Dr. Laura Artesani is the Assistant Chair of the Division of Music and Assistant Professor of Music Education in the School of Performing Arts at the University of Maine, teaching courses in the areas of music education, music history, and Women and Music. She serves as piano accompanist for two choral ensembles at the School of Performing Arts: the University Singers and the Athena Consort, and performs frequently in faculty and student recitals. She is the faculty advisor for the UMaine Collegiate Chapter of MENC, and is a member of the Executive Board of the Maine Music Educators Association. She has also served as secretary of the Maine Music Teachers Association.
Dr. Artesani graduated summa cum laude from Barrington College in Rhode Island, and received a M.M. in piano performance from the University of Maine. She earned a D.M.A. in piano performance from West Virginia University, where she was the recipient of the Swiger Teaching Fellowship for four years. She has taught at the Lincoln School in Providence, RI; Center Drive and North Orrington Schools in Orrington, ME; and the Stillwater Montessori School in Old Town, ME.
Dr. Artesani has completed Levels I-III of Orff Schulwerk Teacher Training, and was recently awarded a Junior Faculty Research Fellowship from the University of Maine to support her research on Gunild Keetman and Doreen Hall. Recent presentations include Music Education as a Protective Factor: a Review of Findings from the Professional Literature with Dr. James Artesani at the International Society for Music Education World Conference in Bologna, Italy in July of 2008.
In addition to her duties at the University of Maine, Dr. Artesani is the Music Director at the Old Town United Methodist Church, where she directs the Adult, Youth and Handbell Choirs.
