Youth piano instructors
Kyle Dacon
Kyle Dacon is a first-year doctoral student at CU Boulder 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.
John-Austin King
John-Austin King is a classical pianist, teacher and composer from Clover, South Carolina. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in classical piano performance from the UC-College Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati. King’s performances have taken him across the globe to venues in Germany, the Czech Republic, Iceland and various regions of the United States. Currently, he’s pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in classical piano at the University of Colorado Boulder. Most recently, King taught and coached young classical musicians in performance at the Við Djúpið music festival in Ísafjörður, Iceland. Patience and determination are at the forefront of King’s teaching and practice philosophy; he firmly believes that every musician is endowed with an extraordinary potential waiting to be unlocked.
Ohad Nativ
Ohad Nativ is a classical pianist and musicologist with versatile experience as a performer, teacher, conductor and scholar. Nativ was born in Israel, grew up in New Jersey and spent significant time in Europe. He is currently pursuing a Musicology PhD at CU Boulder, following master’s and bachelor’s degrees in piano performance from Northwestern University and Oberlin Conservatory, respectively. Nativ has performed in a large variety of international festivals, ensembles, concert series and competitions, as well as taken lessons and master classes with significant world-class pianists including James Giles, Peter Takacs, Spencer Myer, Alexander Kobrin, Ilana Vered, Matti Raekallio, Jason Hardink and others. As a musicologist, Nativ’s interests and experience range from analytical and critical theory to history, particularly focusing on early 20th-century post-Romantic structuralists. Experienced in teaching in a variety of settings, levels and age groups, Nativ believes education in piano should include good technical and musical training, shaping students into well-rounded artists.
Luca Pompilio
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.
Warner Nuñez-Solano
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 University of Colorado Boulder in fall 2025 with Andrew Cooperstock.
Chirapa Wungkaom
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 University of Colorado Boulder under the guidance of Andrew Cooperstock.
Gregory Worthley
Gregory Worthley is a doctoral student in piano performance at the University of Colorado Boulder. 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.