The Collaborative Piano Institute

It’s hard to believe, but last night we had our final Students’ Recital! We witnessed incredible performances from both students and faculty, making it a night to remember. ✨ We’re so grateful to everyone who made these past weeks so special. The students poured their hearts into their music, and it truly showed in their fabulous performances. 🎻 🎹 🎤❤️🤍

Yesterday’s Starry Nights Recital III was an absolute blast! ✨ We witnessed so many stunning performances that lit up the night! 🌌 Congratulations to all participants!💙

This year’s last Martin Katz masterclass was a BLAST!!! 🤩Congratulations to all involved and THANK YOU to Katz for sharing his wealth of knowledge and love of music with us these past two weeks!!! ❤️

🎶 Here is more of our wonderful star faculty we'd like to introduce from week 3! Please welcome Elena Abend, Jean Bernard Cerin, and Martha Guth! 🎶

Another great day of vocal masterclasses! Today we focused on songs in French with Jean Bernard Cerin and Korean with Yeon-Kyung Kim! 🤩

🎶 We are so excited to introduce our amazing faculty that have been working with our students during week 3! Please welcome tenor Paul Groves and violinist Espen Lilleslåtten! 🎶

Yesterday we had another wonderful Masterclass, this time with the amazing tenor Paul Groves, exploring arias and art songs from Schubert and Strauss to Jorge Martín-Buján and Tom Cipullo!

⭐️ MASTERCLASS SHOWCASE – June 18, 7-9 pm ⭐️
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Our singers and pianists have been delving into the intricacies of the Korean language with the guidance of CPI Alumna Dr. Yeon-Kyung Kim. Watch them bring these art song jewels to life during a fantastic masterclass this evening!

⭐️ LECTURE SHOWCASE – June 18, 10:00-11:30 am ⭐️
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Have you ever wondered what is like to live and work in Germany as a singer or pianist? Or what life in the German opera houses are like? Tomorrow, all your questions will be answered by this expert panel. Don't miss it!

Today we had the wonderful opportunity to hear Prof. Martin Katz share invaluable insight on duo repertoire, discussing style, articulation, balance, and the art of playing together in an ensemble!

This Sunday we had a beautiful performance presented by LMTA Piano Ensemble Festival and CPI members. It was especially memorable since teachers have been planning this for 1.5 years. This event allowed young students to experience the thrill of ensemble playing while learning to follow a conductor and gaining valuable audition, rehearsal, and concert experience. Additionally, CPI participants were conducting the groups, expanding their skills beyond playing collaborative music on their instruments.

⭐️ LECTURE SHOWCASE – June 17, 7-9 pm ⭐️
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One aspect of Collaborative piano that is little known to most musicians is playing for the ballet! Come discover this fabulous and intriguing aspect of our career through the words of Dr. Gjergji Gaqi. You will see what skills are needed, how exciting and joyful it can be, and how to be introduced to this interesting world!

While our participants and faculty are resting and preparing for final week, here is a recap from last night’s CPI Participant Recital III that featured Collaborative Piano and String Institute, Vocal Academy, Bassoon Intensive, and Composition programs! FOUR World Premieres of works by Mason Cox, Andrew Bass, Devin Bureau, and Elijah Hickman. Many chamber groups and unforgettable performances by all participants and faculty!
Bravi everyone!

Starry Nights Recital II was filled with many contrasting and diverse works by composers like Winstead, Still, Debussy, Heiden, Brahms, Clarke, Cologriano, Ginastera, Elizondo, Lorenz, Schumann, Mara Gibson💜, and Dohnányi. This concert featured both faculty and students as well as a combination of both. It was a beautiful evening of music! 🎶

Today we had several exceptional masterclasses led by Cecilia Duarte and Ana Maria Otamendi on Canción lírica - Art Song in Spanish; the legendary Rita Sloan, who led a masterclass on instrumental music; and the Chamber Strings Institute director and faculty member, Simón Gollo. A heartfelt bravo to all the participants, and a profound thank you to our esteemed faculty for sharing their wisdom and inspiring our students.

Instrumental masterclass with Rita Sloan! Everyone played so well, but still plenty was learned.

Congratulations to all performers on last night’s student recital! Beautiful playing and tons of applause!

Great chance to introduce the full bassoon group as well as congratulate three bassoon performers of tonight's concert!

🎶 Another pianist we have the pleasure of introducing to our 2024 season is Julia Metzmacher! 🎶
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Julia Metzmacher is a German-South African pianist and was born into a musical family. She first studied French and Italian and then studied Musical Education and Piano Performance with Prof. Nicholas Rimmer at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg. Julia just finished her Masters in Collaborative Piano at the Royal College of Music with Simon Lepper, Roger Vignoles and Kathron Sturrock and is an RCM Award Holder. She will start her Artist Diploma in Ensemble Piano at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama this year.
She has attended Masterclasses all over the world with teachers such as Hartmut Höll, Pauliina Tukiaien, Anne le Bozac, Richard Stokes and Malcome Martineau. She has also received numerous prizes as both a solo pianist and accompanist. Highlights include the Bach Competition in Köthen, Arts Cape Competition, Concerto Festival in Cape Town and the Cape Town Eisteddfodds. She recently has gotten into the final of the Brooks van der Pump English song competition at the RCM where she was awarded a pianist prize.
Julia is a scholarship holder of the Live Music Now foundation and currently on the BBCSO pathway scheme as an orchestral pianist.

🎶 We are thrilled to introduce our stellar string faculty our participants have begun to work with this week, including Paul Kantor, Amaro Dubois, Simon Gollo, Dennis Parker, and Horacio Contreras! 🎶

🎶 We would like to introduce another amazing CPI 2024 participant, Yi-Hui Chen! 🎶
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Yi-Hui Chen, a Taiwanese pianist. She earned a Doctoral of Musical Arts degree in piano performance at Michigan State University in December 2022, where she served as a Graduate Assistant and studied with Deborah Moriarty. She completed her bachelor's degree at National Taiwan Normal University with Chun-Chieh Yen and master's degree at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music with Edward Auer and Roberto Plano.
Besides performing as a soloist, she enjoys collaborating with others, including chamber (instrumental and vocal), ballet and musical theater. In recent years, she worked as a staff pianist/ vocal coach at Interlochen Art Summer Academy in 2022. In 2023, she performed in Richard Fracker’s Summer production at the Sun Theater (Grand Ledge, MI) and formed a trio during the summer. Currently, she is pursuing her second doctoral degree in collaborative piano with the graduate assistantship at MSU, under the guidance of Dr. Zhihua Tang.

We were so delighted to have Paul Kantor to give a masterclass this evening to our wonderful CSI participants. Touching on topics of tempo relationships, phrase structure, attentiveness to the score and overall pacing, his pedagogical skill, generosity, and warm nature allowed students to flourish and learn a wealth of knowledge today. So grateful for him — and wonderful job to the performers!

A phrase to remember this evening: “small phrase, small musician”.

🎶 In continuation of our star faculty introductions for week 2, we are pleased to welcome Mara Gibson, Nanci Belmont, Darrel Hale, and Megan Ihnen! 🎶

Virginia Weckstrom! Her masterclass dealing with instrumental repertoire was a must-watch! It’s a pleasure to have her here at CPI with her wealth of knowledge stemming from her extensive musical career. We can’t thank her enough, and congratulations to all the performers!

🎶 Hey hey CPI! We are extremely excited to highlight more of our outstanding faculty working with our participants in Week 2! Please welcome Blair Salter, Cecilia Duarte, and Sandra Moon. 🎶

Today, we kicked off the Collaborative String Institute and the Composition Intensive with incredible artists joining us for lessons, master classes, and coaching sessions

🎤 The Vocal Academy had an amazing master class with the wonderful Dr. Puccinelli.

Stay tuned for more updates and musical moments!

🎶 Week 2 of CPI has started, and we are SO excited to showcase our stellar faculty that will be joining us, starting with the amazing Martin Katz, Virginia Weckstrom, Elvia Puccinelli, and Rita Sloan! 🎶

🎶 In lieu of our Composition Intensive starting this week, we would like to welcome Andrew Bass! 🎶
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Andrew Bass is a 27-year-old trombonist, composer, and songwriter. He has two bachelor's degrees. The first degree is in communications with a concentration in graphic design from Miles College, and the second is a Music degree from Samford University.

While at Samford, Andrew studied music composition with Dr. Joel Davis, and gave a composition recital in Fall 2021. Andrew has played in Samford’s Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, Bulldog Marching Band, Jazz Band, Pep Band, pit orchestra for A Christmas Carol and 1776, Brass Chamber Ensemble, and LAKESHORE, Samford’s commercial music ensemble. He has sung in A Ca****la Choir and in Gracenotes, Samford’s vocal jazz ensemble. Along with his composition studies, Andrew has also studied trombone at Samford, giving a trombone recital in Spring 2022, and played in the composition recitals of his fellow composers. Andrew is a recipient of the S. Milburn Price Scholarship, as well as the Allred and Mason Scholarship. He has also been a member of the Omicron Gamma chapter of Delta Omicron International Music Fraternity.

After Graduating, Andrew has written music for weddings, video games, websites, and various other commissions.

Andrew will pursue a Master's degree in Music Composition at LSU starting in the fall of 2024.

🎶 Hey hey CPI – well, that's a wrap on Week 1! Thank you SO MUCH to our wonderful artists: Howard Watkins, Chris Turbessi, Jorge Parodi, and Elizabeth Bishop! What an amazing week full of insightful masterclasses, workshops and lessons. 🎶

🎶 While we are coming to a close on our student introductions, we would like you to meet the wonderful Alexis Greene! 🎶
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Alexis Greene is a soprano voice performance major at the University of North Florida. She is in her third year of her undergraduate degree and plans to continue onto higher education after graduation. Singing has always been a large part of her life as she started choir from a young age and began taking private voice lessons at the age of 15. She is heavily involved in the UNF opera program and has played roles such as: Rosalindé in J. Strauss’ Die Fledermaus, Hansel in Humperdinck’s Hansel und Gretel, and Beatrice in Berlioz’s Beatrice Et Benedict. Alexis was also a finalist in the 2023 UNF Aria Competition and won 1st place in 2024. She is currently working on the role of Musetta from a new adaptation of Puccini’s La Bohème which will be performed in the Fall of 2024.