Helen Taylor Johannesen International Piano Festival
July 27 – August 2, 2024
Directed by Ning Lu
The Helen Tayler Johannesen International Piano Festival and Competition is a well-established summer camp with a global reputation. The 2024 Piano Camp offers students the opportunity to study music in a stimulating environment under the tutelage of our distinguished piano faculty. This intensive program includes private lesson, class lecture on a variety of topics, master classes, teacher training program, and performance opportunities.
This year’s Guest Artists including Angela Cheng (Oberlin Conservatory) and Douglas Humphreys (Eastman School of Music).
For 2024 festival, we are proudly presenting a solo competition with cash prize for pianists from around the world and our local community, winners will perform in Libby Gardner Concert Hall at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, USA. For international or non-Utah residents, please contact Prof. Ning Lu for more details.
Email: ning.lu@music.utah.edu
WeChat: ninglupianist
Young Musicians aged 10 and under
Two contrasting standard piano works, memorization is required.
Junior division aged 11 - 13
Two contrasting standard piano works, memorization is required.
Young Artist division aged 14 – 18
Three standard piano works with at least two contrasting periods, memorization is
required
1. No program changes will be allowed after July 15, 2023.
2. All pieces must be performed from memory. Repeats are at the discretion of the competitors.
3. Contestants should not have contacts with any Jury Member during the competition period. Failure to observe this rule may lead to disqualification.
4. All decisions of the Jury are final and cannot be appealed.
5. All prize money is subject to tax under US taxation laws.
6. The performances will be open to the general public.
All decisions of the Jury are final and cannot be appealed.
Young Musician division
- 1st prize - $200
- 2nd prize - $150
- 3rd prize - $100
Junior division
- 1st prize - $300
- 2nd prize - $250
- 3rd prize - $200
Young Artist division
- 1st prize - $500
- 2nd prize - $400
- 3rd prize - $300
July 27 (Saturday): Arrival
July 28 (Sunday): Visiting the Temple Square
July 28: (Sunday): Opening ceremony at 7:30 p.m., Libby Concert Hall
July 29: (Monday): Piano Competition from 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. in Libby Concert Hall
July 29 (Monday): Lessons and Seminar
July 30 (Tuesday): Lessons and Seminar
July 31 (Wednesday): Lessons and Seminar
August 1 (Thursday): Lessons and Seminar
August 2 (Friday): Lessons and Seminar
August 2 (Friday): Closing Ceremony and Recital in Libby Concert Hall
All masterclasses will be held in 3 locations: Thompson Chamber Hall, Dumke Recital Hall, Libby Concert Hall. We will update the schedule prior to the Opening Ceremony.
Guest Artist & Jury Members
Angela Cheng, Oberlin Conservatory of Music
Douglas Humphreys, Eastman School of Music
Jie Bu, Director of Director at Music & Arts of Las Vegas
Ning Lu, Artistic Director of HTJ Festival (only judge the applicants of international or non-Utah residents)
Jie Lu, professor at Piano University of Utah (only judge the applicants of international or non-Utah residents)
Artistic Teachers
Angela Cheng
Douglas Humphreys
Jie Bu
Jie Lu
Ning Lu
UMTA teachers and students
The School of Music University of Utah Piano Area would like to invite all UMTA teachers and students to attend the 2024 Helen Taylor Johannesen Piano Festival Masterclass series from July 29 – August 2 at the School of Music David P. Gardner Hall. All events are free. This year, the festival features world-renown pianists and teachers Angela Cheng and Douglas Humphreys, and guest artist Jie Bu with our piano faculty Jie Lu and Ning Lu of the University of Utah. The schedule is as follows:
Monday, July 27, 2024
Piano Competition at the Libby Gardner Concert Hall
9 AM – Noon; 2 - 4 PM
July 29 – August 2, 2024
Piano masterclass at the Thompson Hall, Dumke Recital Hall and Libby Concert Hall
Schedule TBA
About Helen Taylor Johannesen
Helen Taylor Johannesen was a gifted and promising Juilliard-trained composer and the wife of pianist Grant Johannesen, who died tragically at age 34 in a car accident. Johannesen grew up in Salt Lake City, where she attended the McCune School of Music to study piano. She received her BM from the University of Utah in 1937, her MM from Columbia Teachers College in 1941 and her degree in composition from Juilliard in 1945, where she completed a three-movement symphony. She also joined the Martha Graham Dance Company as a composition pianist. She and Grant had one son, David, with whom Grant collaborated in the 1990's to record all of Helen's work, including Discovering Helen Taylor, vols. 1 and 2. When she died, she was working on an opera, David and Bathsheba, from the Old Testament stories.
