Monica Jakuc (pronounced Ya-kutch) Leverett is the Elsie Irwin Sweeney Professor Emerita of Music at Smith College, where she taught from 1969-2008. She has given concerts on three continents, and is a frequent solo and chamber music performer in Western Massachusetts, playing on both early and modern pianos, as well as on toy piano. A number of living composers have written works for her. She also presents lecture-recitals on women composers, and has been a featured artist at International Alliance for Women in Music concerts in London and Washington, D.C.

Ms. Jakuc Leverett has presented debut recitals at Alice Tully and Merkin Halls in NYC, and in London. She will celebrate her 80th birthday this November, by performing her signature piece, Bach’s Goldberg Variations, at Smith College.

Inspired by Malcolm Bilson, Ms. Jakuc Leverett has performed on early pianos since 1986. That same year, she was a guest artist in the first season of this Historical Piano Concert Series, and has appeared in it twelve times. A former board member of Arcadia Players, she has performed with them on her two Paul McNulty fortepianos. The Worcester Telegram and Gazette hailed her “insistent and amazing artistry” in a performance of Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto with Arcadia Players at Tuckerman Hall. She was a performer/participant in the Westfield Center’s Forte/Piano Festival at Cornell University (2015) and the Celebrating Pianos weekend at Smith College (2022).

Ms. Jakuc Leverett has recorded 3 CDs, the latest of which, “Fantasies for Fortepiano,” features Beethoven’s “Moonlight” Sonata.

Ms. Jakuc Leverett received B.S. and M.S. degrees from Juilliard, where she studied with James Friskin and Beveridge Webster. She has also worked with Russell Sherman, a pupil of Eduard Steuermann, and with Schnabel pupils Leon Fleisher and Konrad Wolff.

Please visit www.monicajakucleverett.com.