Piano Festival Showcases Promising Performers
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The 42nd annual Truman Piano Festival and Piano Fellowship Competition will take place Feb. 14-15.
Performances will begin with a guest recital by Dr. Oliver Jia, a piano faculty member from Bilkent University in Turkey. With a repertoire of dozens of concertos and more than two hundred solo and chamber works, Jia has performed for audiences worldwide. He made his official debut at the Isaac Stern Auditorium in Carnegie Hall, playing Sergey Prokofiev’s “Piano Concerto No. 5” with the Juilliard Orchestra.
Jia’s recital will take place at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 14 in the Ophelia Parrish Performance Hall. A live stream will be available at youtube.com/@trumanmusicconcerts/streams.
As part of the festival, Jia will present master classes and serve as a judge for students participating in the fellowship competition, Feb. 15. Incoming first-year and transfer students pursuing a degree in music with piano as the primary instrument will compete for scholarships. Top prize is a four-year renewable scholarship covering tuition and room and board. Second place is a scholarship package worth up to $4,000. Participating students were selected after applying and submitting video recordings of the required repertoire in January.
The top three competition participants will perform on Truman’s newly refurbished Steinway D and be professionally recorded during the winners’ recital at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 15 in the Ophelia Parrish Performance Hall.
Both recitals are free and open to the public. More information about the Piano Festival can be found online at truman.edu/majors-programs/majors-minors/music-major/piano-festival.