students as well as a top teacher title. … Continue reading Stephanie Peigne ~ Ballroom Dancing

Mr. McCullers began his musical “career” around the age of 5 by walking up and down the streets of his Southern California neighborhood imitating the great operatic and movie tenor Mario Lanza, whose records he listened to extensively as a young boy. Formal training began at age 9 with piano lessons, later adding voice in … Continue reading Kevin McCullers ~ voice & piano

Joel Rivas was born and raised in West Phoenix, AZ. Joel has a degree in Visual Arts from The Art Institute. He currently lives in the suburbs of West Phoenix with his wife, 2 daughters and his guitars.  Joel is a sketch artist and cartoonist that mostly works with pen and ink. His subject matter … Continue reading Joel Rivas ~ Cartooning

Nathan Nordstrom is a music performance major with emphasis on guitar.  He began studying guitar with Chuck Hulihan in 2012 at Glendale Community College, where he also studied music composition with Dr. Robert Albury and Dr. Robert Elser. While at GCC, Nathan was employed as the sole music tutor for four semesters, providing help for … Continue reading Nathan Nordstrom ~ guitar

Michael was raised in southern Ohio. His hometown was fortunate to have a highly trained piano teacher whose pedagogy began with Beethoven. After high school he was accepted into and graduated from the College-Conservatory, University of Cincinnati with a BM in Music Theory and an MM in Choral Conducting. While at CCM he studied Music … Continue reading Michael Benner ~ Piano, & Voice

Ewa Medynska has been coaching internationally and locally for 21 years. She was a fencing coach in AZS Wroclaw and AZS-AWF Wroclaw team (both are academic sporting clubs) from 1990 to 1996. The fencers trained by her achieved high scores in junior’s classifications and tournament in Poland and Europe. Ewa held also duties in the … Continue reading Ewa Medynska ~ Fencing

Elisa grew up in the wild Alaskan wilderness. Despite the lack of resources and opportunities available to her as an aspiring actress and musician, Elisa was determined to realize her dreams for herself as an artist. Elisa has performed for international figures such as Hillary and Chelsea Clinton, and has toured Europe and the state … Continue reading Elisa Egli

McKenna Kollman is a multi-AriZoni nominated actress from Surprise, Arizona. Her theatrical and musical performance experience spans nearly 20 years – performing on stage since the age of two. When she was 10, playing the lead role of Jo Jo in Seussical the musical, she was bitten by the theatre bug. Graduating Summa Cum Laude … Continue reading McKenna Kollman ~ voice & piano

Mia Johnson has traveled all around the world performing classical repertoire in places such as: Oregon, Carnegie Hall (New York), South America and The Sydney Opera house (Australia). She is a proud, alumni of the Phoenix Children’s Chorus, where she performed for 9 years.  Mia has participated in numerous performances around the valley as well. … Continue reading Mia Johnson ~ voice & piano

Bonnie Calvert began her ballet training as a student of the Royal Academy of Dance program. After completing her RAD examinations, she went on to study at Master Ballet Academy in Scottsdale, Arizona, under Slawomir and Irena Wozniak. During her time at MBA, Bonnie had the privilege of dancing with Phoenix Ballet in their productions … Continue reading Bonnie Calvert ~ ballet

Dalton is a new addition to Arizona, after leaving his lifelong home of Illinois. He is thrilled to have the opportunity of becoming part of the Kat’s Artist Tree family. Dalton first became interested in music at the age of 13 when his parents bought him a guitar for Christmas, it didn’t take much time … Continue reading Dalton Attig

Miss Jessica is thrilled to be a member of the teaching team at Kat’s Artist Tree! Jessica just moved to Arizona from Oregon where she was an active dancer and dance teacher. She has been dancing since she was four and has had the honor to tap dance with some of the Pacific Northwest’s best … Continue reading Jessica Tosti ~ dance