Keyboard Area Faculty
An active soloist and chamber musician, American pianist Kate Boyd has performed solo recitals at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Schubert’s birth house in Vienna, the National Concert Hall in Dublin, the Musikhalle Hamburg, in addition to many places throughout the US, Europe and Canada. As a faculty member at Butler University, she has appeared as a soloist with each of the University’s large ensembles in performances ranging from Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy to Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.
Dr. Boyd’s first solo CD, Music for the End of Winter (Ravello), consists of previously-unrecorded works for solo piano by composers Daniel Koontz, Michael Schelle, Frank Felice, Howard Frazin and John Halle. Her most recent solo CD, Sonatas and Interludes by John Cage (Navona), was met with critical acclaim and has received hundreds of thousands of downloads and streams to date.
For more than ten years, Dr. Boyd was a founding member of the New York-based Oracle Trio, a trio that performed works from the 18th century to the present. She has performed dozens of chamber music works, including a televised performance of George Crumb’s Music for a Summer Evening, for two pianos and two percussionists; and John Corigliano’s Chiaroscuro, for two pianos tuned a quarter tone apart. In addition to her work as a soloist and chamber musician, Boyd has performed in multimedia collaborations with other disciplines, including the Orbit Dance Centre dance troupe in Northern Ireland and live performances with the dance program at Butler University.
As an educator, Boyd has presented lectures and workshops at state, regional, and international conferences, including the International John Cage Conference in Malaysia, the European Piano Teachers Association International Conference, the MTNA National Conference, the College Music Society Great Lakes Regional Conference, and various state conferences. As an adjudicator, she has judged for events including the Walgreens National Concerto Competition, the ISSMA state competition, the MTNA Southern Division Competitions, and Stickley Piano Competition. For three years Dr. Boyd served on the national Fulbright screening committee for piano applicants. She regularly gives invited masterclasses and workshops to students through teacher organizations and universities, and has worked with students of all ages.
Boyd received the 2019 Teacher of the Year award from the Indiana Music Teachers Association and the 2017 Outstanding Professor of the Year award from Butler University, a Creative Renewal Fellowship from the Arts Council of Indianapolis (2009), and an Indiana Arts Commission Grant. Other awards and prizes include a Fulbright scholarship and fellowships at the Tanglewood Center, Blossom Music Center, the Banff Centre for the Arts, and Prussia Cove (England).
Boyd received her Bachelor of Music from Oberlin Conservatory, her Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts from Stony Brook University, and a Diploma from the Hannover (Germany) Academy of Music. She also received a Fulbright Grant to attend the Cologne (Germany) Academy of Music. Major teachers include Gilbert Kalish, Arie Vardi, Arbo Valdma, and Sedmara Rutstein. In addition to her major teachers, she received extensive coachings and attended residential masterclasses with Leon Fleisher, Peter Serkin, Gyorgy Sebok, John Perry, Reinbert DeLeeuw, and Ronald Copes, among others.
Kate Boyd is Professor of Piano and Piano Area Coordinator at Butler University. For eleven summers she taught at the internationally-renowned Interlochen Arts Camp in northern Michigan, where she was head of piano faculty for four of those years. Before coming to Butler, she was on the faculty of Heidelberg University, in Tiffin, Ohio, and for ten summers taught at Kinhaven Music School, in Weston, Vermont.
In 2021, Dr. Boyd started a YouTube Channel, The Piano Prof, where she uploads instructional videos geared toward high school, collegiate, graduate, and adult amateur pianists, as well as piano teachers. You can find it here.
Dr. Boyd has a weekly newsletter with practice tips and updates on her performance schedule. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.
Interested in learning more about how to study piano with Dr. Boyd? Fill out this contact form!
R. Kent Cook is Professor Emeritus at Illinois Wesleyan University, where he was Head of the Piano Department until his retirement in 2020. He has been an active presence in the Midwest for over three decades as teacher, adjudicator, and presenter. Praised by Cleveland Classical.com for his “colorful and exquisitely voiced playing,” Cook has concertized as soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States and Europe, with noteworthy European performances in Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, England and Italy. A Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Cook studied biology and piano performance at Baylor University before earning both Master of Music and Doctor of Music with distinction at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Among his mentors, he credits eminent pianists Leonard Hokanson, Eteri Andjaparidze, Michel Block, James Tocco, Karen Shaw and Roger Keyes. In retirement, Cook has settled in Indianapolis where he teaches adjunct at Butler University and plays keyboards in the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. He is Vice President and coordinator of the Collegiate Competitions for the Indianapolis Matinee Musicale, and he is a founding member and officer in the Indianapolis Chapter of the American Liszt Society. “One of my primary goals in this phase of my life is to bring classical music to a varied and diverse audience. I am currently serving as Vice-Chair on the Board of Classical Music Indy, where we are cultivating new audiences through radio, streaming, podcasts and live concerts in and around Indianapolis. I also founded Concerts with a Cause at Central Christian Church, where we present chamber music concerts and partner with local charities to raise awareness and funding for both the charitable organization and local classical musicians.”
Dr. Amanda A. Hopson has worked collaboratively since the age of ten and has performed and recorded with vocalists, instrumentalists, and choral groups for over forty years. She earned her degrees in piano performance from Augustana College (Rock Island, IL) and The University of Texas at Austin, and she comes to Butler after twenty-four years at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, where she was Senior Staff Accompanist, Coordinator of Accompanying, and Coordinator of Keyboard Studies. Amanda was one of the early pianists for the Grammy-winning choir Conspirare, and she has accompanied vocalists in masterclasses given by artists such as Frederica von Stade, Elly Ameling, Thomas Hampson, Nathan Gunn, Jake Heggie, Jason Robert Brown, Stephanie J. Block, Laura Benanti, and Alice Ripley. She particularly relishes performing works by contemporary composers, and in 2013, she collaborated with tenor Kerry Jennings on a Centaur Records recording entitled In My Memory: American Songs and Song Cycles, featuring works by Libby Larsen, Tom Cipullo, Lori Laitman, and Richard Pearson Thomas. It is featured on Libby Larsen’s website as the reference recording of her cycle My Antonía.
DJ Smith has served on the piano faculty of Butler University since 2008. He is the coordinator of the keyboard skills classes. He holds a bachelor’s degree in piano performance from Indiana Wesleyan University and a master’s in piano pedagogy from Butler University. He is a nationally certified teacher in music (NCTM).
DJ Smith is currently the chairman of certification for the Indiana Music Teachers Association. DJ performs regularly as soloist, collaborates with fellow artists, and frequently lectures at conferences and festivals throughout the region. He is the organist of Irvington Presbyterian Church.
Originally from Malaysia, Amy Chee received her Bachelor of Arts in Piano Performance from Universiti Sains Malaysia before earning her Master’s in Music at Butler University. She has more than 15 years experience teaching in the Indianapolis and greater Indianapolis region. Her students range from ages three to adult. Additionally, she teaches private lessons with the Butler Community Arts School, the IUPUI Music Academy, and in her own piano studio in Noblesville. She is also an active accompanist and collaborator, playing in several schools, at private events, weddings, and churches in the Indianapolis area.
Pianist Li-Wen Weng is an active soloist and collaborative pianist. Originally from Taipei, Taiwan, she graduated from National Taiwan Normal University with a double major in Piano Performance and English. After graduation, she attended Indiana University as a scholarship student and graduated with a master’s degree in Piano Performance. She then continued her musical journey by obtaining her Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance and Literature from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her past awards include 2nd Prize Winner of the Alexander & Buono International Piano Competition, the 2nd Prize Winner of the Grand Prize Virtuoso International Music Competition, and the 1st prize winner of the Yamaha Piano Competition. Her music has taken her nationally and internationally including invited performances in Australia,Japan, and Singapore. In addition, she has performed at prestigious venues including Carnegie Weill Recital Hall, Krannert Center, and National Concert Hall in Taipei. Her mentors included world renowned masters Evelyn Brancart, William Heiles, Chia-Wei Chung, Susanne Gruetzmann, and Andrzej Jasinski.
Her past teaching positions include instructor in the Illinois Piano Laboratory Program and also faculty member of the of the online conservatory Discover Melody. She currently serves as both an adjunct instructor of keyboard skills and a collaborative pianist at Butler University.
Aside from teaching, she also performs as a soloist and collaborative pianist in the community playing wide variety of music including jazz, pop, video game, anime, and film music. For more information, please check out: https://drwengstudio.wixsite.com/pianoforsmile
Karen Thickstun teaches piano pedagogy at Butler University and co-advises the Butler MTNA Collegiate Chapter. Thickstun holds degrees in piano performance/economics from Duke University, business administration from University of Virginia, and piano pedagogy from Butler University.
In 2019, Thickstun was recognized by Butler University with the “Woman of Distinction” award, annually given to one staff and one faculty recipient. In 2018, as part of its 100th anniversary, United Way of Central Indiana recognized Thickstun as one of its “100 Heroes” to recognize the positive impact she has made in the community. For 2017-19, Thickstun received a Creative Arts Renewal Fellowship from the Arts Council of Indianapolis, funded by Lilly Endowment, Inc.
Thickstun recently retired as founding director of the Butler Community Arts School. Serving 2,000 children through private lessons, group classes, and camps, instruction is provided by over a hundred Butler University students that she mentored in professional teaching practices. Working with after school programs, community centers, and United Way agencies, Thickstun developed a network of community partners to provide access to the arts for inner-city youth. To fund outreach classes and provide need-based scholarships, she wrote and received grants for more than $100,000 annually for the past eight years.
Thickstun authors a tri-annual column, “It’s All Your Business,” for American Music Teacher. Her articles have also appeared in Keyboard Companionand Clavier Companion. She has presented numerous pedagogy and business sessions at MTNA National Conferences and other local, state and national conferences.
Thickstun is active in the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA), serving as president for 2021-2023. She previously served as MTNA Secretary-Treasurer from 2013-2015, MTNA Vice President from 2015-2017, and MTNA President-Elect from 2019-2021. Recent national appointments include grants and awards task force chair, MTNA Teacher of the Year committee chair, and strategic planning committee. She served as director of East Central Division director on the MTNA Board of Directors from 2008-2010 and chaired the Local Associations Forum. Thickstun is a nationally-certified teacher of music (NCTM) through MTNA.
Thickstun has been active in the Indiana Music Teachers Association (IMTA) as president, trustee chair, newsletter editor, syllabus chair, conference chair, commissioning chair, arts advocacy chair, and bylaws revision chair. She received the Distinguished Service Award in 2002 and the Teacher of the Year award in 2008.
