SCMTA Teacher of the Year
The Teacher of the Year Award is presented annually to a member of SCMTA in recognition of sustained excellence and achievement in teaching, professional development, and service to colleagues and to the organization and profession.
Eugene Barban (2021)
Eugene Barban is a pianist who has gained world–wide recognition for his musicianship and technical brilliance in repertory ranging from the Baroque to the Avant–Garde. Among his many solo erformances are recitals at Alice Tully Hall, the Merkin Hall, and Weill Recital Hall in New York, the National Gallery of Art, and Phillips Collection in Washington D.C., and appearances on international concert series in Aix–en–Provence, Salzburg, Bangkok, Mumbai, and Rotterdam. He has been guest soloist with orchestras in the United States, Asia, and South America. His recording on the Americus label, An American Piano Odyssey containing works of Lees, Gottschalk, Bolcom, Dello Joio, and Barber, has won critical acclaim.
Professor Emeritus of piano at Winthrop University, Eugene Barban has been on the faculties of the Interlochen Music Camp and the Adamant Music School in Vermont. Students from his private studio as well as from Winthrop University have captured top prizes in competitions. Several have become professors of piano themselves.
As a chamber musician Barban performed with the Aeolian Trio, the Rowe Quartet, and the Arden Quartet. He has performed as collaborative artist with vocalists and instrumentalists throughout America and has served on international piano competition juries both here and abroad.
A native of Ohio, Barban received his undergraduate degree from Capital University, his Master’s degree from Ohio University, and the Doctor of Musical Arts from the College–Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati. He was recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship for a year’s study in Freiburg, Germany. His teachers have included Olga Conus, George Katz, and Loy Kohler. He has coached with Richard Goode, Walter Hautzig, Jeffrey Swann, Josef Raieff, and Adele Marcus.
He is a past president of the South Carolina Music Teachers’ Association.
Deborah Freeman (2020)
Deborah Freeman has been an active member of SCMTA since 1979, and she has maintained a private piano studio in the Greenville area for over 50 years. Many of her students have pursued careers in various areas of music education and as church musicians.
She is a founder and past president of Greenville Woman’s Music Club, past president of Crescent Music Club, and member of The Music Club of Greenville. Deborah served as GMTA President 1995-1999, SCMTA President in 2004-2006, and In October 2011 was chosen as one of Greenville’s 25 Most Beautiful Women for her volunteer service with young musicians in the Greenville area.
Having served SCFMC in many positions, she is currently the Junior Clubs Coordinator for three junior music clubs with over 225 student members, Festival Director for NW District I, Festival Finance Chair, Media chair, American Music chair, and Parliamentarian. She has written numerous articles on American Music for NFMC Music Clubs Magazine and Junior Keynotes magazine.
Deborah is a Life Member of the National Federation of Music Clubs, American College of Musicians, a Rose Fay Thomas Fellow, a Carolina Jessamine Fellow, and is currently serving as the NFMC First Vice President.
Following collegiate studies as an organ performance major at Anderson University, she continued her studies of piano and pedagogy with private teachers. She is a member of the NGPT Board of Adjudicators and enjoys participating when time allows.
Deborah’s greatest joy is spending time with her three children and six grandchildren, and she spends her leisure time growing roses.
Robin Zemp (2019)
Robin Zemp has been an active member of SCMTA since 1976 when he began teaching piano in Camden. Since 1986, he has operated a successful studio in Charleston, and since 1994, he has served as a Lecturer in Piano at the College of Charleston. During these years, he has become an integral part of the musical life and culture of Charleston, performing numerous times at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival as well as with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Charleston Ballet Theatre, and Robert Ivey Ballet. For 13 years he directed the Piccolo Spoleto Musica da Camera Series. He made his New York Recital Debut at Carnegie Recital Hall in 1984. That same year he was awarded the South Carolina Arts Commission’s Performing Arts Fellowship. He has toured under the auspices of the Southern Arts Federation and Affiliate Artists.
His students have won awards and scholarships given by the Charleston Music Teachers Association, Charleston Symphony Orchestra League, Charleston Music Study Club, Piccolo Spoleto Rising Stars Concert Series, and have been state winners in the SCMTA Pre-College Auditions and the MTNA Performance Competitions. Several of his students are now piano teachers themselves.
Robin has served on the Board of the Charleston Music Teachers Association in various capacities, including President, Vice-President for Programs, Scholarship Chair, Achievement Day Co-Chair, and has been the Webmaster for this organization since 2007. He has served on the SCMTA Board in various capacities since 1980. In addition to serving as President from 2002-2004, Robin served as Vice-President for Conferences and MTNA Certification Chair among other offices. He continues to serve the organization in various ways, including as Webmaster and as a member of the State Auditions Committee, both since 2005. He was honored with the SCMTA Distinguished Service Award in 2006 and named an MTNA Foundation Fellow in 2011.
Director of Music/Organist at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Charleston, he is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore.
Matthew Manwarren (2018)
Originally from El Paso, Texas, pianist Matthew Manwarren has established a notable career as performer and artist teacher over years. Since 2006, he has served as Professor of Piano at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC. In 2018, he was appointed Visiting Artist Professor of Piano at the University of South Carolina. He has also served on the piano faculty at Belmont University in Nashville, TN, and at Erskine College, where he held the Harriet Pressly Smith Caldwell Professorship in Music. Since 1998, Manwarren has served on the faculty at the Adamant Music School during the summers, a prestigious program for advanced-level pianists from all over the world.
Past performances include recitals at the Steinway Piano Gallery of Charlotte, Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall, the Sundays at the Loft series in New York (Behre Piano Associates), the Ivories on the Border series in El Paso, Belmont Camerata series in Nashville, three recitals on the Cathedral Arts Series in Burlington, VT, and guest recitals at Angelo State University (TX), Texas Tech University, Carson-Newman College (TN), Tulane University (LA), Meredith College (NC), and Mars Hill College (NC). A collaborative artist as well, Manwarren performs art song recitals regularly with tenor Jeffrey Price and chamber music concerts with members of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra. He also performs duo piano concerts with Winthrop faculty colleague Janice Bradner. His latest CD, entitled Youthful Passion and Fantasy, was released in 2015 on the Americus Label and features Schumann’s Fantasy in C Major, Op. 17 and Brahms’ monumental Piano Sonata No. 3 in f minor, Op. 5. Manwarren has commissioned and recorded the piano works by Winthrop faculty member Leonard Mark Lewis, including Lewis’ three Etudes for Piano, Tango, and Four Piano Pieces after Brahms.
In 2006, Matthew Manwarren was awarded a Fulbright Teaching Grant through the Council for the International Exchange of Scholars, where he had the opportunity of serving as Fulbright Artist-in-Residence at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He frequently serves as adjudicator at local, state, and national competitions, including the Josef Hofmann Piano Competition, the Daniel Piano Competition, and the Clavierfest Competition. Most recently, he served as an adjudicator at the Sixth Performer’s Festival and Chamber Music Competition sponsored by the Singapore Music Teachers’ Association held at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music.
Manwarren frequently gives masterclasses and workshops for piano teacher organization. Recent presentations include the Singapore Music Teachers Association, the Charlotte Piano Teachers Forum, the Rock Hill Piano Teachers Forum, the South Carolina Music Teachers Association, the Greenville Music Teachers Association, and the Greenfield Piano Associates in Burlington, Vermont.
Manwarren began his piano studies in El Paso with Mary Lou Hindman Wade and later continued his study with Claude Herdon (a pupil of Tobias Matthay). He earned his undergraduate degree (summa cum laude) from Texas Tech University as a student of William Westney. While there he received the prestigious Eva Browning Piano Scholarship and was winner of the university concerto competition, performing Chopin’s Concerto in E Minor with the Texas Tech University Symphony. He earned his master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, studying piano with Frank Weinstock and Elisabeth Pridonoff and organ with David Mulbury. In 1996, Dr. Manwarren was awarded a Teacher Enrichment Grant from the Music Teachers National Association for the purpose of studying at the French Piano Institute in Paris, where he had the opportunity to coach with Dominique Merlet, Pascal Devoyon, and Noel Lee. Dr. Manwarren has also coached with Virginia Hutchings of Atlanta, Walter Hautzig of New York City, and John O’Conor of the Royal Irish Academy of Music. He has also worked with Sheila Paige, coordinator of the Piano Wellness Seminar, where he has had the opportunity to study pianistic technique, ease, and movement at the piano that prevents injury for the pianist. He has coached art song and collaborative performance with vocal coach and pianist Arlene Shrut.
Dr. Manwarren has served two terms as president of the South Carolina Music Teachers Association. He is nationally certified as a teacher of music through Music Teachers National Association.
Ann Wilson (2017)
Ann Wilson is an independent teacher of piano performance, piano pedagogy and music theory. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in piano pedagogy, a Master of Music in piano pedagogy and a Bachelor of Arts in piano from the University of South Carolina where her principal teachers were Bong Hi Kim, Max Camp and Charles Fugo. The recipient of a graduate teaching assistantship, Dr. Wilson taught piano and piano pedagogy at the University of South Carolina and was an instructor in the USC School of Music’s Summer Workshops, teaching Creativity and Artistry for Beginning Piano Students.
Dr. Wilson has served as an adjudicator for piano competitions throughout the southeast and a curriculum author and faculty member for collegiate seminars, workshops and music camps. She is the author of several research documents, including A Review of Applied-theory and Ear-training Concepts in Piano Method Series for Young Beginners, and Supplementary Literature for Elementary Age Students of Beginning Piano Methods based on The Six Stages of Complexity as Presented by Max W. Camp. Dr. Wilson frequently lectures on the subjects of piano pedagogy, repertoire, musicianship, and music appreciation.
Students of Dr. Wilson have been selected to perform in numerous master classes and chosen for participation in leading competitions and summer programs of study, including the Southeastern Piano Festival and the Lyceum International Piano Series. They are the recipients of performance scholarships and have been accepted for music study at leading colleges and universities throughout the United States.
Professional service has included presidency of the South Carolina Piano Festival Association and the Columbia Music Teachers Association. Dr. Wilson is currently State Festival Chairman of the South Carolina Piano Festival Association, a member of Columbia Music Teachers Association, Music Teachers National Association and Pi Kappa Lambda. She is associate director of music ministries at Christ Church of the Carolinas in Columbia and accompanist for the professional chamber choir, Colla Voce, under the direction of Dr. Larry Wyatt.
A resident of Lexington, South Carolina, Dr. Wilson is married to Harry Wilson, whose collegiate studies were in vocal performance. The Wilsons two daughters, Victoria Wilson Boyce and Ann Forrest Wilson Bowers, also hold degrees in music.
Donna Sanders (2016)
Donna Sanders has been teaching piano lessons to students in North Carolina and South Carolina for 41 years. Many have chosen the music field as careers in areas of church music, music education, professional accompanying and private piano studio teaching.
After moving to Myrtle Beach in 2003 she worked with State President Deborah Freeman to establish a Myrtle Beach district for pre-college auditions. In 2007 she and Kathy Nungesser organized a local chapter of MTNA/SCMTA in Myrtle Beach, Long Bay MTA.
On the state level she has served SCMTA as MTNA Junior Auditions Chair, District VIII Pre-College Auditions Chair, and on the local level as President of LBMTA and currently Treasurer and Vice-President for Membership. During her 29 years in NC, she served NCMTA in many capacities also.
She is Whiteville District Gold Cup Chairman for National Federation of Music Clubs and a National Guild of Piano Teachers judge. Other professional involvements include UNCG Summer Music Camp piano faculty for 22 years and Master Class clinician for piano teachers groups in NC and SC. Her articles have been included in Marvin Blickenstaff’s Repertoire and Rhythm editorial sections of Keyboard Companion. Nationally certified by MTNA as a teacher of music (NCTM), she holds the Permanent Professional Certificate.
She received a Bachelor of Music Degree from Greensboro College where she studied with David Pinnix and also attended UNC-Chapel Hill where she did additional studies in musicology with William S. Newman and piano with Marvin Blickenstaff.
She and her husband Rod live in Myrtle Beach. They have two adult sons, one living in New York City who is VP of a costume design company and the other a veterinarian in Los Angeles.
Helena Meetze (2015)
SCMTA 2015 Teacher of the Year Helena Meetze has taught piano students in the Columbia, SC, area for more than 50 years and her legacy of students includes many who continue to be very active in the profession. She has served as President and Secretary of the Columbia Music Teachers Association, and as President of the Morning and Afternoon Music Clubs. At the state level, she has served as Secretary, Vice-President for Membership, and on the State Auditions Committee of the South Carolina Music Teachers Association. She has also served as President, Vice President, Secretary and Co-Chairman of Region II for the South Carolina Piano Festival Association. With the National Federation of Music Clubs, she has served as National and State Chairman for National Music Week, and for the Essay Contest. She has served as the South Carolina representative to the National Board, served as South Carolina State President, State Chairman of the Council of Presidents, and State Junior Festival Chairman. Helena Meetze attended the Lexington County Public Schools, and the University of South Carolina studying piano with Charles Fugo. She did additional studies with Jeno Takacs at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and with Robyn Gibson at Columbia College. She and her husband, Ralph, are the proud parents of 4 children one of whom graduated from the Indiana University School of Music and now teaches in the Boston, MA, area, and are also proud grandparents of five grandchildren.
