Biography

Dr. Mark Stevens enjoys a dynamic career as a solo pianist, collaborative artist, teacher, and adjudicator. Dr. Stevens’ experience as a pianist ranges from traditional piano repertoire to contemporary music, with a focus on works written in the past 50 years. An active commissioner, he is preparing to premiere 10 new works composed by a diverse range of early to middle career American-identifying composers, all written to be playable by an advanced amateur pianist. In recital, he engages audiences through thematic programming, juxtapositions of unique repertoire, and colorful insights about music, composers, and cultural context.

Dr. Stevens serves as Director of Keyboard Studies and Assistant Professor of Piano at South Dakota State University. An active and committed teacher for nearly 25 years, he has repeatedly been awarded for the quality of his instruction. His students have won dozens of prizes in competitions including the MTNA solo competition, the South Dakota and Washington State Music Teachers Competitions, the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, the Truran Piano Competition, the J. Earl Lee Piano Competition, the Seattle Young Artists Music Festival, and the Northwest Bach, Viennese Classical, Romantic, and Contemporary Piano Festivals. He is regularly invited to adjudicate and teach throughout United States, offering masterclasses and workshops for universities, professional organizations, private studios, and music academies. As president of the South Dakota Music Teachers Association, he is active in service to his profession at the state level and beyond.

Dr. Stevens holds graduate degrees in piano performance and piano pedagogy from the University of Oregon and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He completed his undergraduate studies in piano performance at Whitworth University in Spokane, WA. He has served as a member of the faculty at Washington State University, the University of Oregon, the Chopin Academy of Music, and as a visiting instructor at Cornish College of the Arts. His primary teachers include Dean Kramer, Paul Barnes, Peter Mack, David Riley, and Judith Schoepflin, and he has performed in masterclasses with artists including Jon Nakamatsu and the Chiara String Quartet.