Washington Piano Festival a huge success

Washington, DC ’Äì For the week of August 9, 2009, DC and the campus of the Catholic University of America played host to the first annual Washington International Piano Festival, a one-week program filled with daily lectures, seminars, one-on-one sessions and concerts. Aspiring concert pianists, teachers, amateurs, and piano lovers at-large from 10 U.S. states, as well as Russia, Germany, China, and Japan attended this wonderful opportunity.

Participants not only were able to learn from acknowledged authority on Piano Literature such as David Dubal, but also enjoy daily recitals by internationally renowned pianists such as the Kaltchev & Petroff duo. Katerina Zaitseva, co-director of the festival called the performances ’Äúfiery and exciting, at times making piano ’Äòsmoke’Äô from the number of notes being played.’Äù Participants also had the amazing opportunity to perform in concert at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage. Out of the 38 participants, 33 auditioned for the Concert and 10 were chosen to perform on Wed, Aug 12 (the archive recording can be found online at the Kennedy Center’Äôs archives (http://www.kennedycenter.org/programs/millennium/artist_detail.cfm?artist_id=WSHINTPIAN). One chosen performer, Asuka Matsumoto, caught everybody by surprise when she walked on the Millennium Stage in small steps, wearing a gorgeous kimono, and then rolled up her sleeves and started playing jazzy Gershwin’Äôs preludes in an extremely exciting and truly American style.

Praise for the festival was garnered by those who attended as well as major publications. The Washington Post exclaimed that ’Äúto say that the 2009 Washington International Piano Festival started with a bang at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage on Monday evening would be an understatement.’Äù Zhao Yang, a graduate student at Eastman School of Music thought that ’Äúthe private lessons, master classes, lectures and concerts were fantastic.’Äù The Washington International Piano Festival is already making preparations for next year’Äôs event, and are looking forward to achieving even more success in their mission to develop a greater appreciation amongst the public for classical music.

WIPF is a non-profit arts organization dedicated to the performance and teaching of classical music at the highest standard. The Festival is sponsored by Jordan Kitt's Music and Yamaha.