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Media Relations
Kansas State University
9 Anderson Hall
Manhattan, KS 66506
785-532-6415
media@k-state.edu

Information provided by K-State Media Relations, K-State's news service, may be reproduced without permission. The marks and names of Kansas State University are protected trademarks and may not be used in any commercial or private endeavor without the approval of the university.

Source: Kurt Gartner, 785-532-3808, kgartner@k-state.edu
Photo available. Contact media@k-state.edu or 785-532-6415.

Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008

PETRELLA ENSEMBLE TO BRING PIANO PERCUSSION DUO MUSIC TO K-STATE

MANHATTAN -- The Kansas State University department of music will host a recital by guest artists Diane Helfers Petrella and Nick Petrella at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 21, in 204 McCain Auditorium.

The recital is free and open to the public. The duo will perform contemporary works for piano and percussion, with an emphasis on music of the millennium. Most of the works in the program were composed after 2000.

Helfers Petrella is currently an assistant professor of piano and piano pedagogy at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music. From 2001-2006 she served in a similar position at Oakland University in Rochester, Mich. She has also served on the faculty of Texas Wesleyan University and taught applied piano and class piano at the University of North Texas and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Helfers Petrella received a doctorate in piano performance from the University of North Texas, an artist diploma from Texas Christian University, a master's in piano performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's in piano performance and music education from Eastern Illinois University.

She has taught piano to pre-college students and adults in the Texas Christian University preparatory program, the Madison School of Music, Wayland Academy and the Eastern Illinois University preparatory program. She was on the piano faculty of Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp for 10 years, serving as chair of Blue Lake's piano department from 2000-2002.

Petrella is the director of education for Sabian Ltd. and adjunct assistant professor of percussion at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music. As a performer he has commissioned and premiered more than a dozen compositions and has many solo and chamber music performances to his credit. Petrella also performs regularly with the Kansas City Symphony and has played with several large ensembles including the Fort Worth Symphony, Fort Worth/Dallas Ballet, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Michigan Opera.

He received a doctorate in musical arts from the University of Iowa, a master's in music from the University of Michigan and a bachelor's in music education from Penn State University. Petrella was on the faculty of Oakland University from 2002-2006 and was the director of percussion studies at Texas Christian University from 1996 to 2001. In 1998, the university's percussion ensemble was the first percussion ensemble invited to perform at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland.