Biography - Leslie Gereghty

Executive Director, Leslie Gereghty has a wide breadth of experience as a performer. She has previously been the keyboardist for "The Fabulous Bel-Airs", and several other jazz and rock bands. From 1999-2004 she played piano and keyboards in a contemporary praise and worship band to an average of 15,000 or more attendees each weekend and still, she remains uniquely dedicated to the classical repertoire. In the spring of 2009 she traveled to Rockhampton, Australia as a guest artist, teaching and performing the works of American composers.

As an educator, she encourages a similar "well-roundedness" in her students' development. She has previously chaired the piano department of the Willow Creek Arts Center and served as an adjunct faculty member of Concordia University River Forest and as an instructor at the University of Texas. In addition to fifteen years of teaching experience, her interest in early childhood music led her to train for Suzuki, Kindermusik, and Harmony Road teacher certification programs. She has published articles in Keyboard Companion Magazine and in the Roland Keyboard Educator, and served as an educational consultant and keyboard editor on numerous publications for major educational music publishers.

She holds a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from George Mason University, a Masters of Music in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from Northwestern University, and pursued doctoral studies in the Department of Music and Human Learning at the University of Texas at Austin.