A Summer Piano Festival in Phoenix

Greg Kostraba: This is KBACH’s Heart of the Arts podcast, I’m Greg Kostraba. The Arizona Piano Institute presents its 10th Summer Festival June 1st through the 7th. Before the festival begins, the faculty of the API will present a recital at the Ravenscroft in Scottsdale, Sunday, June 1st at 2:00 p.m. Elizabeth Pridonoff is one of the pianists featured on the concert, and she's on the phone from Cincinnati. Welcome.

Elisabeth Pridonoff: Thank you. Appreciate it.

Kostraba: Absolutely. How did you learn about and become involved in the Arizona Piano Institute?

Pridonoff: About 10 years ago, my husband Eugene and I retired from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music where we were 35 years teaching and decided to move to Arizona. And one of my close friends and colleagues and classmates from Juilliard from way back when, Norman Krieger, had been at the Arizona Institute, and he and I had been judging the Virginia Waring that year in California. And we were just talking about, you know, our lives and everything. And so I told him we were moving to Arizona, and he immediately said, "Oh, you have to get to know Snezana Krstic. She's phenomenal. They have this amazing festival that they're just starting out, and that would be tremendous if you could be a part of that, especially as you're going to be in Arizona." So I got in touch with Shnezna, or I don't remember if she got in touch with me. Somehow we all connected, and the rest is history. I've been coming back every year, and it's been amazing because the other artists in the festival have included people like Nelita True, who was there several times, and of course, working with her has always been a joy. She was one of my favorite and best of friends. And we had someone from the Ukraine who came, Yuri Kot. We've had Alan Chow from, now he's at Eastman. He was there. So it's been a real joy to participate in the Arizona Piano Institute. And as you said at the beginning, we have a faculty kind of recital to start the whole thing off. And this year Aviram Reichert will be here and he will play a Beethoven Sonata and de Falla Ritual Fire Dance and a Suite by de Falla. And then Eckart Sellheim and Diane Baker, who are a spectacular duo of their own. They do a lot of work together and also separately. They're both fantastic pianists and are retired from ASU. They will play... I'm not sure exactly what, but I believe that Eckart is also going to play the Bach-Busoni left hand Chaconne, and then they will play a duet. And Eugene and I are going to play the Percy Grainger arrangement of Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin. It's one of our most favorite things to play because it's so immediately emotional music and it's also just music that sings.

Kostraba: And then all the activities for the students. Tell us a little about what they'll be doing over the course of the week.

Pridonoff: Well, the students have quite a busy week ahead. They divide up to A and B group of students. So they are in a group according to their age group and their level of playing. This year Aviram Reichert and I will have on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, he has the A group and I'll have the B group. And then on Tuesday and Thursday then I have the A group and he has the B group. So that the kids have lessons with both of us. In the morning, in the afternoons, it's like a masterclass. The A group all sits on stage and one of us teaches, and then the B group does exactly the same thing. And then after that in the afternoon at 3:00, they have special classes with Eckart Sellheim and Diane Baker in performing duets and the idea of collaborative piano. And they've even had singers and violinists come in and play with the kids. And this year it's going to be really, really super exciting because this couple, Ian and Rachel, they are very, very big Broadway people. They're coming in, going to be working with the kids on improvisation and to feel comfortable in who they are and what they do and to just bring joy into their world of music. They're a tremendous couple and I'm so very excited that they were free this year. We had hoped to get them last year, but they were just too busy. This summer they happened to have this month free and were willing and able to come to do this. The students also have performing opportunities. As I said, there's, I think, on Thursday afternoon, probably around 6:00, there will be performance for the chamber music of the students who have worked with Professor Sellheim and Diane Baker. And then on Friday they have a performance also for certain students who would like to perform. And then Saturday is the big event, which is open to the public and anybody can come, and that's a student recital. So everything they've learned all week long and would like to present, then every student plays a piece. And so that's really fun to see how the students have grown the whole week and they present their pieces. The concert usually starts around 2:00 in the afternoon. On Saturday morning, Professor Sellheim and Professor Baker open their home to the students, and they have probably museum level instruments like a Mozart piano and a Beethoven Broadwood. They have every possible instrument that really you can see historically. And what's valuable about that is when students play pieces they don't really realize what the piano was that it was written for. And so when they see it and they get to play it, it's a whole different experience. He goes through all the different years of the building of the instrument from clavichord all the way... he has harpsichord, he has absolutely everything. And that I think is also incredibly valuable to the students' learning of what this art is all about and what it was started out to be written on and how it's progressed.

Kostraba: There's also a teacher forum presented by your husband, Eugene Pridonoff. Tell us, what he's doing that. Are those for the students or those for area teachers that come in? Who participates in that and what kind of things go on? What kind of things does Eugene teach them?

Pridonoff: The teacher forum is really based on the teachers all coming together and just really talking over issues that they might have in certain pieces or just kind of a community of talking about music. It is for the teachers and it really doesn't include students per se. However, part of it is that he brings them into lessons of both Aviram and I, and then they talk about how we did. So, you know, "Did we do this right? How would they do it differently? Is there something interesting to them that maybe they hadn't thought of or what they think might be a better solution, so to speak?" So he really makes this into a growing experience for teachers to everyone kind of be in there together and work together and have fun doing it. Because you know, one of the sad things after we finish college, we don't really as pianists have a place to go for development or continued education. It's almost kind of like you're on your own. And if you're doing a lot of teaching, you don't have the opportunities to go out and attend masterclasses from somebody say in Prague or in Vienna or somewhere. So this is a tremendous opportunity to have exactly what people do all over the world, but here in Phoenix. And as all the teachers teach people from all different levels and backgrounds, it can be very interesting just to talk about even "what kind of repertoire would you give a child who does A, B, and C?" or "this is a difficult passage. I've been teaching this and for some reason the student isn't getting it. Let me show you what I'm doing and perhaps you can tell me something different that I can do that might help them." It's that kind of a forum. It's very valuable, I think, for teachers to have that.

Kostraba: Elizabeth Pridonoff, thank you so much for your time.

Pridonoff: Well, thank you so much, Greg, for inviting me. It's my honor and privilege to be on air with you. Thank you so much for all you do for Arizona music.

Kostraba: Thank you so much. Elizabeth Pridonoff is on the faculty of the Arizona Piano Institute's 10th Summer Festival. She'll be featured in recital with the other API faculty members, Aviram Reichert, Eckart Sellheim, Diane Baker, and her husband and duo piano partner Eugene Pridonoff. It's Sunday afternoon, June 1st at 2:00 at the Ravenscroft, 8445 East Hartford Drive in Scottsdale. Ticket information is at azpianoinstitute.org. For the KBACH Heart of the Arts podcast, I'm Greg Kostraba.