Piano Teacher in NYC

Benjamin T. Nylander is a pianist and composer living in Brooklyn, New York. He holds his Master’s in Music Composition from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio and his Bachelor’s in Piano Performance from Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. He has studied composition with Drs. Marilyn Shrude, Christopher Dietz, Mikel Kuehn, and Patrick Long as well as piano with Drs. Solungga Liu, Naomi Niskala, and Marcos Krieger. Nylander has performed at Niigata University in Japan with the Susquehanna University GO Program, and as the winner of the 2018 SU Concerto Competition, performed Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto no. 2 in G minor (Movement 1) with the SU orchestra in February 2019. He has since delved deeply into collaborative piano, and has found frequent opportunity for performance with saxophonist Joshua Heaney (Duo Aurous).

Nylander has enjoyed many recent premieres of his works, most notably his new chamber opera Nuclear, recorded by the Bowling Green State University Opera studio in April 2021. Recently, Nylander has spent time as artist-in-residence at Virginia Creative Center for the Arts in Mt. San Angelo, Virginia and at Snow Pond Music Festival in Sidney Maine, where he composed and conducted the premiere of Once More to the Ocean for an ensemble of 24 saxophones.

Nylander began teaching piano lessons ten years ago, teaching beginner, intermediate, and advanced students from children age 3 to adults in their 40s. Nylander is a classically trained musician, and most of his curriculum is rooted in the practices and theory of the Western classical style. To sculpt a well-rounded musician, he works by building a strong background in ear-training and musicality, as well as exploring students’ interests in playing different genres (pop, musical theater, jazz) as well as in composition and improvisation.