Always a highlight of the fall, the Asheville Area Piano Forum will present its 14th annual fall benefit concert on Sunday, September 28, 2014.
The event will showcase the talents of 12 of its professional pianists including: Karen Boyd, Scott Camp, Elizabeth Child, Leslie Downs, Polly Feitzinger, David Francis, Anna Hayward, Ruth Nussbaum-Borden, Nathan Shirley, Michael Jefry Stevens, Teresa Sumpter and Brian Turner,in addition to guest artist, Mark Morales and AAPF student competition winner Ren Zhang. The program will include solo and two piano selections featuring both “the classics” and jazz.
Its two annual benefit concerts, held in the fall and spring, are the main source of income for the AAPF educational outreach programs. These include: providing financial assistance to deserving students facing challenges paying for piano lessons, as well as support for the Keys for Kidz group piano classes which introduce music and the arts to underserved students in our community.
The 501 © 3 non-profit organization provides lectures open to the public, master classes, student recitals, monthly performance groups, and the sponsorship of the Asheville Piano Competition for pre-college students.
2014 AAPF Student Competition Winner, fifteen-year-old Ren Zhang, will be a sophomore this fall at TC Roberson High School. He plays trumpet in the Marching Band, is a member of the Symphonic Band, was a member of the math team which won the regional competition in the North Carolina State Math Contest, while at the same time continuing his studies as a classical pianist and winning piano competitions.
Born in Shanghai, his early years were spent in Toronto and then his family moved to Charlotte where he began piano studies at age nine. He won several awards in competitions sponsored by the Charlotte Piano Teachers Association before moving to Asheville in 2011. In 2013, he was the first place winner in the Difficult Division.
“This year he won the most Advanced Division and has been invited to perform in the Forum’s Fall Benefit concert,” says Polly Feitzinger, Ren’s piano teacher and a founding member of the AAPF.
“When offered selections from which to chose his piece to perform at the Fall Benefit – a difficult Rachmaninoff Prelude or an even more difficult work, the famous Fantasie-Impromtu by Chopin, Ren selected the more difficult work to learn this summer.
“His enthusiasm for music and making music is very inspiring and gratifying,” says Feitzinger. “He is a fine example of the young talent the AAPF seeks to mentor.” According to AAPF President, Nathan Shirley, “Children derive countless benefits from early piano instruction and music education.”
AAPF membership is open to professional and amateur pianists, teachers, and all who support the outreach programs, which enhance the music education of both children and adults in our community.
For more information about the AAPF and the program for the September Benefit Concert, visit www.ashevillepiano.org.
If You Go: Asheville Area Piano Forum annual fall benefit concert, Sunday, September 28 at 3 p.m. at the Diana Wortham Theatre. General admission $28, Patron $50, free for students 12 and under; students 13-21 $3. Tickets are available through the Diana Wortham Box Office, (828) 257-4530, or purchase tickets online at www.dwtheatre.com/boxoffice.