Jessica Roemischer is an award-winning pianist, author, poet, and visual artist, as well as a beloved teacher, who specializes in unique concerts and inspirational events. Her life is devoted to liberating the human spirit through the transformative effect of music, story and image.
Born into a musical family, Jessica began piano at age six and was improvising and composing from the outset. Her pedagogical lineage, in the finest European tradition, is through her mother who studied with Polish-born pianist, Leopold Mittman, accompanist to Isaac Stern and winner of the 1915 Chopin Competition; and her father, an accomplished violinist who studied with Ivan Galamian at the Meadowmount School of Music.
Academically, both parents were highly progressive thinkers and had a formative influence on their daughter, shaping Jessica’s views of human consciousness, the arts, education and our future. Her mother, Miriam Roemischer, Ph.D wrote a groundbreaking dissertation on the developmental theories of Jean Piaget, incorporating the phenomenological implications of leading-edge physics (quantum mechanics). Jessica's father, John Roemischer, Ph.D taught the philosophy of education on the City University of New York and Plattsburgh State University faculties in a career that spanned six decades. He presented his incisive and far-reaching perspectives in papers delivered, later in life, at the Oxford Round Table, Oxford, UK.
Jessica's affinity for the arts and music was also inspired by her grandmother, Mme Berthe, one of the foremost theatrical costumers of the 20th century. Producing the finest hand-made gowns, suits, and costumes, Mme Berthe counted among her clients Lena Horne, Duke Ellington, Liza Minelli, Tallulah Bankhead, Salvador Dali, Jackie Gleason, The Radio City Rockettes for the opening of Radio City Music Hall in 1932, nightclubs such as the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, the Moulin Rouge in Hollywood, and New York’s Latin Quarter and Cotton Club.
As a young person, Jessica studied classical piano with Marilyn Sophos in Dobbs Ferry, New York. Captivated by the timeless beauty of classical music, Jessica was a "child of the '60's" (and '70's) and found herself equally as compelled by the soaring harmonies of Crosby, Stills, and Nash, the inimitable guitar of Led Zeppelin, and the hypnotic vocalizations of Van Morrison. Learning to play her favorite songs by ear, she simultaneously pursued her classical piano studies with her teacher, and won awards in the Westchester (NY) Symphony and Westchester Conservatory Concerto competitions, among others.
Enriched and inspired by her parents, grandmother, and teachers, Jessica Roemischer graduated with High Honors in Art History and Visual Arts from Princeton University, receiving a Francis LeMoyne Page Award for Exceptional Achievement in the Visual Arts. Her mentors were master photographers, Emmet Gowin and the late Frederick Sommer. Upon graduating, she assisted Mr. Sommer with presentations and the editing of his writings, which appear in Words/Images, a definitive retrospective published by the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, AZ.
Shortly thereafter, Jessica moved to Melbourne, Australia where she lived for much of the 1980's, teaching music and photography at secondary and tertiary institutions throughout the city. She was the first photographer to be awarded a State of Victoria Community Artist Grant by the Victoria Council on the Arts. Her photographs of inner-city life in Melbourne appeared in media publications throughout Australia.
Upon returning to the USA in the late 1980’s, Jessica engaged in architectural preservation in the Adirondack region of New York State. Her National Register of Historic Places listings and innovative architectural education program led to a New York State Historic Preservation Award, as well as a nomination for the New York State Council on the Arts award.
As a pianist, Jessica Roemischer is a consummate artist whose piano interpretations have a rare beauty and authenticity. Combining contemporary idioms, delivered with the finesse of a classically-trained pianist, Jessica draws her inspiration from four centuries of music--from Bach to Bruce Springsteen--as well as creating her own original compositions and soundtracks. She has performed in a diversity of settings, from street corners to concert halls, reaching global audiences across the world via TV and the internet. Jessica has released full-length albums: "Haven," "In Duet with God," "Light Born of Light," and "The Heart of Christmas," available on iTunes, Amazon, & Spotify.
More than just an accomplished solo musician, Jessica calls upon her abilities to help others awaken to their own creativity. In working with hundreds of students over four decades, Jessica has concluded that, when given the optimum environment, an individual will invariably come forth with extraordinary strengths and capacities.
Jessica Roemischer generates this ideal environment through her unique approach to piano duet improvisation, The Duet Paradigm(R). In so doing, she makes it possible for everyone--regardless of age, background or the presence of a developmental disability--to access his or her deepest and most far-reaching potential. Her students have gone on to Grammy Award nominations and global competitions.
From 1989-1999, Jessica taught on the Music Faculty of Middlebury College, Vermont. She then conducted a unique music program at Riverbrook Residence for Women in Stockbridge, MA, the oldest facility of its kind in New England, USA, and a model of care for women with disabilities. Implementing an innovative approach to piano duet improvisation, Jessica's ground-breaking work with the women at Riverbrook received support from the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Community Education Program; singer/songwriter, James Taylor; is the subject of a paper she delivered, alongside her father’s, at the Oxford Round Table, Oxford University, and earned her a nomination for a CNN Heroes Award.
Jessica's eclectic background includes writing and journalism. Her compelling articles and interviews, covering a wide array of subjects, highlight themes of universal meaning. She has dialogued with some of the world's cultural and spiritual icons, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, guitarist Carlos Santana, theologians Karen Armstrong and Huston Smith, Apollo astronaut, Dr. Edgar Mitchell, futurist Barbara Marx Hubbard, cultural anthropologist Helen Fisher, feminist Eve Ensler, and many others. Jessica’s major article, "The Never-Ending Upward Quest," is widely recognized as the most comprehensive and accessible introduction to the theory of cultural evolution called, "Spiral Dynamics," an approach that had been implemented to facilitate South Africa's peaceful transition out of apartheid.
Jessica Roemischer's spiritual memoir, inspired by her childhood nanny is titled, In Duet with God - The Story of a Lifelong Friendship. It was honored with an Illumination Book Award, after which Jessica returned to Australia to live, teach and perform. She initiated an inspirational podcast, "Homecoming,” combining reflection and piano music available on iTunes. With the onset of the pandemic, Jessica began offering solace, hope and healing in live-streamed concerts and music videos created for audiences throughout the world.
Born into a musical family, Jessica began piano at age six and was improvising and composing from the outset. Her pedagogical lineage, in the finest European tradition, is through her mother who studied with Polish-born pianist, Leopold Mittman, accompanist to Isaac Stern and winner of the 1915 Chopin Competition; and her father, an accomplished violinist who studied with Ivan Galamian at the Meadowmount School of Music.
Academically, both parents were highly progressive thinkers and had a formative influence on their daughter, shaping Jessica’s views of human consciousness, the arts, education and our future. Her mother, Miriam Roemischer, Ph.D wrote a groundbreaking dissertation on the developmental theories of Jean Piaget, incorporating the phenomenological implications of leading-edge physics (quantum mechanics). Jessica's father, John Roemischer, Ph.D taught the philosophy of education on the City University of New York and Plattsburgh State University faculties in a career that spanned six decades. He presented his incisive and far-reaching perspectives in papers delivered, later in life, at the Oxford Round Table, Oxford, UK.
Jessica's affinity for the arts and music was also inspired by her grandmother, Mme Berthe, one of the foremost theatrical costumers of the 20th century. Producing the finest hand-made gowns, suits, and costumes, Mme Berthe counted among her clients Lena Horne, Duke Ellington, Liza Minelli, Tallulah Bankhead, Salvador Dali, Jackie Gleason, The Radio City Rockettes for the opening of Radio City Music Hall in 1932, nightclubs such as the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, the Moulin Rouge in Hollywood, and New York’s Latin Quarter and Cotton Club.
As a young person, Jessica studied classical piano with Marilyn Sophos in Dobbs Ferry, New York. Captivated by the timeless beauty of classical music, Jessica was a "child of the '60's" (and '70's) and found herself equally as compelled by the soaring harmonies of Crosby, Stills, and Nash, the inimitable guitar of Led Zeppelin, and the hypnotic vocalizations of Van Morrison. Learning to play her favorite songs by ear, she simultaneously pursued her classical piano studies with her teacher, and won awards in the Westchester (NY) Symphony and Westchester Conservatory Concerto competitions, among others.
Enriched and inspired by her parents, grandmother, and teachers, Jessica Roemischer graduated with High Honors in Art History and Visual Arts from Princeton University, receiving a Francis LeMoyne Page Award for Exceptional Achievement in the Visual Arts. Her mentors were master photographers, Emmet Gowin and the late Frederick Sommer. Upon graduating, she assisted Mr. Sommer with presentations and the editing of his writings, which appear in Words/Images, a definitive retrospective published by the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, AZ.
Shortly thereafter, Jessica moved to Melbourne, Australia where she lived for much of the 1980's, teaching music and photography at secondary and tertiary institutions throughout the city. She was the first photographer to be awarded a State of Victoria Community Artist Grant by the Victoria Council on the Arts. Her photographs of inner-city life in Melbourne appeared in media publications throughout Australia.
Upon returning to the USA in the late 1980’s, Jessica engaged in architectural preservation in the Adirondack region of New York State. Her National Register of Historic Places listings and innovative architectural education program led to a New York State Historic Preservation Award, as well as a nomination for the New York State Council on the Arts award.
As a pianist, Jessica Roemischer is a consummate artist whose piano interpretations have a rare beauty and authenticity. Combining contemporary idioms, delivered with the finesse of a classically-trained pianist, Jessica draws her inspiration from four centuries of music--from Bach to Bruce Springsteen--as well as creating her own original compositions and soundtracks. She has performed in a diversity of settings, from street corners to concert halls, reaching global audiences across the world via TV and the internet. Jessica has released full-length albums: "Haven," "In Duet with God," "Light Born of Light," and "The Heart of Christmas," available on iTunes, Amazon, & Spotify.
More than just an accomplished solo musician, Jessica calls upon her abilities to help others awaken to their own creativity. In working with hundreds of students over four decades, Jessica has concluded that, when given the optimum environment, an individual will invariably come forth with extraordinary strengths and capacities.
Jessica Roemischer generates this ideal environment through her unique approach to piano duet improvisation, The Duet Paradigm(R). In so doing, she makes it possible for everyone--regardless of age, background or the presence of a developmental disability--to access his or her deepest and most far-reaching potential. Her students have gone on to Grammy Award nominations and global competitions.
From 1989-1999, Jessica taught on the Music Faculty of Middlebury College, Vermont. She then conducted a unique music program at Riverbrook Residence for Women in Stockbridge, MA, the oldest facility of its kind in New England, USA, and a model of care for women with disabilities. Implementing an innovative approach to piano duet improvisation, Jessica's ground-breaking work with the women at Riverbrook received support from the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Community Education Program; singer/songwriter, James Taylor; is the subject of a paper she delivered, alongside her father’s, at the Oxford Round Table, Oxford University, and earned her a nomination for a CNN Heroes Award.
Jessica's eclectic background includes writing and journalism. Her compelling articles and interviews, covering a wide array of subjects, highlight themes of universal meaning. She has dialogued with some of the world's cultural and spiritual icons, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, guitarist Carlos Santana, theologians Karen Armstrong and Huston Smith, Apollo astronaut, Dr. Edgar Mitchell, futurist Barbara Marx Hubbard, cultural anthropologist Helen Fisher, feminist Eve Ensler, and many others. Jessica’s major article, "The Never-Ending Upward Quest," is widely recognized as the most comprehensive and accessible introduction to the theory of cultural evolution called, "Spiral Dynamics," an approach that had been implemented to facilitate South Africa's peaceful transition out of apartheid.
Jessica Roemischer's spiritual memoir, inspired by her childhood nanny is titled, In Duet with God - The Story of a Lifelong Friendship. It was honored with an Illumination Book Award, after which Jessica returned to Australia to live, teach and perform. She initiated an inspirational podcast, "Homecoming,” combining reflection and piano music available on iTunes. With the onset of the pandemic, Jessica began offering solace, hope and healing in live-streamed concerts and music videos created for audiences throughout the world.
