Birgit Matzerath will play music by JS Bach

DeHart Park, 120 Burnett Ave, Maplewood, NJ | Get Directions »
FREE

Birgit Matzerath will play music by JS Bach for the regular monthly meeting of the Maplewood Seniors Club on Wednesday, January 4^th. In her performance she will talk a little bit about the music, the instrument (Bach never knew our modern piano) and what the music means to her.

The Maplewood Seniors Club meets from 10:00 to 11:30AM on the first Wednesday of each month from September through May at the DeHart Community Center, 120 Burnett Ave, Maplewood, NJ 07040. Maplewood residents 50 and older may join. Visitors are welcome. The Center’s phone number is (973) 763-0750.

Birgit has maintained a private piano studio in Maplewood NJ since 2009. She holds a degree in Piano, and a teaching degree in Music and English from Hochschule fuer Musik, Cologne, and the University of Cologne in Germany. She taught piano and chamber music for more than twenty years at community music schools in the Cologne area, gave solo recitals, and appeared frequently as a collaborative pianist. Ms. Matzerath can be reached at (973) 327-2154.

Biography, continued

From 2002 until 2009 Birgit was a faculty member of the Concord Community Music School in Concord, New Hampshire, where she taught piano to children and adults, gave classes in performing and composing, and participated regularly in the school’s concert series. A highlight among her recitals was the performance of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1, which she played in the United States and Germany. 

In addition to her teaching at the Concord Community Music School, Birgit Matzerath taught at the “Sonata” piano camp in Bennington, Vermont, and at the “Pianophoria!” and “Teen Pinaophoria!” piano camps in New York City. 

In 2007, a composition project she taught for children was chosen for a poster presentation at the National Conference of Music Teachers National Association in Toronto.

Apart from teaching and performing, Birgit Matzerath is also a composer and writer. Her composition, A Bear for Emily, a story suite for young piano students, was published in 2008 by Oceanna Music Publishers. Having done extensive research in music education, Ms. Matzerath has written articles which have appeared in music magazines, including Ueben und Musiezieren in Germany, and Keyboard Companion and Clavier Magazine in the United States. She initiated, organized, and supervised chamber music camps for music school students in Cologne, Germany, and St. Petersburg, Russia. She has also served as adjudicator for  competitions held in the United States and Europe.

 Ms. Matzerath is a member of the Music Teacher’s National Association, the Music Educators’ Association of New Jersey, and the Leschetizky Association. 

Her Blog “Music, Life, and Other Challenges” can be found at “http://musiclifeandotherchallenges.blogspot.com" 

Ms. Matzerath’s teachers have included Seymour Bernstein and Oxana Yablonskaya. She has  participated in the performers’ program at Piano Texas at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, and in master classes conducted by Juergen Uhde and Peter Feuchtwanger in Germany.