Chad Twedt (b. 1976) began his classical piano training at the age of six, with private piano lessons, studying with Kathie Krocak, Joan Houtz, Dr. Ronald Williams, and Dr. James Winn. In 1997, he placed third in the Southwest U.S. Divisionals round of the MTNA-Young Chang Collegiate Artist Piano Competition. Notable performances include Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 1 as guest soloist with the Reno Pops Orchestra, and concerts for organizations such as the Tahoe Tallac Association (South Lake Tahoe, CA), the Nevada Arts Council (Reno, NV), Winchester Cultural Center (Las Vegas), Sierra College Dept. of Music (Rocklin, CA), and Franktown Ranch Center for the Arts (Washoe Valley, NV).
Twedt's academic achievements include a Master's in Music Performance (2001) from University of Nevada, Reno. From there he also received his two undergraduate degrees, graduating magna cum laude: a Bachelor of Music in Performance degree and a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics degree, with a minor in Computer Information Systems. He was one of two recipients of the UNR Excellence Fellowship, the most competitive fellowship given to graduate students in all disciplines at University of Nevada, Reno. He was also one of two student recipients of the 1998 Sierra Arts Foundation Fellowship Grant, awarded based on his piano performance.
After completing his Master's in Piano Performance degree, he began focusing on composition. His work on the Ostinato album earned him the 2005 Nevada Arts Council Fellowship Grant. His commissioned works for the four-piano ensemble Piano 4te include Cosmosis (2019), an original four-piano work, and most recently (2025) Herr, unser Herrscher, a four-piano arrangement of the opening chorus of Bach's St. John Passion. Twedt published a book of second piano teacher duets for Burgmüller's Op. 100 pieces, available at orangenote.site, and he has branched out into some unusual areas of composing, including video game music arrangement (also at orangenote.site) and musical soundscape (the “Piano Escape” soundscape at mynoise.net, available only to subscribers).
Twedt has extensive experience as an adjudicator, including adjudicating multiple times for the U.S. Southwest regionals level of the MTNA competition, judging the state winners of California, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and Hawaii in the collegiate, high school and middle school age groups. He also judged the high school level of the MTNA competition for Pennsylvania. As a teacher, Chad holds permanent NCTM certification from MTNA. He was president of the Northern Nevada Music Teachers Association for two terms (2008–2012). From 2012 to 2019, he resided in Pittsburgh, PA before returning to Reno.
He has performed and recorded some of the most demanding solo repertoire, including Stravinsky's Three Movements from Petrushka, Alkan's “Le Festin d'Esope,” Bolcom's Garden of Eden, Liebermann's Gargoyles, Chopin's Third Sonata, Schubert's “Wanderer” Fantasy, Beethoven's “Appassionata” Sonata, and Bach's Sixth English Suite.
As a writer, Twedt has contributed articles to American Music Teacher and Clavier Companion, including a 3,500-word feature article in the July/August issue of Clavier Companion titled “Tone Production: Doing the Right Things for the Right Reasons” (p. 16–25). He also writes about music at Read Twedt, where he shares many of his musical (and often contrarian) insights.
Twedt is also the creator of the MetaPractice app, designed to help teachers assign and evaluate goals, and to assist students in practicing efficiently. He produced The Art of Rubato, a six-hour Udemy course on how to analyze, notate, and teach rubato. Outside of music, Twedt is an active tennis player and volunteer events coordinator (and creator of Tennis Asylum), a film enthusiast, and the creator of the Matrix ReSolutions website.
More photos and materials for presenters are in the press kit.