President's Message

Kim Farrell, President

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and a very Happy New Year! We are currently in our busy time of year. CNYAMT has had many performances since our last newsletter, and we have many more events scheduled in 2026 for our members and their students. A huge thank you to our Board Members, Chairs and Committee Members for all of your hard work and efforts to make this organization a meaningful one for our members and their students.

A big welcome to the newest member of our CNYAMT family - Logan Blackman!

Thank you & congratulations to Bernadette Kessler & Mary Ellen DiPietra for organizing our Annual Fundraiser and Holiday Recital at Barnes & Noble on 12/06/25 and 12/07/25. It was a huge success, very entertaining and very well attended. We also had the chance to use our beautiful digital keyboard.

Thank you to Artist Pianos and Scott Schroeter who presented a student workshop on 11/12/25 called “Sound Pathways on the Grand Piano”. It was very well done and very informative for our students who participated. Thanks to Mary Whittington for setting this up for our students.

Thank you to Phil Eisenman who organized an Outreach Recital for Advanced Students at Maple Downs on 11/15/25. The residents absolutely loved the performance!

The Community Outreach Valentine Recital was held on 02/07/26 & 02/08/26 at the Camillus Ridge Terrace Senior Environment. Congratulations to the twenty-nine students and the eight teachers who participated! Our next Outreach Recital is a Mother’s Day celebration, on Saturday, May 9th at The Nottingham in Jamesville. More information will be coming up soon.

Upcoming Events in February and March:

Teacher Concert Series: 03/28/26

Baroque, Classical & Sonatina Festival: 03/07/26

Artist Piano Advanced Piano Competition: 03/21/26

All members are welcome to join us at the next Zoom Board Meeting on 04/08/26 at 10:30am. Email me for an invitation at farrellka4@gmail.com

Kim

CNYAMT 2025-2026 Calendar

Visit us at cnyamt.org

Email us at cnyamt@gmail.com

Follow us on Facebook

Special thanks to Jim & Juli Boeheim Foundation and Syracuse Sounds of Music Association

for their grant awards to CNYAMT for our Student Tuition Assistance Program. This program provides funds toward the tuition of private music lessons for students who lack the financial means to further their training due to current economic conditions.  This support enables us to make a difference in the lives of our young musicians and teachers as well. We are forever grateful to the Boeheim Foundation and SSMA for the positive and lasting impact they continue to have on our community and our organization. To make a donation to support our Lesson Tuition Assistance program, click this link.

Special thanks to the Piano & Organ Center

James Lee Vatter Piano Assistance Fund

The James Lee Vatter Memorial Fund was established to honor the memory of our esteemed colleague and his dedication to supporting students. CNYAMT has successfully completed the allocation of all funds, facilitating the acquisition of three pianos for three students who demonstrated need.

We appreciate everyone who contributed in James’s memory. We extend our sincere appreciation to the Piano & Organ Center for their generous support of this valuable program and their ongoing commitment to both students and educators in our music community.

Student Lesson Tuition Assistance

Applications are now being accepted for January 1, 2026 - June 30, 2026

The purpose is to provide funds toward the tuition of private music lessons for students who lack the

financial means to further their training due to current economic conditions. The amount of the tuition assistance is based on our availability of funds, as well as the applicant’s referral from their CNYAMT teacher.

Eligibility:

Teacher must be a current 2025-2026 CNYAMT member.

Teacher and student are active participants in our yearly events.

Teacher must be the instructor of the major instrument the applicant will study.

​

Awards will be distributed across applications on a rotating basis, one student at a time per teacher, in order of need. Please submit one application per student. For questions or further information contact:  

Bernadette Kessler

bcmkessler@gmail.com

(315) 569-8241

The online application can be found on our website cnyamt.org under Fundraisers and Scholarships or by clicking this link: 2025-2026 Student Lesson Tuition Assistance Application

NEEDED: Grand Piano in Excellent Condition for The Nottingham

The Nottingham is committed to providing a concert space and a fine piano for the use of guest musicians, residents, and resident audiences. They understand the need for a fine grand piano and are willing to undertake the care and maintenance required to keep it in top concert condition. If you become aware of such an instrument in need of a good home, please keep CNYAMT and The Nottingham in mind. Both of our communities will greatly benefit from such a donation!!!

2026 Artist Pianos Advanced Piano Competition

Park Central Presbyterian Church

504 E. Fayette St., Syracuse, New York

Application deadline: February 28th

Competition: Saturday, March 21st

Winners’ Recital: Sunday, March 22nd

Students aged 8 - high school are invited to participate in 4 divisions: Elementary, Junior, Intermediate, and Senior. All entrants will receive positive, educational, written comments from professional judges: Dmitri Novgorodsky from Ithaca College, and Jun Cho from Syracuse University.

You are cordially invited to attend the Winners’ Recital on Sunday, March 22, at 1 pm. Performances will include the winners and honorable mentions of each division, as well as honoring the competition’s underwriter and sponsor, Syracuse Artists Pianos.

An application and pertinent information can be found on our website under the festivals and competitions tab and by clicking this link.

Instrumental Competition

We are pleased to announce the Central New York Association of Music Teachers 2026 Instrumental Competition! The competition will be held on Saturday, May 2, 2026 at Park Central Presbyterian Church in Syracuse. 

The competition is open to all wind, brass, percussion, and string students, grades 4-12. We now offer three divisions: 

4th-8th grade - all instruments

9th-12th grade - winds and percussion

9th-12th - grade strings

CNYAMT teacher membership is not required to participate.

This is a great opportunity to have another performance of your student's already prepared NYSSMA solos! All entrants will receive positive, educational, written comments from professional judges. Prize winners will receive monetary awards and will be featured in the CNYAMT Instrumental Competition Winners Recital, which will take place on Sunday, May 3, 2026 at 7:00 pm.

The deadline for applications is April 17, 2026. An application and pertinent information can be found on our website at: www.cnyamt.org under the festivals and competitions tab. https://www.cnyamt.org/instrumental

We appreciate your consideration, and hope that you will encourage your students to participate. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact either of us. Also, please pass along this information to anyone you think might be interested!

Dana DiGennaro (danadigennaro@gmail.com) 

James Krehbiel (krehbielj775@gmail.com)

Competition Chairs

2025-2026 Board and Chairs

Executive Board 

Terms are 3 years with 3-term limit (Numbers listed indicate the year of the present term)

President – Kim Farrell (4)

Vice President – Phil Eisenman (2)

Treasurer – Mary Ellen DiPietra 

Recording Secretary – Gayle Ross (9)

Board of Directors 

Terms are 3 years with 3-term limit (Numbers listed indicate the year of the present term)

Michelle Wilcox (8)

Mary Whittington (6)

Joanne Mroczek (4)

Bernadette Kessler (3)

Lynn Moroz (2)

Barb Irwin (2)

Committee Chairs

Banquet/Scores for Scholars – Barb Irwin

Membership – Phil Eisenman

Newsletter- Joanne Mroczek

Publicity – Joanne Mroczek

Senior Merit Scholarship – Barb Irwin

Senior Scholarship – Dana DiGennaro

Scholarship/Tuition Assistance – Bernadette Kessler 

Sponsorship – Barb Irwin

Sunshine – Kathy Montcrieff

Teacher Forum – Mary Whittington

Website & Social Media – Joanne Mroczek

Scores for Scholars – Bernadette Kessler

Event Chairs (listed by calendar dates)

Halloween Recital – Barb Irwin/Robbie Padilla

Barnes & Noble Holiday Recital – Bernadette Kessler/Mary Ellen DiPietra

Community Outreach –Kim Farrell

String Community Workshop – OPEN POSITION 

Baroque, Classical, & Sonatina Piano Festival – Lynn Moroz

Artist Piano Advanced Piano Competitions – Amy Heyman/Ya-Wei Tseng/

Bernadette Kessler/Kim Farrell

Instrumental Competition – James Krehbiel/Dana DiGennaro

Vocal Competition – Gayle Ross/Laura Enslin/Kathy Montcrieff

Teacher Concert Series – Mary Whittington/Lana Stafford/Robbie Padilla

Photo Release Form For A Minor

CNYAMT will now be using a PHOTO RELEASE FORM for ALL performance events. If the performer is a minor, the parents/guardians must sign our form to give consent for their child’s photo or video recording to be used on our website, Facebook page or in other media.

Members can find this form on our CNYAMT website under “Forms and Logos” in the Get Involved section.

Find a Music Teacher and Member Directory - Pictures

Don't forget about our "Find a Music Teacher" option on our website. Membership in CNYAMT includes your biography being listed here, along with your information for students and parents to find music teachers. Take a moment and check the link in your biography to make sure it is accurate. Are you currently accepting students? Make sure you let us know if you aren't so we can change your status. Changes to your information can be made by simply emailing your changes to cnyamt@gmail.com.

If you would like a picture in our "Find a Music Teacher" spreadsheet, email a current picture to cnyamt@gmail.com.

Our Member Directory page is also the place to sign out our sign and vase for events!

If you need help logging in to this MEMBERS ONLY LOGIN PAGE to check your bio or other information, please email cnyamt@gmail.com for log in credentials.

CNYAMT 2025-2026 SPONSORS