I’ve had a fantastic time teaching and performing at the inaugural Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival, which is being held at the University of South Florida, School of Music, through August 4th. With more than 80 applicants, the festival has accepted about 30 highly accomplished young pianists, ranging from high-school age to doctoral students. The participants all play at a high level and attend excellent music programs around the country and the world. Speaking of the world, we have students from Chile, Guatemala, Colombia, Korea, Japan, Russia, Macedonia, Poland, China and the US (I may have forgotten one country). There are daily masterclasses, performance classes, recitals, lecture-performances, as well as classes and training sessions on attention, memory and vision (with Dr. Ray Gottlieb). Last week’s guests included Christopher Harding from the University of Michigan, Svetozar Ivanov from USF and John O’Connor (who had just returned from teaching at the Aspen Music Festival). This week we have Roberta Rust from Lynn University and Father Sean Duggan, who will be giving a special lecture and performance on Beethoven’s “Hammerklavier” sonata.

To celebrate the festival ending, Rebecca Penneys, Johnandrew Slominski, Eunmi Ko and myself will present the annual 2-piano, 8-hand concert, aka “what pianists do for fun concert”. After that it’s pizza, cry, bye, and fly.

Here’s a tiny little promo produced by my colleague, Johnandrew Slominski, from my lecture-performance on the Brahms, Ballades, Op. 10.

The Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival is just around the corner. It will take place at the University of South Florida School of Music, July 21 to August 4. Click here for a schedule of events. In addition to Rebecca Penneys, the festival’s founder and artistic director, I’ll be working with Dr. Ray Gottlieb, Johnandrew Slominski, Eunmi Ko and a host of exciting guests. Check out the RPPF website for more details.

After a fascinating trip to Nicaragua with Huan, I’m now preparing for the festival and, in particular, for my soirée on the Brahms, Ballades, Op. 10. These pieces are very dear to me — I’ve played them many years ago and they remind me of many of my former teachers. In the next couple of weeks I’m going to read up on the circumstances surrounding the composition of these four miniatures. If you have any leads, shoot me a line.

Thanks to Gavin Chuck and Clay Stevenson for doing such a great job on Apr 27-29. They mixed my upcoming CD recording of Rzewski’s 36 Variation on “The People United” at Elon University on a brand new board in an updated studio space. Now it’s time to write liner notes and (hopefully) release it commercially.

Just returned from another two-piano, eight-hand concert in Florida with Rebecca Penneys, Johnandrew Slominski and Eunmi Ko. We played at St. Petersburg College on Friday, May 17, 2013. For the first time in 8-hand history — as far as I know — Ray Gottlieb had a guest appearance on the program (Gillock’s Champagne Toccata). This concert was a warm-up for our concert in August, as part of the new Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival.

I’m extremely excited about my performance tomorrow with bass-baritone Tim Hill. We’ll be presenting the NC premiere of A Live Oak Growing, a song cycle by Clint Borzoni, set to texts from Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. Tim has been a delight to work with and Borzoni’s songs are a real journey through a man’s coming of age. On the first half of the program we’ll also perform three song by Brahms (including “Sapphische Ode”), the Jacques Ibert Don Quichotte songs and a fantastic Mozart aria, “Così dunque tradisci”. The recital will take place in Whitley Auditorium, on the campus of Elon University. Tuesday, March 5, 2013, at 7:30 p.m.

I was up at Randolph College in Lynchburg, VA on the weekend of Sep. 8, where I had the pleasure of performing Rzewski’s People on their Guest Artist series. While there, I gave a talk in a BFA Colloquium class about the People United, its structure, style, and extra-musical connections. I also taught a student of Dr. Emily Chua (she played Beethoven, Op. 109/I for me). Thanks to my hosts who took such good care of me. Prior to visiting Randolph I was interviewed on Classics Radio (91.7 FM in Lynchburg) and here’s the audio from my interview with host Keith Peters.