Music Educators Association of New Jersey

Cinder LeDell of Castle LeDell Publishing is extending its “2 for 1” MEA music sale of printed copies through May for MEA members, which includes some of her musical art. https://www.clmusicpublications.com/ Eventually, the Publications company will be adding more composers.
Piano pieces range from elementary to early advanced, with many new ones on the way. Open the website to hear and see Barbara Landi-Hause and Cinder perform the “Blow Spring Breeze” duo piano piece.

On the site, you can see the cover and first page of music, listen to the music, then order downloads or hard copies. There are also 8 vocal pieces. Check out the site and tell Cinder what you think of it. Write to her at clmusicpub@gmail.com

New Castle LeDell Music Publications.com Hits A “Home Run!”

 MEA’s Cinder LeDell reports that her 2-week old publishing company for piano music has had more than 100 sales, with the piece  “Home Run!” as the most popular so far.

            “Home Run!” is a hit, according to people at the recent MEA event, Celebrate Composers!, because it is an audience-participation piece directed by the pianist, with “Oh’s” for the first batter out and  “No’s” for the second batter out.  Then, for the third batter up, the audience claps cupped-hands to make the “sound” of the bat hitting the “Home Run!”  The website video of the piece has an actual bat-hitting-the-ball-sound.      https://www.clmusicpublications.com/product/home-run/

The Long Duo,  Christina and Beatrice Long, will present an Earth Day Celebration Concert at the Watchung Arts Center, Sunday, April 22.

Luba Vasilyeva is performing Liszt's Rhapsody Español at the Wharton Institute of the Performing Arts's Faculty Concert on April 22 at 3 PM.  Admission is free.

Sophia Agranovich was one of the featured performers at David Dubal's 'Piano Matters' on WWFM and WWFM.ORG.

On Wednesday, April 4 at 10 PM and on Sunday, April 8 at 12:00 PM Sophia Agranovich is honored again to be one of the performers at WWFM Classical Network program 'Piano Matters', hosted by David Dubal. 
Listen online on your computer, tablet or phone at wwfm.org/

Sophia Agranovich was one of the featured performers at David Dubal's 'Piano Matters' on WWFM and WWFM.ORG.

Birgit Matzerath is excited to invite you to the showing of Seymour - an Introduction - Ethan Hawke's acclaimed documentary about my teacher, Seymour Bernstein, at the Ethical Culture Society, 516 Prospect St.,  Maplewood on Saturday, March 17 at 4 PM. (See the  attachment for further details) 

Seymour Bernstein is going to attend the showing, and I will conduct the question and answer session that follows the movie. Bring students, family and friends, the event is open to the public and FREE of charge.
Free will donations to benefit the Newark School of the Arts are welcome. 

Space is limited, so be sure to email the Ethical Culture Society if you're planning to attend: ecsec.nj@gmail.com  

Nancy Modell is invited to present Creative Composing: Embracing Creativity, Nurturing Musicality for Ingrid Clarfield's grad student Piano Pedagogy course at Westminster Choir College, Princeton, NJ, on Thursday, March 1 at 1 PM.

Sophia Agranovich announces the release her 7^th CD album. Chopin: Polonaise-Fantaisie in A flat Major, Op. 61; Nocturne in C minor, Op. 48 no. 1; Liszt: Après une Lecture du Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata; Sonnetti del Petrarca #47, #104 & #123, Hungarian Rhapsody No. 14 in F minor. Available in CD, MP3 and streaming formats at every major retailer: Amazon, HBDirect, B&N, AllMusic, ArkivMusic, iTunes, Spotify and more. For the MEA members’ discount, please email to sofilana@yahoo.com.

A former student of Diane Battersby, Drew Petersen, was often a winner of many MEA competitions.  Drew Petersen, now 24-years old, has been added to the Opus 3 Artists roster.  He joins artists, Yo-Yo Ma, Sarah Chang, Emanuel Ax, Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, New York City Ballet, Patti Lupone, and others. http://www.opus3artists.com/artists/drew-petersen  (Click “Recent News” – bottom right corner).  
Congratulations and best wishes to Drew!

Youn-hee Kim, a piano faculty of Montclair State University, will perform a solo recital featuring works by Bach, Haydn, Brahms, Kapustin and Gianstera on Sunday, February 11 at 2 PM, Van Vlek House (21 Van Vlek St., Montclair, NJ 07042).

Seymour Bernstein will perform works by Schubert, Schumann and others at All Souls Church, 1157 Lexington Av., New York, NY on January 21 at 2 PM.  Admission is free.

Youn-hee Kim, a piano faculty of Montclair State University, will perform a solo recital featuring works by Bach, Haydn, Brahms, Kapustin and Gianstera on Saturday, January 20 at 8 PM, Leshowitz Recital Hall, Montclair State University.

Sondra Tammam is teaching Piano Pedagogy - Exploring the Taubman Approach, MUPR437-01 (2 credits), the only in-depth credit course on the Taubman Approach, at the Cali School of Music at Montclair State University on TUESDAYS, 4:00-5:40 pm, from Jan. 16 - May 8, 2018.
Auditors ARE WELCOME. The fee is only $150 for the semester.
Contact Dr. Marla Meissner, email: musicprep@mail.montclair.edu, Tel: 973-655-4443

Beatrice Long gave two piano recitals at Punta del Este in Uruguay, and Mendosa Argentina.

So Jung Lee's Piano Trio team, Trio Fontēs, has been playing together since last year and are performing in and around the NJ, NY and PA area. This season's repertoire, Arensky's  Trio, Op. 32   and Shostakovich's Trio, Op. 8, will be played in NJ  local venues including churches, libraries. Their most recent performing venue was Ewing Art Center. This concert is Saturday, December 16 at 2 PM - Middletown Library, Middletown, NJ

Jacqueline Schiller-Audi will perform with the All Seasons Chamber Players on Sunday December 10 at 2 PM at the Ridgewood Public Library, Ridgewood.

So Jung Lee's Piano Trio team, Trio Fontēs, has been playing together since last year and are performing in and around the NJ, NY and PA area. This season's repertoire, Arensky's  Trio, Op. 32   and Shostakovich's Trio, Op. 8, will be played in NJ  local venues including churches, libraries. Their most recent performing venue was Ewing Art Center. This concert is Wednesday, December 6 at 7 PM - First Reform Church, Little Falls, NJ

Kathy Knittel,  Composition Committee Chair, has been busy getting her upcoming CD, 
A Songbird’s Christmas, ready for the 2017 holiday season! She has been collaborating with Joan Bujacich, who is the arranger/producer, graphic designer and is responsible for all accompanying performances on this project, except for the guitar work which is performed by Joe Bilotti.  
The CD will be available to purchase from http://cdbaby.com/cd/kathyknittel15 and JoanBujacich.com. It will also be available to download from iTunes/Spotify and all the major online digital distribution companies.

Nancy Modell will present Creative Composing: Embracing Creativity, Nurturing Musicality on November 18 at the NJMTA State Conference in Princeton.

Sondra Tammam will be a Guest Presenter at the NJMTA State Annual Conference at the Cullen Center, Westminster Choir College, in Princeton, on Saturday, November 18 at 3:30. Her topic will be  "The Choreography of Subtle In and Out Movements at the Keyboard with the Taubman Approach".

Nancy Modell is invited to teach for the Music Institute of Chicago (Evanston campus) as a clinician at the Suzuki Piano Mid-Winter Workshop from November 11-12.

Nancy Modell will present Creative Composing: Embracing Creativity, Nurturing Musicality on November 10 under the NJMEA group at the NJEA Convention in Atlantic City.

Jacqueline Schiller-Audi will perform with the All Seasons Chamber Players on Sunday, November 5 at 3:30 PM at Central Unitarian Church, Paramus.

Michelle Kuo and her son, Christopher Kuo, continue their fall concert season performing at the San Francisco War Memorial Performing Arts Center.

Joan Bujacich just launched her new website! She found creating and uploading the content a bit overwhelming at first, but she persevered. There is much to share including a store where she has CD’s and some sheet music of her compositions for sale. Adding sheet music to the store will be an ongoing project. There are videos to explore and web pages dedicated to various aspects of her long musical career. 
Visit: JoanBujacich.com  

Jacqueline Schiller-Audi performed with the Alacorde Trio on October 15 and with the All Seasons Chamber Players on October 29 at the New Milford Public Library, New Milford.

Michelle Kuo and her son, Christopher Kuo, continue their fall concert season in Boston, on October 7, presented by Berklee College of Music.

Michelle Kuo and her son, Christopher Kuo, launched their fall concert season with a two piano recital at the Steinway Gallery in Paramus on Saturday, September 30. They performed an all Rachmaninoff duo program. View PDF

Jacqueline Schiller-Audi and Diane Battersby performed their annual concert, Double Take!, on September 24 at the First Presbyterian Church of Verona. Works by Bizet, Leroy Anderson, Cole Porter, Liszt, Khachaturian and more.

Sophia Agranovich performed a solo concert at BargeMusic - 'the floating concert hall' in Brooklyn, NY, on September 15.

Beatrice Long joined the faculty of the Music Conservatory of Brooklyn College, CUNY.

Jacqueline Schiller-Audi and Diane Battersby performed their annual concert, Double Take! Two Baby Grands in the Gazebo, in Tenafly’s Davis-Johnson Park on August 31. Selections included: Carmen by Bizet, some Leroy Anderson, Cole Porter, a little bit of West Side Story, Liszt, Khachaturian and more. Please see details on this flyer.

Between August 5-9, Beatrice Long joined her sister Christina Long as the Long Duo, performing duo piano recitals in the Chamber Music Series at Sala Héctor Tosar in Montevideo; and Conciertos del Este at Punta del Este, Uruguay.

Sophia Agranovich performed a 2-hour solo recital at the festival Les Cabardiese de Pennautier in Pennautier, France on July 25.

Nancy Modell taught ECC! (Every Child Can!©) on July 7 and conducted student master classes July 8-9 at the New Jersey Suzuki Workshop at the Lawrenceville School.

Beatrice Long performed and taught at Piedmont, Italy’s InterHarmony International Music Festival from July 5-17. Works were by Chopin, Brahms and Ligeti; the master class was titled 'Articulation and Ornamentation in Baroque Keyboard Music'.

Sophia Agranovich's interview and four rave reviews were published in May-June issue of Fanfare Magazine.

David Witten, Artistic Director, announced the Sixth Dorothy Taubman Festival, June 23-25 featuring: Master Classes with Professor Robert Shannon of Oberlin Conservatory; Technique Clinics and Lectures with Sondra Tammam, Festival Director; Children's Repertoire with Dragica Curcic; Jazz Standards reworked with the Taubman Concepts with Dan Crisci, and Guest Jackie Herbein, National presenter of Body Mapping/Yoga at MTNA National Conferences. For further information, please contact Dr. David Witten at wittend@mail.montclair.edu.

Nancy Modell conducted teacher training workshops and taught student master classes at the Colorado Suzuki Institute in Beaver Creek, CO from June 12-24.

On June 4 and June 11 Birgit Matzerath gave two presentations in the adult education series at All Souls Unitarian Church in New York City titled: Calm and Conflict - J.S. Bach's Preludes and Fugues in B-flat major and B-flat minor from the Well-Tempered Clavier II (BWV 890 and BWV 891). The musical means Bach used to convey different emotions in both pieces were examined, including a chance to reflect on the energies of calm and conflict in our lives, as listeners familiarized themselves with the music. Ms. Matzerath performed both works at each session.

On May 27 Sophia Agranovich performed a solo concert at BargeMusic - 'the floating concert hall' in Brooklyn, NY. The program included Sonata in D minor 'Tempest' by Beethoven, Sonata in Bb minor by Chopin, and works by Liszt and Rachmaninoff.

On May 21, under the title, Play-Practice-Perform, Birgit Matzerath gave a presentation on Seymour Bernstein's approach to teaching piano for the Adult Music Student Forum in Washington DC. Along the lines of her own story as a student of Seymour Bernstein, her talk focused on "The Four Stages of Learning" that Bernstein describes in his book With your Own Two Hands, and his approach to the technique as outlined in his Twenty Lessons on Keyboard Choreography.

MEA Members Audrey Schultz and Lisa Gonzalez were in the Morris Choral Society's "Peace, Triumphant Peace!" performance on May 20 at the Dorothy Young Center, Drew University, Madison, NJ. Music included was Mendelssohn's serene "Verleih uns Freiden" (Grant us Peace), Beethoven's majestic Choral Fantasy, and the New Jersey premiere of Karl Jenkins' monumental "The Peacemakers", a major work premiered at Carnegie Hall in 2012. Texts from such great advocates of peace as Mahatma Gandhi, Anne Frank, Rumi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, and the Dalai Lama, combined with Jenkin's unique combination of the classical and world music, make this a work of great importance. Visit www.morrischoralsociety.org.

Michelle Kuo and her son, Christopher Kuo, have completed their winter benefit tour, performing 5 recitals in New York, New Jersey, Boston, and San Francisco. In total, they were able to help raise close to $30,000 for nonprofits across the country. On May 11, they presented their two piano recital at Christopher's alma mater, NYU Stern School of Business.

Seymour Bernstein's cantata, Song of Nature (with a new orchestration by Artistic Director Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez), was presented in Musica Viva NY's final concert on May 7. Preceding the concert, Ethan Hawke's critically acclaimed 2015 documentary Seymour: An Introduction, was screened. The screening was followed by a Q & A session with Seymour and members of the production team.

Sophia Agranovich performed a solo recital at the Lambert Castle of the Passaic County Historical Society on May 7 and at the Watching Arts Center on May 20. Works by Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Liszt and Chopin.

On Saturday, May 6, Pianists Yuka Yanagi and Amir Mortezai performed Romance and Tarantella (from Suite No.2, Op. 17) and Concerto No.2, Op.18, (1st movement) by Rachmaninoff on two pianos, and Pianist Yuly Verbitsky performed Piano Sonata Op. 57 ('Appasionata') by Beethoven, Sonnet 104 and Concert Etude 'Un Sospiro' by Liszt at Steinway Piano Gallery in Paramus, NJ.