Musical Foundation
Technique, rhythm, listening, reading, and expression are built patiently from the first lessons.
About Us
YOMA Music Academy is built around discipline, artistry, and personal musical growth.
Our academy in Houston offers piano instruction and artistic formation for children, teens, and adults through a thoughtful, human, and professional approach.
YOMA Music Academy
A music academy with professional standards and a personal heart.
In our academy, students are not treated as identical learners. We begin by understanding their age, goals, musical background, personality, schedule, and relationship with music.
Human Instruction
Students receive structure and encouragement without intimidation or unnecessary pressure.
Artistic Purpose
Lessons are designed to help students grow in confidence, culture, discipline, and emotional connection.
Teaching Philosophy
Discipline without intimidation. Encouragement without shortcuts.
Yarima’s approach combines the rigor of conservatory training with a patient and personal understanding of each student.
Lessons are structured, but never mechanical. Students are guided to develop technique, listening, reading, expression, focus, and confidence through steady and meaningful progress.
- FoundationStrong artistry begins with rhythm, reading, listening, technique, and healthy practice habits.
- Individual PathEach student grows at a different pace. Instruction adapts to age, personality, goals, and learning style.
- ExpressionMusic is not only accuracy. Students learn to communicate, feel, listen, and share.
Small steps create the path. A strong foundation is built patiently, with purpose and dedication.
Biographical and professional profile
Yarima Orellana is a Cuban pianist, educator, arranger, composer, choreographer, and musical director with more than 25 years of teaching and performance experience.
Early formation in Cuba
Born in Mayari, Holguin, Cuba, Yarima began formal piano studies at age seven. Her early musical education took place at the Vocational School of Arts «Raul Gomez Garcia,» where discipline, listening, and artistic seriousness became part of her foundation.
Conservatory education
Yarima graduated from the Conservatory «Jose Maria Ochoa» on May 22, 1998, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Piano Performance and Piano Pedagogy. The Cuban conservatory system shaped her understanding of technique, repertoire, rigor, and the responsibility of teaching music with depth.
Teaching career
She began teaching in 1996, and her official professional career as a piano educator began in September 1998. Her work includes experience as a piano professor, repetiteur pianist for Lyrical Theater «Rodrigo Prats,» singer with Orfeon de Holguin, and educator connected to «Raul Camayd.»
International performance
Yarima’s artistic journey has included performances in Guardalavaca, Corsica Ferries in Italy and France, Moscow, and Lima with Timberos All Stars. Her career has crossed classical, lyrical, popular, and Latin music contexts.
Multidisciplinary artistry
Beyond piano, Yarima has worked as founder, director, choreographer, and dancer of the Spanish Ballet of the Lyrical Theater «Rodrigo Prats.» This multidisciplinary background informs her belief that music education should develop the whole artist: mind, body, emotion, discipline, and expression.
Collaborations and Houston work
Her collaborations include Orquesta Hermanos Aviles, Zenda, Entre Lineas, and Tumbaka. In Houston, she has performed at Houston Latin Fest and Houston Salsa Fest and has accompanied artists including Maelo Ruiz, David Pavon, Tony Vega, members of Sonora Poncena, and Eddy Marcano.
Building YOMA in the United States
Yarima arrived in the United States in November 2022 and began building her work in Houston from home as a newly arrived immigrant. YOMA Music Academy grew from that beginning into an educational project guided by resilience, passion, family, discipline, and service.
The meaning of YOMA
YOMA stands for Yarima Orellana Music Academy. It also carries a family meaning: Yarima, Orellana, Maritza, Alejandra, and Arturo. The academy is both a professional music education brand and a deeply personal expression of family, legacy, and purpose.
YOMA Music Academy
Explore the academy we are building in Houston.
YOMA Music Academy brings together professional musical training, cultural identity, and a personal approach to student formation.