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.....