The Pangbourne Piano Festival is a fantastic family event. From registration to conclusion, a warm and supportive tone is combined with a nurturing musical rigour, the result being a thoroughly enriching day together.
Explore Further
Each year Pangbourne College hosts the Piano Festival in the Lent Term. Young pianists aged 6-18 from around the South of England join us and make full use of our facilities, including our practice rooms and recital halls fitted with Steinway pianos.
In a series of workshops, pupils are guided by an experienced adjudicator, giving them fantastic opportunities to do in-depth work. This is ideal if they are preparing for an exam or concert, but also just a great experience to develop their skills in general.
On Saturday 4 March 2023 almost 100 young musicians from 40 schools joined us for our 11th Anniversary Piano Festival.
The annual Piano Festival is designed around the applications received from teachers and parents and this year was filled with solo competitive classes and a two-piano masterclass.
Once again, the adjudicators were Mrs Pamela Chilvers GRSM LRAM DipMTh and Mr Luis Parés BMus MMus.
Since 2012 all of the College’s pianos have been from the world-class piano manufacturer Steinway & Sons. In June 2022, the College received its second fleet of Steinway pianos when the first were completely replaced after 10 years.
The next Piano Festival will take place on Saturday 2 March 2024. The deadline for entries will be Monday 20 November at 1pm. Please click here for the application form.
The syllabus for the day includes competitive workshop-style solo, duet (one piano, four hands), trio (one piano, six hands), two-piano classes.
For more information and further testimonials, please contact Mrs Alex Garnier, Piano Festival Coordinator.
Most conspicuous was the quality of the adjudicators who shrewdly and charitably appraised each piece and then focused on one aspect to be improved. The children then and there were able to put the tip into practice and, hey presto, their beautiful piece was instantly buffed to a shine!
The children were able to witness this for theirs and others' performances; instantly everyone further appreciated what their music teacher means by "Work on the dynamics!".
We are very thankful to all those at Pangbourne who worked so hard to host such a lovely event.
Thank you for once again staging a wonderful piano festival. The experience of playing in the festival is superb, both from the aspect of playing in front of a supportive audience and having the competitive element which spurs my pupils on to try to do their best.
The adjudicators’ feedback is so useful - it’s as if each participant receives a mini-masterclass.
I find the adjudicators’ comments are so interesting and helpful, too, and I learn so much from them.
