The Frost School of Music at the University of Miami and the Chopin Foundation of the U.S. present the fifth annual Frost Chopin Festival. The critically acclaimed week-long event begins Sunday, June 25, and concludes Sunday, July 2. Generous donor support has made it possible for world-renowned guest artists to be featured as both performers and pedagogues. It has also enabled the festival to present all concerts with an extraordinarily low admission price of $10, making it accessible to the local community. Additionally, the Frost Chopin Academy will be awarding more full scholarships to participating students this year.
Concerts will take place at the UM Maurice Gusman Concert Hall located on the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami campus in Coral Gables and will be live-streamed to a global audience via the Frost YouTube channel.
"I feel enormously indebted to our generous donors and faithful concert-goers that we have been able to reach this first milestone of a fifth edition of our festival," states Kevin Kenner, Frost Chopin Festival Academy founder, artistic director, and associate professor of piano at the Frost School of Music. "I am especially pleased that we have been able to cooperate this year with the Donna Shalala MusicReach program to inspire and encourage our local youth to engage in classical music."
In addition to the concerts featuring pianists who are celebrated as today's best interpreters of Chopin's music, an integral part of the Frost Chopin Festival is the Academy. The Academy offers each participant specialized masterclasses and lectures fashioned to help with specific issues surrounding the performance of Chopin's works. Guest lecturers will share their specialized knowledge of Chopin through workshops and subsequent breakout groups for applying newly learned skills. This year, the festival welcomes Prof. Kenneth Hamilton, virtuoso pianist and author of the highly acclaimed book, After the Golden Age: Romantic Pianism and Modern Performance.
The Frost Chopin Academy and Festival is the perfect addition to Miami's summer cultural scene. "Miami area residents and visitors will once again be treated to accessible performances by some of the world's best concert artists," says Barbara Muze, executive director of the Chopin Foundation of the U.S. "Everyone has access to lectures and open lessons, and so many extremely talented young pianists will greatly benefit from this unique experience, including many students from the Foundation's Scholarship Program."
Since its inception in 2018, the Chopin Foundation has seen its partnership with the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami as a natural extension of the Academy's mission. Together with its Founder and President, Lady Blanka Rosenstiel, and the Rosenstiel Foundation, it has established an endowment fund for the program at the University of Miami. "I'm pleased to report that as of this month and ahead of schedule, the fund has reached the $100,000 threshold and is ready to continue growing. I hope the community will join us in supporting this important program that will keep Chopin's music alive and going strong in Miami for many years to come," says Muze.
This year's festival has many highlights, including the return of the signature Salon Concert on July 2, as the festival wraps up a terrific week of events in proper 19th-century salon fashion. A delightful mélange of solo and chamber works performed by the festival's inspiring teaching artists and Academy students and hosted by artistic director Kevin Kenner.
An impressive array of world-renowned concert artists join the festival's distinguished artistic director Kevin Kenner (winner of the 12th International Chopin Competition in Warsaw), in conducting workshops, lessons, and performing in concert are world-renowned artists:
- Dmitry Ablogin,Teaching/Performing Artist
- Edward Auer, Teaching Artist
- Shelly Berg,Performing Artist
- Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń, Teaching Artist
- Dang Thai Son, Teaching/Performing Artist
The selection of 30 gifted pianists, many already recognized worldwide, include Kamil Pacholec, prize winner of the International Paderewski Competition and finalist of the 2021 International Chopin Competition.
Participants range in age from 11 – 26 and represent their home countries of Korea, China, Japan, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Canada, and the U.S. youngest, eleven-year-old Yidi Ding, is a young Steinway artist studying at the Juilliard School Pre-College Division and has already won more than 20 grand prizes in competitions in the U.S., Europe, and China. The oldest, Vojtech Trubac from the Czech Republic, won the 2022 International Chopin Competition in Darmstadt, Germany.
To read more about these artists, view the festival schedule, or purchase concert tickets, visit Frost Chopin Festival.
