PIANO INSTRUCTORS

David Nuñez

Piano, Music Theory, Musical DirectoR

Los Angeles-based pianist David Nuñez offers his years of experience as a performer, coach, educator, and clinician to help his students reach their goals and fulfill their musical potential.  

He has been trained and guided within a lineage that traces back to some of history's most accomplished musicians verifiable up to Beethoven, and continues to maintain these performance and pedagogical practices while infusing them with a variety of modern genres.  Guidance from internationally recognized performers and competition winners such as the Van Cliburn Gold medalists Stanislav Ioudenich, Olga Kern, as well as studies with renowned performers and pedagogues such as Lois Roberts, Eduardo Delgado, and other leading professionals have shaped David's musicianship and technique in the classical idioms, jazz, and modern styles.

David performs locally and internationally as a soloist and in ensembles, and has frequently been selected to represent the U.S. at various international competitions.  He is a founding teacher with the Royal Conservatory's achievement program, an NMTA and MTAC affiliate, and his students have won first and top prizes in local and state-wide competitions.  As well as being a college and conservatory full scholarship recipient, David's students have garnered similar offers and have graduated from leading schools such as UCLA, USC, Berkeley School of Music, the London Conservatory, Princeton, Oberlin, Bob Cole Conservatory at Long Beach and furthermore.  

David also participates with and directs performances for raising funds and awareness for music organizations, student scholarships, and programs that are in need.  He is currently the Music Box musical director.

Chris Gobeille, Ph.D.

Piano

Dr. Christopher Gobeille began his early music studies with his father who is an alumnus of the Berklee College of Music. In 2006, he entered the applied music program at El Camino College under the tutelage of Mrs. Lois Roberts, a former child prodigy holding graduate degrees in piano performance from the Juilliard School, as well as the Diploma di Merito from the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy. As a former student of Josef Raieff, Mrs. Roberts’ pianistic and pedagogical lineage can be traced five generations directly back to Ludwig van Beethoven. Dr. Gobeille’s pianistic style and pedagogical philosophy reflect yet another generation of that lineage. As a student of Mrs. Roberts at El Camino College, Dr. Gobeille was the recipient of numerous scholarships, including the El Camino College Music Faculty Scholarship and the Mu Phi Epsilon International Music Fraternity Scholarship. He was also selected to perform in numerous master classes taught by world renowned concert pianists such as Mariagnela Vacatello, Chu-Fang Huang, and Van Cliburn International Piano Competition gold medalist Haochen Zhang. After his studies at El Camino College, Dr. Gobeille continued to perform and study privately with Mrs. Roberts while pursuing degrees in French language and literature at UCLA, receiving a full scholarship to complete his B.A. degree. Dr. Gobeille is a member of the Music Teachers’ Association of California, as well as an experienced participating instructor in the Royal Conservatory Music Development Program (RCM). Several of his RCM students have earned “High Honors with Distinction,” receiving marks that rank within the top five scores in the nation, earning them opportunities to perform at USC and Loyola Marymount University. Additionally, his students have participated and advanced in the Southern California Junior Bach Festival. As an instructor, Dr. Gobeille believes in the establishment of a strong foundation in technique, theory, and musicianship, and adherence to a disciplined and targeted practice regimen. He accepts students from ages six and up at all levels. Holding a Ph.D. in French from UCLA, Dr. Gobeille is also an active scholar and board member of the International Machaut Society. His research focuses on the philosophical, literary, and musical culture of medieval France. He is currently preparing a book manuscript entitled Doctrinal Transmission in Guillaume de Machaut: Aristotelian Memory and Poetico-Musical Mnemonics.

Esther Hong-Chau

Piano

Music has taken a crucial part of Esther’s life and she finds it extremely important in defining who she is and what she does. She has received her bachelor's of music in piano performance at the Bob Conservatory of Music in California State University, Long Beach.

Since 2011, she has been working at Hills Academy as a piano instructor. During the course of her stay at Hills, she has been especially experienced with Royal Conservatory of Music Examinations for piano, music theory, and musicianship training. In addition to teaching, Ms. Hong has much experience with accompanying at protestant churches, choirs, recitals, musical theatre productions, and so on. 

Teachers who influenced her the most are Lois N. Roberts, Nina Scolnik, and Sam Shun-Lin Chou. She had honors of having masterclasses with several Van Cliburn Competition medalists, Peter Vinograde, Daniel Shapiro, Stewart Gordon, Phillip Kawin, and several others. She received several performance scholarships including Music Endowed Scholarship, Daniel Cariaga Memorial Scholarship and Keyboard Merit Scholarship in Long Beach. 

Continuing her professional development, she has continually attended several workshops, strongly focusing on body awareness and piano pedagogy. To name a few: Dorothy Taubman Approach, Alexander Technique, and Tales of a Musical Journey, Injury Prevention Technique at the Keyboard, and Music Teachers of National Associate conferences. 

As a performer and a teacher, she values the connection of mind and body. In the future,she is planning to do further research on the relationship between piano performance and braindevelopment/kinesthetic movement.

Kendro Calica

PIANO

Kendro Calica is an award-winning pianist and violinist who has performed in major venues in Southern California and abroad. Two awards include 1st place at the H.B. Goodlin Scholarship Foundation Competition and 4th at the United States Open Music Competition. Kendro has been featured as a solo piano artist for the San Diego Young Artists' Symphony, for which he also played 1st violin, and the SBS Radio and Television Orchestra in Sydney, Australia. He was also principal 2nd violinist of the Filipino American Symphony Orchestra. He has held positions as a church accompanist in San Diego, Long Beach, and Los Angeles. Currently, Kendro is an accompanist and teacher. He holds a piano performance degree from UCLA.

Michael Hill

Piano

Michael Hill is an active performer, instructor, and collaborator who is currently based in Torrance, CA. Mr. Hill has performed at institutions such as University of Oklahoma, USC, CSULB, and Los Angeles Harbor College. Mr. Hill won the first prize in the 2022 Donna Turner Smith Piano Competition at the University of Oklahoma and was also a prize winner at the University Missouri, Kansas City Summer Piano Festival Competition in 2021. 

Mr. Hill has taught students at a variety of ages and levels. At the University of Oklahoma, he held a graduate assistantship, where he taught group and secondary applied piano to music and non-music majors. He has served as a piano instructor at locations such as Opus Music of South Bay in Torrance, CA, and Imagine Music and Arts and Norman Music Institute, which are both located in Norman, OK. 

As an active member of the Music Teacher’s National Association (MTNA), Mr. Hill presented “The Savvy Travel Teacher: Success as a Mobile Music Teacher” with colleagues from CSULB at the 2019 MTNA Collegiate Symposium. He also served as Secretary of the MTNA collegiate chapter at CSULB. 

Mr. Hill is a recent graduate at the University of Oklahoma (OU), with an M.M. in Piano Performance and Pedagogy.  He studied under Jeongwon Ham for piano, and his pedagogy mentors included Barbara Fast, J.P. Murphy, and Jane Magrath. He received his Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance at the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). Mr. Hill’s previous instructors include Craig Richey, Althea Waites, and Cindy Tseng.

Ronin del Castillo

Piano

Piano

Ronin del Castillo is an accomplished collaborative pianist based in Long Beach, California. In 2022, Ronin earned his Master's degree in Keyboard Collaborative Arts at Chapman University under the direction of Dr. Louise Thomas and graduated in 2020 with his Bachelor's degree in Piano Performance at the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University, Long Beach under the direction of Althea Waites.  Ronin arranges and composes and has his works featured by piano duos and choirs as well as with advertising agencies in Los Angeles. He especially enjoys collaborative piano which is where he began his collaborative piano journey in high school and as the lead pianist for eight musicals including West Side Story and Wizard of Oz as well as functioning as a choir accompanist. In his undergraduate and graduate years, he shared his collaborative skills in vocal masterclasses, collegiate choir concerts, chamber concerts, and dance concerts. 

Ronin currently serves as the full-time classical staff pianist at Long Beach City College where he accompanies the choirs, voice classes, and classical instruments. He recently has worked for San Dimas High School, Mater Dei High School, Garden Grove High School, and Renaissance High School for the Arts. Ronin really loves working with people and is excited to work with you!