The 96th Arizona State Music Teachers Conference
University of Arizona
School of Music
Tucson, AZ
May 28-30, 2026
PEAK PERFORMANCE
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This year’s conference is dedicated to the intersection of psychology and music, spotlighting the advances made in the field of performance psychology. As educators we strive to provide our students with the skills needed to not just perform well but have the mental clarity and confidence to present their very best work on stage. From injury prevention and recovery to psychological resilience and performance anxiety mitigation, the lectures, panels, and workshops of this year’s conference will provide educators with an array of novel tools to guide students to their peak performance.
Featured Artists & Clinicians
Noa Kageyama
Performance psychologist Noa Kageyama is on the faculty of The Juilliard School and Cleveland Institute of Music. A violinist with degrees from Oberlin and Juilliard before completing a Ph.D. in counseling psychology at Indiana University, Noa specializes in teaching performing artists how to utilize sport psychology principles to more consistently perform up to their full abilities under pressure.
He has conducted workshops for institutions including Curtis, Eastman, Peabody, New England Conservatory, and the U.S. Armed Forces School of Music, programs such as the Starling-Delay Symposium and the Perlman Music Program, and for organizations like the Music Teachers’ National Association, Performing Arts Medicine Association, and the Association for Applied Sport Psychology.
Noa’s work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, NBC News, CNN, Forbes, Slate, and Lifehacker. He has taught over 9000 musicians, educators, and learners through his online courses, and authors The Bulletproof Musician blog and podcast, which reaches over 45,000 subscribers every week.
Dr. Kageyama will give a keynote talk on performance psychology and run a workshop at the ASMTA conference.
Hung-Kuan Chen
Pianist Hung-Kuan Chen was born in Taipai and raised in Germany. His early studies fostered strong roots in Germanic Classicism tempered with the sensibility of Chinese philosophy. The winner of the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition and Young Concert Artists International Auditions and the recipient of an Avery Fisher Grant, Chen has collaborated with conductors including Christoph Eschenbach and Hans Graf, and his colleagues include the Tokyo and Shanghai string quartets, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinists Cho-Liang Lin and Roman Totenberg, clarinetist David Shifrin, and pianist Tema Blackstone. An adjudicator in international competitions, including the Van Cliburn Competition, Busoni Competition, Honens Competition, and International China Competition, Chen is a former faculty member of Boston University, the New England Conservatory, and the Shanghai Conservatory, and he has been a visiting professor at Yale since 2010. He holds an Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory where he studied with Russell Sherman. His early studies were with Hans Leygraf in Germany at the Hannover Hochschule and with Béla Böszörményi-Nagy. He has been on the faculty at Juilliard, both in the college and Pre-College Division, since 2014.
Dr. Chen will present a piano recital and run a masterclass at the ASMTA conference.
Conference Online Registration – Now OPen Until May 22. 2026
Conference Registration Form (for mail-in registrations)
Conference Location
University of Arizona School of Music
1017 N. Olive Rd.
Tucson, AZ 85721
Conference Hotel
Tucson Marriott University Park
880 E. 2nd Street
Tucson, AZ 85719
(520) 792-4100
ASMTA has negotiated a group rate of $129 per night with the Tucson Marriott University Park, which is conveniently located within a 5-mintue walk of the University of Arizona School of Music. You can book your room using the link below – please note that the last day to book with the group rate is Thursday, April 30, 2026 or until the room block is filled, whichever comes first.
ASMTA Room Block at the Tucson Marriott University Park
Schedule
Click here for schedule of events!
Honors Recital
The 2026 James R. Anthony Honors Recital finals and recital will be held Saturday, May 30, 2026. More details can be found on the ASMTA Honors Recital page.
Call for Session Proposals
Session proposals were received in record number this year. Thank you for your interest! All presenters have been contacted at this time (3/15/2026).
Call for Poster Proposals
Poster proposals are being accepted through MAY 1, 2026 at 5:00pm MST.
CLICK HERE FOR INFORMATION AND SUBMISSION FORM
Vendor/Exhibitor/Advertising Application
Conference Vendor / Exhibitor Application Form (due by April 15, 2026)
Conference Advertising Application Form (due by April 15, 2026)