John Etsell

Adjunct, Department of Performing Arts

Pianist John Etsell collaborates with musical artists from all around the world. He is currently Staff Pianist at Detroit Opera and an adjunct professor at Adrian College. He has been on faculty at the Brancaleoni International Music Festival in Piobbico, Italy, and The Institute for Young Dramatic Voices in Reno, NV. Equally active in the instrumental realm, John is a member of the Lumino Trio (luminomusic.com), which has been described as “just the sort of high-execution, high-ambition ensemble that Detroit’s chamber music world so desperately needs” (Avant Music News).

John holds degrees in Piano Performance from Oberlin Conservatory and the University of Nevada, Reno, and received a D.M.A. in Collaborative Piano at the University of Michigan. He espouses a creative, open-minded, and improvisatory approach to performance informed by scholarship, personal sensibility, and intuition.