7th Annual Philadelphia Young Pianists' Academy Festival Announces 10 Days of Concerts and More

The Philadelphia Young Pianists' Academy (PYPA) will be celebrating its 7th year as an international event from August 2 through August 11, 2019. For the first time, the Festival will be launched at The Kimmel Center for Performing Arts, in the Perelman Theater, with a concert by world-renowned pianist and founder of PYPA, Ching-Yun Hu on August 2 at 7:30 p.m.

The program will continue at the Academy of Vocal Arts, 1920 Spruce St in Philadelphia. There will be 10 days of concerts by world-class pianists, master classes by some of the most highly respected pianists and professors, student concerts and the Philadelphia International Piano Competition. Ching-Yun Hu is pleased that the program has expanded this year with more concerts and a speaker series.

This year there are 22 PYPA youth participants who are outstanding young pianists, age 10 to 25, selected from a worldwide pool of applicants to learn from international concert masters. The young pianists were invited based on a rigorous selection process that included submitting a written application and an audio recording for review.

Each student participating in PYPA will have the opportunity to learn alongside such concert masters Gary Graffman, former Curtis Institute of Music president and Concert Pianist; Dang Hai Son, first Asian pianist to win a top international competition; Yekwon Sunwoo, 2017 Gold Medalist; Lydia Artymiw, recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Prize; and Alon Goldstein, winner of numerous competitions, among them the Arianne Katz Piano Competition in Tel Aviv, Nena Wideman Competition in the US and the Francois Shapira competition in Israel.

Founded by Philadelphia-based concert pianist and recording artist, Ching-Yun Hu, PYPA was launched in 2013 to help young artists from around the world achieve their dreams of professional careers as world class concert pianists. Each of the young artists chosen will experience these special opportunities during the eight-day long PYPA:

Master classes taught by PYPA Faculty members Ching-Yun Hu, Gary Graffman, Alon Goldstein, Lydia Artymiw, Yekwon Sunwoo, and Dang Thai Son.

The chance to make friends with peers, equally dedicated to piano playing.

The opportunity to participate in the Philadelphia International Piano Competition.

Attendance at the Speaker Series with leaders in the classical music industry who will focus on career planning, programming choices, using technology for publicity and more. With guest speakers Pierre van der Westhuizen, who is the executive director of the Gilmore Keyboard Festival.

Attendance at concerts by renowned pianists.

Ching-Yun shares her enthusiasm for this program. She said recently, "We are extremely proud of reaching this exciting landmark 7th Anniversary for PYPA and making the leap to launching the festival at the Kimmel Center. Over the years, we have worked with many stellar students and we feel privileged to have made such a strong impact on their careers. The unique aspect of PYPA is the focused attention each student receives in a concentrated period of 10 days, while getting immediate feedback from each of the faculty artists on site. This level of individualized training can lead to real progress or even genuine breakthroughs in performance."

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