The Irving S. Gilmore International Piano Festival will feature the finest international pianists playing classical, jazz, and pop music. The piano will be center stage for Gilmore-commissioned world premieres, free community concerts, films, musical theatre, and so much more.

Festival Schedule:

12:00 PM: Benito Gonzalez Trio

Venezuelan jazz pianist, composer, and Steinway Artist Benito Gonzalez combines a lineage of American jazz tradition with rhythms from around the world. Nominated for two GrammyⓇ Awards and winner of the 2005 Great American Jazz Piano Competition, his sound is recognizable for the powerful rhythm and Afro-Latin patterns he prioritizes across his projects. The New York-based artist grew up playing traditional folk music with his family before being inspired by pianists Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea, and Keith Jarrett, whose quartet he later joined. He played with saxophonist Azar Lawrence’s band and joined saxophone legend Pharoah Sanders as his pianist/musical director in 2019.

Location: Civic Theatre Auditorium, Kalamazoo

7:30 PM: Piotr Anderszewski, 2002 Gilmore Artist

2002 Gilmore Artist Piotr Anderszewski is recognized internationally for the intensity and originality of his interpretations of classical works. He will also perform on May 11 with the Kalamazoo Symphony, where he will play and conduct from the keyboard. Perhaps best of all, he will have a conversation with Festival Director Pierre van der Westhuizen after the May 7 screening of his film, My Name is Warsaw, a deeply personal film about the city of his birth.

Location: Dalton Center Recital Hall, WMU