our history

Zida Academy’s origin traces back to our founder and Music Director Hua (Jennifer) Lan when she opened her first music school in June 1996 in Ottawa. Jennifer received her music education in China and served over 10 years in China’s premier national orchestra in Beijing. After immigrating to Canada in 1989, Jennifer continued her piano studies under Professor Douglas Voice, who was the head of Piano Sector and chair of the School of Music at the University of Ottawa. Jennifer has over 35 years of teaching experience and performed on CBC radio, national television and the international stage. Under the leadership of Jennifer over the past two decades, our music school has cultivated the talent of over 10,000 enthusiastic young musicians. Many of whom have achieved top results at music exams, recitals and competitions both in Canada and internationally and performed at world-class venues such as the Carnegie Hall in New York City.

In 2002, Jennifer opened her first licensed childcare centre in Ottawa and combined music with early childhood education. In 2018, Zida Academy was awarded Canada’s first and only Steinway Select School accreditation from the prestigious piano manufacturer Steinway & Sons where over 98% of the world's concert pianists prefer to perform on. In 2019, Jennifer was inducted into Steinway & Sons’ inaugural Music Teacher Hall of Fame which includes some of the world’s most distinguished music educators like Gary Graffman from the Curtis Institute of Music whom taught world-renowned concert pianists Lang Lang and Yuja Wang.

With our continued expansion, Zida Academy took over the location of the former Ottawa Waldorf School in Stittsville and completely transformed the facility and in July 2019 received the licence from the Ontario Ministry of Education to operate our new childcare centre. With our talented educators, best-in-class programs and creative partnerships, we are excited to continue cultivating the young minds of our future.