A graduate of the Escola Superior de Musica de Catalunya in Barcelona, Ester has performed extensively as a soloist and in chamber ensembles. She has performed at the Sydney Opera House, and is a qualified teacher of the Suzuki method of learning piano.
Suzuki Piano Teacher
Background
Ester's musical career has incorporated performing in a diverse range of settings in Spain & Australia, teaching and accompaniment work.
Ester began her musical studies in Spain at the Music School of Manlleu, and later at the Escola Superior de Musica de Catalunya in Barcelona under Manuela Gouveia. She has received piano tuition from esteemed pianists including Luiz Carlos de Moura Castro, David Westfall, Mikhail Petukhov and Wolfram Rieger. She moved to Sydney in 2007 and now combines teaching with performing.
Performance
Ester has performed extensively as a soloist, with chamber ensembles and as an accompanist. In Spain, she was a soloist with the Chamber Music Orchestra of Emporda, performed Contextos with the Infirma Theatre Group and has been involved in several pedagogic concerts in Spain. Ester has performed chamber music with Charles Tunnel, Antoni Besses, the Casals Quartet and the Ysaÿe Quartet. She also has extensive experience as an accompanist in Spain working at the El Palau de la Music a Cataluña in Barcelona and the Auditori Pau Casals in El Vendrell.
Since moving to Australia, Ester has performed in the Sydney Opera House, Parliament House and has been a guest pianist for the show "Nine Scrolls of Kung Fu" at Star City. She also regularly accompanies AMEB exams and concerts.
Teaching
Ester has over eight years of experience teaching piano, chamber music and music theory. For four years she taught groups of students at the Public Music School of Manlleu and the Diaula Music School in Barcelona, Spain. When she moved to Australia in 2007, she commended teaching privately and along with groups of baby music classes. Since completing her Suzuki method training in 2008, Ester has been working as a Suzuki piano teacher at the Lane Cove Music and Cultural Centre, and has also been involved with Suzuki early childhood education.
Ester believes that music should be incorporated into the lives of every child to develop their character and confidence. Through music a child can also develop a deep connection with their parents and family.
Dr Suzuki: Beautiful music comes from a beautiful heart
Qualifications
Suzuki method training, Sydney
B. Music (performance) Escola Superior de Musica de Catalunya
Recommendations
My three children and I all have previously been students of Ester. My daughter has been with Ester for the last 8 years starting in her baby classes and is still currently under her guidance. Ester has an immense passion for piano and music in general. She truly teaches music because she loves to teach it. She also has a deep understanding of kids and how they learn. I have great respect for her and could not recommend her more. E. Ngan
Ester has taught our child from early childhood into piano, now working on Suzuki grade 5. We find in Ester a kind teacher and a forceful teacher with high standards. In early childhood Ester draws on dance and movement, rhythm and percussion, as well as melody with a range of interesting and colourful musical instruments. As a piano teacher Ester is sensitive to the mood and situation of our child with respect to their life outside of music such as school and sport - not to compromise, ever, but to ensure maximum receptivity and engagement with our child. To enhance our child's interest and give broader context, Ester uses numerous - and often fun - examples and analogies throughout lessons, and also draws on the history of the musical style and composer of the piece being studied. Ester excels in so many areas of teaching but pays particular attention to technical details to ensure our child uses a workable piano fingering consistent with the demands of the piece. Ester is not dogmatic but does not hesitate to explain to our child when a fingering is not working. Ester is equally attentive to overall posture, mindset and internal self-talk. Development in piano requires incredible attention to detail and I am often amazed at how Ester draws our child in and makes the details easy to follow, understand and remember. As an accomplished musician herself, Ester bears in mind the future path to ensure our child develops habits that will stand him in good stead in the future. Ester is constantly striving to grow as a pianist too, and so can refer to personal experience to add colour and another dimension to explaining particular elements to our child. For example, "When I am learning a piece I will pick a part and focus on that with separate hands, and critique myself to identify who I can make the dynamics more striking or more in keeping with the period or to match what the composer probably intended." Most of all, Ester is a delightful and caring person which makes attending lessons and our Suzuki journey with the student-teacher-parent triangle a pleasure. Piano is hard but a teacher like Ester makes it easier and reminds us every lesson - without saying it - why the effort is worthwhile. Parent
We have been at LCMCC for over 5 years and love being part of their musical community. Our wonderful teacher Ester has made piano such an important part of our lives and I can’t thank her enough for bringing the love of music to our family. Our piano lesson day is our favourite day of the week! Joanne, Eleanor and Olivia.
