Event: Dedicatory Piano Recital to recognize restoration of 1918 Steinway piano, feature four accomplished pianists

Joe Lyons • September 5, 2024

Ashland University will host a Dedicatory Piano Recital on Sunday, Sept. 15, to recognize the recent restoration of its 1918 Steinway piano. The event, featuring four accomplished pianists, will take place at Elizabeth Pastor Recital Hall (room 115) inside the Center for the Arts, starting at 4 p.m. It is free and open to the public.

The restoration was done by William Schoeffler, DMA, an expert piano technician and rebuilder in northeast Ohio, thanks to the support of Thomas Gregory, Ph.D., and Deirde Gregory ’81, ’89 M.Ed. Tom Gregory was recognized with an Honorary Alumnus Award, given to a friend of the university who has demonstrated dedication to the beliefs and values of AU through service and philanthropy, while Dede Gregory was once a winner of the Distinguished Service Award, recognizing an alumna who has donated both time and talent in service to AU.

“This vintage Steinway belonged to Elizabeth Pastor, professor of piano at Ashland for decades and an accomplished artist,” remarked Rowland Blackley, DMA, chair of the music department and director of choral activities at AU. “She played frequently with the Ashland Symphony and in collaboration with other first-rate musicians over the years.

“She would have been pleased at the four guest pianists performing at the recital: the university’s current piano instructor, the conductor of the Ashland Symphony Orchestra, one of her finest students and the donor of the funds that made this possible,” he continued. “Liz was a big believer in the artistic community as part of the greater Ashland community.”

Tom Gregory will be one of the performers. An esteemed classical pianist who has played at numerous AU events, Gregory studied piano at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music before going on to a career as a mathematics research and educator at The Ohio State University at Mansfield. He holds a doctorate in mathematics from Yale University where he was a National Science Foundation fellow and sang in the Yale Russian Chorus. Gregory served as head of the systems design branch of the Management Information Center of the Naval Communications Command in Washington, D.C., before embarking on his academic career.

Kevin Jones ’85, a former student of Elizabeth Pastor, is the director of music at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Hts., Ohio. After earning a bachelor’s degree in organ performance at then Ashland College, he has gone on to a career as a professional organist and choral conductor, performing internationally throughout Europe and the Far East and conducting at famed Carnegie Hall in New York City. From 1996-2004, Jones served as musical director/conductor of the NYC-based Gilbert & Sullivan ensemble, the Blue Hill Troupe, Ltd., and appeared with regularity at Carnegie Hall with Mid-America Productions.

Michael Repper, a Grammy® award-winning artistic director, currently serves as music director of the Ashland Symphony Orchestra, the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra and the Northern Neck Orchestra of Virginia. In 2023, he became the youngest North American conductor to win a Grammy® Award in Best Orchestral Performance, and he recently concluded tenures as music director of the New York Youth Symphony at Carnegie Hall and as principal conductor of Sinfonía por el Perú, the elite youth orchestras and choruses of South American’s most versatile social impact music programs.

Shitong Sigler is an instructor of piano classes at both AU and The College of Wooster. A versatile pianist whose styles range from Baroque to contemporary, she is a dedicated international performer playing as a solo pianist and chamber musician across the U.S., Europe and her home country China. Sigler has performed in various chamber music settings as the principal keyboardist for The Ohio State University Symphony Orchestra, opera production and musical theatre.

For more information, contact Rowland Blackley at rblackle@ashland.edu or 419-289-5114.