I feel so fortunate that I was able to work with these wonderful musicians on a five-piano ensemble arrangement of a Tchaikovsky Waltz. Each musician had her own six-foot grand piano -- it was very powerful!
Thanks to Maria Sier for making this possible, and for her excellent coaching. Picture credits to follow.
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Coming on March 3:
It's time to prepare for the Music Artistry Program!
BUT WHAT'S THE MUSIC ARTISTRY PROGRAM???
Each year, students who I feel are ready are invited to participate in this valuable learning experience. Students prepare two pieces to academic standards, then perform them from memory for a Visiting Artist. The visiting artist then discusses the performance with the student and suggests strategies for improvement.
This is an event held each year by the Washington State Music Teachers Association. For more information, please look here: https://wsmta.org/programs-for-students/map/
The Visiting Artists are identified Master Teachers, who teach at University level. This year our Visiting Artist will be Dr. Oksana Ezhokina, Chair of Piano Studies at Pacific Lutheran University. Here is her professional biography:
Russian-born pianist Oksana Ezhokina is Chair of the Piano Faculty and Assistant Professor of Music at Pacific Lutheran University. An artist of great breadth and versatility, she appears frequently as guest recitalist and chamber musician on concert series across the United States and abroad. She has soloed with the Seattle Symphony, St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic in Russia, Tacoma Symphony, and performed in venues such as the Phillips Collection in Washington DC, Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Davies Orchestra Hall in San Francisco, and Klassik Keyifler Festival in Turkey. A dedicated performer of new music, she has premiered works by Marilyn Shrude, Wayne Horvitz, Bern Herbolsheimer, and Laura Kaminsky, among others. She has been featured on multiple live radio broadcasts on such stations as WFMT-Chicago, KUOW and KING FM in Seattle, Maine Public Radio and NPR Performance Today. Her collaborations have included concerts with the Seattle Chamber Players, Avalon String Quartet, violinists Ian Swensen and Andrew Jennings, and cellists Johannes Moser and Anthony Elliott.
Ezhokina holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance from Stony Brook University. She is the pianist of the Volta Piano Trio, whose recordings for Con Brio label received accolades in multiple international music magazines, such as The Strad, Gramophone and American Record Guide.
A sought-after teacher, she has given piano and chamber music masterclasses in colleges and universities across the US and is in demand as an adjudicator. Additionally, Ezhokina is Artistic Director of several flagship classical music programs at the Icicle Creek Center for the Arts, including the International Chamber Music Festival/Institute and Winter Piano Festival, which annually welcomes advanced pianists from the most prestigious colleges and conservatories in the US and Canada.
It's time to prepare for the Music Artistry Program!
BUT WHAT'S THE MUSIC ARTISTRY PROGRAM???
Each year, students who I feel are ready are invited to participate in this valuable learning experience. Students prepare two pieces to academic standards, then perform them from memory for a Visiting Artist. The visiting artist then discusses the performance with the student and suggests strategies for improvement.
This is an event held each year by the Washington State Music Teachers Association. For more information, please look here: https://wsmta.org/programs-for-students/map/
The Visiting Artists are identified Master Teachers, who teach at University level. This year our Visiting Artist will be Dr. Oksana Ezhokina, Chair of Piano Studies at Pacific Lutheran University. Here is her professional biography:
Russian-born pianist Oksana Ezhokina is Chair of the Piano Faculty and Assistant Professor of Music at Pacific Lutheran University. An artist of great breadth and versatility, she appears frequently as guest recitalist and chamber musician on concert series across the United States and abroad. She has soloed with the Seattle Symphony, St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic in Russia, Tacoma Symphony, and performed in venues such as the Phillips Collection in Washington DC, Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Davies Orchestra Hall in San Francisco, and Klassik Keyifler Festival in Turkey. A dedicated performer of new music, she has premiered works by Marilyn Shrude, Wayne Horvitz, Bern Herbolsheimer, and Laura Kaminsky, among others. She has been featured on multiple live radio broadcasts on such stations as WFMT-Chicago, KUOW and KING FM in Seattle, Maine Public Radio and NPR Performance Today. Her collaborations have included concerts with the Seattle Chamber Players, Avalon String Quartet, violinists Ian Swensen and Andrew Jennings, and cellists Johannes Moser and Anthony Elliott.
Ezhokina holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance from Stony Brook University. She is the pianist of the Volta Piano Trio, whose recordings for Con Brio label received accolades in multiple international music magazines, such as The Strad, Gramophone and American Record Guide.
A sought-after teacher, she has given piano and chamber music masterclasses in colleges and universities across the US and is in demand as an adjudicator. Additionally, Ezhokina is Artistic Director of several flagship classical music programs at the Icicle Creek Center for the Arts, including the International Chamber Music Festival/Institute and Winter Piano Festival, which annually welcomes advanced pianists from the most prestigious colleges and conservatories in the US and Canada.
