Piano Studies at the University of Georgia

Piano Studies at the University of Georgia Welcome to the Piano Area at the University of Georgia, Hugh Hodgson School of Music.

The Hugh Hodgson School of Music’s piano department features internationally recognized faculty, attracting talented young musicians from the United States and abroad. The Hodgson School was Georgia's first All-Steinway School and boasts outstanding performance and practice facilities with keyboard instruments maintained by two full-time Steinway-trained piano technicians. Our faculty:

David Fun

g
Grace Huang, piano pedagogy
Pete Jutras, piano pedagogy
Evgeny Rivkin
Greg Satterthwaite, jazz piano
Liza Stepanova, chair
James Weidman, jazz piano
Alan Woo

Piano students at the Hodgson School enjoy countless opportunities for solo and ensemble performances, including annual concerto competitions. Students have the opportunity to participate in and collaborate with the Hodgson School's numerous small chamber ensembles, orchestras, bands, and choirs. Additionally, students can gain valuable experience as educators through teaching at UGA's Community Music School and participating in numerous other experiential programs, including international collaborations in remote piano teaching. Scholarships and graduate teaching assistantships are available to qualifying applicants.

Congratulations, Class of 2026! We are so proud of all of our students, especially our Piano Dawgs (most of them picture...
05/09/2026

Congratulations, Class of 2026! We are so proud of all of our students, especially our Piano Dawgs (most of them pictured here):

Shirley (BM), Lucy K (BA), Akilah (BA), Jayden (BM), Benjamin (BA), Lucy G (BA), Peter (BM), Soyoung (MM), Tiffany (MM), Jasmin (MM), Hyun Hwa (DMA), Jinyue (DMA), Daijing (DMA), Lingyi (DMA), and Aly (DMA)

GO PIANO DAWGS! 🎹 We can’t wait to see all the great things you do!

Photos from the recent Robert G. Edge undergraduate piano competition, held in (where else? 😊) Edge Recital Hall.Congrat...
04/20/2026

Photos from the recent Robert G. Edge undergraduate piano competition, held in (where else? 😊) Edge Recital Hall.

Congratulations to all of the participants for their beautiful performances and hard work! Kudos to the 2026 prizewinners Livana, Jayden, Ethan, and Diego!🙌

We are grateful for Dr. Qing Jiang, this year’s guest judge. Dr. Jiang also gave a wonderful master class afterwards—so great to hear her in action with our terrific young artists!

Professor Coble, our organ faculty, is featured in an upcoming concert! Link in comments for tickets!
04/19/2026

Professor Coble, our organ faculty, is featured in an upcoming concert! Link in comments for tickets!

Athens organist John Coble will play the 3,700-pipe Sewell Organ at Piedmont College's 'Great Composers Concert' April 25.

UGA and the Performing Arts Center were excited to host acclaimed British pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason earlier this month!...
03/26/2026

UGA and the Performing Arts Center were excited to host acclaimed British pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason earlier this month! Besides giving a solo program as part of the series, Ms. Kanneh-Mason worked with several of our UGA pianists on works by Bolcom, Bonis, Bach, and Ravel.

Wonderful to have Dr. Melody Quah at UGA for a master class and guest artist recital earlier this month! We also loved h...
03/19/2026

Wonderful to have Dr. Melody Quah at UGA for a master class and guest artist recital earlier this month! We also loved hearing her performance of “forked,” the work she commissioned from our fabulous composition faculty member Dr. Emily Koh 🙌

MORE MASTER CLASSES! 😍Our students recently performed works by George Crumb, Jennifer Higdon, and Peter Underhill for pi...
03/16/2026

MORE MASTER CLASSES! 😍

Our students recently performed works by George Crumb, Jennifer Higdon, and Peter Underhill for pianist Clare Longendyke. Huge thanks to Dr. Longendyke for her dynamic, insightful teaching!

Continuing our master class series: Cliburn gold medalist Haochen Zhang came to Athens and presented a beautiful solo pr...
03/10/2026

Continuing our master class series: Cliburn gold medalist Haochen Zhang came to Athens and presented a beautiful solo program, plus a master class for our UGA pianists!

Our second master class of this semester: it was an honor to have Robert McDonald (Juilliard/Curtis) as the UGA Symposiu...
03/06/2026

Our second master class of this semester: it was an honor to have Robert McDonald (Juilliard/Curtis) as the UGA Symposium headliner! Pre-college and UGA pianists had the special opportunity to play for Professor McDonald as part of our first Steinway Spiriocast! Professor McDonald also gave a fabulous solo recital the previous evening.

MASTER CLASSES GALORE……so many this semester! ❤️ 🎹 First up: our UGA students were so fortunate to work with Norwegian p...
03/04/2026

MASTER CLASSES GALORE……so many this semester! ❤️ 🎹

First up: our UGA students were so fortunate to work with Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes in January. He also gave a phenomenal solo program at the UGA Performing Arts Center during his residency.

Due to the high likelihood of winter weather challenges, All ON CAMPUS SYMPOSIUM EVENTS HAVE BEEN CANCELED.The Symposium...
01/31/2026

Due to the high likelihood of winter weather challenges, All ON CAMPUS SYMPOSIUM EVENTS HAVE BEEN CANCELED.

The Symposium is shifting to a live ZOOM session this afternoon (Saturday, 1/31) with our featured pedagogy presenter, Dr. Omar Roy:

2:00-2:45 PM: Repertoire Roadmaps: Taking the Guesswork out of Repertoire Assignment

3:00-3:45 PM: Unlocking Efficiency: Leveraging A.I. in the Piano Studio

ZOOM LINK: https://zoom.us/j/94398507902

We are also working on recordings of other originally scheduled events with Symposium headliner Robert McDonald, which may be shared with registered participants at a later date. Community members who are interested in watching the virtual Symposium events are encouraged to follow the Symposium website and social media updates.

Address

250 River Road
Athens, GA
30602

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Piano Studies at the University of Georgia posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The University

Send a message to Piano Studies at the University of Georgia:

Share