Calp Town Council, through the Department of Culture, is organising for the first time the Calp Piano Festival, an event that will feature renowned pianists from the international scene as well as promising new pianists. In fact, this festival aims, on the one hand, to promote the talent of young pianists from Calp and, on the other hand, to give the citizens of Calp the opportunity to enjoy great artists of the piano world.
The event will have a concert every weekend in April - with the exception of the first weekend when two concerts are scheduled - and the last two weekends in May. It will kick off on 6 April with a performance by Silke Ribes, currently a student at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid, who has trained with leading maestros and in 2020 received the Curtis Summerfest scholarship in Philadelphia, a training programme offered by this high-performance institute, considered the best conservatory in the USA, as well as having won numerous prizes despite her youth.
The brothers Hang and Kai Lin Chen, also two promising young musicians from Calp, will perform on April 8th. Aged 13 and 16, they have performed in concerts of the Coral Ifach and in the 12th Gala tribute "Amics de la Pedrera 2024" and stand out for their maturity and personality at the piano.
In addition to these new piano talents, renowned pianists such as the internationally renowned Italian Giuliano Adorno, who will be performing on 12th April, will be taking part in the festival. Adorno, currently head piano teacher at the "D. Cimarosa" Institute in Avellino, has won prizes and awards in more than 30 national and international piano competitions.
The Hungarian István Székely will perform on 19 April. Székely teaches at the Katarina Gurska conservatory in Madrid and at the Franz Liszt Centre for young talents in La Nucía. Winner of several prizes in national and international competitions, he is the director of several national and international piano competitions and festivals.
Rosa Blanco, trained in Madrid and Germany, will take part in the Calp Piano Festival on 26 April. She has given recitals in Spain, France and Germany, among other countries, and has been distinguished in various competitions in her speciality. She currently combines her artistic activity with teaching.
The performances will continue on 22 May with Antonio Galera, who has an outstanding international career that has led him to perform in the United Kingdom, France, the United States, Canada, Mexico, South Africa, Malaysia, Qatar and Taiwan. He currently teaches courses at the University of Valencia and in schools and universities in different European, Asian and North American cities. And she is passionate about cultural management and research, which led her to design projects such as the Iturbis Festival in 2019 for the Diputació de València.
The performance of Armenian Sofya Melikyan will close the Calp Piano Festival on 30 May. This pianist, who received the Premio Extraordinario de Honor Fin de Carrera, completed postgraduate studies at the Manhattan School of Music in New York and has performed in prestigious venues in Europe, Asia, the United States, Australia and Canada.
The concerts, which are free of charge, will take place at 8 p.m. in the Saló Blau.
"The Department of Culture has organised an ambitious festival with different styles and personalities but with the common denominator of quality and excellence. With this Piano Festival we place our city among the elite in the dissemination and visibility of this beautiful instrument," said the Councillor for Culture, Guillermo Sendra.