Meet the teachers

AZIN HAKIMI
Assistant Director KAWAI MUSIC SCHOOL

Piano Teacher

Azin Hakimi was born in the historical city of Isfahan, Iran known for its grand avenues, covered bridges and beautiful gardens. She was drawn to the piano at an early age and began exploring various musical instruments in middle school. By the time she entered high school, Ms. Hakimii had devoted herself entirely to mastering the piano and eventually received a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from Yerevan State Conservatory of Armenia. While at the conservatory, she was active as a performer, accompanist, and teacher.

In 2016, Ms. Hakimii came to the United States to further her career while teaching piano to students of all ages and abilities at the Cincinnati School of Music. She is a dedicated teacher who questions the rationale behind every aspect of her instruction and encourages her students to strive for excellence with her warm and caring personality.

Ms. Hakimii loves spicy food, listening to classical music and playing duets with her husband, Sajad, a professional violinist and their 14-month-old son.

AMANDA BYARS
Piano Teacher

Amanda Byars is an independent music educator specializing in group and private instruction for children and adults in Dallas, Texas. Prior to establishing Piano In Your Home, she served on the faculty at Southern Methodist University as Lecturer in Piano Pedagogy and Coordinator of Class Piano. She was also co-founder and teacher of piano at Dallas/Music – a performing arts center located in the Park Cities.

Ms. Byars received a Bachelor of Music in piano performance from Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina and the Master of Music in piano pedagogy from S.M.U. where she was a teaching assistant for the internationally renowned pedagogue, Louise Bianchi

Astrid Morales Torres
Piano Teacher

Born in Mexico City, pianist Astrid Morales is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance at Arizona State University with Robert Hamilton.  Astrid holds Master’s degrees in Piano Performance, Piano Pedagogy and a Performer’s Diploma in Piano from Southern Methodist University, where she studied with Joaquín Achúcarro. In 2012, she graduated from the National Conservatory of Music in Mexico City, where she studied with Héctor Rojas.
In 2014, Astrid won the First Prize at the General Concerto Competition at the
Meadows School of the Arts in Dallas, TX. Astrid performed the Ravel Piano Concerto in G Major with the Meadows Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Dr. Paul Phillips.  Morales made her solo debut when she was 8 years old at Opus 94.5 Radio Station in Mexico City. When she was 11, she was also a soloist with the Queretaro Philharmonic conducted by José Guadalupe Flores.
Since 2003, Astrid has had an intensive soloist career and has performed with wellknown Mexican orchestras and conductors such as: Mexico State Symphony Orchestra (Enrique Bátiz, Virgilio Valle and Gabriela Díaz Alatriste), Nuevo León University Symphony (Eduardo Diazmuñoz), Mexico City Philarmonic (José Areán), National Polytechnic Institute Symphony Orchestra (Alfredo Ibarra), Aguascalientes Symphony (Stephano Mazzoleni), among others.
As a recitalist, Astrid has performed in the United States, Holland, Germany, Italy and Canada. In addition, Astrid has performed recitals in the most important venues in Mexico. Morales has been awarded several prizes and scholarships including the 2011 Youth Mexican Prize and Grand Prix to Exceptional Talents and Best Interpretation of Mexican Music at the Second National Piano Competition “Petrof – Symphony –Pearl River”.
Astrid has always been an active and passionate performer of Mexican music. She recorded her first CD “Rimero Musical” with music of the Mexican composer Ladislao Juárez. Furthermore, Morales collaborated in “El Oficio Mío” with music of the Mexican composer Armando Rosas. As an active chamber musician, Morales has collaborated with world-renowned musicians including cellist Andrés Díaz, violinist Matt Albert, among others. In 2018 and 2019, she also served as Fellow Pianist at the NorCal Music Festival.
Astrid Morales served on the piano faculty at the Community Music School and as Faculty Associate at Arizona State University. Morales has appeared in several TV shows, newspapers and radio interviews in Mexico, Italy, The Netherlands, and United States. Astrid serves as an active member of the Binational Cultural Forum of Mexican Artists, a Mexican organization where she is a representative of Phoenix, AZ. Morales served at the Career Development and Innovation committee for the 2021 National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy (pre-conference). In addition, she is 4th Vice President of the Arizona State Music Teachers Association.

David Cava

Piano Teacher

Born in Italy, Davide Cava started music studies at the age of 4. He graduated with the highest honors in Piano and Composition at the
Music Conservatory in Turin, Italy, and later obtained his Performer’s Diploma, Master of Music in Piano Performance, and Artist Certificate
at SMU in Dallas, TX with M. Joaquín Achúcarro. Silver Medalist at the 2018 Panama International Piano Competition,
he received prizes in numerous other competitions and performed with several orchestras in Europe, the United States, and South America.
Davide has performed solo and chamber repertoire in several masterclasses and academies all over Europe and America led by renowned pianists, including Lang Lang, Michel Béroff, Maria João Pires, Pietro De Maria, Pavel Gililov, Fabio Bidini, Benedetto Lupo, Roberto Plano, Giovanni Bellucci, Andrea Lucchesini, Aleksandr Madzar, Dominique Merlet, Nelson delle Vigne-Fabbri, Philippe Entremont, Vladimir Feltsman, Stanislav Ioudenitch, Alessio Bax, Lucille Chung.
He has been a recipient of prestigious CRT Foundation Scholarship in Italy from 2014 to 2017 and was given multiple times between 2018  and 2021 the “Paul Vellucci Piano Award” by the SMU Piano Faculty as one of the most remarkable pianists in residence. In November 2022, he was selected as an Award Winner of the Arkady Fomin Scholarship Fund in Chicago, of which he will be a 2023 recipient.
His passions comprehend music composition, mainly for piano solo, photography and videography, technology, mechanics and fitness.

Mana Honda

Piano Teacher

Mana Honda was born in Osaka, started playing the piano at the age of 4.

In 1991, she moved to Tokyo, entered the Toho Gakuen Music High School, and studied the piano with Prof. Yasushi HIROSE. In 1994, she graduated from high school with honors and proceeded to the Solist Diploma course at Toho Gakuen Music University, one of Japan’s top Conservatory.

In 1996 she moved to Paris, FRANCE, to further flourish her piano ^t skills with the world-renowned Professor Jaques ROUVIER and Professor Olivier GARDON at Conservatoire National Region de Paris (currently known as CRR Paris) and CRR de Marseille.

In 1998, She won the Premier Prix (First Prize) for the graduation exam of Cycle Superior at CNR de Paris. Afterwards, she completed Troisieme Cycle of CNR de Paris and CRR de Marseille in 2001.

While studying at the Conservatory, she won awards, including 1st prize at the Miyanichi Music Competition, the special prize .at the Kanagawa Piano Competition (Japan), a semi-finalist at Maria canals International competition (Spain), a finalist at Marsala International competition (Italy).

She has held a variety of concerts in Paris, Nice, Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe etc.

Since she got back to Japan in 2001, She has been teaching piano to every age range student as a teacher at ‘Toho-Gakuen Music School for Children’ and supporting students to enroll in some universities in Japan. Her students have received numerous awards in both national and international competitions.