Pianist Jacob Ertl has performed extensively in the United States and throughout Canada, China, France, Israel, Mexico, Panama, Serbia, and Spain. Performance highlights include solo recital debuts at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and Merkin Concert Hall in New York City, and Chicago radio's "Live from WFMT" concert series. Other recent engagements include the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre at Symphony Space (NYC), Chihuahua International Music Festival (Mexico), Musicarte Festival (Panama) and the Oviedo and Gijon International Music Festivals (Spain). As a concerto soloist, he has been featured with the Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra, New York State Ballet Orchestra, and Keystone Winds, among others. Recently, Ertl released the world premiere recording of Fisher Tull’s Piano Concerto on Klavier Records, distributed worldwide by Naxos.

 

A sought-after performer and artist teacher, Ertl regularly gives concert and masterclass tours nationally and internationally. He is frequently invited as the featured guest artist at conferences, including the New York Music Teachers Association State Conference, Pennsylvania Music Teachers Association State Conference, Dakota Sky International Piano Festival (South Dakota) and the 11th World Piano Conference (Novi Sad, Serbia). Each summer, Ertl organizes a recital and masterclass tour in China, where he spends one month visiting various cities, universities, and arts high schools. He has also given dozens of recitals and masterclasses at universities across the United States and abroad, including the Colburn School, Penn State University, Isidor Bajić Music School, University of Western Ontario, Shandong and Anqing Normal Universities, Soochow University School of Music, and Shandong University of the Arts.

 

Ertl is currently a member of two contemporary chamber music ensembles: Ensemble Alla Balena and the Eastern Standard Trio. Recent highlights with Ensemble Alla Balena include performances at the Teatro Degollado in Guadalajara, Mexico, the Eastman Artist Series (concerto soloist), and the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington, D.C.  As a founding member of Eastern Standard, he has recorded two commercial albums, commissioned and premiered over twenty new works, and presented annual tours for the past eight seasons. Previously, he was a core member of the Eastman Broadband Ensemble for several seasons, and a guest artist with the Alia Musica Ensemble.

 

An advocate of music outreach, Ertl was the Artist-in-Residence Fellow for the PianoArts organization for eight years, where he performed hundreds of interactive concerts and developed their education outreach initiatives. Ertl is also in demand as an adjudicator for international, national, and regional competitions, including the Thousand Islands International Piano Competition, Pelican International Music Competition, PianoArts North American Competition, World Pianists Association, and MTNA Divisional and State Competitions, among others.

 

Dr. Ertl’s collegiate students have been prizewinners in competitions, performed concertos with symphony orchestras, attended international summer festivals, and have been accepted into several of the leading graduate programs in piano performance and pedagogy in the US and abroad. He also teaches a select studio of pre-college students who have been consistent top prize winners in competitions, and have given concerto performances in Kodak Hall at the Eastman Theater.

 

Ertl currently serves as Coordinator of Keyboard Studies, Associate Professor of Piano, and Performance Program Director at the Nazareth College School of Music in Rochester, NY. He is also the Director of the annual Nazareth College Piano Competition and Coordinator of the annual Piano Pedagogy Workshop. Additionally, Ertl is President of the New York State Music Teachers Association, Chair of the PianoArts Alumni Board, and Visiting Guest Professor of Piano at Shandong Normal University (China). Ertl holds piano performance degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music (BM) and the Eastman School of Music (MM, DMA), where he studied with Robert Shannon and Nelita True, respectively. His pre-college mentors in piano and chamber music were Michael Kim and Carol Leybourn. Ertl also studied regularly with other international artist teachers, including Arie Vardi, Vladimir Krainev, Pascal Roge, Julian Martin, Robert McDonald, Boris Slutsky, and Emanuel Krasovsky.