Meet our 2020-2021 executive team! We’re a group of McGill students passionate about piano education and creating a community that fosters a love for music!
Christiane-Marie Cantwell
Co-Director
Program: U3 Classics and Linguistics
What I love about piano: How lost you can get in a song. That singular focus is the best feeling.
Fun fact: I have been on two archeological digs! Ask me about 2000 year old plaster!
Esther Kim
Co-Director
Program: U3 Cognitive Science Major and Health Geography Minor
What I love about piano: I love how you can play so many different styles of music.
Fun fact: I’ve studied abroad in Copenhagen!
Justin Khalil
VC Edward Murphy
Program: U3 Honours Neuroscience
What I love about piano: Being able to recreate popular tunes (both old and new) with my own personal spin.
Fun fact: I love all noodle dishes, but particularly noodles in broth (including ramen, pho, and Taiwanese beef noodle soup).
Maxine Forder
Volunteer Coordinator Sinclair Laird
Program: U2 Pharmacology
What I love about piano: Definitely how relaxing it is!
Fun fact: I’ve lived in Australia!
Caroline Hodgins
Volunteer Coordinator – Champlain
Program: U2 Interdepartmental Honours in Immunology
What I love about piano: How you can take time out of a busy day to relax and play some beautiful pieces.
Fun fact: I know the grocery store code for almost every fruit/ vegetable.
Jessica Li
Volunteer Coordinator St. Gabriel
Program: U2 Anatomy and Cell Biology
What I love about piano: How you can play a wide variety of songs!
Fun fact: I really really love chestnuts 🙂
Yolanda Chow
VP Finance Internal
Program: U3 International Management
What I love about piano: The emotion!
Fun fact: I have naturally curly hair!
Alaina Ge
VP Finance External
Program: U1 Nursing
What I love about piano: The infinite possibilities of melodies that can be created from this instrument. With 88 keys, there are so many different chords and rhythms one can create. Once you have a good grasp of the piano, you can improvise and alter sounds to your liking. You can also create different moods with the sound of the piano and allow yourself to indulge in it.
Fun fact: I’m a big fan of Chopin but not a fan of Bach.
Chloe Taschuk
Schulich School of Music Liaison
Program: U3 Bachelor of Music in Trombone Performance
What I love about piano: Piano is versatile, a great tool for music education, and sounds beautiful!
Fun fact: I’ve lived in Australia!
Samuel Lasinski
VP Pedagogy Internal
Program: U3 Bioengineering
What I love about piano: I love how many different styles of music there are to learn, and how by learning about different styles we can learn about different cultures and how they can mix.
Fun fact: I once went 10 days without speaking.
Rushali Gandhi
VP Pedagogy
Program: U3 Neuroscience
What I love about piano: It’s relaxing!
Fun fact: I played the trombone and flute in school, in addition to the piano.
Heather Bosiljevac
VP Events
Program: U3 Computer Science
What I love about piano: It’s a really easy and fun way to get away from screens!
Fun fact: I play a lot of other instruments, including the cello and the trumpet.
Shirley Zhang
Communications
Program: U3 Neuroscience
What I love about piano: I love having the ability to play my favourite song or soundtrack and be able to feel the emotions behind the piece!
Fun fact: I love Ratatouille – I once watched it 20 times in 2 weeks.
Rachel Murphy
VP Networking
Program: U2 Neuroscience
What I love about piano: Being able to play pieces by memory whenever you stumble upon a piano.
Fun fact: I used to speed skate!
Anna Mouland
Director of Sponsorships
Program: U2 Arts
What I love about piano: The satisfaction of muscle memory.
Fun fact: I have a 16 year old pet fish.
