In addition to earning a bachelor’s degree from Smith College and a doctorate in education from Columbia University, Dr. Lister-Sink holds the prestigious Prix d’Excellence from the Utrecht Conservatory. She has built an extraordinary career at the intersection of performance and instruction. Before returning to her Salem roots to pursue an impactful 40-year career, she served as keyboardist for the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam and was a member of the Artist Faculty at the Eastman School of Music. Her teaching career has spanned the Amsterdam Muziek-Lyceum, Duke University, and the Brevard Music Center, and her performances have reached audiences worldwide through broadcasts on NPR, CBC, and Radio Netherlands. Dr. Lister-Sink currently directs America’s first Graduate Certificate Program and Master of Music in Performance and Pedagogy with an Emphasis in Injury-Preventive Keyboard Technique. 

While at the Eastman School of Music, Dr. Lister-Sink began to feel homesick for North Carolina, and her health was suffering due to the climate in Rochester, NY. “Meanwhile, Dean Sandresky called me and said he was retiring after 34 years. He asked if I would like to apply to be Dean of the School of Music. Administration was not on my radar–I was a performer, and I was a teacher, that was my identity,” she recalled. “One of the reasons I agreed to become Dean of the School of Music was not only my history with Salem College–which is huge–but also because I missed the sound of mockingbirds; I missed the rosy glow of twilight; I missed the warm, balmy air; I missed North Carolina.”

“My favorite thing about Salem is the kindness and sense of community.”

Returning to Salem College was a return to her roots. After her myriad of educational and professional experiences throughout the world, Dr. Lister-Sink reflected, “of all the institutions I have known, and there have been many–either as a performer, or a teacher, or an evaluator–I’ve found Salem to be the most remarkable in its respect for its students, its sense of community, and essential kindness that people show to each other.” That spirit of community extends to students and faculty alike. Dr. Lister-Sink fondly recalled a moving moment when her colleagues arranged a surprise party for her as she was nearing the end of her EdD program at Columbia University: “They handed me an envelope, and there was a check for $1,200 to pay for my regalia for my graduation at Columbia. They had collected that money from my colleagues and my friends. That was unbelievable to me, but that was also an example of the kindness of this institution.”

In 1996, Dr. Lister-Sink released a training video titled “Freeing the Caged Bird: Developing Well-Coordinated, Injury-Preventive Piano Technique,” filmed in her studio at Salem College. Passionate about helping future pianists avoid injury, she said of the project, “The most extraordinary opportunity that Salem connected me with was offering an environment in which I could be highly creative and develop my mission, which was to help reduce the plague of injury amongst pianists, organists, and keyboardists worldwide.” The video earned Dr. Lister-Sink the distinguished 2002 Music Teachers National Association-Frances Clark Keyboard Pedagogy Award, and she said, “We had no idea it would go viral worldwide, become a classic, and actually catapult me onto the world stage. At this point, I’m considered a global specialist and an expert in injury-preventative technique.”

Despite her extraordinary career, when asked which accomplishment she’s most proud of, Dr. Lister-Sink smiled warmly and said, “My students, that’s it. Resume, awards, whatever–no, no, no. It’s watching this grand parade of students and seeing through emails, letters, visits, or YouTube clips that they’re actually experiencing a very joyous life in music, and they’ve developed into marvelously unique people. It’s what I’m most proud of, that I’ve had–somehow– some small influence in getting that to happen.” She added, “The greatest joy I have as a teacher is sitting in the back of the beautiful Shirley Recital Hall and hearing a student play beautifully with command and joy. I sit back there, and I weep.”