Dr. Paul Wirth
Camp Artistic Director PAUL WIRTH is a prominent figure in our national piano teaching community.  His unique combination of masterful teaching, performing, and sense of humor has produced remarkable results in his specialty of working with pre-college age students.  With his BM from Temple University, and his MM and DM degrees in Piano Performance from Indiana University, Dr. Wirth co-founded and is the Artistic Director of the Wirth Center for the Performing Arts (formerly Central Minnesota Music School) based in St. Cloud, MN.  He has been the featured speaker at local, regional, and national organizations.  His students have been first-prize winners of regional, national, and international competitions and performed over 60 times as soloists with orchestras.  A unique supporter of young performers, he co-founded the Salon se Lève Concert Series in Minneapolis, which awards over $2,000 annually to emerging young artists.

Dr. Nancy Bachus

A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, NANCY BACHUS is an internationally known clinician and teacher who taught more than 25 years at the college and university levels.  Certified as a Master Teacher by MTNA, she currently has an independent studio in Hudson, Ohio.  A student of pianists Eugene List and the accompanist Brooks Smith, she has coached in recent years with Fernando Laires.  She has performed solo recitals in many states, Italy and Canada, and was in the original “Monster Concerts” in Lincoln Center, Radio City Music Hall, Carnegie Hall, and the White House.

Nancy served on the Board of Directors of the American Liszt Society and is the Associate Editor for Repertoire and Performance for Clavier Companion magazine.  As an author and clinician for Alfred Music Publishing, she has presented to piano teachers’ organizations throughout the United States, England, Scotland, Southeast Asia, and at the 2005 European Piano Teachers Association Conference in Manchester, England.  A tour of Australia is planned for 2010.  She has authored the highly acclaimed “Spirit” series:  Baroque Spirit, Classical Spirit, Romantic Spirit, and Beyond the Romantic Spirit; and the new Exploring Piano Classics series published by Alfred.

Dr. Herbert Johnson

HERBERT JOHNSON was appointed Professor of Piano and Director of Keyboard Activities at Bethel University in September 2008. Prior to this position Johnson taught applied piano and theory at North Central University for fourteen years. Johnson received his doctorate in piano performance from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. Prior to his arrival in the Twin Cities he taught at King’s College in Briarcliff Manor, New York, and Evangel College in Springfield, Missouri.

Johnson participates in numerous musical activities in the metropolitan area including chamber music recitals, worship services and sacred concerts. In the summers of 1997-98, he traveled to the Ukraine with the Kairos Chamber Ensemble performing in churches and musical institutions in Kiev and Cherkassy, two of the country’s largest cities. He has also performed with the Kruspe Horn Trio throughout the state of Minnesota.

Dr. Jo Anne Link
Pianist JO ANNE LINK has appeared extensively as soloist, duo-pianist, and chamber musician throughout the Midwest and Southwest. She has appeared as soloist with the Maple Mount Festival Orchestra, the Jordan Conservatory Orchestra, and has toured as soloist with the University of Arizona Orchestra. Her teachers have included the Rudolph Ganz pupil and master teacher, Martin Marks, and the eminent pianist, Lee Luvisi (pupil of Rudolph Serkin and Mieczyslav Horszowski). Among the many awards received by her students are the following: Winner-MTNA National Baldwin Awards-State Division and 1st and 2nd place in the International Recording Competition of Austin, Texas. Dr. Link lives in St. Paul with her husband, Dr. Joseph Zins, where they share a studio devoted to the training of gifted and talented young musicians.

Dr. Horacio Nuguid
Pianist HORACIO NUGUID has inspired and captivated listeners with his “digital precision, elegance, and beautiful tone.” He received the BM at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, MM at the University of Northern Iowa, and DMA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He maintains an active performance career both as a soloist and collaborator. He was a faculty member of the University of Northern Iowa and the Rochester Community College. As a member of the MMTA, Dr. Nuguid is also active in presenting master classes, lecture-recitals, and workshops. In his efforts to bring
more live performances of classical music to the community, Horacio founded the Rochester Chamber Music Society, a nonprofit organization devoted to presenting chamber music concerts.

Dr. Daniel Rieppel
DANIEL RIEPPEL, a native Minnesotan of Austrian descent, holds performance degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, Indiana University, and a DMA from the University of Minnesota. In 1990, Dr. Rieppel made his Ordway debut recital which was broadcast by MPR, and since has performed throughout the United States, Germany, Austria, England, and the Republic of Panama both on his own and as a soloist with several orchestras. He has worked often as a chamber musician with members of both the
Minnesota Orchestra and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and recently founded the Schubert Trio, of which he is a member. In 1998, Dr. Rieppel joined the faculty of Southwest State University. He divides his time between the Twin Cities and Marshall, where he lives with his wife, Panamanian harpsichordist Julieta Alvarado, and their two children.

Dr. Joseph Zins
As winner of the prestigious Young Pianist Competition of the Indiana State Symphony Society, pianist JOSEPH ZINS made his professional debut to critical acclaim at the age of seventeen with the Indianapolis Symphony.  In addition to 15 subsequent solo appearances with the ISO before the age of twenty-two, he has also appeared as soloist with many other orchestras and concertized widely as soloist, duo-pianist and chamber player in works ranging from Bach to Messiaen. Joseph’s musical heritage is an eclectic mix of the Russian, French, and German Schools. His students have excelled in local, state, and national competitions, and have appeared on NPR’s program From the Top and Music da camera. Dr. Zins was named Thursday Musical’s Teacher of the Year, 2003-2004.