Our teachers

Áine has designed and delivered music programmes in primary schools, led whole-class instrumental and music workshops, directed choirs and supported a wide range of school performances and events. She was the Programme Designer of the TEMPO National School Ukulele Programme and has also worked extensively as a community musician. Her creative work extends to drama and theatre, including composing original scores for stage productions.

Alongside her musical career, Áine trained as a primary teacher at the University of Cambridge, specialising in Early Primary Education. Her teaching experience has strengthened her interest in creating inclusive, encouraging learning environments where children of all abilities can participate, develop confidence and enjoy making music.

Áine brings warmth, creativity and enthusiasm to her teaching and particularly enjoys helping young musicians develop their skills, confidence and individual musical voice.

Sarah currently teaches piano, voice, musical theatre, guitar, and music theory and is the director of both our children's choirs. She is very passionate about building each student's character and confidence through the means of music. Sarah is the eternal optimist and can always be spotted wearing sunglasses come hail, rain or snow. She loves butterflies but claims to know very little about them.

This doesn’t deter her from naming her guest bedroom The Butterfly Room. She loves driving and as a result, is a self-proclaimed terrible back-seat driver. She likes to think there are two types of people in the world: drains and radiators. She tries to be a radiator and avoid the drains. Her favourite cake is coffee cake. She religiously completes The Irish Times crossword on a daily basis.

Sarah has been The Rock of MMA since she joined the faculty in 2012. Sarah teaches on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Judit joined the Munster Music Academy in September 2019 where she teaches piano, music theory, Kodály, accompaniment and chamber music. In her teaching, Judit’s main objective is to transmit her affection for music and allow children to experience the miracle of playing an instrument while providing them with support to learn the necessary musical and technical knowledge.

Judit teaches piano to all age groups, abilities, and musical interests. She is passionate about imparting her love for music to all her students while fostering and nurturing their musical path. Judit leads an active performing career in addition to her academic and instrumental teaching. She particularly enjoys working with singers and has an extensive vocal repertoire in both classical and musical theatre genres.

Judit has been the repetiteur, conductor and music director of numerous musical productions in Hungary including Chicago, The Sound of Music, and Annie. Since 2013 she has been the Musical Director of Egri Pinceszínház Theatre, Hungary. In 2008, Judit obtained her Music Pedagogy Ph.D. diploma in Slovakia. The title of her thesis was ‘The Role of Folk Songs in Teaching Piano to Beginners in Hungary’.

Her favourite research area is piano methodology. However, she is keenly interested in Bartók and Kodály’s piano works. Judit has presented papers and publications in both Hungarian and English. As an honour, Judit was awarded the Eszterházy Károly Medallion in 2011, and the Academic Prize of Hungarian Academy of Sciences Regional Commission in 2016. Judit's favourite food is chocolate and Hungarian stuffed cabbage though not eaten together.

Her favourite composer is Chopin. She is a sports fanatic. Her children know that once the Olympics start on television, the rule is “do not ask Mom, unless it is really important”. Judit is very fond of Agatha Christie's books. She has all her books in Hungarian and many in English. The very first English book Judit ever read was Agatha Christie’s Sleeping Murder and it remains her favourite to this day.

Judit is based in Hungary and is our unique virtual and visiting professor of piano and music theory. Judit visits Killaloe each term hosting two days of intensive lessons and workshops and for the rest of the term teaches her students weekly online. Judit welcomes students to join her online piano and theory classes.

Lucy holds a bachelor's degree in music performance from Trinity College of Music in Greenwich, London. In 2008, Lucy moved to China taking up the post as Woodwind Specialist at Dulwich College, Shanghai. She also taught at Wellington International College, Shanghai and Harrow International School, Shanghai. After many years working in schools, Lucy founded her own company, Chalumeau Music, where she was a director and worked as a freelance music teacher.

This gave her the opportunity to have more flexibility to add piano and music theory to her list of teaching skills. Her popularity as a highly respected and professional teacher really began to flourish during this time. Lucy gained close professional ties with both Concordia International School and Shanghai American School which gave her a glimpse into the music curriculum of the American band system.

Lucy also volunteered as a clarinet tutor for Spring Music, an organisation that brings music to children in rural areas of China. As a clarinettist, Lucy has performed solo recitals in the UK and Shanghai. As a chamber musician, Lucy has performed with The Yulan Ensemble, The Shanghai Baroque Chamber Orchestra, Shanghai City Swing Band, Shanghai International Choral League, and Jive Lizards Quartet.

Lucy is a founding member of The Anemoi Trio. She continues to work with New York Jazz Academy’s Director, Javier Arau, on her personal and professional development as a jazz clarinettist. In 2022, Lucy and her partner decided it was time for a change and chose Ireland as their next adventure. They packed up their many instruments, furniture and 3 cats and moved to Ireland.

With no real plan set, they bought a campervan and drove around Ireland looking for what was next for them. After a friend took them to Killaloe, they stumbled upon Munster Music Academy and after a very fun interview, we can say the rest is history. This is the start of a new chapter for Lucy, her partner and their 3 cats, where Lucy hopes to practise her jazz, enjoy nature, talk to anyone who has a cute dog and meet other like-minded musicians and perform together.

Lucy teaches clarinet, flute, saxophone, recorder, piano and music theory on Saturday.

She has also premiered works from contemporary composers – for example, a piece dedicated to her for violin and electronics – which was played in the Helena Sá e Costa theatre. She has already played in multiple chamber music groups with diverse formations as well as with orchestras such as Youth Portuguese Orchestra, Youth Norwegian Orchestra, Irish Chamber Orchestra Project, Orquestra da Casa da Música, among others.

She has also participated in theatre productions, with companies like Seiva Trupe serving as a sound bank in a performance (with improvisation at the moment). She has had some distinctions from music contests, mostly from the initial phase of her musical journey. She won the prize for the best interpretation of the Portuguese piece in the first edition of the International Guimarães Violin Contest and a 3rd prize in the Violin Prestissimo Online Competition (2020).

She’s familiar with soundpainting and several types of dance, and has attended mental training and improvisation workshops. In 2021, she also participated in the Porta-Jazz festival with the ensemble “Vazio e o Octaedro”, a project that had its first album released in 2022. She consistently invests in a diversified education.

Noémi recently graduated with first-class honours in the MA in Classical String Performance from Irish World Music Academy Limerick under the guidance of the Irish Chamber Orchestra. As a concert musician, Noémi has performed extensively throughout Europe with orchestras and chamber music ensembles. She is a passionate chamber musician who has won prizes in national chamber music competitions in Hungary.

She is an experienced teacher who loves working with children of all ages. In Ireland she had the opportunity to teach in the Sing Out With Strings and the Saturday Strings with the Irish Chamber Orchestra in Limerick. In her teaching, Noémi creates a friendly, relaxed yet supportive atmosphere in her lessons which encourages her students to be more confident and enthusiastic about their musical experience.

Noémi's strong bond with Ireland and traditional music was ignited a few years ago when she played violin in an Irish Punk Rock band consisting of Hungarian musicians! She is a multi-passionate creative who is fond of writing novels, composing music, taking photos, and drawing in her leisure time. Looking at her slender figure, no one would suspect that she can eat bottomless bowls of her favourite food, French fries morning, noon, and night.

Noémi is based in Hungary and teaches as part of our Digital Music Academy. We welcome students to join Noémi's online classes where she teaches violin, viola, and chamber music.

Pranayam relocated to Shanghai with his band in 2004 and has since become a highly regarded and respected freelance drummer collaborating and performing with a diverse collective of musicians from across the globe. Pranayam holds a first-class honours degree in Creative Music Performance from Falmouth University, UK and teaching qualifications from Rock School, London.

He was a passionate, dynamic drum and guitar tutor in Shanghai with a thriving teaching studio in primary and secondary schools. In concert, Pranayam has performed in the Philippines, Hong Kong, UK, Germany, New York and extensively throughout China. He is an International Ambassador of 'Petra Drums' and enjoys performing both as the musician in front of the microphone and the sound engineer behind the magic.

Pranayam enjoys photography and connecting and collaborating with fellow musicians. He is an avid fan of legendary drummers Dave Weckl, Steve Gadd and Virgil Donati and can regularly be found poring over their tunes and drumming techniques. Pranayam enjoys spending time with his partner and their three cats. He has been obsessed with Dragon Ball since childhood. If you’re also a fan, don’t be afraid to ask him about it because his partner doesn’t want to anymore!

We are delighted to welcome Yam to Munster Music Academy where he will be teaching guitar on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. In October, Yam will lead a fab and funky 6-week rhythmic percussion group course.