Festival features best pianists
Top performers in the world of piano are visiting Utah State University this week to participate in The Wassermann Festival.
The Wassermann Festival is a one-week symposium for piano students that places them one on one with professional artists.
Guest artists will also be performing concerts for the public.
The 2004 Wassermann Festival takes place March 23-27 at USU.
“This festival is a wonderful opportunity for students, teachers and music lovers of all ages to interact with the world’s finest pianists in ways not normally offered through the concert hall experience,” said Dennis Hirst, festival director and assistant professor at USU.
Approximately 75 piano students from all over the West, including 40 USU students, will be participating in the festival, Hirst said. They will attend lectures and classes.
Students who haven’t registered for the festival can still audit the classes, Hirst said.
Guest artists featured this year include Emilio del Rosario, Misha Dichter, Sophia Gilmson, Olga Kern and Jerome Lowenthal.
Kern, who is from Moscow, Russia, appeared at the last Wassermann Festival and was the Gold Medalist of the 11th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Hirst said.
“She represents the dazzling talent of our new century,” Hirst said.
The Dallas Morning News called her “a player of enormous brilliance and passion.”
Hirst said after her last performance at the festival people kept telling him that he had to bring her back.
“If you have an interest just come to the concert and listen,” Hirst said. “I think they’ll love it.”
It’s a good opportunity for students, Hirst said. Tickets like this go for $40-$100 in places like New York.
Hirst said it’s very hard to get professionals of this caliber to come.
“We’re off the beaten path,” Hirst said.
The piano program at USU is highly regarded and has developed a reputation of excellence, Hirst said.
Kern told Hirst the festival is a very fun place to play, Hirst said. There are warm audiences and good responses.
Guest artist Del Rosario currently teaches on the faculty of the Music Institute of Chicago. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Teacher Award from the National Foundations of Arts.
Hirst said when he invited him to the concert, del Rosario said “I would love to come, I know of your program.
“My, you have a big festival,” del Rosario added.
The Fry Street Quartet, USU’s faculty quartet in-residence, will also be performing.
The New York Times called them “a triumph of ensemble playing.”
Aram Arakelyan, a USU sophomore majoring in piano performance, will be participating in the festival. Arakelyan is from Armenia and came to USU for the piano program, he said.
Arakelyan had to audition for both the program and the festival. He said the department requires them to practice at least 30 hours per week but he loves it.
“I don’t have to do it, I get to do it,” Arakelyan said. “The professors make you work hard but you love to do it for them.”
He said at USU the piano department is like a big family and everyone is best friends.
This is Arakelyan’s second time at the festival and he is excited to hear everyone play.
“They’re just incredible,” Arakelyan said.
At the previous festival he heard Olga Kern play and said it was “the most amazing thing I’ve seen that has to do with piano. I wanted to applaud like crazy.”
During the master classes held during the festival, students are chosen to play in front of the artists and are then critiqued, Hirst said.
“It’s scary, similar to a lesson but with an audience,” Hirst said. “It can be a little frightening, but fun.”
Arakelyan said he’s a little nervous for the master classes.
“It’s a big thing to be playing for these great pianists,” he said.
The first concert will be on Wednesday, March 24 at 7:30 p.m. This concert will be a collaborative concert with The Fry Street Quartet and MIsha Dichter performing.
On Friday March 26 at 7:30 p.m. Olga Kern will perform a solo recital.
The final concert will be Saturday, March 27 with Misha Dichter performing again.
The concerts are free for all students and $10 dollars for individual, general admission tickets. A three concert pass can purchased for $20.
All concerts will be held in the Kent Concert Hall.
The Wassermann Festival was first started in 1980 by Irving Wassermann, head of the USU Department of Music according to material by the music department. It was first named the Music West Festival but was renamed in honor of Wassermann. His goal was to provide quality education for local music students.
For more information go to www.usu.edu/wassermann.
-mdymock@cc.usu.edu