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Nancy Zeltsman at SIUE

Nancy Zeltsman with the SIUE Percussion Ensemble

Internationally acclaimed marimbist Nancy Zeltsman was recently a guest artist at my school, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, on March 23rd and 24th. I made the trek back to my university to be a part of the experience.


Nancy Zeltsman performing "Sotto Voce"

Nancy provided private lessons for students, two public master classes, and performed her program Sotto Voce for solo marimba accompanied by a slide show of photographs that her mother took and recordings of her reciting poetry. Sotto Voce means ‘under voice’ or ‘under the breath.' She explores a softer dynamic range, and performs some of the music that she holds dearest. This program was featured at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) in 2014 and includes works from Daniel Levitan, Aaron J. Kernis, Paul Simon, and more. The master classes allowed students to perform their works for her and the audience, and Nancy openly critiqued their playing and worked with them on concepts such as phrasing, technique, and sound production. The knowledge she shared in the master classes had a deep effect on everyone involved.

You can keep up with the SIUE Percussion Ensemble on Facebook.

Thanks to Emilie Curry at Curry Creations for capturing the events, and to SIUE Percussion Instructor Daniel Smithiger, members of the SIUE Percussion Studio, and SIUE Student Government for making it all possible.


Sean Schuchman with Nancy Zeltsman

Nancy is the artistic director of the Zeltsman Marimba Festival which is happening this June 28th to July 11th, a full two weeks in New Brunswick, New Jersey. In it's 13th season, this festival brings together marimbists, performers and educators, from all around the world. There are 8 marimba-focused concerts, 9 master classes, 14 open lessons, composer guest talks, and much more. Participants receive two private lessons from faculty of their choice and early registration will assure teacher selection. This festival is all about people coming together to celebrate and share their love of marimba. It is a chance to work with outstanding faculty including Pius Cheung, Emmanuel Sejourne, Julie Spencer, Gordon Stout, Mike Truesdell, Jack Van Geem, and of course Nancy Zeltsman herself. May 1st is the deadline for registrations and deposits. If you cannot join in for the full two weeks, you can register for three days instead. Can't make it this year? Make plans to attend next year!

Nanae Mimura, one of my favorite marimbists, was a guest artist at last year's festival. Here is a video of WLUK-TV Fox 11 talking with Nancy while Nanae performs.