Steinway Society of Western Pennsylvania

Kenneth Burky
October 13, 2011

Program includes works by Mozart and Brahms

Kenneth L. Burky, Professor, is Director of Undergraduate Music studies and Chairman of the Piano and Performance departments at the Mary Pappert School of Music, Duquesne University. Mr. Burky has enjoyed great success as a soloist, accompanist, and adjudicator throughout the country. He holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory and Indiana University-Bloomington and his teachers have included Emil Danenberg, Bela Nagy, Vladio Perlemuter, and Gyorgy Sebok, as well as James Friskin from the Juilliard School of Music and Arthur Loesser at the Cleveland Institute of Music. .  While at Oberlin Burky spent a year touring and studying at the Mozarteum Conservatory in Salzburg, Austria. In 1984, Burky was the Grand Prize winner in the International Piano Recording Competition sponsored by the NGPT.

Gerald Lee

November 10, 2011

Program includes works by Ravel and Brahms

Gerald Lee is Associate Professor of Piano at West Liberty University (West Liberty, WV).  He earned three piano performance degrees: B.M., M.M., and D.M.A. from Illinois Wesleyan University, Indiana University, and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, respectively.  He was selected as a winner in the 2009 Pittsburgh Concert Society Major Auditions.  In addition, he won 3rd place in the 2003 International Beethoven Piano Sonata Competition (Memphis, Tennessee) and 2nd place in the 2002 National Finals of the MTNA Collegiate Artists' Piano Competition.  Dr. Lee maintains an extensive schedule of performances throughout the mid-Atlantic region.

Nathan Cartarette

February 9, 2012

Program: "Music of Rivals" with works by Liszt, Brahms, and others

Nathan Carterette is a charismatic, virtuoso pianist of the first order.  As described in International Composer, Mr Carterette is “strong, intelligent… and very compelling in his power and presence.” He has the rare ability to make the traditional repertoire sound new, and the modern repertoire sound familiar.  The multiple prize-winning Mr Carterette has been heard on the stage from Weill Recital Hall in New York to the concert halls of Germany.  He received his Master’s Degree from Yale University and studied privately with Welsh pianist-composer Dafydd Llywelyn.

Walter Morales

March 8, 2012


Program: Tchaikovsky 1st Piano Concerto

A native of Costa Rica, Walter Morales is the Music Director of the Edgewood Symphony Orchestra. A champion of new music, he has collaborated with such composers as John Adams, George Crumb, Richard Danielpour, Derek Bermel, Gary Schocker, Katherine Hoover, Mike Mower, Reza Vali, Nancy Galbraith, David Stock, Amy Williams and Roger Zahab among others.
Morales is one of foremost interpreters of Costa Rican music in the world.  An active concert pianist, Morales has toured through out the United States, Central and South America. In New York City he has performed at Steinway Hall, Weill Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall and Lincoln Center.  His first commercial recording featuring George Crumb’s Makrokosmos III: Music for a Summer Evening is available on Mode Records. In June 2007, this recording received the Diapason d’or, the highest phonographic award in France.

Dr. Mary Lynne Bennett, NCTM, teaches applied and group piano and music education methods at Fairmont State University in West Virginia. She holds a DMA in Piano Pedagogy from the University of South Carolina. She presents research on assessment and continuing education of music educators at state and national conferences. She currently serves as immediate past president of the West Virginia Music Teachers
Association (state chapter of Music Teachers National Association). Dr. Bennett frequently collaborates in recital with colleagues, students, and professionals including members of the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra.

Dr. Sam Spears is the Director of Choral and Vocal Activities at Fairmont State University.  He directs the Collegiate Singers and Chamber Choir and teaches voice, conducting, and choral methods. He earned a DMA in Choral Conducting from the University of Miami. Dr. Spears is also a professional singer and a founding member of Seraphic Fire, Miami’s professional chamber choir. He is an active member of several professional organizations, including the American Choral Directors Association, the National Association of Teachers of Singing, College Music Society, and Phi Mu Alpha  Sinfonia. He has also been an adjudicator for choral
festivals and vocal competitions at the high school and college level.

Nanette Kaplan Solomon
with soprano
Colleen Gray

June 14, 2012

Program: Songs of Lee Hoiby

Nanette Kaplan Solomon, pianist and Professor of Music at Slippery Rock University, performs frequently as soloist and chamber musician. She has presented lecture-recitals at many national and international meetings of the College Music Society. Dr. Solomon’s involvement with the works of women composers has led to invitations to perform at several Feminist Theory and Music conferences, the American Music/American Women symposium in Boulder, Colorado, the Athena Festival in Murray, Kentucky, as well as at six of the International Festivals of Women Composers held at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She has been a soloist with orchestras in Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, as well as featured artist with the Butler (PA), Youngstown and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestras. Dr. Solomon has also performed at the Phillips Collection , the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and the French Embassy in Washington, D.C., Wigmore Hall in London, the Lincoln Center Library in New York City, and the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, as well as a guest artist at many colleges and universities.
    
Colleen Gray, soprano, is an associate professor of music at Slippery Rock University where she teaches voice, language diction, vocal pedagogy and opera performance. She holds a DMA in Vocal Performance and Literature from West Virginia University, a MM in Vocal Performance from Duquesne University, and a BS in Music Education from West Chester State College. Dr. Gray has also earned a performance certificate from the Accademia Vocale di Lucca, Italy, and completed an apprenticeship with the Pittsburgh Opera Center. Dr. Gray’s awards include winning the Jewish Community Center Emerging Artists Competition, the West Chester State College Concerto Competition, the Pottstown Philadelphia Orchestra Competition and the Pittsburgh Concert Society Artist Competition.Dr. Gray has performed extensively in Europe and the United States.