Patrick Behringer started Aspiring Minds in 2011 after moving to Keller, Texas as a freelance accompanist and teacher with a vision of enriching a community through music.
Mr. Behringer teaches class piano at Fossil Ridge High School, where he also leads the Keller ISD Summer Piano Camp and after-school program at various elementary campuses. He previously was Education Director of the Fort Worth Music Fund, and taught class piano at Syracuse University, the renowned Interlochen Arts Camp, and Wisconsin Conservatory as a Teaching Assistant. Besides teaching students to learn for the joy of music-making, his students have demonstrated high achievement in recitals, contests, and festivals, and several have been accepted into various college music programs.
Patrick recently completed the National Certification program through Music Teacher's National Association. He also holds a Certificate in Piano Performance from UT-Arlington where he performed Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with orchestra as winner of the concerto competition; a Master of Music degree and Certificate in University Teaching from Syracuse University, with a Collaborative Piano Teaching Assistantship; and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, on scholarship from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He has performed vocal collaborative and chamber music at the NYC Tenri Cultural Center, England's Aldeburgh Festival, on WCNY-FM 91.3 Classical FM in Syracuse, and with faculty and guest artists Dr. Jennifer Ciobanu, soprano, Dr. Gerry Wood, Horn, and former FWSO Principal Horn Mark Houghton. As a soloist Patrick is scheduled to perform at the Encontros na Selva music festival in Manaus, Brazil, and the Catawba College concert series in North Carolina. Mr. Behringer has been featured in concert series at Mt. Mary University in Wisconsin, Steinway Hall of Milwaukee, the Clavier series at UT-Arlington.
Patrick has studied piano primarily with John Solomons, Adrienne Kim and Judit Jaimes, themselves pupils of Menahem Pressler, Leon Fleisher, and Rudolph Serkin. As a student he performed at Syracuse Symphony Family Concerts, Civic Morning Musicals at the Everson Art Museum in Syracuse, the National Association of Composers convention, a PianoArts masterclass with Andrews Sill and the Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra, the Charles Allis Art Museum in Milwaukee, and was a State Honorable Mention for the WMTA "Badger Auditions."