January 24, 2012

MSO presents the Westminster Concert Series

Westminster Village      5801 West Bethel Avenue     Muncie, IN 47304


January 25 at 2 pm.  

Dr. Liz Seidel 

Liz Seidel will be the first pianist to play in a series of four concerts located at Westminster Village.  The free concert will highlight favorites from Baroque to Contemporary.

Liz Seidel Biography: Liz Seidel enjoys a successful career as pianist, teacher and chamber musician. A native of Reading, PA, Dr. Seidel manages The Seidel Studio, a highly successful private piano studio in Muncie, IN. She has held adjunct faculty positions at the Miami University (Ohio), University of Wisconsin (Superior), University of Minnesota (Duluth) and Ball State University. She has served on the board of the Indiana Music Teachers Association and was a member of the summer piano faculty at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp (Michigan) for thirteen years.

In 1999 Dr. Seidel was the recipient of a Teacher Enrichment Grant, awarded by the MTNA Foundation. She has served thrice as an adjudicator for Musicfest Northwest, a week-long festival for young artists in Spokane (WA). Dr. Seidel has performed as a guest pianist for the Pacific Rim Summer Chamber Music Festival, Ucluelet (British Columbia) and the St. Petersburg College (Florida) Piano Concert Series. As a collaborative artist she has performed with Carsten Svanberg, Gail Williams and Sherry Kloss – and is currently Collaborative Pianist in Residence for the Jascha Heifetz Symposium at Connecticut College.

Dr. Seidel’s students have won regional/state honors, and have been accepted as performance majors to notable schools and summer workshops within the United States.

Dr. Seidel is founder/artistic director of Pianoforte, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to providing young musicians in East Central Indiana with opportunities in chamber music, festivals and guest master classes. For more information, please visit www.pianoforteinc.org.


February 28 at 2 pm

Athena Gretchen Seojeong Nagel

Athena Nagel (14) was born in Muncie, Indiana.  She is homeschooled and is now in 9th grade.  Athena loves to play classical piano and also to participate in Muncie Ballet, Inc.  During summer of 2011, she attended the "Young Artist World Piano Festival" in St. Paul for her second year in a row, and she spent three weeks at the piano camp at Interlochen in Michigan.  While at Interlochen, Athena was chosen to play the harpsichord with the intermediate Interlochen Symphony Orchestra, and the ensemble performed a concerto grosso by Handel.  In May of the same year, she won the local "Junior Festival" playoffs, and then in June she won first place in her age category at the state level of the "Junior Festival" competition.  She also won first place in the local "Hoosier Auditions"  competition, and went on to win an honorable mention at the "Hoosier Auditions" state level.  Athena's playing has been heard on WBST radio several times over the last few years, as part of the "Young Artist Showcase" series presented by PianoForte, Inc.  She regularly plays on MTNA pre-college recitals hosted by Ball State, and on spring recitals coordinated by her principal piano teacher, Liz Seidel.  She has also been the piano/harpsichord player with the Youth Symphony Orchestra of East Central Indiana for the last three years.  Athena takes supplemental piano lessons with Jean-Louise Hagenauer at Indiana University.





March 28 at 2 pm.
Dr. Liz Seidel


April 23 at 2 pm.


Mrs. Gloria Griner

Mrs. Gloria Griner, retired professor of piano, music education and piano for conductors at Ball State University, will be performing for the Muncie Symphony Orchestra as part of the Westminster Concert Series.
Mrs. Griner, a local pianist, is known for her long time dedication to the arts within the Ball State Community.  A founding board member of the Muncie Symphony Orchestra, Gloria has dedicated both her time and talents to the symphony.  Mrs. Griner is also an active member at the Ball State University Museum of Art as a sustaining member and past president of the Ball State University Art Alliance.  Both Gloria and her husband Ned have been long time supporters of the museum.   Mrs. Griner has also developed a significant part of the community engagement on behalf of the Museum of Art, as a former member of the Art Museum’s Benefactors Society.  Mrs. Griner will perform works by Debussy, as well as a host of the worlds most beautiful classical pieces.  The concert will be a unique and beautiful experience, as Mrs. Griner shares a portion of her vast background from a spectrum of visual and musical artistry.


Star Press article