About Our Faculty

Edoardo Bellotti has extensive teaching experience, having been Professor of Organ, Harpsichord and Improvisation in several musical institutions and universities including the Conservatory of  Trossingen and the University of Bremen in Germany, the University of Udine and the Conservatory of Trento in Italy.

A virtuoso organist and renowned improviser, Bellotti performs at leading festivals and concert venues throughout the world. He is currently collaborating in a project of new organ music and visual art in Milan, in conjunction with the art installation of the American minimalist Dan Flavin. He has performed the complete works of Cesar Franck, and has worked with orchestras in Italy and abroad, performing a wide spectrum of repertoire, including the Italian premiere of Satyagraha by Philip Glass. He is also considered a leading expert in the performance of renaissance and baroque keyboard music.

He combines his international performing career with musicological research and teaching, publishing articles as well as new critical editions of music of the 17th and 18th centuries. He is a frequent guest lecturer at international conferences. He has made several critically acclaimed recordings on historical instruments, including Promenade (Loft Recordings), a recording of organ repertoire and original improvisations on the Eastman School of Music’s Italian baroque organ at the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester.

Johnandrew Slominski enjoys a distinguished reputation as a performer, theorist, author, speaker, and pedagogue.  His elegant playing has earned praise from composers and critics alike.  Slominski has been hailed as “a remarkable, brilliant, and gifted pianist” (Chautauquan Daily), commended for performing with “a great deal of intellect” (KBPS 89.9 FM Portland), and recognized for his communicative performance: “I was profoundly moved by his performance… He has a musicianship that transcends his youthfulness.”  (Eye on Sun Valley).  His 2016 San Francisco concert debut, presented by the New Piano Collective, earned praise as “awe-inspiring” and “ear-opening” from Stephen Smoliar of the San Francisco Examiner.  Slominski seamlessly navigates the landscape of a varied and thriving career as a soloist, chamber musician, music theorist, author, pedagogue, and speaker.  Highlights of the current season include performances of piano concerti of Schumann and Mozart, a set of recordings for Oxford University Press, an all-Schubert CD released on the Soundset Recordings label (reviewed as “imaginative, colorful, and remarkable” by Fanfare Magazine), and more than a dozen teaching and speaking engagements in the United States and Asia.

A child prodigy, Slominski gave his first public performance at age 5, won his first piano competition at age 6, and entered college at 15.  By 21, Slominski earned three degrees from the Eastman School of Music including a Master of Music in Performance and Literature, a Master of Arts in Pedagogy of Music Theory, and a Bachelor of Music in Performance; his first professorship followed two years later.  He was unanimously nominated for (and received) Eastman's coveted Performer's Certificate in recognition of outstanding concert artistry—the youngest individual to have received that honor. While completing the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Eastman, he was awarded the Prize for Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student and the Jerald C. Graue Fellowship in recognition for his musicological research.  His innovative performance projects and pedagogical research have been supported by grants from institutions including the Classics Abroad Society and the Andrew Mellon Foundation.  A specialist in the field of eighteenth-century music, Slominski is the founder and director of “Classical Music on the Spot”, an institute dedicated to the research, pedagogy, and performance of eighteenth-century style improvisation at the keyboard.

Praised for his virtuosity, innovative programming, and broad repertoire, Slominski performs throughout North America, Europe, and Asia; recent guest artist appearances have included concerts, master classes, and lectures at the Chautauqua Institution for Fine and Performing Arts (NY), Sarasota Music Festival (FL), Sarasota Steinway Society (FL), St. Petersburg College Piano Series (FL), Dakota Sky International Piano Festival (SD), Sunderman Recital Series (PA), Sherman Clay Steinway, Portland (OR), Sun Valley Artist Series (ID), Jan Deyl Conservatory (Czech Republic), Salle Cortot (France), Cecil Arts Hall (Seoul), Gloria Music Institute (Seoul), and the Tel Aviv Early Music Seminar (Israel). As a competition laureate, Slominski was awarded first prize in the Chautauqua International Piano Competition and was the silver medalist in the inaugural International Keyboard Odyssiad Piano Competition.  He records for Centaur Records and Soundset Recordings.  His principal studies were with Rebecca Penneys; additional teachers have included Robert Levin, John Perry, Steven Laitz, Dorothy Fahlman, Malcolm Bilson, Joseph Silverstein, and Jean-Francois Antonioli.  Slominski has held teaching positions at the Sunderman Conservatory at Gettysburg College and Virginia Commonwealth University and he has served as a joint faculty member at the Eastman School of Music in both piano and music theory.  From 2012-2017 Slominski held the position of Assistant Professor of Music Theory at the Eastman School of Music, and is a founding faculty member of the Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival in Tampa, Florida, where he teaches in the summer months.  In 2017 he joined the faculty of Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon.  Slominski is a New Piano Collective artist and a co-founder of the San Francisco International Piano Festival.

Jake Svendsen, Classical Music on the Spot intern for the 2018 season, is a Rochester, New York-based jazz musician and teacher with research interests in classical improvisation and jazz theory. He started jazz piano lessons at age 10 and began playing professionally at age 13 in his hometown of Eugene, Oregon. While in high school, he studied with classically-trained Portland jazz pianist Darrell Grant, received Downbeat Magazine’s Outstanding Performance Award and was a member of the Oregon AllState Jazz Band.

Since graduating from the New England Conservatory, Jake has spent much of his professional career in Seattle, Washington, performing regularly with his ensembles while maintaining an active teaching studio. His teaching experience includes studio, ensemble, and classroom teaching on ear training, music theory, improvisation, and other topics.

Jake has a Bachelor’s degree in jazz performance from the New England Conservatory, graduating with academic honors. He also spent a year studying humanities and a range of musical studies under Professor David Schiff at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, and is currently a Master’s Degree candidate at the Eastman School of Music. At Eastman he has studied with Gary Versace, taken classes on classical improvisation with Edoardo Bellotti, and worked as an assistant to Dariusz Terefenko, teaching music theory for Eastman’s undergraduate jazz majors.