Piano Performance
(for info on piano teaching, please scroll down)
I have over 30 years of experience as an accompanist. I have accompanied student instrumental, vocal, and choral recitals at venues including Carnegie Hall, the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Princeton University, the Aaron Copland School of Music, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Tchaikovsky Conservatory.
I have extensive experience sight-reading, playing reductions of orchestral scores, coaching, composing and arranging music, as well as performing with instrumentalists and singers in everything from Baroque improvisation to musical theater.
For the past 20 years I have also worked as a freelance liturgical musician, learning music at short notice and performing alongside both community members and professionals.
Listen to me play instrumental chamber music:
Robert Schumann, Bilder Aus Osten Op. 66 (with a student at U Penn; I’m playing the lower part):
My own composition Music in Memory (with Ayane Kozasa, viola):
Howard Hanson, Serenade for Flute and Piano, Op. 35 (with Elivi Varga, flute):
Listen to me accompany vocalists:
(turn speakers down)
with Dan Callaway, voice:
with Josephine Kraemer, Voice, and Bill Kirkley, clarinet:
Piano Teaching
At the University of Pennsylvania, I taught piano to undergraduates for credit and non-credit for eight years. After receiving my doctorate from the school, I also designed the piano portion of the musicianship competency test for their theory program. At Settlement School of Music in Philadelphia, I taught individual and group piano classes for children through adults from 2012-2016. This included preparing students for their annual juries and for recitals. Here in Massachusetts, I taught piano at Endicott College 2025-2026.
Currently, I teach a small number of piano students at my studio in Beverly, MA.
All ages are welcome. I use a curriculum I adapted from Settlement, which includes technique, repertoire, music theory, ear training, and sight-reading. For interested students, I also include improvisation, reading from lead sheets, and/or composing for piano. My recommendations of lesson books and repertoire are customized to each student.
Children: age 7-8 is a good time to start piano because the hand is large enough for proper technique. I teach using music notation rather than the Suzuki method, so students must be old enough to read.
I provide individual instruction as well as a mini group lesson split between two students of the same level– for example, a child who wants to learn alongside a friend. Plus, it’s easier to learn duets that way!
Adults: In addition to teaching the skills listed above, I have also worked with undergraduates and adults learning to play piano by ear. I’ve also worked with singers on improving their ability to accompany themselves at the piano, as well as with music majors looking to improve sight-reading skills and adults picking up the instrument for the first time.
For current rates and availability: info@eleanoraversa.com.
I’m a member of NSPTG, which organizes piano recitals.
