Jared Alan Yoakem is a pianist from Grand Rapids, MI. As a recitalist, he has performed at American University, Brevard College, Radford University, and Wake Forest University. As a collaborative artist, he has performed with ACDA, Castleton Festival, Classical Singers Music Magazine, NATS, the National Orpheus Competition, and numerous choral projects that include two national PBS broadcasts at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville, TN. He has been awarded with the Dean’s Advisory Council Award for outstanding achievement in music from Belmont University in 2019.

Mr. Yoakem is currently serving as Class Piano Instructor at the University of Maryland, and has private students in Charlotte, NC and College Park, MD. In addition to his piano studios, he is entering his third season as Artistic Administrator at the Castleton Festival, led by Artistic Director Dietlinde Turban Maazel. Prior appointments include staff pianist at Belmont University and Montgomery Bell Academy for Boys, and piano faculty at Cary School of Music.

He is in pre-candidacy for the DMA Piano Performance program at the University of Maryland, studying under Mayron Tsong. Prior degrees are from Belmont University & East Carolina University, where he worked with Elena Bennett and Kwan Yi. He has attended the Collaborative Piano Institute at Louisiana State University, the Leon Fleisher Academy, and Vivace Music Foundation. He has participated in masterclasses by Stanislav Ioudenitch, Julian Martin, Anne-Marie McDermott and Robert McDonald.