Pierre André

Director, Beverly Hills School of Music.
Chair, Piano Department.

Born in Paris, Pierre André started playing Piano at age 8 before studying Jazz Composition at the American School of Modern Music (Paris, including Piano Studies with Steve Browman) and Film Scoring at the legendary Berklee College of Music (Boston, including Piano Studies with Robert Winter; Boston Pops Orchestra). Having previously taught at Le Lycée Francais de Los Angeles (LFLA), Le Lycée International de Los Angeles (LILA) and various other local schools such as Trinity Baptist Children Center in Santa Monica, Pierre André has been working full time as a music educator since 2005 via his afterschool music program, French Piano. His latest creation, The Beverly Hills School of Music, builds on his current experience in afterschool settings; allowing him to deliver the most up to date music education. Also a renowned film composer, the works of Pierre André can be found at Soundtrack Specialist. For more information about Pierre, please visit his portal at www.pierreandre.me.

 Lee Ferris

Guitar Teacher / Voice Coach

Lee Ferris has played guitar for 16 years.  He began singing as a young child and began writing his own songs on the guitar and piano at the age of 15. He studied Guitar/Vocal Performance at the Berklee College of Music as well as Classical Voice at California State University Northridge.  He has taught guitar and songwriting in Los Angeles for the past 6 years and specializes in many styles ranging from Folk and Rock to Jazz and Pop. He has performed, toured, recorded with many bands (most recently www.freddyandfrancine.com) and as a solo performer (www.leeferris.com) in L.A. over the past 10 years.  As a vocalist he starred as Berger in the 40th Anniversary L.A. Production of HAiR, and most recently as The Phantom in Vox Lumiere’s Canadian tour of The Phantom of the Opera.  He loves playing, teaching, and talking about music and greatly enjoys sharing the the joy it brings him with others.

 Victor de Almeida

Instructor, Violin & Viola.

The double prize winner of the 2008 Primrose International Viola Competition, violist, Victor de Almeida, has recently been the Principal Violist of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Paavo Järvi and the Associate Principal Violist of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Mario Venzago. He studied at the Peabody Institute of Music, while serving as the Principal Violist of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra and was a regular substitute violist with the Baltimore Symphony. With the Cincinnati Symphony, in addition to the two European Tours, Victor has also performed for the Bejing Olympics celebration events in China.  Recently he was the Guest Principal for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Principal Violist for the Castleton Opera Festival in Berkley under the baton of  Lorin Maazel.  While in Los Angeles , Mr. de Almeida frequently performs with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as well as the Principal of the New West Symphony.

While in Cincinnati, he has taught Master Classes at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and is currently on the String Faculty at Mount Saint Mary’s College in Los Angeles. In addition to his numerous solo and chamber music performances, Victor also finds time to perform as a recording artist for Fox Television Network shows “Family Guy,” “Cleveland” and “American Dad.”  He is also an avid collector of viola music and takes pride in performing those selections. Watch Victor deliver a wonderful performance of “Desafio II” by Marlos Nobre.

 Patrick Azria

Guitar Teacher

Starting with piano classes at the age of 8, Patrick Azria, born in Marseilles, France, has been a passionate musician for the past 30 years. At the age of 15, he fell in love with his brother’s guitar that was left in his bedroom. He then started practicing hours every day. A few years later, he studied Jazz Guitar and Improvisation. He then went on to record music at home combining his piano and guitar skills mainly in the genres of Jazz, Brazilian and Israeli music. Later, he added his vocals and recorded more sophisticated pieces. Patrick has performed at numerous local venues and has developed his own guitar teaching skills with local students. For Patrick, Music is about the soul enjoyment and he is happy to share what he has learned over the years with the BH School of Music Students.

In addition to its internal staff, the Beverly Hills School of Music uses external teachers specialized in other musical genres. These teachers are hired according to very high standards of technical skills & teaching credentials.