Faculty and Staff
Laura Kakis Serper
Kairos Music Academy Founder and Artistic Director
Laura has vast experience conducting children’s choirs and serving as a community- builder through music programing. Ms. Kakis Serper received her degrees from the University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music as well as attended Westminster Choir College, and the Aspen Music Institute. She has performed for many years as a soprano soloist and in operas and musical theatre. Her Greek heritage inspired the name of the Kairos and its choruses and her folksong choral arrangements have been sung by choirs world-wide, including at Carnegie Hall. She is also the Director of Choral Music at The Crowden School where her choirs have performed with the San Francisco Symphony for three seasons, most recently in Orff’s Carmina Burana. Ms. Kakis Serper was recognized at the California State Senate for over twenty years of excellent musical service to the community through Kairos Choir programs. She is dedicated to helping children find their voice for life through the art of singing.
Arkadi Serper
Kairos Pianist and Composer
Arkadi received his music education in Russia at the Gnesin State Musical College and Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. He continues a distinguished career as a pianist, composer and music educator. Mr. Serper is Director of Piano and Composition, Music Theory and History at The Crowden School, and teaches at the San Francisco Conservatory in the Pre-College Department. He has written many choral compositions for Kairos Youth Choir, some of which have been published through the Henry Leck choral series. As an acclaimed composer, his symphonic and chamber compositions have been produced by several major orchestras. Kairos singers have the added benefit of performing tailor-made musicals composed by Arkadi Serper, with librettos by local writers. As a pianist, he continues to perform concerts, both as a soloist and a chamber musician.
Administrative Staff
Sofia Tudose
Administrative Director
Sofia is an avid music lover that enjoys crunching numbers. With experience in start-ups and non profits, Sofia has found a perfect spot at Kairos where she can further explore her passions. Sofia is from Romania, from a Greek family. She studied Public Relations and Advertising at the University of Bucharest and has worked for 10 years putting together an iconic cafe and a delicious catering business. Upon discovering USA 4 years ago, Sofia decided to dedicate her expertise to non profit educational organizations.
Asher Witkin
Engagement Liaison
Asher is a singer-songwriter from Berkeley, California. He began singing with Kairos Music Academy as a third grader in 2008, and immediately fell in love with the warm community and exceptional artistic instruction. He’s been working with Kairos in one capacity or another ever since. Asher has sung with Coldplay, Daveed Diggs, The Head and the Heart, The Stone Foxes, and recorded for Kehlani. He graduated from Columbia College Chicago and Mannheim’s Popakademie 2022.
Student Music Staff
Emile Serper
Student Music Theory Coach
Emile Serper (16) started cello at the ancient age of six, yet he was singing with Kairos Youth Choir from the womb. Currently, he studies cello with Jeremiah Shaw and is a student in the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Pre-College Program. He is the Co-Principal cellist in the Young People’s Symphony Orchestra, with whom he has performed on tour in the Pacific Northwest and Canada. He also studies composition with David Conte, is a two-season winner of the Kris Getz Composer’s Award, and has a published choral work entitled “Ave Maria”which is dedicated to environmental concerns. In addition to music-making, Emile enjoys mathematics, hiking, running, following baseball, and spending time with his recently-formed Kairos singers/alumni vocal acappella group “Evnia”, as arranger, singer and beatboxer. His Greek heritage comes to the fore in his love of friends and food!
