Golden Key Paino School’s October 2021 Newsletter

1. It is not too late to Join the Solfeggio Class
We are receiving great feedback from students in the Solfeggio class. We are really grateful to have teacher Cooper teach this class with all his passion for teaching and all his knowledge for the subject.

The class is especially good for those who are struggling with their scale playing, theory, and sight reading. But it is really beneficial for all students.
The class is every Monday on Zoom:

Mondays 4:00 for age 5-9

Mondays 4:30 for ages 9 and up.

If you are interested to join, simply reply to this email. And here is a little sample of the class.

2. Master Class for Advanced Students

We are excited to have professor William Wellborn back this year for another master class for our advanced students. Space is limited. If you are in advanced level and interested to join the class this March please discuss with your teacher and get started on preparing one piece.

Here are some information:

Date: March 13th

Fee for participants: $120

Fee for observers: $30

Duration of the class: 2-3 hours. Each participant takes a 30-min lesson.

Can I participate on Zoom? We prefer in-person classes but if you are not living in the area yes we can have you on zoom.

About Professor Wellborn:

William Wellborn enjoys an active career as a pianist, teacher and lecturer, and has performed and lectured widely over four continents. He received a MM (New England Conservatory) and DMA (University of Texas) in Performance, and a BM in Piano Pedagogy (University of Texas), where his teachers included Gregory Allen, Patricia Zander, and Nancy Garrett, and two leaders in the field of piano pedagogy- Amanda Vick Lethco and Martha Hilley. He has also received coaching from John Perry, Leon Fleisher, Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Adam Wibrowski, Andrzej Jasinski, and Jerome Lowenthal. Guest artist appearances include the New Orleans Institute for the Performing Arts, the Paderewski Festival, the American Liszt Society, the Great Romantics Festival in Hamilton, Canada, the Chopin chez George Sand festival de piano in La Châtre, France, the Três Séculos de Piano series in Rio de Janeiro, and the Festival du Chablisien in Chablis, France. In 2004 he had the honor of presenting an all-Liszt program on Liszt’s piano at Hofgärtnerei Museum in Weimar, and in 2009 he presented a Haydn program at the composer’s birthplace in Rohrau, Austria. Orchestral appearances include the Austin Symphony, the Austin Chamber Ensemble, the Laredo Philharmonic, the San Antonio Symphony, the Redwoods Symphony, the Monterey Symphony, and the Sudeten Philharmonie in Walbrzych, Poland.

Wellborn has served as convention artist for state conventions in Missouri (2002), California (2013), Texas (2001), and Colorado (2014), and has given numerous lectures and masterclasses for music teachers organizations across the United States. From 1996-2010 Wellborn was involved with A CONCERTed Effort, a San Francisco Bay Area concert series which raised over $2,000,000 for various AIDS organizations. A scholar of historic musicians, from 1995-97 Wellborn hosted the San Francisco-based radio program “Piano Legacy”. A frequent adjudicator, he has served on the juries of the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition, the San Jose International Piano Competition, as well as competitions for CAPMT, MTAC, and numerous others. Since 1999 he has directed European musical tours exploring the lives and music of great composers; this coming summer he is looking forward to leading a Brahms and Schubert tour which visits Austria, Germany, and Slovakia.

Wellborn has served as an artist-teacher for the Masterclasses of Saint Malo (1998-2003), the Franz Liszt Summer Piano Academy in Sopron (2004-2007), and the Austrian International Piano Seminar and Festival (2008-2013), and the Krakow Piano Seminar (2016-present). In the summer of 2018 he returns to teach at the Idllywild Arts Academy Summer Workshop for Adults (www.idyllwildarts.org), and to Poland for the Krakow Piano Seminar. Wellborn is on the national board of the American Liszt Society and is the founding president of the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the American Liszt Society; he also serves as Vice-President for the San Francisco Council of the Chopin Foundation. Wellborn has taught at the University of Idaho, Humboldt State University, and has been a visiting lecturer at Stanford University. In 2017 he was honored to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the California Association of Professional Music Teachers (CAPMT). A faculty member of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music since 1989, Wellborn teaches piano in the Pre-College division, and Piano Pedagogy in the Collegiate division. His students frequently win top prizes in numerous state, national, and international piano competitions. Wellborn records for the Marco Polo and Cambria Master Recordings labels.

3. Student Spotlight: Joshua

Congratulations to Joshua for successfully passing Level 5 at Royal Conservatory Exam. Joshua studied with teacher Robin online until he passed the exam. He is now a student of teacher Eric taking lessons in person. Here is a snapshot from the last solo recital performed by Joshua this summer.

We are proud of you Joshua!

4. Mark Your Calendar for Annual Duet Recital

We are still hoping and planning for the annual solo recital to happen in person this year. As we used to do it, we will be holding the recital in the beautiful Hillside Club in Berkeley. To make it safe we are going to have 5 or 6 groups depending on the attendance and have the seats spread out.

(We used to have 3 groups and the hall used to be packed.)

Please mark your calendar for the recital date and keep practicing for the rehearsals.

Dates:

Rehearsal: December 5th & December 12th

Recital: December 19th

(For New York students, we are going to arrange a recital when we have more students in Manhattan.)