Kelly Quek

Principal/Senior Piano Instructor/MEP/A-Level/ IB Music/ Advanced Theory

Music LifeStyle Academy is the brainchild of Kellyn Quek, a qualified teacher of piano and music theory for roughly 20 years. Among her alma maters are Kingston University in London, from which she graduated with BA(HONS)MUS, as well as a Diploma in Music.

Besides teaching, she also volunteers her coaching and music arrangement services for the Choir at a non-profit organization and has personally spearheaded numerous performances and fund raising efforts over the years.

As an ardent lover of music and a firm believer in its enriching effect on one’s emotional development and spiritual well-being, Kellyn started this academy with the intention of sharing her passion with those around her, hoping to teach others to think of music not merely as a form of entertainment or leisure, but as a way of life. The aim of the academy is to cultivate a genuine love and appreciation for music that extends beyond examinations and paper qualifications.

As a teacher, Kellyn believes in making music lessons both accessible and enjoyable for her students. Therefore, at Music LifeStyle, one can expect a structured and well-organized curriculum that has been carefully crafted with the goal of providing a holistic musical education in mind, as well as being tailor-made to meet the diverse requirements of all students.

Narine Gevorgyan

Senior Violin/Viola Instructor/Performer

Narine earned her Master Degree from Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory. She began her musical education in Gnessin State Musical College when she was 8 and almost immediately took part in a stormy musical life. She participated and became laureate of the 2nd prize at “New Generation Award 1999” International music competition, 1999 Moscow, Russia and 1st prize at the “Young Talented Musicians of Russia” music competition back in 2002 in Moscow, Russia. With her family, she moved to Armenia in 2002 and entered the Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory in the class of famous Armenian violinist and teacher Victor Khachatryan (student of Leonid Kogan).

While studying at the Conservatory she had participated in many national festivals of chamber and orchestral music as a soloist and a team leader and was laureate of numerous international chamber music competitions in Europe and Russia. From 2007 to 2009, she continued training at the Graduate School of Yerevan State Conservatory in class of Artashes Mkrtchyan (another student of Leonid Kogan). While studying at the Conservatory, she had the opportunity to improve her violin technique and skills in several music academies in Germany and Austria.

During her education, Narine played at various recitals in the chamber halls of Bucharest, Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Kiev. She also actively participated in festivals in Germany, Malta, Spain, Armenia, Russia and China. She is often invited as a concertmaster of touring festival orchestras, such as “Traveling Notes”, “I, Culture Orchestra” etc. In 2014 she was invited to China to Harbin Symphony Orchestra as a foreign specialist, where Narine actively took a part in its musical life. She plays chamber music concert series in China at music festivals, such as Harbin Summer Music Festival, Harbin Russian Music Festival, Beijing Chamber Music Festival. Along with her orchestra and ensemble career in China, she had violin masterclasses in several colleges and universities. As an artist of the orchestra, she has worked with famous conductors of our generation as Zubin Mehta, Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Charles Dutoit, Yang Yang and Chen Xieyang.

She is very passionate and proficient in teaching for both violin and viola on ABRSM and Trinity Exam Preparations.

Khachatur Khachatryan

Senior Cello Instructor/Concert Cellist/Composer

Khachatur earned his Master Degree from Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory. At the age of 13 he received a special prize in the Adult Section of the International Music competition “Virtuoses of XXI Century” in Moscow. In 2008, Khachatur won first prize in the International Italian Art Competition 2008 in Napoli. He worked as a consultant at the invitation of the city of Harbin, China for the performance quality of the Harbin Symphony Orchestra. He has 13 years of experience teaching cello for all levels up to diploma.

Since 1993, he has been an award recipient of prestigious music institutions such as the New Names, Aram Khachaturian Foundation and the Vladimir Spivakov Foundation. He considers the cycle of Bach’s six suites for solo cello his specialty and often plays them in one sitting.

Apart from performing, he also actively composes professionally symphonic works, chamber music and orchestral arrangements. One of his more accomplished works would be the arrangement for orchestra of Rachmaninoff’s Preludes.

He has been producing distinction students since his teaching at the academy on ABRSM Exam Preparations.

Dominic Wan

Senior Guitar/Recorder Instructor/IB/Composer

Dominic is a two-time winner of the Yamaha Guitar Festival, in the Classical (Open) section in 1981 and the Pop (Open) section in 1990. He was also the winner of the Guitar (Open) section of the National Music Competition in 1982. While still in his teens, he had appearances on television with the Yamaha Guitar Orchestra and radio along with his recorder consort, The Pipers’ Guild. After a diploma in music from LASALLE College of the Arts he went on to a BA (Hons) (Mus) from Kingston University, England, majoring in classical guitar.

In addition, he spent his post-graduate year at the Royal College of Music, England, where he obtained an ARCM in Early Music, this time majoring on the recorder. His teachers include Ernest Kwok, John Mills, Jochen Schubert, Michael Schneider, John Sharpley, Carlos Bonell, Elizabeth Page, Philip Thorby, Walter van Hauwe and Philip Pickett. Recordings with local musicians include Mark Chan (‘Nature Boy’, ‘Traveling under the light of the full moon’ and ‘Lear’) and Peculiar Remedies. Other notable appearances include playing recorder in Theatreworks’ ‘Broken Birds’ and guitar on ‘Mortal Sins’, mandolin with the Singapore Festival Orchestra on Howard Shore’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’ Suite and Rodion Shchedrin’s ‘Anna Karenina’. As a composer, he composed music for local stagings of Arthur Miller’s ‘The Crucible’, ‘Grimm Tales’ and independent film ‘Bipolar’.

Mr.Dominic, currently teaches guitar and recorder as well as IB Music Programs at Music LifeStyle Academy apart from composing music.

Yi Ning Loh

Piano/Theory Instructor/Accompanist

Miss Loh Yi Ning is a classical pianist who is particularly interested in the areas of collaboration and education. She is an experienced performer in both the instrumental and vocal genres. Yi Ning completed her Diploma in Music Performance (Classical Piano) from NAFA and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Classical Performance from LASALLE College of the Arts. Her professional qualifications also include both ABRSM Grade 8 Piano and Theory, ATCL and DipABRSM.

During her studies, Yi Ning has been involved in various concerts at the Victoria Concert Hall and Esplanade Concert Hall and sang in the choir under the baton of maestros Lim Yau, Lan Shui and Nicholas Cleobury.

She has performed works for solo piano, piano ensembles and accompanied instrumentalists and vocalists for concerts, competitions and examinations.

Most recently, Yi Ning premiered several works by local composers in January 2020 at The Living Composers Series: Preamble, a one-of-a-kind concert that featured a wide variety of modern compositional styles.

Besides performing and experiencing music in different settings, Yi Ning has also been teaching piano and working as a collaborative pianist for the last 7 years. She has taught students as young as two years old to adults. Yi Ning finds personal satisfaction in creating engaging classes that are uniquely catered to each individual student.

Being a dedicated music professional, she endeavored to deliver only the best piano lessons to her students in Singapore at Music LifeStyle Academy.

Vanessa Guinadi

Classical Vocal/ IB Instructor

Vanessa Guinadi is a classical Soprano singer and vocal instructor at Music LifeStyle, a graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester (BMus (Hons), 1st Class) under the tutelage of Deborah Rees-Davies. Born in Indonesia, she started singing when she was 9 with the Singapore Lyric Opera Childrens Chorus, singing in the chorus of musicals and operas such as Rutter’s The Wind in the Willows, The Reluctant Dragon, Bizet’s Carmen, Puccini’s Turandot and La Bohème in the Esplanade Theatre. She then went on to School of the Arts Singapore for 6 years, graduating in the IBDP Program with a specialization in vocal performance and taking HL Music. While there, she won the prize for Highest in Cohort for Chamber Music (2013).

On the conservatoire opera stage, Vanessa has sung in the chorus for RNCM Opera’s productions of Humperdinck’s Hansel und Gretel, Massenet’s Cendrillon, and for RNCM Opera scenes, sang the roles of 1st Wood Sprite in Dvořák’s Rusalka and Ninetta in Mozart’s La Finta Semplice. Vanessa is active on the recital stage and has performed in solo recitals across the UK, Europe and Singapore, including St. Martin-in-the-Fields, the Whitworth Art Gallery, the Didsbury Methodist Church, St. Paul’s Church Withington, St. Ann’s Church, and in festivals such as Buxton International Festival and Sound Like THIS! Festival. Vanessa was the soprano soloist for oratorios such as Handel’s Dixit Dominus with the Midlands Early Music Forum and in Handel’s Judas Maccabeus with Early Music in the Marches, both conducted by David Hatcher, as well as Kerll’s Missa in fletu solatium and Missa quasi modo genita with Early Music in the Marches, conducted by David Allinson.

As a vocal instructor at Music LifeStyle, Vanessa’s teaching philosophy is to support all singers, whether singing for enjoyment, singing for wellbeing, or singing for graded examinations and professional performance. Singing can be a powerful tool for empowerment and self-expression—it is the one instrument that is innate to all human beings and has the power to create primal connections with others. Genre is less important than the building blocks of vocal technique: Ease of breath, ease of posture, breath support, accuracy of intonation, and above all, connection with and expression of the lyrics. Singing is often a coordination between the mind, the body and the vocal production, and Vanessa seeks to demystify these in a fun and easy-to-access way. Having studied music formally and intensively for 10 years, she is able to coach TCL and ABRSM grades with ease, from repertoire, to aural, to music theory and to sight-singing.

Vanessa is also able to tutor students in IB(International Baccalaureate) HL Music, whether in MLI components, Extended Essay (Music Option), recording submissions, or in the written papers sections. This is supported by her experience as an IB HL Music graduate from SOTA, as well as intensive musicology essay writing and research in the RNCM, which encompasses music history and harmonic analysis of Monteverdi’s operas in the 1500s to Meredith Monk’s interdisciplinary contemporary work in the 1990s.

Serene Chua

Piano/ Theory/ MEP/ IB Music Instructor

A graduate from NTU (Nanyang Technological University), Serene holds a degree in Education as well as Piano diploma. Having full grade 8 in both ABRSM Practical and Theory, she is a very passionate and experienced teacher for both individual and group music lessons.

Being a passionate music educator, she is proficient with the ABRSM, Trinity and Music Elective Programme (MEP) from her past experiences in teaching music at CHIJ Saint Nicholas Girls’ School & St. Andrew’s Secondary School.

Miss Serene has extensive experience in tutoring MEP for O-Levels, A-Levels as well IB Music Programs at the academy. She aims to pursue LRSM and FRSM in the near future.

Kelly Kiew

Piano Instructor

Kelly commenced her musical journey at the age of 5 and graduated with a Bachelor Degree of Science Biotechnology in Malaysia. She holds ATCL, ABRSM Grade 8 Practical, ABRSM Theory Grade 8, RSL Theory Grade 8 in piano studies and has extensive experience working with students of all ages from 3 to 60.

Kelly firmly believes that everyone has the privilege to discover the joy of music. Her teaching style focuses on using fun and engaging methods to help students to understand music. Being a passionate educator, she is proficient in cultivating students’ curiosity and interest in learning, inspiring them to blossom into well-rounded individuals.

Alex Soh

Violin Instructor

A Mechanical Engineering graduate from NUS (National University of Singapore), Alexander has been playing violin for over 20 years and holds an LTCL, ATCL, ABRSM Grade 8 Practical, ABRSM Theory Grade 8 and Suzuki Violin Level 6.

Alexander aims to pursue FRSM at some point in the near future. Passionate and student-centric, he is proficient in teaching various syllabi such as Suzuki, ABRSM as well as Trinity Guildhall.

Enya Lim

Pop Singer/Vocal Instructor

Professing over 13 years of experience as a performing vocalist, Enya is known among peers for her versatility and creative value as an artist, songwriter, session singer, vocal arranger, and producer.

In addition to having opened for and being featured in lifestyle and music festivals including Beerfest Asia, The Conscious Fest, Earthfest, Newport Folk Festival (RI, USA) Boston Greenfest (MA, USA), and most recently Gardenbeats, her artistic appearances under the moniker NyaLi have garnered critical appraise wherever they have been received, from the North Americas (USA and Canada), to Europe (Spain), to South Asia (Nepal), to Southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar.

She has had the privilege of sharing the stage with household names in the music industry such as Andrea Bocelli, Kristin Chenoweth, Wang Lee Hong, and Jacob Collier—on world-renowned venues not limited to Carnegie Hall, Madison Square Garden, Berklee Performance Center and Boston Symphony Hall.

Miss Enya graduated with a music degree from Berkeley College of Music from United States before joining Music LifeStyle Academy as a vocal professional.

Steven Chong

Performer/Harmonica Instructor

A multi-talented harmonica player, Steven currently plays lead at the Singapore Broadway Harmonica Ensemble. He picked up harmonica in 1975 during his secondary school days. He plays the chromatic harmonica, tremolo harmonica, bass harmonica as well as the chord harmonica.

In 1977 he joined Rediffusion Chinese Drama and in 1982, he became the group instructor and Assistant Conductor for their Group Harmonica Orchestra. In 1984, he joined the Hainan Association Harmonica Orchestra and started to do score arrangement for the orchestra and was also responsible for leading the percussion section. In the year 2005, he became a soloist and he played “ Endless Love” at the Victoria Theatre and in 2006 and played as lead soloist for “Butterfly Lovers Concerto” at Esplanade Concert Hall.

He received many compliments for his superb playing skills. Among his achievements was 1st Place in Harmonica Orchestra Competition for 2nd APHF(Malaysia) in 1998. In 2005, he represented Singapore and won a championship with Gold Award in HangZhou(China) INT Invitation Orchestra Competition. He is also the Champion with Gold Award NHC(Singapore) for Chromatic Solo in 2008.

Having the 1st position Lead Player, he also actively arranges harmonica music scores. In 2014, Steven co-wrote ‘Harmonica Method Book 1’ with Ms Kellyn Quek (Principal, Music LifeStyle) to simplify and enhance harmonica learning methods.

Steven has performed many classical pieces, such as ‘Besame Mucho’ and ‘Hora Staccato’. He also collaborated with World Class Violinist & Pianist Dr. Ayke Agus as well as Nicholas Quek (pianist) in performing ‘The Swan’ for the ‘Future & Hope Charity Concert 2015’ at the Victoria Concert Hall.

Wei Xin Ng

Marketing & IT Support

A psychology graduate and counselor in-training, Wei Xin hopes to eventually use art, play and music in helping people cope with the daily grind and life issues. He has also achieved a full ABRSM grade 8 certification in both practical and theory exams.

Apart from his endeavors in the social services, he has an intrinsic liking for creativity. He has dabbled in designing collaterals such as banners and event shirts for various concerts and camps . Being on board the Music LifeStyle team has given him ample opportunity to further this passion in designing for Marketing and Digital Media.