Instructor Profile

Inspired by watching her mother play Fur Elise, Jennifer Roberts began studying piano at the age of 5. She soon developed an interest in learning other instruments and slowly added cello, gyil (African xylophone), and steel drum to her list. Jennifer studied piano performance at Oakland University in Michigan with Flavio Varani. While there, she played a piano concerto with the Pontiac Oakland Symphony, and she received the Outstanding Student in Piano award. In 1998, Jennifer had the honor of becoming the first African-American to receive a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance at Oakland University. This has inspired her even more to move forward in the world of music and teaching piano. As an active musician, Jennifer has been involved in many areas of music with different instruments. With piano she has been enjoying teaching private piano lessons for the past nine years. She has been an accompanist for choirs, solo instrumentalists and vocalists for the past 11 years. For eight years she was a cellist in two community orchestras as well as the Hartford Cello Ensemble which was led by Nadine Delury. In 2003 Jennifer and her duet partner won the 7th place award in the Trinidad Steel Pan Festival, which was held in Trinidad and Tobago. Jennifer also performed with Southpaw Isle in Manhattan as a part of the first African Xylophone Festival. Jennifer believes that music is a gift to share, not to hide or keep to oneself. It is her dream and determination to continue the tradition of classical piano with others.