Dr. Nancy Elton maintains an active schedule as a solo piano recitalist, chamber musician, concerto soloist and teacher. Her performances throughout the Southeast and in many areas of the U.S have  received critical acclaim.  Hailed as "...an artist capable of amazing fire and brilliance as well as being possessed of the most graceful sensitivity and delicacy....a dazzling pianist to say the very least," (The State  and Columbia Record, Columbia, S.C)  she is a sought after performer and teacher, and many of her award winning students have gone on to major in piano and have successful musical careers.  

In addition to her private home studio, Dr. Elton has served on the music faculties of  University of West Georgia, Georgia State University and Clayton State College where she has taught piano and vocal majors,  piano pedagogy, keyboard skills and voice classes.   She has taught many award winning students through the years.  In 2005 she received the Georgia Music Teacher of the Year Award from the Georgia Music Teachers Association.

Nancy doubled majored in performance degrees through the Doctorate in both piano and voice. She began her musical studies with piano lessons from her mother, Lily Parker Hill, and vocal study from Edward Gavin of Columbia, SC.  She received the Bachelor of Musical Arts degree from the University of South Carolina where she was the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships including the music school's highest honor, the Music Achievement Award.  At USC she studied piano with John Kenneth Adams and voice with Evelyn McGarrity.  As a student of John Adams, she was the winner of the SCMTA Pre-College Piano Auditions, and in 1972 was a national finalist in the MTNA Collegiate Young Artist Competition, winning an Honorable Mention.

She received the Masters and Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from the University of Texas in Austin, where her principal piano teacher was John Perry.  Her vocal training was with Doris Yarick and Bethany Beardslee.  For three summers, she pursued private piano study in Duluth, Minnesota, with Frank Mannheimer, a student of the famed Tobias Matthay;  and also attended the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California, studying piano, chamber music and accompanying with Jerome Lowenthal and Gwendolyn Koldovsky. 

 Nancy has enjoyed a successful career as a performer.  Reviews include statements such as ""she captured the applause and regard of her audience....Her brilliant, sensitive performance of Liszt's Concerto #1 in Eb was hailed with a well deserved standing ovation...she was acutely sensitive to the soul of the music: a confident and equally competent musician,  she demonstrated beautiful phrasing, exceptionally clear arpeggios, trills. Her powerful precision was tempered with a delicate suspension of tones...a finger technique of superior quality found in a select few pianists. "  Florence Morning News, Florence, S.C.)

 Some of her piano performances in recent years have included lecture recitals for the American Matthay Association at Columbus College, Kennesaw State University and the University of Central Florida in Orlando; recent solo recitals have included performances at Jacksonville State University in Alabama, in South Carolina at  Erskine College and  Columbia College, the University of Georgia, Blue Ridge Community College, Callanwolde Fine Arts Center in Atlanta, Central Congregational Church of Atlanta and Georgia Perimeter College, Reinhardt College in Waleska, GA; and concerto appearances include performances with the Coastal Symphony of Georgia in St. Simon’s, Georgia, playing Beethoven’s 3rd Piano Concerto and Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini;  Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy with the Musica Sacra Orchestra at First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta; and a performance of Grieg's Piano Concerto with the Dekalb Symphony Orchestra and the Liszt Concerto in Eb with the Columbia Philharmonic and the Florence Symphony Orchestra.  Nancy has also performed as a collaborative artist with many instrumentalists and singers over the years. Of special note was a series of concerts sponsored by the Affiliate Artist Series in South Carolina where she was accompanist for the distinguished opera singer, baritone Adib Fazah.  Recently she has collaborated in concerts at Lenbrook Square with violinist Jane MaCrae, and also has just completed a recording project with tubist, Michael Andrew, faculty member at Mercer University and member of the US Air Force Brass Quintet. They will release  a CD in September followed by a series of concerts at various locations. Dr. Elton also recently played several duo recitals with pianist Julie Harvey, a Juilliard trained pianist who is now residing in Atlanta and completing her DMA in piano performance at UGA.

Nancy is also a lyric soprano. After coming to Atlanta in 1982, she pursued private vocal study with the distinguished vocal pedagogue,  Irene Harrower. She has sung several leading operatic roles and many art song recitals, and has accumulated an extensive oratorio repertoire.  In the 1983-84 season she sang more that 30 performances in the Atlanta area schools, under the auspices of the Atlanta Opera Outreach Program. She was also featured as soprano soloist with the Atlanta Symphony under the direction of William Fred Scott, singing Rossini's famous aria, 'Una voce poco fa' for a Youth Concert.

20th century literature has played a major role in Nancy's choice of repertoire in both piano and voice. Her doctoral dissertation and lecture recital, accompanied by Anton Nel, was a combination of piano and vocal works of Schoenberg and Webern, and she sang the Austin premier of songs by Texas composers, Priscilla McLean and Kathryn Mischell. A recording by Capstone Records released in 1999 features her as the soprano soloist in a song cycle entitled “Fantasies for Adults and Other Children” by Priscilla McLean. She was soprano soloist for 12 years at First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta and a frequent soloist with the Musica Sacra Concert Series, and is currently soprano soloist and section leader at Peachtree Presbyterian Church.

Nancy is active as an adjudicator and clinician for many piano festivals and organizations throughout the Southeast. She is a past  President of Atlanta Music Teachers Association and has served in numerous capacities for other professional organizations.

Nancy's husband, John, is a computer scientist for Accusoft Pegassus and recently retired Math Professor at Georgia Tech.  Her son Johnny is a graduate of Georgia Tech with a degree in Physics and is pursuing his Ph.D at Cornell University.

 

         Rehearsing Beethoven's Choral Fantasy

with Charles Whittaker for Musica Sacra Concert Series at First Presbyterian Church

Nancy with her teacher, Professor John Adams, after a performance of Liszt's Concerto #3 with orchestra. 

 With Duo Recitalist Julie Harvey

Concert at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center

May, 1997    
Nancy, Age 19, backstage after a concerto performance with the Florence Symphony Orchestra, S.C.  
GMTATeacher of the Year2005       
AtlantaMusic Teachers Assoc.