Unique performance opportunities hit all the right keys

Photo: Alan Woo, Liza Stepanova, and the ALS president Jay Hershberger at the Georgia Center during the Liszt Festival dinner October 13, 2024.

“We want our students to experience the full breadth of professional life,” said associate professor of piano Liza Stepanova, “Piano students receive opportunities to perform on prominent platforms as soloists and chamber musicians, present research at prestigious conferences, teach locally and internationally, and more. Then, they graduate to make their own mark on the profession. Our alumni have successfully launched music schools and concert series, gained academic employment, worked with singers, and represented us at institutions internationally.”

One such event took place at UGA October 2024, when the Hugh Hodgson School of Music collaborated with the American Liszt Society (ALS) to host their 60th Anniversary Festival, along with the UGA Performing Arts Center, the Georgia Music Teachers Association, and the Georgia Museum of Art. Stepanova and Richard Zimdars (HHSOM professor emeritus) served as directors, with Alan Woo, assistant professor of piano, as assistant director.

The festival featured performances by world-class professional artists from around the world, lectures, and masterclasses. UGA piano undergraduate and graduate students performed, and doctoral piano students lectured on their research. Many helped behind the scenes as well and made valuable professional connections along the way.

Another recurring opportunity is the Robert G. Edge Undergraduate Piano Competition, with five to six winners and honorable mention awardees receiving a scholarship supplement. “The piano competition enables UGA to put the spotlight on the excellent young pianists at the School of Music,” said Edge.  “I am delighted that the Heads of the School have chosen this great way of using the Edge Music Fund.” 

Four of the winners of the 2024 Edge competition, Peter Kandra, Michael Solomon, Benjamin Brown, and Shirley Chen will join graduate students Elena Minko, Evanthia Panagou, Haoying Wu, and Tiffany Yin for an exciting performance collaboration with Steinway & Sons on February 27, 2025. 

These students represent the studios of Grace Huang, lecturer, Evgeny Rivkin, professor of piano and piano area chair, and Greg Satterthwaite, assistant professor of jazz piano and African American studies, as well as Stepanova and Woo. James Weidman, assistant professor of jazz piano and African American studies,  was featured at the 2022 Steinway concert. 

“This biennial showcase of UGA piano students at the legendary Steinway Hall in New York City is an exceptional opportunity to introduce our talented students to some high-profile professionals in the music industry,” said Woo. 

“Scholarship opportunities like those provided by Robert Edge and others are essential to maintaining these opportunities for our students,” said Stepanova. “They can open doors for these students that give them a considerable leg up as they enter the professional world.”