CHARLENA RUSSEL

At age 19, a sponge for anything music-related, Charlena’s music career began when she moved to Kitchener, Ontario, and joined the goth/electronic band Puncture Vine as an electric violinist and back-up singer. For three months, she slept on the floor of the studio while Puncture Vine recorded its second album.

Afterward, she went on to join various bands touring and/or doing studio work for their albums. Charlena was studying violin with Margret Zak from the Guelph Symphony and classical voice with Anita Noel at the Beckett school. Zak encouraged her to begin teaching beginners and, soon after, Charlena acquired her first violin student. She would teach on Sundays from her apartment and slowly the day filled with students.

Today, Charlena is also owner and head teacher at Russell Music Teaching Studios where she teaches voice, violin, piano, trumpet, guitar and ukulele privately as she continues to study classical voice, violin and piano. Cherishing her students, she’s seen as “the funky aunt” and takes her position as a role model very seriously. “I want to create opportunities for my students that I would have only dreamed of.” Charlena holds true to that statement, organizing shows, free workshops and performance opportunities in Waterloo Region for both herself, fellow musicians, and music students.