our magical teachers

     Nicki Denofrio is a dynamic and versatile collaborative pianist and vocal coach working throughout the Chicagoland area. She has enjoyed a varied career spanning 40 years as a Liturgical Music Director early in her days, private voice and piano lessons in her own studio, then stepping into the collaborative pianist roles for numerous high schools and collegiate programs, playing for concerts and pit orchestras. Nicki recently retired as Vocal Director at Carl Sandburg High School, a program where she and her students reinvented what choir concerts could be:
from a classical-meets-techno collab of Padre Martini’s ‘Domine, ad adjuvandum me festina’ with a live DJ to massive choral-orchestral masterworks collaborations surpassing 300 student performers.
Nicki is a sought after adjudicator for solo-ensemble competitions, accompanist for ILMEA festival rehearsals and concerts, and enjoys working as a clinician for multiple high school vocal programs across the area. Her passion lies in unlocking the unique potential of each musician with whom she collaborates, and in doing so, helps to open that person up to see their own infinite possibility, both in music, and as a human. 

When not sitting at a piano, you’ll find Nicki working as a gala board member for a local non-profit financially supporting music lessons , as a co-founder of a women’s correspondence community, or working with auto racers at tracks around the country as a mindset coach, most recently for drivers
in Porsche Sprint North America.
Nicki holds a Bachelor of Music Education from Elmhurst University, where she focused her studies on vocal pedagogy for young singers with Jen Mather. 

Andy Garcia is a Chicago based saxophonist and educator, who has served as a clinician and adjudicator at various schools in the Chicagoland area. He currently serves as a General Music teacher for the Evergreen Park School District, where he works with students in K-5 and directs an after-school choir program, fostering a love of music in young learners. He is also an active adjudicator for Solo & Ensemble in Illinois District 1, contributing his expertise to growing musicians. Andy graduated from Saint Xavier University in 2021 with a double major in Music Education and Jazz Performance and has since continued to devote his time to helping the music department grow. Since graduating, he has served as the Coordinator of Music Admissions at Saint Xavier University, where he supports and recruits students who wish to study music at a higher level. He also serves as the Co-Director of the SXU Summer Jazz Camp and as Woodwind assistant for the Eisenhower High School Marching Band. 

As an active performer, Andy has served as the saxophonist for the Magical Keys Christmas Extravaganza. Through his diverse roles as an educator, adjudicator, and performer, Andy remains committed to enriching musical experiences for students and communities.

The alumnus of The Grazyna and Kiejstut Bacewicz Univerity of Music in Lodz in Poland. He finished his master's degree in Dr Michal Drewnowski's class in 2020. He participated in many masterclasses with masters a.o Ivo Varbanov, Marcin Sikorski, Sofia Gulyak, Pawel Mazurkiewicz, Kevin Kenner, Lori Sims, Sara Davis Buechner. In 2020-2024 he was working in his Alma Mater as an accompanist and a vocal coach in the Departament of Performing Arts. In 2021 he got promoted to the project „New voices, the rediscovered operas. Establishment of Polish- Norwegian Opera Academy” consolidating his position as an opera pianist and staging 3 operas. An active concert pianist, playing in Poland, Switzerland, Italy and USA. In 2020 he has won the first prize in an Academic Piano Competition performing III Piano Concerto by S. Prokofiev. In 2021 he performed I Piano Concerto by F. Liszt with Lodz's University of Music orchestra conducted by Maestro Jacek Rogala. In 2023 he was working in the Lodz’s Grand Opera as a celesta pianist and as an accompanist for the opera singers. Currently persuing a performance diploma in piano at Roosevelt University in Chicago, Illinois.

Minkyoo Shin is an organist, pianist, educator, and church musician whose career spans more than three decades of performance, teaching, and musical leadership. She currently serves as Music Director at Lutheran Church of the Ascension in Northfield, Illinois, and as pianist at Temple Sholom of Chicago, one of the city’s leading Reform congregations.

For twenty years, Shin served on the faculty of Trinity Christian College, where she taught organ, piano, music theory, and chamber music while mentoring students from beginning musicians to advanced collegiate performers. As a recitalist, she has appeared throughout the United States and in Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands.

Her honors include First Prize in the American Guild of Organists Region III Young Artists Competition, finalist recognition in the AGO National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance, and finalist honors in the Yale Institute of Sacred Music Biennial Organ Competition. She was also featured on Chicago’s classical radio station WFMT 98.7 as part of Make Music Chicago.

In addition to her work as a performer and educator, Shin is the founder and a member of the board of directors of One Tree, Many Branches, a concert series dedicated to presenting outstanding artists whose work reflects a rich diversity of musical cultures and traditions.

Shin earned degrees from the Peabody Conservatory, the Yale School of Music, and the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she received the Doctor of Music degree in Organ Performance and Literature with a minor in Music Theory. Her principal teachers include Peggy Haas Howell, Thomas Murray, Christopher Young, and Donald Sutherland, and she pursued additional study with Harald Vogel at the North German Organ Academy. While at Yale, she was awarded the Wood Chandler Memorial Scholarship, presented to an outstanding organ major.

Angie Pope has been teaching early childhood family music classes since 2010, when she became a certified Musikgarten educator. In 2012 she founded "Miss Angie's Music" and currently teaches toddler and preschool level classes at various locations in the south suburbs. She is also director of the Bel Canto Children's Choir in Homewood and the Cherub Choir at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Palos Heights. She has run successful music programs at several Montessori schools in the area, and continues to entertain children and their families at countless farmers markets, libraries, school functions, Girl Scout gatherings, and mom group meetings. Since 2020 she has volunteered at Gigi's Playhouse in Tinley Park, where she teaches the monthly "Music in Motion" program. Angie is also a professional vocalist with Beatmix Music, leading and performing with the band “BPM” most weekends at private events. She was a member of TheatreBAM! Chicago for 16 years, with whom she performed several educational musicals including "Schoolhouse Rock Live!" at theaters and elementary schools throughout the country. Angie is extremely passionate about music and feels blessed to be able to share her love of music with people of all ages!