Our Teachers – Pianos Plus School

Jimmy Goeijenbier

Jimmy was born in the Netherlands but upon moving to Ireland at the age of five he received his first piano lessons from his mother. He completed his Bachelor of Piano Performance degree with First Class Honours at the D.I.T. Conservatory of Music and Drama under the tutelage of Dr. Mary Lennon before going on to attain a Masters degree in Piano Performance from the University of Washington, where he studied with Craig Sheppard.

Notable awards include multiple first prizes in competitions at the D.I.T. Conservatory of Music and Drama, Dublin Feis Ceoil, and Sligo Feis Ceoil, and a licentiate diploma from Trinity College London with distinction. He has performed in venues such as the National Concert Hall in Dublin and Áras an Uachtaráin, and has given recitals in the Netherlands, Romania and the United States. He has also performed with the Dublin Youth Orchestra and the University of Washington Symphony Orchestra.

Jimmy is currently undertaking Doctorate of Music studies at TU Dublin Conservatoire, where he is researching the process of preparing contemporary Irish piano music for performance. In addition to his career in performance and research, Jimmy is passionate about music education and has enjoyed guiding students to success at many national festivals and competitions.

Ana Talmaci

Ana graduated from State University of Arts, Chisinau, Moldova, having specialised in music education. She continued her studies with Siobhán Kilkelly at the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama. Ana holds Associate and Licentiate Diplomas in Performance from the London College of Music and a Diploma of Pianoforte Performance, LLCM, from the University of West London.

Joshua Murtagh

Joshua studied piano with Dr. David Mooney at the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama, graduating with a BMus performance degree in 2016. He also has a performance diploma from the Trinity College of Music London.

Séan Fogarty

Seán Fogarty is a pianist and teacher from Thurles. He began piano at the age of 7, and studied Composition with the Royal Irish Academy of Music at the age of 17. He recently completed an MMus in Performance with TU Dublin, having previous attained his BMus there specializing in Pedagogy. A prize-winner at Feis Ceoil and in-house competitions, he has studied piano under Pádhraic O’Cuinneagain and Peter Tuite. Seán has a keen interest in chamber music and less explored corners of the piano repertoire, as well as in pedagogical music.

Orlaith Sharkey

Orlaith Sharkey, who hails from Donegal, holds an honours degree in piano performance, specialising in piano pedagogy from TU Dublin Conservatoire, under the tutelage of Danusia Oslizlok. She also holds an ATCL diploma in piano performance.
Orlaith has a particular interest in teaching children and young adults, which was a subject area of focus during her studies. She has been teaching for a number of years and always builds a good rapport with the students which enhances the students’ learning experience.

Orlaith works regularly as an accompanist, for both instrumentalists and vocalists. In 2020, she won first prize in the Tomás Ó Súilleabháin Award for piano accompaniment. Recently, Orlaith worked as an accompanist for the Irish Youth Training Choir’s Easter residential course in Balbriggan.

Orlaith has taken part in masterclasses and lessons with Iain Burnside, Johanna Marcinkowska, Barry Douglas, Marco Tezza, Helen Krizos and Ronan O’Hora. She is currently studying with Conor Linehan and Dearbhla Brosnan at the Royal Irish Academy of Music.

Kim Shepherd

Kim Shepherd is an Irish pianist, based in Dublin She graduated with a BMus (Pedagogy) from TU Dublin Conservatoire where she studied piano with Siobhan Kilkelly and organ with Simon Harden. She has competed in many piano competitions throughout Dublin, notably gaining 1st prize in the ESB Feis Ceoil Senior Pianoforte Duet and gaining 2nd prize in the ESB Feis Ceoil Trimble Cup. She also has experience performing both in Ireland and abroad.

Kim has been teaching since 2015. She has taught and acted as musical director at various schools, festivals and camps in Ireland and abroad, including French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts in New York.

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Rita Bowens

Irish born & bred, Rita Bowens holds an honours Bachelor of Music degree from WIT, a Performance Diploma from the Royal Irish Academy of Music & an honours Masters Degree in Performance where she studied under Dr. David Mooney. She has performed extensively throughout Ireland & has vast experience on the competition circuit, including the Feis Ceoil.

For the last 15 years she has been working in a private national school in Dublin where she is solely responsible for implementing the Music curriculum of children ranging from 4-12 years of age. This will be Rita’s fourth year with the Pianos Plus School.