Arts Professional Story: Susan Heiserman, PianoForte Foundation

It’s probably a cliché to say that I didn’t choose music, it chose me.  But it’s true.  Throughout most of my formative years, I planned to go into science or medicine.  In fact, my high school class even voted me “Most Likely to Discover a Cure for Cancer.”  I didn’t start piano lessons until I was almost 8, and while I learned quickly and showed great promise, music remained my hobby and neither my parents nor my piano teacher pushed the issue. 

The big change occurred when I started college and was strongly recruited by the music faculty to join the music department.  They tempted me with a Music Therapy major.  Look—it combines medicine and music!  After finishing the Music Therapy program, I longed for more musical challenges and began a graduate program in piano accompanying and coaching, inspired by my undergraduate voice teacher. 

There were a couple of years when I abandoned music, in favor of a stable life and a steady paycheck, but then I got the itch, bought a piano, and started practicing again.  I now have a doctorate in accompanying and coaching, and suddenly find myself the Artistic Director of the PianoForte Foundation, a young, exciting organization with a bright future. 

As a collaborative pianist, I’ve worked with a wide variety of musicians—and their myriad personalities.  This experience has prepared me well for understanding and dealing with artists.  On the positive side, I am able to speak their language and sense how much or how little they need or want our guidance.  On the negative side, when an artist is particularly nervous or ill-prepared, I feel it in my soul!  It’s hard to bear when you know someone is struggling.  Fortunately, those instances are rare.

I’ve long had an interest in arts administration, but it always seemed difficult to get a foot in the door without prior experience or having been through a music or nonprofit management program.  Luckily, PianoForte Foundation founder Thomas Zoells was willing to take a chance on me! 

While I am a big fan of higher education (obviously), I have to admit I’ve learned more on the job in two years at PianoForte than any class could have prepared me for.  When I first started working at the Foundation as a volunteer, 501c3 was a foreign concept to me.  And what does a board of directors really do?  I have since learned volumes about nonprofit management, fundraising, marketing, and of course, artistic programming.  I have learned to trust that my musical experience and instincts will lead me to good decisions. 

I feel fortunate to work in arts administration in a city like Chicago.  Compared to other cities I’ve lived in, Chicago’s arts community is very open, friendly, helpful, and collaborative.  And the wealth of resources and support available here is a big plus!  Attending seminars and workshops and working with consultants has been invaluable.  It’s great to have so many opportunities for continued learning, and to have so many other wonderful organizations setting examples for the rest of us.

The PianoForte Foundation believes that classical and jazz performance is more meaningful and expressive when delivered in intimate venues.  Our mantra is “Get personal with music.”  Every one of our concerts assures me that this is absolutely true and essential.  It is very gratifying to see such extraordinary performances on a near-weekly basis!  The Foundation’s performance venues encourage interaction and dialogue between the artist and audience.  We really want to create a connection between artists and audiences that is personal and very present – something that does not often exist in today’s popular large venues.  It makes me proud to be able to bring such a high level of talent to the public, and to witness the very real physical and emotional effects music can have on people.

As a presenter, we strive for innovation, variety, and creativity in programming, but we try to strike an equal balance between traditional and experimental.  We really want to offer something for everyone.  I am continually amazed by the number and variety of incredibly talented musicians that come to us.  It’s getting harder and harder to choose who to put on our series.  From one pianist’s sensitive and subtle Bach prelude and fugue to another’s bombastic Liszt transcription, they have all inspired me personally as an artist, and as an administrator.  We seek musicians who are technically fluent, but who also truly have something to say.  Ours are not always the most obvious choices, but we want to expose audiences to the range of music available for piano, and to support artists that we truly believe in.

Since we’re a small, young organization, we don’t have a set frame of reference from which to judge the current economic climate—and I think that’s a plus.  We don’t have any predefined notion of how things “should be.”  We are a fluid, growing organization and we simply make it our goal to present the best concert experiences possible.  Naturally, there’s always the stress of not knowing how well a concert will sell (and why do people wait until the very last minute to buy tickets, anyway?).  But we forge ahead and do our best, never forgetting just how lucky we are to be able to work in the arts.  What a privilege it is to inspire others and to be inspired every day.

Susan Heiserman is Artistic Director of the PianoForte Foundation and a collaborative pianist with 15 years of experience accompanying and coaching singers and instrumentalists of all levels.   The PianoForte Foundation, established in 2005, presents classical and jazz piano concerts, education, and programming to support and enhance a more active piano culture.  It offers more than 60 concerts a year by local, national, and international artists in three venues in the Chicago area, including the historic Fine Arts Building in downtown Chicago, Sherwood Conservatory of Music, and Mayslake Peabody Estate in Oak Brook.   This Artist Story was based on an interview by Paula Tsurutani, a freelance marketing writer who focuses on arts and nonprofits.