Doris Ngai is the co-founder of Opus 1 Music studio and a full time piano instructor. Her passion of music was inherited from her father, a professional violinist and a former member of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Doris has won various piano competitions at Hong Kong Schools Music Festival in her early age. 

In 1997, she continued her piano study in Vancouver, Canada under Yang Yunlin, who is a current Music Professor at Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Doris received her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. She has studied with Robert Silverman and Sara Davis Buechner.

Doris is a member of the Music Teachers' Association of California. She has also received trainings in different early childhood education program for music such as the Music for Young Children, Harmony Road Music and Music Together Programs.

Sici Tsoi

Sici Tsoi graduated from San Jose State University with a Master of Arts in Music and received her Bachelor of Arts in Music from Hong Kong Baptist University.  She has been involved in the music field for over 15 years with experience and training as a sound engineer, music theory and piano teacher, and conductor.

Sici has been teaching in over 30 pre-schools and elementary schools throughout the Bay Area, including Stratford San Jose, Stratford Sunnyvale, Norwood Elementary School, and more. Also, she has completed the Music Together certification program. Sici was also trained as a professional singer when she was a member of the Hong Kong Baptist University Chamber Choir, performing worldwide through various repertoires from Renaissance to Jazz.

Leah Liu

Leah Liu has had a very solid and complete classical music education since the age of six. She studied in the musically-talented student education program which was funded by the Taiwan Ministry of Education; she majored in piano performance and minored in double-bass. Leah received her BA degree in Soochow University, and then continued her piano performance study in USC.
Leah has won several music competitions, including the first place of Taiwan National Piano Competition at the age of 18. She is an active musician with tremendous performance experiences. She gives piano recitals, performs chamber music, and plays double-bass in orchestra year round. She used to be the bass player in Taipei Symphony Orchestra. Also, Leah is a very experienced music teacher. She teaches piano and music theory. Under her instruction, many of her students have won awards in various music competitions, passed college entrance examinations and different graded exams.

Zhou Qi (Cindy)

Cindy Zhou is a great pianist. She got her Bachelor Degree in Piano Performance in Sichuan Conservatory of Music, studying with Mr. Xu, the Chairman of Piano Department. After that, she came to America and received her Masters Degree at San Francisco Conservatory with Professor Sharon Mann. During her 20-year long piano career, she performed around the world and has won many different competitions. Some of her achievements include: Sixth place at the "Lira International Piano Competition" in St. Petersburg, Russia, Second place at the Chopin Competition in Hong Kong, Fourth place at the Chinese Music Competition in Hong Kong and many more...

Cindy is a very experienced piano teacher. She started teaching piano when she was in Sichuan Conservatory of Music. During her MM, she was teaching in Miss Tao's Studio and Opus 1 Music Studio. Now, she is enjoying the music time with all her students at Opus 1.

Cindy is a piano teacher who wants to lead children to love piano, and alllow them to enjoy music their whole life. Her first goal is to build children's interest in playing piano, while building solid foundations.

Here is Cindy's Recital:

Weonsun Joo

Pianist Weonsun Joo was born in Seoul, South Korea where she began her piano studies at the age of six. She received a Bachelor of Music degree from Yonsei University in Seoul.  In 2006 Ms. Joo moved to California, where she continued her studies at Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU) in Belmont, CA, earning an MFA.  At NDNU, she assisted in music direction of Sondheim’s Company, Henry Mollicone’s Children of the Sun, and Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel. She also studied organ and sacred music, and served as organist at the Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul, Westhope Presbyterian Church in Saratoga, CA and later at Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church Parish in Santa Clara, CA.  She played piano for Evan Mack on the premiere of Angel of the Amazon. Also, she played with the Pocket Philharmonic for Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. Recently, she performed in the Duo Piano Concert tour around the Bay Area.

As a piano teacher, Ms. Joo has taught music lessons to children for over twenty years with all levels and age groups in Seoul, Tokyo, and San Jose. She believes that everyone is able to reach perfection based on her/his natural gift combined with hard work and that her role is to offer the strong fundamentals of piano basic skills and theory for a lifetime of music making.

Nina Hsu

Nina started playing piano when she was very young.  During her early years of school in Taiwan, she studied in the music program and participated in national orchestra, symphonic band and choir. In addition to piano, Nina minored in French horn and percussion.  Nina is currently in the Masters’ Program at Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU) in Belmont, CA under the instruction of Thomas LaRatta.  

Nina has more than 8 years of teaching experience in both private and group lesson. She has experience in preparing students for graded piano exams and competitions. As for herself, Nina is actively participating in many performances, both concert and recital, around the Bay Area.  

Jinnan Cao

Jinnan started to play the piano when he was three years old. He won first prize at the Chinese Children's Piano Competition at the age of 6. Since then he has continued to win competitions around the world including second prize winner at the 12th Hong Kong Piano Open competition and first prize at the International Piano Player competition in 2008. Jinnan received the highest score in auditions for the Wuhan Conservatory of Music in China, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree while studying with Professor Lian-Ping Zhu. Jinnan also has a Master’s degree with outstanding professional skill in piano performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he studied with the world famous musician Dr. Sharon Mann.  

Since graduating, Jinnan has been actively teaching around the Bay Area and helping prepare students for various piano graded exams.

Irina Vorobyeva

Ms. Irina's musical journey began at a young age. She studied guitar and piano at North Kazakhstan state University and now has experienced in teaching both private and group guitar and piano lessons for students of different age. 

Anna Wang

Anna (Fangxin) Wang received her Master of Music in Piano Performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music with Dr. Sharon Mann. During these years, she was not only a recipient of the Janet Rose Piano Scholarship, but also awarded the Outstanding Achievement of Piano Department. Before completing her undergraduate dual degree in Piano Performance and Electronic Organ Performance from Shanghai Conservatory of Music, China, she is a graduate of the Xinghai Conservatory of Music Prep Division.

Since age of 7, Anna has performed in piano recitals in many different venues across US, Japan and China. Besides her principal instrumental pursuits, she actively studied chamber music strings and piano with renowned Professor Paul Hersh. Her current performing projects include a piano trio in Bowdoin International Music Festival, ME, US and several concerts in San Francisco Conservatory.

Anna has maintained a piano studio since 2007. She believes that learning piano is not only the technical skills, but also to extract a deep emotional understanding and appreciation of the music.

Mark Wanless

Carrie Zhang

Recently performed as the Tango Singer with San Francisco professional chamber opera company - Ensemble Parallel in the production of The Great Gatsby. Ms. Zhang began learning the piano at the age of five, and holds a certificate with merit with the Trinity College London in piano. A classically trained singer, she has recently performed in the American premier of French composer Philippe Hersant's "Wanderung". Last year, Ms. Zhang performed the roles of Marzelline in Fidelio, Damigella in L'incoronazione di Poppea, Sesto in Giulio Cesare as a part of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music's opera scenes program. A divisional winner at the NATS festival in 2010, Ms. Zhang holds a degree from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, and is currently completing her Bachelor's degree at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. An active performer and teacher, her up and coming engagement includes the World Premier of "Anosmia" by New York composer Neil Rolnick at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Chazz Alley

Riley Noble Cook

James Pytko

James Pytko has dedicated his life to musical performance and education. He received his Artist Diploma from the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music in 2011, where he studied with Richie Hawley. James currently freelances in the Bay
Area as well as performing regularly with Symphony Parnassus in San Francisco. He currently teaches at the Community School of Music and Arts, the Veksler Academy and the Gorin School of music as well maintaining a private studio.

Richard Ngai

Richard Ngai started to learn Violin at age of 6.  In the early years of his music career, Richard has performed around the globe as a member of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. His career as a music instructor spans from various music schools including violin instructor at Hong Kong's renowned Music Office of the Government Secretariat and St. Paul's International School. After relocating to the Bay area, Richard is continuing his music-teaching career and is currently a music instructor at The Harker School in San Jose. Mr. Ngai has also been a member of a few local orchestras including the acclaimed Nova Vista Symphony Orchestra.  Richard has more than 35 years of teaching experience.

Vincent Montre

Vincent studied at the French National Music School in Paris and performed with cover bands in France and abroad. He moved to Detroit, Michigan, in 2001 where he performed on a weekly basis. He also began teaching private guitar lessons in 1994 and was subsequently hired as a full time teacher in various music schools. Vince emphasizes that lessons should always be fun and interesting.  "There's enough variety in music that it should please everyone." Vince recently relocated to the Bay Area where he performs and teaches guitar to all ages.

Dennis Ngai

Dennis Ngai began learning the violin at the age of six under the guidance of his father; who is a former member of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Dennis has passed the Associated Board of Royal School Grade 8 violin exam when he was eleven years old.

In Hong Kong, Dennis was an active musician and performer. He was a member of the Hong Kong Youth Symphony Orchestra, Shatin Philharmonic
Orchestra, and Hong Kong Cantonese Opera Symphony Orchestra. Dennis was a violin instructor at Liu Shih Kun Piano & Arts Centre.

After he relocated to United States, Dennis became a member of the Saratoga Symphony Orchestra. During his early music career, he studied violin under Professor Leung Kin-Fung and Wei He.

In 2006, he was invited to perform at the World Journal Center as a soloist.
He performed one of the most famous Chinese love song called the
"Butterfly Lovers". Dennis received his Associate Degree in Music from
Foothill College, and will continue his study in violin performance at the
San Francisco State University. Dennis values violin playing as an intrinsic
experience. However, he also believes that establishing good foundation is
the key to successful playing.

Mollie McReynolds

Mollie Solow McReynolds, Soprano, has a Bachelor of Music Degree in Vocal Performance from San Francisco State University where she studied with Sara Ganz and Dr. Alissa Deeter. She accompanied her teacher, Dr. Alissa Deeter, to The University of North Carolina at Charlotte where she continued her studies in Vocal Pedagogy earning both a Master's Degree and a Graduate Certificate. Mollie has been seen in the roles of The Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute, Despina in Cosi fan tutte, Ännchen in Der Freischütz, Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance, and Tytania in Midsummer Night's Dream. Mollie participated in Opera Classica Europa's apprentice program in Germany where she received the Licia Albanese Scholarship and was a featured artist. Mollie is also a certified yoga teacher and wrote her master's thesis on the benefits of yoga in the voice studio; she brings her knowledge of anatomy and body mechanics into her teaching.

Patrycja Poluchowicz

When Patrycja launched her singing career in her native Poland at age 12, she focused mainly on the pop and musical-theater genres. Later on, however, she developed an interest in and everlasting love for classical music, graduating from the Music Academy in Lodz, Poland, with a master's of arts degree in vocal and acting. In 2001, Patrycja moved to the United States and earned a second master's degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Patrycja has been actively performed in many roles at opera and musical-theater productions around the bay area. Patrycja was also part of the Sarasota Opera's Young Artists Program in Florida. Her new CD, The Wonderful World of Opera and Operetta, was recorded with the Opole Symphony Orchestra and was released last year to great success.

Krista Wigle

Krista Wigle, Voice Teacher, received her Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees in Vocal Performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.  She has been a professional singer for 20 years and a voice teacher and music director for 12 years.  As a singer, Ms. Wigle has performed in numerous operas, musical theater productions, cabarets, recitals, and concerts.  Some of the operatic roles that she has performed include:  Musetta in La Boheme, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Adele in Die Fledermaus, andYum-Yum in The Mikado.  Musical Theater roles include:  Cleo in The Most Happy Fella, Petra in A Little Night Music, andJennyin The ThreePenny Opera, among others.  In addition to these roles, she performed Carlotta in the long running San Francisco production of The Phantom of the Opera, and recently returned to the role in the Las Vegas production. 

As a teacher, Ms. Wigle has maintained her own private vocal studio in San Francisco for 11 years, and has taught musical theater and singing classes at the American Conservatory Theater for 12 years.  Also at A.C.T., she vocally arranged and music directed many fully staged musical productions including: Hair, Shed a Little Light, Dangling Conversations, The Ladies of the Canyon, Across the Universe, and Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris.  In addition, she was the Assistant Music Director for A.C.T.'s mainstage production of A Christmas Carol.  Many of her students have gone on to have careers on Broadway, television and movies, including Darren Criss, who plays Blaine in the television show, Glee, and Julia Mattison, who is a cast member in the Broadway production of Godspell.

Administrative Team

Dennis	Irina & May	Chau