KSU’s Piano Institute attracts students from around the world
Jerry Wong, associate professor of music, performs in the Carl F.W. Ludwig Recital Hall on June 27, 2012. Wong, along with fellow associate professor, Donna Lee, created the Piano Institute in 2005. Photo by Jenna Watson
July 9, 2013
Piano students from across the globe will have the opportunity to study with world-renowned artists at Kent State for the 8th annual Piano Institute this month.
The 2013 Piano Institute, a workshop for talented piano students in grades 7 through 12, will exhibit an array of master classes and recitals on campus. The festival runs from July 14 to 20 and will conclude with the Gala Concert on July 23 at Severance Hall’s Reinberger Chamber Hall in Cleveland.
This year, 14 gifted pianists from the United States, China, Russia and the Czech Republic were selected by the founders of the program, Donna Lee, associate professor and coordinator of the Piano Division of the School of Music, and Jerry Wong, associate professor of music.
Monica Brately, outreach program manager in the Office of Continuing and Distance Education, said Lee and Young came up with the idea to create an outreach program to help gifted students increase their skills and enable them to consider Kent State for their academic careers.
“They only select 14 students,” Brately said. “If the group was too big they wouldn’t be able to give them the attention they need.”
Denise Seachrist, director of the School of Music, said the students are really able to develop their musicianship and they leave the program with the tools to become very talented and successful artists.
“It’s a wonderful program we have here at Kent State University,” Seachrist said. “It gives these students a unique opportunity to study with our faculty and be immersed in all things piano.”
Both Lee and Wong were awarded the prestigious title of Steinway Piano Artists in 2009 for their exemplary level of performance. Lee and Wong are two of only 1,600 Steinway Artists worldwide.
Not only will the students work one-on-one with Kent State’s highly regarded faculty, they will have the opportunity to participate in master classes with esteemed guest artists Alexander Schimpf, winner of the 2011 Cleveland International Piano Competition, and Joela Jones, principal keyboardist with the Cleveland Orchestra.
For more information about the Piano Institute, please call 330-672-1061, or visit kent.edu/pianoinstitute/a> .
