Each summer the Southeastern Piano Festival transforms the University of South Carolina School of Music and Columbia into a major cultural destination that draws in audiences and young piano talent from across the United States. The Southeastern Piano Festival embraces a multi-faceted personality: it is a high-level training platform for the young pianists, a presenter of new and world-renowned concert pianists and master teachers, an advocate for new piano music, and a vehicle for exploring different roles the piano plays on stage and beyond. The 2012 will be a special year as the festival celebrates its 10th anniversary.
Twenty of some of the best pre-college pianists on the piano scene today take part in a rigorous program that includes daily lessons with USC piano faculty, master classes with guest artists and up to five hours of practice a day. The week's events culminate with the Arthur Fraser International Concerto Competition, adjudicated by a distinguished panel of judges. Winners of the competition receive cash awards and the opportunity to perform with the South Carolina Philharmonic. For music lovers, the Festival offers nightly concerts by a rich lineup of world-class pianists.
For its 10th anniversary, the Festival kicks off June 10 with a Piano Extravaganza Concert featuring Morihiko Nakahara and the South Carolina Philharmonic, USC piano faculty Marina Lomazov, Joseph Rackers, Charles Fugo, special guest Phillip Bush, Arthur Fraser International Competition winners and 5 grand pianos on Koger Center stage!
During the rest of the week there is a concert every day including Leo Svirsky and Sean Yeh, past winners of the Fraser Competition; George Li, the 15-year-old winner of the Gilmore Young Artist Award; Boris Slutsky, 1st prize winner of the Kapell International Piano Competition and head of piano studies at the Peabody Institute; Natalya Antonova, long-time Eastman School of Music professor and former teacher at the Leningrad Conservatory and the Russian Academy of Music in Moscow; and Alessio Bax, winner of the Avery Fisher Career Grant. Winners of the Fraser Competition will give the closing concert.
The Southeastern Piano Festival presents a perfect symbiosis of the new generation of pianists in search of inspiration and challenge and the world-class guest artists who provide that inspiration. The attraction of the Festival lies in its versatility: be one a budding piano virtuoso, an educator, or a music aficionado, the Festival offers something for everyone who loves piano.