Register for Piano Camp today.
CASSA Contact information: CASSA office telephone 403.271.0418, CASSA fax 403.278.3236, or
2012 Piano Camp (PC)
July 30 - August 3, 2012
Recitals: Thursday August 2, 7:00 pm & Friday, August 3, 2:00 pm
St. Vladimir's Cultural Centre
404 Meredith Road NE (Memorial Drive and Edmonton Trail)
Calgary, Alberta
9:00 am - 5:00 pm daily
See the registration form or the fee summary for fee information.
Camp dates have changed for 2012. The Piano Camp is an exciting five-day experience for pianists, aged 10 to adult, to explore the many facets of piano playing in a supportive, fun atmosphere that promotes a positive attitude towards practising and performing. Students are coached in prepared solo repertoire and new ensemble pieces. Students attend classes in musical style, interpretation, memorization, technique and performance anxiety. Classes in choir, art, improvisation, the Alexander Technique and a composer (a different composer is selected each year) are also offered.
Haydn is the composer we have chosen for 2012. Choose and prepare a piece from the following list suitable to your playing level. The levels start at grade four and the pieces correspond with the Royal Conservatory of Music gradings.
- Gr.4: Sonata in F+, Hob.XV1:9 ( 3rd move: Scherzo ); Allegretto in Eb+, Opus 46 #6 (Harris Piano Classics 4/a )
- Gr.5: Divertimento in G+, Hob. XV1:8 ( 1st move. or 3rd & 4th )
- Gr.6: Divertimento in C+, Hob. XV1:3 ( 2nd move: Minuet & Trio ) Harris Piano Classics 6/a; Divertimento in G+, Hob. XV1:G1 ( 1st move. )
- Gr.7: Sonata in D+, Hob. XV11: D1 ( Finale ); Arietta con Variazioni in A+, Hob. XV11/2 ( Abridged )
- Gr.8: Sonata in G+, Hob. XV1:39 ( 1st move. ); Sonata in G+, Hob.40 ( 3rd move: Presto )
- Gr.9: Sonata in E-, Hob. XV1:34 ( 1st or 3rd move.); Sonata in F+, Hob. XV1: 23 ( 1st move. ); Sonata in D+, Hob. XV1: 37 ( 1st move.)
- Gr.10: Sonata in D+, Hob. XV1: 33 ( 1st move. or 2nd & 3rd move.); Sonata in C+, Hob. XV1: 35 ( 1st move.)
- A.R.C.T: Sonata I C-, Hob. XV1: 20 ( 1st move.); Sonata in Ab+, Hob. XV1: 46 ( 1st move.); Sonata in C+, Hob. XV1: 50 ( 1st move.)
Buy a Gift Certificate for the Pianist in Your Life
Download the form to buy a gift certificate for Piano Camp or for any other program in 2011.
2012 Clinicians TBA
2011 Clinicians Alberta is fortunate to have first-rate pianists and teachers who provided a highly successful piano camp.
1. Dr. Lana Henchell
Performing: Controlling your Nerves, Conquering your Fears
This lecture will focus on ways to handle performance anxiety. Learn how to be in control of your nerves, instead of being controlled by them. Conquer your fears and relieve stress by preparing for what is expected, rather than fearing the unknown. Various performing situations will be covered, along with techniques that can be used to create comforting and successful performance regimes.
2. Gabriella Jonas
Liszt - the Musician, the Artist, the Pedagogue, the Priest...
Ms. Jonas will discuss the principals of musical taste and style in works by Liszt.
3. Edwin Gnandt
Understanding some of Schumann’s Popular Selections that we All Learned as Young Piano Students
(RCM grades 2-8)
4. Joseph Fridman
Mind Gym Games for Musical Imagination
The imagination can "magically" help one to learn piano pieces and understand their meaning. Imagination aids in solving technical problems and is indispensable in teaching and performing. It is the beginning and the ending of any artistic activity but it is often disregarded!
Imagination enriches and animates a pianist's work. It inspires enthusiasm and devotion, creates motivation for effective practising and shows how music relates to the pianist's life. Imagination facilitates communication between a pupil and a teacher, turning seemingly "boring" things into exciting games. Different kinds of imagination (specifically musical and associative) may serve as tools to emotionally understanding structure, harmony, rhythm and other elements of music. Imagination can assist to conquer performance anxiety, transforming it into "performance peacefulness" and composure. However, it can also do the opposite: create the anxiety. A performer must know how to deal with his or her imagination to elicit the most positive, fruitful results.
Actors possess a highly developed technique to initiate an emotional response through the imaginative "given circumstances" of the life of their characters. Being a professional pianist, teacher, opera director and actor, Joseph Fridman will likewise demonstrate how to entwine imagination and the techniques of different arts into a creative pianist's work.
Performances
Thursday, August 11, 7:00 pm and Friday, August 12, 2:00 pm
St. Vladimir's Cultural Centre
404 Meredith Road (Memorial Drive and Edmonton Trail)
Calgary, Alberta
We wish to remind you that videotaping of CASSA productions and performances is not permitted. DVDs of performances are available through CASSA. Friends and relatives may take photographs, but to avoid distracting the performers, please do not use flash photography during the performance.
Teacher Profiles
Janice Dahlberg, Piano Teacher
Janice Dahlberg began her formal education in music as a piano major and vocal and choral accompanist at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York. After raising four children, she earned a diploma in piano performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music, University of Toronto, and a bachelor of music degree from The University of Calgary. An experienced chamber musician, she teaches piano and piano pedagogy. Her activities include serving as a master class clinician, an adjudicator, a book and music reviewer, and a Youth Talent Showdown Judge for the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede. She sings with the Calgary Philharmonic Chorus.
Mrs. Dahlberg is vice-president and assistant artistic director of the Calgary Arts Summer School Association. She is the newly elected president of the Royal Conservatory of Music Alumni Association, Calgary Chapter. She has been President of the Alberta Registered Music Teachers’ Association as well as the Calgary Branch of ARMTA, and represented Alberta as first delegate to the Canadian Federation of Teachers of Music Association.
Joseph Fridman, Piano Teacher
Joseph Fridman comes to us from Edmonton. He is an incredible musician who unreservedly loves, lives and breathes music. He has earned two master’s degrees, one as a pianist and one as an opera director. Both degrees are from the world-renowned St. Petersburg State Conservatory (Russia ). He is a concert pianist, teacher, vocal coach and accompanist. He taught at the Schools for Musically Gifted Children of St. Petersburg and Kiev and the Pskov Music College and performed with the St. Petersburg and Pskov Philharmonics.
Mr. Fridman served on the faculty of the Alberta College Conservatory of Music from 1991 till 2002 and taught in the Conservatory’s International Music Academy and the University of Alberta. Mr. Fridman is a director and teacher of the Alberta Music Academy. He lectures and gives masterclasses and workshops in Canada, Ukraine, Russia and the USA. He has taught in various summer schools: “Strings and Keys” (Bergen), Alberta College summer school (Edmonton) and now as a clinician with CASSA.
Mr. Fridman has adjudicated a number of festivals and competitions, including the prestigious Canadian Music Competition (2004). His piano students have received first class honors and medals in RCM Exams, first and second prizes in the Kiwanis Festival, Northern Alberta Concerto Competition and Fall Festival. Mr. Fridman performs in solo and chamber recitals and has been broadcast frequently on CBC Radio.
Edwin Gnandt, Piano Teacher
Canadian pianist EDWIN GNANDT enjoys a successful career with over five hundred appearances as soloist, accompanist, adjudicator and workshop clinician. He has been praised by the San Francisco Examiner for his "consistently alluring sound," by the Oakland Tribune for his "ear for phrasing," and by the Los Angeles Times for his "distinct refinement." Mr Gnandt's performances have taken him throughout Canada and the United States as well as to Russia and Scotland. Recent appearances include St Petersburg, Russia; Denver, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, and Vancouver. Recently, he was invited as a visiting Professor of Music at Azuza Pacific University in Los Angeles, California, where he collaborated with Polish pianist Roza Yoder in pursuing his continued interest in Chopin. He participates as a guest lecturer at the Point Loma Summer Keyboard Institute in San Diego and is a regular contributor to the Calgary Arts Summer School Association (CASSA).
Mr Gnandt has studied at a number of prestigious institutions including the University of Washington (Randolph Hokanson), University of Edinburgh, Scotland (Canada Council Grant), and the Juilliard School of Music (Adele Marcus). He has collaborated and recorded with various artists: Alan Monk (Metropolitan Opera); baritone Paul Berkholds (California Institute of the Arts); violinist Thomas Williams (McGill University); violinist Connie Gantsweg (Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra); violinist Dylana Jenson (Silver Medal Winner - International Tschaikowsky Competition); flautist Leslie Neuman (University of Toronto). His piano students have participated in national and international piano competitions and have gone on to graduate studies at recognized institutions such as Manhattan School of Music, McGill University, University of Toronto and University of Ottawa. He is listed in the Lexington's Who's Who of Professionals in North America. Mr Gnandt has served as faculty member at Ambrose University College since 1995.
Critical Reviews
“Edwin Gnandt is a pianist of sensitivity; he has about him that elusive but distinct refinement that a wine connoisseur or a horseman might refer to as breed. One gets the impression that at his worst, this pianist couldn’t offend one’s sensibilities, that a lapse of taste wouldn’t figure in his musical makeup.”
Benjamin Epstein, LOS ANGELES TIMES
“Gnandt seemed to have an endless variety of tonal weight at his command. He possesses a French style of coloration – like a painting that features 15 shades of light blue and 20 kinds of dark blue.”
Heuwell Tircuit, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
“He possesses a rare gift that few people have – he phrases from the heart”
Aldo Ciccolini, concert pianist
“The young Canadian polished this outgoing concerto nicely with a fine finger technique and an ear for phrasing.”
Charles Shere, OAKLAND TRIBUNE
“Gnandt made a most consistently alluring sound – his most impressive showing came with a sweeping romantic reading of the Chopin Ballade in F minor.”
Allan Ulrich, SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER
“The Liszt was performed with flowing strength and magnificent phrasing, passing from strikingly clear attacks to romantic liquid legato phrases.”
Don Forsyth, PENTICTON HERALD
Discography
Piano Music of Chopin and Liszt (2006) A Beethoven Portrait (2007)
Prof. Edwin Gnandt
Associate Professor of Music
Ambrose University College
Email:
150 Ambrose Circle. S.W.
Calgary, AB T3H OL5
Dr. Lana Henchell, Piano Teacher

Calgary native Lana Henchell completed both her undergraduate and graduate degrees in piano performance at the University of Calgary under the tutelage of Marilyn Engle. She recently graduated in May 2010 with her Doctoral degree in piano performance from McGill University where she studied with Richard Raymond.
Dr. Henchell has received several awards and grants from the Calgary Kiwanis Music Festival (Rose Bowl, 1994), the Canada Council for the Arts (2007-08), the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and the Max Stern Foundation (2006-09). She has taken prizes in competitions such as the International Stepping Stone of the CMC, the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto Piano Competition, the Stravinsky Awards International Piano Competition (Champagne-Urbana, IL), the CIBC National Music Festival (Montreal and Sackville, N.B.), the Shean Piano Competition (Edmonton, AB), and the Austrian-Canadian Society Mozart Competition (Calgary, AB).
After winning First Prize at the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Piano Competition in 2004 (Brandon, MB), Dr. Henchell traveled across Canada to perform a seventeen-concert tour. This included a performance of the Mozart C Major Piano Concerto, K. 503, with the Montreal Chamber Orchestra. She performed Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto in D Minor, Op. 30 in November 2008 with the McGill Symphony Orchestra, as a result of winning the McGill University Concerto Competition.
Dr. Henchell has participated in several festivals and music programs, including the Happening New Music Festival in Calgary, the “Barbara Krakauer” Academy in Vaison-la-Romaine, France, and the 2005 Alberta Scene Festival in Ottawa, which was broadcast live on CBC Radio Two.
Throughout her career, Dr. Henchell has played for international artists such as Janina Fialkowska, Sergei Babayan, Georgy Sebok, Nikolai Demidenko, John Perry, Anton Kuerti, Marc Durand, Dang Thai Son, Jean-Paul Sevilla, and Stéphane Lemelin; and during the 2003 Esther Honens Competition, for Ursula Oppens, Christopher Taylor and Emanuel Krasovsky.
Dr. Henchell currently resides in Calgary, Alberta, where she teaches piano, technique, theory and harmony lessons. She is also a sought after pianist for concerts and collaborations with amateur and professional musicians in the Calgary area. Her skills in performing, teaching, accompanying, coaching and adjudicating continue to contribute to the success of her students and those who perform for or with her.
Dorothea Johanson, Piano Teacher
Dorothea Johanson studied music in central Alberta from an early age. Her natural aptitude for teaching children was recognized and rewarded by the Western Board of Music when she received her Silver Medal for Pedagogy. A scholarship to attend the Banff School of Fine Arts allowed Miss Johanson the honour of studying under the highly respected teacher, Mr. Boris Roubakine, who directed her to ongoing studies with Mrs. Egbert in Calgary. Her training through the Yamaha Music Course helped establish her specialty of working with young children. She was a visiting teacher in kindergarten music classes and she developed her own Music Enrichment Classes for elementary aged children.
Miss Johanson is a long time member of the Alberta Registered Music Teachers’ Association (ARMTA) and has served on the executive in many capacities. She is presently the ARMTA Provincial Past President and represents Alberta as second delegate to the Canadian Federation of Music Teachers’ Associations (CFMTA). Miss Johanson is an enthusiastic member of the Calgary Arts Summer School Association (CASSA) and is the Special Projects Director on the CASSA Board.
Miss Johanson teaches private piano students ranging from pre-school to adults. Her students have competed in music festivals and taken conservatory exams providing valuable opportunities to test and display their excellence. Always conscious of her students having the opportunity to be heard and appreciated, she has escorted young people to various audiences in the city, including the Esther Honens Promenade Concerts. Some of her students have pursued musical careers. Equally significant is that she has nurtured in her students a great love of music.
Gabriella Jonas, Piano Teacher
Gabriella Jonas is a graduate in piano performance from the Liszt Academy of Music, Hungary, and Grand Prize winner at the Liszt Piano Competition in 1978. She was a piano and chamber music instructor at the Bartòk Conservatory in Budapest, and at the Teacher Training Branch of the Liszt Academy, and music consultant for the Hungarian recording company, HUNGAROTON. Since coming to Calgary in 1987, she has performed extensively as a soloist and chamber musician in Calgary and has been recorded by the CBC. Ms. Jonas has been a faculty member of Mount Royal University since 1989.
Linda Kundert-Stoll, Piano Teacher
Linda Kundert-Stoll holds a bachelor of music (Magna Cum Laude) from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and earned a master of music in Piano Performance on a Government of Alberta scholarship from the University of Calgary. She obtained her ARCT and AMRC (Gold Medal) teacher's diplomas through Calgary's Mount Royal College Conservatory and was a scholarship student at the Banff School of Fine Arts for three summers.
Ms. Kundert-Stoll has recorded for CBC radio and given recitals in Alberta and California. She was a piano coach for MusiCamrose for three years. She is a board member and a past president of the Alberta Registered Music Teachers’ Association, Calgary Branch; Chair of the Canadian Federation of Music Teachers’ Association Conference that was held in Calgary in 2005; and was the ARMTA representative for the 1996 Esther Honens Calgary International Piano Competition Artistic Committee.
Ms. Kundert-Stoll is also an experienced teacher, accompanist, adjudicator and workshop clinician.She is an examiner for the Royal Conservatory of Music in Canada and for the Royal American Conservatory Examinations in the U.S.. She has been a reviewer for the Frederick Harris Music Co. She enjoys administrative work, horseback riding and she sings for fun. Mrs. Kundert-Stoll is also the president and artistic director of CASSA.
Jennifer Aumentado, Improvisation Teacher
Jennifer Aumentado has been embellishing music ever since she was young. Starting on the organ, Jennifer learned to chord quickly and orchestrate sound and rhythm settings. At the age of 16, she began teaching, using new and creative embellishing techniques with students of all ages. Later, as an adult, Jennifer went on to study piano and keyboard graduating from Mount Royal College with a Diploma in Jazz and Contemporary Music Performance and completing her Grade 8 Royal Conservatory of Music. Jennifer continues to teach, accompany for choir and perform for events and functions around Calgary. Jennifer is also the proud mother of 2 boys and is an active school volunteer.
Jennifer Aumentado is the president and owner of Imagine Music Inc., previously known as Impromptu Music. Beginning as a sole proprietor, and now with a growing staff of 15 teachers, her dedication to the education of music has given her and her staff an undisputed reputation for quality and professionalism in the music community.
Jennifer is delighted to share her musical experience and knowledge with both the teachers and students with whom she works.
Julie Harris, Choir Conductor
Soprano Julie Harris holds a bachelor of music degree from the University of Calgary and an artist diploma from the University of Toronto. She also spent a year studying early music in The Hague for which she received a grant from the Canada Council. Julie has appeared as a soloist with many choirs and orchestras, and has also been engaged for roles in Baroque Opera. Since moving back to Calgary in 1999, she has created and runs the Early Music Voices Concert Series. She is a member of Duo Seraphim with Toronto-based soprano Katherine Hill and a founding member of Calgary professional vocal ensemble VoiceScapes. She is also in demand as a private voice teacher and works with a number of choirs and high school music programs around the city. This past season she was director of the University of Calgary's early music ensemble, the Collegium Musicum.
Lorna MacLachlan, Choir Conductor
Ms. MacLachlan is a native Calgarian who has taught within the community for over twenty years. She holds a master of music in composition as well a diploma in education. Before teaching for the Calgary Board she worked as a freelance composer and performer for such organizations as CBC, Decidedly Jazz Danceworks, Theatre Calgary, Access and many others. Her involvement with choirs has been going on since the 1970s.
Ms. MacLachlan has focused on teaching ensemble within the school system and in the community. As a director at Western Canada High School for the past several years, she has directed mixed choirs, girls choirs, jazz choirs, jazz bands as well as string groups and a full orchestra. She also directs the Women’s Choir and the Jazz Band through the Westwind Music Society. She also performs with her own quintet, and composes music for her performances.
Katrina Thompson, Piano Camp Assistant
Ms. Thompson is a piano instructor with the Chinook Studio of Music and also teaches from her studio in Calgary, Alberta. She has completed a bachelor of music (Honours) from Memorial University (Newfoundland) with a major in theory and composition and a master of music education from the University of Oklahoma (Norman, OK) with a major in piano pedagogy.
Ms. Thompson enjoys working with students of all ages and levels. She has taught piano lessons, music theory, keyboard harmony, master classes, Music for Young Children, undergraduate level music appreciation courses, and music for early childhood specialists. In addition to teaching, she has worked as an accompanist, an adjudicator, an arts administrator, a music research assistant, and as an interpreter at the Cantos Music Foundation. She is a member of the Alberta Piano Teachers Association (APTA), an executive member with the Alberta Registered Music Teachers’ Association (ARMTA Calgary), and an administrator with the Calgary Arts Summer School Association (CASSA). Her favourite hobbies include cooking, hiking and rock climbing.
Erika Gundesen, Piano Camp Assistant
Erika Gundesen is entering her fourth year of the bachelor of music degree in piano performance at the UBC School of Music and will be studying with Jane Coop, one of Canada’s most prominent and distinguished artists. Her initial piano studies were in Calgary with her mother until 2002, followed by Joan Bell until beginning her university career. She holds the ARCT Diploma in Piano Performance with First Class Honours as well as five Royal Conservatory of Music Silver Medals for the highest exam marks in the province of Alberta.
Ms. Gundesen has received numerous scholarships and awards for her music and academic studies from Calgary-based organizations including the Calgary Kiwanis Music Festival, and the Alberta Provincial Music Festival, where she placed first in the 16 years and under category in 2007. She has also competed at the National level of the Canadian Music Competition, winning top prizes including first place in 2007 for the 16 years and under category. This year, she was a finalist in the UBC School of Music Concerto Competition as well as the Knigge Music Competition. Erika was the recent recipient of the Robert Silverman Prize in Piano and the Golden Leaf Scholarship in Music at the UBC School of Music scholarship awards.
Rebecca Leshures, Piano Camp Assistant
Rebecca Leshures grew up in Brooks, Alberta, and began piano lessons at age seven. At age fourteen, she began studying with Edwin Gnandt in Calgary. At the 2004 CASSA piano camp she met Professor Ingrid Jacobsen Clarfield, with whom she is now studying for a bachelor of music degree in piano performance at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey. In 2005 Rebecca was a finalist in the Canadian National Piano Competition. She has won several awards at Westminster Choir College, including the Undergraduate Piano competition and the Freshman Piano Competition.
Simon Rose, Creative Writing Teacher
Simon Rose was born in Derbyshire, England. He graduated from university with a degree in history and is also a graduate of the Institute of Children's Literature of West Redding, CT. He and has lived in Canada since 1990 and he, and his two children, a dog and a cat live in Calgary. Simon’s first novel for middle grade readers, The Alchemist’s Portrait, was published in 2003 followed by The Sorcerer’s Letterbox in 2004, The Clone Conspiracy in 2005, The Emerald Curse in 2006, The Heretic’s Tomb in 2007 and The Doomsday Mask in 2009. A seventh novel for middle grades, The Time Camera, will be published in 2011, along with The Insistence of Memory, a novel for young adults. Simon is also a contributing author to The Complete Guide to Writing Science Fiction Volume One, has written several non-fiction books for younger readers with Weigl Educational Publishers and works as a writer with Dark Roasted Blend magazine.
Marco Farrier, Piano Camp Technical Assistant
Marco Farrier is a seasoned veteran of the CASSA Piano Camp having attended as a “camper” for the past 8 years. Marco is a former recipient of the Marissa Staddon Memorial Scholarship (Most Improved Pianist) CASSA (2006) and had the honour of being a featured pianist at the dedication ceremony and grand opening of the Alberta Children’s Hospital (2006). Marco holds his Grade 10 Royal Conservatory designation and is the accompanist for his church. He has also been the principal accompanist for two high school musical productions - “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” (2008) and “Once Upon a Mattress” (2009). In addition to piano, Marco has been a percussionist in Kiwanis Festival award winning concert and jazz bands and choirs. Marco attends the University of Calgary where he recently completed his first year of studies towards a BSc BMEN (Biomedical Engineering) and a BSc in Pure Mathematics. He is also a member of the Arts and Science Honours Academy (ASHA) at the U of C.
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