Joanna García has a highly successful academic and performing background. She gained a First Class Honours Bachelor of Music degree from Manchester University, also winning three Hargreaves Music Prizes and the Sir Thomas Beecham Medal for outstanding achievement. 
 

Following this, she continued her studies at the Royal Northern College of Music with Paul Janes and Renna Kellaway, obtaining the sought-after Professional Performance Diploma as well as a Postgraduate Diploma in Performance. She won the Granada Chamber Music Award, and also won an English Speaking Union scholarship to study solo piano in France with teachers from the Paris Conservatoire. 
 

Following her studies, Joanna was offered a two year Junior Fellowship in accompanying at the RNCM, was subsequently appointed as staff accompanist at the RNCM and Chetham’s School of Music, and taught piano at Manchester University. 
 

Joanna has performed with eminent musicians such as Sir John Tomlinson in a concert shown on the South Bank Show, and the Lindsay Quartet in their Sheffield Festival. She has a CD of contemporary music which is available internationally, and is particularly passionate about collaborative musicianship. 

Olivia Dance was born in Oxford in 1995 and began piano lessons at the age of eight. She caught the bug for performing after entering the Swindon Music Festival, back in 2010, where she was awarded first place across the festival. This early success, followed by more competitions and concerts, inspired her to pursue music. She has recently graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music with an MMus. Her commitment to her studies was recognised when she was awarded the Clifford Hartley Prize in 2019. 
 

Olivia’s performing career has, so far, led to an appearance at the Wigmore Hall in London and taken her to Bergen, Norway. Olivia was a member of the RNCM Songsters, a group of students comprising of singers and pianists who explore song repertoire, which allowed her the opportunity to perform alongside singers in concerts throughout Manchester and across the North West. Aside from her accompaniment within her college, Olivia enjoys working with choirs. She occasionally accompanies the Manchester High School for Girls Choir, and Haydock Male Voice Choir. 

Olivia’s love of teaching spontaneously came about when she was still at school. On her lunchbreaks, she would regularly help others with technical and musical issues they were having. These problem-solving sessions soon turned into something more formal when she arrived at her sixth-form college and began giving half-hour lessons during lunchtimes and teaching her neighbour’s children when she was at home. When she joined the RNCM, she was assigned a teaching placement which gave her the opportunity to teach one-to-one piano in an inner-city primary school. She was so touched by this small school in Moss Side that in the Summer of 2017, she approached the teachers of the school with an idea to form their own school choir, and in September 2017, eighteen children became the first members of their school choir. Olivia led weekly sessions with the choir from 2017-2019, whilst also providing the musical accompaniment to their songs. The choir went on to play a pivotal role in a fundraising concert for their school.

Olivia is excited to be an Associate Piano Tutor for the Joanna García Piano School and looking forward to meeting her new students.

Kate's love of music was formed from a very early age.  During her teens she could be found working as a dance school accompanist, resident pianist for amateur dramatic productions, or playing clarinet in a band.

She gained a BA hons degree in music from Newcastle university, where her highlights included winning the first year prize and having the opportunity to perform as piano soloist in Rhapsody in Blue with the university chamber orchestra. 

After gaining her LGSM piano teachers' Diploma and PGCE Kate spent 6 years working as a primary school teacher. 

Since returning to piano teaching in 2005 she has taught privately and in local schools, having taken her first steps in online teaching in 2015 after a pupil moved away but wanted to continue lessons.  She is committed to providing fun, engaging lessons and fostering a love of music in her students.

Alongside her teaching, Kate works as  a church organist and is involved in music as therapy for the elderly.