2019 Conference Artists

JOHN PERRY

Lecture Presentation and Advanced Master Class Artist

Rhythm: The canvas upon which the musician paints sound

Mr. Perry will give a lecture presentation on how to express music through tempo, rhythmic nuance, rubato, and pulse which result in artistic interpretations at every level.  

John Perry, distinguished artist and teacher, earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Eastman School of Music where he was a student of Cecile Genhart. During those summers, he worked with the eminent Frank Mannheimer. Recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, he continued studies in Europe for four years where he worked with Wladyslav Kedra, Polish concert artist, and professor at the Akademie für Musik in Vienna, and Carlo Zecchi, renowned conductor, pianist, and head of the piano department at the Santa Cecilia Academy of Music in Rome.

Mr. Perry has won numerous awards including the highest prizes in both the Busoni and Viotti international piano competitions in Italy and special honors at the Marguerite Long International Competition in Paris. Since then he has performed extensively throughout Europe and North America to great critical acclaim. Also, a respected chamber musician, Mr. Perry has collaborated with some of the finest instrumentalists in the world.

He also enjoys an international reputation as a teacher, presenting master classes throughout the world. He often is a jury member at some of the most prestigious international piano competitions. His students have been prize winners in most major competitions and include two first-prize winners in the Rubinstein, four first-prize winners in the Music Teacher's National Association national competition, and first-prize winners in the Naumburg National Chopin Competition, the Cleveland Competition, Beethoven Foundation competition, the Federated Music Clubs, and the YKA, AMSC, and YMF competitions, and finalists in the Chopin International in Warsaw, the Van Cliburn, the Queen Elisabeth, Leeds, Dublin, Busoni, Viotti and the Three Rivers competitions.

Mr. Perry is a professor at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, professor of piano at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, and Professor Emeritus of the USC Thornton School of Music. In addition, he recently founded a music school, John Perry Academy of Music in Los Angeles, where he serves as ArtisticDirector. DuringthesummerheisartistprofessorattheLakeComoInternationalPianoAcademy,theBanffCenter in Alberta, Canada, the Sarasota Music Festival in Florida, the Orford Music Festival in Quebec, the Morningside Music Bridge Program in Calgary, Alberta, the Internationaler Klaviersommer Cochem, Germany, the International Music Festival in Perugia, Italy, the Amalfi Coast Music Festival in Italy, Montecito International Music Festival in Santa Barbara, and the John Perry Academy Summer Piano Festival in California. In January he is a main guest artist at the Sydney Piano Festival in Australia.

His recordings are available on the Telefunken, Musical Heritage Society, CBC, ACA, and Fox labels.

HELEN MARLAIS

Intermediate Master Class and Lecture Presentation Artist

Sound, Physical Gesture, and Imagination

(Sponsored by FJH) 

Join Dr. Helen Marlais as she explores ways to look at students’ repertoire in three dimensions. She will discuss: phrasing and sound, correct physical gestures, and will discuss many ways to stimulate students’ imaginations so they feel and think about the music. In this way, we can guide our students to play with artistic personality. She will demonstrate the value of teaching touch releases to young students. She will draw this information on sound, physical gesture, and imagination together with step-by-step examples using repertoire for each age group.  Attendees will receive a detailed, follow-along handout and a generous gift packet from The FJH Music Company.   

Dr. Helen Marlais’ performance schedule includes concerts and pedagogical sessions throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.  Her travels abroad have included performing and teaching in S. Korea, Taiwan, Italy, England, France, Spain, Hungary, Turkey, Germany, Austria, Lithuania, Estonia, China, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, and Russia.  Marlais has recorded on Audite, Gasparo, Stargrass and Centaur record labels. She has had performances broadcast regionally, nationally, and internationally, on radio, television, and the Internet. Her most recent recording, Music for Clarinet and Piano, was nominated for the 2013 International Classical Music Awards, one of the most prestigious distinctions available to classical musicians today. FonoForum, a leading European classical music magazine, writes:” Seldom has one so clearly observed the bubbling substructure of the piano part of Schumann’s Fantasy Pieces Op. 73 and, thereby, seldom have the Schumann pieces been played so elegantly and delicately.”  They continue with: “…Marlais’ playing is always exact, elegant, without excess. The beauty of this genuinely joint playing is so engaging that it seems to lack for nothing.” 

Dr. Marlais dedication to pedagogy for the young is sincere and unwavering. One of the joys of her life has been creating materials to support piano teachers as they guide young musicians. Her series, Succeeding at the PianoR, Succeeding with the MastersR, The Festival CollectionR, In RecitalR, Sight Reading and RhythmR, Write, Play, and Hear Your TheoryR, and The FJH Contemporary Keyboard EditionsR, among others, are published by the FJH Music Company. Her books have been translated into Korean, Taiwanese, and Chinese.  She performs and gives workshops throughout the country, internationally, and at all of the national music teachers’ conventions.

Recipient of the DistinguishedContribution to a Discipline Award at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Helen teaches piano and directs the Piano Pedagogy Certificate program for undergraduate piano majors, current teachers, and those interested in teaching piano. She received her DM in piano performance and pedagogy from Northwestern University and her MFA in piano performance from Carnegie Mellon University. She received her BM in piano performance from the University of Toledo and was their 2008 Outstanding Alumna in the Arts. 

Visit: www.helenmarlais.com and http://www.gvsu.edu/music/and https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClMxZiYJOxUd9q6zKdkPLrw/videos?view_as=subscriber

NAOMI SEIDMAN

Flute Day Master Class Artist

Dr. Seidman will give master class to selected students. The Workshop will also include a warm up session with all attendees and Q&A about audition preparation.

An accomplished solo performer, Naomi Seidman has won the Mid-South Flute Competition and the Frank Bowen Young Artist Competition, and was first runner-up in the Myrna Brown Young Artist Competition. She was also a semi-finalist in the Beijing Nicolet International Flute Competition. She has performed as a soloist with the Pennsylvania Centre Orchestra, Santa Fe Symphony, Kingsville Symphony, and Ballet Austin. She has also been an invited performer, judge, and presenter at National Flute Association (NFA) conventions and is a member of the NFA Cultural Outreach Committee.

As a chamber musician, Naomi is a member of the Pennsylvania Quintet, a woodwind quintet comprised of Penn State faculty members. She also performs regularly with her husband, cellist Jonathan Dexter, as the JANO Duo. Involved in several exciting commissioning projects for both groups, Naomi is dedicated to expanding repertoire for this combination of musicians. She has also collaborated with the Vienna Piano Trio and the Walden Chamber Players. She has participated in numerous festivals, including Yellow Barn, Bowdoin Summer Music Festival, Eastern Music Festival, Sewanee Summer Music Festival, Colorado College Summer Music Festival, Austin Classical Guitar Society, and the Austin Chamber Music Center.

Naomi is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including the National Endowment for the Arts “Fast Track America Grant” and the Penn State College of Arts and Architecture "Award for Excellence in Advising and Mentoring.”

A dedicated educator, Naomi has presented masterclasses at the University of Texas at Austin, Texas State University, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Ohio State University, Capital University, Ball State University, Oklahoma State University, Texas A&M University-College Station, University of Texas at Brownsville, and Southeastern Oklahoma State University.

In 2012, she created the Penn State Flute Day, an annual event where area flutists of all ages gather to attend masterclasses and recitals given by a renowned flutists. The symposium’s guest artists have included Jill Felber, Bart Feller, and Bonita Boyd. Naomi Seidman joined the Penn State School of Music faculty in 2012. 

Naomi received her bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara, the Master of Music degree from Yale University, and her doctoral degree the University of Texas at Austin.  She plays on a handmade Powell flute.