Our featured artists are world-class musicians, skilled at engaging audiences, and have garnered international acclaim. We are pleased to offer the following programs for your consideration in upcoming seasons!
To view past programs, click here.
This program is an incredibly unique opportunity for audiences to gain insight into the life and works of Franz Liszt. The program is a monodrama, in which Michael Schneider dresses and acts as Franz Liszt. It combines performances of some of Liszt’s greatest works with enlightening historical facts and emotional understanding of the works and composer.
Ideal For: General Audience
Venue Requirements: Grand Piano (ideally 6’10” or larger), Projector with Screen, Microphone/Speaker
There is nothing traditional about Michael’s “Traditional Solo Concert Program” as he brings deeper meaning and revelation in his commentary and performance of the Liszt Sonata. Hear the drama of Faust, Mephistopheles, and Gretchen unfold, witness the magic of thematic transformation, and behold the overwhelming power of salvation as told by Liszt in his magnificent and timeless Sonata in B minor. This program is complimented with Beethoven’s Sonata Op. 2, No. 3 in C major, a set of works by Chopin, and a few fun, contemporary, finger-busting showpieces.
Ideal For: General Audience
Venue Requirements: Grand Piano (ideally 6’10” or larger), Microphone/Speaker
Master the Music offers traditional concert programs by artists Dror Biran and Zahari Metchkov.
Ideal For: General Audience
Venue Requirements: Concert Grand Piano (ideally 7’ or larger)
Artists Michael Schneider and Zahari Metchkov have a knack for piano capers…offering up bold and dazzling programs of music for both duet piano (four hands/one piano) and duo piano (four hands/two pianos). The audience is sure to walk away smiling and humming familiar tunes with selections such as Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Brahms’ Hungarian Dances, Bernstein’s “Symphonic Suite” from West Side Story or Igor Borodin’s Polovetsian Dances. Other incredible selections include Claude Bolling’s fantastic jazz-influenced Sonata for Two Pianists No. 1, Bolcolm’s Serpent’s Kiss Rag, Rachmaninoff Suites 1 and 2, and Khachaturian’s Sabre Dance.
Ideal For: General Audience
Venue Requirements: Duet program – One Grand Piano (ideally 6’ or larger); Duo Program – Two Grand Pianos of comparable size (ideally 6’ or larger)
How many of us know a classical musician in crisis? Crippling self-doubt? Constant feelings of worthlessness? Upcoming generations of artists are faced with newer difficulties of not just finding their voice, but of crafting a career that is both sustainable and rewarding for them. Part of this involves careful planning and preparation in a modern tech-savvy world, which our traditional methods and courses of study often lag behind the curve in advancing fields, but the other part is allowing for an internal shift in what the image of success is. Michael Schneider directly tackles defining self-worth in the artist’s life and gives valuable take-aways to help. This is an important motivational and interactive discussion for all to take to heart.
Ideal For: Aspiring young musicians, current professionals and teachers, and general audience
Venue Requirements: Grand Piano (ideally 6’ or larger), Projector with Screen, Microphone/Speaker
Problem solving at the keyboard is an exploratory art. The possibility of interpretation and spontaneity is infinite, which in and of itself offers great satisfaction and why live performances will always be superior to recordings. But, in our experience, this is also why you can fumble around forever and never achieve success. Therefore, this process, the Art of Practicing, can and must be improved. In this workshop, Michael Schneider leads you through many techniques and tips which help you hone and focus your practice sessions, while sharing often funny experiences he has had along the way. There are hilarious take-aways like his Chart of Frequent Troubleshooting Questions and list of the Common Mistakes of Practicing, along with the helpful Indispensable Tools for Coordination Issues.
Ideal For: Aspiring young musicians, current professionals and teachers, and general audience
Venue Requirements: Grand Piano (ideally 6’ or larger), Projector with Screen, Microphone/Speaker
Master the Music is pleased to offer several concerti for your upcoming orchestral concert seasons! Concert Pianist Michael Schneider has performed with dozens of orchestras and in recent years performed Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 2 with the Fort Worth Symphony and Shostakovich Concerto No. 1 with the San Angelo Symphony.
Ideal For: General Audience
Venue Requirements: 1 or 2 Concert Grand Pianos, dependent on repertoire selected
Rhapsody is a quintessential concert piece. It showcases the most wonderful elements of the trombone, allowing performers a wide range of colors and virtuosity. Rhapsody is modeled after a 19th-century Romantic idiom and is engaging and well-received by audiences in the U.S. and abroad.
Rhapsody is available for performance with orchestra or with piano.
Ideal For: General Audience
Venue Requirements: Orchestral program – traditional arrangement; Piano program – Grand Piano (ideally 6’10” or larger)
Michael Schneider brings music to life for young students by pairing performance with an illustrated storybook. This can be performed for groups as small as a single classroom or as large as a school auditorium.
Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue is a wonderful children’s storybook by Anna Harwell Celenza, which Michael reads to audiences of eager children while providing a soundtrack from the piano. This fun-filled adventure takes the listener through Gershwin’s search for inspiration as the deadline for writing Rhapsody in Blue fast approaches! There is a Q&A session at the end of the program and students receive activity worksheets to take as a memento and remind them of what they learned.
Ideal For: Elementary-Age Students, up to 5th grade
Venue Requirements: Classroom – Upright Piano; Auditorium – Grand Piano (possibly piano microphone needed), Projector with Screen, Microphone/Speaker
For your special event, request a customized program with any number of performers on any instruments. We’ll work with you to develop the vision and will provide all musicians/speakers/performers needed for the event.
Ideal For: Any Audience
Venue Requirements: TBD
Michael Schneider is constantly in high demand for his services as a collaborator and recording artist. If you have a high-profile performance or recording project coming up, contact Master the Music if you’d like to work with one of the best musicians in the industry!
Ideal For: Any Audience
Venue Requirements: TBD
Master the Music provides accompanying and recording services for education, corporate, and social events. Master the Music can provide an electric keyboard and amplifier if needed.
Ideal For: All Audiences
Venue Requirements: None
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