Lee University International Piano Festival And Competition Begins Thursday

Lee University’s School of Music will present its 11th Annual International Piano Festival and Competition on June 14-20. 

The event, which began in 2005 as a competition for high school students, was expanded in 2011 to include opportunities for participants to study with internationally-acclaimed artists. At the same time, it offers the public a chance to take in some "brilliant performances."  This year, for the first time, the competition will be divided into two levels: pre-college and college. 

This year’s festival has attracted 16 young pianists to the Lee campus. The participants come from across the country and range in age from 12-22. 

Performers and teachers Mack McCray, Enrico Elisi and Grace Fong are the guest artists for this year’s festival. Lee faculty Ning An and Cahill Smith will also contribute to the festival, which is chaired by Lee’s Phillip Thomas. 

One feature of this annual event is that the guest artists offer concerts to the community.  Mr. An, Ms. Fong, and Dr. Smith will present a recital on Monday evening, and Mr. Elisi and Mr. McCray will perform on Friday evening, June 19. Both recitals will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Squires Recital Hall of the Humanities Center on Lee’s campus. 

Concerts on Tuesday and Wednesday evening will feature selected festival participants. All of the festival concerts will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Squires Recital Hall and are free and open to the public.  

Festival participants have the opportunity to learn from faculty and guest artists in masterclasses during the day. Faculty and guest artists will also offer private lessons. 

The competition will begin Thursday at 10 a.m. Winners will be presented on the morning of Saturday, June 20, following the competition’s final round which begins at 10 a.m. 

Mr. McCray, a faculty member of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music since 1972, also serves as artistic director of the Zephyr International Chamber Music Festival in Courmayeur, Italy. He has performed with the Japan Philharmonic in Tokyo, on the all-Schubert series at famed Trinity Church in Manhattan, at the Carmel Bach Festival, and at the Los Angeles County Art Museum, as well as in Alaska and across the United States.  Mr. McCray was the top prize winner of the International Enesco Competition in Bucharest and of the International Liszt Competition in Boston. 

Mr. Elisi is described by La Nueva España as “a true musician and a master of elegance, refinement and fantasy.” He has performed solo recitals and has been featured as soloist with several orchestras in the United States and abroad.  Mr. Elisi leads a large class of international students as an associate professor of piano at the Eastman School of Music. An active chamber musician, he began a collaboration with violinist Federico Agostini, a former leader of I Musici. Mr. Elisi has performed in such prestigious venues as La Fenice Theatre in Venice, the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, and the Bibbiena Theatre in Mantua. He also founded “Musica Domani Prize,” an international composition competition he currently directs. 

Praised as "positively magical" and an artist of "rare eloquence and grace," American pianist Ms. Fong performs internationally as a concerto soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician.  Ms. Fong is a prize winner of numerous international competitions, including the Wideman International Piano Competition, and is a recipient of one of America's most prestigious piano awards, the 2009 Christel DeHaan Classical Fellowship of the American Pianists Association.  Ms. Fong currently serves as the director of keyboard studies at Chapman University Conservatory of Music, in addition to teaching and advising doctoral candidates of piano performance at Claremont Graduate University. 

Mr. An has been hailed as a musician who “combines a flawless technique and mastery of the instrument with an expressive power that is fueled by profound and insightful understanding” (New York Concert Review). His top prizes from the Queen Elizabeth, Cleveland, and William Kapell Piano Competitions led to performances from Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, Salle Verdi (Milan), to the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China.  Mr. An has also been a top prize winner of the Paloma O’Shea Santander Competition, the Tivoli International Piano Competition, the Rachmaninoff International Piano Competition and the Alfred Cortot Prize winner of the International Chopin Piano Competition. He has given masterclasses throughout the U.S. and Asia and currently serves as an assistant professor of piano at Lee. 

Dr. Smith, who started playing piano at age ten, earned his doctorate of musical arts in piano performance at the Eastman School of Music. He has performed in recitals at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and been featured as soloist with the National Ukranian Symphony Orchestra in Kiev.  Dr. Smith’s programming of works by Russian composer Nikolai Medtner has attracted the attention of audiences and critics. He has performed at numerous venues including the Royal Dublin Society’s concert hall and the Aspen Music Festival’s Harris Hall. Dr. Smith currently serves as an assistant professor of piano at Lee. 

Dr. Thomas has served as chair for the festival since its inception. He has studied piano, music history, and conducting at some of the world’s finest institutions and has also served as adjudicator for a variety of competitions on the local, regional, and international levels. He currently serves as the chair for the Department of Musicianship Studies at Lee and has appeared as harpsichord soloist with the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra. 

For more information on the Lee University International Piano Festival and Competition, contact the Department of Musicianship Studies at 614-8264, music@leeuniversity.edu or visit http://www.leeuniversity.edu/academics/music/piano-festival/.