Dr. Suzanne Torkelson, Wartburg College piano and pedagogy professor, will be a piano teacher and performer at the 31^st annual Lutheran Summer Music Academy & Festival, June 24-July 22, at Luther College.

The residential music training academy serves more than 150 student musicians, grades 8-12, from across the United States and features three major ensembles — band, orchestra and choir — as well as a comprehensive keyboard and organ program.

Torkelson will maintain a private studio, coach a small ensemble, and teach class piano. In addition, she will be a featured performer on the LSM Concert & Recital Series and also serve as accompanist for student and faculty recitals throughout the summer.

Torkelson holds the D.M.A. degree in Piano Performance from the University of Iowa, the M.M. degree from Kansas State University and the B.M.E. degree from Wartburg College. She has studied performance and pedagogy at the doctoral level at the University of Colorado, Boulder, providing full-time accompanying assistance at that institution.

Torkelson frequently performs nationally and internationally as piano soloist and chamber musician. She is very active in the field of piano pedagogy, and is in frequent demand as clinician and adjudicator, presenting sessions in pedagogy throughout the United States.

Piano students at LSM participate in a comprehensive curriculum that includes individual instrument lessons; a chamber ensemble; musicianship classes; symphony orchestra, band, or choir, and may include electives like jazz improvisation, conducting, collegium musicum, and more.

LSM has a roster of 34 faculty artists and has fostered musical excellence since 1982. Applications for the 2012 academy are currently being accepted, and more than 80 percent of students receive financial assistance.