November 19-20, 2011
- Pre-College Solo Piano Competition
- Recitals
- Masterclasses
Heather Conner, Guest Artist
Associate Professor of Piano, University of Utah
The Colorado Piano Festival will be held from Nov. 19-20, 2011 on the campus of the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado. With two days of concerts, masterclasses, workshops, and a pre-college solo piano competition, there will be exciting opportunities for music-lovers, pianists and students of all ages and levels.
2011 Colorado Piano Festival Application
Performances
Steinway Artist Dr. Heather Conner will present the Saturday night concert. On Sunday the artist-faculty from the University of Northern Colorado will perform a varied program of solo and chamber works.
Pre-College Solo Piano Competition
On Saturday morning semi-finalists will perform for a chance to compete in the finals the following day. In addition to cash prizes, the first place winner will be invited to return to UNC the following year for a special winner’s performance.
Masterclasses
Interested festival participants will be given the opportunity to submit a recording for consideration for a masterclass performance. Masterclass presenters will include Dr. Heather Conner and University of Northern Colorado faculty Vergie Amendola, Caleb Harris, Stephen Pierce, and Lei Weng.
2011 Guest Artist
Originally from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Steinway Artist Dr. Heather Conner is currently Associate Professor of Piano at the University of Utah. As a recitalist, Heather has performed in many prestigious venues, such as Steinway Hall in New York City. She has also presented solo recitals in Philadelphia; Los Angeles; New Haven; Moscow; Salzburg; Seoul; Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada; Greenville (SC and NC); Stillwater and Okahoma City, (OK); and Salt Lake City. Heather has won Grand Prizes at several international and national competitions including the First Hilton Head Island International Piano Competition and the Kingsville International Young Performers Competition, and has performed on numerous occasions as a soloist with the Philadelphia Ochestra. Most recently, she performed a solo recital at the Zwischen den Jahren festival in Antweiler, Germany. In 2006, she appeared as recitalist and artist teacher at several venues in Seoul, South Korea. Heather has recorded commercially for the Naxos and Centaur labels and has been heard on NPR's Performance Today, WQED in Pittsburgh, WFLN in Philadelphia, and KCSC in Oklahoma City. Her performances can also be heard on the web at instantencore.com.
An avid chamber musician, Heather has appeared in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall and the Glenn Gould Studios in Toronto. Heather has performed as soloist and chamber musician at the Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada, and is currently an artist performer with America's Dream Chamber Artists both at Symphony Space in New York City and on tour nationally. She performs every year on the Intermezzo and Nova Chamber Music Series both based in Salt Lake, and has performed as a guest artist on the Brightmusic Chamber Music Series in Oklahoma City.
She completed her Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in piano performance at the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with Arkady Aronov and received the Helen Cohn award for most promising doctoral graduate. Under the guidance of renowned pianist Peter Frankl, Heather received her Master of Music degree from the Yale University School of Music. Heather received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music in 1997, where she studied with the distinguished piano pedagogue Eleanor Sokoloff for five years.
University of Northern Colorado Faculty
Vergie Amendola, Piano/Collaborative Piano, is the Head of the Keyboard Area at the University of Northern Colorado. In addition, Amendola is an active chamber musician who has performed in Thailand, Korea, Slovenia, Canada and throughout the United States. She has also adjudicated for the Music Teachers National Association and has taught numerous Master Classes across the United States, focusing on the unique role of the pianist in the collaborative process of making music.
Caleb Harris, Piano/Collaborative Piano, is the Coordinator of the Collaborative Piano Program at the University of Northern Colorado. Possessing a broad and comprehensive repertoire, he has performed throughout the USA, Austria, France, Italy, and Asia. In recent years, Harris has served as an orchestral pianist with the Tanglewood Festival Orchestra and appeared on many occasions as a concerto and solo performer. Harris has performed in many prestigious venues included Carnegie Hall, Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, and the National Concert Hall in Taipei, Taiwan.
Stephen Pierce, Piano and Piano Pedagogy, teaches applied piano and piano pedagogy at the University of Northern Colorado. Pierce has performed in the Czech Republic, the United States, Canada and throughout South Africa while his performances have been broadcast on South African television and radio. Second prizewinner of the National Piano Competition in South Africa, Pierce has performed as a soloist with orchestras in South Africa and Cincinnati and published in the journals Clavier Companion and Music Research Forum.
Dana Landry, Director of Jazz Studies, teaches jazz piano and coaches the Northern Colorado Voices, UNC’s top vocal jazz group. Under his direction, UNC Jazz Lab Band I has received two IAJE invitations and two Down Beat Awards as “Best College Big Band” in the last three years. Landry has performed with recognized jazz artists in Europe, Canada, Australia, and throughout the U.S. His CD, Journey Home (Summit Records), featuring Gary Burton, received a Grammy nomination for its title track
Lei Weng, Piano, was hailed as “a colorist of exemplary control” by the New York Concert Review for his Carnegie Hall debut. Weng has performed throughout America and Asia, and has appeared as a soloist with orchestras from Seattle, Cincinnati, Ft. Worth, Indiana, Louisiana, Greeley, Beijing, Tianjin, Kaohsiung and with the China National Symphony and Chorus. Weng’s students have won 1st prize at the MTNA Colorado Piano Competition, the Boulder Philharmonic Competition, the Brad Shaw and Buono International Piano Competition, and have performed with many orchestras.
Schedule
Location:
Hensel Phelps Hall, Union Colony Civic Center
701 10th Ave, Greeley, CO 80631
All events are in the Hensel Phelps Theatre unless indicated otherwise.
Saturday, November 19
Morning:
9:30am Check in, registration and welcome
10:00am - 1:30 pm Pre-College Solo Competition - Semi-Final Round
Afternoon:
2:30pm - 3:30pm Caleb Harris, Masterclass (Hensel Phelps)
2:30pm - 3:30pm Vergie Amendola, Masterclass (Main lobby)
3:40pm - 4:40pm Stephen Pierce, Masterclass (Main lobby)
3:40pm - 4:40pm Lei Weng, Masterclass (Hensel Phelps)
Evening:
8:00pm Heather Conner, Guest Artist Recital*
Sunday, November 20
Morning:
10:00am - 12:00pm Pre-College Solo Competition - Final Round
Afternoon:
12:30pm Award Ceremony
2:00pm - 4:30pm Heather Conner, Masterclass with UNC Piano Students
Late Afternoon:
5:00pm UNC Piano Faculty Recital*
*Tickets for these events are available at the door free of charge
Pre-College Solo Piano Competition
Competition Rules
Awards
- 1st place. Cash prize of $750;
solo performance at the Colorado Piano Festival in 2012,
or at UNC on a piano recital series. - 2nd place. Cash prize of $500.
- 3rd place. Cash prize of $250.
Eligibility
- All Contestants must be at least 10 and not older than 18 years of age on November 14, 2011.
- All contestants must be registered for the Colorado Piano Festival.
- Former first place winners of the CPF Competition are not eligible to compete.
- The pre-screening committee will choose semi-finalists to compete based on initial CD round applicants. All decisions of the Contestant Selection Jury and the Competition Jury will be final.
Application
In addition to the personal data furnished on the application form, each contestant must provide:
- One up-to-date resume in essay form
- One letter of recommendation addressed to the CPF Pre-College Competition
- Proof of date of birth (e.g. copy of driver's license, birth certificate or passport)
- CD or DVD of at least two contrasting solo piano pieces of applicant’s choice. Single movements from a multi-movement work are acceptable. The CD must have at least 10 minutes and not over 15 minutes of music.
Repertoire
A contestant may select any piano solo pieces from the standard repertoire. • Contestants must be prepared to perform the entire program from memory.
Deadline
All applications must be received no later than October 1, 2011; application materials are not returnable. Semifinalists will be announced and contestants notified by e-mail by October 15, 2011.