Master Class with Collaborative Pianist Anne Epperson

Pianist Anne Epperson is currently Chair of the Chamber and Collaborative Music Department at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, a department she created in 2016. She is Co-Director, with Kevin Murphy, of the Collaborative Piano degree program, also created in 2016.

She has enjoyed a distinguished career as a performer, recording artist, teacher, and clinician. After studies at The Juilliard School, she entered graduate school at the University of Southern California to study with Daniel Pollack and was appointed staff pianist for the master classes of renowned violinist Jascha Heifetz. This auspicious beginning led to a successful career as a collaborative partner. Epperson has appeared in concert with distinguished artists throughout the United States, Canada, South America, Mexico, France, Germany, Belgium, Israel, Sweden and Taiwan. Critics have praised her collaborative artistry: “an excellent partner . . . technical ability and musicality admirably displayed” (The New York Times), “extraordinarily sensitive and well-realized work . . . a gifted accompanist” (The Seattle Times), “eloquent support” (Los Angeles Times), “Epperson is a chamber music pianist with few peers” (Cleveland Plain Dealer). She has recorded for Vanguard, Musical Heritage Society, Nonesuch, Centaur, Koch International, and Claves, and has produced and edited recordings for Nonesuch and Azica.

Her career as an educator is equally impressive. Prior to her faculty appointment at the Jacobs School of Music, Epperson created and developed a graduate degree program at The University of Texas at Austin and was professor of collaborative piano there from 2008 to 2017. From 2004 to 2008, she was professor of collaborative piano at the University of Colorado at Boulder’s College of Music, where she also created and developed a new graduate degree program. She was professor of music and director of collaborative arts at the University of California–Santa Barbara from 2001 to 2004. From 1985 to 2001, she was head of the Collaborative Piano Department (a department and degree program that she created) at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Previous faculty positions include teaching appointments at the University of Illinois at Champaign–Urbana and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Epperson was on the faculty of the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara from 1992 to 2006, teaching, performing, and administering the collaborative piano program she designed. Since retiring from the Music Academy, she has been guest artist at various summer festivals,

Epperson has been juror for many prestigious competitions, and has been a panelist, lecturer, performer, and master class presenter for many national organizations, conservatories and universities. She is on the advisory board of the International Keyboard Collaborative Arts Society, the first international professional association devoted exclusively to collaborative piano.