Annual Piano Workshop and Academy July 10-13;
Evening concerts open to public

GOSHEN, Ind. – Whether it’s listening to lectures or receiving professional instruction, students and teachers have the opportunity to learn from acclaimed clinicians, composers and performers during Goshen College’s Annual Piano Workshop and Academy for Teachers and Students on July 10-13.

An outreach of Goshen’s Music Department piano studio, for over 30 years the Piano Workshop and Academy has sought to inspire teachers and students each summer offering interactions with professional instructors in a supportive environment through lectures, recitals and master classes. This intensive four-day musical event concludes nightly public concerts.

Teachers participating in the workshop will benefit from experts speaking on topics such as piano pedagogy, performance and literature. Students enrolled in the academy participate in small group lessons with artist faculty, have individual practice time and attend other sessions concerning a variety of topics geared toward the development of student pianists. In the evenings, teachers and student meet together for student recitals, master classes and concerts.

Lecturers for this year’s workshop include Paul Wirth, Nancy Bachus, Christopher Hepp, Robert Vandall, Jacqueline Herbein and Goshen College Music Department’s Matthew Hill. Lecture topics range from “Memorizing: It Takes More Than Muscles” to strategies for teaching teens to “Pedaling with ‘Style’: from Baroque to Fox-Trots.” Vandall is the workshop’s 2006 Composer of the Year, and a premiere of new commissioned work by him will be performed in the final public concert.

Wirth co-founded and is now the artistic director of the Central Minnesota Music School. He was awarded the 2005 Distinguished Teacher of the Year by Minnesota’s Thursday Musical organization. Also an avid supporter of young performers, he co-founded the “Salon se Leve” concert series in St. Paul and the nationally recognized Young Artist Piano Camp at the University of Minnesota in Duluth, Minn.

Bachus is a teacher, recitalist and music historian who has taught both applied piano and academic subjects for more than 25 years at several colleges and universities. Currently she is the associate editor of Repertoire and Performance for Keyboard Companion magazine.

Hepp is an associate professor at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kan. He created the first Web-based piano method for beginning instruction of children and adults using the digital piano, computer and the Internet. Hepp is president-elect of the Kansas Music Teachers Association.

Herbein is an active pianist and teacher in Western Pennsylvania. She has appeared as a soloist with orchestras and in recital both in the United States and abroad, frequently collaborates with members of the Pittsburgh Symphony and is regularly heard on the WQED-FM radio program Performance in Pittsburgh.

Vandall and his wife Karen teach about 90 students in their independent studio in New Philadelphia, Ohio. He started composing for students in 1978, and now has nearly 400 titles in print. His compositions have been selected for the Federation Junior Festivals Bulletin and on repertoire lists for many state auditions. Vandall was the Piano Workshop’s first commissioned composer.

Hill is associate professor of piano at Goshen College, teaching piano, music history, humanities and piano pedagogy courses.

The evening recital schedule, open to the public is:

July 9 - Piano Workshop Staff Recital, 7:30 p.m., Rieth Recital Hall

Admission is free.

July 10 - Christopher and Megan Wallace, solo piano, 7:30 p.m., Sauder Concert Hall


Admission is $6 for adults, $6 for seniors and students.

Megan Monahan Wallace is on the piano faculty at MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis, Minn., where she maintains a piano studio of students of all ages and ability.
Christopher D. Wallace has performed and adjudicated in select cities in the United States and Central America. He is currently the organist/music director at The Episcopal Parish of St. David, Minnetonka, Minn. – a position he has held for 10 years.

July 11 - Students of Paul Wirth: Colton Peltier, Cindy Lu, Serena Lu, concerto recital, 7:30 p.m., Sauder Concert Hall

Admission is $6 for adults, $4 for seniors and students.
Colton Peltier is a sixth grader who has studied with Wirth for four years, and performed eight concerts with the St. Paul Orchestra at age nine.
Cindy Lu is nine years old and began studying with Wirth at age four. Among a series of accolades, she was the youngest ever winner of Minneapolis Music Teacher Federation Mozart Concerto Competition.
Serena Lu is a third grader who began studying with Wirth at age five. She won honors at the Upper Midwest Piano Festival and National Federation of Music Club Piano Festival.

July 12 - Arthur Greene, solo piano, 7:30 p.m., Sauder Concert Hall
Admission is $6 for adults, $4 for seniors and students.
Arthur Greene, of the School of Music at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich., is an internationally acclaimed pianist who has played in competitions and concert halls around the world. Greene was an artistic ambassador to Serbia, Kosovo and Bosnia for the United States Information Agency. He has also recorded with his wife, Solomia Soroka, assistant professor of music at Goshen College.

July 13 - Piano Workshop recital: student ensemble concert, 7:30 p.m., Sauder Concert Hall

Recital will include a world premiere of a piece by Vandall. Admission is free.

Registration for both students and teachers must be received by July 1, with part-time registration available for teachers. Room and board is available for students and teachers, and should be indicated on the registration form, which are found online. For more information call (574) 535-7361 or e-mail music@goshen.edu.

Editors: For more information about this release, to arrange an interview or request a photo, contact Goshen College News Bureau Director Jodi H. Beyeler at (574) 535-7572 or jodihb@goshen.edu.

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Goshen College, established in 1894, is a four-year residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college’s Christ-centered core values – passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron’s Best Buys in Education, “Colleges of Distinction,” “Making a Difference College Guide” and U.S.News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” edition, which named Goshen a “least debt college.” Visit www.goshen.edu.