PIANO WORKS IN PROGRESS

Immersive Programs for the Adult Pianist
Donate
Me

PIANO WORKS IN PROGRESS

Immersive Programs for the Adult Pianist
Me
Donate

Vermont ←

For Amateur Pianists

August 28-September 2, 2024
Accepting up to 20 applications.

Tuition and Application

Piano Faculty

Guest Artist

Daily Schedule

About Your Stay

Accommodation and Meals

Bring a Guest

What to Bring

Getting There

Vermont For Amateurs is piano camp for adults. It’s four immersive days of lessons, rehearsals, coaching, repertoire class and as much practicing as you want. Pianists learn how to play with others and practice performing for others. On the last day, each participant plays what they have worked on at the Informal Recital, open to family and friends by invitation.

Pianists have the opportunity to work with multiple teachers each day. The program balances the study of solo repertoire with collaboration on a piece for four (or more) hands, so you might have lessons with one teacher, ensemble coaching with another and repertoire class with a different teacher. Repertoire class, called Works In Progress, happens daily in small groups, so pianists have ample opportunity to practice performing for others.

The performance space houses a Steinway D and a Baldwin Concert Grand, giving participants the experience of playing concert pianos during practice, repertoire class and the Informal Recital. Also held in the performance space are the faculty recital and a presentation by a guest artist.

Early afternoons are kept free for rest and recreation. Take a walk, have a swim, visit the Adamant Coop, borrow a book from the music library, take a trip into town, visit a local point of interest or do whatever it is that inspires you. Nature is right outside your piano studio door.

  • Rosemary@pianoworksinprogress.org
  • (917) 340-9788
  • 325 W. 11th St. #5R New York, NY 10014

© PianoWorksInProgress.org 2024

Piano Faculty

Dr. Deirdre O’Donohue is a member of the artist piano and chamber music faculty at NYU’s Steinhardt School in the Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions, and also the college and precollege faculties of Manhattan School of Music.

She has performed solo and chamber recitals in Austria, the Netherlands, Italy, Canada and the United States. She has also given masterclasses and lecture/demonstrations at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, the Shanghai Conservatory, the Poona Music Society in India, the Rotterdam Conservatory, the World Piano Pedagogy Conference and at numerous music institutions throughout the United States and Canada. Dr. O’Donohue received the Sparrendam Medal for performance in the Netherlands, and the Roger Phelps Award from New York University for her dissertation entitled “The Concept of Unity and Uniqueness in the Multi-Movement Works of Beethoven.”

Recent engagements: Summer faculty, coach, and performer: Interharmony International Music Festival (Germany); Adamant Music School in Vermont; Summer Trios (Pennsylvania); Lectures/demonstrations: the Uniwersytet Muzyczny Fryderyka Chopina (Warsaw, Poland); the Piano Teachers’ Congress (Steinway Hall); the National Feis Ceoil Competition (Dublin); Adjudicator: Young Artists Festival in Seattle; the Royal Irish Academy of Music’s Piano Festival; the MTNA National Conference; Ithaca College of Music; Leschetizsky Association, NYSMTA, NJMTA, NHMTA, and external examiner for the Royal Irish Academy; Masterclasses at Interharmony International Music Festival (Germany); Yahama (NY); NYU, Queens College, New Hampshire, South Carolina; intensive week-long courses in piano technique and interpretation at the Gijon Conservatory in Spain; solo recitals in Weill Recital Hall, NYU; Convention Clinician for the South Carolina MTA.

She has co-edited (with Prof. Henk Hillenaar) the book Schubert and Friendship by Michael Davidson, which was published by the London publisher Kahn & Averill in the Fall of 2012.

O’Donohue is Past President of the NY State Music Teachers’ Association, former Chairperson of the MTNA’s Eastern Division High School Competition, and former Chairperson and founder of the NYSTMA Empire State Performance Competition. Since the summer of 2001 she has been on the faculty of the Adamant Music School in Adamant, Vermont, where she is also the Coordinator for week-long piano masterclasses of Menahem Pressler, John O’Conor, and Andre Laplante. She is also on the piano faculty of the Interharmony International Music Festival and coaches chamber music at Summertrios.

Dr. O’Donohue holds degrees from New York University, the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna, Austria, and Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts.

Pianist Nathaniel LaNasa lives at the intersection of song, story, and image. His recital-exhibition “Memory Prosthetic” explores the mechanics and conventions of musical notation through projections that accompany a live performance of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Nate recently originated the role of Mel, a graduate student pianist, in Bryce McClendon’s play, “The Smallest Sound in the Smallest Space,” off-Broadway. 

Nate is an enthusiastic advocate for new music: he played sixty performances of Ricky Ian Gordon’s new opera for two pianos, Intimate Apparel, at Lincoln Center Theater, which was later broadcast on PBS Great Performances. He has premiered works for quarter-tone pianos by Dimitri Tymoczko at Princeton, made first recordings of chamber works by Tobias Picker for Tzadik, and performed works written for him by Molly Joyce, Shawn Jaeger, Matthew Ricketts, and Nate Wooley. 

A consummate collaborator, he has been praised for his “stormy lyricism” (The New York Times) as well as his “poise and elegance” (Feast of Music). Nate and partner baritone Gregory Feldmann made their sold-out Carnegie Hall debut in February 2020. Nate also frequently partners with vocalist Lucy Dhegrae; they have performed together in the candlelit crypt of the Church of the Intercession, as part of the Resonant Bodies Festival, and at the American Music Festival (Albany Symphony). He’s also appeared in song partnerships at the Musée d’Orsay, Wigmore Hall, Royaumont Abbey, Brooklyn Art Song Society, and New York Festival of Song, where he curates their annual new music series, NYFOS Next. Nate’s NYC credits include Alice Tully Hall, MoMA, and (le) Poisson Rouge. 

A graduate of the Juilliard School and a former fellow at Tanglewood, Nate continues his studies with Robert Durso. He has taught at festivals in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and France, and teaches the Taubman Approach in his private studio in Manhattan. Nathaniel-LaNasa.com.

Rosemary Caviglia has been teaching piano for three decades to students of all ages, but over the past 5 years, she has dedicated her work to teaching adults exclusively. It was early in her teaching life that she discovered an affinity for mature students. In 1991, she produced her first adult-only recital which featured 13 performers, from early to advanced levels of playing. It was the transformative aspect that impressed her the most; it begins with the desire to play a piece and moves toward realizing it with one’s own hands. There was excitement in participating with that meaningful process!

In 2010, Ms. Caviglia retired from Third Street Music School as piano teacher, chamber music coach and Chair of the Piano Department. During those 20 years as a faculty member, she listened thoughtfully to the work of her colleagues and observed effective methods of teaching. She learned that adults who study the piano learn differently from kids, and when she created the Adult Piano School in 2011, she designed the school to support the particular needs of the adult pianist. The school takes into consideration the issue of time commitment and schedule as well as provides a framework for developing the pianist. The overall tone is one of “no guilt” piano lessons where one can learn at any pace, while building a strong foundation as a musician.

At the heart of Adult Piano School is Works-In-Progress, which is a group playing class. It is a place to share one’s work at the piano within a community of kind and supportive musical peers. It encourages the practice of music as one of the performing arts, allowing the pianist to experience performance in an informal environment. WIP is a non-recital; pieces may be shared in part or whole, and sharing music with ones peers becomes one of the most effective tools for learning.

Ms. Caviglia grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area to parents who are artists. Her father, a trumpeter, taught instrumental music in the public school during the day and played with the orchestra at night. Her mother had the desire to paint all of her life and began to study at age 55. It was perhaps her mother’s bold move, recognizing herself as an artist, that most inspired Rosemary to value and appreciate the adult learner.

As a teenager, Ms. Caviglia studied with Janet Goodman Guggenheim, who is Itzhak Perlman’s accompanist. Ms. Guggenheim encouraged chamber music and collaboration. The greatest influence came from her teacher Aiko Onishi, who cultivated the relationship between expression and sound through touch at the keyboard. This remains her work of a lifetime.

In 1987, Ms. Caviglia moved to New York City to study music. She explored Dalcroze Eurhythmics with Robert Abramson, and continued on to earn a Master of Music degree in piano performance at the Manhattan School of Music. At New York University, she became enamoured with the music of Leo Kraft, whose music became the subject of her doctoral dissertation “The Piano Music of Leo Kraft.”

Known for the passion and authenticity he brings to his performances, pianist Walter Aparicio has dedicated his career to championing the music of Latin America. He has conducted workshops and delivered recitals nationwide and abroad, introducing audiences to seldom-heard pieces from the Latin American repertoire, with a special focus on his homeland, Bolivia. In doing so, he forges connections to dance, language, and folk traditions, aiming to inspire inquiry on matters of cultural heritage and identity.

Most recently, Mr. Aparicio has been seen in FUTUROS: new ideas in composition at the Lincoln Center Atrium, co-presented by New Latin Wave. This program highlighted the diverse voices of Latin America composers writing for the piano today. Other notable New York credits include alternative spaces such as the Cell Theatre, Firehouse Space, and Soapbox Gallery as well as more traditional venues like Steinway Hall, Carnegie Hall & Symphony Space. Outside of the US, he has presented performances at the International Academy of Music in St. Petersburg (Russia), the Beijing International Music Festival & Academy (China), and Barcelona Piano Academy (Spain) and in his native Bolivia for the Festival Internacional de la Interculturalidad.

His debut album “Aires Indios: Piano Music of Bolivia” (MSR Classics) showcases compositions by Eduardo Caba, Simeón Roncal, and Marvin Sandi—three trailblazing Bolivian composers. Mr. Aparicio is affiliated with Cayambis Music Press, a prominent publisher of works by Latin American music. In this capacity, Walter advocates for and records the latest works from the publisher’s talented composers. 

An adventurous artist, Walter has participated in performance installations such as Allora & Calzadilla’s Stop, Repair, Prepare: Variations on Ode to Joy for a Prepared Piano. Taking place at the Gladstone Gallery, NY, the work involved the pianist performing backwards – from a hole cut inside a grand piano – while moving the instrument around the gallery space. The work transforms the player/instrument dynamic, and this experience has been part of Mr. Aparicio’s ongoing inquiry into the nature of performance and the artist-audience relationship. Other ventures have included collaborations with the Nouveau Classical Project (where fashion meets music) and Notes on Fiction, a series where musical references in literature are presented as a fluid reading/concert hybrid.

Breaking new ground in the nonprofit sector, Walter serves as the Founder & President of the Foundation for Bolivian Artists, Inc. This organization is committed to discovering, promoting, and providing support to musicians of Bolivian heritage through its programs. Through these initiatives, he endeavors to foster a close-knit community of Bolivian musicians, granting them visibility and underscoring the significance and unique perspective they bring from their distinct cultural background.

To learn more about Mr. Aparicio or his foundation please visit: www.walteraparicio.com or www.bolivianartistfoundation.org 

 

Dr. Deirdre O’Donohue is a member of the artist piano and chamber music faculty at NYU’s Steinhardt School in the Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions, and also the college and precollege faculties of Manhattan School of Music.

She has performed solo and chamber recitals in Austria, the Netherlands, Italy, Canada and the United States. She has also given masterclasses and lecture/demonstrations at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, the Shanghai Conservatory, the Poona Music Society in India, the Rotterdam Conservatory, the World Piano Pedagogy Conference and at numerous music institutions throughout the United States and Canada. Dr. O’Donohue received the Sparrendam Medal for performance in the Netherlands, and the Roger Phelps Award from New York University for her dissertation entitled “The Concept of Unity and Uniqueness in the Multi-Movement Works of Beethoven.”

Recent engagements: Summer faculty, coach, and performer: Interharmony International Music Festival (Germany); Adamant Music School in Vermont; Summer Trios (Pennsylvania); Lectures/demonstrations: the Uniwersytet Muzyczny Fryderyka Chopina (Warsaw, Poland); the Piano Teachers’ Congress (Steinway Hall); the National Feis Ceoil Competition (Dublin); Adjudicator: Young Artists Festival in Seattle; the Royal Irish Academy of Music’s Piano Festival; the MTNA National Conference; Ithaca College of Music; Leschetizsky Association, NYSMTA, NJMTA, NHMTA, and external examiner for the Royal Irish Academy; Masterclasses at Interharmony International Music Festival (Germany); Yahama (NY); NYU, Queens College, New Hampshire, South Carolina; intensive week-long courses in piano technique and interpretation at the Gijon Conservatory in Spain; solo recitals in Weill Recital Hall, NYU; Convention Clinician for the South Carolina MTA.

She has co-edited (with Prof. Henk Hillenaar) the book Schubert and Friendship by Michael Davidson, which was published by the London publisher Kahn & Averill in the Fall of 2012.

O’Donohue is Past President of the NY State Music Teachers’ Association, former Chairperson of the MTNA’s Eastern Division High School Competition, and former Chairperson and founder of the NYSTMA Empire State Performance Competition. Since the summer of 2001 she has been on the faculty of the Adamant Music School in Adamant, Vermont, where she is also the Coordinator for week-long piano masterclasses of Menahem Pressler, John O’Conor, and Andre Laplante. She is also on the piano faculty of the Interharmony International Music Festival and coaches chamber music at Summertrios.

Dr. O’Donohue holds degrees from New York University, the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna, Austria, and Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts.

Pianist Nathaniel LaNasa lives at the intersection of song, story, and image. His recital-exhibition “Memory Prosthetic” explores the mechanics and conventions of musical notation through projections that accompany a live performance of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Nate recently originated the role of Mel, a graduate student pianist, in Bryce McClendon’s play, “The Smallest Sound in the Smallest Space,” off-Broadway. 

Nate is an enthusiastic advocate for new music: he played sixty performances of Ricky Ian Gordon’s new opera for two pianos, Intimate Apparel, at Lincoln Center Theater, which was later broadcast on PBS Great Performances. He has premiered works for quarter-tone pianos by Dimitri Tymoczko at Princeton, made first recordings of chamber works by Tobias Picker for Tzadik, and performed works written for him by Molly Joyce, Shawn Jaeger, Matthew Ricketts, and Nate Wooley.  

A consummate collaborator, he has been praised for his “stormy lyricism” (The New York Times) as well as his “poise and elegance” (Feast of Music). Nate and partner baritone Gregory Feldmann made their sold-out Carnegie Hall debut in February 2020. Nate also frequently partners with vocalist Lucy Dhegrae; they have performed together in the candlelit crypt of the Church of the Intercession, as part of the Resonant Bodies Festival, and at the American Music Festival (Albany Symphony). He’s also appeared in song partnerships at the Musée d’Orsay, Wigmore Hall, Royaumont Abbey, Brooklyn Art Song Society, and New York Festival of Song, where he curates their annual new music series, NYFOS Next. Nate’s NYC credits include Alice Tully Hall, MoMA, and (le) Poisson Rouge. 

A graduate of the Juilliard School and a former fellow at Tanglewood, Nate continues his studies with Robert Durso. He has taught at festivals in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and France, and teaches the Taubman Approach in his private studio in Manhattan. Nathaniel-LaNasa.com

Rosemary Caviglia has been teaching piano for three decades to students of all ages, but over the past 5 years, she has dedicated her work to teaching adults exclusively. It was early in her teaching life that she discovered an affinity for mature students. In 1991, she produced her first adult-only recital which featured 13 performers, from early to advanced levels of playing. It was the transformative aspect that impressed her the most; it begins with the desire to play a piece and moves toward realizing it with one’s own hands. There was excitement in participating with that meaningful process!

In 2010, Ms. Caviglia retired from Third Street Music School as piano teacher, chamber music coach and Chair of the Piano Department. During those 20 years as a faculty member, she listened thoughtfully to the work of her colleagues and observed effective methods of teaching. She learned that adults who study the piano learn differently from kids, and when she created the Adult Piano School in 2011, she designed the school to support the particular needs of the adult pianist. The school takes into consideration the issue of time commitment and schedule as well as provides a framework for developing the pianist. The overall tone is one of “no guilt” piano lessons where one can learn at any pace, while building a strong foundation as a musician.

At the heart of Adult Piano School is Works-In-Progress, which is a group playing class. It is a place to share one’s work at the piano within a community of kind and supportive musical peers. It encourages the practice of music as one of the performing arts, allowing the pianist to experience performance in an informal environment. WIP is a non-recital; pieces may be shared in part or whole, and sharing music with ones peers becomes one of the most effective tools for learning.

Ms. Caviglia grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area to parents who are artists. Her father, a trumpeter, taught instrumental music in the public school during the day and played with the orchestra at night. Her mother had the desire to paint all of her life and began to study at age 55. It was perhaps her mother’s bold move, recognizing herself as an artist, that most inspired Rosemary to value and appreciate the adult learner.

As a teenager, Ms. Caviglia studied with Janet Goodman Guggenheim, who is Itzhak Perlman’s accompanist. Ms. Guggenheim encouraged chamber music and collaboration. The greatest influence came from her teacher Aiko Onishi, who cultivated the relationship between expression and sound through touch at the keyboard. This remains her work of a lifetime.

In 1987, Ms. Caviglia moved to New York City to study music. She explored Dalcroze Eurhythmics with Robert Abramson, and continued on to earn a Master of Music degree in piano performance at the Manhattan School of Music. At New York University, she became enamoured with the music of Leo Kraft, whose music became the subject of her doctoral dissertation “The Piano Music of Leo Kraft.”

Known for the passion and authenticity he brings to his performances, pianist Walter Aparicio has dedicated his career to championing the music of Latin America. He has conducted workshops and delivered recitals nationwide and abroad, introducing audiences to seldom-heard pieces from the Latin American repertoire, with a special focus on his homeland, Bolivia. In doing so, he forges connections to dance, language, and folk traditions, aiming to inspire inquiry on matters of cultural heritage and identity.

Most recently, Mr. Aparicio has been seen in FUTUROS: new ideas in composition at the Lincoln Center Atrium, co-presented by New Latin Wave. This program highlighted the diverse voices of Latin America composers writing for the piano today. Other notable New York credits include alternative spaces such as the Cell Theatre, Firehouse Space, and Soapbox Gallery as well as more traditional venues like Steinway Hall, Carnegie Hall & Symphony Space. Outside of the US, he has presented performances at the International Academy of Music in St. Petersburg (Russia), the Beijing International Music Festival & Academy (China), and Barcelona Piano Academy (Spain) and in his native Bolivia for the Festival Internacional de la Interculturalidad.

His debut album “Aires Indios: Piano Music of Bolivia” (MSR Classics) showcases compositions by Eduardo Caba, Simeón Roncal, and Marvin Sandi—three trailblazing Bolivian composers. Mr. Aparicio is affiliated with Cayambis Music Press, a prominent publisher of works by Latin American music. In this capacity, Walter advocates for and records the latest works from the publisher’s talented composers. 

An adventurous artist, Walter has participated in performance installations such as Allora & Calzadilla’s Stop, Repair, Prepare: Variations on Ode to Joy for a Prepared Piano. Taking place at the Gladstone Gallery, NY, the work involved the pianist performing backwards – from a hole cut inside a grand piano – while moving the instrument around the gallery space. The work transforms the player/instrument dynamic, and this experience has been part of Mr. Aparicio’s ongoing inquiry into the nature of performance and the artist-audience relationship. Other ventures have included collaborations with the Nouveau Classical Project (where fashion meets music) and Notes on Fiction, a series where musical references in literature are presented as a fluid reading/concert hybrid.

Breaking new ground in the nonprofit sector, Walter serves as the Founder & President of the Foundation for Bolivian Artists, Inc. This organization is committed to discovering, promoting, and providing support to musicians of Bolivian heritage through its programs. Through these initiatives, he endeavors to foster a close-knit community of Bolivian musicians, granting them visibility and underscoring the significance and unique perspective they bring from their distinct cultural background.

To learn more about Mr. Aparicio or his foundation please visit: www.walteraparicio.com or www.bolivianartistfoundation.org 

Guest Artist

photo by Yukiko Onley

Sara Davis Buechner is one of the leading concert pianists of our time. She has been praised worldwide as a musician of “intelligence, integrity and all-encompassing technical prowess” (New York Times); lauded for her “fascinating and astounding virtuosity” (Philippine Star), and her “thoughtful artistry in the full service of music” (Washington Post); and celebrated for her performances which are “never less than 100% committed and breathtaking” (Pianoforte Magazine, London). Japan’s InTune magazine says: “When it comes to clarity, flawless tempo selection, phrasing and precise control of timbre, Buechner has no superior.”

In her twenties, Ms. Buechner was the winner of a bouquet of prizes at the world’s première piano competitions — Queen Elisabeth of Belgium, Leeds, Salzburg, Sydney and Vienna. She won the Gold Medal at the 1984 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, and was a Bronze Medalist of the 1986 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow.

With an active repertoire of more than 100 piano concertos ranging from A (Albeníz) to Z (Zimbalist) — one of the largest of any concert pianist today — she has appeared as soloist with many of the world’s prominent orchestras: New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Saint Louis, San Francisco, Montréal, Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria, Honolulu, Qingdao and Tokyo; the CBC Radio Orchestra, Japan Philharmonic, City of Birmingham (U.K.) Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Moscow Radio Symphony, Kuopio (Finland) Philharmonic, Slovak Philharmonic and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León (Spain). Audiences throughout North America have applauded Ms. Buechner’s recitals in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center and the Hollywood Bowl; and she enjoys wide success throughout Asia where she tours annually.

Sara Davis Buechner’s numerous recordings have received prominent critical appraisal. The New York Times greeted her recent Koch International CD of piano music by Rudolf Friml as a “revelation,” and devoted the front page of its Sunday Arts & Leisure section to her 1997 world première recording of the Bach-Busoni “Goldberg” Variations. Her George Gershwin album was selected as a “Record of the Month” by Stereophile magazine, and her traversal of Hollywood piano concertos by Bernard Herrmann and Franz Waxman won Germany’s Deutsches Schauplatten Preis for best soundtrack. Ms. Buechner’s extensive discography also includes rare American music of Dana Suesse, Pauline Alpert and Joseph Lamb, as well as the the complete piano music of Miklós Rózsa.

Ms. Buechner’s artistry can be experienced on numerous online sites, and on her own website and YouTube Channel. She has also recorded many disks for the Yamaha Disklavier, Piano Soft and Grand Touch systems; and her work may also be heard on the recent DVD of Carl Dreiser’s 1925 silent film masterpiece “Master of the House,” available through the Criterion Collection.

As a collaborative artist, she is one of the few pianists who actively performs piano scores to silent movies, notably the 150-minute long restored version of Ben-Hur (1925) at Lincoln Center and elsewhere. Ms. Buechner has also collaborated on dance projects with choreographer Neta Pulvermacher, performance artist Nori Nke Aka, and mimist Yayoi Hirano; and toured extensively as pianist with the Mark Morris Dance Group.

Sara Davis Buechner has given premières of important new music and film scores by Larry Bell, Dorothy Chang, Stephen Chatman, Pierre Charvet, John Corigliano, Richard Danielpour, Ray Green, Miriam Hyde, Dick Hyman, Vitězslavá Kaprálová, Henry Martin, Jared Miller, Joaquín Nin-Culmell, Yukiko Nishimura, David Raksin, Miklós Rózsa, and Wim Zwaag.

Profiles of Ms. Buechner have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Macleans, Paris Match, Piano Today, Noticias del Argentina, Out, Blade and Frontiers magazines; and she has been featured on the television programs Entertainment Tonight, Extra, In the Life, and Bynon. Appearances on radio include profiles on NPR’s The Fishko Files and Performance Today, WFMT’s Dame Myra Hess Recital Series, WNYC’s New Sounds with John Schaefer, at WQXR’s Greene Space, and on Canada’s CBC Westcoast Performance and Richardson’s Roundup.

Sara Davis Buechner is the most prominent transgender musician appearing on the classical concert stage today. She received the Eleanor Roosevelt Award of Brandeis University, and is a member of the National Museum of Women in the Arts. She often presents talks and workshops to LGBTQIA+ groups, and has received praise for her solo autobiographical theater show “Of Pigs and Pianos,” which premièred at New York City’s TheaterLab in 2021 to rave reviews.

In 2016 Sara Davis Buechner joined the prestigious piano faculty of Temple University in Philadelphia. She is a former faculty member of New York University and the University of British Columbia, and Honorary Visiting Professor of Music at the University of Shanghai. Ms. Buechner has presented lectures and masterclasses worldwide, notably at the Royal Academy in London, the Juilliard School in New York City, Indiana University, the Eastman School of Music, Shanghai Conservatory, and the Kobe-Yamate Gakuen in Osaka, Japan. She is a regular adjudicator of the Concert Artists Guild International Music Competition in New York, and has also served as a juror for the Rudolf Firkušný International Piano Competition in Prague, and the International E-Competition in Fairbanks, Alaska. In addition, Ms. Buechner has served as Principal Music Consultant for Dover Publications International.

A fan of baseball worldwide, she has been a featured performer at the New York Mets Pride Night festivities at Citi Field, and in 2007 was anointed an honorary member of the Hanshin Tigers baseball team of Osaka, Japan.

Daily Schedule

Wednesday August 30, 2023

6:15 pm   Campus tour
7:00 pm   Dinner

Thursday August 31

8:00-8:45    Breakfast
8:50-9:30     Practice
9:40-10:20   Lesson
10:30-11:10 Break
11:20-12:00 Coaching
12:15-1:00  Lunch
1:00-3:30     FREE
3:30-4:10     Coaching
4:00-5:00    Open Snack
4:20-5:00     Practice
5:15-6:15     WIP #1
6:30-7:15    Dinner
7:30-8:45     Artist Concert
9:00-10:00  Dessert

Friday September 1

8:00-8:45    Breakfast
8:50-9:30     Practice
9:40-10:20   Lesson
10:30-11:10 Break
11:20-12:00 Coaching
12:15-1:00   Lunch
1:00-3:30      FREE
3:30-4:10      Coaching
4:00-5:00     Open Snack
4:20-5:00      Practice
5:15-6:15      WIP #2
6:30-7:15     Dinner
7:30-8:45     Faculty Concert
9:00-10:00  Dessert

Saturday September 2

8:00-8:45    Breakfast
8:50-9:30     Practice
9:40-10:20   Lesson
10:30-11:10 Break
11:20-12:00 Coaching
12:15-1:00   Lunch
1:00-3:30      FREE
3:30-4:10      Coaching
4:00-5:00     Open Snack
4:20-5:00      Practice
5:15-6:15      WIP #3
6:30-7:15     Dinner/dessert
7:30-8:45   Spill-over Recital

Sunday September 3

8:00-8:45      Breakfast
9:00-10:00     Mindfulness
10:10-10:30  Rep check-in
10:40-11:00  Break
11:10-11:30  Rehearsal
11:40-12:00  Practice
12:15-1:00    Lunch
1:00-2:15       FREE
2:15-3:45       Informal Recital #1
3:45-4:45      Savory snack
4:45-6:15       Informal Recital #2
6:30 pm         Dinner/dessert

Thursday August 31

8:00-8:45    Breakfast
8:50-9:30     Practice
9:40-10:20   Lesson
10:30-11:10 Break
11:20-12:00 Coaching
12:15-1:00  Lunch
1:00-3:30     FREE
3:30-4:10     Coaching
4:00-5:00    Open Snack
4:20-5:00     Practice
5:15-6:15     WIP #1
6:30-7:15    Dinner
7:30-8:45     Artist Concert
9:00-10:00  Dessert

Friday September 1

8:00-8:45    Breakfast
8:50-9:30     Practice
9:40-10:20   Lesson
10:30-11:10 Break
11:20-12:00 Coaching
12:15-1:00   Lunch
1:00-3:30      FREE
3:30-4:10      Coaching
4:00-5:00     Open Snack
4:20-5:00      Practice
5:15-6:15      WIP #2
6:30-7:15     Dinner
7:30-8:45     Faculty Concert
9:00-10:00  Dessert

Saturday September 2

8:00-8:45    Breakfast
8:50-9:30     Practice
9:40-10:20   Lesson
10:30-11:10 Break
11:20-12:00 Coaching
12:15-1:00   Lunch
1:00-3:30      FREE
3:30-4:10      Coaching
4:00-5:00     Open Snack
4:20-5:00      Practice
5:15-6:15      WIP #3
6:30-7:15     Dinner/dessert
7:30-8:45   Spill-over Recital

Sunday September 3

8:00-8:45      Breakfast
9:00-10:00     Mindfulness
10:10-10:30  Rep check-in
10:40-11:00  Break
11:10-11:30  Rehearsal
11:40-12:00  Practice
12:15-1:00    Lunch
1:00-2:15       FREE
2:15-3:45       Informal Recital #1
3:45-4:45      Savory snack
4:45-6:15       Informal Recital #2
6:30 pm         Dinner/dessert

Thursday August 31

8:00-8:45    Breakfast
8:50-9:30     Practice
9:40-10:20   Lesson
10:30-11:10 Break
11:20-12:00 Coaching
12:15-1:00  Lunch
1:00-3:30     FREE
3:30-4:10     Coaching
4:00-5:00    Open Snack
4:20-5:00     Practice
5:15-6:15     WIP #1
6:30-7:15    Dinner
7:30-8:45     Artist Concert
9:00-10:00  Dessert

Friday September 1

8:00-8:45    Breakfast
8:50-9:30     Practice
9:40-10:20   Lesson
10:30-11:10 Break
11:20-12:00 Coaching
12:15-1:00   Lunch
1:00-3:30      FREE
3:30-4:10      Coaching
4:00-5:00     Open Snack
4:20-5:00      Practice
5:15-6:15      WIP #2
6:30-7:15     Dinner
7:30-8:45     Faculty Concert
9:00-10:00  Dessert

Saturday September 2

8:00-8:45    Breakfast
8:50-9:30     Practice
9:40-10:20   Lesson
10:30-11:10 Break
11:20-12:00 Coaching
12:15-1:00   Lunch
1:00-3:30      FREE
3:30-4:10      Coaching
4:00-5:00     Open Snack
4:20-5:00      Practice
5:15-6:15      WIP #3
6:30-7:15     Dinner/dessert
7:30-8:45   Spill-over Recital

Sunday September 3

8:00-8:45      Breakfast
9:00-10:00     Mindfulness
10:10-10:30  Rep check-in
10:40-11:00  Break
11:10-11:30  Rehearsal
11:40-12:00  Practice
12:15-1:00    Lunch
1:00-2:15       FREE
2:15-3:45       Informal Recital #1
3:45-4:45      Savory snack
4:45-6:15       Informal Recital #2
6:30 pm         Dinner/dessert

Monday September 4, 2023

8:00 am      Light breakfast

About Your Stay

Immerse yourself in country living! The Adamant Music School is surrounded by trees and flowers, grassy meadows and ponds. The main building, Barney Hall, houses the dining hall, bedrooms and a piano studio. Chase House and Henry House each have bedrooms and a piano studio. In addition, there are dozens of piano studios, each with two grand pianos, scattered around the grounds. You may play any time, day or night, without worrying about disturbing your neighbors.

Day excursions to local points of interest can break up intense daily practice: wineries, farms, Cabot Creamery, Bread and Puppet museum, Vermont State House Capitol, Burlington, Lake Champlain, Ben and Jerry’s, hiking and swimming are just a few options. Excursions are arranged by the participants and their guests.




Accommodations and Meals​

Accommodations are simple in each of the three quaint houses: Barney Hall, Henry House and Chase House. Bedrooms line the halls, with shared bathrooms on each floor. Beds are either single or double, and sheets and towels are provided. There are plenty of blankets. Wifi has been upgraded and extends to all of the houses.

Playing good music demands good eating. PWIP Vermont places equal emphasis on having an exceptional food experience as well as a musical one. The kitchen creates a balanced menu, accommodating food intolerances, while celebrating the bounty that is Vermont in late August, with an abundance of regional ingredients sourced from farms, fields and woods.




Bring a Guest​

Your guest (non-participating) is welcome to stay for the duration of your residency at Adamant. Enjoy peaceful, natural surroundings and have the opportunity to plan a workday, a special project or simply keep the day open, joining the group at meals and on day-excursions. Guests share a double room, and meals are included. Wifi is available in Barney Hall.

The fee for your guest is $345 for the entire stay.




What to Bring

For music, bring the usual – musical scores, a notebook, pencils and a metronome. Concert wear for recitals is a matter of individual preference – anything from dressy casual to something more formal.

Sheets, towels and blankets are provided. Bring you toiletries and any other personal items.

The climate can be unpredictable in Vermont so plan for weather that is hot during the day and chilly at night. Be prepared for rain. If you like to swim, there are freshwater ponds nearby. If the need arises, there is a washing machine on campus.

The dining room of Barney Hall is a common space for work or simply to gather. There are two refrigerators to store personal food or drinks. Coffee and tea are available all day. Wifi is available.

How to Get There

Adamant Music School
1241 Haggett Rd.
Adamant, VT 05640

There are several ways to get to Adamant, Vermont:

  1. Car – the drive from New York City to Adamant, VT is approximately 315 miles. Allow 6 hours to drive, which includes a 1/2 hour stop. There are no tolls on these scenic roads, once you leave NYC.
  2. Train – take Amtrak to Montpelier, the capital city of Vermont, and we will pick you up at the station. The ride from New York City to Montpelier is approximately 8 hours, and a train ticket costs approximately $70 (one way), and. The drive from the train station to Adamant is 15 minutes (7.5 miles).
  3. Plane – a flight to Burlington, VT from NYC is one hour and costs approximately $200 (round trip). Rent a car at the airport, or take a taxi,  and drive 45 miles to Adamant, VT.