Barbara Lister-Sink

Barbara Lister-Sink is an internationally acclaimed performer and a global leader in injury-preventive keyboard technique. A graduate of Smith College and recipient of the Prix d’Excellence from Utrecht Conservatory, she is currently artist-in-residence at Salem College, Winston-Salem, NC. Her critically acclaimed video/DVD Freeing the Caged Bird – Developing Well-Coordinated, Injury-Preventive Piano Technique, won the 2002 MTNA-Frances Clark Keyboard Pedagogy National Award and was praised as “A monumental work!" by Vladimir Ashkenazy.  Her teachers include Edith Lateiner-Grosz, John Duke, Margaret Mueller, Clemens Sandresky and Guido Agosti.

Formerly keyboardist for the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, Lister-Sink has taught at Duke University, the Brevard Music Center and was on the Artist Faculty of the Eastman School of Music from 1979 to 1986.  She has performed as soloist throughout Europe and North America and has collaborated with some of the world’s most distinguished musicians, including Arnold Steinhardt, Doriot Anthony Dwyer and Jan DeGaetani. Lister-Sink has performed with the Harvard Chamber Players and at the New Hampshire, Skaneateles, Brevard and Chautauqua summer music festivals. Her numerous performances of contemporary music include collaboration with composers Gyorgy Ligeti, Leon Kirchner, Joseph Schwantner, Frank Martin, Samuel Adler, Vincent Persichetti, and Witold Lutoslawski,

As a world leader in teaching injury-preventive technique, Lister-Sink has given numerous presentations for national and international music organizations, including the MTNA, the World Piano Pedagogy Conference, the Canadian Professional Piano Teachers Association, the International Klavar Foundation,and the European Piano Teachers Association, London, England Chapter. She appears frequently as state MTNA convention artist, and in 1992 she was a presenter and performer for the First World Congress of Arts and Medicine in New York City. Lister-Sink’s articles and reviews have appeared in leading music journals, as well as in the Southern Medical Journal and Current Research in Arts Medicine. She was cited in the 2000 Centennial Edition of Piano & Keyboard as one of the pedagogical leaders of the 20th century.

Through her video/DVD, intensive training workshops, in addition to hundreds of workshops at universities, conservatories, summer institutes, AGO chapters and professional organizations, Lister-Sink has helped thousands of keyboardists from around the world remove technical obstacles to their musical development. Her performances are eloquent demonstrations of the marriage of technical freedom and musical artistry.

A graduate of Smith College, Professor Lister-Sink won the Prix d'Excellence from the Utrecht Conservatory and was finalist in the Allesandro Casagrande International Piano Competition. She has performed with the Harvard Chamber Players and at the New Hampshire, Skaneateles, Brevard and Chautauqua summer music festivals. Her piano teachers include John Duke, Edith Lateiner-Grosz and Guido Agosti. Ms. Lister-Sink has served on the Artist Faculty of the Eastman School of Music, the Amsterdam Muziek Lyceum, Duke University, and the Brevard Music Center.

Barbara Lister-Sink is also recognized as a pioneer and international leader in the field of injury-preventive keyboard technique. Her video Freeing the Caged Bird - Developing Well-Coordinated, Injury-Preventive Piano Technique, (www.freeingthecagedbird.com) has received international acclaim. Piano & Keyboard magazine called it "brilliantly conceived and produced." World-renowned concert pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy praised Ms. Lister-Sink’s work as "monumental."