Join us for an afternoon with Steinway featuring the many talents of Dr. Nuria Rojas.
Prior to joining Benedict College, Dr. Nuria Rojas taught as adjunct faculty at William Carey University in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. While completing her doctoral studies at The University of Southern Mississippi, she served as an accompanist for music students and she established a successful private studio where she taught piano students of all age ranges. Dr. Rojas had the opportunity to serve as an accompanist at Loyola University of New Orleans and the Universidad de Costa Rica. In addition, from 1987-2000 in her native Costa Rica, Dr. Rojas taught different class piano courses for the Yamaha Music Foundation of Japan where she eventually became the Director of the Yamaha Music Schools in Costa Rica. Her international article, entitled “From my Teaching Experience,” was published in August, 1993, where she was honored to be the first international teacher selected for publication by the Yamaha Teachers Journal of the Yamaha Music Foundation of Japan.
Dr. Rojas had the privilege of attending international piano classes with renowned pianists. From 1995 to 2000, she was able to attend piano master classes in Europe with Russell Sherman, Gyorgy Sandor, Antonio Iglesias, Manuel Carra and Alicia de Larrocha. In the United States, she also attended master classes with Leon Fleisher and Tamas Ungar. In addition, Dr. Rojas attended international teaching workshops sponsored by the Yamaha Music Foundation of Japan in Venezuela, Argentina, Colombia, Panama, Mexico and Japan.
Throughout her career, Dr. Rojas has performed standard repertoire as a soloist, as an accompanist and in chamber groups in the U.S., Costa Rica, and Spain. It is her passion for Spanish and Latin American keyboard music that contributed to her specialization in this exciting style of music. She is also particularly interested in the Classical keyboard repertoire as well as compositions of the 20th century. This interest in 20th century compositions led her to catalogue the work of American composer, Dr. Jerry Sieg, as well as analyze and perform his piece, Five Miniatures for Piano, through her dissertation study and doctoral lecture recital.