Andy Kitusa

Founder of AK Music Studio

Born and raised in Toronto, Andy started playing piano at an early age of just 5 years old. He finished his RCM Grade 10 in Classical Piano Performance for the Royal Conservatory of Music (First Class Honours) in 2012, just as he started his first year of high school.

Andy completed his four years of high school at the renowned Mississauga Arts School, Cawthra Park Secondary School, where he had the chance to study with highly specialized teachers. Throughout high school, Andy performed for various in-school events, which included jazz bands, musical pit bands, cocktail gigs, and solo classical performance opportunities, which led him to decide to pursue a career in music.

In April 2020, Andy completed his Bachelor’s in Jazz Piano Performance at the University of Toronto. He received the Mamie May Scholarship for three years and was awarded the Distillery Jazz Scholarship during his first year at UofT. As one of North America’s top institutions for jazz studies, Andy was surrounded by incredibly talented and hardworking colleagues and teachers. Some of the teachers he studied with at UofT included many notable jazz musicians in the Canadian and world jazz scene, including Steve Wallace, William Carn, Geoff Young, and Terry Promane. In addition, during his first three years at UofT, he was taught privately by Juno-nominated pianist Chris Donnelly. During his last year, Andy was taking lessons with Dr. Noam Lemish, who also teaches piano to the Toronto Raptors Head Coach, Nick Nurse.

On top of his well-versed knowledge of classical and jazz music, Andy is a prevalent music instructor within the Greater Toronto Area. Over the last eight years, he has been sharing his passion for music as a teacher in hopes of enriching other people's lives.

As a bandleader and musical collaborator, Andy has performed and recorded for many events and projects. He is the leader of two small jazz ensembles and is an in-demand sideman for others musicians’ projects. Andy has also recorded with vocal star and friend Alexandra Porat, who has garnered over 1,000,000 YouTube subscribers.

When not working on all things music… you can find Andy working on one of his other favourite hobbies: flying airplanes and obsessing about sports cars!