January Program
January 9, 2026 I David Abbott - Tips to achieve more efficient results in piano practice in half t
Topic Description
In this presentation Dr Abbott will introduce shortcuts to solving musical and technical problems in piano repertoire: A discussion on breaking down a work in order to gain a more solid technical and clear musical performance.
Speaker Biography
David Abbott is a versatile pianist equally at home in chamber music or solo performance both on modern instruments as well as historical pianos dating from the late 18 th through the 19 th century. He resided for ten years in Switzerland where he was frequently heard both as soloist and collaborative artist throughout Switzerland and Germany and toured in Australia and Europe as a member of the Swiss Chamber Soloists. His recording with that ensemble on the Swiss Claves label of Schumann’s piano quartet and quintet won the coveted Prix D’or prize for that year’s outstanding chamber music recording.
Dr. Abbott has dedicated a great deal of his career as mentor and teacher, serving on the faculties of the Zürich and Schaffausen Conservatories of Music (Switzerland), and earlier at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In 2010, he was asked to serve on the faculty of the prestigious Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University as a sabbatical replacement for Edmund Battersby. He has also directed summer courses in both piano and chamber music in Europe as well as in the United States for over 30 years. In 2003, he founded the Con Brio Music Academy in Blonay
Switzerland where he worked with students across Europe and from the United States in piano and chamber music. Dr. Abbott regularly works as adjudicator, serving on juries for various competitions as well as the state and divisional competitions of the Music Teachers National Association. He frequently appears in recitals in many college campuses as well as music festivals across the country.
In 2011, Dr. Abbott was invited to teach and perform in the Republic of China (Taiwan) and also was presented in recitals with his wife Lia Jensen-Abbott in France and Switzerland. In February of 2012, David appeared in his recital debut at Carnegie’s Weill Hall in New York City. He was awarded a Bronze medal and two special prizes at the 1980 International Music Competition in Geneva. A graduate of the Eastman and Juilliard Schools of Music, Dr. Abbott remains active in historically informed performance practice as a result of work with renowned forte pianist
Malcolm Bilson. More recently he recorded a two-CD recording set of solo and chamber music by 20 th century composer Dmitri Shostakovitch.. He is presently engaged in preparing a recording comprised of Brahms’ chamber music for four-hands as arranged by the composer. He currently serves as Professor of Piano at Albion College, Albion, MI. USA
