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Biography

Mike Gaertner is a Jersey City-based musician whose career spans collaborative piano, vocal coaching, teaching, arts administration, and choral leadership throughout New York and New Jersey. Described as "nothing less than remarkable" by TheaterJones.com, he is a Pittsburgh native with more than 25 years of experience as a pianist. He joins the Cali School of Music as Assistant Professor of Collaborative Piano, and works as Assistant Director and Pianist for the Mixed Ensemble of the Young New Yorkers' Chorus.

Previous professional affiliations in the New York City area include serving as staff pianist at the Mannes School of Music, audition pianist for Pensacola Opera, and performance pianist with the Occasional Opera Company. He has also appeared in recital as part of the Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concert Series and the Café Sabarsky Series at the Neue Galerie. Beyond his performing career, Mike has spent seven years working in arts administration, first as Contracts Administrator at Colbert Artists Management and currently as Operations Assistant at 8VA Music Consultancy, providing him with a broad perspective on both the artistic and business sides of the classical music industry.

Mike's career has taken him throughout the United States, with engagements and residencies at Nashville Opera, Knoxville Opera, the Jacobs School of Music, the Aspen Music Festival, Shreveport Opera, Brevard Music Center, and the Music Academy of the West. While at the Music Academy of the West, he won the 2014 Marilyn Horne Song Competition and completed a national recital tour with soprano Michelle Bradley, performing at Hahn Hall at the Music Academy of the West, the Dallas Museum of Art, and Opera America in New York City.

As a collaborative pianist, Mike has performed in numerous opera productions, including Die Zauberflöte, Carmen, La Traviata, The Pirates of Penzance, La Cenerentola, The Classical Style, The Cows of Apollo, La Bohème, Street Scene, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and The Marriage of Figaro, in addition to musical theatre productions including Rent, Titanic, and Guys and Dolls. He has also participated in dozens of world premieres, including seven premieres on the Young New Yorkers' Chorus' Spring 2022 concert and the premiere of cellist Joshua Roman's chamber work we do it to one another in 2015.

Mike holds a Master of Music in Collaborative Piano from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance with a Collaborative Emphasis from Ithaca College. He has studied with distinguished teachers and coaches, including Jennifer Hayghe, Charis Dimaras, Martin Katz, Warren Jones, and Kenneth Merrill. He also studied the Taubman Technique for five years with Robert Durso and John Bloomfield, senior faculty members of the Golandsky Institute, and is a strong advocate for healthy movement and injury prevention in piano performance and other repetitive-motion activities.