Heidi Upton has been an Assistant Professor at St. John’s
University in Queens, New York, since the fall of 2003. Hired as a
fulltime professor for Discover New York, a core-curriculum
freshman transition course, she is also affiliated with the Fine
Arts department where she teaches another core curriculum course,
The Creative Process.
Dr. Upton has been a teaching artist for Lincoln Center Institute
for the Arts in Education since 1998. She is distinguished as being
one of its first full-time teaching artists in their Focus School
and Teacher Education Collaboratives, a post she was awarded in
2001. She has also participated in writing several special
projects, resulting in publications such as Windows on the Work
(resource manuals that accompany the Institute’s Repertory) and
most recently the Lincoln Center Institute/Time Warner, Inc.
Professional Development Discussions: Aesthetic Education and Youth
Programs: A Guide to Best Practices, which she co-authored with
Cathryn Willams, Director of Strategic Alliances at the
Institute.
Since 1994 she has been heard on National Public Radio as a
commentator and on Public Radio International as an
announcer. In addition, she can be heard as the narrator of
several documentaries.
In 1993, Ms. Upton, a pianist, was awarded the Doctor of Musical
Arts degree from Manhattan School of Music. She received the Master
of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees from The Juilliard School,
as a scholarship student of Sascha Gorodnitzki. She has performed
as soloist with orchestras such as the St. Louis Symphony, the
Kansas City Symphony and the Juilliard Orchestra, under such music
directors as Leonard Slatkin, John Nelson, William McGlaughlin, and
Christopher Kendall. Ms. Upton has appeared in recital and chamber
music with many artists in such venues as Caramoor Center for the
Arts and on Martha’s Vineyard. She has performed extensively
the music of composer and conductor David Amram with whom she has
appeared at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the Jewish Museum
and on national radio broadcasts. A native New Yorker, she is a
graduate of the famed High School of Performing Arts.