The Inaugural Tianjin Juilliard Piano Festival Sets Sail in Summer

The Tianjin Juilliard School announces the inaugural Tianjin Juilliard Piano Festival from July 30 to August 13, 2023. The festival offers two weeks of rich and vibrant programs featuring a stellar line-up of artists and provides participants with invaluable experience working alongside internationally renowned pianists and teachers through master classes, lectures, private lessons, and performances, including the exclusive opportunity of performing concertos with orchestras and prominent conductors. Juilliard faculty member and chair of the piano department in New York, Yoheved Kaplinsky, and Xiaohan Wang, Tianjin Juilliard faculty member and chair of Pre-College piano studies in Tianjin, are co-artistic directors of the festival.

The festival features 12 internationally renowned pianists as teaching guest artists. In addition to the co-artistic directors Yoheved Kaplinsky and Xiaohan Wang, teaching guest artists will include Sofya Gulyak, Gabriel Kwok, Jinsang Lee, Robert Levin, Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń, Dan Shao, Wojciech Świtała, Albert Tiu, Arie Vardi, and Yunlin Yang. During the festival, they will hold a series of private lessons and master classes. Performing guest artists at the piano festival are Sa Chen, Sofya Gulyak, and Xiaohan Wang. Festival partners include the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra and Tianjin Juilliard affiliated ensemble, QingXin Ensemble. Chen Lin will conduct the final gala concert of the festival.

The Tianjin Juilliard Piano Festival is open to applicants of all nationalities who can now apply to one of the following three categories: Young Artist, Junior, and Auditor. The application deadline for Young Artist and Junior participants is May 20. Auditors can apply by July 20. Participants will gather in Tianjin for master classes, lectures, and recitals, take private lessons by renowned guest artists, perform in recitals, rehearse and perform at concerto concerts with the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jiajing Lai. The festival offers a combination of performance and pedagogic opportunities that go beyond and complement the participants’ school experiences.

For application requirements and festival information, please visit the Tianjin Juilliard Piano Festival webpage here: http://www.tianjinjuilliard.edu.cn/tjpf

Performing participants have the opportunity to collaborate with a conductor and an orchestra. All 24 selected Young Artists will compete in the festival’s concerto competition, and six winners will be selected to perform a full concerto with the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jiajing Lai. All 48 Junior participants will have one concerto rehearsal with the school’s affiliated ensemble, QingXin Ensemble, conducted by Jiajing Lai, playing one movement of a concerto.

Applicants for auditors must be 7 years and older. They can attend all public events during the festival, including guest artist recitals, master classes, participants recitals, lectures, the concerto competition and concerts.

This festival is co-founded by The Tianjin Juilliard School and the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area Administrative Commission.