9:00 a.m. Pre-Program Topic
ISMTA CAMTA AIM Program: Introduction to AIM
11:00 a.m. Professional Development Program
Cristina Capparelli Gerling, Professor of Music, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
“Memorization for music performance: The importance of conceptual memory”
Soloists in the Western art music tradition often perform from memory, yet the possibility of memory failure is always present. Can memorization processes be taught and systematically implemented? Can psychology provide a foundation for developing effective memorization strategies? Or is talent the only prerequisite for successful memorization?
This presentation examines different approaches to musical memorization and introduces a protocol through which memorization processes can be structured and adapted to the individual needs of musicians, regardless of their level of development. By drawing on psychological research, the presentation proposes practical strategies for making memorization more reliable, systematic, and effective.
BIOGRAPHY
Cristina Capparelli Gerling has built an international reputation as a pianist whose artistry is inseparable from a lifelong commitment to scholarship and pedagogy. Known for performances that combine expressive refinement, structural clarity, and deep stylistic insight, she has become one of Brazil’s most respected interpreters and advocates of Latin American piano repertoire. Her career reflects more than five decades of concert activity across the Americas and Europe, an influential body of research, and a distinguished record as an educator and mentor.
Gerling’s early musical formation took place in Porto Alegre under the guidance of Isabel Mourão, Daisy de Lucca, Dirce Knijnik, and Benedicta Fritz—teachers who shaped the technical foundation and disciplined musicianship that continue to inform her interpretations. Awarded a full scholarship to the New England Conservatory, she studied piano with Victor Rosenbaum, engaged deeply with chamber music under the coaching of Benjamin Zander, Patricia Zander, Eric Rosenblith, and Larry Lesser, and completed her Master of Music degree with honors. She later earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Boston University, studying with Béla Nagy through a Fulbright scholarship that marked the first of several awarded to her throughout her career.
Equally at home as soloist, chamber musician, recitalist, and guest teacher, Gerling has appeared in festivals, concert halls, and universities throughout Brazil, the United States, Canada, England, Germany, France, and Portugal. She co-founded the Trio Panamericano with violinist Fredi Gerling and cellist Mark Churchill, an ensemble dedicated to promoting chamber repertoire of the Americas. Her collaborations have brought her into close contact with leading composers and performers, with many works dedicated to or premiered by her.
Gerling’s discography documents her commitment to the piano literature of Brazil and Latin America. Her recordings include the solo piano works of Bruno Kiefer; the complete works of Camargo Guarnieri for cello and piano with Tania Lisboa (Meridian Records); music by Alda Oliveira and Jamary Oliveira; Wagner Cunha’s Mahavidas with Ney Fialkow; and selected works of Ney Rosauro with percussionist David Johnson. She has also contributed performances of two Sonatinas and the monumental Piano Sonata by Guarnieri to a collaborative UFRGS faculty recording. Her recent Sonatina Project, recognized with the 2022 TeMA Prize from Brazil’s Association for Theory and Musical Analysis, highlights her continuing leadership in performance-based research.
A prizewinner of the Anne and Aaron Richmond Piano Competition, Gerling has served as Professor of Music at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) since 1985. She played a central role in establishing the university’s respected Graduate Program in Music, fostering an environment in which performance, analysis, and research coexist as complementary modes of inquiry. Her former students—now active as performers, scholars, and educators—hold positions across Brazil and internationally, reflecting her profound impact on multiple generations of musicians.
Cristina Capparelli Gerling continues to perform, record, publish, and lecture widely, contributing significantly to the evolving understanding of Latin American piano literature and to the broadening of performance studies in Brazil and beyond.