Versatile musician Kathleen Ann Theisen trained as a classical and jazz pianist before pursuing an operatic career.  She spent many years playing clubs in the Midwest and has composed classical, pop, rock and jazz music (and even a polka!). Theisen earned the B.Mus. (Piano) Magna cum laude from the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point and the M. Mus. (Piano Performance and Piano Pedagogy) Summa cum laude from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has done additional graduate work in piano at the University of Michigan.  She holds permanent professional certification (piano) from the Music Teachers National Association and Music (K-12) certification through the Connecticut Department of Education. 

Theisen has been teaching piano and voice for 27 years and has taught piano and voice lessons in Fairfield County, Connecticut, since 2003.  Theisen is also a consultant to other independent music teachers, with specialties in music technology and music business.

She is Minister of Music at Darien United Methodist Church, where she leads the adult choir and the youth tone chimes, in addition to playing organ and piano for all services. She has also started a drumming circle at the church.  She is a full-time music teacher and choral director at Royle Elementary School in Darien Public Schools.  In Spring 2017, she will also be co-conducting the Darien Public Schools Elementary Honors Chorus. She maintains a home teaching studio in Danbury and also teaches lessons at Darien United Methodist Church.

Theisen taught on the faculty at Western Connecticut State University from Fall 2007 through Spring 2012, first joining the faculty as an adjunct instructor of piano and then holding the position of Assistant Professor of Music (Special Appointment, 2009-2011).  Courses taught include Music Theory, Music Fundamentals (online and on campus), Sight-Singing/Ear-Training, Keyboard Competency, Arranging, Piano Pedagogy and Concert Choir.  In 2010, she was the recipient of the ClassTECH Grant from the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching for her use of technology in keyboard competency courses.  An enthusiast for classical, jazz, and contemporary music, Kathleen has also been on the faculty at the University of Illinois “Illinois Summer Youth Music” Piano Camp (2008, 2010, 2011), Walnut Hill Summer Theatre School, Madison (WI) Country Day School, Wausau (WI) Conservatory of Music, Greenwich (CT) Public Schools, Darien (CT) Public Schools and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Piano Project.  For four years, she served as Director of Choral Activities at the Dana Hall School in Wellesley, Massachusetts, where her Chamber Singers had the distinction of being the only high school choir invited to perform at the Harvard Festival of Collegiate Womens' Choirs in April of 2002.  She received the Wisconsin Music Teachers Association Award of Excellence in 1992 and 1994 in recognition of her piano teaching.  She has also published an article in Keyboard Companion (now Clavier Companion) magazine in 2001, 2012 and 2016.  She has also written book reviews for American Music Teacher magazine.

Workshops

An active workshop clinician, Kathleen has presented workshops on jazz piano, teaching students in a way that helps them to attain a lifetime of playing for pleasure, technology in the private studio and even on topics such as time management and stress management.  Recent workshops include several workshops at the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy in July 2015, for which she was a member of the ‘Piano Geek’ squad.

Other recent workshops include a workshop for the Millenium Music Teachers in Pennsylvania and technology sessions at the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy in July 2013, the pre-conference seminar in music business for Young Professionals at the MTNA National Conference (California, March 2013), a workshop for the Wausau Area Music Teachers (Wisconsin, April 2013), a workshop on entrepreneurship at the 2012 Music Teachers National Association national conference, two workshops  - on group piano and on technology  - at the Connecticut Music Educators Association state conference (April 2012) and two workshop/performances of new works for piano duet, duo and other ensembles, sponsored by Connecticut State Music Teachers Association(April 2012). Other recent workshops include two workshops about teaching class piano online and music theory online at the College Music Society and Association for Technology in Music Instruction (Oct. 2011), “Got Money? How to write a business plan that gets you thousands” and “Instructional Videos Featuring You” at the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy (July 2011),  “Class Piano is Cool: The Ultimate High-Tech Class Piano Experience” at the College Music Society/Association for Technology in Music Instruction joint national conference in September 2010, a workshop on Studio Entrepreneurship at the Music Teachers National Association National Conference in Alburquerque, NM (March 2010), a workshop on technology in the private studio for the Western Chapter of CSMTA (February 2009) and for the Schubert Club (Fall 2009), technology sessions at the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy (July-August 2009) in Lombard, Illinois, two presentations for the Wisconsin Music Teachers Association 2009 Conference in Wisconsin Dells (October 2009), and a session on Studio Entrepreneurship for the Western CT State University Department of Music (Fall 2009). 

In the Fall of 2006, Theisen spent 5 weeks coaching movie star Elle Fanning for her piano solo in the movie Reservation Road, which was released in theaters nationwide in October 2007 and is available on DVD. (The name of the piece played in the movie was: “Touch a Rainbow,” by Dennis Alexander.)

Theisen is an active member of many music teachers’ associations. She served as served President & WebMaster of the Connecticut State Music Teachers Association, Inc. for four years; Chair of the State Presidents’ Advisory Council for Music Teachers National Association for two years and served on the national MTNA nominating committee two times.  She was also Chair of the Young Musicians Festival in Voice for the Schubert Club of Fairfield County for many years.  She holds active professional memberships in MTNA, NAFME, AGO, The Schubert Club, NFMC, ACDA, CMEA, and CSMTA.

Performances

Recent PIANO performances include: Piano with Ridgefield Symphony (2016, 2015, 2014), Piano with Bridgeport Symphony (Spring 2014), Celeste with Bridgeport Symphony (March 2013), Piano with Waterbury Symphony (Sept 2012) and Piano/Celeste with Ridgefield Symphony (Oct 2012), a concert of Beethoven violin Sonatas (November 2012), and a concert with THE MOZART ENSEMBLE, featuring piano quartets by Mozart and Strauss (November 2012).   She is also an active collaborative pianist, specializing in music for brass and saxophone, and played many recitals at SUNY Purchase in 2013 and 2014.

She has served as accompanist for the CMEA Elementary All-State Honors Chorus in the Spring of 2016 and 2015.

2014 vocal performances include the Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle with Worcester Chorus in March and the national anthem for the Harlem Wizards basketball team in July.

2013 vocal performances include: Art Song Festival at Central Connecticut State University (January 2013) and a Brahms series with Mei-Ting Sun, pianist (Winter-Spring 2013) in NY. She also performed for the Danbury Music Centre Gala Benefit (March 2013).

Recent performances of Theisen’s original works include a September 2013 concert at the Sherman Playhouse for a Voices of Poetry event, a September 21, 2008 concert in Maine of the “Robert Siegel Songs,” composed by Theisen in 1991, based on poems of Robert Siegel and concerts with Concert Pro Femina in Hartford, CT and Fairfield County Festival of Women Composers in the Spring of 2010.

Recent solo recitals include performances in Stevens Point, Wisconsin (April 2013), Western Connecticut State University (April 2010),  and Adams, Wisconsin (May 2010).

Recent orchestral engagements include:  Schubert’s “Gretchen am Spinnrade” with One World Symphony (October 2013), the soprano solo in the Mozart Requiem with the combined choirs of Greenwich High School and professional orchestra (May 2011), the soprano solo in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Norwalk (CT) Symphony (May 2008); the world premiere of Carlos Castañeda, Jr.’s “I Should Be Speechless” with chamber players from One World Symphony; and Merab in Handel’s Saul with One World Symphony.

Recent opera performances include: Pamina in Opera Company of Brooklyn’s Mini-Magic Flute, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Taconic Opera, Vitellia in La Clemenza di Tito with dell’Arte Opera Ensemble, Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare with One World Symphony,  Daphne in the New York premiere of Robert Ward’s Claudia Legare at Dicapo Opera - for which Opera News wrote that she was “vocally solid and impassioned” and The New York Times said she “effectively conveyed a sense of desperation,” Countess Ceprano in Rigoletto (Connecticut Grand Opera); Woglinde in Das Rheingold (Rheingold Project, NY City); seven concerts with Pacific Opera; Dew Fairy and Sandman in Hansel and Gretel (Concord Symphony); Eliza Gardner in the premiere of Isabella in Boston; Mercedes in Carmen (Dubuque Symphony); and roles in HMS Pinafore and Gondoliers(Boston Academy of Music).

In 2003, she made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera as an extra chorister in Benvenuto Cellini.

Awards

Vocal Awards:  Pandolfi Award at the Connecticut Opera Guild 2002 Scholarship Competition.  She was also chosen for the Finals of the 2002 National Opera Association Vocal Competition, Semi-Finals of the 2001 Washington International Vocal Competition, Semi-Finals of the 2000 and 2001 New England Region of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and Semi-Finals of the 2001 OMTI/Marjorie Lawrence Vocal Competition. 

Piano Awards:  National Association of Jazz Educators’ Outstanding Musicianship Award in 1990, first place in the Wisconsin division of the MTNA Collegiate Artist competition in 1991, finalist in the Wisconsin Public Radio/Neale-Silva Young Artists competition in 1993, and winner of the UW Beethoven Competition in 1996, for which she performed the Beethoven “Hammerklavier” Sonata, Op. 106.

Copyright ⓒ 2016 Kathleen Ann Theisen