Deborah Belcher
Piano Faculty
Deborah Belcher has performed as recitalist and collaborative pianist throughout the Midwest, the Eastern U.S. and in Canada, and has appeared as guest soloist with orchestras including the Sammartini Chamber Orchestra (IL), the Elmhurst Symphony (IL) , the Windermere Chamber Orchestra (Ontario), the Converse College Chamber Orchestra (SC) and The Blue Ridge Symphony Orchestra (NC). Her chamber music affiliations have included tenures as founding member and pianist in The Abelard Trio, Trio Appassionata and, for twenty-five years, the Statsky-Belcher Duo.
Dr. Belcher has been heard in public radio and television broadcasts throughout the Midwestern and Southern states. This versatile pianist’s repertoire extends beyond the standard works to include works by American women composers and music employingavant gardeuse of the piano. In 2004 she developed an affinity for the music of Astor Piazzolla and became an aficionado of Argentine Tango.
Having pursued a thorough academic education, Dr. Belcher holds performance degrees with Honors from Winthrop University, Indiana University, and Michigan State University, where she studied respectively with Dr. Jess Casey, Dr. Karen Shaw and Professor Joseph Evans. She studied additionally with Eugene List at The Eastman School of Music and Robert Goldsand at the Manhattan School of Music, and has performed for & received coaching from Walter Hautzig and Lorin Hollander in master class settings. Dr. Belcher has studied chamber music with such artists as Raya Garbusova, Josef Gingold, & Tadeusz Wronski, and has received chamber music coaching from Krysztof Penderecki and members of The (original) Juilliard String Quartet.
Dr. Belcher’s teaching engagements have taken her to The Interlochen Center for the Arts, The Cleveland Institute of Music, and Converse College. During those tenures she simultaneously maintained a private class of pre-college and adult students while also serving variously and intermittently as Piano Adjudicator for the Kiwanis Clubs of Canada, as Artist-in-Residence at The Windermere Institute in London, Canada and as Consultant and Seminar Leader Trainer for The New School of Music of Paradise, CA. She has indulged two additional musical loves along the way, performing chamber music for piano and strings and accompanying vocalists whenever possible.
Deborah has been residing in Asheville since 1991. She performs regularly as soloist and as collaborative artist on concerts sponsored by the Asheville Area Piano Forum (of which she is a charter member), on the Asheville Art Museum’s Pianoforte Series, and regionally under the auspices of BelCher Music.