Noted Canada pianist to instruct area youth

BLUE HILL – Jane Coop, one of Canada’s leading pianists and a longtime member of Kneisel Hall’s summer chamber music faculty, will conduct a piano master class with young area musicians at the Blue Hill Congregational Church, 1-4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 14.

Coop, a professor of piano and chamber music at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, has appeared as a recitalist, chamber musician and orchestral soloist in more than 20 countries. She has played in concert halls as diverse as the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and the Philharmonia in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The master class setting allows individual pupils to work in a collaborative manner with professional musicians like Coop on a particular piece of music. This method of teaching provides serious pupils an opportunity to gain insight into the nuances and techniques, which enhance performance.

The following pupils were chosen to participate in the program, which is open to the public: seventh-grader Rosalind Brokaw of Brooksville, who is a pupil of Win Pusey and Ginger Yang Hwalek; eighth-grader Sam Cabot of Dover-Foxcroft, also a pupil of Hwalek; eleventh-grader Tina Davis of Deer Isle, a student of Geral Wheeler and Patricia Stowell; ninth-grader Caitlyn Liu of Ellsworth; Erica He, a high school senior from Glenburn; and sixth-grader Deiran Manning of Gouldsboro. The latter three study with Patricia Stowell.

Each student will play a piece by Chopin, Shostakovitch, Schubert, Scriabin, Scarlatti or Mozart.

For more information, call 374-5372.