Northwestern music department hosts piano duo to perform Brahms

Dr. Maira Liliestedt (left) and Janelle Phinney, staff accompanist and instructor of music theory at Northwestern, make up the Appassionata Piano Duo.

Northwestern College will host a recital by pianists Janelle Phinney and Dr. Maira Liliestedt on Friday, Jan. 17, at 7:30 p.m. in Christ Chapel. Known as the Appassionata Piano Duo, Phinney and Liliestedt have been making music together since 1996.

Phinney is a staff accompanist and instructor of music theory at Northwestern, having previously taught at the University of Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio, and Malone University in Canton, Ohio. She holds a bachelor’s degree in music history from Bowling Green State University and a master’s degree from the Yale University Institute for Sacred Music.

Phinney’s performance experiences include being a featured chamber musician at the Ameropa Institute in Prague and serving as a studio accompanist to opera singer Pasquale Pappano and West Point Glee Club’s director Constance Chase.

Previously the piano department chair at the University of Mount Union, Liliestedt has also been a professor of music at Northern Kentucky University, the College of Mount St. Joseph, and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music’s evening program.

In addition to maintaining a regular performance schedule in the U.S. and abroad, Liliestedt teaches in her Keys to Artistry Piano Studio. She holds a bachelor’s degree in piano from Bowling Green State University and a master’s and doctoral degree in musical arts from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

The piano duo plans to perform selections from Johannes Brahms’ Hungarian Dances. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Lisa Koerselman at 712-707-7062 or lisa.koerselman@nwciowa.edu.