A grand piano that grows your hands ...

Inauguration of the first narrower (SIRIUS 6.0) key grand in an Austrian music education institute with concert, lectures, round tables and ‘get together.’

Students and teachers from the Tyrolean State Conservatory Innsbruck and the partner University Mozarteum Innsbruck will perform on the new grand.
Outstanding experts of the smaller keys movement will give lecture-recitals:

• Prof. Dr. Carol Leone (SMU Dallas/USA): “Narrower keys – a game changer for pianists”

• Prof. Ulrike Wohlwender & Silvia C. Molan (HMDK Stuttgart/Germany): “SIRIUS 6.0 – piano keys that grow your hands”

• Professor Ulrich Hench (HfM Nuremberg/Germany) will take part in the round table.

All interested participants have the chance to try out the grand piano.

Artistic direction and project management:

Prof. Annette Seiler, Tyrolean State Conservatory Innsbruck

https://www.konstirol.at/konzerte/veranstaltung/ein-fluegel-der-haende-wachsen-laesst/

Glenn Riddle and his students at the University of Melbourne will perform on the 165 cm Bernstein (Samick) with DS5.5 keyboard! Students to perform include Caitlin Au, Chloe Au, Jasmine Lai, Ben Fu, and Jayden Wayne!

Program

Caitlin Au              

Poulenc                   Caprice Italien from Napoli Suite              

Chopin                    Etude Op 10 No 5 (‘Black Key’)                    

Grainger                  Shepherd’s Hey                                                   

Chloe Au                 

Chopin                       Scherzo No 1 in B minor                                                         

Tchaikovsky/Pletnev   Intermezzo from ‘Nutcracker’ Suite          

Glenn Riddle

Grainger                  Nightingale and Two Sisters

Grainger                  Blithe Bells

Grainger                 Sussex Mummers Christmas Carol          

Jasmine Lai           

Szymanowski Etude Op.4 No 1

Bacewicz Sonata No.2 mvt 1                                        

Ben Fu                     

Rachmaninoff      Moment Musical in B minor Op 16       

Jayden Wayne

Liszt Transcendental Etude No 10 in F minor, ‘Appassionato’

BIO

Glenn Riddle
Australian pianist Glenn Riddle is Senior Lecturer in Keyboard at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, Research Associate at the University of Waikato New Zealand, Visiting Professor at the Nanjing University of the Arts, China, AMEB Federal Examiner, and Senior Music Critic for Classic Melbourne. He has recorded for Tall Poppies, Move Records, Hal Leonard Publishing and ABC Classics, and continues to perform both locally and internationally as concerto soloist, chamber musician and in solo recitals. One of Australia’s most distinguished piano pedagogues, he has edited 12 volumes of piano music for the AMEB, and is regularly invited to present recitals, masterclasses and pedagogy workshops throughout China, the South-East Asia region, in Australia and New Zealand. He has been on international competition juries in the USA, Greece, Israel, Thailand, China, New Zealand and Indonesia. His own students have won numerous prizes in international competitions performing with such prestigious ensembles as the Russian National Academic Symphony Orchestra, the Salzburg Chamber Soloists, Les Solistes de Neuchâtel (Geneva), the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Maroc, the Helsinki Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Ningbo Symphony Orchestra, the Jakarta Concert Orchestra, the Academia di Perugia Orchestra in Italy, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the Polish International String Quartet.

Pianist and teacher Camila De Oliveira, from Auckland, will join the Festival once again with an exciting program!

PROGRAM

Fantastic Rhythms: A Dance Odyssey and includes:

Joaquín Turina – Danzas Fantásticas, Op. 22
Alberto Ginastera – Danzas Argentinas, Op. 2
Frédéric Chopin – Three Waltzes, Op. 34
Sandra Lynch – Dance Fantastique
Gillian Bibby – Diablo Dances with a Demented Cuckoo

BIO

The Brazilian pianist Camila De Oliveira began her musical studies at the age of 6. She completed her bachelor's degree in piano performance after attending the Faculdade de Artes Alcântara Machado, Brazil. In 2019 Camila received her postgraduate diploma in Music with a specialisation in piano performance at the University of Auckland under Dr Rae de Lisle, and in 2021 she completed her master's degree in Piano Performance also at the University of Auckland. Camila is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Auckland.

Camila won many prizes in piano competitions, such as the 20th ArtLivre Piano Competition, 8th Piano Competition Maestro Rodrigo Tavares, 24th "Paulo Giovanini" Piano Competition, 7th National Piano Competition Maestro Spartaco Rossi, 1st Piracicaba International Piano Concerto Competition. In 2020 she not only was the recipient of the Ada Kathleen and Barbara Ellen Watson Scholarship, but she also won the Llewelyn Jones Prize in Music for Piano at the University of Auckland for the second consecutive year.

She has played with many orchestras, such as the Symphonic Orchestra of the Municipal Theater of São Paulo, Bachiana SESI-SP Foundation Orchestra, São Pedro Theatro Orchestra, and Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra.

For four years, Camila was the principal pianist of the Academic Choir of the OSESP, Symphonic Orchestra of São Paulo State.

Furthermore, she has maintained an intense career as a collaborative pianist and piano teacher.

Carol Leone presents “Narrow Keys: A Game Changer for Pianists”

Lecture Demonstration: https://www.hmdk-stuttgart.de/veranstaltung/narrow-keys-game-changer-pianists

BIO

American pianist and university professor Carol Leone is active as a soloist and chamber musician, appearing throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. A successful recording artist, Leone can be heard on MSR Classics, Gasparo, Crystal, and Augusta Read Thomas labels. Her recording, “Change of Keys” on MSR Classics garnered two 2016 Silver Global Awards. Of this recording, Fanfare magazine stated, “Leone plays with drive and sparkle, and with plenty of wit.” Dallas Morning News wrote of her Mozart playing, “luminous tone… she took us into another, quite magical world.” Dr. Leone is Chair of Piano Studies and Professor of Piano at SMU Meadows School of the Arts in Dallas, Texas. Leone studied with legendary Polish pianist Mieczysław Horszowski at the Curtis Institute of Music, where she received the Performance Certificate. She was a student of Guido Agosti in Rome after earning the coveted Honors Diploma at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena. She ultimately earned her doctorate from the UNT College of Music. Leone was successful in several national piano competitions, including being awarded first prize in the National Beethoven Sonata Piano competition. 

At SMU, she has performed frequently as concerto soloist with the SMU Meadows Symphony Orchestra and as part of a faculty piano trio with violinist Aaron Boyd and cellist Andres Diaz. She has also performed regularly with the Grammy-nominated contemporary music ensemble Voices of Change. Over the course of her 40-year career as a university piano professor, Dr. Leone has taught a diverse group of talented students. Many have achieved notable success, becoming recording artists, esteemed university professors, and influential leaders within the profession. Leone has recently served as a guest teacher or lecturer at The Juilliard School, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, the State University of Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart, Trinity Laban Conservatory in London, Shanghai Normal University, and several Italian conservatories. She has served on the music faculty of summer festivals in Moscow, Vienna, South Korea, the Czech Republic, and Italy, and is regularly on the summer piano faculty of the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Italy. A leading advocate and presenter of pianos with narrower keyboards, Dr. Leone has energized a worldwide movement to transform pianists' artistry and wellness. She was a co-founder of the global movement Pianists for Alternative Sized Keyboards and of the annual International Stretto Piano Festival and currently serves on the board of directors for the DS Standard Foundation. 

This recorded presentation at the Global Health Summit in July 2025 saw Eri Yoshimura perform on a Yamaha C7X with DS5.5 keyboard.

BIO

Eri Yoshimura, born in Osaka, Japan, earned a music education degree from Shinshu University before moving to Denton, Texas. There, she obtained Master’s and Doctorate of Musical Arts degrees in piano performance from the University of North Texas under Dr. Pamela Mia Paul with a related field in Music and Medicine under Dr. Kris Chesky. Dr. Yoshimura has performed solo, chamber and four-hands recitals in USA (including Hawaii), Japan, Mexico, and Hungary (Franz Liszt International Festival). She and Hungarian pianist, Emöke Ujj, released their first album together, “Contemporary Piano Music for Four Hands”, which contains the works by four living composers. All compositions in this album were specifically composed for Emöke and Eri.

Dr. Yoshimura’s scholarly research has focused on understanding and preventing piano-related medical problems. Her research papers were published in the Medical Problems of Performing Artists journal 2006 and 2008 and in the MTNA E-journal 2009. Her dissertation focused on the possible application of an ergonomically modified keyboard (a narrower-sized keyboard) for reducing piano-related pain among small-handed pianists. In April 2006, she performed on the 15/16-sized keyboard in one of her doctoral degree recitals; this performance marked this keyboard’s concert premiere. She has presented her research in conferences at Aspen (PAMA), Chicago (NCKP), Serbia (EPTA) and England (RNCM). As a doctoral student at UNT, she won outstanding researcher scholarships for her work in music & medicine and was featured on the university homepage, magazines, and regional TV news reports and radio. She is currently using the 7/8-sized keyboard to teach her students at the Gray School in Dallas.

Sophia Weidemann performs Bach’s Goldberg Variations on an August Förster 6.5 concert grand piano, with a lecture demonstration on the August Förster 6.0 Upright Piano now in the showroom

This year, Bridges Collective presents From Shadows to Sunlight: French Journeys

Bridges Collective is excited to be part of the 5th Stretto International Piano Festival. The core mission at Bridges Collective is the belief that music and music-making is a universal human experience. We believe that everyone, regardless of differences of culture, nationality, income or size should be able to participate in listening to and making music. When we learnt of stretto pianos, we could not think of a more worthy cause to champion: Pianos with narrower keys that make it possible for people with smaller hands to be able to perform the music they love without their physical limitations being a handicap.

Artistic Director Brenna Wee, on a Bernstein piano with DS5.5® (5.5-inch octave) keyboard, will be joined by cellist Diana Wuli and flautist Simone Maurer.

Please join us for an evocative afternoon of French music, tracing a path from mystery to radiance. Debussy’s Estampes opens with shimmering soundscapes of rain, distant lands, and fleeting colour. Poulenc’s Cello Sonata follows, witty yet poignant, revealing both humour and vulnerability. The concert closes with Debussy’s youthful Piano Trio in G major—a luminous work brimming with lyrical warmth and unguarded joy.

More details on Bridges Collective:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bridgescollective
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/BridgesCollective

Program

Simone Maurer, Flute

Diana Wuli, Cello

Brenna Wee, Piano

Claude Debussy: Estampes 

I. Pagodes

II. La soirée dans Granade

III.  Jardins sou le pluie

Francis Poulenc – Cello Sonata, FP 143 

I.  Allegro – Tempo di Marcia

II. Cavatine

III. Ballabile

IV.  Finale

Claude Debussy: Piano Trio in G major, L 5 

I.  Andantino con moto allegro

II. Scherzo: Moderato con allegro

III.  Andante espressivo

IV. Finale: Appassionato

David Soo and his students, Tyler Zhou, Alexander Cui, and Nicholas Jiang, and Isaac Shi, delight us from Australia!

PROGRAM

Alexander Cui

Valse Triste by Michalovski

Toccata by Bacewicz

Nicholas Jiang

October by Tchaikovsky

Rondo in C major by Beethoven

Tyler Zhou

Waltz in E-flat major by Chopin

Souvenir d’Andalouisie by Gottschalk

Paganini Variations by Berkovitch

Isaac Shi

Creole Dance by Ginastera

David Soo

Waltz brilliante in E major by Esther Kahn

BIO

David Soo is an Australian concert pianist who has performed extensively throughout Australia, Asia, and in Europe as a solo recitalist, chamber musician, and concerto soloist. David has had the privilege of performing before several distinguished dignitaries such as the late Her Majesty the Queen, the Mayor of the City of London Corporation, and the Honourable Alexander Downer AC, and the Honourable George Brandis QC as High Commissioners to the United Kingdom. David has performed in significant concert halls and venues including Australia House, the Barbican Concert Hall, St-Martins-in-the Field, the Old Bailey, Goodenough College, Haikou Town Hall, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, the Melbourne Recital Centre, and the ABC Studios in Adelaide and Melbourne. David has also performed sold-out recitals at the Bloomsbury and Chobham Festivals, and his performances can be heard on ABC Classic FM, New Zealand Classic FM, Fine Music Australia Network stations, and FMITE Spanish Radio. David studied piano with Glenn Riddle and Joan Havill. David has recently completed his PhD at the University of Melbourne.

Pianist and educator Taeko Hirata joins the Festival in Kyoto, Japan!

Program:

Prokofiev: Four Pieces, Op. 4 – No. 4 “Suggestion Diabolique”

Chopin: Fantasy-Impromptu in C-sharp minor, Op. 66 (Polish National Edition, Ekier Urtext)

Liszt: Liebesträume

BIO

Taeko Hirata is a piano teacher based in Kyoto, Japan.

The pianos she owns are a standard-size Kawai and a DIAPASON 170E with keys slightly larger than 6.0 inches—approximately 6.1 inches.

KLASSIEK IN DE KRACHTCENTRALE

In collaboration with Tendens and Stretto Piano Festival.

On the first evening in the series, pianist Katie Yao Morgan performs Schubert, Schumann, Scriabin, Glinka on the Tendens piano with narrow keys.

Enjoy the Stretto Piano Events premiere of concerts from the Netherlands on a Tendens 7/8 digital grand!

PROGRAM

F. Schubert - 6 Moments Musicaux D 780 Opus 94 No. 1, 2, 3, 4

R. Schumann - Op. 4 Intermezzi No. 2 and No. 3

A. Scriabin - Poeme Nocturne Op. 61

M. Glinka - Nocturne in Eb Major

K. Yao Morgan - Butterfly Lovers

K. Yao Morgan - Market Havoc

BIO

Katie Yao Morgan (2000), of British and Chinese descent, began piano studies at age four. She attended the Yehudi Menuhin School, where she studied with Marcel Baudet and later studied at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with Frank Peters, completing her Bachelor’s in Classical Piano (2022) and Master’s in Repetiteurship (2024). Her Master Research, ‘The Discriminatory Instrument’, outlines the limitations of the standardised piano keyboard and advocates for pianos with narrower keys was awarded the Frans Schreuderprijs for best Master’s Research across all conservatories in the Netherlands. Subsequently, her research was published in the EPTA Bulletin. 

Katie has won numerous prizes, including 1st prize at the Amsterdam Regional finals of the Princess Christina Concours (2019) and the Grachtenfestival Conservatorium Concours (2024) with pianist Jorian van Nee. She has appeared at Het Concertgebouw, Wigmore Hall, and Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, and performed concertos by Mozart, Chopin, Schumann, and Ravel with orchestras across Europe.

As a chamber musician, she has played with Trio Pantoum (winners of the Intercollegiate Piano Trio Society Competition, 2018) and appeared on Dutch national TV show Podium Witteman multiple times. In 2025 her debut album “Echoes of the Orient” was released on Naxos World, featuring her own compositions inspired by the Chinese heritage.

Alongside her music career, Katie completed a BSc in Psychology (UvA, 2024) and an MSc in Crime and Forensic Science (UCL, 2025).

Kaduk Tendens

Tendens is a new member of the piano family — a supreme, portable concert instrument that surpasses the grand piano in playability, tone, and freedom. Its active soundboard gives a singing, open sound with unsurpassed clarity in any space, while its ultra-responsive action reveals every nuance of the pianist’s touch. Because it can travel, pianists can finally build a lasting personal connection with their own instrument — even with custom dimensions for comfort and health. For the first time, a concert instrument combines world-class quality with portability, opening the door to new artistic freedom and new listening experiences. 

More about Tendens: https://www.tendens.live/

What is a Stretto Piano?

Stretto means narrow in Italian.

Pianos with various key widths have existed since keyboard instruments were first invented centuries ago. In the mid-to-late 19th century, however, cast iron piano frames were invented in order to keep up with the demands of larger performance halls. This innovation caused a significant increase of the octave span. Famous male, large-handed virtuosos, like Franz Liszt, started touring at this time and played the bigger instruments with ease. Prominent manufacturers standardized these powerful pianos of the late nineteenth century, mass-producing the conventional size we have today.

Since then, pianists with smaller hands have found this conventional size challenging to play, and have even experienced playing-related injuries in many cases. Many artists realized that one size does not fit all, especially for repertoire written by composers who had or have large hands.

Noriko Utsugi is a Member of the Japan Narrow Key Piano Society, currently having DS6.0 and ⅞ keyboards made for a Blüthner grand piano located in Piano Plaza Gunma, Takasaki City, Japan. She is a professional ophthalmologist and an accomplished amateur pianist.

Program

Works by Frederic Chopin

Mazurkas Op. 33

No. 1 in G# Minor,

No. 2 in D Major

“Heroic” Polonaise in Ab Major Op. 53

Erica Booker’s students Amy Huang and Samantha Stephens join for their Stretto Festival debut!

In partnership with Stretto Piano Concerts, Stretto piano pioneer Dr. Carol Leone, Professor Catherine Lysinger will present a special concert featuring students of the Meadows School of Arts

PROGRAM

Jie Zhou

 Preludes, Op. 11, Nos. 11 and 14  -  Scriabin

Claudia Shumeng Wang

Étude de concert, S. 144, No. 2 La leggierezza  - Liszt

Kamilya Akhmetova 

32 Variations on an Original Theme in C minor, WoO 80 - Beethoven

Olivia Chien-Jou Wang

Partita No. 2 in C Minor, BWV 826 – Bach

Jie Zhou, born in Chengdu, China, began piano studies at age four. She went to Utah State University for her undergraduate degree in piano, where she taught young students and assisted in music classes. Jie is now a first-year graduate student in Piano Performance and Pedagogy at Southern Methodist University. When she’s not at the piano, you’ll probably find her hunting down the spiciest food in town or happily sipping on bubble tea.

Claudia Wang graduated from Southern Methodist University with a B.M. in Piano Performance, where she studied with Dr. Carol Leone. and is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy, studying with Dr. Cathy Lysinger. She has been performing on the alternate-sized keyboard for over four years, which has greatly enhanced her playing and teaching. With six years of teaching experience, Claudia teaches both private and group piano lessons to students ranging from age five through adult. In additional to teaching, she has performed in solo and chamber settings, exploring a wide range of repertoire across musical styles. 

Kamilya Akhmetova began piano studies at the age of seven in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan, and later continued at the Republican Kazakh Specialized Music School named after Akhmet Zhubanov in Almaty. At eighteen, she debuted with the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

She graduated with honors from the Kazakh National University of Arts, where she studied piano with Professor Sara Assabayeva and organ with Assistant Professor Saltanat Abilkhanova. Her international training includes the 5th European Organ Academy in Leipzig and a semester at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice, Italy.

Kamilya has been recognized with Diplomas at the III Siberian International Chopin Piano Competition (2016), the XX Open Festival-Competition of Organ Music (2019), and the Baikal Toccata International Competition (2019), all in Russia.

She completed both a Master’s degree and Performer’s Diploma in Organ Performance at Southern Methodist University (Dallas, USA) with Stefan Engels and is currently pursuing a Master’s in Piano Performance and Pedagogy with Andrey Ponochevny.

Olivia Chien-Jou Wang was born in 2003 in Hsinchu, Taiwan. She graduated from the music program at Chien-Hwa Junior High School and completed the 7-Year Integrated Music Program at the National Tainan University of the Arts. In 2021, she was awarded a full scholarship to study at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore, under Professor Albert Tiu, and graduated in 2025.

Chien-Jou has received numerous accolades, including first prize in the Taiwan selection round of the Japanese Classical Music Competition and third prize in the national finals held in Japan (where the first and second prizes were not awarded). She was invited to perform the third movement of Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25 with a local orchestra in Japan. In 2023, she was selected as a performance laureate in the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Concerto Competition, which led to her performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 18 with orchestra in March 2024. That same year, she received full tuition support from her chamber music lecturer to attend the “Music Chair” Chamber Music Festival in Canada, where she performed Smetana’s Piano Trio in G Minor, Op. 15 with her trio partners.

Beyond classical music, Chien-Jou is also skilled in pop and Christian music improvisation. She arranged and recorded the graduation song for her junior high school and was invited in both 2023 and 2024 by the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory to sing and play piano at the Senior Graduation Party Showcase.

She has studied with distinguished artists such as John Perry, Pascal Rogé, Boris Slutsky, Andreas Fröhlich, Christopher Hinterhuber, Alexander Schimpf, Armen Babakhanian, Anna Geniushene, Kathryn Stott, Yoshikazu Nagai, Marina Lomazov, Sara Tal, Victoria Mushkatkol, and Myong-Joo Lee.

Currently, Chien-Jou is pursuing her Master’s degree at the Meadows School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University, under the guidance of Professors Carol Leone and Sara Daneshpour.

In partnership with Stretto Piano Concerts, Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, in the Dallas, Texas, will present their students performing on its Stretto piano, with a DS6.0 Keyboard.

Evolved in 1976, the premise of the school came from a realization that gifted young artists need highly specialized and rigorous training in the arts to be prepared for the intense competition they will meet in colleges, conservatories, and the professional arts world.

SIRIUS 6.0 Concert with Athina Bardakou, Cornelia Felber, Simona Stefano, Yu Tashiro, Dani Zhogovska und Arthur Adams-Close (Bariton)

Works by J. S. Bach, Frédéric Chopin, Johannes Brahms, Richard Strauss und Dora Pejačević

You can find the detailed programm here: https://www.hmdk-stuttgart.de/veranstaltung/sirius-60-konzert

Artistic direction: Silvia Molan & Prof.in Ulrike Wohlwender
SIRIUS 6.0 Future Initiative of the HMDK Stuttgart: https://www.hmdk-stuttgart.de/sirius-60

You can find the detailed programm here: https://www.hmdk-stuttgart.de/veranstaltung/sirius-60-konzert

Doors 16:30 - Show commences at 17:00

Square Music
Square Music is a London-based Piano Quartet that performed with us both at the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2024 and earlier this year. We are so excited to welcome them back to Pianodrome Granton in Edinburgh.

The Fifth Annual International Stretto Piano Festival
The Pianodrome in Granton, as you may not know, has two playable "stretto,” or narrow-key, pianos installed into the structure. These are pianos with narrower keys that have been donated to us by the global Stretto piano advocates, 'PASK' (Pianists for Alternatively Sized Keyboards), who campaign for pianos with narrower keys to be made widely available to increase the piano's accessibility to those with smaller hands. We are thrilled to welcome the excellent pianists of the Square Music quartet to show off these pianos in our piano amphitheatre as part of this year's Fifth Annual International Stretto Piano Festival.

Venue Info

The Granton Pianodrome is a DIY grassroots venue set in a warehouse on an Industrial estate shared with some van rental companies and used car sales. Ours is the most colourful unit at the end: You'll see a grand piano on top of a shipping container!

Toilets: please note that we simply have one compost toilet at this venue (made out of pianos) which may not be accessible for some guests. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience and assure you that we are doing our best to remedy this issue.

PROGRAM

F. Chopin Waltz in Ab Major Opus 34 No.1 Valse Brillante
F. Schubert Impromptu in Bb Major Opus 142 No. 3
S. Prokofiev Piano Sonata No.1 in F minor Opus 1

BIO

Originally from Niigata Prefecture, Japan, Sahoko Otsuka began playing piano at the age of three and studying ballet at five. At 18, she entered the Faculty (School) of Medicine, where she also formed a piano trio with a classmate and performed at concert halls, hospitals, and other venues. She now works as a physician while continuing to enjoy music as a hobby, and is a member of the Narrow Key Piano Society. Welcome her for her festival debut on the KAWAI RX2 grand with 6.0-inch octave keyboard.

Eliana performs in her home studio on a Yamaha G3 with a DS5.5 keyboard!

Eliana Yi and Friends

PROGRAM

Frederic Chopin: Waltz in a minor B.150

Aidan Yonley (age 9)

Frank Proto: Sonata "1963" for Double Bass and Piano

Troy Tippawang

Eliana Yi

Sergei Rachmaninoff: Prelude in B-flat Major Op.23 No.2

Eliana Yi

BIOS

Eliana Yi, (B.M. '19, M.M. '21) is a private teacher in the East Plano area. She is known for fostering a love for music and piano in her students and her approach toward healthy piano playing. She performs regularly as a solo artist, both live and recorded, on her 5.5" keyboard, a custom-made piano designed for smaller hands. She had the fortune over the last three years to teach in the Seattle area and be a faculty member at the prestigious Chopin Academy of the Arts. Her students perform regularly for their community and participate in festivals and competitions, winning many accolades and awards.

​

Eliana graduated from her position as a teaching fellow at the Meadows School of the Arts from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. During her position there, she studied Piano Pedagogy and Performance where she took private instruction with Dr. Carol Leone and teaching supervision with Dr. Cathy Lysinger. During there she was a recipient for the Paul von Katwijk prize and Roy and Sue Johnson Award for Piano Pedagogy.

​

Hailing from Austin, Texas, Eliana had an active childhood playing cello and piano in chamber groups, orchestras, and debuting as a recitalist. She was an active performer and member of Classical Music for the World in Austin, Texas. She has performed around the state of Texas, Washington, and Germany. In 2019, she presented her research on alternatively sized keyboards at the MTNA Piano Pedagogy Collegiate Symposium in Indiana and her research on teaching small handed students at the 2021 NCKP Convention. She is currently a team member and performer for the International Stretto Piano Festivals, and a speaker for Pianists for Alternatively-Sized Keyboards (PASK) and an adjudicator for her local area. In her free time, Eliana enjoys writing nerdy sci-fi stories. She is a proud mother of a little baby boy.

An in-demand bassist and passionate music educator, Troy Tippawang has been performing on major stages across North Texas since he was 12. A graduate of Southern Methodist University, Troy studied with Thomas Lederer and Brian Perry of the Dallas Symphony, and completed both undergraduate and master's degrees in bass performance. Troy was principal bass of the Meadows Symphony Orchestra and logged many hours under the baton of Paul Phillips, which prepared him well for large ensemble work after grad school. In addition to chamber music and orchestral bass sections, Troy performs in ensembles ranging from new music concerts to jazz bands, rock bands, worship groups, and choirs.

In 2020, Troy and his wife Hannah Abercrombie (piano) co-founded Aberwang Music (www.aberwangmusic.com), a successful music studio teaching piano and string students in the North Texas area. Troy has been teaching music (not just bass!) since 2013, and his students have regularly won awards, participated in region and state orchestra programs, high-level youth orchestras in the area, and several have gone on to receive scholarships and study music in college.

"One always holds one's breath for the third movement's double bass solo...Hats off, then, to Troy Tippawang, who played it flawlessly." 

-Scott Cantrell, Dallas Morning News (referring to Mahler's 1st)

Aidan Yonley began taking piano lessons in kindergarten, studying for five months with his first teacher before continuing on his own until returning last fall to study with Mrs. Yi.  Earlier this year, he performed for the first time at the Sonatina Festival in Plano, Texas. In addition to music, Aidan has played in a soccer team since age three, loves painting, and can spend hours designing marble tracks or collecting treasures from nature on his bike rides. He thinks math is fun and earned an honorable mention in the Noetic Math contest this year. HIs favorite book series is "Harry Potter," his favorite movie series is "The Lord of the Rings," and in the summer he loves diving with his dad at the beach.

Keyboard Konversations with Kathryn

November 9, 4:00 pm, Montrose Pavilion, Montrose, Colorado

Kathryn Mientka Farruggia, pianist, performing on the DS 5.5 Keyboard

Prelude in D major, opus 23 #4………………….Sergei Rachmaninoff

As Time Goes By……………………………….………Herman Hupfeld, arr. John Zadro

Lakota Sacred Songs …………………………………trad. Lakota, arr. Farruggia

Sacred Pipe Song

Sacred Spirit InvitaMon Song

Dear Father ……………………………………………..Neil Diamond, arr. George Krezos/Farruggia

Ballade #4 in F minor………………………………..Frederic Chopin

INTERMISSION

Sonata in F minor, K. 466…………………………..Domenico ScarlaW

Fly me to the moon…………………………………..Bart Howard, arr. Francesco Perrino

Un Sospiro ………………………………………………Franz Liszt

Home Sweet Home…………………………………..Henry Bishop, arr. GoZschalk, Thalberg

Impromptu in Gb, opus 90 #3……………..…….Franz Schubert

Hallelujah-Pachelbel Canon Medley………….Leonard Cohen/Johann Pachelbel arr. Doug Montgomery

BIO

Kathryn Mientka Farruggia, pianist

Kathryn Mientka Farruggia performed internationally to critical acclaim as the pianist in the Mientka Duo, which she and her late husband, Tyme Mientka co-founded in 1983. The Duo gave concerts for 20 years in Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, and the USA, where they were featured nationally on radio and television. Their debut at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. was received with an enthusiastic standing ovation. They also were featured numerous times on National Public Radio´s Performance Today, and in 1995 they were featured on PBS television in an hour-long documentary, “Almost Famous: the Mientka Duo”. The documentary was subsequently submitted by PBS for an Emmy. The Mientka Duo was the recipient of many honors and awards, including a special prize at the Concours International de Musique de Chambre in Paris. 

Kathryn holds a Master’s Degree in Music Performance from the University of Southern California. She taught at Montana State University for two years. Subsequently she and her husband moved to Germany, where they lived for eight years, teaching and touring internationally. In 1995 they moved to Colorado. From 1999 to 2004 they founded and directed an after-school music and dance conservatory, a youth orchestra and a youth choir.

Kathryn founded the Western Slope Concert Series in Colorado, now in its 24th season, and is a founding member, pianist and music arranger in the cross-over Celtic band FEAST, which has toured nationally with great success and has been featured on PBS. Kathryn is founding member of Il Divo Colorado, a singing group which has toured Colorado with great success. She was staff pianist for the vocal faculty for six years at Colorado Mesa University and was staff piano accompanist for the vocal faculty at Northern Arizona University for two years.

Her special crusade is promoting the DS 5.5 narrow-keys keyboard, made by David Steinbuhler especially for small hands. She performs regularly on the keyboard, which fits into her Yamaha grand piano. In 2019 she presented a lecture-demonstration on the narrow keyboard at Northern State University in Flagstaff, for the Arizona State Music Teachers Association. In 2021 she performed a series of three piano recitals on the DS 5.5 at the Homestake Opera House in Lead, South Dakota. The themed lecture recitals were titled The Romantic Piano, The Epic Liszt Sonata, and The Piano through History. Kathryn and her husband Charles Farruggia recently relocated from the Black Hills to the beautiful Ozark Mountains in Arkansas. In December of 2022 they opened “Farruggia’s Music and Supper Club” in Mountain View, Arkansas. The supper club offers Italian cooking by Charles, and following dinner, Kathryn and Charles perform a show. The show features “oldies” songs sung by Charles, an accomplished baritone, and classical piano solos featuring Kathryn. Kathryn performs on her Yamaha C-7 grand piano with the DS 5.5 keyboard.

970-234-7408

cellopiano23@gmail.com

This performance is being played on a Yamaha C7X concert grand fitted with a DS6.0 keyboard in São Paulo/Brazil – a cooperation of A Loja de Pianos and the DS Standard Foundation, arranged by Silvia Molan/HMDK Stuttgart (Germany).

BIO

Mariana Rodrigues started her studies at Conservatório Dramático e Musical Dr. Carlos de Campos de Tatuí (Dr. Carlos de Campos Drama and Music Conservatory of Tatuí) and has a degree in Piano at Escola de Comunicação e Artes da Universidade de São Paulo - USP (São Paulo University Communication and Art School). 

Currently she's been developing her original work "Suíte Niramar", which consists of a series of 18 pieces for solo piano that was developed in 2020 during the pandemics and it reflects her musical experience and references. The pianist is also a member of Brazú Quintê, which is a group that explores the sound of chamber music with a Brazilian swing. The group had their first album released in 2018 through ProAC Editais Award and in the same year they were finalists of Samsung E-Festival Award. Mariana took part in the recording of the album "Canções para Iluminar o Mundo" from singer Manu Cavalaro in 2020 and the group traveled to Uruguay in order to perform at the Festival Jazz A La Calle in 2022. 

As a soloist, Mariana Rodrigues has been at the forefront of Orquestra Jovem de Guarulhos (Guarulhos Youth Orchestra), of Orquestra Sinfônica da Unicamp (Unicamp Symphony Orchestra) and Orquestra Jovem de Tatuí (Tatuí Youth Orchestra). She has stood out in Awards and Contests like Concurso de Jovens Solistas OCAM (OCAM Young Soloists Contest), Prêmio Nascente - USP (USP Nascent Award), Concurso Maria Tereza Madeira (Maria Tereza Contest), I Concurso Nacional Luis Thomaszeck (Luis Thomaszeck 1st National Contest) and at the Award for Best Accompanist Pianist at II Concurso de Interpretação de Música Brasileira para Flauta (2nd Flute Brazilian Music Interpretation Contest), held by Centro de Música Brasileira (Brazilian Music Center). 

She also performed at Festival Leo Brower in 2011, at I Simpósio Internacional Villa-Lobos (1st Villa-Lobos International Symposium) and at a series of composer meetings produced by MIS Museu de Imagem e Som (MIS- Image and Sound Museum) where she carried out Oliver Toni pieces of work. Besides, she has also taken part at the series of Chamber Concerts promoted by Itaú Cultural, where she introduced the piece "Invocações" from composer Adriana Norat. 

As a composer, Mariana Rodrigues composed the soundtrack of the short animation film "Um artista da Fome", directed by Moisés Pantolfi.

Enjoy this student program featuring the Pinkham Upright with 6.0 keyboard and the Athena 5.5!

Tina Davis will share an insightful presentation, featuring a Kawai MP11SE with DS6.0 keys