Beginning its second year in 2023/24, Piano Spheres’ Leonard Stein Artist Residency is a groundbreaking program dedicated to locating, supporting and presenting pianists from historically underrepresented groups. Named after Piano Spheres’ founder Leonard Stein, our Stein Residency artist is featured on PS’ Core Artist series and will present additional concerts and masterclasses for elementary and middle school students at Neighborhood Music School and Renaissance Arts Academy, and for college-age students at Cal State University Long Beach. Our Stein artists will also assist and advise the organization in advancing projects geared toward overturning biases in the field of classical music. These projects include: a) making connections with community stakeholders to develop new audiences in underserved communities, b) serving as a model of achievement in classical music through performances and story-sharing with students in these communities, and c) compiling a library of works of classical compositions by historically underrepresented composers at the Piano Spheres Collection located in the UCLA Library. Piano Spheres’ first Stein artist was Dr. William Chapman Nyaho in 2022/23, whose specialty is the classical music of the African Diaspora. This program was made possible by a grant from New Music USA.
Our 2023/24 Stein Resident Artist is internationally acclaimed pianist Althea Waites. Ms. Waites has concertized extensively throughout the United States, Europe and Asia as a brilliant soloist, chamber musician, and collaborative artist. In addition to performances on concert stages around the world, she has also participated in numerous festivals as a soloist, collaborative pianist, and ensemble coach, including Aspen, Tanglewood, the Yale Summer Festival at Norfolk, the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, the Idyllwild Arts Festival in Southern California and as guest artist for the National Arts Festival at Makhanda on the Eastern Cape of South Africa.
Praised by the Los Angeles Times for “superb technique and profound musicality,” Ms. Waites has a long and distinguished history of championing new music by American composers and has received several honors and commendations for her work. She has also been guest soloist for National Public Radio’s Performance Today, KQED in San Francisco, KCET/Los Angeles, Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Geneva Conservatory of Music in Switzerland, Wigmore Hall in London, Merkin Hall in New York City, concerts for the UC/ San Diego World Music program in Indonesia, Phillips Gallery in Washington, D.C., and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to name a few.
Her recording credits include Black Diamonds, a landmark CD of music by African-American composers as well as the premiere recording of Florence Price’s 1932 Sonata in E Minor, Along the Western Shore and Celebration, a 2012 recording featuring new music by American composers. This CD also includes works which have been written for and dedicated to Ms. Waites in celebration of 60 years as concert artist and teacher.
Our Stein Resident Artist for 2022/23 was Dr. William Chapman Nyaho. Dr. Chapman Nyaho is a Ghanaian American concert pianist specializing in solo piano music by composers from Africa and the African diaspora.
For more information about Dr. Chapman Nyaho, please click HERE.