Zachary Deak

Assistant Professor of Piano & Musicology · Director of Keyboard Studies

Old Dominion University · Norfolk, Virginia

Pianist-scholar working across performance, archival research, pedagogy, and human-centered music AI.

About

I am a pianist whose work brings together performance, historical research, and the study of musical interpretation. I have appeared as a soloist and chamber musician across the United States, France, Morocco, Portugal, Moldova, and the United Kingdom, with performances at venues including the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, the Cité de la Musique and Salle Cortot in Paris, and the Casa da Música in Porto.

A graduate of the École Normale de Musique de Paris and the Royal College of Music in London, I hold a Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance from the University of Southern California. I am Assistant Professor of Piano and Musicology and Director of Keyboard Studies at Old Dominion University.

Research

My research examines how musical interpretation is taught, transmitted, remembered, and transformed across institutions, cultures, and technologies. Current projects focus on French piano pedagogy, Franco-Moroccan musical exchange, historical recordings, and human-centered AI for musical performance.

Publications

Performance

Teaching

At Old Dominion University, I direct keyboard studies and teach applied piano, music history, and pedagogy. My courses include Music and Ideas, Music in the Romantic Era, Music of the 20th Century to the Present, Applied Music Literature, and Applied Music Pedagogy.

I also teach online through ArtistWorks in the course “Piano with Zachary Deak.”

Previously, I taught at Cal State University, Los Angeles and Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo.

Contact

Email
zdeak@odu.edu
Office
Diehn Center for the Performing Arts, Room 2112 · Old Dominion University
Elsewhere
Piano with Zachary Deak · ORCID