2014 Colburn Piano Festival

The 2014 Colburn School Music Academy Piano Festival event

The first Steinway Concerto Competition will be held on July 18, 2015 as the culminating event of the fifth annual Colburn School Music Academy Piano Festival. The First Prize winner will receive the $1,500 Steinway Prize and appear as a guest artist with the Pasadena Symphony at Ambassador Auditorium with Music Director David Lockington during the 2016–2017 concert season.

“This is tremendous exposure for a young musician,” Music Academy Dean and Piano Professor Ory Shihor said. “The chance to be featured in a performance with a lauded symphony, along with the monetary prize, are incredibly valuable to musicians on the cusp of professional careers.”

“Competing at a high level and performing with a professional orchestra are two pivotal and defining moments in any young musician’s career,” said Colburn School President and CEO Sel Kardan. “I’m thrilled that, thanks to our friendship with the Pasadena Symphony and the generosity of the Steinway Gallery, this year’s Music Academy Piano Festival students will have the opportunity to realize those dreams.”

“We are so proud of our continued partnership with the Colburn School. We share a vision and a commitment to provide professional performance opportunities for young rising stars,” said Lora Unger, President and CEO of the Pasadena Symphony. “Our Music Director David Lockington is so excited to hear these fine pianists and showcase them in our 2016–2017 season.”

All piano festival participants are eligible to enter the Steinway Concerto Competition, which will take place on the Colburn School campus. Six finalists will advance to the final round, following a preliminary round. A panel of faculty members with Pasadena Symphony Music Director David Lockington will judge the finals.

First Prize of the Steinway Concerto Competition is presented in partnership with the Pasadena Symphony and with generous sponsorship by Steinway Gallery, Beverly Hills. Additional cash prizes for second and third place finalists will be sponsored by Metropolitan Associates through the generosity of Colburn School Board Member Alice Colombe.

About the Music Academy Piano Festival

The Colburn School Music Academy Piano Festival was founded in 2011 with the purpose of providing young pianists with two weeks of conservatory-level instruction. Thirty students from around the world will have the opportunity to study with world-renowned artist faculty on the Colburn School campus. Previous artist faculty include Hung-Kuan Chen, Meng-Chieh Liu, Awadagin Pratt, Jerome Lowenthal, and James Giles, among others.

Pre-college pianists aged 10–19 are invited to participate after passing through an audition process.

Visit colburnschool.edu/academy/festival for more information.

2015 Artist Faculty
Angela Cheng, Oberlin Conservatory of Music
Alan Chow, Northwestern University
Gila Goldstein, Boston University
Myong-joo Lee, Colburn Music Academy
Yoshikazu Nagai, San Francisco Conservatory
Ory Shihor, Colburn Conservatory of Music, Colburn Music Academy
Steven Spooner, University of Kansas
Ilana Vered, Fest Perugia

Faculty subject to change

About the Colburn School

The Colburn School is a performing arts school located in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, neighboring Walt Disney Concert Hall, The Music Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Broad Museum. The acclaimed faculty provides students with the highest quality performing arts education, which includes a multitude of performance opportunities in a state-of-the-art facility. More than 2,000 students attend classes at the Conservatory of Music, the Community School of Performing Arts, the Music Academy, and the Dance Academy.

About the Music Academy

The Music Academy is a unique pre-college program designed to prepare gifted young artists for careers as well-rounded professional musicians. Established in 2010, the academy provides conservatory-level musical training, including private instruction, master classes, and numerous performance opportunities, each carefully designed to nurture students to grow to their full potential. Admission to the academy is achieved through a highly-selective process; applicants passing the pre-screening requirement are invited to audition in Los Angeles at Colburn, and are notified of their admission in the spring.

About the Pasadena Symphony

Formed in 1928, the Pasadena Symphony and POPS is an ensemble of Hollywood’s most talented, sought after musicians. With extensive credits in the film, television, recording and orchestral industry, the artists of Pasadena Symphony and POPS are the most heard in the world.

The Pasadena Symphony and POPS performs in two of the most extraordinary venues in the United States: Ambassador Auditorium, known as the Carnegie Hall of the West, and the luxuriant Los Angeles Arboretum & Botanic Garden. Internationally recognized, Grammy-nominated conductor, David Lockington, serves as the Pasadena Symphony Association’s Music Director, with performance-practice specialist Nicholas McGegan serving as Principal Guest Conductor. The multi-platinum-selling, two-time Emmy and five-time Grammy Award-nominated entertainer dubbed “The Ambassador of the Great American Songbook,” Michael Feinstein, is the Principal Pops Conductor, who succeeded Marvin Hamlisch in the newly created Marvin Hamlisch Chair.

A hallmark of its robust education programs, the Pasadena Symphony Association has served the youth of the region for over five decades through the Pasadena Youth Symphony Orchestras (PYSO) comprised of five performing ensembles, with over 250 gifted 4th-12th grade students from more than 50 schools all over the Southern California region. The PYSO Symphony often performs on the popular television show GLEE.