Youth + adult piano program instructors
Kyle Dacon is a first-year doctoral student at CU ֲý from Garland, Texas. He earned a bachelor's degree in piano performance from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota and a master's degree from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Dacon will be studying with Jennifer Hayghe. In his free time, he enjoys watching and playing all kinds of sports with friends; he believes athletes and musicians share many similarities and enjoys both the mental and physical challenges of playing piano. Dacon's main career goal is to teach piano to students of all ages and backgrounds while maintaining his own performances and recitals whenever possible.
McKenna Girdeen is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance and pedagogy at CU ֲý. She holds a Bachelor of Music in applied piano from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a Master of Music in piano performance and pedagogy from Utah State University.
Girdeen studied with Nicholas Phillips as an undergraduate and with Sasha Kasman Laude at Utah State. She has participated in master classes with Artina McCain, Kate Boyd, Chee Hyeon Choi and the internationally renowned Nikolai Lugansky. During her master's program, she collaborated with faculty members Cahill Smith, Kevin Olson, Ben Laude and Mayumi Matzen.
As both a performer and scholar, Girdeen is dedicated to elevating the works of historically underrepresented composers. She has presented research on composers including Florence Price and Mélanie Bonis at national conferences, including the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy and the MTNA Collegiate Symposium. Her repertoire includes works by Leoš Janáček, Florence Price, Mélanie Bonis, Hélène de Montgeroult, Margaret Bonds and Cécile Chaminade.
Off the piano bench, you'll likely find Girdeen hiking, camping, rock climbing, running or indulging in her unofficial side hustle as a coffee shop critic.
Jaden Klein is pursuing a Master of Music in piano performance at CU ֲý, where she studies with Associate Professor of Piano Jennifer Hayghe. She earned a Bachelor of Music from Idaho State University, where she studied with Kori Bond and won the ISU Concerto Competition in 2022. Klein especially enjoys music by Russian and French composers and has a passion for music theory and history as well as performance. She has experience teaching students of all skill levels and served as co-director of the ISU Summer Institute for Piano and Strings' Junior Piano Division for three years. As a teacher, Klein aims to develop well-rounded musicians with strong technical and theoretical skills and make piano pedagogy more accessible to neurodivergent students. Outside of music, she enjoys reading, crocheting and drawing.
Costa Rican pianist Warner Núñez Solano has been recognized in competitions across Costa Rica, Colombia, Cuba, Lithuania and the United States, including first prize at the International Piano Competition La Música del Siglo in Lithuania, the National Latin American Piano Competition in Costa Rica and the Texas Tech University Concerto Competition in 2024.
He has performed concertos by Mozart, Haydn, Saint-Saëns and Liszt and collaborated with institutions such as the Compañía Lírica Nacional de Costa Rica, Opera Amarillo and the Texas Tech Symphony Orchestra. His recording projects promote Latin American music, featuring works by composers including Andrés Soto, Doce Musas, ACAM nominee and Carlos Escalante, Música para Piano Vol. 1. Recent appearances include the nationally broadcast tour “Melodías Florales” and the Luis Felipe Arias Festival in Guatemala.
Committed to education, he has led workshops in Costa Rica, Panama and Guatemala and co-founded Virtuarte, an online music school. Núñez studied with Federico Molina and Leonardo Gell at the University of Costa Rica, earned his master’s with Daniel del Pino at Texas Tech University and will begin his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the ֲý in fall 2025 with Andrew Cooperstock.
Canadian pianist Tatyana Palmer earned her bachelor of piano performance from McGill University and holds the Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Toronto (ARCT) Performer’s Diploma with first-class honours with distinction. She is a frequent award winner in competitions across Ontario and has attended music programs internationally, most recently performing in Poland during the summer.
Palmer is passionate about music education and has taught piano to students of all ages and levels. Her teaching experience includes the West Island Conservatory of Music in Montréal, two years at Laurier University, work in private school music education and maintaining her own private studio. She strives to make each lesson a positive, engaging experience tailored to each student’s abilities. She encourages critical thinking during lessons and helps students take an active role in their learning by inviting them to bring their own ideas into the music-making process.
Brazilian pianist Victoria Paulino has been an active performer and competition winner since age 7. In 2012, she won the Lang Lang & Telefônica Competition, becoming the only Brazilian selected to perform with the pianist at the O2 Arena in Berlin.
She has participated in music festivals including Oregon Piano, Ian Hobson, Saramenha Artes e Oficios, and Pianofest in the Hamptons. In 2017, Paulino was awarded first prize at the Yamaha National Piano Competition. In 2021, she won the Parnassus Music International Competition, taking first prize in the Young Artist category, “Hans Lewitus,” as well as the award for best interpretation of a work by J.S. Bach, presented by pianist Roger Woodward. In 2022, she received the Seidler Award for research.
In 2024, she won both the Alabama Music Teachers Association (AMTA) Concerto Competition and the AMTA Solo Graduate Division. She is pursuing her doctorate in piano performance at the ֲý under Jennifer Hayghe.
Born in Genova in 1999, Italian pianist Luca Pompilio pursued his undergraduate studies in Pavia (Italy) where he completed a BM in piano cum laude in 2019 and a BS in physics (University of Pavia) in 2021. After earning a three-year diploma in chamber music (flute and piano duo) in Florence (Italy) in 2023, he completed an MM in piano performance at SHSU in Texas where he was also a teaching assistant, accompanist/coach and scholarship recipient. His main piano teachers include Diego Caetano, Roberto Paruzzo, Pier Narciso Masi, Cinzia Piccini, Barbara Cristina and Anna Zucchi. Pompilio has performed as a soloist and collaborative pianist in Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the United States—from Alaska to Texas—and he has won prizes in international competitions in Europe and America. In summer 2024, he was a young artist for the Art of the Piano festival at San Francisco Conservatory, and returned to study at Sion Académie and festival in Switzerland. Pompilio has taught piano privately and for a school in Pavia, his hometown, and later in U.S. university as a teaching assistant. He has also been a sailing coach for kids and adults, loves photography and food, and is fluent in Italian (mother tongue), French and English.
Gregory Worthley is a doctoral student in piano performance at the ֲý. From 2022-2024, he was on the faculty at the New School for Music Study in Kingston, New Jersey, where he taught private and group lessons. Worthley is also the website coordinator for the Frances Clark Center, an organization devoted to piano teaching. He completed the Postgraduate Fellowship Program at the New School for Music study, and earned his MM in piano performance and pedagogy from the University of Oklahoma and his BM in piano performance from Evangel University. Outside of piano, Worthley enjoys hiking, cooking and spending time with his wife, Amica.
A native of Thailand, Chirapa Wungkaom is establishing an exciting career as a classical performer and educator with the teaching philosophy “music can shine through the curiosity and creativity of the individual.” As an active performer, Wungkaom was awarded the Silver Medal prize from the SET Youth Musicians Competition and the second prize winner of the Conrad Art Song Competition. As an educator, she was awarded Outstanding Teacher from both the Chicago International Music Competition and WPTA International Piano Competition in 2021. Among several master classes in Europe and the United States, Wungkaom has worked with Jacque Rouvier, Rolf Plagge, Rolf-Dieter Arens, Paul Barnes and Matthew Bengtson. In 2023, she appeared at Interlochen Art Academy as a teaching assistant in the piano department. A graduate of Bowling Green State University where she studied with Robert Satterlee, Wungkaom was enthusiastic to work with many talented young composers having performed new works while collaborating with chamber groups. She is currently pursuing a Doctoral of Musical Arts at the ֲý under the guidance of Andrew Cooperstock.
Originally from Redondo Beach, California, Tiffany Yin is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance and pedagogy at CU ֲý.
Recent performance highlights include a solo recital at the 2026 Appalachian Summer Festival after winning first prize and the Audience Prize at the 15th Rosen-Schaffel Young Artist Competition in Boone, North Carolina, and a concerto performance with the Long Bay Symphony in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, after winning the 2025 East Carolina Piano Festival Young Artist Competition.
During her first year at the University of Georgia, Yin was invited to perform in the biannual piano area showcase at Steinway Hall in New York City, sponsored by the Robert Edge Fund in Music. Later that year, she won first prize in the Atlanta Music Club Scholarship Competition (Graduate Piano), the Georgia Music Teachers Association State Auditions (Upper College) and the Georgia Federation of Music Clubs' Floride Dean Piano Scholarship competition.
She has performed in master classes with distinguished artists including Yulianna Avdeeva, Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Angela Hewitt and Richard Goode.
Equally dedicated to pedagogy, Yin serves as an intern at the Frances Clark Center and is the former president of TONIC, the Music Teachers National Association collegiate chapter at the University of Georgia. She also received the Anthon-Hughes-Cook Piano Pedagogy Award.
Yin has presented on pedagogy at the MTNA Collegiate Symposium, the Georgia Music Teachers Association Conference and the IPPA Piano Pedagogy Conference. Her teachers have included Alan Woo, Grace Huang, Charles Asche and Natasha Kislenko.