Piano lessons for beginner, intermediate & advanced students
Joseph Fridman, M.Mus.
Mr. Fridman has earned two masters’ degrees – as a pianist and opera director – from the world-renowned St. Petersburg Conservatory.
He is a concert pianist, teacher, vocal coach and accompanist. He has taught at the Schools for Musically Gifted Children of St. Petersburg and Kiev, and at the Pskov Music College. He has performed with the St. Petersburg and Pskov Philharmonics.
Mr. Fridman served on the faculty of the Alberta College Conservatory of Music in Edmonton from 1991 till 2002 and taught in the Conservatory’s International Music Academy and the University of Alberta.
Currently, Joseph is a director and a piano teacher of the Alberta Music Academy in Edmonton. He lectures and gives masterclasses/workshops in Canada, Ukraine, the USA and has taught in various summer schools: Strings and Keys (Bergen), Alberta College Summer School (Edmonton), and has been a clinician in the CASSA (Calgary) summer camp.
Joseph has adjudicated a number of festivals and competitions, including the prestigious Canadian Music Competition (2004).
His piano students have received first class honors and medals in RCM Exams, first and second prizes in the Kiwanis Festival, Northern Alberta Concerto Competition and Fall Festival.
Joseph Fridman performs in solo and chamber recitals and has been broadcast frequently on CBC Radio.
Tanya Fridman, M.Mus.
Tanya Fridman has received her Master of Music Degree in Piano Performance from the prestigious St.Petersburg Conservatory.
She is a concert pianist, accompanist, piano and piano pedagogy teacher.
Tanya taught piano at the Alberta College Conservatory of Music from 1991 until 2002 when she established the Alberta Music Academy Inc. with her husband Joseph Fridman.
In the year of 2000 Tanya created “Musical Encounters”– a series of concerts for children in which music, poetry, puppetry, visual arts and dance were brought together. All concerts were sold-out events.
To make first steps into music memorable and enjoyable for her younger students, she has developed a program for children ages 4 to 7 based on a system of musical games called “Discover Music”™.
Her students of intermediate and advanced levels have received medals for achieving the highest marks in Alberta in their piano and theory exams. They are winners and scholarship recipients of the numerous piano festivals and competitions.
Matthew Wicks, B. Mus.
As a pianist, Matthew Wicks has received several awards - Gerry Segger Scholarship for Performance Excellence (2011), a grant from the Winspear Fund, scholarships from the Anne Burrows Foundation, Women's Musical Club of Toronto and Toronto Summer Music Academy.
In 2010, Mr. Wicks received a Bachelor of Music in piano performance from Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia. Matthew also has two diplomas in piano performance: an Associate of the Royal Conservatory Toronto diploma (ARCT in 2003) and a Piano Performance Diploma (PDP in 2008) at The Glenn Could School of The Royal Conservatory. His primary piano teachers were Ina Dykstra, Andrew Markow, Joachim Segger.
Matthew has also studied composition and theory with Omar Daniel, and with jazz aficionado George Thurgood. His conducting studies were with Yuri Meyer and Alain Trudel. In Toronto, Matthew performed in masterclasses for Leon Fleisher, Andre Laplante, John Perry, and Kum Sing Lee.
Matthew has been teaching piano & keyboard lessons since 1998 and music theory, harmony and history since 2010. He has been a member of The Alberta Music Academy faculty since August 2008.
Nika Ardakani
Nika began studying piano at an early age.
She has been a student of Tanya Fridman at the Alberta Music Academy since 2015 and is currently working towards Grade 10 Piano exam.
She has received First Class Honours on her previous RCM Piano exams.
Nika has been teaching piano since 2023.
Her experience working with children includes not only teaching piano lessons. She has participated in science and engineering camps for young children.
Nika strives for excellence in school and music. Currently, she is a Grade 12 High School student.
Nika is creative and enjoys composing piano songs/pieces in her free time, experimenting and exploring all aspects of music.
Nika believes in fostering a love for music from an early age.
Avina Ardakani
17 years old Avina has been taken piano lessons at the Alberta Music Academy with Tanya Fridman for 11 years.
She has received First Class Honors marks on her RCM piano exams and is currently working on Grade 10 Piano programme.
Playing the tenor saxophone for a school concert band and jazz ensemble since September 2023, Avina has performed for the school, the Alberta International Band Festival 2024 & 2025, and at West Edmonton Mall for Extra Life Game Day 2024.
She grew up experimenting with the piano and creating countless original compositions and improvisations.
She has 4 years of experience producing electronic music digitally with professional-grade software.
Currently Avina is taking music in school as an IB course to hone skills in music creation and technology.
She has a few months of piano-teaching experience with elementary students.