JOANNE BENDER

Joanne Elligsen Bender was born and raised on a farm near Stratford, Ontario. Her love of music was nurtured by her parents, church, step-dance and piano lessons. While at University of Waterloo studying science, Joanne continued her advanced piano studies with Erhard Schlenker and received her ARCT in Piano Performance, as well as her M.Sc in Biology. Her further study of piano with Dieter Weber in Vienna, Austria, sparked Joanne’s passion for music. After her marriage to John Bender and while raising four children and teaching many piano students, Joanne completed her B. Mus in Composition at Wilfrid Laurier University, and her M. Mus in Composition at University of Toronto. She appreciates her composition teachers Glenn Buhr, Peter Hatch, Gary Kulesha, Chan Ka-nin and Christos Hatzis.  Joanne has taught many award-winning young pianists and composers at her studio in Waterloo. She performs chamber music concerts and is very involved with church music. She is the recipient of the NUMUS Composition Award, the John Weinzwieg Scholarship and the ORMTA Call for Compositions. She is a member of Red Leaf PianoWorks and has several pieces published in the Royal Conservatory of Music Repertoire albums.