Keyboard faculty
Hover your mouse over any faculty member to read a short biography.
Dr. Cynthia Benson
D.M.A., University of Texas at Austin
Associate Professor (group piano)
Dr. Cynthia Benson Coordinator of group piano program; teaches piano pedagogy; holds a bachelor’s in music education from the University of Central Arkansas, a master’s in piano performance from Rice University and a doctorate in music education with an emphasis in piano pedagogy from the University of Texas at Austin; served as a foreign expert at Jimei University in Xiamen, China, where she taught group and studio piano; chair of the Research Committee of the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy; has presented research at the First Seminar on Digital Music Education in Nanjing, China, and at national and state conferences of Music Educators National Associationm, Association for Technology in Music and National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy; international presentations at International Society for Music Education, Asia Pacific Symposium on Music Education Research and Research in Music Education; past president of northwest district of the Ohio Music Teachers Association; presentations at MTNA national and state conferences; has published articles in Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, Journal of Technology in Music Learning, International Journal of Research in Music Education, Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, Texas Music Education Research, Illinois Music Educator, American Music Teacher, Keyboard Companion, Piano Pedagogy Forum and Roland’s Keyboard Educator; director of the Summer Music Institute Piano Camp.
Winston Choi
M.M., Indiana University at Bloomington
Instructor (piano)
Winston Choi Laureate of the 2003 Honens International Piano Competition; winner of 2002 Concours International de Piano 20e siècle d’Orléans; performed in recital across North America, South America, Asia and Europe; appeared in the National Arts Centre of Canada, the Glenn Gould Studio, Merkin Recital Hall, Symphony Space, the Kennedy Center, the Detroit Institute of Art, the Kravis Center (Florida), Edward-Pickman Hall, the Rosza Centre (Calgary), the Festival Encuentros (Buenos Aires), “Cicle Grans Solistes” (Girona, Spain); performed in Banff’s Summer Arts Festival, Maine’s Bay Chamber Concerts, Wisconsin’s Peninsula Music Festival, Barrie’s Colours of Music and Parry Sound’s Festival of the Sound; toured and performed in venues such as the Salle Cortot, in Lille’s Festival Rencontre Robert Casadesus, the Messiaen Festival, and IRCAM’s prestigious Agora festival; performed live radio broadcasts on NPR and CBC Radio; featured soloist with l’Orchestre National de Lille, l’Orchestre Symphonique d’Orléans, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the Peninsula Music Festival Orchestra and La Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia; tours regularly his wife, violinist Minghuan Xu as Duo Diorama; the duo recently gave its New York debut in Weill Recital Hall as winners of Artists International Presentations’ Chamber Music Award; recorded on Crystal, Arktos, QuadroFrame and Southport record labels; recipient of grants from the Yvar Mikhashoff Trust for New Music and the Canada Council for the Arts; collaborated with composers including William Bolcom, Elliott Carter, Brian Ferneyhough, Bernard Rands, Bright Sheng, Christian Wolff and John Zorn; performances include the North American premiere of Boulez’s 2001 version of Incises and the South American premiere of Berio’s Sonata for Piano; core member of the contemporary music group Brave New Works; studied in Toronto with James Tweedie and Vivienne Bailey; bachelor’s and master’s degrees and performer’s certificate at Indiana University, studying with Menahem Pressler; doctoral student at Northwestern University, studying with Ursula Oppens.
Dr. Vincent Corrigan
Ph.D., Indiana University at Bloomington
Professor (harpsichord)
Dr. Vincent Corrigan Active performer on both piano and harpsichord, throughout the Midwest, with particular focus in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana; has received degrees in music education, piano, harpsichord and musicology from Carnegie-Mellon University and Indiana University; studied harpsichord with the late Fernando Valenti and Marie Zorn; as a chamber performer, he is a frequent collaborator in concerts of both early music and new music; as a soloist, he has appeared at the Toledo Museum of Art, Bluffton College, the Bowling Green New Music & Art Festival and with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra; released the CD The Young Scarlatti on the AMP label; member of the musicology/composition/theory faculty.
Dr. Laura Melton
D.M.A., Rice University
Associate Professor (piano)
Dr. Laura Melton Coordinator of Keyboard Studies and Associate Professor of piano; has been a prize winner in several major international competitions including the Mendelssohn Competition in Berlin, the New York Recital Division of the Joanna Hodges Competition, the National Symphony Orchestra’s Young Artist Competition and the 1998 Mu Phi Epsilon Competition; semi-finalist in the Orleans International Competition in France, the Concurso International de Ejecucion Musical in Vina del Mar, Chile, and was the only remaining American in the semi-finals of the 1991 Clara Haskil Competition in Switzerland; orchestral appearances include the Freiburg Musikhochschulorchester of Freiburg, Germany, the San Francisco Chamber Players and the International Chamber Orchestra of Idyllwild, Calif.; numerous appearances on radio and television, including an appearance on National Public Radio’s Performance Today in celebration of the birthday of composer, John Corigliano; appearances at several summer music festivals including Ravinia, Aspen, Sarasota, and festivals in Holland, Switzerland and Germany; students have won numerous competitions and awards including the Cleveland International Piano Competition and the Concert Artiss Guild Award; holds a bachelor’s from the University of Maryland at College Park as a student of Nelita True, a master’s from the University of Southern California under John Perry and a doctorate from Rice University where she was a graduate fellow and teaching assistant to John Perry; spent three years in Germany as a Fulbright Scholar, earning the solistendiplom while studying with Robert Levin at the Staatliche Hochschule fur Musik in Freiburg; prior to her BGSU appointment, she was on the faculty of the Idyllwild Arts Academy in California; currently on the summer faculty at the Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan; first CD will be released this spring on Naxos as part of the American Masterworks Series (Solo Piano and Chamber Works of Samuel Adler).
Dr. Robert Satterlee
D.M.A., Yale University
Associate Professor (piano)
Dr. Robert Satterlee Coordinator of graduate studies; holds degrees in piano from Yale University, Peabody Conservatory and the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music; has developed a reputation as an accomplished and versatile solo recitalist and chamber musician; performs regularly across the country; has appeared on the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts in Chicago, San Francisco’s Old First Concert Series, the Schubert Club in St. Paul and MTNA national conventions; has been heard on radio broadcasts nationwide, most notably on Minnesota Public Radio; teaches at the Interlochen Arts Camp; co-founder of Chamber Music Quad Cities, a group which presents a concert series and music festival in the early summer in Iowa and Illinois; collaborates with members of the Chicago, Cleveland and Detroit Symphony Orchestras in chamber music performances; has been awarded prizes in many competitions, among them honors in the St. Louis Symphony Young Artists competition; has participated in numerous music festivals and summer programs including the Aspen Festival, the Banff Centre, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and the Festival at Sandpoint; most recently he has been touring with the group Bach Four, performing Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier.
Russell Schmidt
M.M., Eastman School of Music
Associate Professor (jazz piano)
Russell Schmidt Associate professor; director of jazz activities;holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music; previously served on the faculties of Arizona State University, the University of North Carolina at Asheville and Eastman, where he co-conducted the Eastman Studio Orchestra; currently serves as artistic director for the Toledo Jazz Orchestra; has served a keyboard soloist with more than 30 professional orchestras, including performances with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center and with the San Francisco Symphony; as a jazz performer, has worked with such artists as Carl Allen, Eddie Daniels, Clare Fischer, Tim Hagans, John Hollenbeck, Joe Lovano, Gerry Mulligan, Arturo Sandoval and Clark Terry; recorded with guitarist Bob Sneider, vocalist Vicki McDermitt, the Paul Ferguson Jazz Orchestra and the Birch Creek Jazz Band, among others; one of only two American jazz pianists selected to participate in the 2nd Martial Solal International Jazz Piano Competition; has composed and arranged for artists as varied as jazz saxophonists Bob Berg and Michael Brecker, the Ying String Quartet and the chamber music group Rhythm & Brass; has numerous publications, including a book of etudes arranged for jazz piano, released by advance music; his compositions have also been published by GIA (Music Education) Publications and the Penfield Music Commission Project.
Dr. Vernon Wolcott
D.M.A., University of Michigan
Professor (Organ)
Dr. Vernon Wolcott Bachelor’s from Curtis Institute, master’s from Union Seminary and doctorate from University of Michigan; student of Alexander McCurdy and Marilyn Mason; organist/choirmaster positions in New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore; former faculty member, Peabody Conservatory; recitals throughout East and Midwest; study and performance on historic European organs; lectures and publications for MTNA and AGO; listed in Who’s Who of Musicians, Who’s Who in American Music and Dictionary of International Biography.