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Kimberly Hasara

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A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Kim has over 10 years of experience in the industry. Starting as a sophomore in high school, Kim caught the singing bug and continued through her undergrad and grad studies, where she received a bachelor’s from Westminster College and master’s degree from Duquesne University in vocal performance. She studied under the instruction of Dr. Anne Hagan Bentz, Patricia Donahue Burns, Grammy award winner Kim Nazarian, from the New York Voices,  and the late Maureen Budway. She began her classical and jazz piano study in her undergraduate career, studying with Kathryn Miller, Jeff Wachter and continued at Duquesne University with Ron Bickel.

 

Kim has competed in regional and national competitions through the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), where she won first place two consecutive years at the regional level for classical vocal performance in 2008 and 2009, and performed as a semi-finalist at the national level in Los Angeles in the summer of 2010. Kim was a part of a six piece jazz band, known as Chico’s Quintet + 1 for over 3 years, performing all over the city and took their act to New Orleans in April of 2013. Here, she started her journey with her songwriting with her band members. As a private voice and piano instructor, she worked at the well-known music school Musik Innovations for 5 years with over 20 students and continues teaching in the city. She specializes in classical, jazz, and musical theater.

 

While Kim lived in Chicago for 8 years, she explored the music scene. She studied with jazz pianist, Jeremy Kahn, drummer Vincent Davis, and performed locally in the jazz, classical, and musical theater scene.

 

In the summer of 2019, she received another master’s degree from Northwestern University in sound arts & industries. During her time at Northwestern, she developed as an audio engineer and sound designer, completing an array of music projects and sound design for animated short films. That experience led her to intern for CW Media with 4 time Grammy winning audio engineer, Chris Willis, and the largest, legendary recording company in the midwest, Chicago Recording Company, that housed artists such as Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, Coldplay, Chance the Rapper, to name a few.

Harpsichord

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A harpsichord is a keyboard instrument where strings are plucked, rather than struck like a piano. It's a historical keyboard instrument that was prominent from the 16th to the late 18th century. In 2025, a harpsichord was purchased and donated to The Music Note in honor of Mrs. Gretchen McCabe. Mrs. McCabe has supported the education of the arts in Pittsburgh for decades. 

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Celesta

A celesta is a keyboard percussion instrument that looks like a small, upright piano. It produces sound when felt hammers, connected to a keyboard mechanism, strike metal bars, which are then resonated by wooden boxes. This instrument was donated in memory of Rev. William Kinsey by his wife Mrs. Donna Kinsey in January 0f 2024.

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Whitechapel Handbells

The Whitechapel Bell Foundry is the oldest company that manufactures bells, with a 450-year history of casting tower bells in the Whitechapel district of London. The most famous foundry in the world, Whitechapel cast well-known bells for many churches and state buildings, including the Liberty Bell, and Big Ben, which hangs in the Houses of Parliament. Whitechapel began making handbells in the 1740s. In 2023, The Music Note was very fortunate to have 5 octave set of Whitechapel Handbells donated in memory of the late Thomas J. Newcomer.

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Silver Melody Bells

These rare instruments were produced only for a short time in the 1980s and again from 2013-2020. The Music Note fortunate enough to have these instruments donated in memory of Mr William and Mrs. Carol Hillberry. 

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Bellplates

Belleplates is a brand name of a musical instrument of the percussion family and handbell sub-family. Consisting of a handle attached to a trapezoidal aluminium plate, struck by an attached hammer, they are something of a combination of handbells and handchimes. The donation of the bellplates remains a mystery. They were left on our stoop on Halloween of 2023 with a note "Enjoy making music with these." The mystery donor left them in memory of Rev. William Kinsey.

The Music Note

©2020 by The Music Note

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