Paul Zeigler is an award-winning musician whose multifaceted career as a pianist, composer, teacher, lecturer, and adjudicator has taken him on performances throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe.

 

Paul began playing at age 16 under the tutelage of pianist/composer Wells Gemberling of York, Pennsylvania, later with acclaimed pianist/composer Harold Zabrack, and most recently with Steinway Artist and contemporary music specialist Jeanne Golan. Among his numerous honors as a pianist, Paul most notably won first place at the 1986 Young Keyboard Artists International Piano Competition, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and took second place at the 2002 Bartok-Kabalevsky-Prokofiev International Piano Competition at Radford University, Virginia. 

 

Paul’s compositions reveal his deep love for melody, poetry, and ensemble. This passion has led him to the creation of dozens of art songs and three award-winning song cycles: Peace: A Song Cycle on Five Poems by Langston Hughes (2007 finalist in the National Association of Teachers of Singing [NATS] Art Song Competition), Astonishing Light: Six Songs on Poems by Hafiz (2014 second place winner, NATS Art Song Competition), and Rachel: A Song Cycle, A Life (2020 finalist, NATS Art Song Competition).

 

In addition to works for piano solo and chamber music ensemble, Paul has composed two critically acclaimed concerti for piano and orchestra, both premiered by The Baroque Orchestra of New Jersey [BONJ] under the direction of Maestro Robert W. Butts: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1 (2013), and Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 (2016). 

 

In 2020 Paul collaborated with award-winning librettist Steven Withrow on a chamber opera entitled The Beckoning Fair One, a story about the mortal dangers of dissatisfaction with—and estrangement from—one’s art, one’s romantic partner and ultimately one’s sanity, based on the classic English ghost story from 1911 by Oliver Onions.

 

Paul has recorded three CDs of his original compositions:

• To Music and Other Original Works by Paul Zeigler, with Patricia Ruggles, mezzo-soprano, Janet Vidovich, clarinet, and Mitchell Vines, piano

• Peace, with Diane Gold Toulson, flute, Patricia Ruggles, mezzo-soprano, and Renee Jolles, violin

• Love, Light, Peace, Original Songs by Paul Zeigler, with Patricia Ruggles, mezzo-soprano

 

When not performing and composing, Paul teaches music privately at his studio in New York City and takes great pride in the fact that many of his students have gone on to win awards and acclaim in their own right.