Shen LuNineteen outstanding young pianists will gather on the Lee University campus next week, June 12-18, for the International Piano Festival and Competition. Now in its 12th year, the festival gives participants a chance to study with internationally acclaimed artists and the public a chance to hear them in concert.
The event began in 2005 as a competition for high school students and was expanded in 2011 to include opportunities for noncompetitors to study with the artists. This year, the competition will be divided into two levels: precollege and college.
This year’s guest artists are Mack McCray, Enrico Elisi and Shen Lu. Lee faculty Ning An and Cahill Smith also will contribute to the festival, which is chaired by Lee’s Phillip Thomas.
Two recitals will showcase the instructors’ talents: Lu and Elisi on Monday, June 13; An, Smith and McCray on Friday, June 17.
Concerts on Tuesday and Wednesday evening, June 14-15, will feature selected festival participants. Eighteen of the young artists come from nine states in the U.S., and one is from the People’s Republic of China. They range in age from 11 to 26.