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Noel Benkman - pianist, music instructor,
eLearning developer - has taught music at Chabot College since 1989. He
teaches Introduction to Music, American Cultures in Music, and World
Music - all of them completely online. He is a pioneer in online
education: while Production Manager of Web Course Development at Teacher
Universe and later at Riverdeep Interactive Learning his team received
two Codie Award nominations (Academy Awards in the Tech industry) for
Best K-16 Education Administration Solution 2003 and Best Online
Training Program 2001. He holds degrees in music from the San Francisco
Conservatory of Music and Stony Brook University. In 2006 Shanxi Art
College in Taiyuan, China awarded him "Honorary Visiting Professor of
Music."
As a pianist Noel Benkman performs as a solo
recitalist, soloist with orchestras, chamber musician, and studio
musician. He will be performing his 4th concert tour of China in April
2008. In 2006 he performed a 10-city solo recital tour in China. He was
first invited to China in 1996 as the "American Olympic Pianist" because
he performed the "Rhapsody in Blue" with the New American Orchestra in
the Opening Ceremonies of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles in which he
also recorded the soundtrack for ABC television. In 1996 he performed
for 60,000 people at the Qingdao International Festival. For several
years he toured with the American flutist Mary Lazarian as part of the
“Lazarian/Benkman Duo.” In addition to recent recitals in Asia and the
United States, he
performed in “Music in the Mountains” in Yosemite
National Park last year. Mr. Benkman’s CD “Yosemite Suite” on the
Lushtone Records label received great reviews and has been featured
numerous times on American Public Radio. His new solo CD "My Beautiful
Garden" will be released in 2009. Additionally, he has composed and
recorded music for several independent films including "Here, in the
Garden of Eden" a documentary about the painter Albert Bierstadt
commissioned by the San Francisco De Young Museum, "The Missing Key,"
"Passenger," "Last Man," "1 or 2 Things About...," "The Final Cut," and
the theme music for the cable television series "Culture Shock News."
Noel Benkman is also a published writer and, many
moons ago, was a commercial salmon fisherman in Alaska. He lives in
Orinda, California with his wife Valerie and has two grown sons: Matthew
and Mark. |
