SUMMER 2008 FACULTY BIOS

CHARLES ASCHBRENNER

Professor of Music and Chair of the Piano Area at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, Aschbrenner has lectured and performed both as soloist and collaborative pianist throughout Michigan and the Midwest as well as in Mexico, Portugal, France and Russia.  His piano students have entered graduate programs across the country and into careers in teaching, performance, church music and opera direction.  With degrees from the University of Illinois and Yale University, Aschbrenner continued studies with renowned teachers Nadia Boulanger and Adele Marcus.  Also a certified Dalcroze instructor, he has taught eurhythmics at Hope College for thirty years.  Extensively trained in the techniques of Taubman, Alexander and Feldenkrais, Aschbrenner has been intensely interested in the issues of movement, rhythm and physical freedom in performance.  His innovative presentation “Pulse Patterning for Pianists” was first given nationally at the 1993 MTNA convention in Spokane, and has continued to serve as a basis for articles, a website and presentations at international conferences, most recently for MTNA in Toronto and for EPTA in Novi Sad, Serbia. His website, “Pulse Patterning for Pianists,” may be viewed at http://faculty.hope.edu/aschbrenner.

VANESSA CORNETT

Dr. Vanessa Cornett is Director of Keyboard Studies and Assistant Professor of Piano and Piano Pedagogy at the University of St. Thomas.  She holds the D.M.A. in piano performance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and M.M. and B.M. degrees in piano pedagogy and piano performance from West Virginia University.  A certified hypnotherapist, she regularly coaches performing artists and musicians.  Dr. Cornett previously taught at North Carolina A&T State University, Guilford College, UNC-Greensboro, and West Virginia University, and served as the Dean of The Music Academy of North Carolina.  She was recognized as an Outstanding Teacher at the UNCG School of Music, and was awarded the Teaching Excellence Award from the Music Academy of NC.  She has lectured nationally and regionally for the Music Teachers National Association, College Music Society, and many state and local chapters of MTNA and MENC throughout the United States.  Her piano students have placed in both state and national piano festivals and competitions.  Dr. Cornett is an active clinician in the areas of performance anxiety, cognition, mindfulness, and human consciousness.

JOANNE SMITH

Joanne A. Smith is Professor Emerita of Piano and Pedagogy from the University of Michigan School of Music, where she was Director of the Keyboard Studies Division, the Piano Pedagogy Laboratory Program, Coordinator of the Masters and Doctoral degree programs in Piano Performance and Pedagogy and the Class Piano Program, teaching summers in the All-State Program at Interlochen. Prior to serving on the faculty at Michigan, she was Director of the Creative Arts program at Bowling Green State University and taught piano pedagogy both at Bowling Green and at the University of Toledo. She began music study at the age of three and made her orchestral debut at seven at MacPhail School of Music in Minneapolis. She holds performance degrees from MacPhail College of Music and the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music with further study at Oberlin Conservatory and the Universities of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Denver. Professor Smith is nationally known as a pianist, piano pedagogue, workshop clinician, lecturer, adjudicator and masterclass teacher.  Her publications include: For the Young Virtuoso, Belwin/Columbia pub., Piano Literature Level 3, FJH and Focus on Rhythm Book 1, FJH. In 2002 she was named the MTNA National Music Teacher of the Year by the Music Teachers National Association representing the state of Michigan where she was the 2001 Michigan Teacher of the Year. She currently teaches class piano and pedagogy at Florida Gulf Coast University and maintains an independent studio in her home. 

PETER TAKÁCS

Peter  Takács is Professor of Piano and Chair of the Piano Department at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he has been teaching since 1976. He has given presentations at many state and national pedagogy conferences. Hailed by the New York Times as “a marvelous pianist,” Takács has performed widely, receiving critical and audience acclaim for his penetrating and communicative interpretations.  Born in Bucharest, Romania, he gave frequent recitals in his native city until his parents’ application for emigration to the West, at which point all further studies and performances were banned.  He continued to study clandestinely, however, until his family was finally allowed to emigrate to France where, at age fourteen, he was admitted to the Conservatoire National de Paris. Upon his arrival in the United States, Takács received full scholarships to Northwestern University, the University of Illinois, and to the Peabody Conservatory where he studied with Leon Fleisher. His numerous awards include First Prize in the William Kapell Competition, the C. D. Jackson Award for excellence in chamber music at the Tanglewood Music Center, and a Solo Recitalist grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.  He has performed with major orchestras in this country and abroad, as well as at many prestigious summer festivals.  His recording of the Beethoven Piano Sonata cycle is on the CAMBRIA label.

PAUL WIRTH

Dr. Paul Wirth received his Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from Temple University, and a Master’s degree and a Doctorate degree in Piano Performance from Indiana University. He is a pre-eminent teacher of students of all ages and is a prominent figure in our national piano teaching community. Chosen in 2005 as “Teacher of the Year”   by Thursday Musical, Dr. Wirth has taught numerous first-prize-winning students of regional, national and international competitions, with twenty-one of his pre-college students having performed over fifty solo performances with orchestras. His unique combination of masterful performing and teaching along with a sense of humor and unassuming personality have made him a much sought-after featured artist in concerts, master classes, fund raisers, conventions, special events, and lecture series. He co-founded and is now the Artistic Director of the Central Minnesota Music School in St. Cloud, MN, a bustling music learning center with over 300 students. He is also  an avid supporter of young performers, having co-founded the Salon se Leve concert series in Minneapolis and the nationally recognized Young Artist Piano Camp at UMD in Duluth, MN. His outstanding GRAVI-DVD  on teaching piano technique is nationally recognized.