Aurora Madden – Piano & Violin
Aurora has over 4 years private teaching experience from ages 2-20 in school programs in Connecticut, Indiana, and the Twin Cities. She developed pianistically under Miyoko Lotto at the Manhattan School of Music and under Anat Malkin-Almani on violin. On violin, she toured 8 countries in Europe with the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra playing Mahler’s Ninth Symphony under conductor Benjamin Zander. She is a multiple prize-winning and scholarship-recipient regionally in New England, and has been invited to several European Festivals to study under renowned pianists.
From coaching competitive pianists and violinists to building fundamentals with any-age beginners, accommodating every student and family goals at the instrument comes second nature to her. Most rewarding to her is watching her students gain confidence and autonomy at and away from the instrument—at the piano or at the violin. Her teaching style is student-focused: adaptable, kind, patient, and focused as to make the most of each minute of a lesson. Students are highly intelligent no matter their learning style, and she believes it is her purpose to give them concrete tools to feel competent at their instrument. Her students gain self-sufficiency in learning how to practice smarter not harder without compromising the integrity of learning either instrument. Values she instills in her lessons are mutual respect, reciprocity, and what artistry means to them.
She is comfortable working with students learning for enjoyment, general competence at their instrument, or who want to study seriously in a precollege or post-college capacity. While she isn’t teaching, she enjoys writing in Pali script, reading orchestral scores and non-fiction, and improvising at the piano.
Education:
Manhattan School of Music: Piano and Violin Double Major Performance Precollege Degree
Oberlin College & Conservatory: BA in International Law and Minor in Piano