We are thrilled to have Lisa Bergman and Deborah Dewey as judges for our 2021 Chapter Honors Competition!
A passionate promoter of classical music, Lisa Bergman is a national Gracie Award-winning radio announcer on Classic KING-FM streaming worldwide. A concert pianist specializing in collaborative piano and chamber music she is a graduate of the Juilliard School, Stony Brook University and the University of Washington, cum laude. A former member of the University of Washington Music Faculty, her discography includes six CDs (chamber music and solo piano). As an American Artistic Ambassador she represented the U.S. on a concert tour of New Zealand, Nepal, Korea, Taiwan, Mongolia and China. She made her Carnegie Recital Hall debut in 1983. Bergman is founder of the Mostly Nordic Chamber Music Series; Executive Director of Northwest Opera in Schools, Etcetera and Adult Piano Retreat Director at the Icicle Creek Center for the Arts where she served for seven years as the Executive Director.
Deborah Dewey has earned international acclaim for her pianistic talent. Critics have noted the “sparkling passage work,” “warm operatic lyricism,” “thoughtful interpretation,” and “sense of dramatic urgency” in her playing.
Praised for her sensitive musicianship and technical mastery, Ms. Dewey won numerous national and regional piano competitions throughout her years of study with Margaret Ott, Theodore Lettvin, Charles Fisk and Donald Currier. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from Wellesley College and a Master of Music degree in piano performance from the Yale School of Music where she won the prestigious Woolsey Hall Concerto Competition.
Dewey has performed as guest artist with the Oakland Symphony, Flint Symphony, Spokane Symphony Orchestra, Yale Philharmonia and Peter Britt Festival Orchestra, among others. She has appeared at the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, the Methow Chamber Music Festival, and on the Mostly Nordic Chamber Music and Russian Chamber Music Foundation series. Her performances have been broadcast on National Public Radio stations in Connecticut, California and Washington. Recent four-hand recitals in Mexico City, at both Bellas Artes and UNAM with pianist Fernando Garcia Torres, received effusive critical praise. In 2013 and 2014 she performed solo recitals in California, Hawaii, Montana, Seattle and London, duo-recitals with Icelandic violinist Elfa Rún Kristinsdóttir in California and Seattle, and 6-hand recitals in the Seattle area.
With pianist Lisa Bergman, she formed the celebrated four-hand duo, VENTIDITA, and with the addition of Natalya Ageyeva, the dazzling six-hand group, THIRTYFINGERS, captivating audiences throughout the state of Washington.
Devoted to the development of young musicians, she has been a member of the piano faculties at the University of Washington, Whitworth College, the Cornish Institute and Yale University. She is currently in great demand as a master teacher, competition judge, lecturer, piano instructor and performer and resides in Seattle, Washington.
Deborah is an avid cyclist and international traveler and plans to combine concertizing, travel, languages and cycling in an upcoming sabbatical year. She is also working on a project composing piano music based on bird songs she has been notating during her travels.