College of Visual and Performing Arts Dean bruce d. mcclung has announced the appointment of Alessandra Feris as Assistant Professor of Piano.
Brazilian pianist Alessandra Feris has performed widely in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, England, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Serbia, and the United States, making successful solo debuts in major venues such as the Theatro São Pedro in Porto Alegre (Brazil), the Auditório León de Greiff in Bogotá (Colombia), the Costa Rican National Theater, the Steinway Haus in Frankfurt (Germany), and the Palácio de Bellas Artes (Sala Manuel M. Ponce) in Mexico City.
Dr. Feris is currently an Associate Professor of Piano at the University of South Dakota. She previously served on the Piano Faculty and as Artist-in-Residence at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.
Committed to excellence in teaching, Dr. Feris is the winner of the John Simms Piano Award at the University of Iowa, the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award at Florida State University, and the Mississippi Humanities Council Teacher of the Year Award. Her students are frequent winners of piano competitions such as the state MTNA Young Artist Competition and the University of South Dakota Concerto Competition. She is devoted to the diffusion of Latin-American piano music and is often invited to premiere works by contemporary composers and is an artist-teacher at the InterHarmony International Music Festival in Italy and at the Lancaster International Piano Festival in Pennsylvania.
Dr. Feris holds a Bachelor of Music (BM) from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, a Master of Music (MM) from the University of Iowa, and a DM (Doctor of Music) degree from Florida State University. Her teachers include Dirce Knijnik, Thomas Steinhöfel, Réne Lecuona, Read Gainsford, and the legendary Lazar Berman.
