Community Corner

German Pianist Makes Maplewood Her Home

Birgit Matzerath is a classically trained musician, composer and educator who has traveled far to make Maplewood her home.

Birgit Matzerath sat in a chilly room at Winchester Gardens wearing mittens. She was fighting the coldness of the room, but her reception by listeners there and throughout Maplewood has otherwise been warm.

Matzerath hails from Koeln (Cologne), Germany, where she received her teaching degree for music and English from Hochschule fuer Musik and University and her piano teacherʼs diploma. About ten years ago, she took a sabbatical from her studies and teaching in Koeln to travel to New York City to study with Seymour Bernstein and sing with the choral group Musica Viva at All Souls Church at 80th and Lexington.

After that experience, Matzerath knew she wanted to come to the United States on a more permanent basis. She obtained a position at the Concord Community Music School in Concord, NH where they helped her obtain her Visa and Green Card. From New Hampshire, Matzerath regularly traveled down to New York City to continue studying with Bernstein and singing with Musica Viva. It was a long haul.

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Ultimately, said Matzerath, "I wanted to be closer to the City. I'm a more urban person."

Through her network of pianists, she knew Elizabeth Burnett who lived in and had a studio in Maplewood, NJ. (Burnett left Maplewood about three years ago when her husband obtained a position with the Pittsburgh Symphony.)

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Matzerath now enjoys an easy commute to her studies in New York City. She also performs and gives lessons here in Maplewood. Matzerath teaches both children and adults. A recent new student is Andrea Northfield, also German-born and the wife of local realtor Robert Northfield.

The heat never really got going in the performance room at Winchester Gardens but Matzerath discarded her mittens and warmed up the room with her performance of J.S. Bach, Arnold Schoenberg and Ludwig van Beethoven. Besides her playing, Matzerath provided an explanation of how the three composers connected across three centuries. Matzerath then connected herself and her listeners across three centuries and two continents.


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