Paul Wirth, D.M.

Dr. Paul Wirth is a prominent figure in our national piano teaching community. His unique combination of masterful performing and teaching, along with a sense of humor and unassuming personality have made him a much sought-after featured artist in concerts, master classes, fundraisers, conventions, special events, and lecture series. With his Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from Temple University, and his Master and Doctorate degrees in Piano Performance from Indiana University, he co-founded and is now Artistic Director of the Wirth Center for the Performing Arts in St. Cloud, Minnesota, a bustling performing arts center with over 300 students taught by a faculty of twenty. Chosen as the 2004–05 Teacher of the Year by Thursday Musical, he has taught numerous first prize-winning students of regional, national and international competitions, with thirty of his pre-college students having performed over seventy solo performances with orchestra, including numerous appearances with the Minnesota Orchestra and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.

In addition to his presentations at conventions and conferences, including the 2007 National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy and statewide conventions in Minnesota, Iowa and Texas, Wirth’s GRAVI-DVD––a cutting-edge DVD on teaching piano technique to children––is now distributed internationally. His master classes, most recently at the Cleveland Institute of Music Preparatory Division, are always well received, and his presentations, drawing upon thirty years as a pre-college specialist teaching advanced concepts to 4–18 year olds, often elicit further engagements. He avidly supports young performers, having co-founded the Salon se Lève concert series in Minneapolis, at the nationally recognized Young Artist World Piano Festival at Bethel University in St. Paul, MN. Wirth maintains three studios in Minnesota: at the Wirth Center for the Performing Arts in St. Cloud, at Schmitt Music Center Roseville, and at his home in St. Joseph, where he lives with his wife and greatest support, Kathy Wirth.