Music Teachers' Association
of New South Wales

Denise Ming Tse Yu

Mei Khing Ong

Mei Khing Ong M.M.T.A. is the founder of Irume Coaching, a neuroplasticity-informed piano teaching practice based in Pennant Hills, NSW, serving children aged 6–16.

Mei holds an Associate Diploma (ATCL) from Trinity College London, ABRSM Grade 8 in Piano (Distinction), Viola, and Music Theory, and is a registered teacher with the Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB Registered Teacher No. 141356). She brings over 25 years of musical experience to her teaching practice.

Mei's foundational training was shaped by two distinguished mentors in Penang, Malaysia: Madam Lee Fee Khoon (Mrs Sam), a highly respected figure in the Malaysian music education community, and Mr Woon Wen Kin, founder of the Penang Symphony Orchestra. It is from this lineage that Mei's deep commitment to musical rigour and whole-child development was formed.

Since 2020, Mei has prepared candidates for ABRSM and AMEB examinations, achieving a 100% pass rate with approximately 89% of students receiving Distinctions or A+ results.

At the heart of Irume Coaching is the belief that music education is a vehicle for building lifelong potential — developing focus, discipline, creative thinking, and resilience in young learners. Mei's proprietary ACE framework (Absorb, Carry Out Precisely, Explore) guides her pedagogical approach, underpinned by current research in neuroplasticity.

Mei was recently featured as a guest on Marvellous Women — The Podcast, hosted by Dr Samantha Rush, Decision Science Coach and certified Master Neuroplastician, where she shared her philosophy on revolutionising music education for children.

Zarina Nurlanov

Zarina's diverse background allows her to to work confidently with students of any level of vocal and instrumental studies, understanding both technical and interpretive aspects from the performer's perspective.

Zarina is teaching at her studio in Pymble.

She is also available for exams, auditions and competitions as an accompanist.

Catherine Dobbie

Chuck Harvey Gastador

Location: Manila

Jara Stinson

Victoria Jacono-Gilmovich

Heather Powrie

Dr Imogen Coward

Dr. Imogen Coward is a Sydney-based scholar-performer and educator, specializing in teaching violin, viola, improvisation, and coaching performance skills for all instruments & voice (both solo and ensemble settings). She is tertiary qualified and a Music Teacher’s Association (NSW) accredited music teacher of violin, viola, piano, improvisation & music theory. An experienced distance educator and assessor, her teaching practice includes both in-person and remote/online music instruction.

Since 2003 Imogen has been in demand as a studio teacher, consultant/coach and workshop presenter. Her students are regularly selected for opportunities and awards including HSC’s ENCORE nominations (performance and composition), Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) workshops, Opera Australia’s Regional Children’s Chorus, and Sydney Youth Orchestra, as well as gaining university placement (bachelors, masters and doctoral) in Australia and Europe.

Imogen is an active performer, musical director, multi-instrumentalist and singer (featured soloist on the award-winning Canadian film 2BR02B:To Be or Naught To Be dir. Marco Checa-Garcia); and in 2014 she became the founding director of the internationally recognised Australian chamber orchestra Camerata Academica of the Antipodes, dubbed ‘musically combustible’ by Criticks (UK). Her appearances as a soloist include guest artist and speaker for the Solomos Society, and soloist for the University of New England, the Queensland sequicentenary celebrations and numerous chamber music appearances. Imogen has also served as an adjudicator for Ryde Eisteddfod’s string section, and as an adviser to schools’ P&C Associations on the founding and successful development of string group programmes, including for Epping West Public and Pymble Public.

Imogen’s qualifications include: Historically Informed Performance and Improvisation studies, PhD (UNE), B.A. Hons First Class (Music), and Diplomas in Suzuki Violin and Viola teaching. She is the recipient of the Commonwealth Government’s prestigious Australian Postgraduate Award for her PhD studies, the Harold Brissenden Memorial Foundation Fellowship and was made a member of the Golden Key International Honour Society for academic brilliance. Her research on music has been published by Cambridge Scholars Press and the University of Otago, New Zealand. Imogen is an active member of the Musicological Society of Australia (MSA) and regularly presents at international academic conferences.

Sally Maer

Originally from London, Sally studied at The Royal Academy of Music where she performed in the presence of Diana Princess of Wales. After graduating with an honours degree presented to her by Lord Yehudi Menhuin, she relocated from England to Australia in the late 90s.

Sally began her career as an orchestral musician working first with the West Australian Symphony at age twenty-two, then the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and The Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra. Sally’s regular appearances as cellist for television shows such as The Voice, Australian Idol and X Factor helped carve out what are now regular spots for young string players in the business. During her years playing on TV, she found herself accompanying some of the biggest names in the Australian and International music scene such as Liza Minelli, Lionel Richie and Michael Buble.

With her ability to slip effortlessly between classical and modern music, ABC Classics signed Maer to their label in 2005 as “Cello Diva” and produced her first album, ‘Bed of Roses’ accompanied by the ABC orchestra. Since then Sally has had another 2 solo albums with ABC Classics; “Celtic Cello” in 2016 and most recently “Cello at the Opera” (2017) which has reached number 1 on the Classical Aria Charts and No. 1 on the  Australian itunes charts. Maer’s recordings are aired regularly on Classic FM.

Sally had a once-in-a-life-time invitation to perform at the Dawn Service at Anzac Cove in Gallipoli 2004 with The Peter Sculthorpe String Quartet and didgeridoo virtuoso, William Barton. Here, she was talent spotted by the manager of Popera sensation ‘Amici’, and was invited to perform as their guest act on their Australian tour in 2005. Sally Maer performed her solo Cello Diva show in all the major concert venues across Australia including the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, the Melbourne Hamer Hall, Canberra Theatre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre Concert Hall, Newcastle Civic Theatre, Adelaide Festival Theatre and at the Famous Speigeltent for the Melbourne International Arts Festival. She has also headlined on the Queen Mary II during a period of working as a guest entertainer on luxury cruise ships in between her job as Delta Goodrem’s touring cellist.

In parallel to her performing career, Sally has been a dedicated teacher since the age of 17, passionate about getting young children to learn an instrument. She studied Art of Teaching whilst at the Royal Academy of Music and has a teaching diploma in addition to her Honours Degree. Maer taught the cello at Sydney Grammar School for 10 years before training to be a Kindermusik teacher. She currently teaches the cello at Newcastle Grammar School, Central Coast Grammar School and started a string program at Pretty Beach Public School. Sally has her own practice, The Fleurys Music School which she and husband, JP Fleury, founded in 2013. It has been one of the couple’s life-long dreams to have a thriving music practice of their own. They also are the creators of the pre-school music program, ‘Maestro Possums’, running music classes for babies up to age four, which is the age when most of the children who’ve come through the program begin learning an instrument.

After making the Central Coast home in 2013, Sally has formed a warm relationship with the local symphony orchestra, the Symphony Central Coast, and performed the Elgar Cello Concerto accompanied by the orchestra. She also featured as a soloist at a special opera extravaganza concert, “Opera in the Arboretum”  in with David Hobson and Sally-Anne Russell.