Suzanne Klukas, MA

Instructor in Music - Piano; Accompanist

Suzanne Klukas earned a Magister Artium, Master of Arts, in Piano Chamber Music from the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Graz, Austria and a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from the University of British Columbia.  Ms. Klukas is the recipient of sgnificant awards including a grant for professional musicians from the Canada Council for the Arts for her work with Charles Spencer in Vienna and multiple scholarships from the Johann Strauss Foundation for her graduate studies in Austria. Formative in her artistry are her study stints in German Lied interpretation with world renowned artist Charles Spencer (recorded with Christa Ludwig, Thomas Quasthoff, Cecilia Bartoli, Gundula Janowitz, among others) who has mentored her in 2004, 2005 (Vienna), 2007 (Prague) as well as in master classes in 2003 (Gutenstein, Austria) and in 2007, 2008 (Husum, Germany). Principal teachers in Vancouver were Douglas Finch for solo piano and Rena Sharon for song interpretation. In Graz, Ms. Klukas studied with Kaete Wittlich of "die riehe" Vienna and Anja Lechner of the Rosamunde Quartet Muenchen.  Further master class instruction was taken in Germany and Austria with Charles Spencer, Ulf Baestlein and French cellist Philippe Muller. Ms. Klukas has performed in Slovenian RTV orchestra, as well as the Slovenian Chamber Music Festival Glasbeni September.

Local activities have included adjudication for many years for UBC's Strauss Foundation scholarship competition, appearances at the UBC Wednesday Noon Hours, the Kwantlen Faculty and Guest Artist Series, the Erato Ensemble St. Andrew's Wesley Concerts, guest artist for the Canadian concert at the Vancouver International Song Institute, and faculty member at the UBC Summer Voice Workshop.  Ms. Klukas teaches piano at Trinity Western University where she is faculty pianist in the voice, instrumental and choral divisions of the music department.

  • MA (Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst, Graz)
  • BMus (British Columbia)

Expertise

Piano, Collaborative Piano, Art Song Interpretation (especially Schubert, Schumann & the German Lied), and Chamber Music

  • Applied Music Lessons - Piano
  • Collaborative Piano
  • Repertoire and Studio
  • Keyboard Pedagogy
  • Keyboard Literature