Keisha Baisden is an alumna of the prestigious University of Miami in Florida, where she studied Music Therapy and Psychology. She is currently in Pittsburgh, completing her internship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre. She also holds a Diploma in Violin Performance from the Associated Board of the Royal School of Music, and Grade 8 Certificates in Piano, Steelpan, and Music Theory. She is also trained in Classical Ballet and modern dance, and holds a Grade 5 Certificate in Ballet from the Royal School of Dance.
Her musical career began at the tender age of 3, when she began recorder and piano lessons at the Pan Pipers Music School, under the tutelage of Louise McIntosh. As a student of St. Xavier's Private School, she studied the national instrument with Rosalind Garnes. She has also studied with local musicians Maureen Clement, Kenneth Listhrop, Glen Worrell, Gunilla TangKai, and international violinists of the Pacifica, Maya, and Bergonzi String Quartets.
At the age of 15, she was selected among 16 students worldwide to attend the Advanced String Quartet Institute at Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan, home of the World Youth Symphony Orchestra. At the age of 16, she was also selected to participate in 'Summer String Fling', a jazz program for string players at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachussetts. She has won numerous trophies and accolades at several local String Music Festivals and National Music Festivals, including the Shirley James Trophy for Best Junior String Player in 2004 and 2006, and the Clara Rosa di Lima Cup for Most Outstanding String or Wind Instrumentalist in 2006.
Having received an Open National Scholarship in 2006, Ms.Baisden left for Miami, where she also received the four-year Bertha Foster Scholarship for Performance. There, she also received instruction in guitar, voice, autoharp, percussion, and choral conducting. She became a member of Sigma Alpha Iota International Fraternity, and the Psi Chi International Honor Society for Psychology. As the President of the Florida Caribbean Students' Association, she discovered her passion for charity work, and has since provided music therapy services to war veterans, children and adults with disabilities,the elderly, patients with psychiatric disorders, prisoners, orphans, and the homeless, in Florida, Jamaica, and Trinidad. Most recently, she launched the 'Music Inspiring Change' Project, which has already donated musical instruments to the St. Mary's Children's Home in Tacarigua.
Ms. Baisden has performed with groups such as the National Youth Orchestra, Court Street Chamber Ensemble, the Marionettes Chorale (in the opera 'Carmen'), Flabej Steel Ensemble, The Entertainers Steel Ensemble, Cultural Academy for Excellence (Maryland, USA with virtuosos Liam Teague and Robert Greenidge), Frost Symphony Orchestra (Florida, USA), Chameleon Chamber Orchestra (Miami, USA), and others. She has served as the guest concertmaster of the National Sinfonia, and interim Director of the Eastern Youth Chorale.
Keisha has taught music at the Holistic Music School, Discovery Camp at the University of the West Indies, and the Maximum Security Prison in Golden Grove. She is the Musical Director of the newly-launched National Anglican School of Music, and former President of the Eastern Performing Arts Fraternity. She has served as an adjudicator at both the National Junior Steelpan Festival, and National Junior Panorama Competitions, as well as MovieTowne's 2011 "Trini Kids Got Talent".
Her musical career began at the tender age of 3, when she began recorder and piano lessons at the Pan Pipers Music School, under the tutelage of Louise McIntosh. As a student of St. Xavier's Private School, she studied the national instrument with Rosalind Garnes. She has also studied with local musicians Maureen Clement, Kenneth Listhrop, Glen Worrell, Gunilla TangKai, and international violinists of the Pacifica, Maya, and Bergonzi String Quartets.
At the age of 15, she was selected among 16 students worldwide to attend the Advanced String Quartet Institute at Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan, home of the World Youth Symphony Orchestra. At the age of 16, she was also selected to participate in 'Summer String Fling', a jazz program for string players at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachussetts. She has won numerous trophies and accolades at several local String Music Festivals and National Music Festivals, including the Shirley James Trophy for Best Junior String Player in 2004 and 2006, and the Clara Rosa di Lima Cup for Most Outstanding String or Wind Instrumentalist in 2006.
Having received an Open National Scholarship in 2006, Ms.Baisden left for Miami, where she also received the four-year Bertha Foster Scholarship for Performance. There, she also received instruction in guitar, voice, autoharp, percussion, and choral conducting. She became a member of Sigma Alpha Iota International Fraternity, and the Psi Chi International Honor Society for Psychology. As the President of the Florida Caribbean Students' Association, she discovered her passion for charity work, and has since provided music therapy services to war veterans, children and adults with disabilities,the elderly, patients with psychiatric disorders, prisoners, orphans, and the homeless, in Florida, Jamaica, and Trinidad. Most recently, she launched the 'Music Inspiring Change' Project, which has already donated musical instruments to the St. Mary's Children's Home in Tacarigua.
Ms. Baisden has performed with groups such as the National Youth Orchestra, Court Street Chamber Ensemble, the Marionettes Chorale (in the opera 'Carmen'), Flabej Steel Ensemble, The Entertainers Steel Ensemble, Cultural Academy for Excellence (Maryland, USA with virtuosos Liam Teague and Robert Greenidge), Frost Symphony Orchestra (Florida, USA), Chameleon Chamber Orchestra (Miami, USA), and others. She has served as the guest concertmaster of the National Sinfonia, and interim Director of the Eastern Youth Chorale.
Keisha has taught music at the Holistic Music School, Discovery Camp at the University of the West Indies, and the Maximum Security Prison in Golden Grove. She is the Musical Director of the newly-launched National Anglican School of Music, and former President of the Eastern Performing Arts Fraternity. She has served as an adjudicator at both the National Junior Steelpan Festival, and National Junior Panorama Competitions, as well as MovieTowne's 2011 "Trini Kids Got Talent".
