MARIO AJERO is the Coordinator of Class Piano and Piano Pedagogy at Stephen F. Austin State University. He earned his doctoral degree at the University of Oklahoma where he taught applied piano, class piano, and music appreciation. He also received Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees from Temple University.

Dr. Ajero has served as Coordinator of Class Piano for Temple University's Music Prep Division and served as Lecturer in Piano for Temple University's Boyer College of Music and Dance in Philadelphia, PA. He is active as both a soloist and collaborative pianist. Dr. Ajero was awarded the 2nd Prize in the Donna Turner Smith Memorial Piano Competition. He has accompanied both singers and instrumentalists in concerts and master classes including a master class by Wynton Marsalis.

Dr. Ajero's research interests focus on technology in music education and piano pedagogy. He is a frequent presenter at national conferences such as the MTNA National Conference, the National Symposium on Music Instruction Technology, and the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy. His "Random Access" column appears regularly in American Music Teacher.

Dr. Ajero also hosts The Piano Podcast, an internet TV show dedicated to topics related to the piano and piano pedagogy. The Piano Podcast has over 1500 subscribers from around the world.

http://mariocast.blip.tv
http://marioajero.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/mariocast

JAMES FAUCETT is currently an instructor of class piano at Stephen F. Austin State University, where he earned the Bachelor of Music and the Master of Music degrees. Also certified in piano pedagogy, Mr. Faucett teaches private lessons through the SFA Music Preparatory Division.

From 2003 to 2007 Mr. Faucett was in instructor at Panola College in Carthage, TX, where he taught applied piano, class piano, and served as accompanist for the show choir. Faucett has performed regionally as a soloist, accompanist, and chamber pianist.

ANDREW PARR, a native of Northeast Ohio, began piano study at the age of five. He furthered his education at Kent State University, at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna, Austria (as the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship), and at Yale University, where he earned the Master and Doctor of Musical Arts Degrees. Among his teachers have been Claude Frank, Tung Kwong-Kwong, Noel Flores, Dieter Weber, Marcel Ciampi (in Paris, France) and Ward Davenny.

Since moving to Texas in 1983 to join the faculty at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Parr has performed extensively in solo, chamber and concerto settings. Some highlights have been a performance of Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto with the Ft. Worth Chamber Orchestra under John Giordano, a performance of the Aaron Copland Piano Concerto with the Belgrade Philharmonic in the former Yugoslavia, and a performance of Chopin's Concerto No. 2 in F Minor on tour with the San Antonio Symphony. With the Longview Symphony he has been soloist in the Prokofiev 3rd Piano Concerto and Beethoven's Triple Concerto, Op. 56 as part of the Sylvan Chamber Ensemble. He has also been featured soloist with the Orchestra of the Pines in Chopin’s Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, Beethoven's Choral Fantasy, Op. 80, Finzi’s Ecologue, and most recently in the Prokofiev 3rd Piano Concerto.

In 1991 Parr was invited to judge piano examinations in several cities throughout Taiwan and to teach in Seoul, Korea. For over ten years he was a member of the Sylvan Chamber Ensemble, a piano trio which was listed on the Texas Commission of the Arts touring roster, and he also performs in a duo-piano team with his wife, Linda Parr. At Stephen F. Austin State University, Parr was awarded the Teaching Excellence Award for the College of Fine Arts in 1994. In Spring of 1996, he was nominated by the Houston Forum Music Teachers Association and the Kingwood/Humble Music Teachers Association for Collegiate Teacher of the Year for the state of Texas. He has been a presenter for numerous Texas associations and in 2001 at the TMTA State Convention. In recent years he has been engaged to give recitals or lectures in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, San Marcos, El Paso, Katy, Pasadena, Bay Area, Kingwood, Kerrville, Plano, Tyler, and Nacogdoches.

LINDA PARR grew up in Northeast Ohio and earned the Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in piano performance from Kent State University. Additional piano study was at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati and at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna, Austria. Teachers have included Violet Todd, Frederic Schoettler, Noel Flores and Tung Kwong-Kwong.

A duo-pianist with husband Andrew Parr, Mrs. Parr has also been active as an accompanist for vocal and instrumental recitals and has played in master classes of Josef Gingold, Yo-Yo Ma and Gerard Souzay. She served as a chamber pianist for the Cleveland Orchestra’s summer Blossom Music Festival at Kent State University and performed in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Washington, D. C., and New York City for the Si-Yo Young Artists Series. At the Cleveland Institute of Music in a performance of the Dvorak Piano Quintet, music critic Robert Finn wrote of her playing "...the performance took on a colorful and brilliant cast. Tempos were swift as can be... Parr was again an assertive pianist, making her colleagues work to match her sound and style." The Arlington Daily News reported in a collaborative recital with cellist Stephen Pelkey that, "...Parr, whose solid technique was coupled with a vibrant sound suffused with color, played with authoritative confidence and considerable flair." Mrs. Parr has also appeared with the Harrington String Quartet and with artists Kenneth Goldsmith, Isidor Saslav, Elbert Pruitt, Terry King, Raphael Sanders, John Goodall and Charles Gavin in the Chamber Music in the Pines summer festival. Many performances with the Sylvan Chamber Ensemble (members: violinist Isidor Saslav, cellist Paul Christopher and pianists Andrew and Linda Parr), previously a Texas Commission on the Arts touring group, have included all-Rachmaninoff, Ravel and Brahms chamber programs, children's concerts, and performances as soloists in the Beethoven Triple Concerto with the Longview and Orchestra of the Pines symphony orchestras.

As a piano instructor since 1983 and past Associate, Co-Director and Director of the SFA Music Preparatory Division, Mrs. Parr was instrumental in gaining associate membership for the Division in November 1993 as the first school in Texas accredited by the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts. She has been active as a program chairperson and scriptwriter of several scholarship fundraiser events. Her "Prep" piano students have consistently received superior ratings in festivals and competitions including local MTA Fall and Sonatina festivals and many first place winners of the East Texas Piano Solo Festival. Students have performed in master classes, placed in TMTA District and State Performance Contests, the Baylor/Waco Piano Competition, the McKinney Young Artist piano competition and were winners in the Anne Dean Turk Piano Competition. Students have also received Honorable Mention in state TMTA Composition contests.

Mrs. Parr joined the piano faculty at Stephen F. Austin State University in 1986. Besides actively teaching a class of applied piano students, she was instrumental in the development of SFA's Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance with Pedagogy Emphasis and Piano Pedagogy certificate program, and was Director of a Community College Keyboard Conference hosted by SFA in 2002.

Linda Parr is a member of the national music honor society, Pi Kappa Lambda, and served as past President and member since 1984 of the Nacogdoches Symphony Club. Nationally certified with the Music Teachers National Association professional certificate, Mrs. Parr has served as President, Vice-president and Student Affiliate Chair of the local Nacogdoches MTA chapter and also as Faculty Adviser for the SFA Collegiate Student Chapter which received the national MTNA Collegiate Student Chapter of the Year award for 1998-99. She has been active as an adjudicator for piano festivals, competitions, and TMTA District and State Performance contests.

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RON PETTI joined the faculty of the School of Music at Stephen F. Austin State University in 1999. He earned the BM and MM degrees in Piano Performance from Heidelberg College and Bowling Green State University, and the DM in Piano Performance/Chamber Music and Accompanying from Florida State University. As the Director of Accompanying at SFA, Petti teaches the undergraduate course Accompanying Techniques, the graduate survey courses Vocal Literature with Piano and Chamber Music Literature with Piano, and applied lessons in piano accompanying and harpsichord. He is also the accompanist for many ongoing events in the School of Music including faculty and guest artist recitals, choral ensembles, opera productions, and student degree recitals. In addition to his duties, Petti also coaches graduate and undergraduate vocal majors at SFA. Prior to this appointment, he was the Staff Accompanist at SFA, and has served as Vocal Coach with the Florida State Opera, Coach/Accompanist for the Opera Program and Instructor of Piano in the Preparatory Department at Heidelberg College (OH), and Instructor of Piano at The Saint Francis School of Music in Tiffin (OH).

Dr. Petti is in frequent demand as a vocal coach and collaborative artist. Many of the singers with whom he has collaborated have furthered their careers at The Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, San Francisco Opera, and abroad. Petti has performed in master classes for numerous artists including Marilyn Horne, Sherrill Milnes, Nico Castel, Martin Katz, Lorenzo Malfatti, Martina Arroyo, Yehudi Menuhin, Jerome Rose, Thomas Hecht, Sandra Shapiro, and Steven Ansell. As a collaborative artist, he maintains a demanding concert schedule with SFA guest artists and faculty, including a series of yearly concerts with Dr. Christina Guenther, as a member of The Alazan Trio, and as harpsichordist with East Texas Baroque. As a soloist, he has presented master classes in piano, served as an adjudicator in piano competitions, and has concertized throughout the midwest and southern states. In recent years, he presented a recital of selected piano works by Franz Liszt including the Sonata in B Minor and Mephisto Waltz No. 1. He has been a member of the musical staff at Longview Opera, performed in the Chamber M usic in the Pines Festival at SFA, and was an accompanist at the MTNA National Convention in Washington DC, and Minneapolis, MN. In 1998, he was the pianist in a Library of Congress recording honoring the songs of Broadway composer Vincent Youmans. Other recordings include a performance of chamber works by contemporary composers under the CRS recording label.

AUDIO EXCERPTS (requires RealPlayer):
Excerpt 1: Liszt—Mephisto Waltz (:45)
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Excerpt 4: Liszt—Sonata in B Minor (:43)
Excerpt 5: Liszt—Sonata in B Minor (1:21)
Excerpt 6: Liszt—Sonata in B Minor (:52)

Excerpt 7: Prokofiev—Toccata (:58)

DR. JAMES PITTS began his piano studies with his mother, Dr. Ruth Pitts. He earned his BM at Baylor University and received his MM and DMA in piano performance from the University of North Texas, where he was a pupil of the eminent artist, Vladimir Viardo. Dr. Pitts joined the faculty at SFA in the Fall of 2000. He is an active solo performer, giving recitals frequently. He recently participated in the International Competition of 20th Century Piano Music in Orleans, France, where he was a semi-finalist. Dr. Pitts has been a soloist with the Waco Symphony Orchestra, the Central Texas Orchestra, the Houston Civic Orchestra, the North Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and the University of North Texas Orchestra. At SFA, Dr. Pitts has been the pianist for the SFA Opera, Choral Union, and Women's Choir. He maintains a very active schedule as a collaborative pianist, performing in faculty, guest artist and student recitals, competitions, auditions, and master classes. He has also taught applied piano, class piano, and a two-semester survey of piano literature.