Christine Bane Kefferstan, professor of piano at West Virginia University for 35 years, who passed away Aug. 20, left quite a legacy through her students, past and present, who will never forget her tireless enthusiasm for performing and teaching.

A celebration of her life was held at 2 p.m. Sept. 21 at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, Star City, W.Va., where she was a long-time member.

Kefferstan was a classical pianist who performed all over the world, including Belize, London, Rio de Janeiro, Indonesia, Malaysia and Canada, as well as many venues in the United States, but she was best known for her love of teaching.

Her former student Lisa Withers remembers first meeting Kefferstan when she was 12 years old and playing in a West Virginia Music Teachers’ Association festival, where Kefferstan was one of the judges.

“She was wonderfully encouraging to a shy 12-year-old piano student playing Mozart and Gershwin,” Withers said. “Later, I had a lesson with her at the WVU Piano Camp at age 16 and totally fell in love with her as a teacher. I studied with Christine during my undergraduate years and came back to WVU to study with her as a doctoral student.”

Withers is now associate professor of piano and music at Emory & Henry College in Virginia. She considers Kefferstan her most significant piano teacher and mentor.

“We maintained a friendship that spanned more than two decades,” Withers said. “Her standards were high and she demanded effort and a commitment to excellence from her students, but she was unfailingly encouraging and caring with each individual student.”

“Christine’s work with her students and her contributions to the WVU keyboard program were immeasurable,” said Piano Professor James Miltenberger, a long-time friend and colleague.

“Perhaps the major contribution she made to the program was the concept and follow-through for a summer Keyboard Festival and Competition at the Creative Arts Center. This summer event has been very successful and is part of her lasting legacy.”

The annual festival held each June at WVU, called “The Intersection of Jazz and Classical Music: a Piano Festival for Students and Teachers,” has featured internationally known guest artists such as Leon Fleisher, Christopher Taylor, Harold Danko, Dan Haerle, Ann Schein and Stefan Karlsson.

In addition to the Keyboard Festival, Kefferstan was also involved in the School of Music’s efforts to become an All-Steinway School and she was often the first person to play the new pianos when they arrived at the Creative Arts Center.

In 2012, when William and Loulie Canady of Morgantown gave a new Steinway Grand Piano to the College of Creative Arts in memory of their daughter Valerie, Kefferstan and WVU piano technician Tim Richards traveled to Steinway & Sons in New York City to select the new instrument.

They toured the Steinway Gallery in New York, watched pianos being made, and Christine tried out many different grand pianos before choosing one that she said “will be a joy to our students, faculty and guests for generations to come.”

“Christine was the ultimate encourager,” said former student Sheila Barnhart Womack, who graduated last spring.

“I had the privilege of studying with her for six years. She was more than just a teacher and mentor to me; she was my friend. She pointed me in the direction of opportunities that I never imagined were available to me. She made me feel like I could do anything. I am forever indebted to her.”

Kefferstan was born July 3, 1951, in Bloomington, Illinois, the daughter of Mary Kathryn Isenmann Bane and the late Wilbur Lloyd Bane.

A graduate of the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati, she earned her doctorate with Israeli pianist David Bar-Illan and had additional coaching with Anna McGrosso, Sedmara Rutstein, and Viachaslov Gabrielov.

In addition to her mother, she is survived by her husband of 36 years, Robert Kefferstan; son, Sean (Courtney) Kefferstan; daughter, Mary Kefferstan; and eight siblings and their spouses throughout Kentucky, Ohio and Illinois.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in Christine’s memory to the WVU Healthcare Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center, 1 Medical Center Drive, Morgantown, W.Va., 26506.

-WVU-

CONTACT: Charlene Lattea, College of Creative Arts
304-293-4359, Charlene.Lattea@mail.wvu.edu

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