Young pianists to attend summer music program

June 30, 2003.

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas Department of Music and Dance is excited to announce it will host the International Institute for Young Musicians (IIYM) from July 7 to 25 in Lawrence.

The IIYM Summer Music Academy, under the direction of KU alumnus Scott McBride Smith (master of music, 1976), is a course of intensive study for young pianists. Students who participate often go on to receive prizes in the most prestigious competitions in the world, including the Van Cliburn, the Chopin, the Gina Bachauer, and the Music Teachers National Association.

Smith has selected 40 pianists through competitive auditions in the United States and around the world to come to Lawrence for the intensive three-week program of study and performance. These young artists, ages 13 to 19, will work with KU faculty and visiting faculty from the Juilliard School in New York City, Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., the University of Colorado, Boulder, the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music and Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts College, and will take master classes, studio classes, and courses in sight-reading, music theory, accompanying, opera and careers in music.

While in Lawrence, IIYM participants will present several performances that are free and open to the public at the following times and locations: 4 p.m. July 12 at the Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art; 6:30 p.m. July 16 at Swarthout Recital Hall; noon July 17 at the Spencer; 6:30 p.m. July 18 at Swarthout Recital Hall; and 6:30 p.m. July 23 at the Lied Center. Repertoire will include standard piano works from Bach to the contemporaries. For additional information about IIYM and upcoming performances, the public may contact Jack Winerock, KU coordinator of the program, at 864-9644 or at winerock@ku.edu.