2023 Conference

November 3-4, 2023 at Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL

The Illinois State Music Teachers Association (ISMTA) is hosting the 2023 State Conference on November 3-4, 2023 at Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL.

Registration opens September 22

Early registration deadline October 23

Conference Resources

Registration Fees: (Early Bird / Regular)

To attend the Friday night banquet or lunches (for an additional fee), you must register by October 23. There will be a cash bar Friday night.

Conference Hotels

Home2 Suites by Hilton DeKalb ($119)

Hampton Inn by Hilton DeKalb ($99)

Conference Artist/Clinician: Frederic Chiu

Frederic Chiu performs in major venues on five continents, such as Lincoln Center in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, The Chatelet in Paris, or the Mozarteum in Buenos Aires, and extensive tours in smaller and unusual venues. He collaborates with Classical music friends Joshua Bell, Pierre Amoyal, Gary Hoffman and the St Lawrence String Quartet, as well as non-Classical friends like jazz pianist Bob James, writer/storyteller David Gonzalez, Shakespearean actor Brian Bedford, and the clown Buffo, trying to bring the vivid live concert experience to as many people as possible. He has worked with conductors such as Christoph Campestrini, John Nelson, Stefan Sanderling, Rodolfo Fischer, Susan Haig, Bernhard Klee, Xian Zhang and Alexander Titov.

Frederic Chiu Biography

Frederic Chiu performs in major venues on five continents, such as Lincoln Center in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, The Chatelet in Paris, or the Mozarteum in Buenos Aires, and extensive tours in smaller and unusual venues. He collaborates with Classical music friends Joshua Bell, Pierre Amoyal, Gary Hoffman and the St Lawrence String Quartet, as well as non-Classical friends like jazz pianist Bob James, writer/storyteller David Gonzalez, Shakespearean actor Brian Bedford, and the clown Buffo, trying to bring the vivid live concert experience to as many people as possible. He has worked with conductors such as Christoph Campestrini, John Nelson, Stefan Sanderling, Rodolfo Fischer, Susan Haig, Bernhard Klee, Xian Zhang and Alexander Titov.

Among his recital programs, Frederic Chiu presents “Classical Smackdown,” an on-going series where composers face off in head-to-head comparisons, with listeners voting for their favorite composer. After his first successful Smackdown between Debussy and Prokofiev, he presented Bach vs. Philip Glass, with results tracked at ClassicalSmackdown.com. The latest installment: Young Geniuses Smackdown between Mendelssohn and Chopin before the age of 20.

Frederic Chiu has released over 30 recordings, including the most extensive complete piano works of Prokofiev, works of Chopin, Liszt, Ravel, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Schubert, Rossini and Grieg, as well as the Beethoven/Liszt Symphony V and VII, and the solo piano version of Carnival of the Animals. His recent projects include “Hymns and Dervishes,” music of Gurdjieff/de Hartmann, “Distant Voices: Piano music of Claude Debussy & Gao Ping” and Schubert Fantasy for Violin and Piano with William Harvey. He is a regular on St. Paul Sunday and Performance Today, and a favorite of public radios across the country.

Chiu’s teaching program Deeper Piano Studies – a philosophic and holistic approach to piano playing – has been featured at the Juilliard School, Indiana University’s Jacob School of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, the New England Conservatory, the Banff Centre and most of the National Conservatories in China. He currently teaches at both Carnegie Mellon University and The Hartt School in Hartford, CT.

With his wife, Jeanine Esposito, Chiu is the co-founder and artistic director of Beechwood Arts and Innovation in Connecticut, focused on the crossroads between art, innovation and transformation. His efforts to promote music coincide with his desire to foster peace and understanding, recently recognized by a Senatorial Commendation from the United States Congress. He has been, for more than 35 years, a Yamaha artist, and has explored the integration of their instruments ranging from the highest-quality acoustic to the purely digital, and all the different hybrid combinations in between.