Pianist Alison Neely joined the faculty of Westminster Conservatory of Music in 1991, where she has served as master piano teacher, chamber music coach, and Director of The Honors Music Program (HMP: 1999-2017.) As director, she developed and expanded HMP’s rigorous curriculum, supervised faculty, provided guidance to students and families from audition day through college admission, and established HMP among the nation’s leading pre-college music preparatory programs.
For more than thirty years, Ms Neely’s passion has been teaching piano to adults and children of all ages. She works closely with students to develop musicianship, technical skills, and diverse repertoire, while guiding them towards increased emotional and physical connection to their music. She has maintained private studios in Princeton and New Haven, and her graduates include both professional musicians and dedicated amateurs.
She often serves as a clinician and an adjudicator for competitions in the tri-state area. She has also enjoyed recent performance projects including solo performance in a feature film soundtrack, performance of 21st century works for piano four hands with colleague Marvin Rosen, and various chamber music collaborations.
Ms Neely received a M.M. in Piano Performance from The Hartt School of Music, and B.A. from Wesleyan University. Her major teachers included Paul Rutman, Leonard Shure, Sanda Schuldmann, and Gellert Modos. In addition to her musical studies, she studied Ideokinesis, Bioenergetics, Pilates, and Method acting
Formerly on the piano faculty at Neighborhood School of Music in New Haven, CT, she also served on the executive boards of New Jersey Music Teachers Association and Chamber Music Plus. She currently lives and works in Princeton, New Jersey.