Hastings College Professor of Music Dr. Jonathan Sokasits received two awards during the 2010 Nebraska Music Teachers Association (NMTA) Conference held at Hastings College on October 14 and 15, 2010. Sokasits received the NMTA Outstanding Service Award for his years of work with the organization, and he was named a Music Teachers National (MTNA) Fellow, a prestigious award bestowed on the recipient by peers.
Sokasits teaches studio piano and class piano, piano literature, piano pedagogy, and chamber music at Hastings College. He holds Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Bachelor of Music degree from Ithaca College. 
Sokasits is active performing in solo, duo and chamber recitals. He is a member of the artists’ rosters for the Nebraska Arts Council Touring Artists Program and the Heartland Arts Fund/Mid-America Arts Alliance, and is a regular presenter at state, regional and national conventions of professional organizations such as the Music Teachers National Association and the College Music Society. He appears on Mark Custom Records (with the Ithaca College Wind Ensemble) and Albany Records (with flutist Leonard Garrison).  Sokasits has performed with the Chiara String Quartet, the Oakwood Chamber Players, the Petrella percussion and piano duo, the Lincoln Symphony Third Chair Chamber Players and numerous faculty colleagues.
In 2006, Sokasits completed a recital and master class tour to universities in New Zealand, where he presented recitals of contemporary music by New Zealand and American composers. In 2005, he presented a lecture-recital at the Rhodes International Rachmaninoff Conference, and in 2004, he was a featured recitalist, master class teacher, and adjudicator for the inaugural Besparmak International Piano Festival at Eastern Mediterranean University in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. That summer he also appeared as a featured recitalist at the annual Goshen College Summer Piano Workshop.  He continues to serve as a member of the piano faculty at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp.  
A devotee of contemporary music, Sokasits has worked with composers Christian Berg, Karel Husa, John Psathas, Christopher Rouse and Dana Wilson, whose set of piano pieces, “Persona,” was commissioned by the Nebraska Music Teachers Association and given their premiere performance by Sokasits.
Sokasits has served Nebraska Music Teachers Association as Local Arrangements Coordinator for the 2006 and 2010 State Conferences and Festivals, Vice President and Program Coordinator for CNMTA, State Competitions Chair, Secretary and Newsletter Editor, and judge for District, State and Division Festivals and Competitions.  He is currently Faculty Co-advisor for the student chapter at Hastings College, and Senior Competitions Coordinator for West Central Division.
Hastings College, founded in 1882, is a private, four-year liberal arts institution affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). A total of 64 majors in 32 areas of study and 12 pre-professional programs are offered to more than 1,150 students. Hastings College was named among “America’s Best National Liberal Arts Colleges” by U.S. News & World Report, a “Best in the Midwest” by The Princeton Review, and a “Best Buy in College Education” by Barron’s. Visit www.hastings.edu for more information.

For more information, contact Jonathan Sokasits at (402) 461-7359.