Bio: Virginia McKnight has degrees from Stetson University and Florida State University as well as a Certificate from the Neuchatel Conservatory in Neuchatel, Switzerland. She has made a career of collaborative piano including work at Yale University. Ithaca College, Cornell University and in New York City. Before moving to Asheville, Virginia taught and accompanied at Stetson University. In Asheville, She has worked as pianist at the Asheville Community Theater, Haywood Arts Repertory Theater, Southern Appalachian Repertory Theater, Mars Hill University, UNC Asheville, and Reynold’s High School. Virginia has recently retired from her position of Organist and Music Director at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church.

Email: charlesvirginia@bellsouth.net

Phone: 828-301-7378

Other Music Related Services: Accompanying/coaching; Church Organist

Address: Asheville

Bio: Dan Mozen is a serious hobby pianist trained in both classical and jazz piano traditions. His repertoire spans from composers like Beethoven and Bach to complex jazz transcriptions that honor the original improvisations. He also explores rock piano, bringing a wide stylistic range to his playing. In addition to performing, Dan has experience teaching piano and enjoys sharing his knowledge. He looks forward to connecting with the local music community and contributing to a vibrant, collaborative musical environment.

Email: platzomat@gmail.com

Address: Asheville

Bio: Studied at University of Michigan, Wake Forest, UNC-Chapel Hill, University d'Aix-en-Provence France. Accompanist at Mars Hill University.

Email: anne.e.parker@gmail.com

Phone: 828-253-7894 or 828-301-4970

Address: Asheville

Bio: I am a concert pianist & violinist and conservatory trained teacher for over 40 years, 15 of which included online lessons. I was educated by professors at the Eastman School of Music, Juilliard & Northwestern University. Visit my website and YouTube channels. I currently perform in local orchestras, churches & special events.  

Email: QuinnMusic@StephanieQuinn.com

Phone: 828-222-3324

For lessons, contact Ms. Quinn through her website.

Website Addresses:

Stephanie Quinn Website

Student Progress Videos

Masterclass / Tutorial Videos

Studio/Store Location, Serving: Globally. YouTube tutorials also available.

Offering Piano Lessons for: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Young Children, Elementary, Middle/High School, College, Adults

Teaching Styles: Traditional and Suzuki

Offering Other Music Lessons for: Ear-training, Solfege, Theory, Composition, Singing. 

Other Music Related Services: Skilled accompanist and chamber musician.

Address: P.O. Box 8932, Asheville, NC 28804

Bio: After completing a bachelor’s degree in piano performance from the University of North Texas and a master’s degree in piano performance from Texas Christian University, Cynthia received a bachelor of science in nursing.  In Texas, she performed chamber music and with orchestra.  Cynthia was a contestant in two of the Cliburn International Piano Competitions for Outstanding Amateurs and was a semifinalist in the Rocky Mountain Amateur Piano Competition. She also studied and performed in Spain. Since moving to North Carolina in 2006, she has given house concerts and performances in retirement homes, country clubs and restaurants.  She also has done benefits for the Hendersonville and Asheville Symphonies.

Email: cynthiarileypianist@gmail.com

Website: https://www.youtube.com/@cynthiariley4033

Phone: 828-447-8886

Address: Lake Lure

Bio: Teaches at Piano Lab in Mills River. I have graduates from a music school in Minsk Belarus. During my college years in the US I have taken lessons from Dr. Hwa-Jin Kim at UNCA. I have taught piano for 18 years, beginner through advanced levels.

Email: elena1apc@yahoo.com

Phone: (863) 398-1988

Teaching Locations: Piano Lab, Mills River, NC

Offering Piano Lessons for: Beginners through Advanced

Teaching Styles: Classical

Address: Mills River

Bio: B.S. Music Ed. piano major, U of Illinois; In New York City: Jazz piano and composition studies with Sir Roland Hanna & Jimmy Guiffre; Electronic music studies with Steve Reich & Philip Glass in Steve Reich's NYC studio and on original Moog module synthesizers in Gershon Kinglsey's studio in NYC; Jazz pianist; composer; BMI Publisher & writer; Church organist; 12 jazz and New Age recordings on the CMR Records label; Currently an Adjunct Teaching Faculty member at Mars Hill University working as collaborative pianist in the Vocal Department and with jazz instrumentalists.

Email: marilynnseits@mac.com

Phone: 561-719-4106

Website Address: mseitsmusic.com

Studio/Store Location, Serving: Asheville, Hendersonville, Weaverville

Offering Jazz Piano Lessons for: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Young Children

Teaching Styles: Jazz, Popular, Reading Big Band Charts and Lead Sheets

Offering Other Music Lessons for: Theory and Composition

Other Music Related Services: Jazz Duo or trio available for parties and events; Church organist; BMI Publisher; original music, original children's songs; recording demos; making CD copies & CD graphics

Address: Asheville

Bio: I have been teaching in the Hickory area for 45 years and teach almost exclusively on the Advanced Level. My students have won major prizes in state and national events. I am very active in the NC Federation of Music Clubs and have held numerous offices for the organization. 

Email: robertrichard@centurylink.net

Phone: 828-962-2269

Studio/Store Location, Serving: Hickory, NC

Offering Piano Lessons for: Advanced

Address: Hickory

Bio: Composer & pianist Nathan Shirley has received over half a dozen national and international awards for his solo, chamber and orchestral compositions since age 21. He is heavily self-taught, but as a teenager was mentored in composition by Olga Harris, the last student of Khachaturian. Mr. Shirley's music has been performed in over a dozen countries around the world. He lives in Western North Carolina with his wife and children.

Email: music@nathanshirley.com

Phone: 828.659.8737

Website: www.NathanShirley.com

Offering Other Music Lessons for: Composition

Address: Marion

Bio: Keyboardist/composer Richard Shulman creates music as a positive influence for himself, audiences and society. -- Richard has recorded 28 of his own albums and collaborated on dozens more. Trained in the classical and jazz fields, he has developed a heartfelt language in these genres while focussing much of his output on music for meditation, healing and inspiration. Shulman has performed at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the UN, and numerous venues in North America and Europe. Shulman has composed for jazz groups, chamber ensembles, choir, and symphony orchestra and creates Musical Soul Portrait recordings for individuals, couples and groups.  

Read the full bio at https://richheartmusic.com/about/richard-shulman

Email: richheartmusic@frontier.com

Phone: 828-658-9604

Website: https://richheartmusic.com

Studio/Store Location, Serving: Weaverville

Offering Piano Lessons for: Intermediate, Advanced, College, Adults

Teaching Styles: Classical, Jazz

Offering Other Music Lessons for: Theory, Composition

Other Music Related Services: Musical Soul Portraits, Jazz performances, composing, arranging & recording

Address: Asheville

Bio: I'm a retired amateur who studied piano for many years in school. I haven't kept up my skills as much as I would have liked over the years, but recently started playing more seriously again. I enjoy many types of music -- classical, jazz, old standards, show tunes, and more.

Phone: 202-256-0225

Email: masmithcae@gmail.com

Address: Asheville

Bio: Wayne Smith, DMA is a retired solo pianist, accompanist, teacher and church organist, having moved to Asheville in 2016 from a long musical career in Kansas City, MO.  With the AAPF, Dr. Smith is a board member and a frequently heard pianist on Benefit Concerts and Performance Group gatherings.  He is active as a substitute organist/pianist for many churches in Asheville and surrounding towns.

Email: owaynesmith@att.net

Phone: 816-522-5317

Performers’ Occasions: Classical Solo Pianist, Church Musician

Address: Swannanoa

Bio: Eunice Wonderly Stackhouse holds piano performance degrees from the University of Kansas (D.M.A.) and Indiana University (M.M.) and a B.M.E. degree from Grace College (IN). She was elected to lifetime membership in Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honor Society by the Indiana University chapter. Her career began in Indianapolis as an independent piano instructor, where for 13 years she taught 30-45 students. Prior to her move to NC, she taught at several colleges in adjunct or FT sabbatical replacement position;: including the University of Indianapolis, Tabor & Bethel Colleges (KS), Grove City College (PA), and Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She has been active in various music organizations and served for several years as a state officer for NCMTA. She has performed extensively in solo and chamber recital settings, including solo recitals recorded and broadcast by WQED Pittsburgh and Radio Kansas. Her article on Louise Talma’s Soundshots was published by Clavier in November 2002, and she edited the first publication of Talma’s Three Bagatelles in 2003 for Hildegard Publishing Co. As Professor of Music at Montreat College, she taught all of the Piano, Music Theory, and Keyboard Pedagogy courses there from 1996-2019. She now continues to teach piano privately in Black Mountain, to adjudicate piano competitions and festivals, and to perform in various settings.

Email: eunice.w.stackhouse@outlook.com

Phone: (828) 669-5479

Website:  https://ews-piano-studio.com/

Studio/Store Location, Serving: Black Mountain

Offering Piano Lessons for: Beginning through Advanced

Specialties: Classical, Sacred, Piano Pedagogy, Theory

Address: Black Mountain

Bio: When I play on my old Baldwin Baby Grant (beside open windows) birds come to sing! They particularly sing along with Debussy, Ravel. Mozart and Bach! Thinking about closed windows (due to air conditioning or seasonal changes) I thought of the Asheville Piano From, which I have never joined, tho' I've played piano for 75 year!. I'd like to join the Amateur Piainists Monthly Meeting group and offer my home for meeting.

Email: mms@mhu.edu

Phone: 828-254-0943

Address: Asheville

Bio: Pianist, Composer and “Steinway Artist,” Michael Jefry Stevens is currently on the music faculty of ETSU and the Asheville Music School. He has released over 100 cds and has performed and/or recorded extensively with many of the top names in Jazz, including Dave Liebman, Oliver Lake, Dave Douglas, Matt Wilson, Han Bennink, Mark Feldman and many others. He was the “Margaret Lee Crofts Fellow” for 2000-2001 at the MacDowell Colony, was a Centrum Arts composer fellow (2004) and is currently on the Virginia Museum of Fine Art’s Touring Artist Roster. 

Email: mjsjazz@mac.com

Phone: 917-916-1363

Website: www.michaeljefrystevens.com

Studio/Store Location, Serving: Asheville, Black Mountain

Offering Piano Lessons for: Middle/High School, College, Adults, Lessons in your home

Teaching Styles: Jazz, Popular

Offering Other Music Lessons for: Theory, Composition, improvisation

Address: Black Mountain

Bio: Laura Chu Stokes, a nationally certified teacher of music, has been a pianist and music educator for more than forty years. A graduate of Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in piano performance, Laura has taught hundreds of students in her private studio and as the director-instructor at Appalachian State University’s Community Music School (CMS). She is a contributing author to the Alfred Music blog https://www.alfred.com/blog/ and Coordinator of the Hayes School of Music Piano Competition for pre-college pianists each fall. As a performer, Laura has been a staff accompanist at ASU and collaborative artist with her husband, trumpeter James Stokes. She has performed numerous recitals, both solo and chamber, and been featured as a soloist with the Columbus and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestras. Laura also enjoys serving as an adjudicator at MTNA state competitions and performance festivals. Since 1989, Laura has conducted hands-on workshops for www.e-znotes.com, a full line of music learning tools developed by her mother, Lucy Chu. She has been invited by professional music teacher associations and music dealers/retailers nationally as a clinician and featured speaker.

Phone: 614-657-6685

Email: eznotespianostudio@gmail.com

Web Site: eznotespianostudio.com; e-znotes.com

Studio/Store Location, Serving: Boone NC

Offering Piano Lessons for: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Middle/High School, College, Adults

Offering Other Lessons for: Theory, Pedagogy, Mentoring

Offering Other Piano Services: Music Educational Learning Tools

Teaching Styles: Classical, Jazz, Popular

Performers’ Occasions: Recitals, Jazz Events

Address: Boone

Bio: I am an accompanist for classical soloists and choirs. I am a classical pianist who works with singers and choirs. I have worked in the past with the Hampton Choral Society on Long Island and the New York Choral Society in Manhattan. I attended Oberlin College for two years and finished my bachelor's at SUNY Stony Brook. I have been a musical director for amateur musicals as well.

Phone: 828-484-9897

Email: tipikoda@protonmail.com

Address: Weaverville

Bio: Christopher Tavernier made his orchestral debut with the Tar River Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of thirteen, where he performed Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1. In addition to being a solo performer, he is also a dedicated chamber musician. Christopher has won numerous competitions throughout the Appalachian region and Southeastern US, including the young artist division at the state MTNA competition in Florida. Christopher received a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from Florida State University in 2023, studying with Dr. Read Gainsford, before going to New York to study for a year with Rieko Aizawa at Brooklyn Conservatory, the pianist of the widely acclaimed Horszowski Trio. He is currently pursuing a Master of Music in Piano Performance & Literature degree from the Eastman School of Music, studying with Dr. Douglas Humpherys. Outside of the practice room, Christopher enjoys being outdoors and playing chess.

Email: tavernier.pianoman@gmail.com

Phone: 828-707-3543

Website: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3atoGLS1O2acfz50_HqUcg

Performers’ Occasions: Accompaniment, Collaboration, Chamber Music, Classical, Orchestra, and Popular

Address: Hendersonville

Bio: A graduate of prestigious The Gnessins State Institute of Music in Moscow with MM in piano performance, chamber music and pedagogic.

Teachers: Profs. B.M. Berlin (links to K. Igumnov and A. Siloti) and A. Stoliarevich (links to F. Blumenfeld and A. Rubinstein). Concerts in USA, France, UK, Canada, Israel, Ukraine, Australia, Russia., People's Republic of China. A piano duet/duo partner of Judith Burganger. Former Professor of Music at Florida Atlantic University. NCTM/MTNA, YouTube.

Email: ltreer@comcast.net

Phone: (828) 505-0412, (561) 235 -1187

Studio/Store Location, Serving: Asheville

Offering Piano Lessons for: Intermediate, Advanced, Middle/High School, College, Adults

Teaching Styles: Classical

Offering Other Music Lessons for: performances : chamber music

Address: Asheville

Bio: Brian Turner is a pianist who has been thrilling audiences throughout North America for 30 years. From solo concerts to an arena tours, he brings a unique passion to playing piano. Brian began performing at age 12, earned piano degrees at Ohio University, and  relocated to Asheville, NC, where he performs and teaches privately. His compositions have been featured in podcasts, online radio, and film and he has shared the stage with KISS, Sammy Hagar, Joan Jett, Cheap Trick, Jason Bonham, Michael Anthony, Meat Loaf's Neverland Express, Michael Bolton, Clay Aiken, Caleb Johnson, Warren Haynes, Cliff Williams and others. 

Email: brianturnerpiano@gmail.com

Phone: 828-279-9729

Website: www.brianturnerpiano.com

Studio/Store Location, Serving: Asheville, Hendersonville, Weaverville, Black Mountain, Canton, All of Western NC

Offering Piano Lessons for: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Young Children, Elementary, Middle/High School, College, Adults

Specializations: Classical, Jazz, Popular, Religious, Theory, Composition

Other Music Related Services: Performance as soloist or group