Jacob Ertl, piano
Photo Credit: Michael DeMaria
Pianist Dr. Jacob Ertl has performed extensively in the United States and throughout Canada, China, France, Israel, Mexico, Panama, Serbia, and Spain. Performance highlights include solo recital debuts at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and Merkin Concert Hall in New York City, and Chicago radio's "Live from WFMT" concert series. As a concerto soloist, he has been featured with the Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra, New York State Ballet Orchestra, and Keystone Winds, among others. Recently, Ertl released the world premiere recording of Fisher Tull’s Piano Concerto on Klavier Records, distributed worldwide by Naxos.A sought after performer and artist teacher, Ertl has given one-month recital and master class tours in China annually since 2016. He was also invited as the featured guest artist for the New York Music Teachers Association State Conference, Pennsylvania Music Teachers Association State Conference, Dakota Sky International Piano Festival (South Dakota) and the 11th World Piano Conference (Novi Sad, Serbia). In addition, he has given dozens of recitals and masterclasses at universities and colleges across the United States, including the Colburn School, Penn State University, Ithaca College, Lawrence University Conservatory, and Arizona State University.An experienced chamber musician, Ertl has been on the artist rosters for the Lake George Music Festival (NY) and the Fox River ChamberFest (WI) for several seasons. In these festivals and others, he regularly collaborates with principal and sectional musicians from the Baltimore, Pittsburg, Milwaukee, National, Richmond, Dallas, and Rochester symphony orchestras. For three seasons, he toured throughout New York, Maryland, and Pennsylvania as a member of Trio D'Artagnan sponsored by the Lake George Music Festival “On Tour”. Ertl has also performed at the Nice International Summer Academy, Oviedo International Piano Festival, Gijon International Piano Festival, Tel-Hai International Masterclasses, Banff International Keyboard Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, PianoFest in the Hamptons, PianoTexas, and the PianoArts 20th Anniversary Festival.Ertl is currently a member of two active contemporary chamber music ensembles: Alla Balena and the Eastern Standard Trio. As a core member of the Alla Balena Ensemble, he has performed chamber music and as a concerto soloist on the Eastman School of Music Artist Recital Series (Rochester, NY) and at the Mexican Cultural Institute’s Performance Series (Washington, D.C.). In the 2019-2020 season, the ensemble tours to Mexico twice, and will premiere a new semi-staged work by Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez. As a founding member of the Eastern Standard Trio, he has commissioned over a dozen new works, recorded two full-length commercial albums, organized annual concert tours for six seasons, and appeared at numerous national and international conferences. In addition, Ertl was previously a member of the Eastman Broadband Ensemble for several seasons, touring to Mexico for the Chihuahua International Music Festival and to New York City’s Symphony Space. He also performed as guest artist with Alia Musica, a Pittsburg-based new music ensemble, at the Musicarte Festival of Contemporary Music (Panama City, Panama).An advocate of music outreach, Ertl was the Artist-in-Residence Fellow for the PianoArts organization for eight years, where he performed hundreds of interactive outreach concerts. He was also instrumental in developing their performance education programs and has mentored several new PianoArtist fellows in preparing diverse and engaging outreach programs focused on communication with audiences. Ertl is also currently the Director of the annual Nazareth College Piano Competition and Piano Camp for pre-college students. In addition, he is the Coordinator of the annual Nazareth College Piano Pedagogy Workshop featuring the leading pedagogues of our time, and co-director of the NYSMTA Mini-Pedagogy Symposium.In demand as an adjudicator of international, national, and regional piano competitions, Ertl recently served on the juries of the Thousand Islands International Piano Competition, PianoArts North American Competition and Festival, NY State Heddy Killian Competition, NYSMTA competitions, Wisconsin Youth Concerto Competition, as well as several regional competitions run by local music teachers organizations. Ertl is also often invited to present lectures and workshops at various conferences and institutions, including a lecture recital at the Pennsylvania State Music Conference on music for speaking pianist, which featured a complete performance of “De Profundis” by Frederic Rzewski. For the past two years, he gave guest lectures on music careers and outreach at the Eastman School of Music for their Arts Leadership Program.Ertl completed the Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees at the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with and served as teaching assistant for Nelita True. He earned the Bachelor of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music studying with Robert Shannon. His pre-college mentors in piano and chamber music were Michael Kim and Carol Leybourn. Ertl also studied regularly with other artist teachers, including Arie Vardi, Vladimir Krainev, Pascal Roge, Julian Martin, Robert McDonald, Boris Slutsky, and Emanuel Krasovsky.Ertl currently serves as the Coordinator of Keyboard Studies, Associate Professor of Piano, and Program Director for the BM in Performance at the Nazareth College School of Music in Rochester, New York. Ertl’s college students have been prizewinners in competitions, soloed with the Nazareth College Symphony Orchestra, and have been accepted into several of the leading graduate programs in piano performance and pedagogy in the country. He also teaches a select studio of pre-college students who have been consistent top prize winners in several piano competitions in the Rochester area, and have given concerto performances in Kodak Hall at the Eastman Theater. Ertl also holds positions as the NYSMTA Collegiate Faculty and Chapter Chair, Director of the Lake George Music Festival On Tour, and Visiting Guest Professor of Piano at Shandong Normal University in China.