With Paula Forrest, Susan Osborne, and Ilana Kennel, piano faculty members at the Interlochen Arts Camp, Interlochen, Michigan, USA, 2002.
After receiving the “Provost’s Award for Outstanding Research and Creative Activity,” Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan, USA, 2001.
I left the University of Kansas in August 1993 to teach piano at Iowa State University and the Interlochen Arts Camp (Michigan). In August of 1995, I joined the School of Music at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, where I am currently tenured Professor of Piano. In addition to performing and leading workshops and master classes in Europe and the Americas, I enjoy exploring the music of lesser-known composers, both contemporary and historical. I released the compact disc recording of Volume One of the Valsas brasileiras of Francisco Mignone (1897-1986) in February 2001. In 2002, I premiered “Time Out of Mind: Six Tales of Middle Earth” by Daniel McCarthy (b. 1955) at the University of Akron, for the Society of Composers 36th National Conference. I was also the guest pianist for the world premiere of “Hohner,” for piano and percussion ensemble, by David Maslanka (b. 1943). This work was written as a gift composition for the Robert Hohner memorial concert. In 2003, I performed the Michigan premiere of David Gillingham’s “Concerto for Piano and Percussion Orchestra,” with the Central Michigan University Percussion Ensemble. My collaboration with David Gillingham (b. 1947) dates back to 1997, when I played in his “Concerto for Percussion” with the Robert Hohner Percussion Ensemble featured on the compact disc “Stained Glass.” Still in 2003, I performed David Maslanka’s “Concerto No.1 for Piano, Winds, and Percussion” with the Illinois State University Wind Symphony, directed by Steve Steele, at Illinois State University. The work was recorded for the Albany records label and the release is expected to be later this year. In May of 2004, I had my New York city debut recital at Weill Recital Hall, at Carnegie Hall, which received a wonderful review in the New York Concert Review.
With some of my piano students after the Central Michigan University Annual Collage Concert, Mount Pleasant, Michigan, USA, 2001.
In 2007, I received a Research Excellence Grant from Central Michigan University to record Francisco Mignone’s 4 Fantasias Brasileiras (Brazilian Fantasies) for piano and orchestra with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, under Raymond Harvey, for the White Pine Music recording label. This CD was released in 2010. It is a disc of historical significance, as it is the first commercial recording of all 4 Fantasies available in the world. The extensive and arduous research process consisted of many steps: obtaining the rights to record the works; locating the manuscripts of the Fantasias (they are not published, although Fantasia No. 1 was once published by Ricordi); obtaining copies of the manuscripts—a feat in itself, as, at the time, a lengthy and unpredictable strike was under way at the Music Division and Sound Arquive of the National Library of Rio de Janeiro; entering the piano and orchestra parts from the manuscripts into the music software Finale; editing and proof-reading the computerized scores; learning the music; rehearsing, performing and recording the works with the orchestra; editing the recordings; compiling and organizing information, as well as writing and translating texts for the disc’s booklet; printing the CD; and finally, the most anticipated moment, releasing the compact disc! In the end, the entire process was gratifying, as I recognized the value of the project in aiding to fill in the musicological gap that still exists in recorded classical music of Brazil.
My career was temporarily interrupted due to a brain aneurism surgery in December of 2010. I resumed full teaching duties at Central Michigan University in August 2011, and have already resumed my performance career. I am an active member of the College Music Society (CMS), and the Michigan Music Teachers Association (MMTA), a branch of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA). I was also co-founder and co-artistic director of the Ludington Music Festival, between 2003-2005. The festival, which had a very successful first year in August 2003, was born out of a vision to enhance the cultural offerings of the beautiful lakeshore of the city of Ludington, in Michigan.