Master Lessons 2026
Dr. Catharine Lysinger, NCTM
Lessons: Fri., Oct. 2 - Sun., Oct. 4, 2026
Masterclass: Sun., Oct. 4th Time TBA
Place: Kansas City Piano (7316 W. 119th St., Overland Park, KS 66215)
Chair: Dr. Olivia Zimmermann (olivianzimmermann@gmail.com)
Master Lessons take place each fall with the option of the student’s own teacher auditing the session. Selected outstanding Master Lessons students will be selected to perform in a master class workshop for KCMTA members. Solo repertoire selections must be memorized in order to be considered for the master class workshop. Works with two or more players may use music.
Teachers may enroll intermediate through advanced level students. Please complete registration early through the link AND mail your check to 1224 Meadowlark Court, Liberty, MO 64068, as lessons times are assigned on a “first come, first served” basis; enrollment is limited. Teachers may enter as many students, piano duets or chamber ensembles featuring piano as desired. However, in order to accommodate as many studios as possible, initially 3 hours of lessons will be scheduled for each teacher. Please send one check from your studio made payable to KCMTA for the initial group of students. If more students from your studio can be accommodated, you will be notified by the chair with further instructions.
Fees: Intermediate — $60/45 min., Advanced — $75/60 min., Ensemble Coaching — $75/60 min. A non-member fee of $75 will be charged for teachers who are not current KCMTA members.
OUR 2026 CLINICIAN
Catharine Lysinger, DMA, NCTM, is Chair of Piano and Professor of Practice at SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts in Dallas, where she teaches applied piano and piano pedagogy.
Lysinger is a prizewinner in national and international piano competitions, including First Prize in the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) National Young Artist Competition and First Prize in the Wideman International Piano Competition. She is a frequent guest of festivals nationally and internationally receiving invitations to teach and perform in Europe, China, and the Dominican Republic. She is currently on faculty at Mosaic Music Festival (Italy) and has been artist-faculty at the Brancaleoni International Music Festival (Italy), May Festival in Tianjin, China, and Vienna International Piano Festival. Lysinger continues to be an active soloist and collaborator regularly presenting solo, two-piano concerts, and concerti most recently with the Meadows Symphony Orchestra and Meadows Wind Ensemble.
Lysinger is a frequent adjudicator and has served on the screening jury for the Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition, and live juries for the Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition, MTNA Divisional Competitions, the First Florence Price International Piano Competition, and the Chopin Northwest Piano Competition. Her university and pre-college students have been awarded first prize in numerous competitions, including the MTNA-Texas Junior, Senior and Young Artist Piano Competitions, the Plano Symphony Young Artist Competition and the Lewisville Lake Competition. She was named Pre-Collegiate Teacher of the Year by her colleagues in Texas MTA. Lysinger is currently Division Director-Elect (South Central) on the MTNA National Board. She regularly presents lectures on practice techniques and strategies at conferences at state and national conferences throughout the US.
She earned the B.M at Southwestern University, and M.M. and D.M.A. in Piano Performance at the University of Houston with Nancy Weems, additional studies with Horacio Gutiérrez, Gabriel Chodos (Aspen Music Festival) and Evelyne Brancart (Aspen Music Festival).