Lia Jensen-Abbott

Assistant Professor
Piano and Music Theory

Office: T-3, Goodrich Chapel
Phone: 517-629-0698 
E-mail:
Website: Diabellisquared.com

• D.M.A., Piano Performance, University of Nebraska-Lincoln;
• D.M.A., Piano Performance, University of Nebraska-Lincoln;
• Performer Diploma, Indiana University;
• M.M.and M.A., Piano and Music Theory, Pennsylvania State University;
• B.M., Piano Performance, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Dr. Lia Jensen-Abbott brings a background steeped in the humanities to her piano playing and lectures.  In addition to her many performance activities, her current research interests include Beethoven, Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn, and Florence Price, as well as incorporating semiotic research into piano pedagogy.  Dr. Jensen-Abbott was invited to participate in the International Mendelssohn Piano Competition in Taurisano, Italy in 2009 where she reached the third round.  In 2005 she taught and performed at the Con Brio Music Festival in Blonay, Switzerland.  She has appeared as a clinician for The Gilmore Festival Keys Fest as well as a sought after performer and adjudicator around Michigan.  She has also taught at The Gilmore Piano Camp and presented lecture recitals at Murray State University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Western Michigan University, and Wayne State University.  In January 2011 she performed recitals in Zurich and Paris.  January 2012 began with a lecture recital at  the Hawaii University International Conference on the Arts and Humanities in Honolulu, Hawaii.  In February, 2012, Lia made her solo debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall.  Additionally, Dr. Jensen-Abbott is active in the Michigan Music Teachers’ Association, where she has served for four years as the coordinator of the state MTNA competition.  

During the summer of 2012, Dr. Jensen-Abbott completed her first professional recording—Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel’s Das Jahr.  In July 2012, Lia taught theory, keyboard skills, and piano literature at the Western Michigan University Seminar.  She has also been a grader for the AP Music Theory Exam, attended the Music Theory Midwest’s annual conferences, and numerous piano pedagogy conferences.  Lia holds degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (BM, DMA), The Pennsylvania State University (MM piano performance and pedagogy;  MA theory and history), and Indiana University (performer diploma).  She has studied with Timothy Shafer,  Edmund Battersby, and Jeremy Denk.  Currently, she teaches at Albion College where she has been a Visiting Assistant Professor of Music since 2008.  She and her husband David are co-founders of the Albion College Piano Festival and Competition, which has grown to a four-day event with over eighty national and international participants.