12th Texas State International Piano Festival to feature second TSIP competition

The Texas State University School of Music will host the 12th annual International Piano Festival June 4-12 in the Performing Arts Center.

The event will showcase the second TSIP competition, which will feature five finalists who will compete during the festival. Concerts and recitals are open to the public. All Rising Star Series recitals are free. Tickets to the Competition Concerto Round on June 4 and Anton Nel’s performance on June 5 can be purchased at www.txstatepresents.com.

“This year we are hosting the second Texas State International Piano Competition. The first one was held back in 2016,” said Jason Kwak, festival director. “The winner will be featured in a couple of concerts, including a solo appearance with the Central Texas Philharmonic. For this competition we also have a specifically commissioned piece.

“The competition is held with a solo round and a concerto round. In the concerto round, everyone will play a solo with an orchestra,” he said. “That’s our opening concert on June 4. We’re going to have voting by the audience and award the Audience Prize. That makes it very interesting.”

This year's festival will include 40 young pianists from around the world who were selected through auditions to participate in a week of lessons and master classes with a record 15 world-renown faculty, plus recitals, seminars and recreational activities. The festival is designed to foster students' artistic development and create an international network of musicians from varied backgrounds.

Other highlights include two concerto concerts with the Central Texas Philharmonic and recitals featuring one Rising Star, two Rising Faculty Stars and four festival student recitals.

Every day of the festival will feature concerts by guest artists and rising stars from all over the world that are open to the public. For a complete schedule of recitals and concerts, visit tsipf.com.

For additional information, contact Jason Kwak via email at jk45@txstate.edu.