Joy Mentzel has performed throughout the United States and in Poland and Japan, appearing as a solo and collaborative pianist. These include appearances with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, recitals at the Castleton Festival, Kennedy Center, Chicago Cultural Center, Strathmore, the Chicago Athletic Association Rising Star Series and the Steinway Young Artist Series, among others throughout the United States. She has also played with the Washington National Opera Orchestra as an orchestral pianist.

 

Joy has studied with Emilio del Rosario at the Music Institute of Chicago (2000-2007), Menahem Pressler at Indiana University (BM, 2007) and Santiago Rodriguez and Bradford Gowen at the University of Maryland (MM, 2010). In addition to her formal training, Joy has received instruction from Kum-Sing Lee, Rita Sloan, Alvin Chow, Alan Chow, Angela Cheng, Jerome Lowenthal, Tamas Ungar, Christopher Elton, Frederic Chiu, Claude Frank, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Miriam Fried, Jamie Laredo, and composer George Crumb.

Joy is the winner of the Society of American Musicians and American Opera Society Piano Competitions, among many other regional and national competitions. She has also received top prizes in the MTNA Young Artists and the National Arts Recognition Program. Ms. Mentzel has competed in international festivals such as the Warsaw (Poland) Piano Workshop and the TCU/Cliburn Young Artist Piano Institute, the Gold Country Piano Institute (where she was awarded the title of Most Promising American Pianist) and the Las Vegas Music Institute.

 

Joy has been a piano instructor and staff accompanist at the Levine School of Music in Washington, DC and the Suitland High School for the Performing Arts in Suitland, MD. She is also an avid organist at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in McLean, VA. She lives in Maryland with her husband and two sons.