Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center Shares Spotlight at 2010 Intel Visionary Conference

WASHINGTON, April 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center, (www.lppacs.org) an arts-in-education leader in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and nationally, will be featured at the prestigious 9th annual Intel Education Visionary Conference April 14-16 at the Hotel Sofitel in Washington, D.C. Now in its ninth year, the conference will bring together policy makers, government officials, and education technology leaders from across the nation. On the final morning of the conference, attendees will see and hear history in the making -- while getting a first-hand demonstration of the very near future as well.

Lincoln Park managing director Stephen Catanzarite will be part of a presentation team that will open the final day of the conference. The team will include Jarrod Radnich, touted as one of this nation's most promising up-and-coming composers and pianists, performing from Black Box Theatre of the Hi-Desert Cultural Center in Joshua Tree, California. Craig Knudsen, one of the Yamaha Music Corporation's top innovators in the area of music technology, will emcee the session in Washington, D.C., as the team leads the audience through a performance and demonstration of some of the most cutting-edge methods available for music education.

With two Yamaha Disklavier reproducing grand pianos connected to each other over the Internet, Radnich's keystrokes and foot peddling in Joshua Tree are faithfully reproduced live on the piano at the Washington, D.C., conference, with every nuance of Radnich's performance perfectly duplicated on the remote piano. The keystrokes Radnich creates on the Joshua Tree piano are played live by the piano in Washington, and vice versa, even though the pianos are separated by thousands of miles and a three-hour time difference!

The session opens with Radnich and Knudsen recreating part of their virtual performance that is currently featured at Disneyland's Tomorrowland in the "Home of the Future" exhibit. Catanzarite will then share how the technology is being utilized by Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center to deliver cutting-edge arts education experience to students throughout Pennsylvania, and will introduce Calista Frederick-Jaskiewicz, a student at the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, who will appear on the conference stage and receive a remote master music lesson from Radnich. George Litterst of TimeWarp Technologies, the inventor of many of the technologies being utilized, will then offer comments on the power of distance learning for music education.

The session's finale will feature Radnich accompanied live in the curve of the conference piano by Patti Cohenour, originally known as "Christine Daae" in Broadway's Phantom of the Opera. She will be singing her signature song "Think Of Me" in what might be termed the ultimate example of a "phantom" performance. This performance with Cohenour will also include several original works from the music of MACAW, written by Radnich and arranged with Knudsen.

The application of this technology to the field of music education and learning is unparalleled, and represents a significant paradigm shift in the way that musicians may learn and practice. It enables remote music learning/teaching without sacrificing teaching quality, and in fact enhances that quality because it enables the student to be taught by a teacher who, although geographically not available, is the best match for that student -- and vise versa.

Dr. Eileen Lento, Intel's Government and Education Strategist, finds the educational ramifications truly amazing. Says Lento, "Completely dispelling common perceptions of online learning as a dry consumption model of teaching and learning, this amazing interactive demonstration represents a truly compelling example of a dynamic and intimate online learning experience where the learner can go far beyond the technical -- exploring the masterful nuances of each technique under the tutelage of maestros from around the world -- all enabled by online learning!"

The Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center is located 45 minutes northwest of Pittsburgh in Midland, Beaver County. Founded by Dr. Nick Trombetta who, as superintendent of the Midland Borough School District also pioneered the state's first K-12 online public school (The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School), the $30 million facility opened in 2006 and is home to the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School, a Pennsylvania public charter school providing a state-approved academic program along with professional training in music, theater, dance, creative writing, and media arts. The Center is also home to the Henry Mancini Arts Academy, and presents a variety of professional and student performances each year, include a 3-concert series with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. The Center is currently developing a world center of excellence in the study, promotion, and practice of recreational music making and creative artistic expression to promote health and wellness. This initiative is being created in partnership with Dr. Barry Bittman, M.D., CEO of the Yamaha Music and Wellness Institute.

Dr. Nick Trombetta, CEO of the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School (www.pacyber.org) and founder of Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center, will also be participating in the Intel Visionary Conference as part of a three-person panel discussing the future of online learning. This panel discussion will immediately follow the music education demonstration.

Intel's involvement in efforts to improve education, particularly science and mathematics education, is a long-standing commitment for the company. Developing excellence in science and math teaching and learning is a competitiveness issue for Intel, the high-tech industry in general and the U.S. economy. Intel contributes millions annually to efforts aimed at improving education. A focus of the 2010 conference is education and innovation which are areas of significant interest for Intel as well as the United States Department of Education. Two executives from the U.S. Department of Education will be making special remarks: James H. Shelton III, Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation & Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, and Karen Cator, Director, Office of Educational Technology, U.S. Department of Education.

The first Visionary event was held in March of 2001 when educators and technology leaders from around the globe came together in a landmark event. At the first visionary conference, a standardized model was developed identifying the two most effective technology paths available to schools today: an integrated technology environment and wireless. The paper that came out of that conference continues to be accessed daily by educators, indicating that the influence of that event is still being felt today. The second visionary conference focused on the future of mobility in education and on improved student learning models. And so continues the innovative Visionary discussion, bringing us to the ninth annual event scheduled for April 14-16, 2010, at the Hotel Sofitel in Lafayette Square.

Source:  National Network of Digital Schools Fred Miller, 724.764.7200, ext. 1377, or Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center, Stephen Catanzarite, 724.643.9004, ext. 1301

SOURCE National Network of Digital Schools