Biography

Steinway Artist Jacquelyn Helin consistently wins acclaim for her vibrant and musical playing of a wide-ranging repertoire. She has performed in recital and with orchestras in the major musical capitals of Europe and across the United States. As winner of the Artists international Piano Competition, Ms. Helin made her New York debut in Carnegie Recital Hall; she made her European debut in London’s Wigmore Hall. She has performed throughout Europe in venues such as the Musée Chagall in Nice, the Zunfthaus zur Meisen in Zurich, and numerous concert halls in Paris and throughout Great Britain.

Ms. Helin has performed in such venues as New York’s 92nd Street Y, Town Hall, Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music, and Symphony Space; and Washington DC’s Corcoran Gallery, Hirshhorn Museum, Dumbarton Oaks, and Smithsonian Institution. She has played concerti with the Richmond, Greenwich, Santa Fe, Mesa, Hudson Valley Philharmonic, New Mexico, Canton, Montgomery, Columbus (GA), and Redwood Symphonies; and, as a WESTAF touring artist, solo recitals in California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico.

As part of a national tour, Steinway Pianos presented Ms. Helin in recital on Vladimir Horowitz’ Steinway, the Gershwin commemorative piano, as well as on the pianos of Horowitz, Paderewski, and Cliburn. In Santa Fe, she has performed chamber music with such groups as the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Santa Fe Opera, Chatter, the Taos Chamber Music Group, Taos Soundscapes, New Mexico Performing Arts Society, and Ballet ProMusica.

Applauded for her “lucid, highly expressive” interpretations of contemporary music, Ms. Helin frequently collaborates with composers on performances and premieres of their works and played the world premiere of Joan Tower’s Piano Concerto. She is particularly identified with the works of Aaron Copland and Virgil Thomson, with whom she worked closely. Her Face to Face with the 30s and 40s recital at New York’s Merkin Hall celebrated Copland, Thomson and other American composers of their generation. A featured artist in the nationally televised PBS documentary Virgil Thomson at 90, she has made the world premiere recordings of many of Thomson’s works.

Recent concerts include a live-streamed appearance on Performance Santa Fe’s Christmas at the Cathedral; performances of J.S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I at Santa Fe’s Lensic Performing Arts Center and for New Mexico Performing Arts Society; a lecture-recital commemorating Beethoven’s 250th birthday; a performance of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto #5 with New Mexico Performing Arts Society; a lecture-recital on Aaron Copland’s piano music; numerous chamber music performances; and a Steinway-sponsored recital for the Santa Fe Opera Board of Directors to inaugurate their new Steinway piano.

Outside of the concert hall, Ms. Helin maintains a large private studio in Santa Fe and was a founding faculty member at the New Mexico School for the Arts; many of her students regularly win top prizes in competitions. A sought-after adjudicator and coach, Ms. Helin holds a B.M. from the University of Oregon; an M.A. from Stanford University; and a D.M.A. from The University of Texas at Austin, where she studied with John Perry. For the past 17 years, she served as Music Director of the United Church of Santa Fe, a church with a well-regarded music program. Her recordings for New World and Musical Heritage have garnered critical acclaim.

Ms. Helin is a committed music educator and has led hundreds of workshops for adults and children as a teaching artist with the Lincoln Center Institute and the 92nd Street Y in New York City, the Connecticut Institute, the Philadelphia Institute, and the Capital Region Center Institute for Arts in Education. As Vice-Chair of the Santa Fe Arts Commission, she was instrumental in creating ArtWorks, a program for the Santa Fe Schools modeled on Lincoln Center Institute. For PBS, Hershey Foods, and the New York Philharmonic, she has designed outreach activities to develop young audiences and build musical understanding.