Nightly piano concerts a highlight of Piano Workshop and Academy, June 15-19; Pianist Mark Swartzentruber and the piano-percussion duo Sole Nero headline concerts

GOSHEN, Ind. – Instructors and students at the 2008 Piano Workshop and Academy – including headliners Mark Swartzentruber and the piano-percussion duo Sole Nero – will offer a nightly concert series in the Goshen College Music Center June 15-19, with several free performances and several at cost, but all open to the public.

Schedule of evening concerts:

Sunday, June 15, 7:30 p.m. in Rieth Recital Hall

Piano Workshop Recital: Solomia Soroka, violin and Matthew Hill, piano

Free and open to the public

The series of concerts opens with Goshen College music professors Solomia Soroka and Matthew Hill presenting a violin and piano recital featuring works by Schubert, Mendelssohn, Chopin and Bartók.

Monday, June 16, 7:30 p.m. in Sauder Concert Hall

Piano Workshop Recital: Selected Piano Workshop students, ages 13-18, will perform

Free and open to the public

Tuesday, June 17, 7:30 p.m. in Sauder Concert Hall

Piano Workshop Recital: Sole Nero, piano/percussion duo

Cost: $7 adults, $5 seniors/students, GC students free with ID

Sole Nero is a piano and percussion duo featuring pianist Jessica Johnson and percussionist Anthony Di Sanza. Sole Nero is committed to exploring and programming new and existing works for piano and percussion duo. In an effort to contribute to the repertoire of this diverse medium, the duo has engaged in an extensive commissioning project resulting in many new works by composers such as Dave Hollinden, Joel Naumann, Joseph Koykkar, Serra Hwang and Michael Kallstrom. Sole Nero has performed extensively in the United States and has appeared in China. In 2004, the duo released its first CD recording on the Equilibrium label titled Music per Due. Recently the duo performed at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention and Society of Composers National Conference.

Wednesday, June 18, 7:30 p.m. in Sauder Concert Hall

Piano Workshop Recital: Mark Swartzentruber, solo piano

Cost: $7 adults, $5 seniors/students, GC students free with ID

Mark Swartzentruber will perform a solo piano recital and his program will feature Scarlatti sonatas, the Beethoven “Appassionata” Sonata and several works by Debussy. He has released albums with Sony Classical and Solo Records to critical acclaim in journals such as Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine, The Guardian and International Record Review. His London appearances include solo recitals at the South Bank’s Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room, Wigmore Hall and St John’s, Smith Square. He is music director of the Holloway Arts Festival and has performed soundtracks for London West End shows. A pupil of the late John Ogdon, Michel Block and Maria Curcio, he is a committed teacher and is regularly invited to give master classes and to adjudicate.

Thursday, June 19, 7:30 p.m. in Sauder Concert Hall

Piano Workshop Recital: Student ensemble recital and premiere of a new duet by Catherine Rollin

Free and open to the public

A student ensemble concert will close the week and will feature the premiere of a commissioned duet by composer Catherine Rollin. Rollin is an active pianist, composer, clinician and teacher of prize-winning students. Her pedagogical compositions are recognized worldwide for their combination of musicality and “teachability.” In demand as a clinician and master class presenter, Rollin has given over 150 workshops, including a 2006 seven-city tour of Japan that featured the technical insights of her Pathways to Artistry series, as well as a wide variety of her solo and duet collections. In the summer of 2007, Catherine was featured at the Music Teachers Association of California as well as the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy in Chicago.

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. For more information, visit the workshop’s Web site at: www.goshen.edu/music/Piano_Workshop.

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 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.