Faculty at EPS

EPS Piano Faculty

Excellence, Fun, Consistency

Eric Rinehart
Principal Instrument: Piano
Specialized Skills: RCM Elementary Piano Teacher Specialist, RCM Certified Instructor

Eric has been teaching in Orange County maintaining a full studio load of 50-60 students since 2017. In Fall 2022, Eric received his certification through the Royal Conservatory of Music with a specialty in elementary music. In Eric's free time, he enjoys spending time with his daughter, Scarlett (2) and his wife Cassidy.

Eric born and raised in the Napa Valley to a 5th generation piano family. 10 minute piano sessions would be sprinkled in between races on Mario-Kart. Eric was involved in a variety of musical pursuits as a child - guitar in his teen boy band, trumpet in marching band, saxophone in the jazz ensemble, and a 2 time world champipon euphonium player with the World Champion Concord Blue Devils.

In college, Eric pursued a Biochemistry degree through an inspiring chemistry teacher, but finally discovered his true passion for living and breathing piano and teaching. Eric's Piano School was born in 2017 in Orange County with humble beginnings. Since, EPS has grown hundreds of students with 7+ teachers. Eric is thrilled to be surrounded by so many excellent teachers in his school, and his cherished piano families. Eric is inspired by the structure and standards introduced by the Piano Express and RCM curriculum. Eric believes pursuing mastery to make great art can transform each one of us into a better human being.

Eliza Hagy
Primary Instrument: Piano
Specialized Skills: Composition, Violin, Viola

Eliza is currently a third year music composition student at California State University, Long Beach, studying under the guidance of Arin Shahjahanian. A classically-trained pianist since the age of five, Eliza has won awards to perform at Carnegie Hall in NYC, as well as play the Schumann Piano Concerto with the American River College Orchestra in Sacramento, CA.

Developing her craft from a young age, Eliza has studied classical piano with Tatiana Scott, Dr.
Lorna Peters, and Dr. Samuel Grodin. To develop her musical skills even further, she also
learned to play violin and viola, playing in ensembles like the American River College
Orchestra, New England Conservatory Youth Orchestra, as well as in her high school
orchestra—Sacramento Waldorf School. By the age of fifteen, Eliza completed all 10 levels of
the Music Teachers’ Association of California Certificate of Merit (MTAC-CM) on piano, violin,
and viola. Utilizing her skills as a multi-instrumentalist, she started composing music for solo piano and various ensembles. She has earned first place at MTAC’s Composers Today state
contest with a slavic fantasy ensemble piece, connecting to her roots. Eliza has recently been
exploring electronic music and hopes to do film scoring in the future.

Matt Bergeron
Primary Instrument: Piano
Specialized Skills: Jazz Improvisation, Composition, Keys, Guitar, Bass

Matt received classical piano and theory training beginning at the age of six years old. In his studies he completed up until the advanced levels of the Certificate of Merit Program through the MTAC. He began teaching piano at sixteen, as well as developing a love for jazz improvisation, music production and performance. Matt plays and sings in multiple bands with genres ranging from indie alternative to jazz and pop.

Between touring, shows, playing in the studio and teaching, Matt enjoys the outdoors, surfing, and live music.

Sam Sohmer
Primary Instrument: Piano
Secondary Skills: Voice, Composition, Music-Production, and Film-Scoring

Sam Sohmer is a classically-trained pianist, vocalist, producer, and composer who was raised in Wheaton, IL. He now lives in Irvine, where he spends the majority of his time writing music for films, teaching classical piano and voice, and spending time with his friends and family.

After taking classical piano lessons from ages 5-15, he began teaching piano himself, while pursuing more of a vocal track in high school; along with enjoying sports like Football, Track, and Basketball, Sam discovered a passion for Music Theater, and performed in shows through his high school and community theater; his favorite roles include “Link” in Hairspray, “Bert” in Mary Poppins, and “Riff” in Westside Story to name a few. He also participated in Wheaton North High School’s show choir, and found success as a soloist for the group, along with acting as the team’s Male Voice and Dance Captain. Additionally, he received the ILMEA All-State honors for choral vocalists twice, placing in the top-four tenors in the state. After high school, Sam attended Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, where he studied Contemporary Voice and Music Education, before leaving school to move to California and participate in ABC’s American Idol, where he placed in the Top-48. After filming the show, he decided to stay in California and attend Vanguard University to further his Music Education training, as well as study film-scoring and composition. Finally, after the COVID-19 pandemic shut down in-person learning, he transferred to Liberty University, and finished his degree, receiving a B.S. in Interdisciplinary Studies, focusing on Music, Business, and Religion.

Ai Vo
Principal Instruments: Piano
Location: Coastal OC and Long Beach

Ai Vo is currently studying at CSULB with the faculty in the piano department to earn a B.A. in Music with a concentration in piano. Ai began her studies in piano at the age of 5, and is currently continuing her studies under the private instruction of Dr. Samuel Grodin.

Outside of academic endeavors, Ai began private violin study at the age of 15 under the instruction of Khanh Hong Nguyen, director of the Vietnamese-American Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra. She often collaborates with other musicians and music ensembles. Ai works and performs as the main pianist, organist and choir director across multiple different church organizations. As a prominent feature of church services, this leads to Ai's frequent exposure on channels such as VBS television, the world’s largest Vietnamese network. She especially enjoys sharing her love for music, running several prominent music social media accounts, amassing a total of 250k followers. With her platform, she hopes to inspire more people to learn and experience the joys of music.

Emerson Smith
Primary Instrument: Piano

Emerson is studying piano performance at the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at Long Beach State under the instruction of Craig Richey. She recently earned 2nd place at the George and Beverly August competition in October of 2022.

She studied piano at the Pasadena conservatory of Music and California School of the Arts San Gabriel Valley where she was awarded the Chopin Award and Department Director’s award. She has performed in masterclasses with artists such as Alex Shapiro, Eugene Asti, Bernadene Blaha, Dmitry Rachmanov, Andrew Park, Samuel Grodin, Ning An, Sarkis Baltaian, Raymond Erickson, and more.

Emerson loves to teach and share her love of music. She was awarded her Black belt in Taekwondo in 2020 and enjoys staying active and being outdoors.

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