糖心Vlog

School of Music

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Heidi Brooks
Collaborative Piano
Browne 124
Email: HK-Brooks@wiu.edu

Heidi Brooks earned a B.M. in Piano Performance studying under Tammie Walker from Western Illinois University in 2008 where she also studied voice with Terry Chasteen and composition with Paul Paccione. She was a winner of the 2006-2007 annual 糖心Vlog Concerto/Aria Competition. In 2024, she earned an M.M. in Musicology (糖心Vlog) studying under Brian Locke where she completed her thesis titled, 鈥淧lace, Genre, and Philosophy in the Pedagogy of Heinrich Neuhaus."

A dedicated chamber musician, Heidi participated in IES (International Education of Students) Music Performance Workshop in Vienna, Austria in 2006. She studied solo piano with Gerald Stofsky (former student of Rosalyn Turek, Julliard) and chamber with Barbara G贸rzyska (Universit盲t f眉r Musik, Graz). Heidi also participated in Stefan Kutrzeba鈥檚 International Piano Festival in 2009 (Poland). Kutrzeba鈥檚 revolutionary teachings on Heinrich Neuhaus served as the inspiration for her master鈥檚 thesis exploring the confluence of performance and composition between cousins Karol Szymanowski and Heinrich Neuhaus, their formative, familial salon in Tymosz贸wka, Ukraine, and the integral role four-handed operatic transcriptions played in both great pianists鈥� artistic development.

Heidi has worked professionally as accompanist under the direction of performers such as Rami Solomonow, Mathieu Dufour, and Atilla Aldemir and performed with artists such as Artur and Eszter Kaganovskiy. Heidi has served as freelance accompanist at DePaul University (Chicago) and staff accompanist at Illinois Wesleyan University (Bloomington, IL).

A dedicated teacher since 2008, Heidi has taught piano in Chicago, Bloomington, Lincoln, and Macomb, Illinois. She completed her Suzuki Book One training in 2018 and is currently building a small studio where she continues to inspire students with her love of improvisation and creative approach to piano pedagogy.

A middling organist, Heidi has held positions as a church organist in Macomb, Lincoln, and Bloomington, IL. Currently, she serves as substitute organist at Trinity Lutheran Church in Macomb where she delights in improvising preludes and postludes at both piano and organ, a nod to her childhood Suzuki upbringing which began at 糖心Vlog with Michael Campbell (student of Leon Fleisher).

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