These 56 .mp3 audio clips are the result of 16 interviews conducted online by Kathleen Kelly and Chanda VanderHart with professionals across the field between May and October 2024. They are published and hyperlinked as part of the fifth chapter of the book Accompaniment in America: Contextualizing Collaborative Piano (Routledge 2025). In selecting this cohort of interviewees, the authors sought to highlight individuals with multiple areas of field expertise, including innovative, non-musical areas of practice informed by their deep musical study and achievement. It was an explicit aim to represent different regions of North America, reflecting the variety of circumstance and opportunity across the country. Colleagues at different stages of their careers are featured to highlight the changing landscape of our profession over time. Individuals fulfilling various roles within collaborative piano as an industry, including departmental heads, concert stars, administrators, freelancers, and pedagogues, are featured in order to bring viewpoints from across this multifaceted profession.. The fact that each artist included can lay claim to most or all of these titles is testament to the multiplicity of skills required and fostered by musicians, and to collaborative pianists in particular.
Alexandra Ngyuen, 18 August 2024
Alexandra Nguyen has an exceptional, deeply diverse career as a pianist, teacher, and arts administrator. A Montreal native, Dr. Nguyen now co-directs the graduate collaborative piano programs and coordinates accompanying services at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She holds degrees from McGill University and the Eastman School fo Music where she studied with Jean Barr. She is Chair of the Collaborative Committee for the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy and was formerly the Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs at Eastman.
Karl Paulnack, 12 August 2024
Karl Paulnack is a nationally recognized speaker, writer, and thought leader on the Power of Music. After training as a pianist at Eastman, Dr. Paulnack served on the faculties of the Tanglewood Music Center, Music Academy of the West, University of Minnesota, University of Southern California, and Boston Conservatory before becoming Dean of the Ithaca College School of Music. In retirement, he remains a sought-after consultant on curricula, team-building, assessment, and faculty engagement, and is also a clinically trained interfaith chaplain.
Cory Battey, Carlos Avila, Eduardo Chama
Cory Battey divides his time between Cincinnati and Louisville, maintaining robust practices in both cities. He began his professional career as an opera coach right out of undergraduate school, quickly amassing credits at opera companies across the country. In demand as a coach, pianist, teacher, conductor, and mentor, Battey embodies the lifelong learning and entrepreneurial spirit that fuel a freelance career.
Carlos Avila’s concerts have taken him across North and South America, Europe, and Asia. Carlos began his professional career in 2001 when he stepped in on short notice to play the Rachmaninoff First Piano Concerto with the California Symphony. Since then, Carlos has been a soloist at festivals such as Schleswig-Holstein, Tanglewood, Sarasota, Aspen, Banff, and Music Academy of the West. Some of his significant collaboration include a 20-year partnership with acclaimed violinist Jay Oh, or embarking on a 29-city tour with award-winning Baritone Leon Williams. Carlos was recently showcased on New York’s WQXR, and is featured this season on the Lincoln Center Presents series in 'Carlos Avila and Friends.'
Eduardo Chama has won acclaim for his appearances in opera and concert on four continents. The Argentinian bass-baritone is especially renowned for his portrayals of comic characters, with Don Pasquale, Falstaff, and Figaro being particular specialties. He is head of the Voice Area at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, and has long combined teaching with his international performing career.
Lara Bolton, Liz Aims, Sara Chiesa
Lara Bolton’s work pushes boundaries and defies expectations. A nationally acclaimed collaborative pianist, opera coach, rock keyboardist, and conductor, her US credits range from the San Francisco Opera to the Guthrie Theater. Recently she served as the Interim Director of Collaborative Piano and Coaching at the University of Minnesota. She is the founder of Minneapolis’ Opera Reading Project. She has co-written and performed such innovative fusion projects such as Voxspex, Guns N’Rosenkavalier, and Macbeth and the Weird Sisters.
Liz Ames’s international appearances include performances in the UK, Spain, the 2012 World Saxophone Congress in St. Andrews, Scotland, the 2015 World Saxophone Congress in Strasbourg, the 2008 Contemporary Music Festival in Lima, Peru, and at the 2011 and 2016 International Double Reed Society Conferences. She has performed all of Charles’ Ives’ 114 songs in a single series of concerts. Acclaimed internationally for her stellar work with saxophonist Timothy McAllister, Dr. Ames is deeply experienced in contemporary music and has created and published multiple piano reductions using extended techniques. In addition to her full performing career, she is currently the staff pianist for the University of Michigan’s Wind and Percussion division.
Sara Chiesa recently joined Carnegie Mellon University as Special Faculty in Vocal Coaching and Collaborative Piano. Dr. Chiesa is also Head of Collaborative Piano and Music Director of La Musica Lirica in Novafeltria, Italy. The Detroit native moves with ease from traditional opera to music theater to newly commissioned works, with credits of each as repetiteur, coach, and conductor from companies in North America, Europe, and Asia. She is passionate about redefining leadership in the classical music industry through her work.
Tracy Cowden, Taylor Hutchinson
Tracy Cowden is Chair of the Department of Music at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Dr. Cowden’s professional life centers around making music with others, whether in duos, chamber music, or orchestral settings. Her repertoire is wide-ranging and diverse, with particular emphasis on twentieth-century styles. She is a member of the Brain Health Consortium at UTSA, and her recent work includes both performance and interdisciplinary research regarding music and health. She has served in chairships for the Music Teachers’ National Association (MTNA) and the College Music Society, and has been a visiting evaluator for the National Association of Schools of Music.
Taylor Hutchinson is emerging as an important advocate for equity and transparency in collaborative piano job structures. She enjoys a versatile career, frequently performing alongside both singers and instrumentalists, in repertoire ranging from Baroque opera to contemporary chamber music and musical theatre. Her international career has included performances in the Czech Republic, France, and Germany. Dr. Hutchinson is on the vocal coaching faculty at Oklahoma City University's Wanda L. Bass School of Music.
Casey Robards, Ana Maria Otamendi, Michael Bunchman
Casey Robards (Ahn Suhjung) is a transracial Korean adoptee who promotes growth, healing, community, and justice through the language of music, inclusive and collaborative learning processes, and lifelong learning. Dr. Robards is on the faculties of the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana and the Bay View Music Festival, and chairs the National Opera Association’s Sacred in Opera Initiative. She is an active recitalist and recording artist, specializing in the American Negro Spiritual, and is in demand as a conductor, coach, and lecturer.
Ana Maria Otamendi can claim noteworthy achievements in scholarship, program innovation, performance, and academic leadership. She recently took the helm of the prestigious collaborative piano program at the University of Michigan, where she completed her own doctoral studies. Dr. Otamendi chaired the collaborative piano program at Louisiana State University for seven years. She also founded and co-directed the Collaborative Piano Institute, the groundbreaking program for pianists. She is the pianist for the acclaimed Reveron Trio and was a member of the prestigious Houston Grand Opera Studio. Dr. Otamendi is a scientist by training and lectures on how humans learn.
Michael Bunchman directs the collaborative piano program at the University of Southern Mississippi and is both Director of Collaborative Piano and Executive Director of the Institute of Performing Arts International (IPAI) Bavaria. Dr. Bunchman combines an active career as both a solo and duo pianist with significant credits as a vocal coach, arts administrator, and pedagogue. His recital partners include members of the Metropolitan Opera and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra as well as the Atlanta and Chicago Symphonies.
Erika Switzer, Elena Lacheva
Erika Switzer is a distinguished Canadian pianist who has performed with notable vocalists at venues like the Kennedy Center, Frick Collection, and Carnegie Hall, and has won awards such as the Wigmore Hall International Song Competition and the Robert Schumann International Vocal Competition. Critically acclaimed by Le Monde and the New York Times, Switzer is also a dedicated educator. She is on the faculty at Bard College and the Bard Conservatory of Music, and co-directs the Contemporary Performance Studies program at the Vancouver International Song Institute, which she co-founded with Martha Guth.
Elena Lacheva, born in Bulgaria, is a sought-after coach, collaborative pianist, and mentor. General Director and co-founder of the Collaborative Piano Institute, she recently joined the faculty of the University of Michigan following her appointment as Professional-in-Residence at Louisiana State University. She has extensive experience as an opera coach and repetitive including the New Orleans Opera, Houston Grand Opera, the Merola Program, and Tanglewood Music Center. She is a member of the Aelia Piano Duo and an active international recitalist.
Laura Loewen
Laura Loewen, pianist and vocal coach, is also the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs for the Desautels Faculty of Music at the University of Manitoba. She is a founding faculty artist and the current board chair of the Vancouver International Song Institute, and a member of the NUOVA opera training program in Edmonton. She performs extensively as a chamber musician and in both song and instrumental duos. Recently, with Dr. Judith Kehler Siebert, Dr. Loewen founded Dream Big: Music Out Of Bounds, a conference dedicated to celebrating the contributions, creativity, and innovation that collaborative pianists bring to music performance and pedagogy.