2022 Conero International Music Festival
Dates: August 1st – August 10th , 2022
Location： B.Gigli School of Music, Recanati, Italy
Application deadline: June 10th, 2022
Late Enrollment: $30 late fee until July 1st, 2022
Deposit of $500 should be paid within 7 days of application being accepted.
The full tuition will be due by June 30th.
Highlight of 2021 Conero International Piano Festival
What else is going on at the festival other than exclusive programs and professional music activities?
Perfect vacation location: 16mins from Recanati to the beautiful Porto Recanati beach, 30 mins from the Ancona Airport. 
Immerse yourself in authentic Renaissance Culture: Recanati was founded around 1150 AD from three pre-existing castles. Walking through the ancient stone road in town, passing by all the incredible historical architecture, villas, churches and museums are very special experience.
City of poetry: It is the hometown of the famous tenor Beniamino Gigli and the poet Giacomo Leopardi.
You will hear opera when you walk through the town-the rich culture is the biggest blessing.
Wine Tour: Of course, how can we miss that! Enjoy the beautiful view and take a break from the intense festival activities! Festival will schedule a wine tour for parents and adults.
Women Topics Discussion: All women are welcome to join in this special event from the festival. All topics are open to share, including friendship, marriage, family, women leadership, working-life balance and so on. It is a place to find support and courage from all women about your thoughts and ideas. We hope the festival can build a supportive and wise community for students, parents and teachers through those important topics in our life.
Beach Party: In 2020 festival, all students voted “pool party” is their most favorite activity in the festival. (Right, why not? ) We decided to continue the beach party idea. We practice hard, and play hard!!
Festival Schedule
Young Musician Program
Intermediate level and early advanced piano students
- Group activities every day with their age group: Theory/Improvisation/Ear training/Sight-reading
- Duo Coach lessons from the pedagogy fellows.
- Present in the Piano Duo Concerts
- Two Performance classes – Gain stage experience and confidence Be immersed with great musicians – free to observe all the professional level masterclasses and concerts happening in the festival
- Masterclass/private lesson opportunities with festival faculty (will be selected based on video audition)
- Performance opportunities in historical sites / outdoor concert
- Festival Concert Pass
- 9 nights hotel, including breakfast and buffet style dinner.
- Half day tour to the beach (transportation included)
Professional Musician Program
Designed for advanced level pianists
- Piano lessons: three 50 mins private lessons with Conero faculty.
- Masterclass opportunity (must submit a video audition with the application).
- Opportunity to play in student honor recital.
- Two Legato Workshops and Two Octave Workshops
- Festival Concert Pass.
- Full access to the Conero Piano Pedagogy Conference.
- 9 nights hotel, including breakfast and buffet style dinner.
- Half day tour to the beach (transportation included)
Concerto & Professional Pianist Program
- Selected pianists will be performing with IPPA Conero Orchestra during the festival period, present in the Beethoven Concerto Concert.
- 2022 festival concerto will be Beethoven Piano Concerto No.1, No.2, and No.3.
- Selected students in the professional pianist program will receive $300 Conero Festival Honorary Award.
- The ones sign up only for the concerto program will be responsible for their own hotel and food.
- Selected pianist will rehearsal with the orchestra in the morning, and present the concert at night. One might play first movement, or second and third movement of each concerto.
- Video submission deadline: May 31st, 2022 (It is required to have the second piano with the recording)
Conero Piano Pedagogy Conference
Conference Committee Chair: Dr. Scott McBride Smith
Two Pedagogy Fellow – TBA
- Access to all intermediate and professional level piano masterclasses, and Chamber Music Masterclass.
- Participate in the 2022 Conero International Piano Pedagogy Symposium
- Teaching career planning workshop
- Access to all pedagogy presentations and workshops
- Conero Festival Concert Pass
- 9 nights four-star hotel, including breakfast and buffet style dinner.
- Half day tour to the beach (transportation included)
In addition to attending events, conference-goers can optionally participate as a Pedagogy Presenter, or as a Pedagogy Fellow. If an applicant is passionate about teaching and wants to share their ideas, they can apply to be a Presenter. If selected, their lectures will be broadcast online to all festival attendees worldwide. Presenters will be promoted (posters, social media, etc.). Six outstanding Presenters will be selected for honors by the conference committee after all the presentations.
Presenters can apply to be selected as Pedagogy Fellows and have their registration fee waived. Pedagogy Fellows will also be responsible for assisting with the Young Musicians Program.
Deadline for application to be a Pedagogy Presenter is June 1st, 2022. Please include:
- The title of the proposed paper;
- 200-300-word abstract;
- 100-word biography;
- institutional affiliation or independent scholar status;
- and your contact information.
Email to: support@ippa.cc
Chamber Music workshop
To become a well-rounded musician, collaborating with other instruments is significant for professional pianists. The Chamber Music Workshop is available for Conero Festival participants. The Conero string faculty, in the true spirit of collaborative music-making, will take an active part in performance coaching, sharing their experiences, knowledge and insight in the process. Successful projects may be featured in public concerts.
If you intend to join the Chamber Music Workshop, please indicate so in the festival application, specifying one complete composition you wish to work on. The piano part should be ready for rehearsal from day one of the course. There will be three rehearsals with the faculty member, and perform a Chamber Concert. The desired repertoire should be sent to the committee one month before the festival.
Vocal Coach Workshop
Clinician: Dr. Alejandro Avila
Vocal coaching is a piano specialty that is in constant demand nowadays. Part of an increasing market all over the world, vocal coaches collaborate and guide singers with everything that is related to the music-learning process. Understanding art song complexity, text delivery, poetry interpretation, as well as an overall preparation for opera roles are among the main endeavors of a vocal coach.
The Vocal coach workshop will be available for the first time at the Conero Festival for their participants. Dr. Alejandro Avila, a vocal coach at the University of Kansas and Washburn University, will be the guide and lecturer through this workshop, in which the many sets of skills that constitute vocal coaching will be explained and explored by the students. A general overview of Italian, German, French, and English diction will be studied. Exploring the main differences between coaching an art song and an opera aria will be discussed and analyzed. This workshop will finalize with two concert programs, comprising the main canon of vocal literature, both in art song and opera settings.
If you wish to participate of the Vocal coach Workshop, please indicate so in your application. The concert program will be set a month prior to the festival and Dr. Avila will indicate which pieces are assigned to each pianist. The piano part selected should be ready for rehearsal and coaching from day one of the workshop.
This is partial list of vocal works that will be studied and chosen for both concerts. Applicants for the workshop may start listening and analyzing these pieces prior to the festival.
Festival Program and Tuition
Dates: August 1st – August 10th , 2022
Location： B.Gigli School of Music, Recanati, Italy
Application deadline: June 10th, 2022