Guest Artist: Shannon Wettstein

Pianist Shannon Wettstein invites audiences to hear connections between the most daring new music and historical masterworks. About why she makes music, “For me, it’s about taking risks—I love taking audiences along with me into unknown territory.”

With over 450 premieres, Shannon has performed at Lincoln Center, the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella Series, the Ft. Worth Modern Art Museum, and Chicago’s Constellation. Steve Smith of the New York Times wrote that her performance at The Stone was “full of subtleties no recording could catch...a reminder of why we attend concerts.”

Her latest solo recording, Con Grazia, was recently released to wide acclaim on the Neuma label. Con Grazia is the culmination of Shannon’s long-term exploration of the music of the Italian avant-garde. German music publication AM:PLIFIED says, “Wettstein doesn’t simply play these works—she illuminates them, makes their micro-gestures sparkle, and takes listeners on an acoustic journey through time where old and new wink at each other.”

Recent performances include Hong Kong’s City Hall, the Matik Matik in Bogotá, and the Camerata of Cremona, Italy, and the International Meeting of Contemporary Piano. Awards include those from the National Endowment for the Arts, American Composers Forum, and Chamber Music America.

Formerly the pianist of Boston’s Auros Group for New Music and Minnesota’s Zeitgeist New Music, Shannon continues to collaborate with other musicians pushing the envelope of possibilities, including saxophonist Kyle Hutchins, flutist Elizabeth McNutt, and ensembles such as Mivos Quartet and Fonema Consort.

Shannon’s teachers include Sequeira Costa at the University of Kansas, Stephen Drury at the New England Conservatory, and Aleck Karis at the University of California San Diego. Other significant teachers and coaches include Claude Frank and Ben Zander.

Shannon has been a professor of piano at Michigan State University, St. Cloud State University, Augsburg University, and Bemidji State University. With performances on four continents, she is a clinician, lecturer, coach, and the host of Dr. Avant-Garde, a podcast about moving the art of music forward in the 21st century.