Helen Taylor Johannesen International Piano Festival
July 27 – August 2, 2025
Directed by Ning Lu
The Helen Tayler Johannesen International Piano Festival and Competition is a well-established summer camp with a global reputation. The 2025 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 and Alvin Chow.
Registration Fee: $200
The registration of $200 will include the competition registration, a 30-min piano
masterclass,
and the Student Recital in Libby Garnder Concert Hall on Aug. 2. No refunds will
be allowed.
Young Musicians aged 10 and under (5 minuets)
Two contrasting standard piano works, memorization is required.
Junior division aged 11 – 13 (8 minuets)
Two contrasting standard piano works, memorization is required.
Young Artist division aged 14 – 18 (12 minuets)
Three standard piano works with at least two contrasting periods, memorization is
required
College division (currently enrolled in any universities, 15 minuets)
Three standard piano works with at least two contrasting periods, one virtuoso etude, memorization is required
(Prizes for college division: first prize $500, Second prize $400, Third prize $300)
August 2: 7 p.m. Winner Ceremony and recital
1. No program changes will be allowed after July 15, 2025.
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: Opening ceremony
7:30 p.m. LGCH
July 28 – Aug. 1: Masterclass and studio lessons
Ning Lu, July 28 and 29, 9 a.m. – noon and 2 – 5 p.m. LGCH
July 30 – Aug. 1: Lessons
Angela Cheng, 9 a.m. – noon and 2 – 4 p.m. LGCH
Alvin Chow, 9 a.m. – noon and 2–4 p.m. DRH
July 28 – Aug. 1: Lessons
Jie Lu, 9 p.m. – noon and 2– 4 p.m. DRH/office 218 & 216
August 2: 2025 HTJ piano competition (judges: Angel Cheng and Alvin Chow)
9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
All masterclasses will be held in: Dumke Recital Hall and Libby Garnder Concert Hall. We will update the schedule prior to the Opening Ceremony.
Guest Artist & Jury Members
Angela Cheng, Oberlin Conservatory of Music
Alvin Chow, Oberlin Conservatory of Music
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
Alvin Chow
Jie Lu
Ning Lu
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.
