2022 Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference (50th)

Non-Member: $150
Regular Member: $75
Retired Member: $50
Student Member: $45

Registration Deadline for Presenters & Composers: 12 noon Mountain Time on Tuesday, December 14, 2021
* All presenters, performers, panelists, collaborators, & composers whose works will be performed on the program must register before this deadline

Online Registration Closes: 12 noon Mountain Time on Thursday, March 24, 2022
* Attendees must register on site after this (a late fee will apply)

Cancellation Deadline: 12 noon Mountain Time on Thursday, March 24, 2022 (see terms & conditions for details)

The Conference Hotel is:

Comfort Inn & Suites
150 Scheeler Rd.
Chestertown, MD 21620

* The hotel is less than 1 mile from Washington College

Rate
The negotiated conference rate is $129/nightplus applicable taxes and fees.

Reservation Deadline
In order to receive theconference rate, reservations must be made by Sunday, March 6, 2022.

How to Reserve
Participants may book online by clicking here or by calling (410)778-0778 and asking for a room reserved under “Washington College CMS”.

Driving Directions
Click here for driving directions to the hotel.

The 2022 Program Committee is proud to announce the keynote speaker for this year’s conference:

Dr. Michael Stepniak is a broadly trained artist and educator. As Dean of Shenandoah Conservatory, Stepniak oversees a dynamic community: a higher education unit of over 120 faculty and close to 700 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in 28 degree programs; the Shenandoah Conservatory Arts Academy serving approximately 1,200 students; a performance season and venues serving over 28,000 patrons each year; and 56 operational budgets. Since beginning his work as dean in 2009, Stepniak has been privileged to work with conservatory faculty and students and broader university leadership in radically increasing the conservatory’s profile while simultaneously strengthening its historical commitment to providing an exceptionally nurturing community for young artists.

Stepniak completed interdisciplinary doctoral studies in aesthetics, education and leadership at Harvard University (where he won the Spencer Fellowship and Entering Award), and graduate studies in viola at Peabody Conservatory (where he won the Sidney Friedberg Prize), in musicology at Northwestern University (where he was appointed to the alpha chapter of Pi Kappa Lambda) and in violin at New England Conservatory (where he was leader of the Honors Quartet). After leaving his native Australia at 15 for studies in Canada, he completed his undergraduate studies in the United States with high distinction in Music and English at Atlantic Union College.

Stepniak maintains an active role in arts education at the national and international level. He was recently voted in as President-Elect of The College Music Society (to serve as President-Elect in 2022, President in ’23-’24, and Past President in ’25). He has served on the board of directors of the International Council of Fine Arts Deans and has chaired the global connections task force in that same body. Beyond the arts, Stepniak has worked with college and university presidents and senior leadership from Rice University to Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government on issues ranging from leadership development and arts initiatives, to curriculum reviews and strategic planning.

As an author and speaker, Stepniak has become a national voice advocating for innovative change in education, including in the area of classical music performance training within higher education. His recent book by Routledge Press and College Music Society, and current edited volume (also by Routledge Press) advance powerful arguments for innovative transformation, outlining pathways to better ensure the future vitality of arts training centers.

As a soloist and chamber musician, Stepniak has performed in major concert halls and venues in 11 countries, been featured on National Public Radio, recorded for the Centaur Records label, performed frequently with the Mendelssohn Piano Trio, as a member of the National Philharmonic String Quartet, the Contemporary Music Forum, and the Razumovsky String Quartet, and has collaborated with various leading chamber musicians, ranging from Ann Schein, Earl Carlyss, and Lory Wallfisch, to Arlo Guthrie. Papers such as The Washington Post have referred to his playing as tremendously poised and transcendent.

As an artist, Stepniak is connected to a rich musical heritage through studies with foremost chamber musicians and soloists. As leader of New England Conservatory’s Honors Quartet, Stepniak worked extensively with Eugene Lehner, longtime member of the legendary Kolisch Quartet (which premiered chamber works for Schoenberg, Berg, Webern, and Bartók), and former student at Budapest’s Royal Conservatory of Music of Zoltán Kodály and Jenő Hubay. As principal violist with the Peabody Conservatory symphony orchestra and violist with the Razumovsky Quartet, Stepniak studied chamber music with Earl Carlyss, a 20-year member of the Juilliard Quartet and former student of Ivan Galamian and the Paris Conservatoire’s Roland Charmy and Jacques Février. He also received coachings at Peabody from Berl Senofsky, a former student of Louis Persinger and Ivan Galamian.

He is married to Anne Schempp and is the proud father of Marianna, Caroline, Tristan, and Tilda.