Kristin Elgersma is an American pianist. A specialist of contemporary American piano repertoire and a frequent interdisciplinary artistic collaborator, Dr. Elgersma performs and presents throughout the United States and abroad. She is dedicated to commissioning new works, and premiered nine pieces by American composers in 2014 - 2015.  Her first CD, featuring solo piano works by J.S. Bach, Ravel, Daniel Felsenfeld, Timo Andres, and Amy Beth Kirsten will be released by Albany Records in 2016. Additionally, she is a founding member of the BASK Collective, a professional organization dedicated to interdisciplinary collaboration across the arts.

 

 Dr. Elgersma is active as a soloist, collaborative artist, and chamber musician. As a member of the Boston-based Arneis Ensemble, Dr. Elgersma performed in schools, universities and concert halls throughout the US, and was a featured performer in the 2009 Vianden International Music Festival (Luxembourg). Along with Vanessa Sielert, she currently performs as a member of duality, a saxophone/piano duo dedicated to commissioning and performing new music with both classical and popular influences. She has presented her award-winning lecture-recital on extended piano techniques in 20th century American repertoire across the country, and regularly presents research papers, lecture-recitals and workshops at the local, state and national levels. From 2009 to the present, she has been featured at the Musical Teachers National Association (MTNA) Conference, the College Music Society (CMS) National and Regional Conferences, the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, and the Illinois and Idaho State Music Teachers Association Conferences, and the California Association of Professional Music Teachers Conference.

 

Dr. Elgersma’s students have won prizes in numerous local and state competitions, and have been featured performers in venues such as the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, the National High School Music Institute’s Gala Concert, and the prestigious Young Steinway Series at the Skokie, IL, Public Library. She is in demand as an adjudicator, and has recently judged competitions and exams for the Seattle International Piano Festival, the Washington State Music Teachers Association, and the Illinois State Achievement in Music Exams. She was the co-founder and co-director of the University of Idaho Music Preparatory Division.

 

Dr. Elgersma’s areas of research include extended piano techniques in twentieth-century American music, contemporary piano music for students, and the role of arts education and community engagement in the higher education curriculum. In 2011 – 2012, she was the recipient of a significant University of Idaho Seed Grant to aid in study of the post-1970 American piano repertoire. Additionally, she was recently awarded the Kurt Olsson Early Career Research Fellowship to commission, premiere and record three new American piano works. Further grants include an Idaho Commission on the Arts grant (as a member of duality) and a University of Idaho Fine Arts Grant, for the Play Like a Girl project. Dr. Elgersma's writing has been published in the International Journal of Music Education, Alaska Quarterly Review, MTNA e-Journal, Clavier Companion, and American Music Teacher. She has been on faculties at Northwestern University, the Interlochen Arts Camp, the Merit School of Music, Benedictine University, Martin Methodist University, and was Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of Idaho from 2010 - 2014. In the fall of 2015, she joined the faculty of the Punahou Music School in Honolulu, Hawaii.