Posted on: 4 February 2026
Dr Micaela Nathan is a professional orchestral and concert performer, Music Therapist, examiner for the Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB), composer, and artistic director. After attending the Sydney Conservatorium high school, she gained her BMus (high distinction), MA and PhD (music therapy/psychology) at Sydney University, with adjunctive research through Melbourne University and the Sydney University of Technology.
Over her 40-year career as a concert musician, Dr Nathan has performed widely as a recitalist, and worked regularly with the major Australian symphony, opera, and ballet orchestras in NSW, QLD, and Victoria, and held principal positions with many music theatre productions in Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Korea.
Dr Nathan has been a music educator for 40 years at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels, including lecturer at UTS, and tutor in woodwinds and piano at the Northern Rivers, Penrith, and Central Coast Conservatoriums. She is regularly sought for specialist instruction for HSC, undergraduate, and post-graduate music students.
As a Music Therapist, Dr Nathan provides music learning programs for children who are neurodivergent, and have cognitive differences and physical disabilities. She has undertaken specialist post graduate training and has 25 years' experience teaching these unique children.
Dr Nathan has composed five albums of structured music therapy sessions, presented at International Music Therapist Association conferences, and published for the International Journal of Music and Imagery.
Posted on: 17 July 2020
Rongrong Dai started his studies in piano and music at the age of six. He has achieved a Master of Creative Music Therapy Degree from Western Sydney University. He is an MTA accredited music teacher and AMTA qualified Australian Registered Music Therapist. He also holds a management Bachelor Degree of Arts and Culture from Nanjing Normal University majoring in music and performance. He has been nominated as the international exchange student to study Postgraduate Course of Music in University of Parma in Italy.
Dai has been teaching piano lessons for over 16years. He is a senior piano teacher at Octave 8 Music Academy in Australia. In 2015, he founded D-String Music Studio in Sydney, which is a full studio of piano students whose ages ranging from 5-year old children to retired adults. Dai has rich experiences in teaching AMEB advanced grade of piano and other international music examinations including Trinity, ABRSM, Theory of music, Aural Training and Opera Singing, Composition and HSC. Many of his students have received outstanding results during examinations and competitions.
Dai also has experience in teaching children with special needs such as Autism, Depression and ADHD. He is a highly proficient musician with practical knowledge of music techniques, who will help children to open up channels of communication through music. He has presented many academic dissertations during his Master degree study, such as ‘Three major theories of learning be used in music therapy practice’ and ‘Psychodynamic Music Therapy’, to demonstrate that how to use music therapeutically through improvising, composing and arranging, to meet the needs of early childhood in order to develop their deep awareness and understanding of music.
Dai has participated in numerous festivals and competitions at the state and national level, which include solo piano performances, the repertoire of composers including Chopin, Beethoven, Mozart, Bach,Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Liszt, etc.He has won the First Rank Award of National Art Song Contest(2001)and Third Rank Award of Musical Contest in China(2002). He has also been the recipient of the University Scholarship, Educational Trust Award.Now he continues to perform as a solo performer and collaborative pianist throughout the West Sydney area since he moved to Australia, as well as accompany for recitals, concerts, auditions,
Posted on: 19 August 2013
Posted on: 19 August 2013
