Alexandra Townsend

Alexandra Townsend brings a wealth of experience and passion to her piano teaching, guiding students of all ages—from young beginners to advanced musicians refining their craft. Her teaching philosophy combines a rigorous technical foundation with a deep emphasis on personal expression, enabling students to realize their full artistic potential. Many of her students consistently achieve top honours in RCM examinations, a testament to her effective and inspiring approach.

Her expertise is widely recognized through invitations to serve as a lecturer, adjudicator, and festival clinician, and she played a key role in the design and launch of a piano pedagogy curriculum at McGill University.

Dr. Townsend holds a master’s degree from the New England Conservatory in Boston, where she studied with the late Patricia Zander—herself a student of Nadia Boulanger and pianist to Yo-Yo Ma for 13 years—and a doctorate in piano performance from the University of British Columbia. She is also a long-serving member of the Royal Conservatory of Music’s College of Examiners.