Veteran pianists will join high school and college students Sunday for a week devoted to their instruments of choice.
The UF International Piano Festival, which runs until June 23, will allow 30 students to hone and showcase their talents with renowned pianists.
Participants had to undergo an application process to join.
The festival will include daily master classes and recitals for public viewing in Room 101 of the Music Building as well as two recitals at UF Health Shands Hospital, said UF piano professor Kevin Orr, founding director of the festival.
“This event brings a lot of high-level music-making and culture to the University of Florida and Gainesville community in the summer,” Orr said.
This year’s festival faculty includes instructors from Juilliard School of Music in New York and China’s Sichuan Conservatory of Music.
The festival was first held in 2007 as the Chinese-American International Piano Institute in Chengdu, China, before taking on its current form at UF in 2010, Orr said.
UF benefits from being one of about 150 schools worldwide to exclusively use Steinway pianos, said Jessica Hurov, public relations and marketing manager for the College of Fine Arts.
“That means our students and faculty get to play on the very best pianos, and the people who come get to hear the very best,” Hurov said.
