BHSU to host guest pianist Susanne Skyrm

           Internationally recognized pianist Dr. Susanne Skyrm will perform selections from a variety of Spanish composers Sunday, Feb. 16 at 2:30 p.m. at Black Hills State University's Clare and Josef Meier Hall.

Internationally recognized pianist Dr. Susanne Skyrm will present an afternoon of music from Spain at Black Hills State University Sunday, Feb. 16 at 2:30 p.m. in the Clare and Josef Meier Hall.

Skyrm, who is also a faculty member at the University of South Dakota (USD), will perform selections from a variety of Spanish composers including Sebasti&aacuten de Albero, Padre Antonio Soler, Domenico Scarlatti and Federico Mompou.

Skyrm has appeared as a piano soloist and collaborative artist throughout the United States and Europe. She combines performing the standard piano repertoire with research interests in early keyboards and Spanish and Latin American keyboard music. Her performances have been broadcast nationally on public radio and public access television.  She recorded a CD of Spanish and Portuguese keyboard music of the 18th Century on the National Music Museum&rsquos rare Antunes fortepiano. She has given presentations for the Music Teachers&rsquo National Association, European Piano Teachers&rsquo Association, American Musical Instrument Society, Diego Fernandez International Festival of Spanish Keyboard Music and others on Spanish and Latin American keyboard music. Her latest publication, Anthology of Eighteenth-Century Spanish Keyboard Music, was released by Wayne Leupold Editions in 2010.

Skyrm holds degrees in piano performance from the College of Idaho, the University of Cincinnati and the University of Colorado-Boulder. She was a prize winner in the Mason and Hamlin Idaho state and regional auditions and the recipient of an award from the Cincinnati Three Arts Foundation. She studied with master teacher Ilonka Deckers-K&uumlszler in Milan for a number of years. In 2006, she was named the first recipient of the USD&rsquos College of Fine Arts Biennial Distinguished Professor Award. Skyrm teaches studio and class piano and piano literature at USD where she has been on faculty since 1988.