Villa Musica currently offers individual lessons in guitar, piano, violin and voice. Our faculty are below. Inquiries are welcome. Please email our Director, Dr. Fiona Chatwin at fchatwin@villamusica.org with any questions
Guitar Dr. Jude Weirmeir, a guitarist,
conductor, educator and composer, received his Ph.D. from the
University of California, San Diego. As an educator, Dr. Weirmeir has
taught in a broad and diverse collection of musical traditions ranging
from music of Africa and Asia, popular culture and film, music theory
and musicianship and guitar performance. As a composer, Dr. Weirmeir
has won many international honors and awards and critics have described
his music as beguiling, delicate, rich, and colorful, with a
wonderful mastery of orchestral color. Dr. Weirmeir has taught
private guitar lessons in San Diego for the past ten years and has
enjoyed directing the Villa Musica Guitar Ensemble since its inception.
Piano Mark
Polesky has been a professional pianist for over 15 years. Mr. Polesky
has received music performance degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory
and the University of Georgia. He has taught piano privately for eight
years; and he performs with ensembles and accompanies classical
instrumentalists and vocalists. Mr. Polesky specializes in premiering,
performing, and recording works of post avant-garde and contemporary
classical composers.
Mark Polesky
Dr. Fiona Chatwin
Voice Dr. Fiona Chatwin was awarded the Doctorate
of Musical Arts specializing in Contemporary Classical Vocal
Performance from UCSD, with a view to a joint career as both teacher
and performer. With thirteen years experience as a teacher of voice
both here in San Diego and in Melbourne, Australia (where she is from),
Dr. Chatwin has worked with students of all ages, a number of whom have
won competitions for their worksome even going on to successful
careers in the areas of popular, jazz, music theatre and classical
vocal performance.
Violin/Viola Dr.
Marta Blalock began her musical studies in the Czech Republic at the age of 5.
She has been teaching violin privately for 15 years and has lead group
classes for children and adults for almost 10 years. During her
graduate studies, she was the director of University of Georgia
Community Music School, where she established a comprehensive learning
environment for children and adults. Ms. Marta is now happy to continue
her teaching expertise with Villa Musica. Her teaching philosophy
combines traditional European instruction with popular instructional
methods such as Suzuki. She is an active performer in solo, chamber and
orchestral music, spanning through various genres and has performed
throughout Europe and the United States. Her research focuses on
Eastern European compositions as well as women in music.
