LaDona Ahenda

LaDona Ahenda holds a B.Mus. from UBC and an ARCT Diploma in Piano Performance. She studied the piano with Dale Jackson and Kum-Sing Lee and the pipe organ with John Searchfield. She was the recipient of numerous scholarships and medals, including the Louise McKinney Scholarship and the Tom and Miggsie Lawson National Teachers’ Travel & Study Scholarship (Conservatory Canada, 2006).

LaDona moved back to Calgary after her studies in Vancouver and worked as an accompanist in the Academy for Gifted Youth program at Mount Royal Conservatory. This gave her the opportunity to learn from many world-class musicians in a masterclass setting. She also free-lanced as an accompanist for other instrumentalists, choirs, and vocalists, and built up a private piano teaching studio.

LaDona serves on the Executive of the Alberta Registered Music Teachers’ Association (Calgary) and is active in the Alberta Piano Teachers’ Association and the Music Coterie in Calgary. She is a teacher, conservatory examiner, adjudicator, accompanist, writer, and page-turner for Honens.

Her primary focus is her private studio in Calgary where she teaches piano and theory at all levels to students of all ages. Her students have won numerous awards and scholarships over the years for excellence in piano performance and theory exams. Some students have continued to pursue a career in music. Most students end up pursuing other career options, but they continue to enjoy a life-long appreciation of good music and the ability to express themselves by making music.

LaDona lives in Calgary with her husband. They are the happy parents of three adult children. Outside the world of music, she likes birding, gardening, reading and biking.