GC Creative Studio

Greg Slawson has performed regularly since the eighth grade as a freelance pianist and with various ensembles, including the world/jazz quartet, Kassaba. Greg and Candice started Kassaba in 2002 and performed internationally until 2008. The group’s CD, Dark Eye, was played on over 125 radio stations throughout North America and in Europe. Chamber music, jazz, solo piano repertoire and eclectic styles are all part of Greg’s diverse performance background.

As a composer, he has written commissions for Arnold Steinhardt (of the Guarneri Quartet), Anita Pontremoli, Lawrence Angell, the Dayton Jazz Orchestra and saxophonist, Harold Ashenfelter. He was a prizewinner in ASCAP’s Morton Gould Young Composer’s Competition and the IBLA Grand Prize/European International Composers Competition.

Degrees include a Bachelor of Arts in Music and Psychology from Wittenberg University and a Master of Music in Piano Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Originally from Edmonton, Alberta, Candice Lee obtained her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in piano performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music. She has participated in programs at the Banff Centre, the Gnessin School of Music in Moscow, the Aspen Music Festival and Pianofest in the Hamptons. Her teachers have included Dr. Ernesto Lejano, Paul Schenly, Herbert Stessin and Sergei Babayan. She was the recipient of the Alberta Heritage Scholarship Fund’s Arts Graduate Scholarship for 2 years.

Among her awards, Candice has won prizes in the Missouri Southern International Piano Competition, Corpus Christi Young Artists’ Competition and the IBLA Grand Prize – European International Competition for Pianists. She has performed recitals and with orchestras in Canada, the United States and Russia. Candice’s ideas led to the formation and evolution of Kassaba.

They currently teach classical piano, jazz theory and improvisation, along with recording techniques using virtual instruments. Greg and Candice manage Slawson and Lee Piano Studio which serves over 80 students each week. Greg is also an adjunct instructor of jazz piano at the College of Wooster.

The duo’s interest in both nature and technology has propelled their career into creating videos that include images of nature blended with his original music and recordings. Greg and Candice started GCCreative Studio.com, an online website dedicated to inspiring people to walk their creative path. The site features a blog about music, creativity, performance and psychology along with all of their inspirational products.