KEYBOARD

FACULTY
ALUMNI

DEPARTMENT CALENDAR

AUDITION INFORMATION
 

Keyboard Faculty

 

Organ and Piano
Dr. John Burkett
(903) 886-5301
John_Burkett@tamu-commerce.edu
Born in Montgomery, Alabama, John Burkett began studying the piano and the organ at ages 6 and 9 respectively. Pre-college study with Harald Rohlig, Mark McGowin and Gene Jarvis led to further study at the baccalaureate, masters and doctoral levels with Ramona Beard, Robert Clark and Jerald Hamilton. After a year's teaching experience in Nebraska at Kearney State College and the University of Nebraska, Dr. Burkett came to ETSU (now Texas A & M-Commerce) in 1972 where he teaches a wide variety of courses. He has played for churches since the age of 13 and has served as organist to the First United Methodist Church of Commerce, Texas since 1975. Dr. Burkett also played the cello in the ETSU orchestra from 1977 to 1989. As a composer, Dr. Burkett has written numerous hymn-based compositions for solo organ and solo piano, most of which remain unpublished. In 1995, however, he co-authored 101 Favorite Hymn Harmonizations for Keyboard, which was published by Abingdon Press of Nashville. Demonstrating an interest in subjects other than music, Dr. Burkett earned a B. S. degree from ETSU in 1986 with majors in computer science and mathematics. For several years he taught beginning courses in the department of Computer Science at ETSU.
Piano                     
Dr. Luis Sanchez  Website
(903) 886-5287
luis_sanchez@tamu-commerce.edu
Luis Sanchez joins the faculty of Texas A&M Univeristy-Commerce in Fall 2007.  Born in Argentina, Dr. Sanchez leads an active career as a soloist, clinician, collaborative artist, and adjudicator. He has been featured soloist with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestra and the Ball State Symphony Orchestra. He has presented solo recitals in the Midwest, Florida, Argentina, and Uruguay. Dr. Sanchez has been an adjudicator of the SAI Piano Competition at the Chautauqua Summer Institution, the FSMTA piano competitions, the Florida Orchestra Young Artist Competition, Federation of Music Clubs, and Hoosier Auditions in Indiana. His many awards include Competition for Young Pianists of the Jrimian Foundation, Centro de Estudios Pianísticos, M.T.N.A. Indiana State winner, Ball State Concerto Competition, Fort Wayne Philharmonic Concerto Competition, and the Merle Montgomery Doctoral Dissertation Grant.
 
A recipient of the 2005 Pinellas County Arts Council Artist Resource Fund, Dr. Sanchez has recorded a CD of solo works by Mozart, Ginastera, Chopin, Taranto Jr., and Schumann. In June 2005, he founded the Summer Piano Program in Florence, Italy. Recent engagements include a performance and lecture at the College Music Society Southern Chapter Conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, a presentation at the Great Lakes Chapter Conference at Northwestern University, Illinois, and a lecture-recital on Mozart’s keyboard music at Southeastern University. In March 2006, Dr. Sanchez has been invited to present a paper on Mozart’s early keyboard sonatas at the Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society in addition to recitals and master classes in Jacksonville, FL, Ohio, and Indiana.
 
Dr. Sanchez holds degrees from the National Conservatory of Music “Carlos López Buchardo” and Ball State University. His teachers include Ana Litovsky-Grunwald, Graciela Beretervide, Robert Palmer, and Rebecca Penneys. A recipient of an Artist Enhancement Grant of the State of Florida, Dr. Sanchez attended fortepiano master classes with Dr. Andrew Willis, at University of North Carolina, Greensboro, and most recently visited Cornell University to study fortepiano with Malcolm Bilson. As a recipient of a 2006-2007 American Scandinavian Foundation, Dr. Sanchez traveled to Norway and Sweden to study fortepiano with Liv Glaser (Norwegian Academy of Music), Torleif Torgersen (Grieg Academy), and Tilman Skowroneck (Gőteborg, Sweden). He also presented a recital and master class at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, and a recital at the Grieg Academy in Bergen, Norway.
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