Gretchen E Dekker, BMus, MMus
Meet Gretchen E Dekker
Gretchen Dekker (Elicker) began her formal music training at the piano locally and continued her studies at the Peabody Preparatory School in Baltimore. Following her graduation from Northeastern High School, she entered the Peabody Conservatory and graduated with honors. Pursuing a strong interest in the harpsichord, she auditioned for and was accepted by Gustav Leonhardt as one of four pupils in his international class. During her time of residence in Amsterdam, she studied both harpsichord and organ and performed recitals throughout The Netherlands, France, and Belgium.
Since receiving a Master of Music degree with high academic honors and special recognition for distinction in performance from the New England Conservatory of Music, Dekker has concertized as both a soloist and collaborative artist in the mid-Atlantic region. She has been featured as a concerto soloist with the York Symphony Orchestra, the Harrisburg Symphony, the York College Symphony Orchestra, and the Hershey Symphony, among others.
Since 2020 Gretchen has been the Music Director of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of York, and as the current president of the York Music Teachers Association, she is a passionate, active advocate for music and arts education in the region. Since 1998 Dekker has been an adjunct professor of piano, harpsichord, early music history, and aural theory as well as a staff accompanist at York College of Pennsylvania. In 2012 she co-founded the YCPrep Community Music School, which is based at York College and offers pre- and post-collegiate studio music instruction and performance opportunities in all disciplines.
- Harpsichord, Piano, and Organ, M.M.
New England Conservatory - Piano and Harpsichord, B.M.
Peabody Conservatory/John Hopkins University - Harpsichord and Organ, Graduate Certificate
Sweelinck Conservatorium, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
- MUS107: Studio Harpsichord
- MUS140: Studio Piano
- MUS184: Aural Skills I
- MUS185: Aural Skills II
- MUS186: Listening to Music
- "Women's Work": A Faculty Recital (March 2024)
- Beethoven's Choral Fantasy with the York Symphony (May 2022)
- Poulenc Concerto for 2 Pianos (upcoming October 5th, 2024 with the York Symphony)
- Dekker Studio YouTube Channel
- Music Teachers National Association
- Pennsylvania Music Teachers Association
- York Music Teachers Association
- National Guild of Community Schools of Music
- American College of Musicians