For more than a quarter-century, Jerome Rose, International Keyboard Institute & Festival Founder and Director, has snubbed mid-summer sun and hurricanes, bringing six or seven excellent pianists together for a week of virtuosity...Thus, opening the International Keyboard Institute & Festival garnered a full house crowd at Merkin Hall. They came perhaps for the start of the festive week, but more likely because Jerome Rose is virtually an avatar of triumphant mid-19th Century music.

The 26th annual International Keyboard Institute and Festival is underway in New York! In its more than quarter century of existence it has presented concerts, master classes, lectures, and other significant contributions to the summertime musical life of the city. Participants have ranged from masters of the senior generation (some of them - sadly - no longer with us) to extremely gifted young people, and everything in-between. This year is is featuring five evenings in a row of concerts at Merkin Hall, and master classes at Klavierhaus.

Music as a whole is commonly referred to as an industry because recordings are manufactured. And that business side is not just about making money, but all the non-musical elements that go into presenting the experience of music. When all those are shorn away, all that’s left is playing and listening, the alpha and omega of it all.

In person, that looks like the annual International Keyboard Institute & Festival, which is happening this week at Merkin Hall. The festival is a series of solo piano recitals from musicians who may not have big names but have enormous chops, musicality, wisdom, and taste. The concerts are for the connoisseur—listeners who relish hearing great artists play great music, without the distancing distractions of fame or ritual.

The International Keyboard Institute and Festival, now in its 21st year, has been the high point of my summer musical events for three years now.

IKIF offers people in the New York area two full weeks of outstanding concerts, masterclasses,and lectures at Hunter College. More than 100 piano students come from around the world to study and compete; their lessons and masterclasses are augmented by the opportunity to interact with and hear world class pianists perform every day. No event that I attended was less than superb; and, as in past years, there were several recitals that rank among the best I have ever attended.

There are summer music festivals all over the world. There are also summer workshops for students of all ages with opportunities for lessons and performances. IKIF remains unique in that it is both, plus an opportunity for the best to compete for cash prizes and beinginvited back next year to perform on one of the concert series.

Pianist Jerome Rose founded the International Keyboard Institute and Festival in 1999 with his wife, Julie Kedersha, who is the Festival Director. It has been a significant cultural institution in the musical life of New York ever since, offering two weeks of master classes, at least two dozen concerts, and a competition.

20 years old and stronger than ever! The International Keyboard Institute and Festival (IKIF) presents outstanding concerts, masterclasses, and lectures at Hunter College every year in the last two weeks of July. Nothing I attended was less than excellent; and, like last year, there were several recitals that rank with the best I have ever witnessed.

Compared with the regular concert season, there are few programs at this level in and around New York in the summer. In July, people looking for fascinating programs, expertly played by world class artists—and at a bargain
price—could do no better than the IKIF. It is worth a special effort to get here as often as possible—the concerts are a summer nirvana if you love great piano music.

...the International Keyboard Institute & Festival, now in its twentieth year. It is run by its founder, the pianist Jerome Rose, and the festival director, Julie Kedersha. IKIF is an excellent showcase for both pianists and piano repertoire—including unusual and neglected repertoire.

The 20th anniversary season of the International Keyboard Institute & Festival begins on July 15 at the Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College with a recital by pianist Jerome Rose, the festival’s founder and director. For two weeks, lovers of piano playing, piano music and everything related to the piano can take in recitals (usually two a day, at 5 and 8 p.m.), master classes, panels, lectures and even a competition open to the public. Both distinguished and emerging artists will be appearing. I’m especially looking forward to hearing the July 18 recital by the acclaimed French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, whose playing is so musical and elegant you sometimes don’t notice its brilliance.

For the next 13 days, the place to be in New York for all things piano was IKIF at Hunter College...IKIF's 20th anniversary is scheduled from July 15 to 29, 2018...If you love great piano music and live in or near New York, or are looking for an excuse to visit, put those dates on your calendar now...you'll be richly rewarded for as many evenings as you can attend.

For nearly two decades, this festival, spearheaded by the pianist Jerome Rose, has been a go-to event for piano aficionados, offering a combination of lectures, master classes, and, most tantalizing, robust concert programs from a variety of international virtuosos and up-and-comers.

Rose deserves immense credit for programming such a beefy opening concert, while simultaneously masterminding the entire festival - two-and-a-half weeks of outstanding pianists, coupled with master classes and lectures.

For more than fifteen summers, this festival, spearheaded by the pianist Jerome Rose, has been a go-to event for piano aficionados - a mix of lectures, master classes, and, most tantalizing, robust concert programs from a variety of international virtuosos and up-and-comers.

For pianists and their fans, for those who love piano music and for everything piano-related, the 18th season of the International Keyboard Institute and Festival will open on Sunday at Hunter College. True to tradition, the festival offers recitals (sometimes two a day) by acclaimed as well as emerging pianists, lectures, master classes and a competition.

BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG FESTIVAL.

Both participants and listeners will find something special at New York City’s irrepressible and irreplaceable International Keyboard Institute and Festival, as founder Jerome Rose tells Inge Kjemtrup.

The interview appears inside Pianist Magazine’s April/May issue (No 89) 2016.

Talk to Jerome Rose, pianist and founder of the International Keyboard Institute and Festival, and he will give it to you straight: ‘The festival is in its 18th year, and we’re a staple of New York City musical life.’


This might sound like brash New Yorker attitude, but he’s probably right: critics and audiences seem to have taken this two-week long festival of all things piano to their hearts. The International Keyboard Institute and Festival (IKIF) is a ‘perennial favorite among piano aficionados’ said the New York Times, while the New Yorker pointed up the IKIF’s ‘tantalizingly, innovative and robust concert programs from a variety of international virtuosos, up-and-comers, and local heroes.’



(Full article appears on our "Reviews" page)

https://www.pianistmagazine.com/news/learning-the-piano/read-our-interview-with-jerome-rose-founder-of-the-new-york-keyboard

or at:

www.pianistmagazine.com

Since 1999, this festival has been the go-to summer event for piano aficionados, a mix of lectures, master classes, and, most tantalizingly, innovative and robust concert programs from a variety of international virtuosos, up-and-comers, and local heroes....the festival, which has for years been a summer must-see event for lovers of all types of piano music, continues to offer varied fare...those seeking deeper knowledge can arrive early to catch pre-concert talks.

This two-week piano institute and festival, which for years has drawn eager audiences to its daily recitals, master classes and lectures, is now working with Hunter College, having previously been associated with Mannes College The New School for Music. Its founding director, Jerome Rose, is still in charge and, as usual, kicks off the festival with the first recital.

The Keyboard Institute and Festival has become a perennial favorite among piano aficionados.

Jerome Rose, of course, is the founder of IKIF, which should garner him at least a serious footnote in the cultural history of New York, in addition to the product of his artistic endeavors.

For those who love piano music, this institute and festival, now in its 16th season, is a highlight of the summer. For two weeks the Festival offers recitals by distinguished and emerging younger artists, usually two per day, along with lectures, panels, master classes and, in the second week, a competition.

Jerome Rose's annual festival brings noted pianists from around the world to New York to teach and perform. Rose, a bravura player, leads off the "Masters Series" of evening concerts."

For 15 years now, Jerome Rose’s piano recital has opened the annual International Keyboard Institute and Festival (IKIF), which he founded in 1999. Taking place at Mannes College The New School for Music, one of Rose’s alma maters, the intensive, two week-long celebration of the piano features lectures, master classes, and faculty recitals, as well as two guest artist performance series. That’s a lot of piano – even for New York City. The festival shines by its musical diversity and vast variety of different approaches to the instrument, and so promotes an open-minded and low-key atmosphere. It also sponsors a competition whose winner is honored with the Dorothy MacKenzie Competition prize ($10,000) and a recital at the next festival.

Jerome Rose presides over the annual piano extravaganza at Mannes College. More formally, this extravaganza is the International Keyboard Institute & Festival, or IKIF. Rose is its founder and director. IKIF takes place in the second half of July. And, every year, Rose gives the opening recital.

IKIF is celebrating its 15th year, a veritable institution here in New York. It is appreciated, and attended, by pianists and piano cognoscenti all over town, and from out of town. There is nothing else like it. Students get taught. Professionals give recitals. And the vast piano repertory is explored. True, Rose played four canonical sonatas. But IKIF typically gives you music from way off the beaten path.

The second half of Steven Mayer’s program was all-American—beginning with Silver Spring, by William Mason, whose dates are 1829 to 1908. This is not an immortal piece (though it is still being played in 2013, isn’t it?). But I’m glad to have heard it. And where else could you, besides IKIF?

The piano repertory is wide and wonderful, and Jerome Rose’s festival reminds a person of that fact.

As usual, at the Festival, the audience consisted of numerous pianists, pedagogues, critics and music lovers. The daughters of Artur Rubinstein could be seen sitting down the aisle from the granddaughter of Artur Schnabel.

Jerome Rose's summer celebration of the keyboard, which prompts a big huddle of pianists and piano fans to converge on Mannes College The New School for Music, is now fifteen years old.

This annual series at Mannes College has pedagogy at its roots, but for audience members it can seem like a return to the notion of salon-based music making thanks to skilled, stylish performers and a relatively cozy concert hall.

This is the 15th summer season of the popular, two-week keyboard festival at Mannes College the New School of Music, a favorite for devotees of pianists and piano music. The packed festival schedule includes lectures, masterclasses and a mini-competition. But the main events are the Prestige Series of daily recitals and the Masters Series in the evening.

It's the middle of July, which means it's time for the International Keyboard Institute and Festival, a very welcome feature of summer for lovers of the piano and its repertoire. Featuring two weeks of two recitals almost every day given by wonderful artists at different stages of their careers, masterclasses, lectures and a competition, it is a significant cultural event in the life of New York City.

Many of the people who attend the Festival are people of major accomplishment in music: teachers, performers and critics. So are some of the students who attend the masterclasses. I met one such "student" before this evening's recital, who came here from England. He has already recorded the Chopin Piano Concerti, will soon perform or record all of the Rachmaninoff Concerti and already has an international career playing recitals. This, to me, sounds like the description of a finished artist, as I am sure this young man (whom I have not yet had the pleasure of hearing) already is.

And then there are the fans of the Festival. At the recital this evening I sat next to a gentleman whom I met last year. He came here again from Colorado because he said, he "wouldn't miss" the Festival. He also said he is a big fan of Jerome Rose, the Founder of the Festival, because he so successfully shows what "wild and crazy guys" Beethoven and Schumann were. (Schumann was the featured composer on Mr. Rose's recital last year.)

As an aside, hearing Mr. Rose, a distinguished member of the piano faculty of Mannes College, perform a Beethoven recital at Mannes reminded me how many other members of its faculty have also been important Beethoven pianists. One thinks of Richard Goode, Claude Frank, Bruce Hungerford.....

A Festival Tunes Up for Recitals Galore: For those who love piano music, piano recitals and everything about the piano, Mannes College the New School for Music is again ready to gratify you. The festival has an excellent record of presenting worthy artists, both emerging talents and revered veterans.

Piano devotees flock to Mannes College the New School for Music to enjoy a busy lineup of master classes, lectures and recitals by rising stars and established performers.

For two weeks each year, the International Keyboard Institute and Festival (IKIF) creates a dream fortnight for piano lovers, drawn to wall-to-wall performances in the intimate recital hall at Mannes College The New School for Music.

In a recent issue, I referred to the International Keyboard Institute & Festival as a “piano-palooza.” Every July, there are some 25 recitals presented at Mannes College, on W. 85th St. The festival is directed by a distinguished pianist and Mannes teacher, Jerome Rose, and his better half, Julie Kedersha. One benefit of this festival is that a patron has a chance to hear music that is hardly ever played during the regular season. You hear little-known pieces by well-known composers. You also hear composers who are themselves little known. And then there are our old friends transcriptions—arrangements of songs, orchestra pieces, and the like for piano.

The festival attracts many piano buffs, who eagerly take in two recitals a night.

Mr. Rose’s recital always opens the two week International Keyboard Institute and Festival at Mannes College, which he founded. With two recitals almost every day given by pianists at all different stages of their careers, masterclasses, and a competition, the Festival comes along in the second half of July, a traditionally “slow” time in New York for concerts, and fills it with a wide array of delights for those who love the piano, and the classical piano repertoire.

Also featured are special programs in memory of great pianists, and composers for the piano.

Mr. Rose is to be saluted for his performance this evening, as well as for his contribution to musical life in New York by creating this Festival.

One of New York's hidden gems, this pedagogical institute includes a recital series in which performers of the first rank appear in a setting conducive to chamber-scale intimacy.

Toscanini's statement "Tradition is the last bad performance" notwithstanding there are some very GOOD traditions in the musical life of New York, and one of the finest is the International Keyboard Institute and Festival, which started its annual extensive series of programs all about the piano for the 13th time this evening. During the next two weeks those who come to Mannes College will be able to hear two recitals every day, performed by accomplished artists at all different stages of their careers, master classes and a piano competition. The audience consists of students, seniors and everything in-between. People greet fellow listeners they have met in previous years, and the audience includes some very distinguished musicians, including well-known teachers and critics.

Now in its 13th season, the International Keyboard Institute and Festival offers two weeks of concerts, panels, lectures and master classes, as well as a competition - everything and anything that pianists and lovers of piano music could ask for. The festival presents two recitals on most days: a Pretige Series and an evening Masters Series.

Piano devotees flock to Mannes College the New School for Music to enjoy a busy lineup of master classes, lectures and recitals by rising stars and established performers. Liszt, whose bicentennial is celebrated this year, will be a mainstay of programming.

On the Upper West Side, Mannes College will host the International Keyboard Institute & Festival, presided over by Jerome Rose, a pianist and teacher, and his executive director, Julie Kedersha. The festival will last two weeks, from July 17 to July 31. There will be a slew of piano recitals—something like 25. Some names are familiar (e.g., Marc-André Hamelin). Many names are not. Maybe those names deserve to be familiar.

Among the lesser-known pianists is Koji Attwood, a talented guy in the Lisztian mold: He’s the type to compose his own transcriptions. A veteran, wizardly pianist is in the lineup: Cyprien Katsaris. He has more technique than five average pianists put together, and plenty of musicianship, too.

The festival gives you a chance to hear many pianists, yes. But I’ll tell you what I especially appreciate about it: It gives you a chance to hear much piano music, a great deal of repertoire. Recitals are becoming fewer and fewer, even as opera, chamber music and some other things are flourishing. (The death-of-classical-music people don’t want you to know that, but it’s true.)

IKIF...a magnet for piano buffs that features recitals by veteran and emerging musicians, lectures and master classes.

The most expansive (and best attended) of the summer institutes presented by Mannes College The New School For Music is its annual keyboard festival. Everything is open to the public, and although the recitals - two most days, at 6 and 8:30pm - are of particular interest, there are also master classes, rehearsals and lectures all day.

The 12th Annual International Keyboard Institute and Festival at Mannes College is underway, and not a moment too soon for classical piano aficionados. It would be a significant addition to New York cultural life at any time of the year, but as it always takes place during the last two weeks of July, when concert activity in New York slows down, it is particularly welcome. It features reasonably priced recitals by excellent pianists at all different stages in their careers, lectures, a competition and special events.

Now in its twelfth season, this two-week round of concerts and master classes is the brainchild of Jerome Rose, an able pianist in the grand European tradition. He offers the opening concert, performing two sonatas by Schubert...at the New School's Mannes College.

For piano connoisseurs, July in New York means the International Keyboard Institute & Festival. Its 12th season opens July 18 and runs through August 1 at the Mannes College...This event always offers opportunitites to hear talented emerging artists back-to-back with more established artists, many of whom do not often get to play recitals in New York...Ten 6pm Prestige Series recitals are respectively given over to young up-and-comers....the 8:30pm Masters Series features festival founder and artistic director Jerome Rose on opening night...The July 24/25 weeekend stands as the Festival's epicenter...an all-day centenary tribute to Leonard Shure...and a summit meeting of former Shure pupils...On Sunday the 25th, festival mainstay pianist/writer/radio host David Dubal celebrates the late, great Earl Wild (a long time IKIF favorite)...followed by an interview with Gary Graffman...as if these events weren't enough, two concerts at 6 and 8:30pm showcase a whole slew of IKIF faculty members.

This summer's upcoming IKIF at New York's Mannes College offers many prospective delights...

Listen to the pros tickle the ivories at the 2010 International Keyboard Institute and Festival.

Eager pianophiles head to the International Keyboard Institute & Festival each July to enjoy a busy lineup of seminars, masterclasses and concerts by distinguished artists and rising stars.

Jerome Rose's annual series at Mannes College brings concerts, lectures, and master classes, all centered on the art of the piano. Rose, a fine pianist in the bravura tradition, opens the event with a solo recital featuring Beethoven...as well as three works by Liszt.

The renowned Spanish pianist Joaquin Achucarro participates in the Masters Series of this acclaimed event, one of the most important piano festivals in the world.

TEN GREAT YEARS...adding to the richness of the musical culture in New York...the festival roster reads like a Who's Who of the piano...

...the world's foremost piano gathering...

This two-week event, in its 10th year, offers recitals, panels, lectures, master classes and a competition for young artists...there are recitals galore, usually two a day..lovers of piano music, piano-playing, and everything relating to this storied instrument may be equally interested in the panels and master classes that are open to the public.

We think of Jerome Rose's annual IKIF series as one of New York's hidden treasures, given its relative intimacy and consistently admirable recital offerings.

The annual celebration of all things piano-related returns, with recitals by young international talents and masters...

For two weeks each summer eager pianophiles flock to the International Keyboard Institute & Festival for a bustling lineup of seminars, masterclasses and concerts by distinguished artists and rising stars.

ROSE GARDEN: For the last ten years, Jerome Rose, an able and impassioned pianist devoted to preserving the traditions of Romantic style, has run the International Keyboard Institute and Festival, a brief but intensive summer series that features a whirl of concerts and master classes given by artists who occupy a variety of places on the name-recognition spectrum.

...among "the city's most vital places, people and things". During those long summer weeks when everything else shuts down, the Upper West Side's Mannes College steps up with imposing festivals devoted to a variety of inspirations—piano artistry, contemporary music, Beethoven and so on. Concerts featuring world-class soloists and recitals by faculty and students are friendly to any pocket.

In addition, ...a parade of significant pianists at the International Keyboard Institute & Festival at Mannes College.

...the school's invaluable International Keyboard Institute & Festival...the Festival's chief attraction is a series of evening concerts that allow the public to hear pianists in a room large enough to hold some 300 patrons yet intimate enough to qualify as a chamber-music setting.

Jerome Rose's annual festival at the Mannes College of Music is a big-tent affair that accommodates a number of distinctive personalities.

Jerome Rose launches his invaluable summer celebration of the piano...

The smattering of Croc shoes 'n' shorts that besmirched the audience gathered in Mannes College's auditorium belies the impressive roster of pianists assembled here annually for the International Keyboard Institute & Festival...

I have never heard so many pianists in the short time frame of two weeks, and there were up to six master classes daily given by these internationally recognized pianists. What a wonderful festival for these young, fortunate students coming from all over the world – some making their very first trip to America. Hats off to Founding Director Jerome Rose as well as Julie Kedersha for the daunting task of organizing this amazing Festival.

The buzz was for the final night of the International Keyboard Institute and Festival, a summer treat now in its eighth season, which draws a discriminating audience eager to focus on an array of some of the world’s most distinguished pianists.

Across the Atlantic, if you can ignore the prospect of sultry New York City summer weather, you’ll want to head for the International Keyboard Institute and Festival.

IKIF is New York City's finest summer music event. The performances are consistently superb ... up close and personal (and in the company of passionate listeners) ... it is really the only way to hear piano music.

The International Keyboard Institute & Festival at the Mannes College of Music...has become a staple of the summer concert calendar.

Mannes College of Music’s must-hear piano extravaganza…

Mannes College of Music’s International Keyboard Institute & Festival is, hands down, my favorite summer music event…Don’t miss the chance to hear maestro Jerome Rose, Marc-André Hamelin, …and other piano luminaries hold forth in the heimisch, human-scale concert hall at Mannes.

During the slow summer months, concertgoers who love the piano have plenty to keep them happy during the two weeks of this series at Mannes College, directed by the pianist Jerome Rose.

The Mannes School of Music, long regarded as a fine conservatory, is emerging as a locus for the kind of concert that interestingly combine the educational and the exploratory. Jerome Rose’s series is such an event…

A quiet highlight of New York’s summer season since it was established in 1999, the International Keyboard Institute & Festival presents a stellar lineup of established and emerging pianists in an intimate setting.

Annual series of concert and lectures celebrating the ivories

Concertgoers queued around the block for a ticket to this year’s annual piano extravaganza at Mannes College of Music, which ran from 17-31 July. And with the various talents of Melvyn Tan, Dmitri Bashkirov, Marc-Andre Hamelin and Earl Wild on the schedule of concerts, lectures and masterclasses, it’s easy to see why

Luckily for New Yorkers, Mannes College of Music’s International Keyboard Institute and Festival (IKIF), one of the nation’s finest piano-concert series, transforms the Upper West Side’s summer-in-the-city grit into an oasis of inspired music making.

Mannes College of Music’s International Keyboard Institute & Festival presents world-class artists in the kind of intimate surroundings where Mozart and Chopin might have played.

This annual festival, now in its seventh summer season, again promises to keep even the most insatiable lover of piano music happy.

Jerome Rose’s annual festival, a boon to the city’s piano aficionados, returns with an impressive lineup of major artists offering concerts and master classes.

The IKIF roster is stellar…concerts take place in Mannes’ cozy recital hall, creating a mood of unique concentration and intimacy. The whisper of the air-conditioning here is a roar over audiences’ silence; cell phones and coughing are nowhere to be heard.

One of the nicest things about the New York summer – classical-music division- is the International Keyboard Institute & Festival at the Mannes College of Music. What we get is two weeks of concerts, masterclasses, and other activities. If you want a concentrated pianistic education – you could do worse.

More attention should be given to the International Keyboard Institute & Festival, now under way at Mannes College. In its seventh year, it comes along each summer for two weeks in the latter half of July, when concert life in New York has slowed down, and provides one and sometimes even two concerts a day by marvelous pianists, as well as master classes by many of the distinguished artists who perform, and also teach the young musicians who come there to study. It is the place to be, especially for pianists….If you’re in New York in the second half of July, and love the piano, you really should spend some time on West 85th Street, and hear what goes on there