Jestin Pieper

Jestin Pieper is a pianist, collaborative artist, educator, organist, music director, and scholar whose career integrates pedagogy, research, performance, and academic leadership. He currently serves as Adjunct Full Professor at Long Island University–Brooklyn Roc Nation School of Music, Sports and Entertainment and Adjunct Professor at Five Towns College. His higher education teaching experience includes private piano lessons, vocal coaching, aural skills, music theory and keyboard harmony, music history, and piano lab. He also teaches through the LIU Honors College, most recently the course “Sound, Signs and Signifiers: Meaning in Music.”

As a conductor and music director, Pieper made his conducting debut at Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center and has conducted productions including Victor Herbert’s Madeline and Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, as well as opera scenes at Manhattan School of Music coordinated with Mignon Dunn. At LIU-Brooklyn, he has directed productions of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Carrie, A Sondheim Soirée, and 35mm: A Musical Exhibition, and has co-taught the music theater workshop for half a decade.

An organist with over 15 years of experience in sacred music, he currently serves as Associate Organist and Assistant Music Minister at First Presbyterian Church in Greenwich, CT.

As a vocal coach and collaborative pianist, Pieper has worked at Manhattan School of Music and Mannes School of Music, and has served as staff pianist and coach at the Mediterranean Opera Festival, International Vocal Arts Institute, and Brevard Music Festival. He has been on faculty for the Savannah VOICE Experience and Manhattan Opera Studio, and assistant conductor for many opera companies including Chelsea Opera in NYC.

As a concert pianist, Pieper maintains a busy schedule performing across the United States, both as a soloist and as a collaborative pianist. He has appeared in prestigious concert halls and venues, including Carnegie Hall, as well as recent performances at Maverick Concerts. He toured with The Irish Tenors in the spring of 2026 and recently premiered a new trio by composer and colleague James Bassi. Since 2007, he has maintained a vibrant private studio. A Nationally Certified Teacher of Music, he has worked as an ArtsBridge teaching artist and Co-Director of the piano project at PS 329 in Queens, New York for ten years, and is a sought-after masterclass clinician. He has presented at conferences including TMTA and the Billy Joel Symposium at Stony Brook University, where he analyzed three songs from The Stranger (1977).

As co-founder of the Luminae Trio, Pieper has won awards from The American Prize and a Chamber Music America grant supporting the ensemble’s debut album, American Luminaries, released August 7, 2026 on MSR Classics. The recording features piano trios by Lowell Liebermann, Amy Beach, and Jennifer Higdon. A solo piano album is scheduled for release in late 2026.

Pieper holds degrees from Lawrence University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Manhattan School of Music, and is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance at Five Towns College. He and his family welcomed a daughter, Aya, in June 2026.