Our seventeen year old Beatrice (Bea) Grant has had a wonderful summer of artistic development. Since her impressive Peoples' Choice Award and brilliant performance at Minnesota Public Radio's (MPR) Minnesota Varsity 2019 Showcase Concert at Ted Mann Concert Hall in May, Bea was the winner of a Schubert Club Grant and was selected to attend three very competitive summer academies: Texas State International Piano Festival, San Marcos; Piano Texas International Festival and Academy, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth; and the Cleveland International Piano Competition (CIPC) Preparatory Camp for Young Artists, Baldwin Wallace University, Ohio.
At the Texas State International Piano Festival, Bea had Master Classes with Anton Nel, Boris Slutsky, and Jason Kwak. In addition, she had private studies with Washington Garcia, and Joseph Rackers. At the Piano Texas International Festival and Academy, Bea had Master Classes with Philippe Bianconi and Pascal Roge and private lessons with Bernd Goetzke. Bea had tremendous performing opportunities at Piano Texas performing publicly six times in four days! She has gained much strength and confidence as a performer as a result of these opportunities. At the Cleveland International Preparatory Camp, Bea was the joint First Place Winner of the Young Artists Competition! Not only that, but Bea had to put up the first movement of Mendelssohn's G minor Concerto in a matter of a couple of weeks for the
camp's concerto seminar. This was of great value in nurturing Bea's rather mind-blowing ability to learn complex scores very quickly.
In June, Bea was the First Place Winner of the Steinway Junior Piano Competition held at Concordia College in St. Paul. And just this past weekend, she presented four works on two separate programs at the Twin Cities Polish Festival in honor of Chopin.
As with Nita, this will be Bea's final year with us. She has studied with me for two years. It will be a major blow to lose her from our Roster. But it will be a major gift to whomever she entrusts her many gifts and talents.
Yours in Music -
Joe & Jo Anne