Hickory Buzz

Variations of Transformation (A piano concert of new music!)
2026-05-02 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | St. Lukes United Methodist Church, 52 16th Ave NW, Hickory, NC, 28601, United States
If you love classical piano music, you will love this concert!
Heather Niemi Savage and Paul Pulsipher are performing their own original solo works along with a duet by Christopher Siu and the feature piece, Variations of Transformation, that they co-composed during the summer of 2025.
Classical music is not just a thing of the past. Is still being written! Come be a part of it!
About Heather and Paul:
Heather Niemi Savage finds herself in liminal spaces, exploring the intersection of divergences. Deeply introspective, she is inspired by literature, faith, and the natural world and draws on her broad experience in classical, jazz, musical theater, sacred and world music. Her stylistically eclectic work invites performers and audiences alike to wonder and transcend the ordinary, providing emotional release and a transformed perspective. Originally from New England and currently based in North Carolina, her work has been performed throughout the United States by ensembles such as the Arkansas Philharmonic, South Bend Symphony, Argus String Quartet, North-South Consonance, Boston New Music Initiative, and members of the Raleigh Symphony. Her work has been presented at the International Festival of Music by Women, Impulse New Music Festival, national conference of the Society of Composers, Inc, UNK New Music Festival, and various All-State Festivals. Heather has placed in the top three in several national and international competitions, including the 2020 American Prize Composition Competition (pops/light music division), the 2020 Arcady Art Song Competition, the 2021 Cantus Ensemble Competition, and the Huntsville Master Chorale 2023 Composition Competition, and the Reno Pops Orchestra 2024 Composers Showcase. Heather graduated from Appalachian State University with a MM in music composition, where she was a Tui St. George Tucker Fellow, and is now an adjunct professor. As a pianist, Heather performs regularly with choral and chamber ensembles and in intimate solo concerts. Outside of music, Heather likes to read, spend time outdoors, and practice herbalism.
Paul Pulsipher has been playing piano since he was a small child. He was classically trained for 10 years in his youth, excelled in numerous solo/ensemble contests growing up and has been playing the organ in church congregations for the past 16 years across different parts of the United States and Canada. He has lengthy experience in composition and songwriting, with many instrumental and Contemporary Christian releases self-recorded and produced. He also loves to sing, is a classical composer and arranger, guitarist, and loves jamming on drums and other percussion when he gets the chance. Growing up, he was a two-time Colorado Bandmaster Association champion with his high school marching band in 2003 and 2004 as the Pit Section Leader and sang in several church and academic choirs. He played piano, sang some lead vocals and was a songwriter in the Southern Utah University Band, Alternate Currents, served as the SUU Commercial Music Club President, won the Game Changer award with his music business at the Miller Center for Entrepreneurship Business Breakthrough, and graduated from SUU with Honors, Summa Cum Laude, member Phi Kappa Phi. He currently lives in Nashville, TN where he runs a production company and recording studio. Part of Paul’s creativity in music stems from spending thousands of hours coming up with what he thought were better melodies, harmonies and bass lines than he heard from songs he listened to on CDs and the radio through his childhood and writing them down when he had the chance. He has taken that ability and turned it into one of his self-produced albums, Classically Divergent, a title which nods to his being on the Autism Spectrum.
