Piano
Dr. Kent McWilliams
Kent McWilliams has enjoyed a successful performing career since his debut in Rachmaninov’s Piano Third Concerto with the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He has been an award winner at competitions of Porto (Portugal), the Regina Symphony and the Canadian National Competitive Festival of Music. Kent has also performed live recitals and concertos on the CBC in Canada and the ABC in Australia.
Kent holds a Doctorate in Piano Performance from the University of Montreal where he studied with Marc Durand. He completed doctoral research in Poland with Professor Andrzej Jasinski while exploring the Polish folk elements in Chopin’s Mazurkas. Kent also earned an Artist Diploma under Oleg Maisenberg at the Musikhochschule in Stuttgart, Germany and completed Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees with Boris Lysenko at the University of Toronto. His first teacher was Maude McGuire, piano pedagogue in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Kent was a professor of piano at St. Olaf College in Minnesota for 18 years prior to moving to Kent State University in 2019. He taught previously at Wilfrid Laurier University, Brock University, and the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. He began teaching at the Main Street Music Studios in Fairfax, Virgina in August, 2023.
Dr. McWilliams has judged the national finals of the MTNA competition and the Canadian Music Competitions. He has also judged the Canadian Chopin Festival Competition as well as numerous regional competitions and MTNA auditions in 25 states and provinces. Kent has been an adjudicator for the Royal Conservatory of Music for over 25 years. Kent is also a very experienced clinician, having presented performance and pedagogy workshops to teachers at many national events. At the 2010 MTNA national convention, he presented the opening plenary session to help celebrate the 200th anniversary of Chopin’s birth.
Contact Dr. McWilliams: kent.m.mcwilliams@gmail.com