ABOUT
Jessica Beitel is an American pianist, organist and arts advocate currently seeking to develop her performance activities as a pianist in collaborative music. She is a recent performer on the Master Artists Chamber Series of Varna International’s Muzika! festival and has served as primary collaborative pianist for the vocal and wind studios at the Salem College School of Music. She has participated in the Performers’ Program of the TCU/Cliburn Institute (now PianoTexas International Academy and Festival), and has performed in masterclasses for Pascal Rogé, Joaquín Achúcarro, Miyoko Lotto, Joshua Rupley and the late José Feghali.
As an administrator in the arts, Ms. Beitel has worked for Varna International in their South Carolina festival, Muzika!, has served as administrative staff at Salem College and the Lister-Sink Institute, and most recently as co-founder of the non-profit organization Winyah Bay Musical Arts, a choral-orchestral and chamber music series based in Georgetown, South Carolina. Ms. Beitel is a member of Chamber Music America, the International Keyboard Collaborative Arts Society, and the American Matthay Association.
As an instructor, she has taught privately as well as with the Lister-Sink Institute, where she aided with the training of dozens of keyboardists in the Lister-Sink Method. One of twenty-one certified instructors with the Lister-Sink Institute worldwide, she is certified to teach the Lister-Sink Method from foundational to virtuoso levels.
Enjoying a diverse instrumental background, Ms. Beitel also studied violin with Leslie Jacoway and Esther Brumit, viola with Clare Cason, and organ with Jack Mitchener and Ashley Sosis. Ms. Beitel studied piano with Susan Matthews, Barbara Bacik Case and Barbara Lister-Sink, and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in collaborative piano at University of North Carolina School of the Arts as a student of Dr. Allison Gagnon.
As part of a life in creative expression, Ms. Beitel loves making visual art, working especially in oil pastels and mixed media.
ORGANIST
Jessica’s passion for the organ was ignited while an undergraduate student at Salem College, where she heard organ concerts regularly, turned pages and drew stops for faculty and students in concert, and herself began studying organ with Jack Mitchener. Later, she resumed organ study with Ashley Sosis upon invitation to complete an internship at Trinity Anglican Church in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to prepare her to be her long-term substitute for a planned leave of absence. Upon conclusion of that term, Jessica was in demand as a guest church musician, served on the board of the local chapter of the American Guild of Organists, and concertized enthusiastically as an organist in area recitals hosted by colleagues. She went on to hold permanent posts at churches in North Carolina and coastal South Carolina, and currently serves as organist for Mount Tabor United Methodist Church in Winston-Salem, where she presides over their Casavant 2/23 1977 instrument.
Over her career, Jessica has worked extensively with singers, and she has also enjoyed many collaborations in instrumental literature. To request specific repertory lists for solo piano, vocal or instrumental collaborative piano, or solo organ literature, please contact Jessica directly.
