Biographical Information

 

D.M.A. in Piano Performance & Literature, Eastman School of Music (2004)

M.M. in Piano Performance & Literature, Eastman School of Music (2001) 

B.M. in Piano Performance, Eastman School of Music (1999) 

Performer's Certificate, Eastman School of Music (1998)

 

Before returning to her home state of Pennsylvania, Amber Shay Nicholson was Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of Southern Mississippi from 2004-2009.  Since 2009, she has held appointments as adjunct piano faculty at Slippery Rock University (2012-2013), Allegheny College (2020), and Jamestown Community College (SUNY JCC) (2019-present).  Dr. Nicholson has experience teaching private applied piano lessons, class piano, piano literature, chamber music, collaborative piano, and healthy piano technique.  She has taught and coached students of all ages and levels, from beginners through advanced students, from children through adults.  In addition to private in-person studio lessons, Dr. Nicholson also offers Zoom coaching sessions to advanced students.  She teaches internationally via Zoom and Skype.  During her time at USM, other independent piano teachers in the Southeast sought her out regularly for lessons and coachings.  Prior to 2004, Dr. Nicholson ran a successful private studio in Rochester, NY. 

In addition to teaching, giving workshops, and adjudicating piano competitions & festivals, Nicholson performs regularly as both a solo pianist and collaborative artist.  Past performances include regional solo recitals, performances of Mozart and Beethoven piano concerti with the Warren Philharmonic Orchestra, Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 and Choral Fantasy with the Southern Miss Symphony Orchestra, Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 3 with the Eastman Philharmonia, and collaborations with faculty artists from Eastman School of Music, East Carolina University, Yale University, Edinboro University, Indiana University of PA, Penn State University, Mercyhurst University, and the University of Southern Mississippi, among others.  

In March 2024, Gallery, a CD project with Brett Shurtliffe (Associate Principal Bassist of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra) was released through the BPO Store website. Chronicle, a CD project with Zach Collins, tuba (tuba professor, IUP) was released in late 2019.  This CD earned the 2021 Roger Bobo Award for Excellence in Recording (for Solo Tuba) by the International Tuba-Euphonium Association. Nicholson has also recorded two discs with Alexander Russakovsky, cellist (string faculty, USM).  The second is a disc of French music for cello and piano, including the Franck and Poulenc cello sonatas, which was released on the Centaur label in 2017.  Their earlier CD with music by Russian composers was released on the Brilliant Classics label in 2015 and contains music by Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Glazunov, and Tchaikovsky. 

Performance highlights include 2017 and 2024 concerti performances with the Warren Philharmonic Orchestra; a 2016 concert tour with Sarah Schouten and Becky Chambers, horns; a 2009 concerto performance with the Southern Miss Symphony Orchestra; a 2009 concert tour with Stephen Redfield, violin, featuring the Mendelssohn violin/piano sonatas; a 2006 concert tour with Nicholson featured as soloist with the Southern Miss Symphony Orchestra and choirs; and a 2002 invitation to the International Workshops in Stavanger, Norway, where she performed as soloist and collaborative pianist. Also in 2002, Nicholson gave several solo performances at the International Summer Music Academy in Leipzig, Germany. She won the 2001 Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 3 piano concerto competition at Eastman and performed that work with orchestra.  In 1997, she received a special prize at the Vladimir Horowitz International Piano Competition in Kiev, Ukraine.

Honors include being the only U.S. citizen to be accepted into the 2001 TCU/Van Cliburn International Piano Institute in Fort Worth, TX.  From 1996-2004, Nicholson was named a Liberace Scholar at Eastman School of Music and received scholarship support from the Liberace Foundation for the Performing and Creative Arts. While at Eastman, she studied extensively with Nelita True and served as her studio assistant.  Nicholson is the only student who ever earned all three degrees (Bachelors, Masters, and Doctorate) with Nelita True. Dr. Nicholson can trace her musical pedigree back to Beethoven himself, so she has a strong artistic and pedagogical foundation as her base.

Dr. Nicholson holds permanent professional certification as a teacher of piano from the Music Teachers National Association.  She has been the piano instructor at Rocsato Conservatory of Music in Titusville, PA since 2022.  She serves as Counselor for the Junior Schubert Music Club in Oil City, PA.  She is also the pianist for both the Warren Philharmonic Orchestra and Christ Covenant PCA in Seneca, PA. Dr. Nicholson lives and teaches in Tidioute, PA with her husband Jeremy and their four children.  Her husband Jeremy owns King Building Supply in Tidioute, PA.

https://musicteachersdirectory.org/USA/PA-Music-Private-Teachers-Pennsylvania-Music-Private-Lessons