This FREE workshop is a one-of-a-kind opportunity for students to explore jazz piano, meet peers with similar interests, and learn from renowned jazz pianists from the Twin Cities! Designed for middle and high school students that can read music and have a minimum of 1 year of piano experience, students will work on playing jazz piano in small groups with clinicians. Students with no jazz experience whatsoever to students with advanced jazz experience are encouraged to attend, and will be placed in groups based on ability.
Four scholarships of $300 each will be awarded for lessons with one of our local piano clinicians. Scholarships are provided by endowments to Schubert Club from the families of Marie Froehlich, Jane Matteson and David Paulus. Scholarship winners will be announced online after the workshop.
2023 Clinicians
Minneapolis-based jazz pianist and composer Mary Louise Knutson has been called “one of the most exciting and innovative artists to happen to jazz piano in quite some time.” Her warm, inviting tone, broad range of emotional expression, and distinctive compositions have brought her much recognition on the national music scene. Knutson’s debut jazz trio CD, Call Me When You Get There, charted in JazzWeek’s Top 50, earning her the award for Top New Jazz Instrumentalist and her latest jazz trio CD, In the Bubble, made JazzWeek’s Top 10 and stayed in the Top 50 for 19 consecutive weeks. In 2005, she was a Finalist in the Kennedy Center’s Women in Jazz International Pianist Competition and in 2006, Knutson was a Minnesota Music Awards nominee for both Jazz Artist of the Year and Pianist of the Year.
Dale Alexander is a keyboardist, drummer, songwriter, music director, studio and touring musician who grew up in Minneapolis. Dale’s first band was a trio with Prince and Andre Cymone. By the time he graduated from high school, he had already performed with the nationally known soul group, the Temptations. He recorded with Prince right before he signed his solo contract, and toured with Prince on the Sign ‘O the Times World Tour as the drummer for the opening act, Madhouse. By the age of 24, Dale Alexander had studied with prominent musicians such as Marvin Dahlgren and Dr. Reginald Buckner of the University School of Music. He was recognized by the University of Wisconsin with a National Jazz Education Award for his outstanding individual performance as a percussionist.
Kavyesh Kaviraj is a pianist, composer and arranger from India. Although primarily a jazz pianist, he is known for his versatility as a musician; thanks to his experience in different musical climates he is closely involved with settings of many different genres and styles.
Kavyesh was introduced to music at a very young age; born into a musical family, he started playing the piano at the age of 2, and has since been garnering experience towards an expansive international career.
Kavyesh is also a passionate music educator, with experience as a private instructor and experience as an educator in music academies and public schools alike, and enjoys leading jazz workshops and teaching music classes for children and youth. His compositions and arrangements for various ensembles and configurations have been featured on radio, TV and collaborative exhibitions.
Steven Hobert is a pianist, composer, explorer – reveling in life’s mysteries through improvisation. His transportive sound spans a surprising breadth of texture and emotion incorporating musical vocabulary and spirit from America, West Africa, and the Flamenco tradition. This spirit has been described as “delightful, innovative and viscerally inspiring” that “dazzles audiences with sincerity and playfulness to open up hearts and fire imaginations.”
Hobert is a freelance performer, composer and teacher in Minneapolis and performs at a wide variety of venues, from concert halls to churches to senior homes — and with jazz groups, vocalists, klezmer bands and tango groups.
