We are excited to welcome our newest teacher to our music studio, Ms. Miya! She'll be offering lessons in piano and voice on Sundays. She brings a fresh and fun personality to inspire students to learn and grow.
If you see her around the studio, give her a big, warm welcome!
Here is her bio below!
Miya Higashiyama recently graduated Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) with her Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance with a minor in German, and studied piano under Dr. Oksana Ezhokina, and voice under Dr. James Brown. While at PLU, Miya sang a huge variety of operatic roles including Hansel in Hansel and Gretel, Ruggiero in Alcina, Rosina in The Barber of Seville, Zita in Gianni Schicchi, and more. Miya also sang in Choir of the West for the duration of her degree and accompanied for University Singers.
This past season Miya made her Olympia Symphony debut as the alto soloist in Beethoven's 9th, sang in both of Vashon Opera's productions (Lucia di Lammermoor and The Magic Flute), and performed as a song leader with Symphony Tacoma in the Carnegie Hall sponsored curriculum, "LinkUP: The Orchestra Sings!" for over 2500 elementary schoolers. Miya also was a finalist at the NATSAA (National Association for Teachers of Singing Artist Awards) competition in Portland this past October, and helped premiere and kickstart a new opera by Greg Youtz called Tacoma Method, performing at the Tacoma Historical Society Auction and recording demo songs with an orchestra.
In addition to actively performing, Miya loves to teach piano and voice to all age groups. This past year she taught piano and voice lessons regularly on the Eastside, and at Steilacoom High School where one of her students won first place in the Soprano Category at the WMEA State Competition. Teaching Kindergarten and 1st grade supplementary music classes as part of the PTA program at Pioneer Elementary School in Olympia was often the highlight of her week this year as well. She has over fifteen years of piano experience and seven years of voice, and enjoys meeting each student where they're at musically to achieve their goals and needs in a fun, exciting, individualistic, and passionate way, whether a student is wanting to sing for the first time, freshen up their piano skills, learn how to play basic jazz, or audition for college music programs. She has had experience teaching one on one music lessons since 2013.
In her free time, Miya enjoys running, painting, and traveling (especially to Europe!) She is proficient in German and lived a month in Berlin during her senior year as part of her German minor!