WELCOME TO DORAL PIANO STUDIO

Team

Get to Know Us​

Daniel Venegas

Professor / Founder

With over 15 years of teaching experience,  the secret to Venegas' teaching approach is adapting to each student's design, enforcing their confidence and self-esteem first and then teaching them in a fun way.

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EDUCATION

Master of Music: Piano Performance, 2007
Full Scholarship, Cum Laude
Florida International University: 2005-2007
Miami, Florida
Bachelor of Arts, Double Major: Music Business and Piano Performance, 2005
Full Scholarship, Cum Laude

University of Miami: 2002-2005
Coral Gables, Florida
Bachelor of Science: Business Administration with a Major in Marketing, 2002
University Francisco: 1998-2002
Marroquin, Guatemala
Artist Diploma: Piano Performance, 1997
National Conservatory of Music: 1995-1997
Guatemala City, Guatemala

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CAREER 

Some of Venegas' piano instructors have been, Ivan Davis, Kemal Gekic, Jorge Luis Prats, Gisele Brodsky, among others. Besides performing locally he has been a Piano and Music Theory instructor, privately and also as a staff member in institutions such as University of Miami, Florida International University, Barry University, Miami Conservatory of Music, Piano Preparatory Program and Conservatorio Nacional de Musica de Guatemala. Venegas was also a Marketing and Promotion Advisor, 2005-2010 for the prestigious Miami International Piano Festival.

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ACADEMIC AWARDS AND HONORS
2002-2005 Dean’s List
University of Miami
2003 Golden Key International Honor’s Society
University of Miami
2002-2003 Paul Bateman Scholarship
University of Miami, Frost School of Music
2003-2004 Ward Calland Camp Mediorial Endowed Scholarship
Frost School of Music, University of Miami
2004-2005 Martha Weeks Scholarship
Frost School of Music, University of Miami
1996 Winner, Concerto Competition
Orchestra Sinfonica Nacional de Guatemala
1997 Winner, Concerto Competition
Orchestra Sinfonica Nacional de Guatemala

Javier Sardinas

Professor

Javier Sardinas was born in Havana Cuba in 1985. His musical training began at the age of 8 in the prestigious conservatory Alejandro Garcia Caturla where he studied under the guidance of piano professor Virginia de la Osa for 7 years. Later he continued his studies at the conservatory Amadeo Roldan. 
In 2004 Javier came to the United States and continued his piano studies at Florida International University where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance under the guidance of world renowned pianist Kemal Gekic. Javier also studied privately for several years with Giselle Brodsky artistic director of the Miami International Piano Festival.
In 2013 he won the first price at the F.I.U concerto competition and played the Tchaikovsky concerto No.1 conducted by Maestro Grzegorz Nowak. Javier also has performed Camille Saint-Saëns piano concerto no.2 and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the F.I.U Orchestra and Wind Ensemble respectively. 
As a piano teacher Javier has 15 years of experience teaching people of all ages and all levels from beginners to advanced. His piano students have been recipients of numerous awards most noticeably his student Anthony Goenaga was awarded the third price in the 2018 Steinway & Sons Junior Piano Competition.

Luis Urbina

Professor

Luis Urbina was born in Caracas, Venezuela . He began his musical studies at the age of 9 on the piano and at age 10 with the cello. He was considered a prodigy in his middle school and high school music programs, where he served as a musical leader and role model for other students. He began to study with Dr. Paul Posnak at the age of 13. He studied with him for four years and won a variety of local and state music competitions as a young pianist. He also entered as a semifinalist in the Lennox International Competition and on the first round of theGina-Bachauer Competition. He excelled in competitions as Bass Voice singer in his high school years. Luis began his studies with Giselle Brodsky, Artistic Director of the Miami International Festival, in the summer of 2009. She introduced Luis to the Taubman approach, an approach to piano playing which involves the understanding of physical motions in relation to playing the instrument, and how the right physical motions trigger the right musical results. With this approach, Luis felt a tremendous growth in his playing. In the summer of 2010 he had the amazing opportunity,under auspices of the Miami International Piano Festival and the Summit Music Festival, to audition and be chosen to perform a recital with legendary violinist Ida Haendel. This was for him a deep learning experience. He feels privileged to be part of the Miami International Piano Festival family that provides the opportunity not only to work with Giselle Brodsky, but also the artists of her festival that reside in and out of Miami. He has had the opportunity to study with Frank Cooper, Misha Dacic, Jorge Luis Prats, Ilya Itin, and Kemal Gekic, all of whom he considers close mentors. Luis attended Florida International University in the Spring of 2011 to study with Kemal Gekic. Urbina is currently performing regularly as a solo and collaborative pianist.

Vladyslav Ustiuhov

Professor

Vladyslav Ustiuhov is a Ukrainian pianist living Miami, FL. A winner of the Alfred Lee Scholarship

Competition (2016), Vladyslav has been selected to play in the Boston Conservatory Annual Millennium

Concert. In May of 2021 Vladyslav Ustiuhov participated in a Back Bay public space project Rising–

Beyond the Walls, in partnership with Emerald Necklace Conservancy, and MF Dynamics by Maria

Finkelmeier. In May of 2022 Vladyslav gave a lecture on “Free Improvisation” in the III International

Scientific Conference in Ukraine (online).

As a solo and chamber music performer, Vladyslav (student of Max Levinson) gives yearly recitals

in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. In the past several years he has collaborated with several

musicians such as violinists Olga Bean and Jasmine Cosette Gomez, violists Mariya Ksondzyk and James

Nelson, pianists Kamilla Bendersky and Zhongyi Wang, and cellist Zack Foster.

Recently graduated from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee with Honored Bachelor's and

Master's Degrees in piano performance, Vladyslav was admitted to the Frost School of Music at the

University of Miami to pursue a DMA degree in a keyboard performance and pedagogy. He also received

a teaching assistant position at the University of Miami.

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“My goal is to introduce the beginner, guide the intermediate, and advise the proficient students

on mastering the piano playing art.” – Vladyslav Ustiuhov

Yizhou Zhong

Professor

Yizhou Zhong，was born in Suzhou, China. She is pursuing her Doctoral of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance at University of Miami, Frost School of Music with Professor Tian Ying. She got her Master degree at Indiana University, Jacobs School of Music under the guidance of the Italian pianist, Professor Roberto Plano. Before that, she got the Bachelor degree from Oberlin Conservatory learning with the Uzbekistan pianist, Professor Stanislav Ioudenitch. 

Yizhou had attended and performed at the American liszt Association Festival, Italy Lake Como International Summer Piano School, Suzhou-Julliard music festival, Virginia Commonwealth University music festival. Had been enlightened to play the piano by her father since a very young age. Her former teachers include Dr. Lucas Wong, Jin Tang, Olga Samosuyeva, Sandra Shapiro, Tatiana Ioudenitch, Marina Sultanova. She had performed in masterclasses with a variety of celebrated pianists such as Willam Nabore, Stanislav Ioudenitch, Alvin Chow, Kathryn Brown, Deborah Moriaty, Thomas Lanners. 

Yizhou has been enthusiastic in teaching. She has been teaching since her college years. Her goal is to pass the beauty of music and the tradition of classical music to the younger generation. She hopes every child can gain happiness from learning music, from playing the piano.