Music Piano Accompanists
The Music Department strives to provide appropriate piano accompanists for all regular curricular purposes including for-credit lessons, colloquia appearances, jury exams, masterclasses, and formal Junior and Senior recitals.
For any student taking lessons and working with collaborative pianists, the department has budgeted 3 hours of collaborative pianist time per student per semester. For any student working on a recital, half recitals have been budgeted an additional 3 hours, while full recitals are budgeted an additional 4 hours.
If any students would like to be employed as a collaborative pianist, please email Dr. Steve Hodson.
Below is a list of approved professional and student collaborative pianists.
Choose a collaborative pianist to schedule a rehearsal time:
Collaborative Accompanists Available for Recordings, Lessons and Recitals
You are welcome to sign up for two back-to-back time slots if needed. Professors may sign up for their students two weeks in advance. Students may sign up six days in advance. Walk-ins are welcome!
Erin Bonski-Evans, D.M.A. (ABD) is a prolific pianist and pedagogue. She is recognized nationally and internationally for her work as a collaborative artist and teacher, and has held collaborative artist positions at Interlochen, Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute, Toledo Opera Association and Bowling Green State University. Locally, she has accompanied for Music Academy of the West, Opera Santa Barbara, and Santa Barbara Master Chorale, and coached and accompanied for Ensemble Theatre Company. In addition to Westmont, Erin has been teaching at Santa Barbara City College for ten years, and currently serves as the Minister of Music at First Presbyterian Church. She has recorded the piano works of Dr. Earl Louis Stuart, and has published pedagogical articles in American Music Teacher Magazine.
To view and sign up for Erin's accompanist hours, click the link below. Please note, that you must be signed in with your Westmont Email Account in order to access the document.
Neil Di Maggio, pianist and teacher, enjoys a full and diverse dual career as an active performer and teacher and as a researcher for Westmont College. He earned a bachelor’s degree in piano performance summa cum laude from San Jose State University, where he studied with Beethoven scholar, Dr. Alfred Kanwischer. His Master of Music degree in piano performance is from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where he studied under master teacher Mack McCray. He received a full-tuition scholarship and teaching assistantship for the graduate program at the University of California, Santa Barbara. There he earned his Master of Music in collaborative piano with renowned collaborative artist and professor, Anne Epperson. Other influential teachers are Yael Weiss and Betty Oberacker, and Laurette Goldberg (harpsichord).
Neil’s professional work has taken him from California to Phoenix to New York City and he enjoys a busy musical career of chamber and solo performances, collaborating with Westmont, City College, and UCSB faculty. Recently he partnered as harpsichordist with the faculty of Santa Barbara Strings, and served on the faculty of the Westmont Academy for Young Artists. The Santa Barbara Independent praised his “brilliant display” as soloist in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy with the Santa Barbara Master Chorale in 2004. Neil’s students are frequent award winners with the Santa Barbara Music Club and the Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation competitions. Contact at 1-805-682-2792.
Mi-Young Kim is a collaborative pianist, pianist, and church musician based in Santa Barbara, California, where she enjoys a wide-ranging and rewarding career as a performer and educator. In addition to her position as Collaborative Pianist for the Santa Barbara Master Chorale, she serves as Music Director at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church. She has received numerous accolades and recognition for her playing. As a featured guest artist, she has performed at many major conferences, such as the 2023 International Tuba and Euphonium Conference and the 2022 Great Plains Regional Tuba and Euphonium Conference. She has also placed second in the Korea-USA Foundation of Gifted Music Competition (2013) and third in the Korean Pianist Association Piano Competition (2013). She received an honorable mention in the Hannum Music Competition (2013). Mi-Young is pursuing a DMA degree at the University of California Santa Barbara, where she studies with Professor Robert Koenig. She has also received a Master’s degree in Collaborative Piano from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master’s degree in Piano Performance from the University of Hartford. Her primary instructors include Dr. Collette Valentine, Prof. Rick Rowley, Dr. Miguel Campinho, and Prof. David Westfall.
Starting her professional debut at age 13 with Seoul Sinfonietta, Pianist Hyo Jin Lee has performed widely to critical acclaim throughout the United States, France, Australia and Korea. She performed in concertos with the W Philharmonic, Korean Symphony, Gangnam Symphony, Korea Senior Symphony, Cheongju City Philharmonic Orchestra and Los Angeles Doctors Symphony. In addition, Hyo Jin gave her recitals at Auditorium Gilles de la Rocque (Chourchevel, Paris), Steinway Hall (Sydney, Australia), Harvard Sanders Theater, Jordan Hall (Boston), South Hampton Cultural Center, Staller Center (New York), Seoul Arts Center, Kumho Art Hall, Sejong Cultural Center (Seoul).
As a collaborative pianist, Hyo Jin has worked with musicians such as Emerson Quartet, Colin Carr, Nicholas Cords, Lawrence Lesser, and Miriam Fried, to name a few. She pursued her music education in the United States starting in high school, studying with the world-renowned pedagogue Wha Kyung Byun and Russell Sherman, and continued to train at New England Conservatory of Music. Hyo Jin completed both her Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree, and Graduate Diploma at the Conservatory with academic honors. She was also a recipient of the prestigious Adele Bramson Ganick Endowed Scholarship for demonstrating excellence in piano performance. She then went on to complete Doctorate of Musical Arts in Piano Performance, at State University of New York, Stony Brook, with Gilbert Kalish.
Hyo Jin has a wide range of teaching experience at institutions such as Seoul National University, Korea National University of Arts, Yewon school, Seoul arts high school and Music Academy at Seoul Arts Center.
Student Collaborative Pianists for Lessons and Recitals
