Biography

Elisabeth currently works as a piano teacher, music theory teacher and accompanist for all levels in music. She has held her teaching posts in Dublin since 2009. Elisabeth is also a local centre examiner for the Royal Irish Academy of Music since 2011.

Born in Belgium, Elisabeth has been a student of music since the age of eight, progressing through the different levels of the Conservatoire de Binche, Belgium, where she studied piano with Rosella Clini. 

She subsequently attended the Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Mons, Belgium, where she studied eight years with Rosella Clini and Thomas Paule, to obtain a Premier Prix in Piano (B.Mus), a Premier Prix in Harmony and a Premier Prix in Sol-Fa – Music Theory, and then a Master’s Degree in Piano Performance (M.Mus) as well as a Teaching Degree (H.Dip.Ed). 

Besides the Conservatoire, she attended and performed several times at the International Masterclass “Music-A Braine l’Alleud” in Belgium and the “Paris International Summer Sessions” at the Ecole Normale de Musique Alfred Cortot in Paris, both directed by Nelson Delle-Vigne Fabbri.  During those piano sessions she had the honour of performing for renowned masters such as Nelson Delle Vigne-Fabbri, Stéphane Lemelin, Luiz de Moura Castro, Einar Steen-Nokleberg, Boaz Sharon, Robert Roux and Ian Hobson.

After obtaining her Premier Prix, she worked for several years as a piano and music theory teacher in music schools and academies in Belgium and France.  She also taught the children of the international members of SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe - NATO) in Casteau-Maisières, near Mons, Belgium, where she was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation for “distinguished meritorious service” before her departure for Ireland.

Once settled in Ireland she studied piano with Anthony Byrne at an advanced level at the Royal Irish Academy of Music and has had the opportunity to perform in Masterclasses for Jonathan Plowright in the Dublin Institute of Technology, and for Sara Bryans, Evelyne Brancart and Stephen Hough in the Royal Irish Academy of Music.

She was awarded the second prize at the ESB Feis Ceoil’s “Anthony Glavin Trophy and Awards” competition in 2011 and the gold medal and Audrey Chisholm Cup at the Royal Irish Academy of Music 2012 Pianofest for sonata playing.

She has spent the following few years concentrating on teaching and examining, building up a solid reputation for professionalism and respect, in a relaxed manner. She has created her own business: “Fanta-Music”, in Clontarf in August 2019. In August 2023, she opened a second location in Dundalk.

On a more personal, local and quirky note, she adopted a cat named Fanta in 2014, which quickly became a mascot in the neighbourhood and was the inspiration for her business name.