9:30-10:00 Pre-Meeting Discussion
Presenter: Jennifer Merry
Program: Bruce Berr’s Frontier Sonatina and Eight Sound Poems
Bruce Berr was a beloved member of NSMTA for over 30 years, and during that time he composed and published a number of delightful educational pieces at the elementary and intermediate levels. In this pre-meeting presentation, Jennifer will play and discuss his Frontier Sonatina, an intermediate level piece in three movements, published by FJH in 2015, as well as selections from Eight Sound Poems, a collection of intermediate to late-intermediate pieces published in 2013 by Opus Music. Bruce’s thoughtful craftsmanship, pedagogy and personality are well represented in these pieces, which deserve to be taught and performed more often!
BIOGRAPHY
Jennifer Merry maintains a busy home studio in Glenview, where she offers piano and voice lessons. Additionally, she has been on the faculty of the Northwestern University Music Academy since 1989, where she currently serves as Kindermusik coordinator and teaches Junior Piano classes as well as private and group piano lessons.
Jennifer holds Masters degrees from Northwestern University in piano performance and pedagogy, and in music education. She holds Illinois State Certification in Music, K-12 and has taught general and vocal music in public and private schools in addition to leading both youth and adult choirs. She currently sings alto in the Apollo Chorus of Chicago, the oldest musical organization in the city, famous for their yearly performances of Handel’s Messiah. She is also a published writer and has contributed reviews and articles for Clavier, American Music Teacher and Keyboard Companion magazines.
Jennifer has been a member of MTNA, ISMTA and the North Shore Music Teachers Association for over 35 years, and has held many offices, including president. She is currently co-chair of the Sonata-Sonatina Festival.
10:00-11:00 Business Meeting
Meeting will be led by NSMTA President, George Radosavljevic followed by refreshments.
11:00-12:00 Program
Presenter: Dr. Matthew Hagle
Program: Creating A World of Colors from Black and White: Techniques and Approaches to Voicing
Voicing is one of the most subtle and powerful tools we have for unlocking the variety of sounds the piano can provide, and for providing each pianist and composer with an individual voice. This presentation will examine pianistic techniques and approaches to thinking about voicing, with examples and solutions from a variety of repertoire.
BIOGRAPHY
Pianist Matthew Hagle is a musician of great versatility and depth, whose performances are a rare mixture of musical understanding, imaginative programming, pianistic mastery and beauty of sound. In solo recitals he often explores the boundaries of the piano repertoire, using thoughtful programming and committed performance to integrate newer repertoire and lesser-known older works with the traditional canon. In a more traditional vein, he has also performed all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas in a series of live radio recitals, and he is currently in the process of performing the complete later pieces of Brahms, also live on the radio. Mr. Hagle is also highly valued as a collaborator by many other artists. With violinist Rachel Barton Pine, he has released three acclaimed CDs on the Cedille label, and performed many recitals in North and South America. His piano duo performances with Mio Isoda-Hagle have been highlights of the annual Chicago Duo Piano Festival. Other chamber music partners have been the Parker Quartet, the Avalon Quartet, Quintet Attacca, and members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Matthew Hagle has been heard in concert halls throughout the United States, including the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., Symphony Space in New York, and in concert at the United States Supreme Court. Outside of the U.S., he has performed at venues in England, Canada, Brazil, Australia and Japan. A resident of the Chicago area, Hagle performs frequently at local spaces including the Ravinia Festival, Symphony Center, and the Chicago Cultural Center. Mr. Hagle can often be heard on radio station WFMT in Chicago, and has also been heard on NPR’s Performance Today and Minnesota Public Radio’s St. Paul Sunday Morning programs. Among others, the New York Times has described him as “a sensitive pianist”, Clavier Magazine praised the “rare clarity and sweetness”of his playing, and the Springfield (MA.) Republican remarked that he “played with unaffected brilliance and profound understanding.” Mr. Hagle’s performance of Elliott Carter’s Piano Sonata in the Sydney International Piano Competition received special notice and favorable commentary in Australian national radio’s coverage of the competition.
Mr. Hagle is a dedicated teacher of piano, music theory, and composition, whose students have won high honors in local and national competitions and gone on to study music at some of the country’s finest music schools. He is currently on the faculty of the Music Institute of Chicago, where he is director of the Musicianship program in addition to his teaching duties. In addition, he has taught at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, and at Elmhurst College. His own studies were with Robert Weirich and Donald Currier at the Peabody Conservatory, with Claude Frank at the Yale School of Music (where he received the DMA), and with Maria Curcio Diamand in London as a Fulbright Scholar. A comfortable speaker on diverse musical subjects, Mr. Hagle likes to use this ability to draw connections between very new and older music, or between music and other art forms. In his spare time he likes to read on a variety of subjects, to try to learn other languages, and to spend time with his two children.