Dr. Michelle Schumann
Professor
College of Visual and Performing Arts
mschumann@umhb.edu
Presser 212
UMHB Box 8012
(254) 295-4681
Dr. Michelle Schumann, pianist and teacher, serves as Professor of Music at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. She teaches Applied Piano to performance, church music, and music education majors, as well as Piano Pedagogy, Piano Literature, Class Piano, and Form and Analysis to upper division music majors. Additionally, she has served on various committees including Faculty Council, Environmental Concerns, Promotion and Tenure, Education Technology Committee, and numerous faculty search committees. Since 2002 she has been actively engaged in the music department helping to lead the performance program where she coordinated the UMHB Performance Lab from 2004-2018 and served as Artistic Director of the Hillman Visiting Artists Series until 2018, which she founded in 2003. In addition to her dedication to teaching the next generation of musicians, Dr. Schumann maintains a rigorous performance schedule, both on campus and internationally.
Dr. Schumann is a highly sought after solo pianist and collaborative artist both in Central, TX and throughout the US, Canada and Europe. Her performances have been described as smart, irresistible, and utterly captivating and have been included among the yearstop arts ten events by the Austin American Statesman. In 2018, Schumann was named "Best Classical Instrumentalist" in the Austin Chronicle's "Best of Austin" list, and won the Chamber Music America "Acclaim Award" in 2015. In 2009, Schumann won the award for best instrumentalist by the Austin Critic's Table and in 2006, 2007, and 2008, and 2017 won the award for Best Chamber Music Performance. In 2006, she was the top prizewinner in the 2006 Janice K. Hodges Competition for Contemporary Piano Music and in 2008, her performance of Gershwins Rhapsody in Blue was named the #1 Classical Arts Event by the Austin Chronicle.
Dr. Schumann is also the Artistic Director of the Austin Chamber Music Center where she leads performance during their season programs and the Austin Summer Chamber Music Festival. Following her ground breaking first season with the Austin Chamber Music Center in 2006, she won multiple awards from the Austin Critics Table for Best Chamber Music Performance and Best Body of Work/Season. She has performed and taught at international festivals including the Chigiana Global Academie Program, Edinburg Fringe Festival, Ottawa Chamberfest, Fayetteville Chamber Music Festival, Tanglewood, Round Top, Long Beach Opera Festival, Fou de Basson Festival in Angouleme, France, Bang on a Can Summer Festival at the Massachusetts Museum of Modern Art, Banff Festival of Music and Sound, International Institute of Music in Munich, Germany, Victoria Bach Festival, and the Snake River Chamber Music Festival.
Dr. Schumann has collaborated with leading ensembles throughout the US including the Miro, Tokyo, Fine Arts, Jupiter, Cavani, Carpe Diem, and Chiara String Quartets; Meridian Arts Ensemble; Austin Lyric Opera; American Ballet Theater; New York City Ballet; Joffrey Ballet; the Austin Symphony Orchestra, Ballet Austin, and Long Beach Opera. Her solo and chamber music performances have been heard on CBC Radio, KMFA, Austins NPR affiliate, KUT, and featured on NPR's "In Performance Today."
Dr. Schumann received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 2003 from The University of Texas at Austin where she studied with Anton Nel and Gregory Allen. Additionally she holds a Young Artist Diploma from the Cleveland Institute of Music and a Performance Diploma from the Vienna Arts Academy. She lives in Belton with her husband, Matthew Orem, daughter Ivy, and their three dogs, Pinkie, Max, and Hollie. She is affiliated with the United Methodist Church where she has served in music ministry as pianist and organist since 1990.