Keyboard Department (Undergraduate)

Pianist Petras Geniusas is one of the most prominent, versatile and adventurous Lithuanian performers. Having mastered an extensive repertoire of classical, romantic and contemporary works, he frequently appears in recitals and concerts with Lithuanian symphony orchestras, and various chamber ensembles and musicians.

Graeme McNaught studied in Glasgow, Munich and Salzburg before completing his studies with the renowned Italian pianist and teacher Maria Curcio in London.

Norman Beedie studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama before gaining a Sir James Caird Scholarship enabling him to continue studies with Guido Agosti and Carlo Zecchi. As well as studying with Nadia Boulanger, he was greatly influenced by the soprano, Irène Joachim, granddaughter of violinist Joseph Joachim, friend and colleague of Brahms, and by the late, James Gibb in London. He has pursued an international career of great variety as a conductor, pianist and teacher.

Coombs has a lifelong commitment to music education. He has taught at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. He was an External Assessor at the Royal College of Music, from 2004-2012, and is presently an External Assessor for both undergraduate and postgraduate courses at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Since 2018, he has taught at the Purcell School and is currently a Lecturer in Piano at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

South Korean-born pianist Sinae Lee leads a busy life as a soloist, chamber musician and lecturer at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) in Glasgow, UK. Since her UK début with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO), playing Brahms Piano Concerto No.1, she has also played with the Korean Symphony Orchestra, St. James Orchestra, Glasgow Orchestral Society as well as RCS Orchestra and Wind Ensemble. She has frequently appeared in concerts in New York, St. Petersburg, Riga, London, Edinburgh and Glasgow as well as cities in her native Korea such as Seoul, Suwon and Busan.

Nicholas is currently a Principal Study Tutor at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the Royal Conservatoire Juniors. He is also an External Examiner for Ph.D/doctoral candidates at RCS for practice as research in piano performance.  He has acted as an Examiner for PhD in the areas of therapeutic applications of voice training (Edinburgh Napier) and vocal performance from a feminist perspective (Salford).

Nicholas also teaches students at the University of Edinburgh. He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy/Advance HE (2018) and was a Teaching Fellow at Edinburgh Napier from 2018-20.

Saša has been part of the RCS keyboard staff since 2014 and is a great admirer of Richard P. Feynman’s work and his way of teaching and learning. 

In 2006, Aaron Shorr was appointed Head of Keyboard at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. In 2013, he was awarded a Professorship from the RCS and in 2013-2015, also served as Acting Director of Music at the RCS.

Anna was born in St Petersburg, Russia, where she studied in Music School, The Rimsky-Korsakov Music College, and then in The St Petersburg (Leningrad) State Conservatoire. Anna graduated from Conservatoire with Honours diploma, qualifying as concert pianist, chamber ensemble player, piano accompanist and piano teacher. Currently, Anna teaches piano for BEd pupils (first and second study piano, piano accompaniment). She continues to accompany conducting classes at RCS and teaches piano at RCS Junior Conservatoire. She also continues teaching piano at Music School of Douglas Academy and The Glasgow Academy.

Saša has been part of the RCS keyboard staff since 2014 and is a great admirer of Richard P. Feynman’s work and his way of teaching and learning. 

Edward Cohen has established himself as one of the most versatile and in-demand pianists in Scotland. Equally at home as a concerto soloist, recitalist, or chamber musician, he regularly collaborates with leading musicians in major performance venues and festivals in his home country and beyond.

Clare Sutherland has considerable experience as both performer and teacher on piano and harpsichord. After studying at the Royal College of Music with Bernard Roberts and Ruth Dyson, she was awarded an arts council scholarship to continue her studies with Trevor Pinnock. She has performed in many prestigious venues such as the Purcell Room, Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and the National Theatre, as well as overseas. Her teaching career has included posts at Napier University, Marlborough Summer School, and The Purcell School. Clare has also been a coach and accompanist for Oxenfoord International Opera Summer School since 1982, and was an examiner and mentor for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music for 10 years. She is presently teaching in Edinburgh and is a member of staff at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Born in Seoul, Korea, Yoon-Kyung Kim enjoys her exciting career as a concert pianist based in London, UK. She studied piano with Jae-Hee Hyun and Hyoung-Joon Chang in Korea, and after graduating from the Seoul National University with Distinction, she came to the UK to pursue her study with a scholarship from the Associated Board of the Royal School of Music (ABRSM) under Philip Jenkins at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama (RSAMD), where she obtained Postgraduate Diploma and MMus, both with Distinction. Also Yoon Kyung received a scholarship from Yamaha in 2004-2006 and she was the first winner to receive this prestigious scholarship.

Since her UK début with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No.1, she has also played with the Stirling Symphony Orchestra and RSAMD Symphony Orchestra. She has given numerous solo recitals in London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Helensburgh, St Andrews and Stirling, in addition to Thessaloniki and Crete in Greece and her native South Korea.

When she was studying in Seoul, she won many prestigious prizes including the Samik Piano, Teenager, Young Artist Chamber Music, MBC TV and several newspaper publishing companies’ competitions. Her prize winning career has continued since she came to UK where she won the concerto competition, Peter Lindsay Miller prize, Bach competition, John Ogdon Foundation, Jacqueline McCarthy prize, Philip Halstead prize, John Ireland piano competition and the Jock Holden Memorial Mozart Prize. In December 2004 Yoon-Kyung won the First Prize and Gold Medal at the Beethoven Intercollegiate Competition in London and International Piano Academy Competition in Scotland 2005. Also she is the winner of the First Prize at the European Intercollegiate Piano Competition in Germany 2006.

In September 2006 September Yoon-Kyung Kim joined the department of Keyboard at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (formerly known as the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama) as a lecturer. She was also a tutor at the RSAMD Junior School (2006-2008).

From exhilarating concertos to delicate chamber works, from mainstream Beethoven, Mozart and Brahms to the rarefied worlds of Messiaen, Tippett and Britten, Steven Osborne is at home with the widest range of styles and his carefully crafted recital programmes and idiomatic approach to contrasting works are both publicly and critically acclaimed.

Malcolm was given an honorary doctorate at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in 2004 and appointed International Fellow of Accompaniment in 2009. Malcolm was the Artistic Director of the 2011 Leeds Lieder+ Festival.

International Visiting Professor in Contemporary Improvisation

Anto Pett graduated from the Conservatoire of Tallinn (now renamed Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre) as a pianist and composer. Since 1987 he has been teaching harmony and improvisation at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre.

William’s international career was launched in 1984 when he won the first prize, gold medal and Rosa Sabater prize at the Concurso Internacional de Piano in Jaén, Spain. His concerto début at St. John’s Smith Square with the Philharmonia Orchestra followed soon after. He subsequently added successes in the Busoni, Cleveland, Iturbi, and Scottish International Competitions.

Djordje Gajic began his musical studies in Serbia at the age of six, finally graduating from the Russian Academy of Music in 1993 with a Master of Music degree and the Honorary Title of Solo Performer. He continued his post-graduate studies at the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music and was appointed Assistant to Professor Yuri Dranga.

David has performed throughout Europe and in North America, Russia and China, and is a Guest Professor at Shanghai Conservatory.

Jan Waterfield read music at Girton College, Cambridge, where she was also a choral scholar. This was followed by postgraduate studies in harpsichord and piano with John Toll and David Willison at the RAM in London, where she won prizes for both lieder accompaniment and continued playing.