Maria Thompson Corley - ProfilesArchive

About Me

Jamaican-born Canadian pianist Maria Thompson Corley gave her first public performance at the age of eight. Since then, she has appeared on radio, television, and concert stages in Canada, the United States, Central America, the Caribbean, Bermuda and Europe, both as a solo and collaborative artist, including performances in Budapest at the Liszt Academy, and in Carnegie Recital Hall, Aaron Davis Hall and Alice Tully Hall, all in New York City. She has collaborated with such artists as Metropolitan Opera soprano Priscilla Baskerville, and internationally renowned clarinetist James Campbell. Her performances as soloist with orchestra include engagements with the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Gunther Schuller, the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Stephen Gunzenhauser, and the Allegro Chamber Orchestra, with Brian Norcross.
Her first CD Dreamer , a collaboration with tenor Darryl Taylor was released internationally on the Naxos label. Her subsequent discs, on Albany, include a recording of the first twelve of African American composer Leslie Adamsâ€™ Twelve Etudes for Solo Piano and Soulscapes , consisting of music for solo piano by African American women.Her undergraduate work was completed at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, where she studied with Alexandra Munn, whose teachers include Irwin Freundlich. Maria Corley received both Masters and Doctorate degrees in piano performance from the Juilliard School, where she was a student of renowned Hungarian pianist Gyorgy Sandor and the only pianist admitted into the doctoral program for the period of two years. She was also chosen to represent her alma mater in a tour of Central America, where she gave performances and master classes.
Aside from being an accomplished pianist, Maria Corley is an author, whose first novel, Choices , was published by Kensington. She is also a composer and arranger of music for both solo voice and chorus, with pieces commissioned and recorded by the Florida A&M University Concert Choir, the Tallahassee Boys Choir, and soprano Randye Jones.
She currently serves as staff accompanist at Millersville University in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Maria Corley is a member of Sigma Alpha Iota and a Rotary Club Paul Harris fellow.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 12/18/2006
Influences: I have always loved a wide variety of music. My Bermudian mother, whose mother was a pianist who graduated from the New England Conservatory, played a lot of classical music in our home. From my Jamaican father, I was exposed to reggae, jazz, and r&b. Parties with other West Indian families brought calypso as well. Since I grew up in Western Canada, I was always familiar with rock and roll. Then, as a teenager, I discovered funk, along with other music for dancing. I love Beethoven and Chopin, but also Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley, Billy Joel, Prince, Michael Jackson (come on, admit it, the guy is a great performer), The Police, Queen, 80's power ballads, Ella, Sarah, Billie, Duke, Satchmo, Nat King Cole, Sparrow, Cameo, Earth, Wind and Fire, The Commodores, Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, (the list could go on forever) plus world music as well, although I'm hardly an expert. I even get into some rap, although it takes a really infectious beat to force me to appreciate something with objectionable lyrics (and even then, I have to cringe). I appreciate and am inspired by anyone in any field who aspires to and achieves greatness. So I loved to watch Edwin Moses hurdle and Steffi and Martina play tennis; I can't get enough of Roger Federer in "God" mode; Mariano Rivera pitching unhittable fast balls; I read Tolstoy, James Baldwin, Truman Capote, Toni Morrison, Ian MacEwan and Jhumpa Lahiri and feel elevated; I watch Johnny Depp or Terence Howard or Meryl Streep or God knows how many others (threw in Meryl because she's a woman--okay, I like my talented eye candy, I'll be honest!). I am also moved by great photography, visual art, and dance of all kinds. Moving away from the artistic realm, I am particularly touched when anyone performs a selfless act of kindness. There is so much to do, and so little time, and when anyone extends him or herself in a manner that allows him or her to be an agent for God on earth I get a little choked up, because so many things work against having faith in humans, and I'm glad to see signs that this stance is wrong. Luckily, I see these signs all the time. I don't consider myself as much of an expert on anything as I might be, just because my tastes are so eclectic. But I'm glad I haven't been narrow. I wouldn't want to eat the same kind of food all the time, nor do I feel like forcing myself to subsist on one flavor of music. So I adore Fleischer, Lipatti, Horowitz, Argerich, Serkin, Dupre, Heifetz, etc. etc. etc. and the classical piano remains my most intimate form of expression, but I love to pretend I'm a gospel pianist now and then (I wouldn't fool anybody at all). Finally, I love to collaborate. When you meet a kindred musical spirit, it can be just as intimate as sex. Well, as sex is supposed to be, anyway... Mainly, I see music as a channel for God to speak through and to humanity. I feel particularly blessed to be able to participate in this, in some small way.
Record Label: Albany
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

Don Imus controversy

Here'e the thing--for me anyway. Why the need to trot out the Rutgers women's basketball team and tell us how wonderful they are? This one is a talented pianist, they are student scho...
Posted by Maria Thompson Corley on Thu, 12 Apr 2007 02:00:00 PST

Can jazz pianists play classical music as well as classical pianists?

This has taken on a life of its own. I had a recent debate with a fellow classical pianist. I feel that, in theory, there are jazz pianists who can do this because most are classical train...
Posted by Maria Thompson Corley on Sat, 03 Mar 2007 06:06:00 PST