Address at Kataoka Sensei’s Funeral

A teacher of Suzuki Piano Basics, Dr. Karen Hagberg has taught workshops for teachers and students in Canada, Australia, England, Singapore and throughout the United States. She is one of only twelve Americans to have graduated from the piano department of the Talent Education Institute in Matsumoto, Japan, after studying there full time for nearly four years with Dr. Shinichi Suzuki and Dr. Haruko Kataoka, the founder of Suzuki Piano Basics.

Dr. Hagberg is the President and co-founder of the Suzuki Piano Basics Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to the support of the work of Dr. Kataoka throughout the world. She is the principal editor of Dr. Kataoka’s writings in English, including her books Sensibility and Education and How to Teach Beginners and numerous articles.

Dr. Hagberg has written many articles on piano pedagogy, and is a contributor to the latest edition of Grove’s Dictionary of Opera and Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Since the publication of her book, Stage Presence From Head to Toe: a Manual for Musicians (in 2003 by Scarecrow Press), she has been active as a consultant and presenter on the topic of stage presence for performing musicians, teachers, and students.

Karen Hagberg holds a B.A. from Syracuse University and the M.A. and Ph.D. from the Eastman School of Music. She directs a private piano program in Rochester, New York with students and teacher trainees. In addition to winning numerous prizes, her students have performed at international conferences in Atlanta, Dallas, Sacramento, and Brussels, and in the 10-Piano Concerts in Sacramento, California and Matsumoto, Japan.

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