NWSMTA meets monthly, September through May. Meetings are held at various locations. Please check the location for each month. In December we have our holiday party, and in May we have our spring luncheon. Our business meeting begins at 9:45, followed by a special program at 10:30. Come join us!
Program Listing 2025-2026
Program Listing 2025-2026
Monday, September 15, 2025, 9:45 AM
Rolling Meadows Library and Zoom
Rolling Meadows Library and Zoom
Welcome Meeting with Games and Refreshments
We’re looking forward to seeing everyone for the start of another great year!
We’re looking forward to seeing everyone for the start of another great year!
Monday, October 20, 2025 9:45 AM
Rolling Meadows Library and Zoom
Jennifer Cohen
"Beyond the Lesson: Pathways to Independent Learning"
Program Description:
This session offers practical tools to help students stay engaged and productive between lessons, laying the groundwork for independent learning from the very first year. Curated digital assignments in keyboard, aural and writing skills will be shared, which can easily be adapted to support a student’s individual learning style and pace, with particular relevance for students in AIM. We’ll also explore studio-wide challenges and self-assessment strategies that foster accountability and empower students to take ownership of their short-term practice and long-term musical growth.
Jennifer Cohen, NCTM, is an active member of NSMTA and NWSMTA, where she has held offices, including president and 1st vice-president, as well as long term event chairs for Sonata-Sonatina Festival, Certification and AIM. She was named as NWSMTA Member of the Year, and twice as NSMTA Member of the Year for her continuing leadership roles. For over 15 years, Jennifer has served on the ISMTA board as Competitions Director and has worked tirelessly as a member of the state AIM Piano committee. In 2017, she was the recipient of the ISMTA Teacher of the Year, and most recently, was named as the 2025 Illinois Foundation Fellow. As an MTNA nationally certified teacher, she has had the privilege to serve as the East Central Division National Commissioner for MTNA Certification.
Jennifer began teaching in high school, under the tutelage of nationally recognized piano pedagogue, Elvina Pearce, who she was fortunate to have studied for over 10 years. Elvina’s guidance, encouragement, and mentorship during Jennifer’s formative years shaped her to become the teacher that she is and helped foster a desire for life-long service to the music community. Her teaching career spans over 40 years, bringing a wealth of teaching experience from preschool age beginners to advanced high school students. She has taught keyboard skills at DePaul University for over 16 years, and has been on faculty at North Central College Piano Preparatory Division and Northwestern Music Academy. Jennifer currently maintains a thriving independent home studio in Hawthorn Woods, where her passion, commitment and innovative teaching methods have earned her wide recognition, and her approach to conceptual learning and active participation in the Achievement in Music (AIM) program has her in high demand as a teacher. Her students are award winners in area festivals and many have achieved the highest level of AIM, successfully completing Level 12, and have gone on to pursue careers in music.
Jennifer received a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from Oberlin Conservatory and Master of Music in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from Northwestern University.
Rolling Meadows Library and Zoom
Jennifer Cohen
"Beyond the Lesson: Pathways to Independent Learning"
Program Description:
This session offers practical tools to help students stay engaged and productive between lessons, laying the groundwork for independent learning from the very first year. Curated digital assignments in keyboard, aural and writing skills will be shared, which can easily be adapted to support a student’s individual learning style and pace, with particular relevance for students in AIM. We’ll also explore studio-wide challenges and self-assessment strategies that foster accountability and empower students to take ownership of their short-term practice and long-term musical growth.
Jennifer Cohen, NCTM, is an active member of NSMTA and NWSMTA, where she has held offices, including president and 1st vice-president, as well as long term event chairs for Sonata-Sonatina Festival, Certification and AIM. She was named as NWSMTA Member of the Year, and twice as NSMTA Member of the Year for her continuing leadership roles. For over 15 years, Jennifer has served on the ISMTA board as Competitions Director and has worked tirelessly as a member of the state AIM Piano committee. In 2017, she was the recipient of the ISMTA Teacher of the Year, and most recently, was named as the 2025 Illinois Foundation Fellow. As an MTNA nationally certified teacher, she has had the privilege to serve as the East Central Division National Commissioner for MTNA Certification.
Jennifer began teaching in high school, under the tutelage of nationally recognized piano pedagogue, Elvina Pearce, who she was fortunate to have studied for over 10 years. Elvina’s guidance, encouragement, and mentorship during Jennifer’s formative years shaped her to become the teacher that she is and helped foster a desire for life-long service to the music community. Her teaching career spans over 40 years, bringing a wealth of teaching experience from preschool age beginners to advanced high school students. She has taught keyboard skills at DePaul University for over 16 years, and has been on faculty at North Central College Piano Preparatory Division and Northwestern Music Academy. Jennifer currently maintains a thriving independent home studio in Hawthorn Woods, where her passion, commitment and innovative teaching methods have earned her wide recognition, and her approach to conceptual learning and active participation in the Achievement in Music (AIM) program has her in high demand as a teacher. Her students are award winners in area festivals and many have achieved the highest level of AIM, successfully completing Level 12, and have gone on to pursue careers in music.
Jennifer received a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from Oberlin Conservatory and Master of Music in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from Northwestern University.
Monday, November 17, 2025, 9:45 AM
Janna Williamson
"Taking off the Training Wheels: General Overview of Intermediate Teaching"
Countryside Church Unitarian Universalist
1025 N Smith St. Palatine
Choir Rehearsal Room
Pianist Janna Williamson runs an independent studio in the western suburbs of Chicago where she teaches students of all levels. She coaches teachers worldwide through her YouTube channel, Patreon membership, online courses, and individual teacher consultation service. She is the Immediate Past President of the West Suburban Music Teachers Association. Janna holds bachelors and masters degrees in piano performance from the Chicago College of Performing Arts (Roosevelt University) and Wheaton College Conservatory of Music. Janna and her husband stay active caring for their four children and their 1903 American Foursquare home. For more information please visit www.jannawilliamson.com
Session description:
Quality beginning piano methods are vital for student success in their earliest years of study. But what do teachers do after the method? How do we navigate the vast sea of repertoire available to piano students and teach the intermediate level with success? In this session, Janna Williamson will offer tips and resources on how to transition out of the elementary and into the intermediate level with confidence and cover what a well-rounded intermediate curriculum might look like, casting a vision for excellent teaching at the intermediate level.
Janna Williamson
"Taking off the Training Wheels: General Overview of Intermediate Teaching"
Countryside Church Unitarian Universalist
1025 N Smith St. Palatine
Choir Rehearsal Room
Pianist Janna Williamson runs an independent studio in the western suburbs of Chicago where she teaches students of all levels. She coaches teachers worldwide through her YouTube channel, Patreon membership, online courses, and individual teacher consultation service. She is the Immediate Past President of the West Suburban Music Teachers Association. Janna holds bachelors and masters degrees in piano performance from the Chicago College of Performing Arts (Roosevelt University) and Wheaton College Conservatory of Music. Janna and her husband stay active caring for their four children and their 1903 American Foursquare home. For more information please visit www.jannawilliamson.com
Session description:
Quality beginning piano methods are vital for student success in their earliest years of study. But what do teachers do after the method? How do we navigate the vast sea of repertoire available to piano students and teach the intermediate level with success? In this session, Janna Williamson will offer tips and resources on how to transition out of the elementary and into the intermediate level with confidence and cover what a well-rounded intermediate curriculum might look like, casting a vision for excellent teaching at the intermediate level.
Monday, January 19, 2026, 9:45 AM
Rolling Meadows Library/Zoom
Rolling Meadows Library/Zoom
Claire Aebersold and Ralph Neiweem
"Music for Piano, Four Hands: Techniques for rehearsal, and ideas for teaching"
We will include a discussion of repertoire appropriate and appealing for students from early to advanced levels, along with demonstrations at the piano.
Claire Aebersold and Ralph Neiweem
Piano Duo
Described as “consummate practitioners of pianism” (The Washington Post) Claire Aebersold and Ralph Neiweem enjoy an international career as performers of music for both piano duet and two keyboards. Celebrating over four decades before the public, the duo has been heard on RAI-TV Italy, PBS television, and on WFMT Radio in Chicago, where they performed an unprecedented series of forty live broadcast concerts covering virtually the complete four-hand repertoire of the 19th and 20th centuries. Aebersold and Neiweem have appeared with orchestras internationally, including the Chicago Philharmonic and the Vienna Tonkünstler. They have been heard in recital in many cities throughout the USA and Europe, including Chicago, New York, Detroit, Washington, D.C., Santa Fe, Vienna, Rome, Florence and a residency in Odessa, Ukraine, and at the Gina Bachauer Festival in Salt Lake City, Utah. Performances in New York include a 25th anniversary celebration concert at Merkin Hall.
The duo has commissioned significant new works for the piano duo, including Joseph Turrin’s “Symmetries” for Two Pianos; “Great Movements” Sonata for piano, four hands by Patrick Byers; and “Cries and Whispers” by Robert Chumbley. Aebersold and Neiweem’s many CDs on the Summit label include a complete traversal of Schubert’s four-hand music, praised by Gramophone Magazine as “utterly charming...warmly recommended.”
In 2020 Aebersold and Neiweem were awarded the 1st Josef and Rosina Lhevinne Legacy prize for their achievements both in Piano Duo performance and teaching. They were also the first recipients of the Colburn award for excellence in teaching at the Music Institute of Chicago.
Claire Aebersold is a native of Oak Ridge, Tennessee and is a graduate of the New England Conservatory. Ralph Neiweem hails from Evanston, Illinois and is a graduate of the Juilliard School. Their joint teachers include Theodore Lettvin, Irwin Freundlich, Orazio Frugoni, and John Browning. Both completed graduate studies at Northwestern University. They are currently Artists-in-Residence at the Music Institute of Chicago, where they are directors of the annual Chicago Duo Piano Festival.
"Music for Piano, Four Hands: Techniques for rehearsal, and ideas for teaching"
We will include a discussion of repertoire appropriate and appealing for students from early to advanced levels, along with demonstrations at the piano.
Claire Aebersold and Ralph Neiweem
Piano Duo
Described as “consummate practitioners of pianism” (The Washington Post) Claire Aebersold and Ralph Neiweem enjoy an international career as performers of music for both piano duet and two keyboards. Celebrating over four decades before the public, the duo has been heard on RAI-TV Italy, PBS television, and on WFMT Radio in Chicago, where they performed an unprecedented series of forty live broadcast concerts covering virtually the complete four-hand repertoire of the 19th and 20th centuries. Aebersold and Neiweem have appeared with orchestras internationally, including the Chicago Philharmonic and the Vienna Tonkünstler. They have been heard in recital in many cities throughout the USA and Europe, including Chicago, New York, Detroit, Washington, D.C., Santa Fe, Vienna, Rome, Florence and a residency in Odessa, Ukraine, and at the Gina Bachauer Festival in Salt Lake City, Utah. Performances in New York include a 25th anniversary celebration concert at Merkin Hall.
The duo has commissioned significant new works for the piano duo, including Joseph Turrin’s “Symmetries” for Two Pianos; “Great Movements” Sonata for piano, four hands by Patrick Byers; and “Cries and Whispers” by Robert Chumbley. Aebersold and Neiweem’s many CDs on the Summit label include a complete traversal of Schubert’s four-hand music, praised by Gramophone Magazine as “utterly charming...warmly recommended.”
In 2020 Aebersold and Neiweem were awarded the 1st Josef and Rosina Lhevinne Legacy prize for their achievements both in Piano Duo performance and teaching. They were also the first recipients of the Colburn award for excellence in teaching at the Music Institute of Chicago.
Claire Aebersold is a native of Oak Ridge, Tennessee and is a graduate of the New England Conservatory. Ralph Neiweem hails from Evanston, Illinois and is a graduate of the Juilliard School. Their joint teachers include Theodore Lettvin, Irwin Freundlich, Orazio Frugoni, and John Browning. Both completed graduate studies at Northwestern University. They are currently Artists-in-Residence at the Music Institute of Chicago, where they are directors of the annual Chicago Duo Piano Festival.
Monday, February 16, 2026, 9:45 AM
Rolling Meadows Library and Zoom
George Radosavljevic
"Watercolors: An Exploration of Piano Works that Have Been Inspired by the Colors and Motion of Water."
This subject has resulted in beautiful harmonic inventions and fascinating rhythmic gestures at the hands of great composers. The presentation will include discussion and performance of water related pieces - including Ravel’s Jeu d’eau, Debussy’s Brouillards, Jardins sous la Pluie , and other wonderfully colorful compositions.
Pianist George Radosavljevic is well-known in the Chicago area as both soloist and collaborative pianist. He has appeared on the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Chamber Music Series, and in many solo and ensemble concerts broadcast live on WFMT Radio. His playing has been called "polished and elegantly shaped" by the Chicago Tribune and "consistently enchanting" by the Pioneer Press. George was the principal pianist of the Lake Forest Symphony and Elgin Symphony for many years, and is currently on the faculty of the Music Institute of Chicago and DePaul University School of Music, Community Music Division.
Mr. Radosavljevic is a previous president of the North Shore Music Teachers Association and a board member of the chamber music organization Rendezvous Arts. Mr. Radosavljevic holds the degree Master of Music in piano performance from DePaul University as a scholarship student of Dmitry Paperno.
Rolling Meadows Library and Zoom
George Radosavljevic
"Watercolors: An Exploration of Piano Works that Have Been Inspired by the Colors and Motion of Water."
This subject has resulted in beautiful harmonic inventions and fascinating rhythmic gestures at the hands of great composers. The presentation will include discussion and performance of water related pieces - including Ravel’s Jeu d’eau, Debussy’s Brouillards, Jardins sous la Pluie , and other wonderfully colorful compositions.
Pianist George Radosavljevic is well-known in the Chicago area as both soloist and collaborative pianist. He has appeared on the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Chamber Music Series, and in many solo and ensemble concerts broadcast live on WFMT Radio. His playing has been called "polished and elegantly shaped" by the Chicago Tribune and "consistently enchanting" by the Pioneer Press. George was the principal pianist of the Lake Forest Symphony and Elgin Symphony for many years, and is currently on the faculty of the Music Institute of Chicago and DePaul University School of Music, Community Music Division.
Mr. Radosavljevic is a previous president of the North Shore Music Teachers Association and a board member of the chamber music organization Rendezvous Arts. Mr. Radosavljevic holds the degree Master of Music in piano performance from DePaul University as a scholarship student of Dmitry Paperno.
Monday, March 16, 2026, 9:45 AM
Virtual Business Meeting
Zoom only
Virtual Business Meeting
Zoom only
Monday, April 20, 2026, 9:45 AM
Rolling Meadows Library/Zoom
Rolling Meadows Library/Zoom
Svetlana Belsky
"BACH'S FRENCH SUITES: MUSIC AS LOVE LETTER AND LESSON"
The French Suites are singular among Bach's works -- they were not written for either performance or publication, but as a gift to his young bride Anna Magdalena, as some combination of teaching aid and love letter. The music is filled with love and humor, as well as the grief of a recent widower. In our teaching and performance, therefore, we should strive to create expression that is beautifully expressive -- following the suggestions of historically informed performance practices. This talk will introduce the dances as they were understood by Bach and his contemporaries and suggest keyboard techniques to make them come to life. We will also discuss the changed understanding of rhythmic notation, dynamics, phrasing and articulation.
Critically acclaimed as “a passionate pianist and scholar,” Svetlana Belsky is a highly regarded performer, noted for her remarkable rapport with audiences and stylistic versatility. Her recent albums, Into Darkness: Piano Music of 1910-1920 (Sheridan Music Studio, 2021) and Ferruccio Busoni: The Late Works (Ravello, 2019) were selected by Spotify for its Best New Releases list, and received rave reviews from Fanfare, American Record Guide, Whole Note Magazine, and others, and has been heard on radio stations around the world. Dr. Belsky won the 2019 American Prize in Piano Performance for her earlier recording of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, which American Record Guide described as “an extraordinary performance” and “astounding”. In commemoration of Women’s History Month 2019, Dr. Belsky was awarded the Outstanding Woman Award for Excellence in Music and Theater Arts from the Clerk of Cook County District Court. Dr. Belsky has toured in Europe, East Asia, Canada and throughout the United States. Her performance credits include Carnegie Recital Hall, Kiev Philharmonic Hall, Dame Myra Hess Series, live recitals on Chicago’s WFMT and New York’s WQXR, and guest appearances with symphony and chamber orchestras. Belsky is considered an authority on the music, writings and pedagogical legacy of Ferruccio Busoni. Her Doctoral Thesis - an annotated translation of Busoni as Pianist by the Russian musicologist Grigori Kogan, was published by the University of Rochester Press in January 2010, and was nominated for the prestigious Claude V. Palisca Award by the American Musicological Society. According to one reviewer, Belsky “has some claim to call herself Ms. Bach-Busoni”. Born in Ukraine, Belsky received most of her education in the United States, first as a student of Emilio Del Rosario in Chicago, receiving her Bachelor’s (summa cum laude) and Master degrees at the Peabody Conservatory in the studio of Ann Schein and her Doctorate at the Manhattan School of Music with Nina Svetlanova. Dr. Belsky served as the Director of Piano Studies at the University of Chicago for fifteen years, and is in great demand as a lecturer, masterclass guest teacher, and competition adjudicator.
"BACH'S FRENCH SUITES: MUSIC AS LOVE LETTER AND LESSON"
The French Suites are singular among Bach's works -- they were not written for either performance or publication, but as a gift to his young bride Anna Magdalena, as some combination of teaching aid and love letter. The music is filled with love and humor, as well as the grief of a recent widower. In our teaching and performance, therefore, we should strive to create expression that is beautifully expressive -- following the suggestions of historically informed performance practices. This talk will introduce the dances as they were understood by Bach and his contemporaries and suggest keyboard techniques to make them come to life. We will also discuss the changed understanding of rhythmic notation, dynamics, phrasing and articulation.
Critically acclaimed as “a passionate pianist and scholar,” Svetlana Belsky is a highly regarded performer, noted for her remarkable rapport with audiences and stylistic versatility. Her recent albums, Into Darkness: Piano Music of 1910-1920 (Sheridan Music Studio, 2021) and Ferruccio Busoni: The Late Works (Ravello, 2019) were selected by Spotify for its Best New Releases list, and received rave reviews from Fanfare, American Record Guide, Whole Note Magazine, and others, and has been heard on radio stations around the world. Dr. Belsky won the 2019 American Prize in Piano Performance for her earlier recording of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, which American Record Guide described as “an extraordinary performance” and “astounding”. In commemoration of Women’s History Month 2019, Dr. Belsky was awarded the Outstanding Woman Award for Excellence in Music and Theater Arts from the Clerk of Cook County District Court. Dr. Belsky has toured in Europe, East Asia, Canada and throughout the United States. Her performance credits include Carnegie Recital Hall, Kiev Philharmonic Hall, Dame Myra Hess Series, live recitals on Chicago’s WFMT and New York’s WQXR, and guest appearances with symphony and chamber orchestras. Belsky is considered an authority on the music, writings and pedagogical legacy of Ferruccio Busoni. Her Doctoral Thesis - an annotated translation of Busoni as Pianist by the Russian musicologist Grigori Kogan, was published by the University of Rochester Press in January 2010, and was nominated for the prestigious Claude V. Palisca Award by the American Musicological Society. According to one reviewer, Belsky “has some claim to call herself Ms. Bach-Busoni”. Born in Ukraine, Belsky received most of her education in the United States, first as a student of Emilio Del Rosario in Chicago, receiving her Bachelor’s (summa cum laude) and Master degrees at the Peabody Conservatory in the studio of Ann Schein and her Doctorate at the Manhattan School of Music with Nina Svetlanova. Dr. Belsky served as the Director of Piano Studies at the University of Chicago for fifteen years, and is in great demand as a lecturer, masterclass guest teacher, and competition adjudicator.