Fall Program
Monday, December 12, 2016
9:30 a.m. – 12:00 noon
Wellesley Free Library (See directions below)
“ASK YOUR COLLEAGUES” – Moderators: Shann Wood and Barbara Lieurance
As teachers, each of us has valuable insight, and a wealth of information, on topics that would be beneficial to other teachers. At the same time, we all have questions and challenges that often frustrate our best efforts. This is a rare opportunity to ask questions and share ideas with your colleagues about teaching. Questions can be about anything you would like to discuss: technique, repertoire, sight reading, improvisation, motivation, competition preparation, studio policies, communication with parents, etc.
Spring Program
Monday, April 10, 2017
9:30 a.m. – 12:00 noon
The Wellesley Free Library (See directions below)
“TWO LIVES IN THE SERVICE OF MUSIC”
Presented by Honorary Members Dianne Goolkasian Rahbee and A. Ramón Rivera.
4/4 update: We regret that Jean Stackhouse will be unable to present.
Dianne Goolkasian Rahbee and A. Ramón Rivera have been friends and colleagues for many, many years. Together and independently, they have taught, nurtured, guided, influenced, and encouraged an entire generation of students and teachers.
A special reception to honor Dianne Goolkasian Rahbee, A. Ramón Rivera and Jean Stackhouse will follow this meeting.
For many years, JEAN STACKHOUSE served on the faculty of the New England Conservatory where she chaired the Preparatory School piano faculty, taught many prize winning students, and worked with the Piano Pedagogy Program of the college. Moving to Princeton, New Jersey in the mid 1990s, Jean joined the faculty of Westminster Choir College of Rider University where she continued to teach in these areas. She performs as a collaborative pianist, is the co-author of a book on South Indian Music, has published several articles concerning learning theories (student learning styles and teacher facilitation), and is a yoga enthusiast. A past president of NEPTA, in 2005 the New England Conservatory Preparatory School established and presented its first “Jean Stackhouse Excellence in Teaching Award” in her honor, the award to be given annually and in perpetuity. Retiring to the Berkshire area of Massachusetts in 2007, Jean continues with piano teaching and collaborative performing.
DIANNE GOOLKASIAN RAHBEE was born in Somerville, Massachusetts, February 9, 1938, and began her early musical training as a pianist in Boston with Antoine Louis Moeldner, who studied with two of Leschetitzky’s most illustrious pupils, Helen Hopekirk and Paderewski. Moeldner was also a teaching assistant to Ossip Gabrilovich in New York. Helen Hopekirk was a respected composer as well as pianist and served as a role model for Goolkasian Rahbee at an early age. Goolkasian Rahbee continued her studies at Juilliard as a piano major and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, studying chamber music with Enrico Mainardi. In later years, she studied piano privately with David Saperton in New York and Lily Dumont, Russell Sherman, and Veronica Jochum in Boston.
At the age of 40, she began concentrating more seriously on composing and has since produced a large body of work for piano solo, orchestra, instrumental ensembles, percussion, and voice.
In 1985, she was elected President of American Women Composers, Massachusetts Chapter, and founded its annual marathon. Her music has been performed in Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Russia, Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and throughout the U.S.
As a first-generation Armenian-American whose father was a survivor of the genocide, her music reflects a deep-rooted ethnic background. The strong influences of her first spoken language, Armenian, and the folk music she grew up with, are important elements in her musical language. Her early love for music was sparked by her talented violinist mother.
Dianne Goolkasian Rahbee teaches piano privately at her home in Belmont, MA, and gives workshops, lectures and master classes internationally. For more information, please see www.dgoolkasianrahbee.com.
Renowned pianist and pedagogue ANGEL RAMÓN RIVERA hails from the island of Puerto Rico, where he studied with legendary pianist Jesus Maria Sanroma. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the New England Conservatory, where his teachers were Miklos Schwalb, Howard Goding, Felix Wolfes, John Moriarty and Daniel Pinkham. Mr. Rivera has performed at Boston’s Jordan Hall, The Gardner Museum, the Tanglewood Music Festival, and Carnegie Hall in New York City. He has appeared with the Boston Pops and also on WGBH in programs promoting the arts of Latin America.
Mr. Rivera is on the faculty of the New England Conservatory, where he leads the piano pedagogy studies and four successful seminars for pianists in the preparatory division. He is Director Emeritus of The Rivers School Conservatory, where he is currently a member of the piano faculty. Mr. Rivera is the cofounder of the Seminar on Contemporary Music for the Young, an annual event which has been held at The Rivers School Conservatory since 1978. It has featured celebrated composers such as Cage, Knussen, Glass, Harbison, Lieberman and Peter Maxwell Davies.
Mr. Rivera has been a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, the World Pedagogy Conferences, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and the National Guild of Community Music Schools and the Arts. He is the recipient of the Manuel G. Tavarez Gold Medal, the National Guild of Community Music Schools and the Arts President’s Award, and the New England Conservatory Preparatory School’s Jean Stackhouse Excellence in Teaching Award. He is also a very proud and grateful member of NEPTA.
* Directions to Wellesley Free Library:
530 Washington Street, Wellesley. Take Route 128 to Rte. 9 West (Exit 20B). Go 2.2 miles. Take ramp exit for Rte. 16, and bear slightly left onto Washington Street. Go 1.5 miles. There is underground parking on the left side of the library, down a ramp.
Commuter Train: From South Station to ‘Wellesley Square’, which is two blocks from the library.