KEYNOTE AND INVITED PRESENTERS

Australasian Piano Pedagogy Conference 2023 has engaged an impressive line up of keynote and invited speakers. Read about our presenters below.

Graham Fitch

Based in London, Graham Fitch maintains an international reputation as a teacher of piano and a writer and broadcaster on piano playing. His workshops and classes, which he has given all over the world, have received high praise for their creative and illuminating approach to the subject.

Graham Fitch graduated with honours from the Royal College of Music in London, winning the Hopkinson Gold Medal for piano performance. A Fulbright Scholarship then took him to the United States, where he completed his studies with Ann Schein and Nina Svetlanova, as well as participating in regular classes with Leon Fleisher, winning first prize in the Mieczyslaw Munz Piano Competition.

From 1997 to 2008, Graham Fitch was Associate Professor, Head of Keyboard at the South African College of Music, University of Cape Town, from where he travelled extensively to perform and teach. An international tour of Bach’s Goldberg Variations elicited rapturous reviews on four continents, and invitations to return to Australia, New Zealand and the USA. He gave recitals, masterclasses and keynote addresses at several consecutive Australasian Piano Pedagogy Conferences in Australia, and has been in residence at London’s Royal Academy of Music.

Graham is a regular writer for Pianist Magazine, and has many video demonstrations on the magazine’s YouTube channel. His popular blog, www.practisingthepiano.com, led to a series of 4 e-books on piano playing and the founding of a subscription website, the Online Academy, that features his own study editions, writings and videos, as well as content from a team of international pianists and teachers.

Graham teaches privately in London, and counts among his long-term students Daniel Grimwood and James Baillieu, with many others active in the profession. In addition to teaching talented youngsters, tertiary level piano students and working with piano teachers, Graham is very interested in helping amateur pianists develop their playing. Graham is a principal tutor on The Piano Teachers’ Course (UK), and is also a regular tutor for advanced pianists at Morley College, London, and the Summer School for Pianists at Stowe. He gives frequent courses at Finchcocks and Jackdaws, annual piano courses in France and Switzerland, in addition to regular workshops and classes across the UK and internationally via Zoom.

Website: www.practisingthepiano.com

Paavali Jumppanen

In the brief span of recent seasons, the imaginative and versatile Finnish virtuoso, Paavali Jumppanen, has established himself as a dynamic musician of seemingly unlimited capability who has already cut a wide swath internationally as a solo recitalist, orchestral collaborator, recording artist, artistic director, and frequent performer of contemporary and avant-garde music.

Mr. Jumppanen has performed extensively in the United States, Europe, Japan, China, and Australia alongside such great conductors as David Robertson, Sakari Oramo, Susanna Mälkki, Osmo Vänskä, and Jaap van Zweden. He has commissioned numerous works and collaborated with such composers as Boulez, Murail, Dutilleux, Penderecki, as well as many Finnish composers. The Boston Globe praised the “overflowing energy of his musicianship” and The New York Times his “power and an extraordinary range of colors.”

In the recent years Paavali Jumppanen has dedicated much of his time into performing cycles of the complete Beethoven and Mozart Piano Sonatas. He has also often performed all of the Beethoven Piano Concertos and chamber sonatas. Paavali Jumppanen attended at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and later worked with Krystian Zimerman at the Basel Music Academy in Switzerland where he also studied organ, fortepiano, and clavichord. Russian born pianist Konstantin Bogino has remained an important mentor throughout his career.

Paavali Jumppanen’s has an expanding discography which includes “the best recorded disc of Boulez’s piano music so far” (The Guardian, about the three sonatas recording on DGG made upon the composer’s request) and the complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas on Ondine. Mr. Jumppanen spent the 2011–12 season as a visiting scholar in Harvard University’s Music Department studying musicology and theory to deepen his immersion in Viennese 18th century music. From 2021 on Mr. Jumppanen serves a three-year long period as the Artistic Director to the Australian National Academy of Music in Melbourne.

Follow Paavali’s blog at www.paavalijumppanen.com

Lisa Bastien

Lisa began piano lessons at the age of four, studying with her mother, Jane Smisor Bastien. She received her Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from Drake University and her Master’s degree in piano pedagogy from Arizona State University. After completing her master’s degree, Lisa moved to New Orleans and taught in the Preparatory Department of Loyola University.

Collectively the Bastien family has authored over five hundred publications that have taught millions of students worldwide how to play piano. Lisa Bastien and her husband Basil Hanss now reside in New York City, where Lisa maintains a full time teaching studio offering private and group lessons to students of diverse ages, abilities and interests. Lisa adores teaching piano, and finding new ways to encourage and inspire her students.

Randall Faber

As pianist and educator, Randall Faber has appeared as special guest at universities throughout North America and Asia, including the Beijing Central Conservatory, the Shanghai Conservatory and the Royal Conservatory of Canada. He has been Convention Artist for the Music Teachers National Association Conference and master teacher for the World Conference on Piano Pedagogy, National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, the Australasian Piano Pedagogy Conference and the USA National Piano Teachers Institute.

A Steinway Artist, Faber has given recitals throughout the United States, Canada and Asia. He has appeared on international television and on public radio in live recital broadcast.

Dr. Faber holds three degrees from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in Education and Human Development from Vanderbilt University. His research on motivation and talent development has been featured in journals and media in South Korea, China, Australia, and at the 9th International Conference on Motivation in Lisbon, Portugal.

Randall and his wife Nancy are well known as authors of the best-selling Piano Adventures® teaching method, which has motivated students around the world. The Fabers advocate piano study not only for personal expression and performance success, but also as a vehicle for the student’s creative and cognitive development. Their philosophy is reflected in their writing, their public appearances, and in their own teaching.

In 2018, Nancy and Randall Faber received the MTNA Frances Clark Piano Pedagogy Award for Piano Adventures.

Bernadette Harvey

Bernadette Harvey is an international soloist and chamber musician. She is currently senior lecturer of piano at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Bernadette performs annually at the Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival (USA) and has collaborated with the Tokyo, Shanghai, Jupiter and Pražák Quartets.

Recent CDs include her commissions of new piano sonatas by Australian women composers, and her 2019 CD release on the Canadian label Marquis Classics, in collaboration with the United States Jupiter Quartet, has received high praise.

2020 engagements included solo recitals at Northwestern University and Salem College (USA), chamber collaborations in Tucson, Arizona, along with her Australian appearances.

Mike Nelson

Michael Nelson was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1949. He began his career as a musician at the age of 16 years. From 1974 to 1979 he was based in London U.K. where he worked as an arranger / musician and, for about two years, toured Europe, Great Britain and Southern Africa with the British group ‘5000 Volts’ including appearances on the BBC’s Top Of The Pops, the Royal Albert Hall and the London Palladium.

From 1985 to 1990 Mike was employed by Edith Cowan University to help establish Jazz Studies at the Western Australian Academy for the Performing Arts. In 1990 he was awarded the W.A. Department for the Arts Creative Development Fellowship in order to further his development as an orchestral composer. His ‘Sonata for String Quartet’ was performed by the Australian String Quartet in 1993 and broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Commission. His ‘Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra’ was recorded by the W.A. Symphony Orchestra in 1996.

Mike has lectured in Jazz Studies at Edith Cowan University (1985 – 1990), Australian National University (2000 – 2003, including a time as head of department) and University of Western Australia (part time, 1990 – 2000).

Mike’s jazz quartet represented Australia at the 1988 Indian Jazz Yatra and in 1990 he was funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to take a jazz quartet back to India to conduct master classes and concert performances. His jazz compositions have been recorded by the Australian Broadcasting Commission on numerous occasions and his CD album ‘Celebration’ was recorded at the A.B.C. in 1989.

While in Canberra, he contributed a chapter to the compilation publication ‘Music In The 21st Century’. As an accompanist, he has worked with Milt Jackson, Mark Murphy, Bob Barnard, Joe Newman, Lee Konitz, Debbie Reynolds, Holly Hoffman, Shirley Bassey, Jerry Lewis, Richie Cole, Don Burrows, Bob Bertles, Johnny Nicole, James Morrison, John Farnham, Peter O’Mara, John Surman, Danny Moss, Ricky May, Holly Hoffman, Red Rodney, Keith Stirling, Birnie McGann, Tom Baker, Marie Wilson, John Etheridge, Sue Cruikshank, John Hoffman, Phil Wilson, Clare Martin and Dale Barlow.

Mike currently lives in Perth, Western Australia with his wife and two children. In 2005 he was commissioned to write a crossover piece for string and jazz quartet as part of the ‘Jazz Meets Mozart’ celebrations. Following the performance he was later commissioned to expand the piece to a full orchestral version which was subsequently performed by the Dubai Philharmonic. In 2006 he attended college and gained a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering. In 2010 he published the novel ‘Muso’ and has since published the methodology ‘The Craft of Jazz Piano’.

Mike is now retired but continues to work with a variety of ensembles and is active as a composer and arranger.

Daniel McFarlane

Daniel McFarlane is a teacher, composer and publisher based in Brisbane. His compositions are featured in all major Australian piano exam syllabi and his publishing company, Supersonics Piano, is internationally renowned and respected.

Daniel studied music at the University of Queensland before embarking on a career as a private teacher. Over the course of the next 10 years his teaching grew from a private studio into a multi-teacher school with over 550 students. He sold this school in 2009 to concentrate on composing and publishing. He continues to teach privately and has now taught students of all ages, levels and abilities for over 23 years.

Daniel started composing to fill a need that he found with his students for more contemporary engaging music. Since releasing his first three books in 2008, Daniel’s catalogue has grown rapidly and now includes a complete method book series as well as a prolific number of other books and individual works. His pieces are included in the AMEB, ANZCA and St Cecilia piano syllabi. One of his commissioned works was performed by the late Jovanni-Rey de Pedro at the 2015 Australian Piano Pedagogy Conference.

Daniel’s publishing company, Supersonics Piano, has continually been at the forefront of the “new technology” revolution that is transforming teaching. Right back at the beginning, Supersonics Piano was one of the first publishers to offer fully automated digital delivery of sheet music. That innovation and development of new technology continues today with the overall goal of implementing technology seamlessly into teaching and practice. Supersonics Piano’s current technologies include apps for the web, iOS and Android devices, scrolling sheet music, interactive scores, worldwide print on demand capabilities and advanced student/teacher communication systems.