Dr. Joel Schoenhals

Schoenhals is a prolific recording artist.  His discography includes the Bach Six Partitas, Chopin Preludes and B Minor Sonata, Bartok For Children, Schubert and Schumann Fantasies, Rachmaninoff and Schubert Musical Moments, Schubert-Liszt piano transcriptions, Schubert Waltzes, Drew DeFour’s piano solos, and several chamber music recordings.  Fanfare wrote of his recording Schubert and Schumann Fantasies, “Schoenhals has a real feel for the core of Schubert’s writing.  There is no denying the beauty, ravishing at times.  The lasting impression of this disc is something to really treasure.”  Fanfare also wrote of his other new release, Chinese Piano Music. “Consummate technical skill and polish.  Schoenhals’ tonal palette is massively varied.  The recording is simply staggeringly good.  This is a pure winner.”  Schoenhals has also received praise for his recordings Bartók’s For Children, Lieder of Schubert Transcribed for Piano by Franz Liszt, and Musical Moments of Schubert and Rachmaninoff on Fleur de Son Classics.  “These are rich and romantic readings (Musical Moments), beautifully played and recorded. There is no more sensitive and poetic recording of the Schubert. A wonderful program, played with great sensitivity and tone” (American Record Guide).” “Seek this one out and find one of the greatest releases of the year (Liszt). Now if someone would only help me to close my jaw, hung open by the second track. Only then can I return to mundane existence” (American Record Guide). 

Between 2012 and 2018, Schoenhals performed the cycle of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas, the complete Bach Partitas, and the complete character works of Johannes.  In addition to performing around the world, Schoenhals reached thousands of Michiganders through over 125 house concerts throughout Southeast Michigan.  Live and unedited video recordings of his performance can be found on YouTube.

 Schoenhals is currently performing and recording the works of Navajo composer Connor Chee.  His commission of Chee’s seminal work Sandpaintings for Piano, a set of sixteen pieces based on Navajo melodies and themes, serves to broaden the landscape of the piano literature.  

Schoenhals holds a Master of Music, Doctoral of Musical Arts, and Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music. He earned his undergraduate degree in piano performance at Vanderbilt University.  From 1998-2010, he was a faculty member of the Summer Piano Program at the Chautauqua Music Festival in Chautauqua, New York.  Over the past decade he has held guest professorships at Nanchang University and Central China Normal University in China.  

Joel Schoenhals lives in Ann Arbor with his wife and two children. 

Dr. Richard Shuster

American pianist, Richard Shuster, DMA, is Professor of Music and Director of Piano Studies at Texas Woman's University in Denton, Texas.

Richard Shuster is a versatile pianist and a dedicated pedagogue and mentor to a diverse class of piano students majoring in piano performance, piano pedagogy, music therapy, music education and liberal arts-music. His student-centered teaching integrates a natural approach to technique and focuses on injury prevention, sound/color production, and musical style. In addition to applied piano, Shuster teaches piano literature courses, chamber music, accompanying, and class piano. He also directs Hungarian Music, a 2-week study-abroad course in Budapest, Hungary. Shuster was awarded a Fulbright Scholar Grant to teach piano literature courses at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary in 2019.

Shuster is in demand as a guest teacher and adjudicator, and he is an active performer of a wide range of solo and chamber repertoire. He has performed the piano music of Gabriel Fauré extensively in the U.S. and abroad and was a featured performer at the Focus on Piano Literature: Gabriel Fauré conference at the University of North Carolina Greensboro.  

“Last but hardly least, pianist Richard Shuster gave a presentation of the Nocturnes, playing six of them while significantly enhancing his listeners’ awareness and appreciation of the magic Fauré wrought in them across a 46-year period, starting around 1875. Stunning.” – John Lambert, Classical Voice of North Carolina

Shuster’s most recent CD, Gabriel Fauré: The Complete Nocturnes was released on the Fleur de Son label to great critical acclaim.

“Shuster… seems totally at home with this idiom. He brings each to life and has no technical limitations. There is an insight here that only a master musician can bring. Singing melodies, complex chromatic harmonies, and a surprising amount of counterpoint are all balanced and shaped… Shuster’s legato playing serves the beautiful melodic sections very well. It is rare to hear a disc so captivating… I will return to this often.”  ­­– James Harrington, American Record Guide

In addition to performing solo repertoire, Shuster is an accomplished chamber music performer and regularly collaborates on works large and small with accomplished musicians in the North Texas region. He has performed with a number of local established groups including Mount Vernon Music’s Orchard Ensemble and with musicians of the Fort Worth Symphony on the Spectrum Chamber Music Society concert series.

“C’est l’heure exquise,” the singer sings in the third number of Gabriel Fauré’s  La bonne chanson (“The Good Song”). And so it was Wednesday evening at Texas Woman’s University’s Margo Jones Hall, as tenor Derek Chester and pianist Richard Shuster presented as exquisite an hour’s worth of music as could be imagined...the two musicians shared rare sensitivity to texts, textures and harmonic subtleties.” – Scott Cantrell, Dallas Morning News

Recently, Shuster was featured as a guest soloist with the Texas Woman’s University choirs in a rare performance of Enrique Granados’ Cant de les Estrelles, a colossal work for piano solo, triple chorus, and organ.

Shuster has served as guest teacher and adjudicator at a variety of institutions in the United States and abroad including the week-long Seattle Young Artists Music Festival. He spent one month teaching, performing, and leading curriculum development activities at St. Paul University Manila, Philippines as a Fulbright Specialist. He presented a session on the online pedagogy practicum of his hybrid piano pedagogy class at the Group Piano and Piano Pedagogy Forum (GP3) in Cincinnati, Ohio. He has been a guest teacher at the Vienna International Piano Academy in Austria, Marco Polo Festival in Querceto, Italy, and Mukogawa Women’s University in Hyogo, Japan. He has also traveled extensively throughout Taiwan serving as master class teacher and examiner for the International Piano Performance Examination Committee.

Shuster earned the Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music in Piano Performance and Related Literature degrees from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and the Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance degree from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. Shuster was initiated as a National Arts Associate by Sigma Alpha Iota music fraternity, an award recognizing his accomplishments as a distinguished educator and performing pianist.

Dr. Evan Mitchell