Meet Our Teachers

Susanne is a wonderful piano teacher. She has that rare combination of talent, experience and passion that you want in a good piano teacher. With her positive energy and outgoing personality, Susanne has an ability to motivate and encourage her students - as demonstrated by her many years of successful piano teaching.

Susanne's piano education includes advanced study at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Canada and private study with many great teachers; including Leigh Unger, Rita Fusek and Dr. Earl Voofhies. Susanne also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from California State University, Fullerton.

Susanne has been taking private piano students in Orange County since 1982, including several years of teaching at the prestigious corporate-owned Yamaha Music Center in Irvine. We think you will LOVE the musical gifts that Susanne has to share with you and your family.

Stephanie Bowman has been studying music for twenty-two years and teaching for over fourteen years. She began studying music at the age of six years old under the tutelage of several caring teachers. Growing up, she participated in Bach Festivals, Honors Recitals, national exams and competitions hosted by the Music Teachers Association of California.

Stephanie has performed in Brazil, England, France, China, South Africa, and the Philippines, and has directed a women's ensemble that toured in Thailand and Vietnam. She graduated with a Bachelor in Music Arranging from the Honors Program at Azusa Pacific University where she performed with the University Choir and Orchestra, Oratorio Choir, and the Vocal Jazz Ensemble. She also has an MA from CSU Dominguez Hills.

If you are looking for a very well-qualified young piano/voice teacher who is passionate about academia and the teaching profession then Stephanie may just be the perfect fit!

Tamara studied voice at Carnegie Mellon University and earned her BFA in musical theater from the Boston Conservatory.  Her performing endeavors have taken her from many performances at the Three Little Bakers Dinner Theater in her home town of Delaware, to the national and international tours of Bye Bye Birdie, Nickelodeon’s Rugrats Live, and Dora the Explorer Live, both with unprecedented sold out performances at Radio City Music Hall.  She feels extremely blessed to have spent ten years performing on stages touring throughout the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and the Philippines.  She is a proud member of the Actors Equity Association, the union representing professional stage managers and actors.  

Tamara currently teaches in the musical theater and classical voice conservatories at Orange County School of the Arts.  She also has been a director, choreographer, and voice teacher and director at several studios in the area including Acting Academy for Kids and Yorba Linda Spotlight Theater Company.  For seven years, Tamara served as the director and choreographer for Sanford School in Hockessin, De before making the big move out west.

Local product Josh is one of the youngest and most energetic drum teachers in Orange County. In the spring of 2011 Josh was offered a position and started teaching at a studio in Irvine - where he continues teaching part-time even to this day. Josh's teaching method has been so well received that his student roster has tripled since he started . To date Josh has had the pleasure of teaching 80+ students ranging in age from 5-56. Josh continues to build strong, customized, high-energy learning experiences for each and every one of his valued drum students.

Josh's personal playing experience includes stints with San Clemente based soul-rock band, Offwhite, along with a side project called , Reason To Lie, eventually winning a local “Battle of the Bands” competition at Etnies Skatepark (Lake Forest) in spring 09’. All of this rock-n-roll in addition to playing 1st seat in the El Toro High School Jazz Ensemble. Josh continues to gig locally while also focusing on studies at Cal State Fullerton where he is actively pursuing his BA and MBA degrees. Josh is available by appointment via our free online trial lesson form. Give Josh a try - you'll love him!

Eddie has been studying music and performing for 15+ years. As an alumni of the Orange County School of Arts and Boston's Berklee College of Music, Eddie has had excellent education in classical and jazz guitar along with a street-level love and passion for playing good ole' rock n roll! Eddie has been teaching privately and in groups for the past 5 years, with students ranging in age from 7 years old to 77 years old.

Aspiring to be a completely universal guitarist, Eddie has a deep love and respect for music. He is very positive and encouraging with his students in order to help them get the most fun out of playing music, while still obtaining excellent proficiency.

OC Music is pleased to have Michael Mekata in our musical family. Mr. Mekata recently retired from the Saddleback Valley Unified School District where he was an instrumental music teacher inspiring young musicians for 38 years. With his education (Music Ed degree from CSU Fullerton and a California Teaching Credential) along with his considerable experience, Mike is able to teach virtually all orchestral instruments - but his focus in our studio is specifically Clarinet and Saxophone. While attending CSUF Mike studied under Kalman Bloch Principal Clarinetist, LA Philharmonic.

Mike is happy to teach anybody that has a passion to play music but the students that he particularly enjoys teaching are the elementary and intermediate kids. With his many years of public school experience Mike has a thorough understanding of that age group and they seem to respond very well to his teaching persona which is relaxed, encouraging and fun. Another “secret” to Mike’s teaching success is that he will often supplement the lessons with custom versions of popular music that the students are familiar with. Playing these familiar tunes really helps inspire and motivate the kids during that early phase of learning when a student may otherwise tend to get frustrated or bored.

If you are interested in a great teacher that really cares about his student's musical success then click the link below to set up a free trial lesson with Mike.

Niko Giaimo is a musician, composer and educator from Anaheim, CA. He currently serves as Director of Instrumental Music at Westerly School of Long Beach and is an active composer, having worked on productions such as Dexter, Dishonored II, the Big Bang Theory, and World of Warcraft. In addition to his teaching and composition background, Niko served as the Manager of Education for the Pacific Symphony Orchestra in Orange County, serving their flagship music outreach program, Class Act, which brings music into the lives of over 32 schools and 20,000 students in the Orange County area.

Niko has given Woodwind and Brass workshops for multiple Middle Schools and High Schools in the Orange County area including Tuffree Middle School, Yorba Linda Middle School, Yorba Linda High School, El Dorado High School, & Tesoro High School. Niko frequently performs and records throughout the Los Angeles and Orange County areas while maintaining a regular teaching schedule. Niko's student's range from beginning to advanced levels and he takes great pride is seeing his students develop the same love of music that he has!

Alex was a child prodigy from Russia who started playing violin and piano at the age of 5. By the age of 12 he was already the first violinist at the Big Symphony Orchestra in Russia. He received numerous local and international awards. Mr. Alex competed worldwide as a classical musician and also traveled to Australia and won first place at a Jazz Festival featuring violin only competitors. Alex is a master trained musician and can write scores for any instrument or music.

Alex has spent nearly 40 years as a professional performer and music instructor. After serving as an artist and teacher at the Music Conservatory in Vladivostok, Russia, he came to the United States and received his U.S. teaching credentials at the University of Miami. He has performed as the Violin Concert Master with the Saddleback Symphony. Alex's students range from beginners to advanced players, young children to adult, and each receive the perfect basic foundation techniques of violin, the method of world renown artists such as David Oistrakh, Yasha Heifetz, and Leopold Auer. Alex can also instruct using the Suzuki method, if that is the student's preference. Mr Alex is a patient teacher who has a friendly personality and is particularly good with children.

In her youth Miss Elizabeth studied with Chicago-area piano teachers.  She added cello lessons in high school with Lois Colburn and continued her music education at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. Before moving to Orange County Elizabeth played cello for ten years with the Evanston Symphony Orchestra under conductor/cellist Frank Miller.

For the past 20+ years, Ms. Moulton has been the Principal Cellist of the South Coast Symphony Orchestra performing at Crossline Church in Laguna Hills.  She also enjoys playing chamber music for weddings and other occasions at various local venues such as the Mission San Juan Capistrano and Laguna Niguel Presbyterian Church.

Teaching the piano and the cello has also been her lifelong passion.  Since 2011, she has been a visiting cello coach at local schools.  Elizabeth is happy to be on the teaching staff of OC Music as a piano and cello instructor.  She is glad to see her students of all ages developing their skills and enjoying music.

Dr. Lauren Miller is a very highly qualified violinist and educator. In addition to playing many, many professional shows with the Florida-based HMI Orchestra - a cross-genre group that performs classical, jazz, latin, pop, folk and film music with a variety of well-known artists, Lauren has earned three advanced degrees including; a Bachelor of Music in string performance from the University of Colorado, and both a Master of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami.

Since moving back to Orange County in 2017 to be near family, Lauren has been performing with the Dana Point Symphony Orchestra and and accepting a few private students under her wing. Dr. Miller has a fondness for beginning students and as an instructor her goal is to promote physical and mental wellness amongst her students while bringing out their musicality and polishing their technique.