Faculty

Rita Attrot

Piano | Department Head

Rita Attrot has been teaching piano students of all ages and levels for over thirty years. She received her early training at the Victoria Conservatory where she took her diploma in Teacher Training with Winifred Scott Wood. She went on to complete her Bachelor of Music at the University of Victoria with Bruce Vogt and followed up with a Master of Music degree in Performance from the University of Western Ontario where she studied with Dr. Damjana Bratuz and Ronald Turini.  As a graduate student and post graduation, Rita specialized in accompanying and chamber music.

Ms. Attrot held the position of Staff Accompanist at Acadia University in Nova Scotia for nine years, worked as a free-lance accompanist for instrumentalists and singers in Toronto, and served as a coach and repetiteur at the University of Toronto Opera School.  She has collaborated with violinist Mishan Han – releasing a CD from a live performance at the Glenn Gould Studio; pianist Lynn Johnson – performing piano duo and two-piano recitals in the Maritime provinces; and the Appassionata Trio and the Erato Ensemble – serving as principal pianist in concerts throughout Vancouver, Victoria and the Lower Mainland.  Above all, Rita is passionate about working with vocalists and can be heard in recital performing innovative programs of great song literature with frequent collaborator, soprano Catherine Laub.

Ms. Attrot is Head of the Piano Department at the British Columbia Conservatory of Music where she has many students and teaches the Piano Pedagogy and Viva Voce courses.  Ms. Attrot is active as a Masterclass clinician, examiner for the BCCM Examinations, and as an adjudicator for music festivals throughout BC. As a church musician, Ms. Attrot has held many posts as organist and choir director; she is presently the Music Director at St. Thomas’ Anglican Church in Vancouver. In her spare time, she enjoys watercolour painting, gardening, rollerblading, and snowshoeing.

Education

  • Diploma of Teacher Training (Victoria Conservatory)

  • Bachelor of Music (University of Victoria)

  • Master of Music in Piano Performance (University of Western Ontario)