About the Author

My name is Sibylle Kuder. I am the owner of Elfenbein Klaviermusik, a private and independent piano studio that serves students of the greater Manhattan area as well as those willing to travel from other parts of Kansas.

I was born and raised in Germany. From age 12 until about 19, I studied piano with the Hungarian pianist Barbara Fry at the Winnender Jugendmusikschule. Our piano class benefitted from collaborations with composers, chamber musicians, and her husband, Thomas Ungar, professor of conducting at the Stuttgarter Staatliche Musikhochschule. Frau Professor Fry recently retired from the Heidelberg Staatliche Musikhochschule where she was professor of piano and pedagogy. After Hungarian pianist and composer Andras Hamary prepared me for the college entrance exam I was accepted at the Trossingen Staatliche Musikhochschule where I studied Piano Performance and Pedagogy. While still in Germany, I was fortunate enough to be able to attend masterclasses with such eminent musicians as Bruno Seidlhofer (Interpretation masterclass), Vienna; Elza Kolodin (Chopin masterclass) and Edith Picht-Axenfeld (Bach masterclass), Freiburg/Breisgau.

After moving to the United States, I attended the Graduate Program (Piano Performance and Pedagogy) at Kansas State University, studying piano performance with Robert Edwards, and piano pedagogy with Virginia Houser. After winning the 1995 Concerto Competion, I was given the honor of performing with the Kansas State University orchestra in McCain auditorum. I continue to attend numerous master classes, workshops, conferences and conventions. Additionally, my interest in Early Childhood Music and Movement led me to study with Jill Citro Hannagan in Chicago. I am certified to teach “Family Music” and “The Cycle of Seasons,” both of which are early childhood music and movement education programs of the Musikgarten Curriculum.

For many years, I have been involved in the MAMTA-sponsored Music Fair and Concerto Competition (chairperson) and KMTA District and State Honors Auditions, as well as Music Progressions (chairperson, adjudicator). In the fall of 2007, I designed the website for MAMTA; I am currently the website administrator.

I am a member of the:

I have over the past 20 years taught all ages and levels, including Early Childhood Music and Movement as well as pre-piano classes for which I designed the materials myself, and non-major piano classes in the Music Department at Kansas State University, in addition to private and group lessons for school-aged children and for adults.

Until the summer of 2007, I taught between 20 and 30 piano students in my studio in Manhattan. Half of these students, who were between the ages of 6 and 24, had been with me since they first started lessons, some for over nine years. After an 18-month sabbatical, I re-opened my Manhattan studio in January of 2009.

I have consistently been able to provide dedicated students with the preparation necessary to compete successfully at local and state competitions and auditions, among them the Baldwin Piano Competition in Overland Park (October 2005), with piano concertos by Haydn, Mozart, Grieg, and others at the MAMTA Annual Piano Concerto Competition (since 2000) and at the KCMTA-sponsored Concerto Recital in Kansas City, Konza Opus 8 Composition Festival in Manhattan and Fall Festival in Kansas City.

Contact Sibylle Kuder at  piano@sibyllekuder.com.