RACHEL HEARD is active as performer, teacher and adjudicator for music
organizations around the U.S. She combines her experience on both the
fortepiano and modern piano to present recitals, lectures and demonstrations
of the application of period performance practice to interpretation
today.
Her Doctor of Musical Arts degree was earned at Rutgers University,
where she specialized in the eighteenth century fortepiano. Her Master
of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees in piano performance are from
the Juilliard School. Fortepiano studies were with Malcolm Bilson.
Ms. Heard has been active as a performer on fortepiano for over fifteen
years. During the 1991 Mozart Bicentennial she gave a recital on fortepiano
at the International Symposium "The Young Mozart 1756-1776" in
Calgary, Canada. She has lectured on the fortepiano and performance
practice at The Juilliard School, Concordia College in Bronxville,
NY, the Texas Music Teachers' Association State Convention, Piano Teachers'
Forum of Central New Jersey, South Jersey Music Teachers' Association,
and the Shore Music Educators Association. She has performed a solo
fortepiano recital and collaborated with the tenor Thomas Gregg on
the Mississippi Academy of Ancient Music's concert series. In 2008
she appeared as soloist in Mozart's E-flat Concerto, K. 271 with the
Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, Crafton Beck conducting. Her performances
have been heard numerous times on MPB, the Mississippi Public Broadcasting
network. Her recording of the music of Haydn was recently released
on the Naxos label.
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Ms. Heard was a full time artist faculty member at the Westminster
Conservatory in Princeton, NJ from 1992 to 1997. While in New Jersey
she served two terms as president of the New Jersey Music Teachers'
Association (MTNA). She is currently the Mississippi Music Teachers' Association (MMTA) President for 2008-10. She was assistant professor
of music at Emory & Henry College from 1997 to 2002, and chair
of the music department from 2001 to 2002. She has been an assistant
professor of music at Millsaps since 2002, and is the recipient of the 2008-9 Outstanding Young Faculty Award.
