ABOUT ME
TONALEA is an online music education platform dedicated to thoughtful, high-level instruction rooted in artistic integrity, academic excellence, and meaningful mentorship.
Founded and led by internationally acclaimed pianist and educator Dr. Quynh Nguyen, Tonalea offers personalized online lessons designed for students of all ages and levels. Our approach combines a strong technical foundation, musical expression, and disciplined artistry while nurturing confidence, creativity, and long-term growth.
With a focus on quality over quantity, Tonalea provides a supportive and structured learning environment where students receive individual attention, clear guidance, and professional feedback. As the platform grows, Tonalea will welcome distinguished faculty and expand its offerings to serve a broader community of learners worldwide.
Whether preparing for auditions, competitions, or personal artistic development, Tonalea is committed to helping each student reach their full musical potential.
MyProjects
MESSIAEN VINGT REGARDS SUR L'ENFANT JESUS
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This project is to pair Messiaen's Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant Jesus with new commissions from composers around the world.
One of the twentieth century’s greatest achievements for solo piano, Vingt Regards is a cycle of twenty meditations uniting the sacred and the human, written in Paris in 1944, near the end of World War II as the city was being liberated from German occupation.
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Originally intended as a set of twelve short piano pieces for a radio production accompanying Maurice Toesca’s poetry on the Nativity, the work evolved into a profound cycle of spiritual devotion and inspiration.
The composition is built around four principal themes—the theme of God, the Star and the Cross, the theme of Chords, and the theme of Mystical Love—while incorporating birdsong, Indian and non-retrogradable rhythms, neumes, synesthesia, and numerology. The work spans an extraordinary emotional range, from tenderness to thunderous power, from the mystical to the transcendent and glorious.
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Performing and recording Vingt Regards is a natural continuation of this lineage. Beyond its artistic and spiritual significance, this project contributes to cultural preservation and education—bringing Messiaen’s message of faith, wonder, and renewal to a wider audience. It serves as a bridge between tradition and modernity, devotion and artistry, intellect and spirituality, and stands as a tribute to Yvonne Loriod and Olivier Messiaen, one of the most influential composers of the twentieth century.