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Piano Program

Why study piano at the University of Mount Union?

  • Caring, one-on-one relationship with your piano instructors.
  • High-level piano teaching and performing.
  • Bachelor of Music degree in music education and a liberal arts degree in music.
  • Fully accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music.
  • Keyboard Artist Series: guest and faculty recitals and masterclasses for students.
  • Varied offerings in collaborative piano performance and piano pedagogy.
  • A fully-involved music faculty who perform regularly.
  • Many performing opportunities to allow for students' growth and confidence-building.
  • Magnificent Brush Performance Hall in the brand-new Giese Center for the Performing Arts.
  • Superb performance Steinway pianos in Brush Hall and the excellent Presser Recital Hall.
  • A loan program with Kawai pianos provides brand-new pianos in some teaching studios and practice rooms, ensuring a top-notch educational and musical environment.
  • Many successful graduates of the program, signifying strength of our department.

Admission to the Music Major Music Auditions for Non-Majors Department of Performing Arts

Student playing piano
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Student playing piano with professor teaching
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Performing Opportunities

There are many performance opportunities for Mount Union students:

  • Weekly piano studio class in Presser Recital Hall.
  • Every semester: Piano Keys is a piano recital that showcases the performances of advanced piano students and features some of the masterpieces of the piano repertoire. Held every semester on campus, Piano Keys offers an ever-changing variety of piano music performed by the students of Dr. Maira Liliestedt, associate professor of music at the University of Mount Union.


SOLO CON TUTTI

Solo con Tutti is a concerto competition for a chance to play a concerto with the Alliance Symphony Orchestra, UMU Repertory Strings, or the UMU Wind Ensemble.

  • 2008 winner: Laura (Jurasko '09) Mason, performing Mendelssohn’s Capriccio brilliant for piano and orchestra
  • 2009 winner: Marina Iwao, performing Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto, first movement
  • 2010 winners: Jennifer (Grant '13) Linville , performing Kabalevsky’s Third Piano Concerto, third movement; Allyson (Oyster) DePanicis ’10, performing Kabalevsky’s Third Piano Concerto, first movement
  • 2012 winner: Ian LeRoy ’14, performing MacDowell’s Piano Concerto No. 2, first movement
  • 2015 winner: Paige Morris '16, performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2, third movement
  • 2017 Honorable Mention: Samuel Atkinson, invited to perform Mozart's Piano Concerto K. 488, second movement with the Alliance Symphony Orchestra on its April 15, 2018 concert
  • 2018 winner: Samuel Atkinson, performing Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 1, first movement
  • 2019 winner: Jenna Hoffman, performing Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, second movement
  • 2021 Honorable Mention: Noah Stewart, invited to perform with the Alliance Symphony Orchestra at their April 24, 2022 concert, playing Saint-Saens’ Second Concerto, first movement.
    2022 winner: Eden Walker, performing Gershwin's Concerto in F, first movement with Mount Union adjunct faculty member Brent Schloneger

Other opportunities to play:

  • Potentially solo with the Repertory Strings Orchestra.
  • Thursday morning Student Showcase recitals
  • Accompanying and chamber music, including two-piano music
  • Student musicals
  • Other on- and off-campus performances
  • Half- and full-length junior and senior recitals

ENSEMBLES

In addition to solo piano work, students can play the piano or harpsichord in many ensembles, including: