Achieve a deeper love and appreciation for music while improving your skill on the piano. For one week you will be a part of an encouraging community where you will expand your knowledge and improve your abilities through daily lectures, ensemble work, performances, private lessons, and masterclasses led by talented and knowledgeable faculty.
Adults – One-week Camp – REGISTRATION CLOSED
Intermediate to Advanced Levels
June 10-14, 2024
8:45 am 4:30 pm daily
Lunch included every day
Space is limited
Tuition $700.00
Adult Camp – REGISTER – CLICK HERE
Students – One-week Camp – REGISTRATION OPEN
Rising 6 through 12 grade – Piano students in middle and high school intermediate through an advanced piano level. Students should bring at least two memorized, polished pieces, as well as new music for study. Ensemble music will be provided via email/mail prior to camp.
June 17-21, 2024
8:45 am 4:30 pm daily
Lunch included every day
Space is limited
Tuition $550.00
Student Camp – REGISTER – CLICK HERE
Piano Camp Faculty
Dr. Hwa-Jin Kim, Executive Piano Camp Director
E: hkim@unca.edu
Dr. Douglas Weeks
Steinway Artist Douglas Weeks retired from Converse University in 2020 after serving on the piano faculty for thirty-eight years. In 2023 he retired from the Brevard Music Center after serving on the artist/faculty for forty summers and coordinating the piano program from 1988 to 2022. He has performed in Europe, Central America and Asia as soloist and as pianist in the Converse Trio and in Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia under the auspices of the US State Department. For four months in the spring of 1999 he taught at the Conservatory of Music in Cairo, Egypt as a Fulbright Senior Scholar, returning in 2004 and 2009 as a Fulbright Senior
Specialist.
A prize winner in the Casadesus International Piano Competition (now Cleveland International), Weeks also competed in the VI International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. A National Patron of Delta Omicron Music Honorary Fraternity, he is a recipient of the South Carolina Arts Commission’s Artist Fellowship in Music, and a distinguished Professor Award from the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education. He has presented lecture recitals at MTNA state conferences in South Carolina, North Carolina, Texas, and California and has authored articles in Clavier magazine and the on-line journal Piano Pedagogy Forum.
Weeks holds the Bachelor of Music degree from Illinois State University. the Master of Music degree with a Performer’s Certificate from Indiana University, the Doctor of Music degree from Florida State University, and a Liçence de Concert from the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris, France. His teachers include Abbey Simon, Jack Radunsky, Jules Gentil, and Maria Curcio.
Dr. Leslie Downs is active as both a solo and collaborative pianist. He has performed in solo, lieder, chamber and choral concerts throughout the United States and in Canada. A versatile artist, Dr. Downs enjoys playing many styles of music. His affinity for Spanish piano music led to an extensive study of the dances of Spain for his dissertation, Spanish Dances a
Pianist Elizabeth Churchya has established herself as a charismatic and sensitive performer. She has concertized extensively throughout the United States and England, and is the prize winner of many competitions.
Most recently, Elizabeth appeared as a “Rising Star” soloist with the University of South Carolina Orchestra in performance of the Ravel Piano Concerto in G major. She is a finalist in the Professional division of The American Prize in Piano Performance (Concerto), 2023 and a prizewinner in the 2022 Charleston International Piano Competition. Previously, Elizabeth received her undergraduate degree in piano performance from Christopher Newport University, where she won the scholarship competition three consecutive years. In 2011, she made her orchestra debut after winning the university’s concerto competition with Saint-Saëns Concerto No. 2 in G Minor. Elizabeth earned her Master of Music and Graduate Certificate in Performance from the University of South Carolina. Her principal instructors include Drs. Jeffrey Brown, Lelia Sadlier, and Joseph Rackers. She has had the privilege of performing in masterclasses for renowned pianists including Nelita True, Edmund Battersby, Jon Klibonoff, Dmitri Rachmanov, and many others.
A dedicated teacher, she was awarded the 2023 University of South Carolina Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award. She maintains a private studio and often serves as adjudicator for many competitions in the Southeast. She taught courses for the Music History department at the University of South Carolina, including Introduction to Film Music, a course she designed herself and quickly became the university’s most popular music elective. An impassioned supporter of the arts, Elizabeth serves as Executive Director of the premier professional chamber orchestra Sinfonia da Camera and Operations Manager of the renowned Southeastern Piano Festival. Elizabeth is a current doctoral candidate at UofSC in Piano Performance studying with Professor Phillip Bush.
Dr. Vance Reese
Dr. Vance Reese is currently a music professor at Brevard College, where he teaches music history, piano, organ, and classes that intersect his interests in religion and dreaming. If you tell him you had a dream with music in it, he would love a conversation with you. He also has been the music director for musicals at Brevard College, SART, and the Parkway Playhouse. He is also an accompanist in the WNC area, collaborating with singers, instrumentalists, opera companies, piano trios (the Temple Trio), and choral groups (Asheville Choral Society and Asheville Symphony Chorus). His doctoral degree was in organ, sacred music, and music history at Indiana University. He is also Co-Principal Double Bass with the Asheville Symphony Orchestra, and has played organ at Congregation Beth Ha Tephila (where he has also served a cantorial role during the High Holidays), Christ School (where he also music directed and taught advanced music theory), and at least a dozen churches in the Asheville and Brevard areas. If the Biltmore Estate hasn’t thrown away the recordings, you can hear him play (via those same recordings) on the Skinner organ in the large dining hall. He also serves as the Music Director of the Brevard Jewish Community. He has read through the 24 preludes and fugues of Bach, Shostakovich, Schedrin, and Kapustin, and is currently reading through all 556 sonatas of Scarlatti. He knows just enough accordion to be dangerous. Ask him if he rode his bicycle to camp. (But not with his accordion.)
Lecturers:
Dr. Bill Bares, Professor UNCA
Dr. Brian Felix, Professor, and Chair of the Dept. of Music UNCA
Matthew Richmond, Lecturer UNCA
Dr. Michael Ruiz, Professor UNCA
Chuck Taft, Adjunct Faculty UNCA
Piano Camp Staff
Pamela Miller – UNCA Admin. Support Staff
Classes
- Aural Skills
- Theory
- Sight Singing
- Rhythm Exercises
- Conducting
- Ensemble work
- Supervised Practice Sessions
- Music History
- Private Lessons
- Fun recreational activities