Local Contact: For more information please contact Rosanne Smith.
Location: Zoom, for access please contact Susan Todd.
Presenting District: Linn-Benton
Presenter: American pianist Johnandrew Slominski [expand title=”Read Presenter Bio” swaptitle=” “]enjoys a distinguished reputation as a performer and pedagogue. He has been hailed as “a remarkable, brilliant, and gifted pianist” (Chautauquan Daily), commended for performing with “a great deal of intellect” (89.9 KBPS Portland), and recognized for his communicative performance: “I was profoundly moved by his performance… He has a musicianship that transcends his youthfulness.” (Eye on Sun Valley). His 2016 San Francisco concert debut, presented by the New Piano Collective, earned praise as “awe-inspiring” and “ear-opening” from Stephen Smoliar of the San Francisco Examiner. Slominski seamlessly navigates the landscape of a varied and thriving career as a soloist, chamber musician, music theorist, author, pedagogue, and speaker. Highlights of his current season include a solo CD released on the Centaur Records label, an all-Schubert disc with soprano Kayleen Sánchez released on the Soundset Recordings label, performances of concerti by Mozart and Schumann, and more than a dozen speaking and teaching engagements in the United States and Asia.

Slominski earned three degrees from the Eastman School of Music by age 21, and was unanimously nominated for the Jerald R. Graue Musicology Fellowship and the Eastman Performer’s Certificate; his first professorship followed at age 23. He has held faculty positions as a pianist and music theorist at the Eastman School of Music, the Sunderman Conservatory at Gettysburg College, and Virginia Commonwealth University. He is the founding director of Classical Music on the Spot (an institute for eighteenth-century improvisation), a co-founder of the San Francisco International Piano Festival, a founding faculty member of the Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival at the University of South Florida, and an Assistant Professor of Music at Linfield College. He earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music. Slominski is a New Piano Collective artist.[/expand]
Program Description: The composer and pianist Robert Schumann wrote in 1848 that,[expand title=”Read More” swaptitle=” “]“You must get to the point that you can hear music from the page. … A perfect musician should be able to picture a piece, at first hearing…as though he had the score in front of him.” This workshop, facilitated by Dr. Slominski (former theory and aural skills faculty at the Eastman School of Music), opens a conversation about teaching and learning through a nuanced aural curriculum. Skills discussed include sight-singing, solfege and solmization, dictation, playing by ear, improvisation, and more.