Dr Azadeh Atri

For the past fifteen years Atri has been teaching piano at schools and has also enjoyed teaching students at her studio. Her teaching style is one of encouragement and support and she is passionate about passing on her knowledge and furthering her teaching experience. She loves helping students on their musical journey whether they are preparing for the AMEB exams or simply developing a love for playing.

She completed her Bachelor of Music degree at the Australian National University where she took piano lessons from Arnan Wiesel. Throughout her studies, she has participated in lessons and master-classes with Larry Sitsky, Geoffrey Tozer, Geoffrey Lancaster, Geoffrey
Saba, John Luxton and many others.

Her passion for teaching led her to compose piano pieces of pedagogic intent for her Honours degree which she completed with Professor Larry Sitsky (AO) and received First Class Honours. These compositions can be found in the ANU and NLA websites: https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/8989, http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/164774435?q&versionId=179617992. These pieces set out to work on some of the principles of the piano technique.

She completed her doctoral studies at the ANU School of Music under the supervision of Professor Larry Sitsky. The piano compositions of the Russian avant-garde composer, Nikolai Obukhov, was the focus of her PhD thesis.
Apart from piano pedagogy, her other research interests include the music of the avant-garde composers, music analysis and art/music teachers’ professional development. She is also passionate about literature, poetry and philosophy. Some of her essay-type short stories, titled Deliriums, have been published by the Ginninderra Press in 2018.

Her exam-students have consistently achieved excellent results in their AMEB piano exams. The following shows some of the comments examiners have made on the students’ playing:

"This was a technically secure and stylistic performance. Finger work was even and clear, and there was always a melodic shape. Excellent tonal variety and attention to other detail."

“Beethoven: Op. 79: A spirited playing with a strong pulse maintained and, an intelligent understanding of Beethoven's style; good technical response in performance. Finger independence was pleasing.”

“This was a most enjoyable presentation today. All areas had been very thoroughly prepared. Your pieces were executed with confidence and a good sense of style”.

“Fantasie-Impromptu: Chopin: An appreciation of the Romantic Piano style was communicated. Balance of the inner line in Section A was quite well managed with a good sense of the long phrase lines and nuance of movement”

“A technically neat delivery with good musical design. Rhythmic impetus was steady to maintain a sense of direction in the flowing phrases. A confident and well controlled presentation”.

“Sensitive and expressive playing with good balance of melody and accompaniment”.

“A pensive and thoughtful rendition of this short work, with pleasing attention to the contours of the phrasing”.

“The playful character of the piece was projected with conviction and the technical challenge of the repeated staccato notes was met with success. A musically refined performance”.

“An imaginative treatment of the tonal resources of the piano, and the contrasts were well balanced with good control of touch. A musically mature approach wich captured the atmospheric character of the piece with conviction”.

“A confident performance played at a lively well controlled tempo with clear even fingerwork and pleasing control of phrasing”.

“This was a dramatic and well punctuated interpretation. Dynamically, it was structured thoughtfully and in accordance with the composer’s intentions”.

“Rubato was tasteful and provided phrases with a sense of poise and buoyancy”.

“A fluent and confident performance. The playing was technically clean and musical content was well prepared and projected with refinement and conviction”.

“There was an obvious understanding of the romantic idiom with tasteful use of rubato in directing the phrases and with subtle nuances in tonal and dynamic colouring”.

“Reverie: Debussy: Interpretation gave character to your performance. The melody always expressive with a calm atmosphere, well described, very effective tonal gradations. Phrases musically shaped and contrasts of ideas convincing.”