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Kristian Klefstad, piano
Kristian Klefstad performs solo and collaborative music throughout the United States, and recently performed as soloist with the Western Kentucky University Orchestra. He has been guest artist at the Lamar University Piano Festival in Beaumont, TX (2024), and the Maverick Piano Festival in Omaha, NE (2025), and is a regular performer in the Belmont Camerata chamber ensemble. Dr. Klefstad often presents music by little-known or contemporary composers, including Ecuadorean composer Luis Humberto Salgado. He has served on the jury of the Nashville International Chopin Competition, and also taught in their Virtuosos in the Making program. His students have won prizes in the Nashville International Piano Competition, the American Fine Arts Festival, and the Nashville Philharmonic Concerto Competition.
Dr. Klefstad also presents lecture-demonstrations and papers at national and regional conferences, including the College Music Society and WVU's Intersection of Jazz and Classical Music Festival. He has been invited to present on the piano music of Salgado at the College Music Society Southern Conference in 2026, and has also presented at the CMS National Conference.
Dr. Klefstad is Associate Professor of Piano and Coordinator of the Keyboard area at Belmont University, where he teaches piano, pedagogy and keyboard literature, and also directs the Belmont Piano Invitational summer keyboard program, now in its eighteenth year. He is actively involved in regional, state, and national organizations devoted to teaching music, including the College Music Society and Music Teachers National Association, and has held leadership positions in regional affiliates of both groups.